| sadness |
[Jul. 19th, 2007|04:50 pm] |
Earlier this summer while visiting Fig in New England, I was reminded of what a fraught relationship I have with family. Over the course of many hours and days together, she said I told her more about my family than I had ever said before. Apparently, I am largely silent on the matter.
Today, I learned that my uncle was killed in an accident. After my father and I became estranged, he was the one that kept me connected to the family. Took efforts to make sure I knew about important news, weddings, other such gatherings -- knowing I had no one else who would keep me in the loop. He was my surrogate father in this way.
So, I am sad today. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 5th, 2007|03:21 pm] |
 | You scored as Hermione Granger, You're one intelligent witch, but you have a hard time believing it and require constant reassurance. You are a very supportive friend who would do anything and everything to help her friends out.
Hermione Granger | | 70% | Ron Weasley | | 70% | Harry Potter | | 70% | Severus Snape | | 65% | Albus Dumbledore | | 65% | Sirius Black | | 60% | Remus Lupin | | 55% | Ginny Weasley | | 50% | Draco Malfoy | | 40% | Lord Voldemort | | 15% | </td>
Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...?
created with QuizFarm.com |
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| mother figure |
[Jun. 13th, 2007|02:18 pm] |
This morning as I put away the laundry, one of my little guys brought in a moth. Although I'm not fond of the killing, it is very sweet how he finds wherever I am in the house and drops his catch near my feet -- looks up at me with his cute eyes and meows for recognition. I totally felt like a mom, whose little one who runs inside the house to share their most recent discovery and accomplishment.
But how do you communicate to a cat - "Yes, I love you, you're great but you don't need to kill the local wildlife for me to think so." But he's just doing what he's meant to do. I wonder... is he doing this more because he's happy I'm home, or now he just has someone with whom to share his victory. Yesterday, it was a bird. |
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| little boxes filled with ticky tacky |
[Dec. 30th, 2006|09:59 am] |
This morning I rode my bike past a storage facility. One of those places where you can rent a box by the month -- filling it to the brim with all the stuff you can't fit in your current living space.
It's a bit offensive really -- how much stuff many of us hold on to. I must count myself as one of the offending parties, as we have a garage filled with things and stuff we don't use each day. A friend has the following quote hung on their living room wall, "Keep nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or find to be beautiful."
I think of Demetria and her home, which she graciously opened to me for four days during my visit to Nicaragua. Not counting the four molded plastic lawn chairs and the small, square four-legged table -- she could likely pack all her family's possessions in two large TV boxes (say the 32inch kind) and have room left over.
Suffice it to say I was not in the mood to do much Christmas shopping this season. |
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| relief |
[Dec. 18th, 2006|11:02 pm] |
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Dude! I'm FINALLY done with the Fall semester. How happy am I to have sent off that last paper just a few moments ago. Amazing how my mind, body and spirit feel so much lighter. |
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| I concur... |
[Dec. 9th, 2006|04:08 pm] |
As I prep for my interreligious dialogue paper, this quote particularly resonated with me...
“A friendship that never includes critique and even, when appropriate, suspicion is a friendship barely removed from the polite and wary communication of strangers.”
David Tracy, "Plurality and Ambiguity" page 112. |
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| surreal and spoiled |
[Dec. 2nd, 2006|12:11 am] |
A friend introduced me today to the communal baths of Kabuki -- a spa located in the heart of Japantown. It was wonderful to immerse myself in the pools, enjoy the steam room and salt rub and drink my fill of herbal tea and lemon water. My body has been re-introduced to a relaxed state.
However, all this pampering is rather strange after spending four days in Mamonal,Nicaragua. There was so much water at Kabuki -- a large warm pool and a deep cold plunge. The pink plastic bowl pales in comparison -- positioned outside under the faucet to collect water for a shower -- water turned on and off by a slight tree branch thrust into a PVC pipe in the ground. But even more surreal was to lay resting on the wooden "deck chairs," knowing they were like the hard slab of wood folks in Mamonal call their bed.
Such extremes. |
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| tomorrow |
[Nov. 16th, 2006|12:26 am] |
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This time tomorrow - I'll be in Managua, Nicaragua. Wow. |
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| movie therapy |
[Nov. 6th, 2006|04:04 pm] |
This semester I read a wonderful book called "Strangers Gods and Monsters" by Richard Kearney. He's said that one of the most amazing gifts we have inherited as humans is our narrative imagination -- our ability to craft stories and myths to "explain the unexplainable." These narratives are the tools with which we make sense of lives -- particularly our deepest pains, fears, sorrows and suffering.
Over the past few days, I have felt deep appreciation for the ways in which film provides space for conversation. The narratives provide images and concepts with which to unpack our own. Thus I offer thanks to Shortbus, The Secretary and The Joy Luck Club - each of which has offered room and possibility in ways I thought unimaginable. |
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| lest things grow rotten |
[Nov. 2nd, 2006|08:58 am] |
"... but this that I am now about to tell thee thou must swear to keep secret until after my death."
"I swear it," answered Sancho.
"I say so," continued Don Quixote, "because I hate taking away anyone's good name."
"I say," replied Sancho, "that I swear to hold my tongue about it till the end of your worship's days, and God grant I may be able to let it out tomorrow."
"Do I do thee such injuries, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "that thou wouldst see me dead so soon?"
"It is not for that," replied Sancho, "but because I hate keeping things long, and I don't want them to grow rotten with me from over-keeping."
Don Quixote, Chapter XVII,
Miguel de Cervantes |
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