the best or worst breakup — EH 101 blog post #2

Is there ever a best breakup?
I guess if you’ve had a horrible relationship, any breakup will be good, eh?

I”m going to be general here because I don’t feel comfortable talking about my breakups. I think that most breakups are drawn out — even if there’s a precipitating event such as one person moving away or having an affair. Even with such events, I think it always takes a long time to declare a relationship over. And even after that happens, unless you’re going to therapy or have exceptionally keen insight into your own self, the wounds linger.

OK, that was fully depressing.

Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize – EH 101 blog post #3

I know many folks believe that Obama should not have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. President Obama is one of those people. But once awarded the prize, I don’t see how he could have rejected it. No matter what the brouhaha, I think the Nobel Academy’s choice demonstrates Europe’s (and the world’s) immense disgust with the Bush administration and their relief that the U.S. now has a chance to redeem itself and do the right thing — that is, pay attention to the rest of the world. I don’t think the Obama administration has done enough to promote peace in the world — there’s much more to do. But they’ve made a start.

The craziest thing I ever did EH 101 blog post #4

Anything I remember has to do with consumption of alcohol, and I’m not sure that’s the best thing to write about. I’ve been in recovery for over twenty-three years. Let’s not go there.

OK, non-drunk crazy stuff. Hmmm. This was not crazy, but I wonder if I would let my kid do it. The fall after I graduate from high school, I took off for Berlin and didn’t know when — or if — I’d come back.

I’d spent the summer after my junior year as an AFS (American Field Service) exchange student living with a German family, and I returned to Connecticut a changed person. I wanted to go back to Germany, so I could really learn the language. Since I graduated early from high school, I spent that spring semester of my senior year working as a waitress to save money. I also researched programs that would allow me to live in Germany, and I found a place in West Berlin — a home for physically handicapped children. (I’m still blown away that I did all this research and communication via phone and letters — this was the early 70s!) This home, Fürst Donnersmarck-Haus, gave me room and board and a small monthly allowance in exchange for my working with the kids in the home. At age 18, I packed up, took off for a foreign city, and didn’t know when or if I’d return. My parents must have been worried, but they still supported me. I don’t know if I’d be able to do the same with my son.

Do I believe in ghosts? EH 101 blog post #5

Maybe.
I’m not sure.
Yes.
Sometimes no.
My friend Julie tells this really scary story of staying at a hotel with another friend and knowing that the room was haunted and waking up and dealing with the ghost. Very scary story.
I know I’ve felt presences. I suppose I believe that souls or parts of a living thing do not disappear at death. And so I believe these presences can be felt. I guess that’s as far as I can go.

What I did on Halloween – EH 101 post #6

Not much.

OK, I need to write more. I know that. But seriously. I didn’t. Do much. My son and his friend and I carved pumpkins the week before. I took all the pumpkin seeds and roasted them. The pumpkins rotted one by one. First my son’s pumpkin collapsed. Then mine disappeared into itself. Then my son’s friend’s pumpkin succumbed to the furry grey stuff growing on it and all the bugs who’d made a fast food stop out of the thing. It also rained really hard one night, and I could hear the rain falling from the roof onto the pumpkins on the balcony railing. I kept waking up all night wondering what that pounding was. I finally figured out it was booming rain on pumpkin (that could be a good band name, eh?) but didn’t want to get drenched by going outside and taking the melting pumpkins off the balcony railing.

And now you have way too much information about what I did not do on Halloween.

wordpress helps you proofread

Just read the WordPress blog — they’ve got a new service called After the Deadline, and it’s a proofreading application. Check it out here – http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/atd-wpcom/
Interesting stuff given everything we’ve been talking about with the Twenty Most Common Errors on EasyWriter. I found this suggested link, too: Five Grammatical Errors That Make You Look Dumb. The link was to a WordPress blog, but I found this posting by googling — it’s more thorough and has more resources — by Brian Clark.

my dad

My dad sent a picture yesterday of him playing the bagpipes last Memorial Day for the Memorial Day Parade in Wilton CT — something he does every year. My dad just turned 82, and he trains on his treadmill to make sure he can walk the mile or so, often uphill, while blowing his lungs out.

parking

Parking at UAHuntsville — I’ve never seen as much activism. People are furious! Makes sense — increase parking fees a gazillion-fold, and what do you expect, eh? Most campuses charge a hefty fee for parking, and often those campuses don’t have adequate parking. Doesn’t make it right. Why can’t I get more upset about it all? I’ve been at too many different campuses to get bothered, I guess. I’m more concerned about recycling on campus. Or faculty salaries. Or a center for best practices in teaching………

when a best friend dies

It’s been a little over eight months since Ana died. Lately, I keep wanting to call and check in. Have one of those long rambling conversations that traveled from grandkids to politics to ceramics to misbehaving friends and family shenanigans. Twenty-five years of friendship — that’s almost half my life. Hard to keep missing such a loving friend, a sister.

political road rage, or the cowardice of some conservatives

At a meeting the other day, someone I admire talked about her new car getting keyed all down the side. This person has a bumper sticker: “Middle-class White Women for Obama.” Maybe her car would have been safe in Seattle, and one would think she’d be safe in nothern Alabama and this city, which often votes blue — but her politics endanger her possessions — and her self. I’ve had several instances of road rage directed at me — big trucks tailgating and passing too quickly, squeezing me into my lane, close calls — and I wonder which instances are the normal road rage in any city and which are punishment for my dark blue Obama presidential campaign bumper sticker.

My son wants me to take the bumper sticker off. I won’t. I will not give in to my own fear and others’ intimidation.

The day after Obama’s speech on health care to Congress, a student in an elementary school here said, “I would like to put a gun to his head and shoot–but I don’t have to because somebody else is going to do it.” Another child said, “”That’s wrong to say. You respect the President of the United States and you don’t make threats of violence to anyone.” Where was the teacher’s input? Absent. The teacher said nothing.

Are we healing racism in this country? The hate talk against Obama indicates we are a nation in need of radical soul searching. Political road rage and cowardly responses inflame. Do we know how to debate with intelligence and decorum? Before the election, I came out to the parking lot and found a piece of notebook paper with a penciled message under my windshield wipers. The message said something about my being blissfully ignorant as a liberal. No signature.

Courage. Conviction. Respect. Dialog.