yeses and umms

Yes!: The huge thunderstorm that arrived in the morning on my way to work even as the people on the radio called a heat advisory to warn that the day would feel like 105 degrees. My outside plants and new trees needed the rain so badly and it saved me having to do one more thing on an already busy day. Umm: Nu got thoroughly soaked on the way to the school bus and had to go home to change and then be dropped off at school. (By Big A after he got home from his overnight shift)

Yes!: Hearing At on NPR's Morning Edition! The NLRB has determined that Chipotle's decision to withhold raises to its unionized workers is illegal. As one of the labor organizers, At got to say a few words on how despite everything, the workers remain very pro-union. Umm: Not sure if the decision has any bearing on contract negotiations (ongoing for two years now) and if there will be backpay (which would be awesome!). 

Yes! A colleague encouraged me to go home early after looking at the weather forecast, and I made it home ok in the huge thunderstorm that accompanied me on my way home despite downed trees everywhere and 60-mile gusts of wind. Umm: A second thunderstorm on the same day? There were massive traffic backups due to flooding and traffic lights being out so my plans with the girlfriends got canceled and I had to eat leftovers with Big A and Nu like a pleb. 

Pic: A mullein thicket out front earlier this week. An umm but also a yes? They came up as weeds, but I hear they have health benefits. 

celebrations (and an observance)

National and international doggie day today!! Every day is a day to celebrate our doggie family and friends. But here's extra love for Max, Huckie, Scoutie, Izzy, Chester, Popo, Henry, Zoe, JoJo and also to the doggies we know in Internet land--Rex, Hannah, Zydrunas, Mochi, and Mr. Darcy--today.

It's Janmashtami!! The birthday of Krishna, the little blue boy, as my kids like to call him. Nu has always been a fan just because he's so pretty and always getting into trouble, and I think he's recently been reclaimed by second-gen Hindu kids as an LGBTQ icon. We had a small Indian feast and pooja to celebrate this evening. Back home, my favorite tradition was how people would borrow toddlers and dip their feet in wet rice flour so when they ran around your house, the floors would be decorated with "Baby Krishna's footprints." For a country with the highest growing population, Indians really delight in kids.

It's here! The first week of classes! And I'm so ready... I'll be in three classrooms tomorrow, and... my Canvas sites are live, my syllabi are uploaded, classes have been welcomed via email, diagnostics are loaded, and class plans are posted. I'm excited and keyed up! I hope I get to sleep early...

And finally, it is the six-month anniversary of Aaron Bushnell's brave, brave sacrifice. There's not a day I don't think of that young man and the sweetness of his dear face in the photos. I've never watched the video, but I probably know every word of his note by heart. Despite the horrific manner of his death, I always think of what he did as something intrinsically life-affirming. 

Pic: Max and Huck say hello to my mom on the phone!

good gardener; bad farmer

We've actually had luck with the veggie plots this year. 

Back in May, when we started, we laid plastic mesh down in the beds to discourage underground animals and lighter netting above ground as protection from birds and squirrels. This double-layered protection seems to have worked.

But while I'm good at keeping things alive, I suck at harvesting. The tomatoes beckon with their bright colors, and I grab them when I'm out with Max and Huck. But the peppers, kale, cucumbers, herbs, and zucchini need to be gathered too.

Pic: Today's tomatoes... and those to come.

Six on Saturday

1) Yesterday on our local NPR station's "Michigan Minute" they talked about The Who's drummer Keith Moon celebrating his 21st birthday in Flint, MI with a wild cake party, driving his car into the pool at the Holiday Inn, and getting arrested. Later yesterday, I read about the same incident in the novel I was reading (Chevy in the Hole! Recommended!). On the anniversary of when it first happened on August 23, 1967!

2) Nu came home from school with homework and... a terrible facial rash. There were lots of photos on family chat and we ended up going to Urgent Care who deemed it contact dermatitis, which is a nothingburger of a diagnosis. It could be due to sunscreen, new detergent, or something in the air. Nu got a steroid shot and a prednisone taper to help. 

3) Today, I was blissfully soaking in the hot tub when I got chills all over--one floor up, on the other side of the window glass, I could see a very delicate shape slithering around, flickering out its tongue and waving its tail. A snake. Nu laughed at me when I told my "scary story." "So a snake lives outside where it's supposed to live" was their reasonable summary of the situation. I had to laugh too. The family has now dubbed the snake Mx. Slithers. 

4) I'm totally wowed by the 90-second video StephLove's son Noah worked on for the DNC--it was the walk-on video for Kamala Harris! He also worked on this piece about abortion. 

5) Also, hello--Kamala's HQ is all about the "Brat" rebranding, but I've been my own version of "Brat" since 2006!  My "Brat" comes from a nickname my schoolmates gave me based on my other first name and the "Poco" part is both the usual abbreviation of "Po(st)co(lonial)" and "un Poco."

6) Pic: My blurry picture of our black-eyed Susans--I was afraid Mx. Slithers would jump out at me, I guess.

learning to haunt

I walk so far, all I can remember 

of life is living itself 

the sunset stippling my face as 

the arch in my foot aches   

I dream about shadows in the woods

and hug my hunger close 

like a tiny puddle that will be sucked 

back into the earth overnight 

______________

Pic: resplendent evening skies, puddles

American Empire

[If you're riding a high from the DNC, please skip this post. 

I'm a bit demoralized from the bread-and-circuses model. I want to hear more about childcare, labor, healthcare, paid family leave, housing, etc. and less about "lethal fighting forces." I can't stop thinking how according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, it would cost $20 billion to end homelessness in the United States and we sent that much just this week to an ally who will use it to bomb civilians in Gaza.]

Morning   I thought UAW (United Auto Workers) leadership stated it succinctly, "If we want peace, if we want real democracy, and if we want to win this election, the Democratic Party must allow a Palestinian American speaker to be heard from the DNC stage tonight."

I spent hours calling representatives and helping friends call their representatives to get at least two minutes for Rep. Ruwa Romman of Georgia to speak from the main stage on behalf of Palestinian Americans. In her vetted speech, she would have endorsed Harris-Walz and encouraged uncommitted voters to unite behind them. But none of that happened. This was an immense opportunity for goodwill squandered by the Harris-Walz camp.

Afternoon A colleague I hadn't seen all summer asked me if I was excited Kamala Harris is a presidential nominee. I must have looked blank because he clarified, "She's an Indian woman!" This no doubt comes from a well-meaning place, but I probably have more in common with her Marxist professor father than with someone who was a D.A. 

And also, I wondered if it would be rude if I in turn asked him if he was excited because Trump is a presidential nominee as they're both white men.

Evening   Snippets from the Democratic National Convention.

"I will ensure America always has the most lethal fighting force..." (Kamala Harris) 

"U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" (crowd)

"So they put a rifle in my hand/sent me off to a foreign land/to go and kill the yellow man" (Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." plays overhead) [Why do people think this is a patriotic song to play at conventions?!]

(Last) First day!

And Nu is off to school as a senior. 

I was permitted maybe 20 seconds to take a picture this morning--but only because I begged (please Nu, it's the last first day of school!)! So I don't have any pics in which Max and Huck aren't blurry. But look at our Nu! All tall and shiny and ready!

After I posted on FB, I watched the memories roll in: the friend who threw my bridal shower and was Nu's first visitor, Nu's daycare provider, my aunts, grade school friends, old neighbors... the sweet, earnest suggestions from the young friends who used to be my students...

People are such a blessing in my life. 

Nu had a good first day: they attended the half-day of school, went out to lunch with friends, came home to veggie upma, and opened their back-to-school presents. (At and I found some tees we thought they'd like when we went thrifting last week, so with some new notebooks, a calendar, a copy of Ross Gay's Book of Delights, a handful of study snacks, and their six-month supply of contacts that just came in, there was plenty for them to unbox.)

Pic: Screengrab from my FB post about Nu's first day as an H.S. senior. That's a lot of "likes" and comments, but please note at least four of those comments are just from my mom! lol