Happy Birthday to me!

Yep, it's my birthday. Went and gave a lecture on Austen's Pride and Prejudice, bought some yarn, and hung out with a friend at Stanford. Tonight there will be steak and coconut spice cake. It's been a good day.

Also, I am wearing a new (and wonderfully cobalty) plaid shirt I found at Ross. Life is good.

moving forward

Got to talking with what I hope will turn out to be a new friend and discovered that there's a classical Christian school that's hiring for the school year. After calling them I decided not to apply, but I did discover an opportunity to volunteer at the school and hopefully learn something of classical Christian educational methods from the inside. As for why I didn't apply, there were several reasons.

1. They had already found a candidate for they position they liked and for whom they were preparing a job offer. Throwing myself into the mix would only have prolonged the uncertainty right before the school year started and probably unnecessarily so. Which brings me to my next two points.

2. Practically no experience teaching a class. I've tutored and things of that sort, but I've never led a class in my life. Some people would just jump right in and give it a try, and if they hadn't already had a candidate they liked I might have been tempted to myself. However I really do better knowing my boundaries and having a somewhat clear idea of what my limits are. I prefer to grow slowly rather than by constantly flinging myself from one cliff after another to test my wings.

3. The final reason I decided not to apply is because I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to jump immediately into full time employment. Having found out about the position less than 24 hours previously I didn't feel confident of making a decision like that so quickly.

However, the headmaster did send me a volunteer application. This excites me tremendously because I can get some training and insight into how classical education works and hopefully use that knowledge either when we have kids or when I decide to look for a job myself. I'm somewhat passionate about education, but until I learned about classical methods I never found anything I could stomach long enough to get the necessary credentials to teach. Instead of spending a significant amount of money and time getting credentials in a pedagogy that I personally find appalling just so I could try and leverage that into a foundation for the kind of teaching position I would like to have I can (hopefully) volunteer at this school and get the sort of foundation I would need to later teach there or at another school of that type. I've been wondering what my next step needed to be, and I think I just might have found it.

Anyway, I need to go to bed 'cause tomorrow will be a long day. I've got some of Allen's friends coming over for supper, and I decided there would be lots of lovely lemony cake to go around. That means I need to get some sleep tonight, so I don't fall asleep over the lemon curd tomorrow afternoon.

Must read Shakespeare

Have you read Much Ado About Nothing lately? If so you really need to read it. Seriously. Go pick up your old Norton Anthology (or I bet you could even find it on-line) and read it. It's pretty much the best Shakespeare play ever. After you've read it go check out Kenneth Branagh's movie version. Or you could do what I did. Check out the movie from the library. Read Peter Leithart's commentary on the play. Pick up my Norton Anthology and read the play. Watch the movie again and discover that Beatrice and Benedict really do make one of the best love stories of all time. The introduction to my Norton tried to argue that Beatrice and Benedict don't really love each other, but in my opinion that's a whole lot of tosh. That critic has probably never flirted in his or her life - or at least never flirted with half the wit it takes to read a Shakespeare play. There's also a lot of good stuff in there about loyalty, wisdom, love, and honesty. Just compare how Claudio and Benedict behave towards their friends and their sweethearts. Plus, for Shakespeare it's quite readable. Got to love the insults. No one can write a good insult like Shakespeare.

language: a means of miscommunication

Did a bit of link hopping early today and came upon a list of Groucho Marx quotes translated for the environmentally inclined which I very much hope were intended as a joke for the more humorous members of that community. Alas, I'm afraid they were serious. When you study homo-eroticism in Victorian literature every fop is a queer. When you're convinced the sky is falling every comedian is a planet prophet. I guess. Anyway I thought I'd have some fun with their quotes.

1. "A four-year-old child could understand this report. (pause) Run out and find me a four-year-old child, I can't make head or tail of it."

Decoded: The cause and effect of our current eco-crisis is simple but all the bureaucracy and subterfuge swirling around it makes it confusing and disempowering. Maintain a beginner's mind.

Grouch couldn't possibly have been creating humor by taking an idiomatic statement seriously. Nope, he's asserting that discovering apparent subtlety in an issue is "disempowering" and we should endeavor to bring the same child-like self-absorption and indifference we see in classrooms world-wide to bear on our environmental challenges. Side note: if weather and ecology were so simple I think we'd have much fewer consternation about hunting and endangered species. We could just establish safe minimum numbers for all species and have at it. Also, your picnic would never ever be rained out unexpectedly. You know, because this is all so "simple."

2. "I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book."

Decoded: Firstly of course, he wasn't talking about Planet Green's TV shows. But his point is well-taken. The average American spends 145 hours a month watching television and the net result is a nation mostly unwilling to do the hard work to create social change.

I suppose that to Groucho's apparently intelligent mind television would have little appeal. I would, however, submit that reading a book is rather different from guerrilla gardening or writing indignant letters to Archer Daniels Midland - particularly if it's book written by some right wing nut job intent on drilling oil wells in Alaska. But Groucho didn't mean those kinds of book. Just like he thoughtfully excluded your improving tv shows.

3. "Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms."

Decoded: A not-so-subtle reminder that the U.S. Department of Defense is the planet's worst polluter and biggest gas guzzler.

Yes, because some guy perched on a roof with binoculars and a walkie talkie has a HUGE carbon footprint. Must be the pork rinds he's eating. They'll give him away some day if he doesn't watch out. You can get dna evidence off anything these days.

4. "The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made."

Decoded: Smells like greenwashing to me.

Ok, so it's sort of hard to really misapply that quote.

5. "A hospital bed is a parked taxi with the meter running."

Decoded: The time is long overdue for America to adopt a single payer-style of health care and for each of us to take responsibility for our own health by making greener choices.

A government run taxi paid for by government employees with government issued money is much less expensive because when you run out of money you can just print more. Never mind that children are getting blocks of money for Christmas to use as building blocks because it's cheaper than an apple in the toe of your stocking. Please also note the irony of getting something you're not paying for (my taxes only go to support orphaned whales) as a means of inducing responsibility. We all know that children showered with toys take better care of them than children who carefully hoard pennies and do extra errands to get that new Spider-man action figure.

6. "I could dance till the cows come home. On second thought, I'd rather dance with the cows till you come home."

Decoded: The only human with whom a cow would tango is a vegan.

Actually, you're just ugly and step on my feet a lot.

7. "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it, and then misapplying the wrong remedies."

Decoded: Two words: Clean coal.

They've got a point here, but they could also make the same argument about the Federal Reserve, the War on Terror, and No Child Left Behind. Actually, most any bill or committee you threw this at would stick. Not a fan of coal myself.

8. "Florida, land of perpetual sunshine. Let's get the auction started before we have a tornado."

Decoded: An eerie preview of today's climate change-created monster storms.

Couldn't possibly have anything to do with the Disney World brochures that fail to tell you about the afternoon thundershowers that sweep through nearly every summer afternoon. Groucho, making fun of marketing schemes? Never. (Ok, so you could convince me that this is eerily apt.)


Disclaimer: this is not to say that I am unsympathetic to conservationists and those who seek to use resources wisely and with due consideration for those who will come after us. I love clean water, clean air, fertile soil, and good food. I also enjoy people who use really bad logic to assure us that we don't have to laugh at humor -far better to use those valuable carbon emissions in deconstruction.

Oh a camping we will go....

I have been something of a gear head this past week as Allen and I gear up for camping season. Yeah, I know. That was summer. However, since it's pretty hard to camp here without a reservation (and reservations are snapped up months in advance through the summer months) I've been looking forward to winter for a while. Just now we've got a trip to Yosemite in the offing and another one that's still somewhat tentative but probably to King's Canyon down near Mt Whitney. The other thing I'm looking forward to is the snow. Even though this area isn't exactly known for it's snow there's plenty of it up around Yosemite, and I find that I suddenly have a passionate desire to go snowshoeing through it's beautiful forests. They even have full moon snowshoe hikes there. I told Allen, that's it we're going. I really thing we're going to have a blast this winter.

That's not all though! Once we get some gear together and find a time we're going to try some backpacking. It's something I've been interested in trying, and Allen says he's game for it. We just have to get our gear together now and find a time and place. That's probably not going to be until maybe January sometime though. Still, some exciting times coming up for us.

Happy birthday to me

More later - Allen is just back with the candles, and it's now birthday cake time!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Three years today. Pretty soon Allen and I are going to rock it out with some homestyle bbq at one of our favorite joints (ok, chains) from our newly wed days. Good times.


Love you, Honey.

NIGHT RIDE!

Having attached the blinking lights of safe guidance, Allen and I did forthwith venture upon the night and found that the night received us as one of her own and did usher us gentle down the lamp strung streets of San Jose.

Ok, that's sort of hard to keep up. Sufficing to say we had fun, and no one got hurt. Hopefully we'll have another opportunity to take a night ride together sometime soon. Right now Allen want's me to get off here so we can watch another episode of Leverage.

weight loss for the reasonably healthy?

Seriously, I see all these weight loss ads/programs/herbs/whatever. What I need is something that will tell me why a girl who eats organic, homemade, balanced meals can't seem to budge a single pound. Seriously, it seems like every time I try making a lifestyle change for the better (raw food, more fruit, biking, getting my broad spectrum supplement, etc) I end up gaining weight. Or if not gaining weight then having weight shift. I know the big thing I need to add into that mix is 15 minutes of rebounding a day and some weight training, but honestly this doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Little help that my mom always thought I was overweight anyway. The past few years certainly haven't done much to improve my body image. But, I can't gripe about my weight anymore just now. Betsy and I are meeting Allen at the bike shop to get a rack for B. Then it's off to meet church folks for dinner. Road meet Betsy. You have just met your doom. For these ten miles at least :D

....with the jolly roving tars

I've figured out what we're doing for our anniversary. For some reason I'm constitutionally unable to spend $400-500 on a weekend at a bed in breakfast, and considering the accommodations at the cheaper places I will only say that I enjoy waking up in a tent. However, by dint of much searching I discovered a national historic site right on the bay that has historic sailing adventures by day and sea shanty singing on the dock by night. So that's the plan -caltrain, ships, singing, pizza, and really old arcade games. Really the perfect Saturday I should say.

In the "I bought series"...

Her name is Betsy, and eventually she will have a rack and light for hauling mystery novels around at night. First,though, I will get her a green chain because Betsy is just bad like that :D

A caricature nicely drawn

I've started reading Sinclair Lewis's Elmer Gantry, and I must say that I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I know it satirizes Christianity and the ministry, and that the Southern Baptist Convention probably had three fits when it came out, but for all that I'm finding it a very thoughtful read. Even though I haven't met any really sympathetic characters I have encountered quite a few scenes addressing calling, faith, wimps in the church, the seductions of power vis a vis the pulpit, Christian education, the challenges of the pastorate, atheism, etc. I certainly wouldn't say that in these first few chapters Lewis has painted the whole of Christianity, but the part he paints I'd say he paints quite fairly. All the things he caricatures are things that Christians, both individually and corporately/organizationally, wrestle with on a ongoing basis. I think one of the reasons Lewis's critique is so valuable is that the characters are (primarily) drawn from inside the church. For instance, Elmer Gantry isn't a profane fellow who decides that being a used car salesman is too much work and turns to selling salvation instead. Rather, imagine a young man growing up whose mind is completely formed by life in the church. Aside from a few college songs his entire imagination is formed by Sunday morning worship -the marching rhythm of its hymns, the rolling thunder of the preacher's voice expounding on the juicier bits of the Bible, the stained glass giving forth gaudily behind the choir, and all the various kings of the Old Testament adorned with gold, silver, crimson, and purple. Imagine a young man growing up with a mind shaped to the liturgy who nevertheless knew nothing of grace and doctrine and who (together with a friend) assuaged his hours of boredom with drunkenness and easy affection. That is Elmer Gantry at the point before he "converts" and is persuaded to attend seminary. To a large degree that is still Elmer Gantry when he sits before the crowd of parishioners to be ordained. Where he goes from there it's rather easy to guess.

Faces towards the west

Well that's what it feels like. Apple called yesterday talking about salaries, start dates, and relocations. Allen and I have roughed out our 4,500 mile road trip to get us from Alabama to Silicon Valley while taking in a few sights along the way. Tentative leaving date -way too soon. We're looking at about three weeks here, which to my mind kind of stinks because that will mean missing the bake sale and hoedown that our church has coming up a month from now. I had been looking forward to this party for at least a month, but with our apartment lease running out at the end of this month there's really no good way to stay in town for another week and a half (that we can think of). Once upon a time we could have stayed with Grandmom and Granddad, but they haven't been doing the best lately and Allen agrees that would be much too large an imposition. On the positive side though our itinerary includes Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, Zion, and the Grand Canyon (north rim). We've got two weeks and Apple will even cover some of our expenses (ie gas). So now I just have to figure out what to take, what to store, what to give away, and what to pack for our road trip. Allen isn't quite so sure about this whole road trip thing (what will we look like at the end I wonder?) but agrees that it's a wonderful opportunity to see a lot of places we've never seen before and revisit a few I enjoyed seeing with my family. So long as we keep a sense of humor about things and don't let ourselves get too rushed I think we'll be ok. Considering that our itinerary includes several days marked out for simply wandering around, I don't think we'll get too frazzled. We won't be able to visit the Rocky Mountains, but I also discovered that Mt Whitney is within a three-day or weekend trip's reach from where we'll be living.

All the same I'm not thrilled about moving so very far away from everyone and everything I love. I wish there was a wormhole somewhere a couple hours east of town that would put us out somewhere in the Sierra Mountains. It'd make it much easier getting to and from Mamaw's that's for sure. Unfortunately no such thing exists, and as is I really don't look forward to saying goodbye to all these wonderful folks.

I can be bribed.........with camping!

So I've been doing a little doing and checking on this whole California thing. Looks like there's Big Sur about two hours south of SV; we'll have a national seashore about an hour and a half north of us, and Yosemite is about three hours east. Looks like there are compensations for moving all the way across the continent. I must admit there's something attractive about living close enough to a place like Yosemite to enjoy it through the changing seasons. We'll have this spring and summer to get acquainted with it's various peaks and valleys. Then in the winter Allen and I can head back up there and play in the snow! I'm already planning to go try some cross-country skiing once the snows again. It's not Alabama, but even I can see the attraction of being able to spend one weekend hiking along some of America's most spectacular coastlines and then being able to spend the next weekend way high up in the mountains looking for waterfalls.

Hmmmm, now if we could just get some family to come out and play with us something that would be just about perfect.

laundry list of jazz moves

The instructor said she'd e-mail me a list of all the jazz moves she covered in her class, but I thought I would go ahead and post all the names I can remember. If any of you out there know of good links or videos for these moves I'd appreciate it.

1. Charleston
2. C with cross body kick
3. Scarecrow
4. Itch
5. Eggbeater
6. Eggbeater with turn (I think this might be a break?)
7. Eagle something or another
8. Spank the Baby
9. Boogie forward
10. Boogie back
11. Drunken sailor
12. Mess around
13. Suzy Q
14. Pivot turn
15. Down low
16. Gaze afar
17. Swim
18. Gypsy Jumps
19. Hallejulah rocks
20. Shorty George
21. Ankle bends
22. Jazz square
23. Clap it out (1,2,3,hold,4)
24. Shouts
25. Mambo kicks
26. Knee slaps
27. Shimmy
28. Stomps? (maintaining weight on left foot stomp right foot forward and drag back)
29. Cake Walk
30. Apple jacks
31. Break a leg
32. London Bridge

That's about all I can think of right now.

veni vici lindy

Allen and I just got back from Cumberland Shuffle in Nashville -tired, sore, and happy. I'm particularly glad we went because they put a lot of emphasis on solo Charleston/Jazz and creativity which is wonderful because I think all those moves (and their endless variations) are really going to broaden my range of possibilities both as a follow and a solo dancer. I also really appreciated how the teachers pushed the limits of how fast we could dance. I know that in general Allen and I have been pretty slow dancers as far as lindy goes, but I'd say we've up our range of danceable music pretty significantly. And we got to learn aerials! So much fun.

The weekend was good in other ways as well. A conversation I had this weekend sort of made me rethink my dedication to the general. I'm a dabbler. I know it well. I'm never going to be the finest knitter, seamstress, cook, or dancer. I'll never be the most well read or informed. My political involvement will likely be as sporadic as my principles are firm, and I really, really doubt I'll ever hike one of the seven peaks of complete a through hike, but I still expect to see some pretty neat things before I die. Coming out of a workshop like this one it's easy to want to throw my energies into dance....for the next month before I decide that I really want to go sea kayaking or whatever it is. With that in mind I've sort of realized two things: 1. that Allen isn't as into lindy (and dance in general) as I am and 2. that it's ok for me to go places and dance while Allen is reading his book or working on his laptop. With that in mind I think I'm going to try and work on my dance some more these next few months just using what we have available around town. I'm still firmly committed to being a dilettante, but it would be nice if I could attain a higher level of dancing. We'll see what happens.

Toes in the mud

Last weekend down at the farm I got to help with my first controlled burn, and I must say I'm pretty good at setting fires. I thought it rather novel experience to be standing by the side of the road starting fires while being watched by a passel of neighborhood dogs in varying stages of curiosity. One of them, a cute little gray and brown brindled pup, kept following us around. I had been calling him to get away from the fires, and he just tagged along when Allen and I headed into the field towards his dad and brothers where they were burning a back line. It was like something out of Mordor seeing the blackened smokey ground with it's little wisps of flame flickering as they slowly licked their way up towards the hill. Of course once we got there the men folk started teasing me about being out there in "flip-flops." (actually tevas) I didn't mind though. Allen and I stayed out there for several more hours with pine branches in our hands to beat out the back line of the fire as we burned our way towards the creek. Once we got towards the creek though it became pretty obvious that we weren't going to get much more burning done until things dried out a bit more. There was a couple of places where I sank up to my ankles in mud and ash, but there the vegetation had been thick enough to keep the fire moving. Closer to the creek it became too sparse and damp in patches to even keep it going. Tired and muddy though I was there have been fewer more peaceful times than I had sitting by the creek talking to one of my brothers (in-law), resting my eyes on the green pasture across, and watching the remaining flames flicker even more brightly as dusk rose up around us. Afterwards the four of us traipsed back through the mud, across the silent, black fields punctuated by great gnarled trees and standing groves -back to our cars and back to Mamaw's bright kitchen.

my latest crush

It's a Eureka tetragon 8, and it's finally mine. On the way home from bookclub I thought. "I don't have any fires to put out at home. I think I'll wander down and see if that tent is one sale." It was, so I bought it. Then I wondered if this other place might have it cheaper. They did. Plus their box included the rebate tag. That was double score. Triple score came when, while returning my earlier purchase, I asked if they did price matching. I ended up getting a brand new $120 tent for $40. Now I can't wait to go try it out. Now I just have to decide where I want to go first.....



image credit W. Van Pelt"packhound" on amazon.

my only excuse for the past hour spent on youtube

Also this:

This explains a few things

Somewhere underneath this conservative, grew up nice-girl, exterior I think there might a crazier girl who would like to go backpacking in grizzly bear country. But since I'm not bat-guano insane I'd go in with a can of bear spray strapped to my hip and a portable gps unit. Anyway, I think this song explain a few things.



Btw, has Dierks Bentley gotten cuter since he first showed up?