Wind

That is the one unforgivable sin in any society.  Be different and be damned!

~ Margaret Mitchell

- - - - -

Last night Leslie was talking about sending her sister's birthday gift.  Granny asked, "What did you send her?"  Leslie said, "All the best movies from 1965 - except The Sound of Music.  I assume she already has that."

"Oh," said Granny nodding and smiling.  "That's nice."

"Like Dr. Zhivago," Leslie added.  "And the others from that year.  I forget now what they were."

"Gone with the Wind?" I asked.

"NO!" retorted Leslie sternly.  That wasn't made in 1965!"

"Oh, that's right," I conceded.  It was in black and white so it had to be earlier."

"What?!" shrieked Leslie.  "It was in color.  Gone with the Wind was in color!"

"I know," I chuckled.  I was just teasing.  "There was a fire and it was the Civil War -- or was it the Revolutionary War?  I forget."

"How can you say those things?" Leslie scolded.  "Don't you know how important that movie was?  It won so many awards and it is very important culturally and historically in terms of what it achieved."

"I know," I said, trying to console her.  "Like the music.  And the dancing.  It won all the awards for that, right?  Is that the movie the Talking Heads wrote 'Burning Down the House' for?  Or was it a different movie."

After that we kind of quit talking about Gone with the Wind. I don't know why, though.  I thought Leslie loved that movie.

Strength

We acquire the strength we have overcome.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

- - - - -

When you're with someone for a little while, you talk about all kinds of things. You talk about things like beliefs and interests and your past. Then you talk about the "what ifs." What if you had all the money you ever wanted? What if you could go anywhere you wanted for a vacation? What if you only had one book and one tool on a desert island? What if you found out someone plagiarized your creative work? What if you suddenly grew wings? What if you could become invisible?

Anyway, somehow Leslie and I got on the topic of what if we got into a fight - who would win? She said I would because I am stronger.  I said she would because she is a spy.

Leslie: Yes, but I wouldn't use those skills on you. We were trained not to use them on civilians.

Me: That is so not comforting.

What if I just decide not to ever get in a fight with her?

Have

Ironically, rural America has become viewed by a growing number of Americans as having a higher quality of life not because of what it has, but rather because of what it does not have!

~ Don A. Dillman

- - - - -

We don't want what we have, and we want what we don't have.  But we also want what other people have as well as what others do not have.

Maybe if we focused on being instead of wanting, we'd be okay. 

For example, if I was rich and focused on being rich, I wouldn't be focused on wanting to be rich.

See how easy that is?

Mail

Strange as it may seem, I still hope for the best, even though the best, like an interesting piece of mail, so rarely arrives, and even when it does it can be lost so easily.

~ Lemony Snickett

- - - - -

I still hope for the best, too. I hope for the "Best Ever Post Card Writing" award.

Not really.  I made that up.  But if there was one, I wouldn't mind winning it.

People like to be the best at things. And people like other people to know the things we are good at.

On the way to Duquesne a few weeks ago, we were behind a car with one of those "26.2" stickers on it.  Leslie said, "Why do people have those?"

I said, "Ego?"

She said, "But that's like a 44 year old man wearing around his sash with all of his Boy Scout badges on it!"

She makes me laugh so hard sometimes.

And also, some guys do that.

LLibrary

The llama is a woolly sort of fleecy hairy goat, with an indolent expression and an undulating throat; like an unsuccessful literary man.

~ Hilaire Belloc

- - - - -

I like learning about Leslie's job. She gets to find and share information with people. She learns about lots of interesting things in her job.

But being a librarian isn't glamorous and exciting ALL the time.

One of the things she does is work as an online reference librarian. I don't fully understand it, but it has to do with being online and getting questions from all over and from all different types of people.  She said, "Most of the time it is interesting and we help people with different things."

Then there are other times.

"Sometimes they call and want to know if the puppet show is still on at their public library.  How the hell should I know? I don't care about the puppet show at the public library!" She added, "Then there are days that third grade teachers just set their kids free on us and we get questions like 'Llamas?'"

I couldn't stop laughing when she said that. I think it was more about the voice she created for the third-grader sending in the question, but I really thought it was funny.

I was actually asking so that I could go in when she was working and ask her random questions like, "Where are the green books?" or "How do I help my community ban books?" or "I am starting to believe everything I read and I need help.  What should I do?"

Instead, now I want to go online while she's working and just ask, "Llamas?"

Mail

Discourse is fleeting, but junk mail is forever!

~ Joe Bob Briggs

- - - - -

I feel like this is how this story started, so it's how I'm going to start this story...

Not too long ago, Jared let me know that Kirk wanted to get famous enough to be recruited by the Scientologists.  I, being the person who often likes to make others' dreams come true, contacted Scientology Central (though I don't think that's what it was called) and suggested they send information to Kirk.

I then contacted the Hare Krishnas and suggested that they contact him, as well.

I was going to contact the Wiccans, but they wanted too much personal information, so instead I tried to think of other things Kirk might be interested in.

When I told Leslie that my next idea was to subscribe him to Tiger Beat magazine, her response was, "Now he's going to wonder why he gets TWO copies."

I really like her.

Fungi

Out of damp and gloomy days, out of solitude, out of loveless words directed at us, conclusions grow up in us like a fungus: one morning they are they, we know not how, and they gaze upon us, morose and gray. Woe to the thinker who is not the gardener but only the soil of the plants that grow in him.

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

- - - - -

I like that idea of tending to what is planted in us. We can weed out some of that bad stuff or repurpose it to help the good things grow. We have some agency to create change and manage ourselves - our inner lives as well as the ways we engage with the outer world.

But sometimes the fungus that grows in us is morel mushrooms.  In which case - yahoo!

The morel of the story is you can be a fungi or a boring guy. Mush of life is up to us.

Mistakes

I am sure it is a great mistake always to know enough to go in when it rains. One may keep snug and dry by such knowledge, but one misses a world of loveliness.

~ Adeline Knapp

- - - - -



I don't like it when people tell me I have made some mistakes.  Why are they mistakes?  Why not misterstakes? Am I outraged about the gender-affiliation of the language?

No.

No, I'm angry because I don't like being told I goofed up.

Boxes

You must empty a box before you fill it again.

~ Irish Proverb

- - - - -

How come boxes are bad? We are always wanting think outside them.  Get out of them. Be careful not to force things into them.

I like boxes.  I like packing some stuff away so it doesn't clutter up the place. Plus, when you open the boxes, they are full of surprises.  Sometimes good surprises.

Sometimes they are full of bad surprises - like your things broke or a mouse got in there and had babies and you have to touch the pink squirmy babies to get them out of that box.

I'm just kidding about that mouse thing. That doesn't happen in a box. It happens in my grandmother's bag of yarn. And my mom didn't see the pink squirmers until she put her hand in the bag. Then she got sick.

So anyway... boxes.


Mom

Mothers are all slightly insane.

~ J.D. Salinger

- - - - -

I am sure my mother is a bit off.  I don't think Erik and Kirk and I would have turned out the way we did if she was normal.  But then there is no normal, is there?  No.  There isn't.

Also, really J.D. Salinger?  Live in glass houses much?

Well, I guess not anymore.

Spam

For email, the old postcard rule applies.

Nobody else is supposed to read your postcards,

but you'd be a fool if you wrote anything private on one.

~ Judith Martin

- - - - - -

So, I have had a collection of SPAM postcards for a long time.  I used to pick them up anytime I was near Minnesota.  They had them in brochures to encourage people to go to the SPAM Museum.  Which you SHOULD go to if you get the chance.  Not right now.  You'll understand why soon.

Anyway, I have moved these postcards around with me a lot.  I decided at the beginning of the year to start sending them to my mom.  I didn't send them all at once.  I spaced them out over a few days.  

Since the postal carriers have already read all of them, I may as well share them with you.

As my mom's birthday approaches, I thought this would be a good time to share them.

The photos above are what the fronts of (most of) the cards looked like.  

Why do I love SPAM so much?  I don't know.  Probably because of the postcards.

Mastery

Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

- - - - -

The idea of mastery is interesting. It can shift or be taken away in a moment. A change of circumstance. A change in our understanding of the world. A change in what we as a community or culture value.

And what do you do when your mastery is passed? When you aren't as masterful as you once were?

I suppose you try to learn more. You try to grow. Sometimes that learning is formal - education. I guess in those cases you're going for your post-master's degree.

Creative

Humans are pretty crafty but will fold quickly in severe cold.

~ Henry Rollins

- - - - -

I like to think that I am creative.  A creative problem-solver.  Someone who likes to create things.  Sometimes that works against me, though.  Because sometimes I like to create problems for others.  Sometimes I like that quite a bit.

Not quilt a bit.  I rarely quilt problems for others.  Not that I'm opposed to quilting.  Some of my best family members make quilts.  I wish one of them would write a book called, I'm Calling it Quilts.  Because I'd like to see what they say about me and to find out who would play me in the movie.  Of course the name of the movie might be changed to Car Chase Quilters or Quilts of Fire or Quilters Never Win.

I mean, really we have to think ahead to marketing and merchandising, right?

Awesome

Awesome things come to those who focus on the positive, recognize the blessings, find the humor and never give up!

~ Comic Strip Mama

- - - - -

When I had this journal in class someone asked me if it said "Dr. Awesome" on it.  It actually said, "The Journal OF Awesome."  However, I am creative and resourceful and was able to easily convert the "of" into "DR."  So I did.

Sometimes I worry that me liking to be called "Dr. Awesome" could make me seem egocentric and arrogant and self-absorbed.  Then I realize that isn't the case.  There is space in awesome for both me and we, right?  If that's the case, it can't be all about me.  We definitely make awesome happen.

People

Those that despise people will never get the best out of others and themselves.

~ Alexis de Tocqueville

- - - - -

I recently found myself in a cultural immersion experiment.  It was unanticipated but not unappreciated.

Me: Just stopped at nastiest gas station I've been in in a long time.  Worth it though because inside my stall it said, "Vikita + Cody 4ever."  Only "Vikita" was crossed out and someone wrote, "Big mouth [bad word, rhymes with barn door, dance floor or hardware store] who can't back her shit up."  I feel like that guy -- 

Leslie:  What kind of name is "Vikita?"

Me:  I don't know.  de Tocqueville!  That's who I feel like.  I'm the Alexis de Tocqueville of West Virginia!!!

Leslie:  Why would de Tocqueville be in a woman's rest room?

Me:  Did they have indoor plumbing back then?  You're missing my point.

Future

A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that 'individuality' is the key to success.

~ Robert Purvis

- - - - -

You might think that once you graduate, all your troubles are over.  You have achieved that educational credential and now you are ready for a worry-free life.  That is not true.  In fact, if you didn't know it wasn't true, you may not have learned as much in school as you should have.

For example, a couple of years ago when I finished my Ph.D., my troubles were only beginning.  They sent me the wrong sized tam for commencement.  First, I wrote to Ann. 

Me:  Ann, do you know anyone with a large tam?  They sent me the wrong size.

Ann: Tam it!

She made a few suggestions and then added.

Ann: If I see any random tams around, I'll let you know.

Me:  And I'll run by the Tam Shack on Welch and see if they have what I need.

My next attempt was to get another tam from the registrar's office.  I emailed Rose to find out if that would be a possibility.

Me:  How big is Kathy Jones' head?

Rose completely misunderstood my question and went on for pages and pages about Kathy's ridiculously huge ego.  I guess people try to help in their own ways.

But my point is, your problems are just beginning.  They are like wild beasts.  The best you can do is try to tam them. 



Preparation

Winter is a season of recovery and preparation.

~ Paul Theroux

- - - - -

Apparently the people in South Carolina are good at stocking up during snowstorms.  I failed to go to the grocery store during any of our two anticipated inclement weather situations this winter.  I have been told that I should go just to watch.  It's on my list of sights to see in SC.

I walked past this sign on campus.  I think that FEMA and the American Red Cross are now using this as their emergency response provisions list.

I could be wrong about that.

Barn

Don't close the barn door after the horse runs away.

~ American Proverb

- - - - -

I think this proverb is about preparation and forethought.  You want to secure things before they are gone or taken or stolen or they run away.  You want to protect them.  Once they are gone, it doesn't do any good to lock them up.

Of course, it could mean that you want to keep the barn open in case the horse comes back home again.  If s/he can't get in the barn, then s/he might run off forever.

But, seriously, I think you're deceiving yourself if you think that horse is coming home again.  It's not.  That horse is going to Broadway to try and star in a horseplay.

Equus.

May

You have to have a big vision and take very small steps to get there.  You have to be humble as you execute but visionary and gigantic in terms of your aspiration...  it's not about grand innovation, it's about a lot of little innovations: every day, every week, every month, making something a little bit better.

~ Jason Calacanis

- - - - -

This is a restaurant in Ames, Iowa.  I like it there.  The food is pretty good and I like to eat there and watch people.  Or write.  Well, I did.  It's a little inconvenient to go there now that I've moved.

It made me think though - about how we use months to describe things.  May House probably isn't about the month of May, but we take our inspirations where we can get them.  A few thoughts...

 

March On
April Showers
May House
June Bug
September Morning
October Sky

A few less common phrases...

January Charley Horses
July Sweatfest
August Discussed Robustly
December Scrabble Tournament

Just you wait.  Give these a little time and I'm sure they may catch on.  And if not, if you give it a little more time, I'm sure you'll forget all about these.

Window

Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.

~ Edith Wharton

- - - - -

You can't always get a sense of the day from your window.  You can't tell what the temperature is or if the wind is warm or cold. You can guess, but you can't know the world simply by watching it.  You have to go out and be in it.

And it can be scary. You don't always know what you'll find. Some days might make you wish you had stayed inside. I think more days will make you glad you ventured out.

But take a jacket. You never know. Little things can make or break a moment. In this case a jacket can make or windbreaker a moment. In the case of the quote above, the fact that the second sentence ends with "the day" instead of "today" makes a huge difference.

That's what I think.

Denounce

Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him.

~ Fyodor Dostoevsky

- - - - -

One day in class Kelsey started laughing.  A lot.  She could hardly breathe.  She finally was able to share that she accidentally texted the word "denounce" to Tyler when she was trying to spellcheck it.  It was funny.  It was more funny because she was laughing so hard.

We all had a chuckle and then went back to class.

And then I looked up "denounce."  It means "To publicly declare something wrong or evil."

It was only later when I thought to myself, "Self," I thought, "Why was she spellchecking 'denounce' in our assessment class?"

Language

 The author O. Henry taught me about the value of the unexpected. He once wrote about the noise of flowers and the smell of birds - the birds were chickens and the flowers dried sunflowers rattling against a wall.

~ Chuck Jones

- - - - -

I love language. It is fun and funny and tense and intense - and past tense, for that matter. 

That said, I don't love all words. I guess most of them serve a purpose, but some words I don't care for. For example, I don't really like the word "pungent" unless you're using it to describe a guy who is clever with words.

Wham!

Fear can sometimes be a useful emotion. For instance, let's say you're an astronaut on the moon and you fear that your partner has been turned into Dracula. The next time he goes out for the moon pieces, wham!, you just slam the door behind him and blast off. He might call you on the radio and say he's not Dracula, but you just say, "Think again, bat man."

~ Jack Handey

- - - - -

Leslie can be a little high-strung.  Sometimes I walk in and say crazy stuff like, "Hello." or "Hi." and she jumps out of her skin.

That happened the other night.  I walked into the kitchen.  She was cooking or putting away dishes from the dishwasher or something.  I said, "Hi" and she was startled and jumped a little.

"Oh," she said, "Sorry.  It was a very intense moment on Hawaii-Five-O."

"Hm," I replied.  "I will add that to my list of things I didn't expect to ever hear from you."

Abandoned

Reality seems valueless by comparison with the dreams 
of fevered imaginations; reality is therefore abandoned.

~ Emile Durkheim

- - - - -

I wonder when I see abandoned houses or barns or storefronts or storebacks, why did someone just leave them?  Were they called away?  Was it illness or emergency?  Was it just giving up and  moving on when a dream didn't play out the way someone had hoped?

I also wonder when I see abandoned buildings if there might be treasure in them or big giant hidden bags of money.  But I hardly ever find those things there.

Flood

I have a flood of ideas in my mind. I just follow my vision.

~ Yayoi Kusama

- - - - -

 

I have a flood of ideas in my mind, too. And -  like a flood - I don't always know what is left around and usable until the waters recede. There might be a photo album or a tire or a baby shoe or a jar of pickles.

 

And I can use what is left to create "found art." And I can share it with my neighbors who are dealing with their own floods in their own lives in their own ways.

 

And I can then drive away really fast when they yell at me for dumping my garbage in their yard.

Storm

There are some things you learn best in calm, some in storm.

~ Willa Cather

- - - - -

 



Sally:  Does anyone have the weather radio- it is not in the resource room.

Me:  I think it got blown away in the tornado last spring.  Or maybe it was last night's flood...  Actually, I don't know where it is.  I should not have responded, probably.

What I learned from this is that I should sometimes type things and not hit send and then decide if I should hit send instead of typing and sending and then thinking.

However, it appears that the thinking was happening in this email as I was writing it.  And I still hit send.

I guess there are some things I never learn best.

Homework

One of life's most painful moments comes when we must admit that we didn't do our homework, that we are not prepared.

~ Merlin Olsen

- - - - -

 

Wayne: Homework is boring.  True story.

Me: Grading is fun.  Entering grades into computer systems is boring.

 

What if we didn't call it homework, but lifework?  Would we make different kinds of assignments?  Would we engage in the assignments in different ways?  Would it raise the stakes.

 

And what if we didn't call it grading, but judging.

 

Wait.  I already do that.

 



Ocean

Friends come and go like the waves of the ocean, but true ones stay like an octopus on your face.

~ Unknown

- - - - -

I don't know who said that quote, but I wish it had been me.  First of all, I love the ocean.  Second of all, I am okay letting some friends go if that's what needs to happen.  Third, I have developed a huge respect for the octopus.  Octopi are smart.  REALLY smart.  Kirk and Jared gave me octopi art for being a part of their wedding.  

I love the ocean, too. 

My friend Rachel also loves Ocean.  But when we have our chats scheduled, she will put that aside to dialogue with me.  She told me.  Just the other night she said, "So I was going to sit in the car and finish listening to Billy Ocean, but then I remembered I should prioritize our conversation."

THAT is true friendship.

Reflection

We always see our worst selves. Our most vulnerable selves. We need someone to get close enough to tell us we're wrong. Someone we trust.

~ David Levithan

- - - - -

Reflection is good, but it is imitation, right?  Each see-er sees different things. When we reflect on moments, we see them through our own lens. We need people to encourage us to see things from a variety of perspectives. Is one way of seeing something more "right" or more "true"?  I don't know.  I really don't know that we can ever tell someone what is true for them.  We can't know that.

I think it is even more challenging when we are reflecting not on moments, but on ourselves. We see the external and the internal. The internal is like - I don't know what. Something hidden and filled with the unexpected. Some good things. Some troubling things. Like the inside of a chicken pot pie.

My friend Mimi helped me realize this. We were going to be presenting together and she asked me for a brief bio. After I sent it to her, she responded, sending me back what I had written and then commenting:

"Michelle Boettcher is a tenure-track assistant professor who previously served in administrative roles in housing and most recently as assistant dead of students and director of judicial affairs." 

I think you're making a statement here. :)

In that way, Mimi helped me see myself for how I was seeing myself - whether I wanted to admit it or not. And that person is, unfortunately, not good at typing and editing her work sometimes.

Attention

Do stuff.  be clenched, curious.  Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It's all about paying attention. attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. stay eager.

~ Susan Sontag

 



Nancy seemed to be the manager of the gas station mini mart place [for the record, NOT the one pictured above].  That said, it also seemed to be Nancy's day off.  She had just stopped by for some reason.  She wasn't working that day.

Maybe that's why the guy with the leering eyes was mopping the bathrooms with days old water.  Of course it could have simply been that he was using black floor cleaner.  I avoided eye contact because I was afraid that if I looked directly at him that it might constitute a common law marriage in his mind.  He gave off a vibe that indicated he probably didn't get a lot of direct eye contact from people.

I digress...  Back to Nancy.  Maybe on the days when Nancy worked people who came in for job interviews actually had someone with whom to meet instead of being told, "Katie?  I didn't know a Katie was coming in today. Thayn't no one here to talk to today."  Of course on this day that was followed by, "Wait.  There's Nancy. I'll ask her. NANCY!"  Katie was rescheduled for later in the week when Nancy would be available.

And maybe on the days when Nancy worked the register area didn't smell like sour milk. Maybe Nancy was a stickler for those kinds of things and people just slacked off when Nancy was gone.

But Nancy had stopped by.  With her friend.  Friend?  Son?  Husband?  He seemed a lot younger than she was, but she seemed a lot older than she was so it was hard to tell the nature of their relationship. He stayed close to her, maybe hoping she would buy him a Ring Pop or a new lighter or a well-aged hotdog off the rollers.  The gas station mart had all those things.  Him waiting and not buying anything for himself made him seem like he might be her son.  And his face tattoo may have made him look younger, too.

And Nancy did yell at him when they walked out the door the first time because he forgot to remind her to buy her cigarettes.  That Nancy.  What a character. 

I think.  Yes.  A character in her world, but maybe in a play or a song or a reality TV show.  "GasMart Nancy."  There's probably a better title.  "Tattooface" is a better title, but I don't think the show would be too much about him.

Adventures are fun. 

 

Paint

The more I paint, the more I like everything.

~ Jean-Michael Basquiat

- - - - -

This is a house near Leslie's house. Some new people moved into it a few weeks ago.  To my knowledge they haven't painted it yet.  I don't know if they will or not, but it looked like they were doing a lot of work on the inside of it.

I have done a lot of painting in my life.  Mostly on the  insides of places.  I worked summer paint crew for a year or two when I was in college.  I painted places as an apartment manager for a year.  I have painted places where I lived.

I think I would also like to do art painting.  I have only done a little of that.  I have some of the stuff to do oil painting, but I don't really do it.  A blank canvas intimidates me much more than a blank page does.  It's not that I don't have ideas or don't think I could do it.

I probably am just afraid that my trees wouldn't be all that happy.

Mess

Excuse the mess, but we live here.

~ Roseanne Barr

- - - - -

A while back Granny told David that his hair was a mess.

Her hair was a mess, too.

I told David, "You should have told her she looked like she'd been rummaging through the garbage all morning."

Because she had.

Looking for a gift card.

Which was in her purse.

Memories

Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us.

~ Oscar Wilde

- - - - -

So Facebook does this thing now when it pops up things that happened in the past - old posts that you posted.  I don't have those pop up very often.  Or I don't notice them often when they pop up.

The other day one popped up about working non-VEISHEA last year.  I had been following non-VEISHEA this year, so it was interesting to see it from a year-ago-perspective.

But what really weirded me out was when I got a notice from Facebook that read, "Suzy Owens commented on your memories."

That seemed sci-fi to me. Plus, I don't want people having access to all of my memories.  Especially law enforcement.

Talk

Three is a time to be quiet and a time to talk.

~ Aung San Suu Kyi

- - - - -

 

Rachel:  Make sure you talk out loud to someone.  (Sometimes you forget that).

 

Me:  That made me laugh.  What is bad is today I worried that I am going to be one of those people who wanders around talking to herself.  Because I already do that.  Except for the wandering around.

 

Rachel: You stand in one place and talk to yourself?  Awesome.

 

Me:  Otherwise I fall down or run into things.

 

Rachel:  Nice self-awareness.

 

Me: Thank you.  Just short of being self-absorbed.  Most days.

 

Rachel:  In faculty work - it's a fine line.

 

Me:  Yes.  I can't wait to cross that line so I can be as important as some of the rest of them!!!

 

Rachel:  Just a girl.  With a dream...

 

Me: My movie tagline.

 

Rachel: I can hear the music.

 

Me:  Is it "Tempted" by Squeeze?  'Cause that's what I'm playing right now.

 

Rachel:  Something more operatic.  Like the movie theme from Forrest Hump.  Gump.

 

Me: BWAA HA HA HA!  I think "Forrest Hump" is a different kind of movie than what I want for my biopic.

 

Rachel:  So true.  I love our texts.

 

Me: Me, too.  This might show up in my blog - just an FYI.  And Leslie says I take creative license with my blog.  But in my defense, that's only because I take creative license with my blog.

 

Rachel:  It's the best part.  Grandma always says don't ruin a good story with the truth.

 

Me: Grandma is super wise.  It's good to listen to what she says.

Taxes

Love is much nicer to be in than an automobile accident, a tight girdle, a higher tax bracket, or a holding pattern over Philadelphia.

~ Judith Viorst

- - - - -

A lot of people might think this isn't a good place to get your taxes done.  Since Al Capone went to jail for tax evasion, that is one way of looking at it.  Or maybe we can look at is as being a good place to get your taxes done because the Capones maybe learned something from that experience and won't make the same mistake twice.

You can go there if you like, but I'm not going to.  Is it because I'm too choosy or too snooty to go there?  Is it because I make assumptions about the quality of the work based on some of the commentary in the first paragraph?  Is it because I don't trust anyone except myself to do my taxes?

No.

It's because I don't live in Pennsylvania where this is located.

 



$1

The value of a dollar is social, as it is created by society.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

- - - - -

I am not sure if this promotional display is emphasizing how much or how little a dollar can buy.  I suppose it depends on whom you are.  I suppose it depends on how much you like corned beef hash and canned mackerel.  Or maybe it just depends on how hungry you are.  And maybe that says a lot about how we treat people who have less money than other people.  No, sorry.  Not maybe.

I don't know that I would spend a dollar on most of these items.  Maybe an Andrew Johnson dollar.  He wasn't a very good president.  Or Buchanan.  Or Harding.  

On a not-very-related note, it would be ironic to buy a teapot with Harding dollars, wouldn't it?

(pause)

Trust me.  It would be a little ironic.

She

She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her.

~ Zora Neale Hurston

- - - - -

 



I saw this a long time ago in Target.  It creeped me out.  It still does.  As does the fact that one of Aurora's words is "Barbie."  I'm all for creativity and perhaps Aurora's Barbie will go on to do great things in Aurora's world with her giraffes and cell phone collection.

And I do blame myself.  I should have gotten Aurora that Marie Curie doll or the Zora Neale Hurston action figure or the Maya Lin marionette.  Or the Frida Kahlo finger puppet.  Wait.  She does have her mom's Frida Kahlo finger puppet, so that's good.  And besides, who am I kidding?  If there was a Zora Neale Hurston action figure I'd have kept it for myself.

Noise

I rant and rave about noise pollution.

~ Robert Carlyle

- - - - -

 

Leslie says that I shouldn't complain about noise in the library if I sit in the loud area.  Who knew there were loud areas in libraries?  I mean, I guess I sort of figured it out since everyone was so loud.  I'm often slow, but eventually I catch on.

 



That said, do you know what people do a lot in libraries?  They throw books on tables.  Or they do that thing where you take a stack of papers and tap them so they all line up.  Or they use power staplers or three hole paper punches.

Know what is annoying?  That stuff above.

Now you're wondering what this photo has to do with this post.  Let me tell you.  This is the designated quiet section of the library.

I'm just kidding.  It's not. 

It's a place in Clemson.  You can hike to it.  The day I was near it there was a family (I think they were a family, they looked family-ish) in there singing.  They sounded good, the acoustics were good.  They were practicing Edelweiss.  And they were dressed in traveling costumes.

Not really.  It's just that I watched the Julie Andrews special with Diane Sawyer the other night. 

This park is a place that is probably usually quiet.  And I expected it to be quiet.  But the family singing didn't bother me.  If they had been slamming down books and using loud staplers and three hole punches, then I would have been annoyed.

So my point is that not all noise is bad.

Water

It is life, I think, to watch the water. 

A man can learn so many things.

~ Nicholas Sparks

- - - - -

I love to watch the water.  I like the way it moves and reflects and sounds and captures light.  It is soothing and helps to quiet my mind.  

There is something scary about the water, too, however.  It hides things.  It can swallow you up.  It can create change in slow and incremental ways - or tremendously powerful ways.

When it is gone, we miss it.

When we have too much of it, we want it to go away.

It controls our experience on a number of levels.

Still waters run deep.

Water under the bridge.

You can lead a horse to water.

 

 But what if we replace the word "water" in these proverbs with "otter?"

You didn't see that coming, did ya?

Now you've got some REAL thinking to do.

 



Destiny

Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing.  There is a time for silence.  A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny.  And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over.

~ Octavia Butler

- - - - -

True friendship really does mean being there to pick up the pieces.  Or trying to be there for that.  Some people have too much pride.  But if you have a friend who hurls herself into her destiny and that first destiny turns out to be glass house or a glass ceiling, there are probably going to be a lot of pieces to pick up.

And if your friend is a bird, it really could be a glass ceiling.  Or wall or window.

And if your friend is a bird, I hope you have some other friends, too because that one bird friendship may not be as mutually-reciprocated as you think.