Being politically motivated and standing up for my beliefs had an interesting side effect of making it difficult to choose a straw for my iced tea this morning. At my favorite locally owned coffeehouse, I purchased organic tea in a recyclable cup. Being the artful sort, I paused as I reached toward the cup of…
Category: Life in America
Untangle Me
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My desire to untangle runs deep right now. In savasana last night, I imagined myself going “technology free” suddenly. Saying goodbye to the phones and the televisions, the blogs, Twitter and Facebook accounts that hang on me like screeching monkeys. I imagined what an evening would look like– the savanna of night time from washing…
What Happens While Driving…
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One of Colin’s and my favorite things to do is a road trip. We are at our most relaxed on the way to somewhere, with him driving, and me organizing whatever podcast or playlist or wrong turn is up next. Our first road trip, en masse however, had me on edge. I had sweet-fond memories…
On Being Midwestern: Nice
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While I’m traveling around Canada and New England, I’ve put together some thoughts on HOME. Here’s today’s installment, ON BEING MIDWESTERN, Part 1. Nice. In my scan for ideas, I stumbled across this Columbus, Ohio message board, where a fair number of Midwesterners in that area of the country give their thoughts on what happens…
Parenting Happiness: A “Magic Trick of the Memory”
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I’ve been reading the article “All Joy and No Fun” from the New York Times Magazine with interest. I’m in a position to speak about the “joys” (or otherwise) of parenthood now that I’ve been in the thick of it for 16 months. Anyone who knows me can attest that I haven’t always been a…
First Pesto Of the Season
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From our organic garden… Well at least the basil is. The recipe is “Classic Basil Pesto” from a great new cookbook called “Put ‘Em Up” by Sherri Brooks Vinton. Makes me really admire the makers of all organic foods … Timing of foods, storage and transport is not easy!
On Being an American Pacifist
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I started writing a long, kinda preachy post and then I just stopped. Here’s how I feel as a pacifist: I am a conflicted human in my American place. I often wonder if I am stupid and ignorant. There is no doubt I am grateful for the freedom of our lives here. And my mind…
Losing Late Nights
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It suddenly occurred to me — when I was in the basement waiting to see if the washer would flood/leak — that I am no longer a Night Writer. I used to stay up and journal, scribble, angst-ify long after the sun had gone and the house had gone quiet. In KC, I’d sit on…
Getting the Olivetti 33
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I just went ahead, finally, and dished out the $$ on the Olivetti 33, because every writer should own a manual typewriter and this one is so lovely. I did what Mom told me and thought about it for awhile– like two years. Restored to oily perfection by Dan, aka “Mr Typewriter,” from Florrisant, MO,…
Why is “Local” so Weird?
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My kids reallyreally like bananas and I am reallyreally glad about that. As some of you know, we are greeny-greensters, so we grow our own veggie garden, make compost, and buy organic and local. Well, sometimes. If we started to apply the “locally-grown” condition to our food (250-mile radius), what would be have to give…
Fighting Back Against Planned Obsolescence
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Or, Why you MUST Attend my Electronics Recycling Event this Weekend Or Or, Why You MUST, at least, Start Recycling Electronics SOMEWHERE In the world of electronics, planned obsolescence rules. What makes the iPod (sorry, no iPhone! Ooops what’s that? The IPAD, I mean!) so appealing? Eternal updates, that make it better faster, more capable…
I’m Not Mowing The Lawn…
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… and the reason I’m not is not at all simple. Despite the fact that I drive the heck out of our zippy five-speed manual transmission Mazda, and the fact that I drive our minivan like I need to get the kids to the raceway poddy–NOW! — despite both of THOSE facts, I feel complete…
The Tweet is a Lonely Hunter
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Today ScoutieGirl posed an interesting question about how the internet shapes and changes our creativity. She and I seem to agree that, like all things that are woven to the human form, the Web has the innate ability to remind us that we are alone in the universe. She asked: “as sister diane pointed out…
Boobquake, Milkshakes and Our Diabolical Plan
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As a professor (all right! just an adjunct…) of rhetoric, I can spot and identify logical fallacy when I see one. So did the awesome BlagHag blogger Jen McCreight when a Muslim cleric managed to twist the logic so profoundly of protecting women from their own immodesty that he accidentally predicted that free-moving, free-ranging cellulite…
“It’s All Up in the Air”
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Valerie Weaver-Zercher’s musings on “The Philo-Lilac” (available only in hardcopy… not yet available online) in Orion Magazine this month poses the question I am pondering myself– what’s that emptiness and loss of rejection in the work world– even when it’s something you are pretty sure you don’t want? Previously I blogged about the political in-fighting…
