Intersecting

I've been reading a book that I bought a few months ago. I purchased it because Scott Russell Sanders was an author that did a reading when I was in college and I visited with him for awhile about writing and a sense of place at a reception afterwards held at my professor's house. He writes personal essays and was also a reading assignment when I was in college. As our final paper in that class, "the environment and american literature", we were to choose one of the authors we had read during the semester and write a creative piece in the style of the author we chose. I chose Sanders and wrote a personal essay (I recall being happy with the final product). I wrote about driving home during my last spring break of college.

Back in college I was reading Writing from the Center. Today I am reading Hunting for Hope (which isn't really a new book, just a recent purchase). There is a lovely intersection between what I wrote in college and what I am reading today. I wrote about stopping my car just before turning into the driveway at the farm. It was dark, maybe 11:00 or 12:00 at night and it was one of those nights when the number of stars seems to have quadrupled. I looked up to find the Comet Hyakutake. That was in the Spring of 1996. In the book I'm reading Sanders talks about seeing that same comet only where he was living there was a Spring snow storm. Kansas was in the grips of a severe drought and accompanying spring warmth. I wonder if you remember that comet.

P.S. I watched Children of Men this weekend. Very grim, but you should watch it. It reminds you of how precious life. Every life is as precious as the one in the movie, and if you don't believe that then atrocities are acceptable.

Gluing things down

I was trying to explain my compulsive collage creations to a friend last night and I thought that I ought to just post one because they don't really make sense. I wouldn't call them works of art, merely a tactile outlet. This one consists mainly of junk mail and trash that I was throwing away plus a couple of pieces from my stash of things previously cut from magazines. I completed it while watching Eternal Sunshine (etc). Mindless ripping and gluing are pleasant.

In other news, I recently read a book which was purchased on a whim at an outing to Target (by the way, did you know that some couples go to Target on Saturday nights... it is a sad state of affairs where I'm living): The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. It's a children's novella with themes which won't be comprehended by children and which are aimed at adults, particularly me at this moment in my life, but a nice story for the tykes nonetheless. It's about a toy rabbit, and in some ways the opposite of The Velveteen Rabbit. It doesn't explain the pervasive use of rabbit's in children's literature. I, of course, was a teddy bear kind of child, but I do remember one lop eared toy rabbit and a rabbit poster. My teddy bear would never have behaved like Edward Tulane, though he did have a miraculous journey to Winfield one time. Once again, thank you to my brother Chris for rescuing him from the clutches of hotel staff.

Don't look at me

He didn't want to have his picture taken. I don't want mine taken either. Alas, we have no cultural mores that allow us that luxury. I'm not sure why it is that there are times that we want to look away. Maybe the last few weeks have been too much for him, what with the new baby and the focus on the infant. He is fighting to find himself in the shuffle of changes. Or maybe it was just the end of a day at the zoo.

I went to the zoo Saturday with 3 nephews and 1 niece (there were other members of our party. I wouldn't have tried such an outing alone). I asked the nearly 2 year old niece if she could say flamingo. She answered "mingo". I asked the nearly 3 year old nephew (not J. who is pictured) if he could say flamingo. He answered "no" and then said "ask Bubba".

I've been thinking about the Grimke sisters today. I admired them so much when I read their writings in college. I'm thinking of whether I could have been like them, realizing that it would take a great deal of gumption, which I lack sometimes in my convictions. Sometimes it's good to revisit what we think and what it is that we don't let ourselves think.

NIT-- I'm going to enjoy it.

March 14 at 8:00 pm v. Vermont. We are a number 2 ... Air Force is number one in our bracket. If you look through the teams in the NIT you realize how tight the competition to get into the NCAA must have been. It should be a good tournament.

It's like they are stealing time

I trust that this day will be uneventful for all. So much for the mini-y2k or M11S (march 11 spring). Also, this first daylight saving day is cloudy-- why would I want to lengthen a cloudy day?

I tried to stay up an hour extra last night in order to keep the government from interfering with my Saturday night. I knew that the government would get their hour no matter what, so I decided if I stayed up late on my own those fat cats in Washington wouldn't actually have stolen one hour of sleep from me, but I would have stolen an hour myself and so we would be even. Somehow this morning the math isn't making sense and truthfully I fell asleep early because I'm not really good at staying up late.

My computer knows exactly what time it is, but as expected some electronics like the mechanical face-dial clock in my house is an hour behind. Actually it isn't surprising, it did that during the last time change. I blame the computer programmers for not even trying with the clock.

On Friday I got to work on time. I think maybe the sunrise was perfect for me waking on my own. Oh well. Everyone is humored at my frenzied arrivals.

Finally I am very sorry to those of you who are having a 23 hour birthday. It's totally not fair.

Haysy

I went to Hays this weekend to see a friend's exhibit. The graphics art department was displaying some of their work. The first pic is of random onlookers discussing the show. The poster and the product display are examples of Jen's work. Betsy came with me and we concluded that hers were the best. Most of the onlookers pictured agreed.