hey, hey, ho, ho...

There was quite a Seattle School Board Meeting last night, as the Board voted to approve the Superintendent's plan. You can watch some of it here.

Also, Phyllis Fletcher interviewed some kids at Cooper, one of the schools impacted, and they had some lovely things to say about their school yesterday.

end of the week g-chats

marsh: is amazed that such silliness can end up on the "most viewed" list in Germany and Israel. http://tinyurl.com/catfetch

lacey: always love. hate will get you every time.

evs:♫ Two soundtracks you should immediately download: Slumdog Millionaire & Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

johnny v: dilbert

k8: mercury in hfcs. what? http://www.ehjournal.net/content/8/1/2

bickle: ♫ Yay for Neil! http://journal.neilgaiman.com/

cab: ♫ here we go steelers!

"Can I just say how amazing is she that she uses Wendell Berry to refute Marc Driscoll?" - K8

I don't think the words "Jesus" and "smack down" should really ever need to be used in the same sentence, but an editor at the NY Times apparently liked the combo earlier this month for Molly Worthen's writing about the hip pastor over at Mars Hill church.

My opinion of said pastor is not too high, mostly due to his beliefs about the role of women but also for a few other things I don't really have time for today.

BeCs did a great response over at Outsider Dreams, and you should read it. Wendell Berry to the rescue, as always.

If only we'd listen to the Wendell Berrys, our world would be a lot more peaceful and life-giving.

Incidentally, Jonathan Hiskes did a nice piece last fall on the two Mars Hills in Seattle, and it was a nice overview for those unsure of what I'm talking about.

one in 8 million

One of my blogging friends sent me a link to this supercool photo project of the NY Times and I distracted myself for hours and hours. Love it.

"you don't have to let the world know that I watch this show..." - SWSRN

(She-Who-Shall-Remain-Nameless)

So it turns out I did used to blog about the Bachelor. Buried deep in the archives there are a couple postings about this terrible show. I mean it when I say that, too.

I have 2 things to say about this season:

1) Somehow I'm having a hard time stomaching that a kid is part of the show. I mean, I know people come with kids a lot of the time, I just feel kids shouldn't be misused in dating....you can give your opinion too, although I don't know that it will matter much.

2) ABC doesn't come in on our TV. The reception's terrible. So I was under the assumption that I couldn't watch it, and that was probably best for all involved. Then I was informed last night by SWSRN that I could of course, download the episodes and watch them the day after they air. Thank you, ABC.

"Why do they need a cell phone? There are 92 phones in the school." - Mr. Lowrey

"...What is so important that they need to call another 15 year old?"

Chalk is hilarious. And probably the most inspirational teacher movie I've ever seen. Forget Morgan Freeman, forget Michelle Pfieffer, forget what's her name, that L.A. Erin chick, this one is the real deal. Almost as good as Season 4 of the Wire. And actually, in it's own category, just as good.

we walk into that which we cannot see - elizabeth alexander

i loved this poem, I've been ruminating over it every day since tuesday, and my favorite line from it might be:



"What if the mightiest word is love..."





Here's to love* in 2009.



As Alexander says, love "beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance."

love and money g-chats

k8: Celestial Seasonings Wisdom: "Familiar acts are beautiful through love." --Percy Bysshe Shelley

evs: ♫ "Contrary to the belief of many, the goal of the economy is not job creation. Jobs can be a sign of a healthy economy, as a high energy level can be a sign of a healthy body. But just as unhealthy substances can artificially give the addict that burst of energy that has nothing to do with health, artificially created jobs just exacerbate our problems." - Ron Paul

and

IJM


bickle: Tape Songs by The Kills = Yes.

van: who wants to make decisions for me?

"squirrels are generally clever and persistent animals" - wikipedia

Last week at Gretzky's, anytime the upstairs apt took a shower, water would start leaking onto our bathroom floor. Not just a small amount, mind you. Both bath rugs and the towel we laid down were sopping. It wasn't a waterfall, either, which might have been marginally more exciting. Instead, it came from the crack between the tub and the floor. Kind of disturbing.

Turns out that our good landlord* found some squirrels making mischief. They crawled in through the attic and down among the pipes by the bathtub. They had been merrily gnawing on the pipes, probably since October. This clearly caused some problems.

I have never been a fan of squirrels.

My sincere dislike of them was cemented my freshman year of college, when I was walking past a garbage can by the library, blissfully thinking about some boy I had classes with. A brown furry creature propelled itself out of said garbage can with some sort of moldy wadded up paper in its mouth. Apparently it couldn't see beyond what was in its mouth, and it propelled itself about 4 inches away from my left foot. I stopped, screeched dramatically, and my heart started racing. The squirrel hustled off into some bushes nearby. I'm sure the whole episode made some passers-by laugh. It made me very annoyed at squirrels, and my annoyance has simply continued to this day.

But now the bathroom is fixed and the house is sealed up nice and tight in hopes of squirrel prevention.

*We have a very nice landlord who is extremely responsive and helpful. We are fans.

Inauguration Day g-chats

evs: Aretha's still got it.

marsh: Yes Pecan? http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1871912,00.html?iid=tsmodule

cowboy: keep the dream alive.

gretky: LOVES dr. Lowery. please do the benediction again.

k8: what a benediction should be. wow. http://socialmode.com/2009/01/20/president-obamas-inauguration-speech-transcript-and-benediction-transcript/

on inauguration day 2009

Ev noticed the book Teaching with Fire on my bookshelves last week, and started thumbing through it...it's a sweet little collection of poems that teachers submitted, poems they find sustaining their work, the ones they turn to for energy and inspiration.

I went through the poems again after Ev left - so many good ones, from Marge Piercy to Denise Levertov. This one, excerpted from Seamus Heaney's translation of Sophocles' the Philoctetes, stood out to me for this inauguration day 2009. I do not know what the next 4 years will bring, but I am thankful that the American people elected Barack Obama in November.


from "The Cure at Troy"

Seamus Heaney

Human beings suffer,
They torture one another,
They get hurt and get hard.
No poem or play or song
Can fully right a wrong
Inflicted and endured.

The innocent in gaols
Beat on their bars together.
A hunger-striker's father
Stands in the graveyard dumb.
The police widow in veils
Faints at the funeral home.

History says, don't hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.

So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that further shore
Is reachable from here.
Believe in miracle
And cures and healing wells.

Call miracle self-healing:
The utter, self-revealing
Double-take of feeling.
If there's fire on the mountain
Or lightning and storm
And a god speaks from the sky

That means someone is hearing
The outcry and the birth-cry
Of new life at its term.

happy sunday

at the fremont sunday market with ringo in the sunshine. made me miss Cab, she loved fremont. but it was beautiful out and we stopped and got theo chocolates for the ride home. yum.

"you'll want to eat the rest of your life with me." - Simon

I am in love with simon from In Her Shoes. I would go on a date with him, even though I don't believe in dating. Except he's married to toni colette. And of course, there is the problem that they're fictional characters, so they don't exist.

There's a lot of fictional characters I'm in love with. Melrose Plant and Richard Jury top the list, Melrose for laughter and Jury for steadiness. And of course Mr. Darcy comes to mind, although I think I root more for Wentworth and Knightley, because it's always seemed to me a bit more dicey for them - not as sure they would get their girls in the end.

I wonder what it says about me that these are all British guys. Hmm. I can't think of an American character I've been in love with....well, maybe.

I'll get back to you on that.

"are we supposed to eat this stuff? Or is it supposed to eat us?" - anita manning

K8 is rooting for the Obamas to plant a victory garden. (Brief history, see knol.) Well, let's be honest, the chef would probably plant it, and maybe not even the chef but some gardeners. How cool would it be to be the White House Gardener? That would be awesome.

Also, she thinks I might meet a farmer if I get to know the people who compiled this resource for Washington state beginning farmers and ranchers, and perhaps get some money to start a farm. This would also be awesome.

Michael Pollan was in town Monday and he is a fan of gardens. I'm a fan of his advice: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. And there's other thought of his I like, too: Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. Don't eat anything you don't have ingredients for at your house. Etc.

Also, he is funny, and pragmatic.

When asked for his thoughts about Obama's food policy choices, Pollan said that Obama had a community organizer perspective, having said "Show me the movement" when someone asked him about sustainable agriculture. Pollan then suggested if Michelle Obama takes on sustainable agriculture, the food industry will likely not attack her, and such a movement might gain more traction.

car computer g-chat

marsh: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/01/09/ces.cars.computers/index.html Anybody see a problem with 22-channel cable tv in your car?


k8: According to financial analysts at Goldman Sachs, every dollar in food stamp benefits returns $1.73 in economic activity while only $1.26 in economic activity is generated for each tax rebate dollar.

evs: just walked through an elementary school recess and had groups of children point at her while yelling "Stranger Danger!"

if I were a hip-hop dancer, I'd be part of goodfoot

They are super cool, and Louie and May are AWESOME. Check 'em out.

"don't lose sight of the wild sublime" - Marigrace

Coffeehouse, as usual, was amazing. I read a poem Saturday night, but next time I will sing.

The Superintendent released her recommendations this week about school closures, with details here. There is a schedule there of public hearings if you would like to give input. I don't know what to say about the plan except that people deal with change in different ways. And also that like many others in the country, we've got a district stratified by race and class. That's about all.

new year's g-chats

evs: got attacked by a feral cat today. Not a great start to the new year...

rempt: operational

cowboy: self-improv[is]ing.

taft: is disappointed (more accurately)

meg: would like karhu skis... can anyone get me pro form?

ck: like a town needs a name, I need some gloves.

k8 AND cowboy: 2009: no expectations.

waving magic wands making everything more beautiful....

On Monday night I got to share in a Three Kings Eve celebration with friends. We watched a Christmas story, told mostly in music, including Juanes, Julieta Venegas, Olga Tanon, and other excellent musicians...A side performance by Daddy Yankee seemed slightly out of place in the story line but was still entertaining.

We ate pasteles, pork, and rice and beans, and I could have eaten about 18 plates but restrained myself to two. And then we got a flashlight and trekked outside to gather grass for the camels of the kings bringing gifts to baby Jesus.

What a great way to finish the Christmas season - enjoying good food and friends and stories, celebrating the complete story of Christ's birth...my Friends had painted the story of the nativity, and it was like a living painting - the kings hadn't been added yet, because they hadn't come yet - such a lovely, cool way to reflect on the Christ's birth and teach little ones about the story. you should read what Eliacin says about it.

I think 12th night and other festivals used to be celebrated much more frequently - I vote we bring them back.

"I have wrapped my laughter like a birthday gift / And left it beside your bed..." Hafiz

The New Year has started with a bang - in more ways than one, I guess, with all the new-old violence flaring up again - I've been lucky enough to be partying it up with friends old and new, good music, good food, good conversation...and this is what I've felt all week, that gifts of laughter and presence are like birthday gifts wrapped up beautifully for me to share. k8 and I each told the same story about 5 times with different friend groups this weekend, but it didn't matter, it was still funny. That's the best kind of friend, right there.

"Can't you get a farmer on match.com?" - Mom

If you imagine my mom, you could imagine a Mrs. Bennet of the current day. Although my mom is so much cooler than Mrs. Bennet in so many ways, she does have this thing about wanting all her children to be married off. It physically pains her that my cousins have all paired up, while none of my siblings or I have current love interests.

I've been reading a lot about food lately - Animal, Miracle, Vegetable, Omnivore's Dilemna, Citizenship Papers, Allan Nation, Marion Nestle, Joel Salatin....and at New Year's I thought out loud that I should maybe move to Bellingham with a goat and some raspberry plants and grow a garden there that my friends and I can eat from.

This was mom's response to said idea.

spamming in the new year, roeder style

jason roeder is funny.

Re-mix: "Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein

This quote has been at my computer base for the entire year. I'm moving it on Friday to the wall, and another quote will take its place.

I'm sad about leaving imagination behind, because it was a beautiful word for 2008, but 2009 is upon us. Once again, instead of a resolution, I've got a word.

You can read about my 2009 Word of the Year here.