Today, I received logo-ed masks from the KCP program (King-Chavez-Parks, baby!) and will wear them everywhere with pride.
Tuesday, October 06, 2020
King, Chavez, Parks... and Penrose
Monday, October 05, 2020
Benediction
So I'm coming back, I'm coming, I
run rabbit tongue 'neath rabbit teeth.
Sift half a laugh through salty hands.
Lift away grand new memories, but
only say: So-sorrySo-sorrySo-sorry.
Remember when I traveled--was it last
winter--and you said I'm with you, but
you aren't me, never will be. I still bring
prayers to this plague. Will sing through
whispering airways: O-stayO-stayO-stay.
_
Sunday, October 04, 2020
And still, we...
Saturday, October 03, 2020
Making Mean-ing
After all, when Big A came home from work looking kinda tired, I asked (sincerely) if he wanted me to butter his muffin...
Then At wished us a happy Mean Girls Day on family chat and we remembered... Nu thought we should watch it after dinner... and so we did.
It made me nostalgic for all the Mean Girls parties we've had in the last 15 years. The last one was in 2018 for my first-year seminar students and they laughed at the mom-style menu-puns almost as much as I did.Friday, October 02, 2020
Radio News
The WH Covid superspreader events and all their painful consequences were always so preventable--that part really bothers me. Thousands of people could have been alive today... Maybe we could even have been headed back to the old normal...
Also on the radio--I heard Allie Brosh sob and I wonder if her new book is maybe too sad for me RN, but there's a sweet chapter up at her old blog.
Thursday, October 01, 2020
On my way home
But I got to see At for a bit--both of us masked--and give him a 'backhug' and a (new to him) Du Bois for his Boss Day (tomorrow); a small but affectionate pre-class chat with my mom; knowing I will see NuScoutHuck in minutes...
Then a leg of this rainbow (such an intense VIOLET!) and a go-go-go green light--and there's a definite feeling of "yes" in the air.
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Pardons <> Gardens
But that day was not today. By 9:00 am I had already been in two meetings, and between regularly-scheduled meetings, a CASA-training webinar, student conferences, and a faculty-wide caucus, the intensity continued until 5:00. Sometimes I had to use two monitors to juggle my overcommitments.
But the spoooooky syllabus (Culture and the Supernatural) for the second seven-week course set to start next week is all done!
Monday, September 28, 2020
First Flicker
In the beginning lives
a first flicker of flame
that lick of loneliness
lighting an underworld.
The sky may be still
dark with our leaving
life, it is difficult--all
tall ideas, left as yes.
Sunday, September 27, 2020
Almost 13
When they're hidden, I can use other signs and senses to make sure they're ok.
I trust they'll be able to make the right decisions when I'm too far away to help--moving away from strangers, stepping off the path when necessary.
It helps that they stop when the path forks, wordlessly discussing the way forward with me.
Saturday, September 26, 2020
Wild Things
All of this made me quite anxious.
All of this made me very happy.
__________________________
I chaired the WGS sessions of the MASAL conference from home; finalized the WLC second-seven week course syllabus; worked on Nu's birthday plans; hiked with L; practiced saying "fiddly," "wobbly," and "stodgy" in preparation for watching GBBO later in the evening... Full day.
Friday, September 25, 2020
Anachronism
How can it be... that at an academic workshop... of over 30 people... in the 21st century...
Thursday, September 24, 2020
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Steadying as we go
And now here we are post autumnal equinox: Dot, dot, dot... dun, dun, dun...
But actually, at this point in the day--all I can see here is golden sun and the budding promise of the day.
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Poly
My trunk like that of a tree trumpets
unexpectedly where before it had been quiet
and out of breath
My hand blooms open like a nest
busy and persistent, becoming in niceness
and folding to stress
Monday, September 21, 2020
So Many Meetings
So Too many meetings, an eternal leap--just so
But some things are useful; anyone could do this.
They say I mean a thousand things--warning:
I may have cried about it and made it important
but it's just the spin of the world, a spell shortened.
Doubts nest together like spoons--they question
smarts or scope or if I'm dope. I'll fiddle with my
mic, memorize hopes cresting the tip of prayer,
behind my curtain of tongue, my blanket of sleep
and an inevitably unreadable ticking to tomorrow.
(Here I am bundled up for sitting outside for hours in barely 60 degree weather, looking like a fool, and I kinda secretly love it.)
Sunday, September 20, 2020
The one with the masks
but also masks and distancing.
Eight + hours spent in the car
but also four hours of visiting
and lots of talks and talking
and smiling and sharing and handholding.
Time + travel have been weird and slippery
but I wish we'd visited sooner--
Also: I ate a Mexican pizza from Taco Bell. So many Desi and veggie friends were absolutely crushed that it's being retired and I'd never had it and didn't know what to think. Now I know; AFAIC, it can go.
Today will have to be about rest and prep and knowing Monday is coming.
Saturday, September 19, 2020
Off
And we're off for the day, making the trip to Yellow Springs to see MIL who's had a few surgeries in the six months of the pandemic. Four hours there and four hours back, and the plan is to return home later tonight so we don't expose MIL to our germs or pick up icky hotel cooties ourselves.
(I've packed an extra change and puppy supplies, just in case!)
Friday, September 18, 2020
Underneath it all
I wonder what Big A's grandmom, described in this NYT thing as "Louise Lasky, who operates the Teddy Bear Hospital of New City, N.Y." would think of this, as Nu has been doctoring teddy bears too:
That's (1) a gift shop teddy (2) A sad teddy with their mask on (3) a happy teddy with bruises, an extra eye (and Nu's eyebrows!!). As Big A summarized on FB "When your child is talented, and spooky."
Today started off as too much and ended with the news of the loss of RBG, and then the texts and emails from sisters as we had lost one of our own/as though we'd lost one of our own. I think of her 80+ old body doing those 20 pushups a day and working with her trainer because she knew how much was at stake; I think of her making it possible for so many of us; I think of her learning and doing better when it seemed like she didn't immediately get it right... I wish her a peaceful rest and I wish all of us safe passage into a better world. I hope it comes soon.
Thursday, September 17, 2020
A Day
Another day, another week of classes done, another Covid test in one of these tents with a very gentle health tech who thinks small colleges are doing better than the bigger ones around us.
Another set of dinners delivered to new parents, two new babies met from a great distance, a chat in the sunshine with JG (it had gotten chilly and my coat was in the car, so she stood me in a spotlight of sunshine to warm me up), and a very hungry drive home.
Got home, collected my household around me for hugs and leftovers for dinner.
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Today is enough
I can't even seem to word why I'm so tired and defeated. Big A thinks my weltschmerz is creeping higher. Kids and work and volunteer work usually help to distract me, so I'm going to try that first, then if those fail--a walk, a nap, some reading.
Last week's picture of weeds, and native cone flowers, and a distracted monarch to remind me to go outside today.
my beautiful baby
It has been a year. Some days it feels like yesterday, some days it feels like a distant dream of love. There have been tears every day...
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Friends and old neighbors shutting it down in honor of John Crawford. _
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At had us pose for this pic up at Aunt R's place on Lake Huron so he could put it up in his dorm. "Don't tur...
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I have the feeling that I’m going to succumb to the season and put out a list of resolutions soon. Just wanted to establish this heads up th...