Friday, June 30, 2006
South for the Summer
This is our last day in the United States. Tomorrow morning we fly down to South America, landing in Santiago, Chile. From there it will be a wonderous 7 week adventure. Please check here often for updates and pictures, I will try to post frequently!
Monday, June 19, 2006
If I had a planner
Is it healthy to be very busy? There are so many things to do and places to be that my overflowing head is swirling. I do not mind the occassional swirling, but even my hands started shaking yesterday. (This is a normal stress reaction, for me. What about you?) Thankfully, this stress, my stress, is manageable. It can be gently wrapped as an origami flower and temporarily tucked away by meaningful events. Even more thankfully, meaningful events are striking daily. Let's go back in time...
Friday: Booked it out of school (even dismissed the students early) to the rental car that delivered me safe-and-sound to the lovely residence of my parents and grandmother. We were lucky enough to catch a few sunrays together. They really want grandkids. Scott, I hope you are ready, because you know I pass this ball to you every time!
Saturday: Woke up in the yellow room of my parent's house, stumbled over Keba's fur piles to a cup of coffee with my mom in the sunshine. The house looks great, for it is now fully-equipped with an outdoor shower, front door and a new color. Good times (indeed) every time.
Sunday: Reluctantly drove to the pad in DC. Then, Jaime, Liz, and I strolled to get in line at the 9:30 Club for folk-master Ani DiFranco. As we played "catch-up" we patiently awaited the arrival, the arrival, the arrival of... yesss-in-deedy!, the arrival of Kristen and Liz back to the east coast. These mind-swirling friends joined us in line and the weekend was properly sealed. Guaranteed recipe for fun: Four of your closest friends and live music on a hot summer day. Thanks to my lovely friends for a grand time!
NOW, Monday: The last, LAST, (did you read that?), laST! week of school has begun. I honestly remember pausing during one of my late October classes to tell myself, "It will eventually be the last week, but *insert negative, stress-out exclamations of doubt and despair*! This week will be full of deep slow breathes as I try, just as hard as the students, to get to Friday, a.k.a., the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!
New Information!
Worthy Organic Wines:
American
Frey Vineyards
Benzinger
Badger Mountain
Oregon's King Estate
Orteans Hill
LaRocca
Coturri
Australian
Temple Breur
Alsace
Eugene Meyer
Italy
Casina DiCormia
Organic Vodka:
Rain Vodka
Good drink with Rain Vodka:
vodka to taste, apple juice, splash of lime
or
vodka to taste, pomegranate juice, splash of lime
Friday: Booked it out of school (even dismissed the students early) to the rental car that delivered me safe-and-sound to the lovely residence of my parents and grandmother. We were lucky enough to catch a few sunrays together. They really want grandkids. Scott, I hope you are ready, because you know I pass this ball to you every time!
Saturday: Woke up in the yellow room of my parent's house, stumbled over Keba's fur piles to a cup of coffee with my mom in the sunshine. The house looks great, for it is now fully-equipped with an outdoor shower, front door and a new color. Good times (indeed) every time.
Sunday: Reluctantly drove to the pad in DC. Then, Jaime, Liz, and I strolled to get in line at the 9:30 Club for folk-master Ani DiFranco. As we played "catch-up" we patiently awaited the arrival, the arrival, the arrival of... yesss-in-deedy!, the arrival of Kristen and Liz back to the east coast. These mind-swirling friends joined us in line and the weekend was properly sealed. Guaranteed recipe for fun: Four of your closest friends and live music on a hot summer day. Thanks to my lovely friends for a grand time!
NOW, Monday: The last, LAST, (did you read that?), laST! week of school has begun. I honestly remember pausing during one of my late October classes to tell myself, "It will eventually be the last week, but *insert negative, stress-out exclamations of doubt and despair*! This week will be full of deep slow breathes as I try, just as hard as the students, to get to Friday, a.k.a., the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!
New Information!
Worthy Organic Wines:
American
Frey Vineyards
Benzinger
Badger Mountain
Oregon's King Estate
Orteans Hill
LaRocca
Coturri
Australian
Temple Breur
Alsace
Eugene Meyer
Italy
Casina DiCormia
Organic Vodka:
Rain Vodka
Good drink with Rain Vodka:
vodka to taste, apple juice, splash of lime
or
vodka to taste, pomegranate juice, splash of lime
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Friday, June 02, 2006
Chile's plea
(This is a copy of a recent email. I did a little research and the severity is real, sad and too-true. Read on...)
In the Valle de San Felix, the purest water in Chile runs from two rivers, fed by two glaciers. Water is a most precious resource, and wars will be fought for it.Indigenous farmers use the water, there is no unemployment, and they provide the second largest source of income for the area. Under the glaciers has been found a huge deposit of gold, silver and other minerals.To get at these, it would be necessary to break, to destroy the glaciers - something never conceived of in the history of the world - and to make two huge holes, each as big as a whole mountain, one for extraction and one for the mine's rubbish tip.
The project is called PASCUA LAMA. The company is called Barrick Gold. The operation is planned by a multi-national company, one of whose members is George Bush Senior (what a surprise, eh?).The Chilean Government has approved the project to start this year.The only reason it hasn't started yet is because the farmers have got a temporary stay of execution.
If they destroy the glaciers, they will not just destroy the source of specially pure water, but they will permanently contaminate the two rivers so they will never again be fit for human or animal consumption because of the use of cyanide and sulphuric acid in the extraction process. Every last gram of gold will go abroad to the multinational company and not one will be left with the people whose land it is.They will only be left with the poisoned water and the resulting illnesses.
The farmers have been fighting a long time for their land, but have been forbidden to make a TV appeal by a ban from the Ministry of the Interior.
Their only hope now of putting brakes on this project is to get help from international justice. The world must know what is happening in Chile.
Here is a legitimate petition to sign:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/946839131
The only place to start changing the world is from here.
In the Valle de San Felix, the purest water in Chile runs from two rivers, fed by two glaciers. Water is a most precious resource, and wars will be fought for it.Indigenous farmers use the water, there is no unemployment, and they provide the second largest source of income for the area. Under the glaciers has been found a huge deposit of gold, silver and other minerals.To get at these, it would be necessary to break, to destroy the glaciers - something never conceived of in the history of the world - and to make two huge holes, each as big as a whole mountain, one for extraction and one for the mine's rubbish tip.
The project is called PASCUA LAMA. The company is called Barrick Gold. The operation is planned by a multi-national company, one of whose members is George Bush Senior (what a surprise, eh?).The Chilean Government has approved the project to start this year.The only reason it hasn't started yet is because the farmers have got a temporary stay of execution.
If they destroy the glaciers, they will not just destroy the source of specially pure water, but they will permanently contaminate the two rivers so they will never again be fit for human or animal consumption because of the use of cyanide and sulphuric acid in the extraction process. Every last gram of gold will go abroad to the multinational company and not one will be left with the people whose land it is.They will only be left with the poisoned water and the resulting illnesses.
The farmers have been fighting a long time for their land, but have been forbidden to make a TV appeal by a ban from the Ministry of the Interior.
Their only hope now of putting brakes on this project is to get help from international justice. The world must know what is happening in Chile.
Here is a legitimate petition to sign:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/946839131
The only place to start changing the world is from here.
Been away!
Time does fly... It has been a lively past few weeks. The hot summer sun demanded trysts with cold beer, Memorial Day weekend, then final exam week for my students. All of this fun was surrounded by very little sleep. I crashed last night, and thankfully the recharge was just enough to prime me for another long day toiling in the sunshine. I have to head to Baltimore today for a business excursion, if successful, details to follow.
Aaron has been playing and recording music with great success, plus jumping around the blog world. This cyber-world is enthralling and he hilariously retold how he was recently seduced and whirled. Using me as a pseudonym, he made some new friends, left comments, and (I think) decided that this could be useful time (no, wait, he would never secede that easily). Those of you new here because of a recent comment on your blog, welcome! WeBeKB&AP... no, I will just keep the original epithet, if he keeps cooking delicious vegan dinners found on so-and-so's blog.
The ideal Memorial Day weekend inspired me to write with my pen, in my journal, as sweat dripped down my ecstatic-to-be-in-the-sun bare skin.
Here is a little bit from the journal:
It's the first real scorcher,
so you know us
time for a little torture.
My family's on the beach, for a day of leisure.
Mom seeks a tan, opening her glands
that sun surely sees her behind the Ray Bans.
Her car melts in the street,
flip-flops bun off her feet.
Rub that SPF 0 oil to your skin
that sun will lick it off like bar-b-que sauce,
and bathe her in its rays,
saute her for three or four more days.
Drain her, yet invigorate her,
as it sucks 60% of her dry.
I'm quickly swollen and red, migraine to the head,
blister and spasm, dizzy and faint.
My cold clammy flesh, I pant to catch my breath.
Even though we've just begun,
I can't wait to black out from so much fun.
It's hard to understand that this is how
we get it done-
This is what we call fun.
Then, after we reach "well-done"
she'll look at me and exclaim,
"Let's swim in the waves, a little game,
Megan won't you come?"
She'll look up from her magazine,
peer down from her sandpile,
unable to answer, so unclear.
Then, without a word,
avoiding the bird, we stand united, undivided,
and we look exactly the same.
Scott sits there, only able to stare,
and cracks open another,
my sweet red brother.
The sun has boken through barriers,
sent melanoma carriers.
Then dad peers our way, we three smile and say,
"Man, what a perfect day!"
His three women bronze, he'll turn the music on,
turn up the frig, fan and AC,
using up all that electricity.
He knows until we learn to use it power,
it will continue to make us suffer.
So, he builds a outdoor shower, powered by its rays,
my mom comments on it everyday.
"It's smart to use the sun, to power this shower,
to rinse off the daytime brown,
not running the electricity down."
She, we, get it, I think. And instead of
vomitting in the sink,
this time, when it's almost done,
we stop, and, collectively think.
Aaron has been playing and recording music with great success, plus jumping around the blog world. This cyber-world is enthralling and he hilariously retold how he was recently seduced and whirled. Using me as a pseudonym, he made some new friends, left comments, and (I think) decided that this could be useful time (no, wait, he would never secede that easily). Those of you new here because of a recent comment on your blog, welcome! WeBeKB&AP... no, I will just keep the original epithet, if he keeps cooking delicious vegan dinners found on so-and-so's blog.
The ideal Memorial Day weekend inspired me to write with my pen, in my journal, as sweat dripped down my ecstatic-to-be-in-the-sun bare skin.
Here is a little bit from the journal:
It's the first real scorcher,
so you know us
time for a little torture.
My family's on the beach, for a day of leisure.
Mom seeks a tan, opening her glands
that sun surely sees her behind the Ray Bans.
Her car melts in the street,
flip-flops bun off her feet.
Rub that SPF 0 oil to your skin
that sun will lick it off like bar-b-que sauce,
and bathe her in its rays,
saute her for three or four more days.
Drain her, yet invigorate her,
as it sucks 60% of her dry.
I'm quickly swollen and red, migraine to the head,
blister and spasm, dizzy and faint.
My cold clammy flesh, I pant to catch my breath.
Even though we've just begun,
I can't wait to black out from so much fun.
It's hard to understand that this is how
we get it done-
This is what we call fun.
Then, after we reach "well-done"
she'll look at me and exclaim,
"Let's swim in the waves, a little game,
Megan won't you come?"
She'll look up from her magazine,
peer down from her sandpile,
unable to answer, so unclear.
Then, without a word,
avoiding the bird, we stand united, undivided,
and we look exactly the same.
Scott sits there, only able to stare,
and cracks open another,
my sweet red brother.
The sun has boken through barriers,
sent melanoma carriers.
Then dad peers our way, we three smile and say,
"Man, what a perfect day!"
His three women bronze, he'll turn the music on,
turn up the frig, fan and AC,
using up all that electricity.
He knows until we learn to use it power,
it will continue to make us suffer.
So, he builds a outdoor shower, powered by its rays,
my mom comments on it everyday.
"It's smart to use the sun, to power this shower,
to rinse off the daytime brown,
not running the electricity down."
She, we, get it, I think. And instead of
vomitting in the sink,
this time, when it's almost done,
we stop, and, collectively think.
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