Thursday, May 31, 2007

summer is officially here


june 5: more Hem!

Hem has more music coming out!
It sounds awesome. (or try here.)

And a sweet new commercial with Liberty Mutual you can watch here.

and you can always go to http://www.myspace.com/hem to hear some music - the full songs.


Hurray!

Friday, May 25, 2007


this morning there was a cardinal on my porch
perched on the wrung of my chair
i was delighted to see him
but he flitted around like he wasn't sure he was invited
and then flew off

Thursday, May 24, 2007

another good one

"Confound you handsome young fellows! you think of having it all your own way in the world. You don't understand women. They don't admire you half so much as you admire yourselves." (Mr. Cadwallader 81)

George Eliot

Middlemarch

Well, I was inspired to read Middlemarch, finally, by a friend who posted good quotes on her blog. I have tried to read it probably close to 5 times, but never mangaged to get into it. It does take a long time to get into, and if you're looking for a fast, tight plot, it might not grip you, but it does grip, somehow. George Eliot has an amazing way of understanding humans and capturing it in such a distinct manner.

So, some quotes to whet your appetite too:

If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence. As it is, the quickest of us walk about well wadded with stupidity. (225)



Will not the tiny speck very close to our vision blot out the glory of the world, and leave only a margin by which we see the blot? I know no speck so troublesome as self. (478)


and more to follow.

Monday, May 21, 2007

big bend 2

By Daniel Manning

From Daniel


Dear Kate,
You can put the picture up on your blog. I'm excited to go just as you are. The pictures on our computer look very nice. We've looked at animals and the mountain views too. Big Bend is going to be really fun, but I don't think there will be rattlesnakes up in the mountains because it will be cold there. The mountains are different lengths so you know how high it is. Right now I'm making a sword with electrical tape. When I'm doing this email, this time. I'm going to tell you something. there's pictures in our book about Texas and you have to read to see which pictures are Big Bend because some of them are not.
I hope you have a wonderful time at Big Bend.
Love,
Daniel to Kate


A poem from Anna


All the plants in Big Bend are very beautiful
As you will look at them they are so beautiful you will want to look at them for an hour maybe.
If they are more beautiful than you think, you may look at them for 20 minutes or so.
Maybe I will show you one plant that I like because there are tons of plants in Big Bend
That I maybe will like.
So I'll show you every single one, Kate,
Because maybe one is your favorite and you won't know how to go to it
So I'll show you it and you'll say, That is a beautiful plant
And I maybe will like Big Bend, I don't know
Because I've never been there
And I maybe will like it I don't know if I'll like it maybe.
LOVE,
ANNA TO KATE



you see, I love being an aunt

Friday, May 18, 2007

looking for words

I think there ought to be a word for when academic writers make up a word for their own purpose: a word that is totally unnecessary and could easily be replaced by a word in common usage. (Preferably a word that I could yell at the book every time the unnecessary one was used.)

I think there also ought to be one plural word for neices and nephews. That's a ridiculous mouthful. I trip over it every time.


Betsy got me thinking about words that English ought to have. She got published in The Atlantic: "I need a word for the very vulnerable moment when, to pass through airport security, I must re­move my shoes. This is the great equalizer: in sock feet, no one is dignified."


http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/fugitives/fugitives.htm




There also ought to be a word for when I should be grading, but I'm blogging........I don't like the sound of procrastination.

post college

I was in a converation several months ago about entering the job-arena after college. As a teacher, I've always seen the transistion from ed. classes to the classroom in a particular manner. And I think most Cov. ed majors will agree with me that we begin teaching with a very high standard of what we hope to do in the classroom. Then we find ourselves discouraged because it is near impossible to actually do all that we want to do. Our courses set us up with a strong impression of the good we can do in a child's life and a standard for how we should be teaching.

For the first years in the classroom, this is impossible. We struggle to hold our noses above water and get worry lines thinking of all the good we know we should be doing, of the way we know we want to run our classrooms, grade our papers, plan our lessons, but there are not enough hours in the day and we just don't know how to do it all. It really hasn't been until this year that I've found myself taking deep breaths and thinking, ah, I know how to do this. Oh, that is how I could do this. Excellent, I already know how this will go. And I feel for the first time that I am doing a good job - that more spontaneous lessons on real-life are happening; that I am better able to keep track of each student and their needs - along with the 50 billion other things that teachers juggle.

Not to say that the past few have been a total failure: I am sure that the Lord has redeemed the mess I made of things and those children learned and grew in spite of me. But most of the time I had a sinking feeling, that despite long hours, I wasn't doing things as well as the standard that had been set in me. Leaving college I hated the thought that I wouldn't be able to be the teacher I wanted to be. I spent 18 years in school thinking about how I would be a different teacher, or how I would emulate my good teachers, and then 4 years learning how to do it. And I hated to think that I would mess up and not be able to do it. Then when we enter the classroom, we realize that at this point, we can't fulfill our goal because it is too hard.

In the course of a conversation, a person was sharing his perspective on finishing school and entering the work force. He entered the business world with high hopes of being able to make a difference in the world. Fresh out of college he had high ideals. But he began his job and realized that at this point in his career, he has no say in things. He has all these hopes and ideals, but no place to put them into practice.

huh.
instead, as he is underwhelmed at what his first years allow him to realize in his ideals, I am overwhelmed at how much potential I have in the classroom, but can't realize.

Rosie the Riveter


This woman worked in a factory during World War II screwing in rivets on torpedo bombers. She and her partner screwed in 3,345 rivetrs in one shift - completing an entire wing.

Monday, May 14, 2007

big bend

This will be me:we're going here!

and so closes the books

this post will be the best link to the story of summer 2006. this is the only way to read the story in order, so I will preserve it in this post, and remove it from the sidebar.

driving 2006: one last post

FAQ on return (or really better titled: an interview with myself)
all in summary

How many miles did you travel?
Scout began the trip with 9,680 miles. We were at 16,838 in Seattle, and 20,460 when we finished the trip. So, that's a bit over of 11,000 miles - doubling her mileage. We watched her slip into 10,000 in Mississippi, and 20,000 in Kentucky.

How many days were you on the road?
46

How many of those 45 nights did you camp?
25

How much did you spend in gas?
That's hard for me to compute. My records show me paying $433 in gas. But I know that is not how much gas cost total. First of all, I started out with some gift cards from my class, which brought me part way to Texas. Also, I was splitting gas 2 ways, and sometimes 3 ways, most of the time. So Scout probably drank about $1000 in gas all told, but it's hard to say.

That's gross. Does Scout really drink gas?
Unfortunately, yes.

What was the most you paid for gas?
I'm having a hard time remembering...It was a LOT. We only got a gallon or two, but it was something like $4.50. That was in California, on the coast, not too near a town.

Did you have any car-incidents?
Nothing major. I did come so near to running out of gas twice...but didn't. We got screws in the tire, and eventually a flat, but it was easily repaired at $14.

Where was Scout when she turned 1 yr old?
Texas. Elizabeth had a little birthday party for her.

Where will Scout be headed when she turns 2 yrs old?
Texas.

What what your new favorite state?
Wyoming.

What was the best kept secret?
Colorado National Monument. Who'd'a thunk? Never heard about a peep about it from anyone. It was wild. You know, Utah looks like outer space. (and that part of CO does too...)

What was the best national park in Utah?
It's a close call between Bryce and Arches. I enjoyed hiking in ANP a lot, but Bryce really knocked the socks off my feet. (or would have if i was wearing socks, which i wasn't)

What's the longest time you went without showering?
6 days in Utah. Those parks don't have facilities to shower, since they're in the desert. But I wasn't too dirty...

What's the most you paid for a shower?
I only paid in the Grand Canyon. 2 times. I think it was about 2 dollars for 5 minutes. I really can't say if I was more dirty from 6 days in Utah or 2 days hiking in GCNP.

Where would you most like to go back and visit?
Last summer I wrote down that I'd like to go back to Colorado. I didn't get to see much of that state, and I could hang out there a long time. Right now, I'm itching for anything out west. It is just so different. and I miss the stars, and the feeling of such big, vast country.

Did any future summer plans unfold from this trip?
Yes, they did. I'm planning* a New England driving trip this summer. I'd also really like to spend a summer working in a National Park. I've also thought about working on a ranch in Wyoming one summer.
*used loosely (in comparison to notes of last year)

Did you ever get tired of driving?
Not really. I never got totally sick of the car like I thought I might. I did let Courtney drive more and more as we went eastward.

What is the final count of new states you saw?
MS, LA, TX, OK, NM, CO, UT, NV, AZ, CA, OR, ID, MT, WY, SD (in that order) - 15 new states. We abandoned NB and IO for I90.

Where would you most like to go back and live?
Seattle pulled me the most. I need to live in a city, and that is near the most beauty I saw. Wyoming would be a close second...I wonder if I could.

Did you have any unexpected expenses?
Uh, yeah. It's like I forgot I'd want to do anything besides eat, sleep and hike. I forgot about surprise-expenses (like a flat tire, for instance), and that I might want to buy souvenirs and gifts. Or that I might want to pay for something like a tour. And I didn't know San Francisco was so EXpensive.

What was the best souvenir you got?
Well, besides the good ol' stickers on my car...probably a Colorado key rack with green pine trees on it. and I still really like my Utah Rocks shirt (cuz it does). Of course, all the photos are the best.

What national parks would you like to go back and revisit?

I'd definitely like to go spend more time in Yosemite. That place is huge and I'd like to do more in it. I'd also like to go on backpacking trips in the Canyonlands and Grand Tetons. I'd like to see where the Colorado and Green rivers meet in the Canyonlands. And I'd like to do a hike through Cascade Canyon and back around and in another canyon in GTNP.

What did you learn from your trip?
That's probably the biggest question you could ask (which you probably didn't, but I did), because I learned a lot a lot. I learned a lot about camping, and geography, and planning, and traveling and living. And I learned a lot about nature - trees, terrain, birds, rodents, beavers, bears, moose and bison and stars. I learned from seeing, from doing, and from nature walks and talks with rangers. I learned from guide books and from friends. Mostly I can't even begin to quantify how much I learned, because I just took in so much. I had no concept of the Southwest to begin, and now I've been there. Obviously I learned on top of learning. And I learned (again) how much I love learning, and how I can have so many more interests: I mean, desert plants: can it get more interesting? There's nothing like being in it to make you learn and to make you want to learn.

Should you be in bed now?
Yes

How many more days of teaching left this year?
5

How many more weeks until summer?
3

Do you have more trips planned this summer?
Yes.

Would you care to elaborate in a future interview?
Yes.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

life after studies

This morning on my way to work I was behind a car with a kid in one of those station-wagon-back seats, facing me. I haven't seen that in years. We used to ride in the back of our old 240 Deisel Volvo. I remember fighting over who got to sit there, and playing games with the people driving behind us, making faces at them.

It reminds me of Brian Regan..."trying to avoid making eye contact with the people in the cars behind you."


This Neil Young song is great: Journey through the Past.

reading list

  • All Quiet on the Western Front

  • Europe in the Twentieth Century

  • The Communist Manifesto

  • The Origins of the First World War

  • The German Worker: Working-Class Autobiographies

  • The Great War and Modern Memory

  • The Face of Battle

  • To the Finland Station

  • The Russian Revolution

  • Animal Farm

  • Colonial Encounters in the Age of High Imperialism

  • Make Room for TV

  • Homage to Catalonia

  • Dictatorship and Demand

  • Fashioning Socialism

  • "I crammed my head full of as much of this stuff as I could stand and locked it away in my mind out of sight, left it alone. Figured I could send a truck back for it later." -bd

    This is how I felt most of the time when I was reading for class this semester - like hopefully I just keep reading and it'll all stick in my head.

    For sure I know I learned a lot. and did more than I thought I could do.

    Hurray that it is done. I turned in my paper on East German consumerism. It's really fascinating. I oughta boil it down and blog about it. But maybe later.

    Thursday, May 03, 2007

    "self-service stores"

    An East German upon visiting a self-service store in West Berlin (1956)-

    "Except for meat and sausage, which are sold by salesladies, all manner of commodities are made available for self-service in shelves made of wire…All kinds of foodstuffs are offered such as legumes, flour, sugar, condensed milk, fresh milk in bottles, sweets, coffee, canned vegetables, freshly cut vegetable sin cellophane pouches, fruit and potatoes in bags. In order to ease the selection, the goods are packed in different quantities so that the contents of the packages can either be seen from the outside or determined from labels. The selling proceeds as follows: the customer takes a wire basket supplied at the entrance, one corresponding to the extent of the intended purchase and the desired selection of goods. At the cash register a saleslady calculates the prices of the goods and hands them to the customer, taking back the wire basket. These stores enjoy increasing favor because the goods on offer are easily assessed and the purchase proceeds relatively quickly."

    Quote from Landsman, Dictatorship and Demand.

    Tuesday, May 01, 2007

    "As we shall see, butter was only the beginning of his problems."

    Landsman on Curt Wach, minister for trade and provisioning in the GDR on end of rationing, 1957. (Dictatorship and Demand)
    "It can't be prevented that Frau Mode is a downright moody lady."
    (Fashioning Socialism - Stiztiel)

    I'm excited because I have just found out I have an extra weekend to write my paper. So you might get to be entertained by interesting quotes and tidbits.