Almost all of the people surrounding my dad (photo taken when he was about 18 years old) are direct ancestors, with an aunt and uncle thrown in there to fill it out. I created the collage, saved it as a jpeg, and then sent it over to Costo where they printed off an 8x8 square for a mere 1.49.
My next project is to create a similar collage with me surrounded by my maternal ancestors.
We did this for book group this month (in May actually. I started writing this post in May!). I loved the book, and had a great time reading it. It was rich with interesting ideas and Ulrich is a great writer. I have a couple other of her books on my list to read. Like American Women, there were a lot of stories of different women and lots of them didn't stick with me. But, Ulrich did a great job tying them together, not by chronology, but by connections to three main women: Christine de Pizan, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Virginia Woolf, now three of my heros. (I have since read A Room of One's Own and have started City of Ladies). She spends an early chapter devoted to the three of them, showing how their early exposure to an odious text shaped their views and writing about women.There were so many great vignettes about their lives that I really related to. Every single one of them saw the disadvantages they faced as women and longed to be a man. Stanton had a brother that died at a young age, and her father ever after lamented the lack of a son. Stanton did all she could to take the place of her brother, excelling in her studies, and striving to be both "learned and courageous". But, her father could only say, "I wish you had been born a boy." She sums this up by saying, “To think that all in me of which my father would have felt a proper pride had I been a man is deeply mortifying to him because I am a woman." I loved the description of Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and other suffragists invading Independence Hall in 1876 with their Declaration of the Rights of Women. "Yet we cannot forget that while all men of every race, clime, and condition have been invested with the full rights of citizenship, all women still suffer the degradation of disenfranchisement.” In later chapters, she connects other women to key parts of their writing and lives. For example, Stanton was involved in the abolition movement and was directly or indirectly tied to four different Harriets (including Harriet Beecher Stowe and Harriet Tubman). In the first part of this chapter, Ulrich discusses these four women, and then connects the abolition movement to the women's rights movement. Ulrich looks for women's lives in the daily humdrum of the ordinary. She has a great section on the three waves of feminism. One of the things that happened in the 70's was that historians began to refocus the historical lens, looking to see where women were throughout history. I was caught up in the section of the women's movement in the 70's with all its excitement and idealism. I love the way women tried to locate ignored women in history, to find a place for them and let their voices be heard. The story group of women that Ulrich worked with in Boston to research Mormon history and uncover my femal spiritual ancestors is inspiring and amazing. One thing that I like in this book more than in Collins was that Ulrich draws larger conclusions and women and their place in history, rather than simply marching through lives, era by era.
Now that it's been many months since I read this: my overall reaction to this book is the feeling of excitement and empowerment--to see strong and able women through the ages and to feel a kinship to them. The quotation at the top of my blog is from this Ulrich book, and the picture of Christine de Pizan at her computer, by Mary Yaeger, were taken from the book. When I read Ulrich's concluding paragraphs, I almost leapt off the elliptical machine at the gym I was so taken with it. And if I had not just lent it out to a friend, I would quote the entire paragraph here.
Instead, I will just reiterate this sentence: "A woman who write her own stories has no fear of demons."
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"Hi, I'm T. We're collecting food for a food drive and were wondering if you have any canned foods to donate." (with all the r's pronounced as w's.)
After Thanksgiving, we went to every house in our neighborhood (probably about 40) to ask for donations for the food pantry. The kids did great explaining what we were doing, and who can say no to a kid asking for a food donation?
I was amazed at how much stuff we managed to collect. I wish I had taken a photo. (Above is random photo of food drive found on the internet.) We will be doing this every year.
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Warning. I am going to complain.
I play the organ twice a month at church. I love it--twice a month is the perfect schedule for me. My favorite times of the year to play are Christmas and Easter. They are some of the few occasions when I can, literally, pull out all the stops. I can throw down some trumpet and really let the organ sound exuberant, joyful, and and jubilant. After all, we're talking about the birth and the resurrection of Jesus Christ here.
Christmas comes once a year. While we could sing Joy to the World in July, no one wants to do that. And with 15 songs in the hymn book devoted to Christmas topics, there isn't a lot of time to get to them all.
So you can imagine my dismay when I got the list of hymns for December and there were only four Christmas songs on the list. Four! Only four! A travesty. They included:
Silent Night
Oh Little Town of Bethlehem
Joy to the World
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.
I suppose these were chosen because there are supposedly the truly necessary Christmas songs??
So, which are missing? The First Noel. Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Oh Come All Ye Faithful. Far Far Away on Judea's Plains. Away in a Manger. Angels We Have Heard on High. How can we go through a December without singing these songs? A true travesty.
Why only four? Well,the person who picks the music has certain ideas about what music you can sing when. On Fast Sunday you have to sing fast songs, even in December. And on the final Sunday of December you have to sing a New Year's song and a hymn to commemorate the birth of Joseph Smith.
I protested. This is just not right. So, a few changes were made. We got to sing one Christmas song the first week in December--Oh Come All Ye Faithful. We don't have to sing It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (is there anyone who prefers this song to Angels We Have Heard on High? Or Hark the Herald? This is one of my least favorite Christmas songs) because someone is doing it as a special musical number.
I fought long and hard for Far Far Away. We haven't done it either of the last two years that we have been here. The person who chooses the music told me last year when I complained about not getting to sing it that it's too hard for the congregation to sing. What?? Who cares if they don't sound perfect. Let's give those basses a fun and interesting part for once.
The choir sang The First Noel last Sunday, and I got to play for them. Ok, one other song we don't have to try to squeeze in.
And then today, to top things off, church was cancelled because of the weather. I have heard that all of today's music (congregation and special musical numbers)will be rescheduled for next Sunday. But, it's a disappointment.
I have a bigger problem than the logistics of December music. And it is this: why are somber and reverent songs more important (and more often chosen) to sing than joyful, triumphant, and exuberant songs? I have a problem that the congregation does not get to join together more often to sing the hymns of Christmas. I think this is as important (if not more so--for how often does everyone get to participate together? Only through the hymns.) as having every possible vocalist and instrumentalist perform.
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On Sunday, MJ performed in both her winter recital and a Nutcracker show. She was really excited to learn two Nutcracker dances, and I let her go ahead with them, despite misgivings about her ability to learn and perform three separate dances. Well, she has been a trooper about practicing at home, rehearsing those dances over and over. She hasn't complained about it and has really stepped up to the challenge. It's been great to see her do this with such enthusiasm.
Watching the older girls at the recital, I wonder how long MJ will continue with dance. She has the interest and focus, and she can memorize her steps, but she doesn't have an abundance of grace and natural ability.
Seeing M dance recently, I thought about my brief history in any kind of organized sports. When we lived in Boise, my sister and I participated in gymnastics for several years. I was probably 7 to 10 years old. We went to meets and got ribbons. I still remember my beam and parallel bars routines. I also remember one of the coaches telling my mom that I had the concentration to be a gymnast and my sister had the body and talent to be a gymnast, and if she could just shake us up in a bag, we would be the perfect combination.
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Between my Obama post-election glow and a late Thanksgiving this year, I procrastinated Christmas preparations. Now, I'm paying for it. Thankfully, I wasn't in charge of any church parties this year.
AJ's mom was in town last weekend and we made a gingerbread train (wow--what a huge project! How do people do that every year?), decorated the house, went to the mega-display of nativities, and finished rehearsals for MJ's Nutcracker show. Then, on Sunday, we had two dance shows and T's preschool Christmas program.
Since MIL left, I've been working furiously on a photo book for my grandparents composed of photos from the stash we discovered this summer. I worked on that all day yesterday, trying to finish it up, then when MJ got home, we ran over to Target to find a Christmas-photo appropriate baby sweater, after which I wrangled the kids into their outfits and snapped photos of them in front of the tree. Next, it was up to the computer to send my pictures to Costco and to order cards. And finally, over to the church to practice the organ with the choir for Sunday. More on Christmas music in another post. Home by 9:15 to talk on the phone with my parents about the photo book and make corrections there. And then, downstairs to tackle the unfolded laundry. I didn't make it through the socks or MJ's batch.
We still need to get Christmas presents for the kids and other family members and then mail them, finish the Christmas letter and do all the cards, finish the photobook for my sister, work on the other do-it-myself Christmas gifts that are going to be awesome (more on those later when it won't need to be kept secret), and practice Christmas music for church. The kids want to go to the Holidazzle parade and there's the ward Christmas party.
For the most part, though, I'm having a good time peppered with moments of major stress.
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I still haven't taken down my Obama yard signs. I should. It's been really cold, and I say that's the reason. But, if I still want to bask a little longer, why shouldn't I? Soon enough will be Thanksgiving, then it's full speed ahead to Christmas.
The November 17 edition of the New Yorker is full of election round up. Four articles packed full of interesting summaries and analysis of this year's presidential election. One about how Obama won the election. One about McCain and his personal transformation to this year's candidate. So interesting. I loved this quote:
During the spring of the 2004 race, McCain campaigned tirelessly--"worked his tail off," in the words of Bush's press secretary--for the President. The following year, he assured conservatives that he would support Bush's tax cuts. More shocking, in the spring of 2006, he announced that he planned to give the commencement speech at Liberty University, which was run by Jerry Falwell--one of the so-called "agents of intolerance" and "forces of evil." Several week before the address, McCain appeared on "The Daily Show." Jon Stewart, who has said that he would have voted for McCain in 2000 had he won the Republican nomination, expressed consternation that McCain was paying tribute to the religious right. "It strikes me as something you wouldn't normally do," Stewart said. When McCain insisted that he would speak at any university, Stewart asked, "Are you going into crazy base world?" McCain hesistated, then said, "I'm afraid so."
There was an article--The Joshua Generation--about Obama and race and the way he navigated racial issues throughout his campaign. (I love that phrase Joshua Generation. Maybe it's been around for a while, but it's only been recently that I've noticed it.) The final big article is about how the intersection of the economic crisis and the future of the Democratic party. Good stuff.
Here's a quote from Hendrik Hertzberg in The Talk of the Town that I liked.
Barack Hussein Obama: last week, sixty-five million Americans turned a liability--a moniker so politically inflammatory that the full recitation of it was considered foul play--into a global diplomatic asset, a symbol of the resurgence of America's ability to astonish and inspire.
There's a great analysis of Obama's victory speech. Which reminds me. I forgot to mention earlier how moving it was to hear the call and response of "Yes we can" between Obama and the crowd in Grant Park during his victory speech.
And finally, a great cartoon: "He's suffering from excessive-poll-monitoring withdrawal."
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Speaking of Faith recently broadcast a two part series on the intersection between political party and religion. I started listening to the first episode last night, the view from the left. It was fabulous. Here is the blurb from the SofF website describing the episode:The Religious Right has gotten a fair amount of coverage in recent years, while the political Left has rarely been represented with a religious sensibility. Our guest, a national correspondent for Time magazine is a political liberal and an Evangelical Christian who has been observing the Democratic Party's complex relationship with faith and the little-told story of its response to the rise of the Religious Right.
I am looking forward to listening to part 2, the view from the right.
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Before the momentous feeling of this election has completely escaped from me, I had a few more things I wanted to capture.
1. The night of the election, CNN kept showing the electoral map. I was really amazed at the sea of blue from New England to Minnesota, all the way across the eastern half of the United States. I liked this quote from Nancy Gibbs in Time.
He let loose a deep blue wave that washed well past the coasts and the college towns, into the South through Virginia and Florida, the Mountain West with Colorado and New Mexico, into the Ohio Valley and the Midwestern battleground: you could almost walk from Maine to Minnesota without getting your feet wet in a red state.
2. I've been moved by the international reaction to the election of a black man to the presidency of the USA. I think that in many other countries, and I'm thinking specifically about Europe here, that minorities are much more isolated from public life and the idea of one being elected to such heights is staggering, but also inspiring. Just my thoughts, here. I just read about how a woman in Kenya named her twins, born on November 5, Michelle and Barack.
3. I liked this quote from Joe Klein:Obama's victory creates the prospect of a new "real" America. We can't possibly know its contours yet, although I suspect that the headline is that it is no longer homogeneous. It is no longer a "white" country, even though whites remain the majority. It is a place where the primacy of racial identity...has been replaced by the celebration of pluralism, of cross-racial synergy...IT is a country that retains its ability to startle the world--and in a good way, with our freedom.
4. A good friend recently moved to Chicago and happened to get a ticket to Grant Park the night of the election. I love that the Obama campaign held their election night rally in such a public place with the ability to accomodate so many people. Anyway, here is her account of the night, with some pictures. What an amazing experience to be there, but like my sister in Denver said, I think there was something in the air everywhere.
5. I loved reading about how Obama has had the same barber for the last 15 years. And the challenges of providing security to him and his family in Hyde Park.
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In the lead up to the election, I was reading a lot online: scanning the news, looking at polling data, etc. I was also stuck in the middle of a dense book that took a lot to get through. But, now that the election is over, I have been able to clear off a few things that have been sitting around.
With Child: Mormon Women on Mothering. Edited by Marni Asplund-Campbell. I ordered this in the wee hours of one morning that baby Z wasn't sleeping. I had heard about it before and was interested. It's a collection of essays--mostly personal, but some poetry and fiction, one more scholarly piece. The quality is uneven and I thought it needed more editing to give it a cohesive feeling. One of the pieces was fascinating--about a woman discovering a story about her grandmother. It wasn't until I finished it and read the follow-up essay that I realized it was a short story rather than a personal account. Anyway, my favorite was a piece by Martha Sonntag Bradley, author of the amazing book 4 Zinas. In it, she talks about her experience as a mother of daughters and seeing them go through birthing their own children. I love this part:I had the most remarkable experience during those ten minutes...I felt the tangible, palpable presence of a woman I study, Zina Diantha Young, herself a midwife present at the moment of her granddaughter, another Zina. Important to me was the warmth of the feeling, that I am sure came from her, that this was the most important miracle I would ever witness and that everything would be okay. That my daughter would be able to handle what this baby would bring to her and that their lives, and my own, would be better for the experience. I needed that comfort. And I believe Zina brought it to me.
This reminded me of my earlier imagination about the city of ladies. I would love to associate with both Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith Young and Martha Sonntag Bradley someday.
Lies my Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. By James Loewen. I started this one a few weeks before the election since it focused on American history. It is a combination of critiquing high school history textbooks and retelling the history they got wrong. It took me a long time to get through it and I skimmed portions of it. He really wanted to show example after example of the European, white, middle class bias that text books have. I thought it could have been winnowed down a lot, and that it lacked any really helpful information for how to teach history. But, it was interesting and it has made me think about how I talk about history with my kids, especially MJ. With Thanksgiving coming up, there is some interesting things to talk about. And I had a good (although short) conversation with her after Obama's victory about the history of African Americans in our country.
Song of the Lark. By Willa Cather. I really love Willa Cather. It's been a while since I have read anything by her, and I was glad that we did this one for bookgroup. Thea, the protagonist, is such a complicated and interesting character. The story revolves around her quest to become a singer. I don't know that I liked who she was, but I admired her and her fierce dedication to her art. Added to that were a lot of other quirky and interesting characters. Plus, Cather's writing is so beautiful. This is one of my favorite passages from the book, occurring right after Thea, as a 13 year old, takes over the attic for her room.The acquisition of this room was the beginning of a new era in Thea's life. It was one of the most important things that ever happened to her. Hitherto, except in summer,when she could be out of doors, she had lived in constant turmoil; the family, the day school, the Sunday-School. The clamor about her drowned the voice within herself. In the end of the wing, separated from the other upstairs sleeping-rooms by a long, cold, unfinished lumber room, her mind worked better. She thought things out more clearly. Pleasant plans and ideas occurred to her which had never come before. She had certain thoughts which were like companions, ideas which were like older and wiser friends. She left them there in the morning, when she finished dressing in the cold, and at night, when she came up with her lantern and shut the door after a busy day, she found them awaiting her. There was no possible way of heating the room, but that was fortunate, for otherwise it would have been occupied by one of her older brothers.
A room of one's own, indeed. I long for an attic spot of my own in our house. Everyone I turn are scattered the vestiges of my children's presence. I need to find a corner and make it mine. And then, if we ever move, seriously think about finding something with the potential for a real space of my own.
There is so much in Song of the Lark to think about. I am not doing it a bit of justice with this...
Wednesday Wars. By Gary Schmidt. This is a younger young adult book or an older children's book. I'm not sure what the cut-off there is. Anyway, the protaganist is an anti-hero in the form of a seventh grade boy, interestingly named Holling Hoodhood. Here's my goodreads review.
Cross the normal travails of a seventh grade boy with the turmoil of 1967-1968, throw in an English teacher with a penchant for diagramming sentences and Shakespeare, a peace loving, flower child sister, and two distant and neglectful parents, not to mention two rogue rats, and a delightful coming of age story emerges.
Here's the NYTimes review of it.
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My mom's extended family has a MyFamily website that we use to share recipes, good news, and the normal cute pictures of kids. It's a good way to keep better in touch with family that I rarely see.
On Tuesday night, after the election, one of my aunts put up a tidbit in the news section entitled "The Big Move" and then said, "K (her husband) is singing O Canada tonight." (To which I thought, are you going to escape the socialism that is supposedly coming to America by going to Canada???) One of my cousins replied to that, saying "We are going to stay here, just moving everything else offshore... What a mess."
I thought of some snide remarks that I could have made. But, I didn't say anything until later on Wednesday. I posted what I thought was non-confrontational, and understanding of the fact that this family is deeply conservative and Republican.
I know most of you probably disagree with Obama's politics, but does
anyone find any inspiration in his personal story, in the historic nature of a
black man becoming president, and in his message of unity and hope?
Not many people responded (which I guess I take to mean that no, they didn't find any inspiration in the campaign, that their disagreement and fear (and it is fear, I think, for at least some of them) of his politics overrode the other issues. So, whatever.
But, when I returned to the site later in the day, someone had changed my last phrase to read "and in his message of unity, hope, and socialism." And there was no attribution or signal as to who had changed it. It was as if these were the original words from my mouth. Now, we can have a conversation about the boogey-man that socialism has become in this election season, or about why a large proportion of the American electorate despise the idea of socialism (even though our country is far from a completely free market system). But, I was bugged that someone would rewrite my words and misrepresent me. So, I immediately wrote to protest. Something to the effect of "who did this? This isn't what I wrote." And I got a couple of responses, but no one admitted anything.
Then, later that night, I checked back, and the whole thread discussing the mysterious changing of my words has been deleted. As if it had never happened. Seriously? Censorship?
I put up another post acting like the whole thing was a joke, ha ha, tell us who's doing this, but now, two days later, no one will admit to a thing.
Was the change in my original post supposed to not be noticed by me? And then when I caught it, no one would take responsibility for it? If it was a joke, I find it hard to believe no one has owned up to it yet. I am bugged that someone who thinks Obama is a socialist wouldn't just come out and own that idea, but rather would just blame it on me.
Unfortunately, the administrator power of the website is dispersed across the 11 children in the family, and spouses and children probably also have some access to editing and deleting power. I looked at the time log of when people saw the post, but haven't been able to figure anything definitive out.
So, should I let it drop? Should I make one more passing comment on the thread? I find this really strange...
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Today, the UPS man drove up to deliver my Barack Obama bumper stickers that I ordered back in early September. And, while I ordered an interesting oval emblazoned with "Yes We Can", I got a plain old Obama '08. Oh well. They probably waited until after the election to send out everyone's backordered gear hoping that we would be so overjoyed with the election results we wouldn't feel angry about out seriously late and replaced orders. This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight. . . .
We wanted to go to friends to watch election returns. But, alas, babysitters for late evenings on school nights are impossible to locate. So, we resorted to staying at home, with our own election night events. We hustled the kids into bed and got out our own dinner. We decided to go with liberal, elite food, although perhaps good old fashioned chili and apple pie would be more in the spirit of Obama's campaign. Instead, though, we opted for steak sandwiches on pesto bread with arugula and goat cheese, goat cheese stuffed mushrooms, and chocolate souffle.
The first thrill of the night was hearing Pennsylvania called for Obama. Ohio followed shortly afterwards, and all of a sudden, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Obama had it in the bag. It was exciting to watch the electoral and see red states change to blue states. Virginia! Exciting. Florida? Fabulous. And what??? Indiana??? For Obama? Wow! I filled out my election bracket and even I, who wanted to generate a landscape shifting, full sweep for Obama, didn't pick Indiana to go for him. So far, though, it was the only state I mis-predicted.. And if Missouri goes for McCain then I have 50/51. Yippee!
Just after 10 pm our time, when the west coast polls closed and the networks began calling the election for Obama, there was a knock on our door. Our neighbor D came over to bask in an Obama victory. A couple of minutes later, there was another knock, and the whole J family was on the doorstep with champagne and goblets. D brought us some Sierra Mist, and we went out and toasted to 4 years with Obama. It was an unseasonably warm day, so we stood outside talking for quite a while .
Then, back inside to hear the concession and victory speeches. I was moved to tears by McCain. He was gracious and kind, and maybe I'm being naive, but he made me believe that he would work with President Obama on all these huge issues America faces. I wondered if he regretted the nasty turns his campaign took at the end. From his speech:In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance. But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving.
And then, to listen to President-Elect Obama. It was inspiring to see the throngs of people who had gathered in Grant Park and in downtown Chicago to celebrate. I loved looking at all the different faces--old and young, black, brown, and white, and from across the entire economic spectrum. Looking at them, I saw the broad swath of Americans who have supported him and I felt hope that the polarization that has divided our country might lessen. Again, probably naive, but the line from Lincoln that Obama quoted is what I want to hang my hat on:
“We are not enemies, but friends — though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.”
I loved his invocation of Ann Nixon Cooper, the 106 year old voter, and the way he was able to use her lifetime to talk about the progress we have made as Americans.
As he spoke, my heart was in my throat and I couldn't hold back the tears. This is such a milestone for our country. "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible,... tonight is your answer." I was moved seeing Jesse Jackson's tear stained face.
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So, I probably don't deserve any gifts from you. But, I sure am glad that Halloween is so perfect. It feels like fall, not winter today. I'm thrilled I don't have to dress my kids in their coats, hats, and gloves like that first Halloween we were here. And I keep hearing about that ghastly Halloween blizzard of '91. But, this day is the best of what fall has to offer. And even though all of the leaves are gone from most of my trees, that stubborn maple in the front has finally turned yellow and is just now dropping its leaves. It feels like maybe winter isn't quite about to turn the corner on me.
Anyway, thanks. I'll try to remember this day when the winter seems like it will never end.
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But, she's not my representative. Ugh. I had to giggle when I heard how much money her opponent raised since her inflammatory statements.
I am really sick of the argument from Palin and others that people who don't support them aren't real Americans. Jon Stewart hit the nail on the head about this last night.
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By Neil Gaiman.
Creepy. Coraline discovers a mirror world just on the other side of a door in her flat that supposedly leads to nowhere. She finds her other mother and her other father. Perhaps the strangest detail about them: they have black button eyes. She has to save herself, rescue her true parents, and save the souls of three other children using her wits and summoning her bravery.
The black cat that can travel between the worlds is a marvelous and enigmatic character. "We -- we could be friends, you know," Coraline says to the cat, which replies back to her "We could be rare specimens of an exotic breed of African dancing elephants." Nevertheless, the cat stays with her, and even provides help, later on.
Creepy. And perfect for October. I wonder when I should encourage MJ to read it. Maybe next October.
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By Michael Pollan. Because I'm lazy, I'm just going to basically copy my GoodReads review for this one.
The best part of this book is the way Pollan disuputes the basic premises of nutrional science--the whole idea that food can be simply reduced to its nutritional components, that the primary purpose of eating is to maintain health, and that the effects of nutrients can be scientifically measured. It made me realize how much nutrional science shapes what and how I think about food.
However, I found myself bogged down into too many details of antioxidents and amino acids and other nutritional explanations. And to me, it didn't deliver the profound punch of Omnivore's Dilemma. I liked this one so much better and decided to change my GoodReads rating from 4 to 5 stars. It started out as an article for the NYTimes Magazine, and reading that may have been enough for me. I listened to a podcast of a talk he gave in SLC and liked the summarized version a lot better.
The last section on some practical applications of his ideas has made me think a lot more about the kinds of ingredients in foods. I've looked at a lot of food labels to see what's in my food and I think it is a good idea to go to less processed foods. Maybe I will pull out the old bread maker and bake bread for us.
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All the leaves have fallen off two of the trees in my yard. And another tree is just about totally done too. It happened so fast--we went from trees full of yellow leaves to piles of crunchy leaves on the ground in a matter of a few days. At least we still have some reds and other green left. When I stopped to think about it a couple of days ago, I realized that we have had leaves for only 5 months this year since spring was so late in coming.
A few years ago, we were talking about fall with a friend. And he said that while he loved fall, the threat of winter loomed over him and he couldn't fully enjoy it. I thought that was strange and somewhat silly. But, this is exactly how I feel this year. Summer rushed by. I didn't get sick of the long days of sunshine or the heat. I wasn't ready for the cooler weather. And yet, here it already is. Every time I see the leaves falling, I feel a little depressed.
The thing I like least about living here is the long winter and the bitter cold parts of winter. I made AJ promise that we would never even consider living somewhere colder than here.
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It all began in the spring of 2004. I was helping some friends in a move. "Helping" by writing down what the professional moves put into packing boxes. They were packing the kitchen and each box took a fair amount of time, what with having to wrap all the dishes. I didn't bring any reading material with me, so my friend handed me a copy of the New Yorker. She had picked it up at a newsstand because the cover article was about Israeli settlers and the problems that have cropped up with these fierce Zionists. It was one of those dense 20-page-no-pictures New Yorker articles that goes on and on, but is engaging and fascinating and meaty. I didn't finish it before I had to leave, and had to get an online copy later. But, before I got to that article, I started by reading a profile of a young Illinois state representative who was running for senate. It was the first time I ever heard of Barack Obama. And after I heard him speak at the 2004 DNC convention, I was smitten. (wiping a tear from my eye now.)
I started subscribing to the New Yorker shortly afterwards, and have never let my subscription lapse. I have read a good portion of every New Yorker since then.
Recently, I have been trying to catch up on my New Yorker reading. We were out of town for several weeks in August. By the time we got back, there were three or four waiting for me. And I haven't really caught up since then. This past week, I was in the middle of several issues. I think it was because of where they were located around the house--one near my bed that I read before going to sleep, one in the kitchen that was easy to grab while eating breakfast and lunch, and one in the front room that I would read at random times. That's very different than my normal New Yorker reading pattern. So, I am very happy to report that I have put to rest the issues I was simultaneously reading.
This is how I usually read a New Yorker. I first look at the cover art. More on that later. Then, I browse the table of contents to see what I have to look foward to. I must read sequentially: I start with the first tidbit in Talk of the Town and go to the cartoon caption contest on the last page. When I first started getting it in the mail, I obsessively read it from cover to cover. I have gotten to the point where I can skip articles now after I have read at least the first little bit of them. I often skip the theater and music reviews at the end. And I rarely read the fiction or Shouts and Murmers, the humor page. AJ skips around. He'll glance at one article, start reading another, and he usually always starts with Shouts and Murmers. No, not me. I like being systematic in my New Yorker reading.
Ok, about the covers. Mostly they are interesting and tied to some current event. It was fun to see the New Yorker in the news a while back with the infamous Barack-and-Michelle-as-terrorists-and-flag-burners cover. (I thought the tumult was way overblown about that, by the way. ) The anniversary issue always has a man in a top hat with a monocle, the classic New Yorker image, and this year's--in the middle of primary season-- had a double image of Barack and Hillary. I have been saving covers that I really like for a while now, and a few years back, AJ took a few of them to make me a collage of covers. It's hanging in our office now. And I still need to frame a cover I put up top from November 2006 of a man sitting on a mountain of books reading. I want to hang it in my reading corner.
When I think back on my New Yorker reading, there are so many great articles that spring to mind: the inner working of UPS, the wonders and craziness of Dubai, a portrait of short cooks in Las Vegas, the series on climate change by Elizabeth Kolbert, the coverage of Iraq including the abominable US treatment of Iraqi's who assisted us (i.e., translators and the like), the immigration holding center in Texas where families are detained, the Pluto-as-planet? controversy. I could go on and on. The writers are top notch--some of my favorites, in addition to Kolbert, are Malcolm Gladwell, Jeffrey Toobin, and Atul Gawande. I love the New Yorker because the content is not really about current events, although there is some of that of course. It's just interesting and engaging topics that I would probably never learn about it other ways. The people profiled spring to life from their pages.
I have been getting emails and seeing the magazine advertisements about the New Yorker festival which just happened in NYC. Events are scattered around the city, with talks, panels, and readings. Oooh. I dream about going someday.
I always tend to gush when I meet a fellow New Yorker reader. I immediately feel like we're kindred spirits and I tend to talk non-stop about the New Yorker until I realize what I'm doing and get embarrassed. I have daydreamed about crosstabbing the New Yorker subscriptions with the church's MLS data base to get a list of Mormon New Yorker readers in my area because wouldn't we all want to get together for dinner? And couldn't we all be great friends?
As a final indicator of my New Yorker geekiness: Every time I see the complete New Yorker on portable hard drive (including every page of every issue from February 1923), I get excited. I covet. My practical self says I wouldn't do much of anything with it. But that doesn't make the hunger for it dissipate at all. Even if I just browsed the cover art, wouldn't it be worth it? Wouldn't it????
Well, the politics issue hit my mail box this week. I think I'm going to go snuggle up in my bed and crack the cover.
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
We read this one for book group this month. I wasn't too excited to read it--a few years back I read it when AJ's mom told me how much she liked it, and after I finished, I wondered what all the fuss was about. I reread it in the few days right before book group and it was good to reread. I thought it was a great portrait of a time and place (Brooklyn, Williamsburg, right before WWI) and it was honest in its portrayal of the grinding reality of poverty. The preface to the edition I read, written by Anna Quindlen, talked about how it was both honest and true. True--meaning that it speaks to issues much larger than the book itself. I didn't see those as much. Maybe because I sped through it? Or maybe because they didn't resonate with me? Not sure, but most people I know love this book. I thought it was good. And a fine choice, but I didn't love it.
The City of Ember by Jeanne Deprau
One of the girls in my primary class has talked a lot about this book, so I decided to pick it up. It's a children's book--in fact, I wondered if MJ could handle it. Maybe in a few months. The story is about a city that is underground--stores are diminished, light bulbs are running out, and the massive generator is failing. Like most children's literature, the two heros of the book are children who have little adult supervision or intervention. They happen upon the secret to leave the city and embark on the journey out, with the intention to find a way to help rescue the rest of the city residents. The plot stretched credulity at time, the characters were not nuanced, the writing was so-so, but I can see how a kid would really like this book.
I'm ready to turn back to some good non-fiction. I just got Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food from the library. I think that will be next.
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By Kirsten Miller. This is the second Kiki Strike book. It was fun, but not as good as the first. I didn't think the story hung together as well and didn't captivate me like Shadow City. Miller introduces a male character into the circle of friends of the Irregulars that I thought didn't really meld into the story. The strengths of the first book--the detective manual aspects and the snide comments about society's under-expectations girls--were not as strong here.
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By James McWilliams Interesting history of the battle against insects. I haven't really thought much about the amount of damage they can do to agriculture. Except for the famous story of the locusts invading the Utah crops and the miraculous delivery by the gulls. McWilliams traces the role of entomologists in the attempts to control, and then later to exterminate, insects. Early on, in the 1800's, control strategies were focused on biological control (finding natural predators) and local strategies, delivered from the ground up by the farmer. Later, starting in the early 1900's, entomologists were more interested in global control delivered in the form of pesticides.
I skimmed a lot of this book. It seemed somewhat repetitive in parts. And the chronology was sometimes wacky. I liked the last chapter the best which focused on Rachel Carson and Silent Spring (thank you Dan for bringing her to my awareness!) and the way her work turned the public against DDT.
Coulda been a New Yorker article. Oh, and interested tidbit. Silent Spring was published in serial format in the New Yorker.
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By Rachel Pastan. In the first scene of this book, Jane gives birth to her daughter Maisie.The nurse wrapped the baby in a blanket and handed her to Jane, a bundle so light it seemed to weigh less than the completed chapters of her dissertation
With that one sentence, I was hooked. This is a book with beautiful writing and imagery about the profound ambivalence that some women feel about motherhood and career. This ambivalence started for Jane the moment Maisie was born.She was glad to have Maisie back in her arms where she belonged. Nothing was sweeter than holding her daughter, except for all the times she longed to put her down.
What a perfect description of how I feel, both in general and specifically with my baby Z.
Jane is a brilliant scholar of Russian literature, specializing in Karkov. She is passionate about her work, and when she finishes her dissertation, she lands a plum job at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The book centers on the knife's edge she tries to walk on, as she attempts to both mother her child and continue her research. During the course of her novel, she digs into the archives to research the diaries of Karkov's wife, and makes an amazing discovery. Both story lines flow together well, although the plot seems a bit contrived at parts.
By the end, Jane understands that her conflicted feelings "would never be banished … the guilt, and the worry about what the right thing was. You could pluck it the way she plucked shiny leaves of goutweed by the driveway, but the blind white roots always thrust up more.”
I really liked this book. There's a lot in it that I can relate to. I'm not as passionate about a particular field as Jane is, making it easier for me to find intellectual diversions from the day to day with home and kids. And I think that these will always be issues for me too, at least on some levels. Gender roles and work and family.
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By Kirsten Miller One of the girls in my primary class has been talking about this book a lot, lauding it all the time, trying to persuade us all to read it, and utilizing plot points in random ways through the whole lesson.
Well, I read it this week and it is a super fun book. I wish that I could have read it when I was 10 or 11. Nancy Drew wouldn't stand a chance against Kiki Strike--part detective, but more super-agent-secret-spy. She and her gang of the Irregulars (including experts in surveillance, disguise, and explosives) discover and explore the secret underworld of New York City and foil nefarious plots while their parents are left totally clueless. In a great twist, the villain is a beautiful, rich, but mean hearted princess. There are no male heroes in this story--the girls rely on their smarts and toughness to get out of sticky and dangerous situations (including their escape from thousands of creepy overgrown Manhattan rats). In addition to the great story, the narrator, Ananka, adds tips on topics like how to lie and detect liars, and "how to kick some butt". I was so drawn in that I thought, momentarily at least, that I could personally escape a kidnapping plot or trail someone without getting caught. Kiki, Ananka, and Irregulars are tough and smart. Sidney Bristow, just a few years younger. Full of awesome girl power.
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I had started to get a little bored with the presidential campaigning. I watched a lot of the DNC convention during prime time. I loved Michelle Obama, I thought the Clintons did well, and I liked Obama's speech, although I wasn't riveted to it.
Then, the McCain campaign announced their choice for VP. Sarah Palin. And all of a sudden, I was once again obsessed with the campaigns.
There have been so many things swirling through my head since then, and I just want to spew them all out. Yes, I will spew. This is my own blog and I will not weigh my words as I usually so when I discuss politics with others. I am surrounded by family and friends who are mostly conservative and being adverse to contention, I rein in what I say. But, not here. Not now.
1. Did the McCain campaign really think they could pick up Hillary supporters with the Palin pick? Unless the only reason that supporters chose Hillary was because she was female. They are extremely different candidates, with such different policy objectives, but lots of women seem to love Palin. I guess it's because she's just so down-home. Haven't we had enough of that though?
2. Maybe the campaign was more interested in shoring up its support among the conservative evangelical base in picking Palin. And it seems like that is what happened. The base has been suspicious of McCain's conservative creds ever since the primaries began. Well, ever since a lot earlier than that. But Palin has everything they like. Strong resistance to abortion and gay marriage. And... Hmm. What else do they really care about?
3. The Palin pick only solidifies my perception that McCain is CRAZY! She wasn't properly vetted. He chose her at the last minute after meeting her briefly. And only after the conservatives threw a fit about him considering a more pro-choice pick like Ridge or Lieberman. So, he bowed to their demands and chose a virtual unknown without giving it a lot of thought. It could turn out to be a brilliant choice, or it could turn out to be horrible. Just that whim decision though. Kinda worrisome to me. "We just can't blink." Again, haven't we had enough of that? I want someone to weigh options, who will talk to lots of people, and think through reasoned approaches.
4. I wonder about her experience. I don't think her recent interviews show that she has a strong enough grasp of relevant policy issues to be the VP to what would be the oldest president ever elected. (You can see Russia from Alaska? What?)
5. Ok, and what about the RNC convention? I thought her convention speech (along with Giuliani and the others who spoke on Wed night of the RNC) were mocking, derisive, and full of partisan rancor and had nothing much to say about their own platforms, but were just basically trying to rip Obama apart. That really bothered me, especially their barbs about community organizing, which in a party that supports local government and grass roots movements felt hypocritical and curious.
So, yeah, I hated the bits I saw of the RNC convention. Palin had nothing substantive to say. Except for a few bits of misinformation about her record. "Thanks but no thanks"? Not so much. And the crowd? They were crazy. They get worked up and excited about Giuliani and Palin mocking Obama's experience in community organizing? They chant "zero zero" over and over to emphasize that the Dems have no executive experience with the Reps have what, 20 months as governor of Alaska? Oh, and don't forget Palin's time as mayor of a town of 5000 people. Ok, so they definitely have the upper hand on experience. And then "drill, baby, drill". The whole lackadaisical approach to energy and thinking that we can drill our way out of high gas prices? I don't like it.
And I got a kick out of Giuliani making fun of "cosmopolitan" to build up "small town". And Romney excoriating the "eastern elite." Really? CRAZY.
6. One more thing about Palin. I'm not sure about the mother thing. What I liked about her: she has come to a position of power in a non-traditional way, as did Pelosi. It's good to have female role models for various career routes. But, she has a newborn with Down's plus four other kids, which include a pregnant daughter. It seems like an awful lot for someone to take on, and I would say the exact same thing of a father in the same position. I have to ask myself: am I harder on her because she's a woman? Perhaps. I feel conflicted about this.
7. Now that he has won the primary and chosen Palin, McCain is back to being a maverick. Supposedly. I liked the McCain of 2000 a lot better than I do now. Now that he has been pandering to the far right wing of the Republican party.
8. McCain is trying to co-opt the change message. Excuse me though? You're the party of change? What? I don't know where this number comes from, so maybe I shouldn't cite it, but supposedly McCain has voted with Bush 90-95% of the time. I don't see how there is going to be much change with McCain in the White House.
9. It bothers me that the main campaigning strategy of the Republicans is to tear down Obama rather than push their own platforms. And that they are distorting Obama's strengths and turning them into weaknesses. Charisma is now celebrity. Education at Harvard is elite rather than resume strengthening. Is Palin's 5 random colleges, one of which she essentially failed out of, somehow better than Columbia and Harvard Law? Oh, yeah. She's one of us. And he probably got in with affirmative action.
10. Let's discuss this "elite" thing a bit more. Sidenote: why is eating arugula now the symbol of elitism? Ok, what I don't get is how Republicans are tarring the Dems with the label elite when Bush is a Yale grad with tons of money, when McCain comes from a string of Navy admirals and his wife is totally loaded with what, 8 houses? And those who question Palin's credentials and experiences are elites.
11. Ok, ok. So, we've all heard the pitbull with lipstick joke a few hundred times now. But, why is a pitbull so afraid of the media? That the campaign won't allow anyone to interview Palin who won't respect her and show deference for her? That her motherhood is off limits for discussion, and that we can't discuss Bristol's pregnancy--it's a family matter, and oh yeah, it makes her just like us again--but, yet she parades her family and brand new baby around the convention and makes her motherhood part of her campaign image.
After the RNC convention, I was simmering for a while. I was so bothered by the tone, by the speeches, by the way they mocked "community organizing." (I think that is one of Obama's strengths--he has actually been on the ground dealing with poverty and all its accompanying problems. ) But watching Jon Stewart and the Daily Show's coverage of the RNC all in one night, though, it felt so good to laugh REALLY hard. They were able to turn all my issues around and make me laugh. And though I'm still bothered, I don't feel quite as enraged.
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By Robert Zimmerman. This is the interesting story of the Hubble Space Telescope: the long process from conception to funding to building to launching to mistakes and fixing them and then to finally oberserving the universe from beyond the constraints of the earth's atmosphere.
There were lots of interesting pieces in the story of how we have Hubble. It's amazing that it ever worked at all. I am reminded of a quotation from a 5 year old girl I knew in NYC who was obsessed with space. "NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1992 but there was a glitch." A glitch indeed.
But the best part of the book was the chapter on what we have learned with Hubble. And the accompanying photos. They are truly amazing. One of my favorites was where Hubble was trained on a supposedly blank section of the sky. This is what Hubble found. No, those aren't stars, those are GALAXIES! This picture gives me goose bumps.
Hubble has given us photographic evidence for the vastness and grandeur of the universe. Looking at a galaxy like this one--the Sombrero Galaxy--from the vantage of Hubble and Earth feels a little bit like some kind of omniscience.
Even more breathtaking to consider are the amazingly distant objects that Hubble has been able to observe, providing a look back in time. Because of the time it takes light to travel, observers on earth aren't able to see objects in the sky until their light reaches us. Hubble has been able to observe phenomena that are BILLIONS of light-years away. What that means is that astronomers are literally able to look back in time to BILLIONS of years ago to places where star formation is going on (or should I say "was going on"???) at a furious pace. Time all of sudden feels very different from the linear and simultaneous earth-perspective of time.
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by Dan Koeppel. I got the idea for this one from a NYT op-ed. While the op ed was interesting, the book wasn't so much. Based on a good idea, the writing wasn't stellar. The author jumped around in both topic and chronology. It started to lose me and then I scanned the last third. A section of the way banana companies were involved in the 1954 overthrow of a democratically elected Guatemalan president was interesting, but too brief. The story just didn't hang together well.
Just read the op ed.
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On Saturday, I went to the farmer's market first thing in the morning. After rereading parts of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle for book group this month, I was determined to take advantage of the local bounty before cold weather sets in. I wanted not only to eat some delicious vegetables, but to preserve some for the long winter months ahead. I walked out of the market with 33 zucchini, probably 20 peppers, a huge box of roma tomatoes, a couple of eggplants, several large bunches of basil, and some onions.By Saturday night, I had 6 bags grated zucchini, 12 bags of sliced peppers and onions, and 14 containers of sauced tomatoes for spaghetti and pizza. And for dinner on Sunday, we had delicious pasta with fresh pesto and tomatoes and a mouth watering ratatouille. Unfortunately, I didn't get apples from the farmer's market, and ended up staring at the granny smiths from Chile at the grocery store. I bought them and made a delcious apple crisp. Does that purchase cancel out all the good from buying locally? Small steps, right?? No matter, our dinner was a delectable way to welcome in the start of fall.
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My latest obsession is Boggle. I hadn't played in years, and then when we were on vacation, I played with AJ's parents and my sis and her hubby. AJ's parents had a really cool travel set. It has a nice soft sided zipper case and electronic timer. And instead of the old school brown plastic case for the letters, there is a prettier light blue one. And when you shake the letters, the sound isn't as loud and jarring. Ha! Funny that all the asthetics impacted me so much.
Anyway, I got Boggle for us. I knew AJ would like it because he's a big fan of word games. He was dubious at first, but then warmed up to it and we've had a great time playing it. It stored under the bed, so we can play a few rounds whenever. With only three minutes to find words, you don't have to make a big time committment to play. Like last night. We played one round and then AJ had to go to bed in order to get up for seminary. More often, though, it's "just one more game."
The best rounds are when the words come popping out of the board at you. And you can keep writing almost non-stop until the buzzer rings.
I haven't gotten any seven- or eight-letter words yet. But, AJ scored the coup of all our playing with RAWHIDE and RAWHIDES. For a total of 17 points. I had no idea eight letter words were worth 11 points.
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I wish I knew the stories behind these photos and why they were in the box of my grandparents' pictures. Maybe with a little research, I can dig something up... 
We took a bunch of stuff back to our hotel to look at one night, and the next morning, he asked us if we had found the small framed picture of his mother. It was taken when she was older and was in a pretty oval frame. Yes! we exclaimed. We had it, we could bring it to him. He was excited about it and wanted to put it up in his living room. After we had gone through everything, scanned many photos, and were preparing to take it all back, my mom was looking for the framed photo of Mabel, his mother. She had set it out special knowing how he was looking forward to it. She couldn't find it. It wasn't where she left it. We all started searching. We search through the entire hotel suite we were all staying in. My mom called the front desk to ask about a lost and found. Was there any way she could have taken it to breakfast? We looked inside the sofa bed. We pulled the drapes back. We tried to get my sister's three year old daughter to cough out its location. Tempers flared and we snapped at each other. I was on the verge of tears because I was so upset about it and because I wasn't getting enough sleep. Finally, my sister found it tucked upside down in the corner of one of the drawers in her bathroom. It turns out that the box my mom set it on was just the perfect height for a curious 16 month old. He must have picked it up and found a special place to put it. I was just so grateful we found it and we all vowed not to ever tell my grandpa that it was lost for a while.
Part of my three weeks away from Minnesota was spent in Seattle. My dad grew up there and my grandparents still live in the city there. They moved to a retirement/assisted living community probably about 10 years ago. My grandpa is now 88 and my grandma 86. My sister and I decided that to see each other, we would meet up there this summer since my grandma's health hasn't been good and because we don't know when we will be able to see them again. Then, two other sisters and my parents also joined us, making it quite the family gathering. I left MJ and T with AJ's parents and flew there for an extended weekend.Part of what I wanted to do while I was there was talk to my grandpa about his life. That didn't turn out too well. Mostly, it was just too chaotic. Even when there were just adults in their home, two people would be off on the side gabbing. I would sit right next to my grandpa and asked him lots of questions, but it was hit and miss and we didn't record anything.But, another objective was to look through old family photos. They have a storage closet in the basement of their building, with boxes of pictures that I don't think anyone has looked at in years, if ever. We brought a scanner and laptop and convinced my grandpa it was worth it to get them out. And boy, was it worth it. We found sooo many great photos. There were several times I gasped in pure amazement and joy at our discoveries. The above picture is my grandparents on the their wedding day in 1945.I was particularly interested in finding any photos of my grandpa's dad, Jocko--one of the Giacomos in the family. He came to the US when he was a kid, and always lived in communities of Italians. He was Catholic, at least on paper. 
This group of men on their beer and french bread picnic is one of my favorites. It was probably taken in the early 1900's because my great grandpa (sitting on the left with the white shirt and suspenders ) looks so young. I love his curly hair--part of my family's heritage.There were several pictures that it seemed like my grandpa had never seen. We found an exquisite picture of his parents on their wedding day in 1913. He snatched that one up so fast and then make several color copies of it because he didn't want it to be lost. Unfortunately, the scan of it didn't turn out too well because of the high gloss on the photo.
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