things enjoyed

the lines at the end of that wuthering heights clip
why can't you always be such a good lass, cathy?
why can't you always be such a good man, father?
I need to send it to my friends
they sent me
Nation's Moms on Olympic Opening Ceremony
~~~~
and then
The Semaphore Version of Wuthering Heights

hmmm, july 30

it's emily bronte's birthday
and kate bush's birthday
maybe should watch wuthering heights?
or this wuthering heights
never read the book, though
~~~~
army dreamers...

impulsivity

made a person snag these off a social networking site

well, ancestry

this was interesting...
Obama's mother descended from first US slave
the FIRST?

teaches of...

Been working with a pretty cool, laid back guy this summer (I was surprised to find out he used to be a Marine) who likes to give his students poems like Barbie Doll and works by Kate Chopin.
"Do you like Chopin? You have to read The Storm!"  He found it on the internet. "Here, read it  now!" Interesting story...
I always thought "Cajun" just meant French people from Louisiana, about the same as saying "Creole," but apparently it's actually a shortened form of "Acadian"--French from Nova Scotia, and different from "Creole."
There's some weird Barbie doll stuff on youtube...

silly? terrifying?

"Disney at its most terrifying" was the subject of the e-mail with this link
The Menstruation Story
Plus, the first 30-40 seconds into it, the T.V. was playing something about Henry VIII executing his wives in London just as the cradle and baby appeared...(at least the T.V. bunny ears/digital converter box is working for Olympics channel, yay!)
~~~~
"this isn't all that funny...it's mostly just educational..."
yeah, yeah, yeah...
~~~~
nevermind, there was a much more satisfying exchange on e-mail
~~~~
THAT IS HORRIFYING!!!Parts of that must have been really shocking for 1946 ("Did they just use the word vagina?"). But the fact that they make it your personal responsibility to have your period on time - AS IF ANYONE HAS FUCKING CONTROL OVER THAT - and they make it into a personal failure if you don't - is just STAGGERINGLY HORRIFIC!I just about keeled over when they used the phrase "past performance" as if you're supposed to grade yourself on the whole thing. Oh, and don't get me started on the whole "for most girls the pain isn't too bad thing" - WHERE THE EFF ARE YOU PULLING THAT STATISTIC FROM, EH!?And the "makeup will make it all better!" tactic at the end disgusts me.Oh, and the housework as part of normal activity - YEAH, KEEP DOING ALL YOUR HOUSEWORK, BECAUSE DISNEY SAYS YOU SHOULD. But treat yourself and don't lift any furniture when it's that time of the month.
It was all I could do not to yell FUCK OFF BITCH at the narrator.
~~~~
 ha ha ha...

this is cool

5 year photo project

I hope they keep doing it

the strange appeal of a bare room

almost looks Amish

sometimes I listen; sometimes I skip or fast forward

that's how it is with songs...
Mary -- original 1992 B-side
(I don't have the original B-side though)

gendering

gendering/violence
So. "Interrupter" clips can only last so long.
I just read many many things while the spinach-kale pie is baking.
Including The Overwhelming Maleness of Mass Homicide.

"We shouldn’t need Steven Pinker, one of the world’s leading psychologists and the author of the book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, to tell us the obvious: “Though the exact ratios vary, in every society, it is the males more than the females who play-fight, bully, fight for real, kill for real, rape, start wars and fight in wars.” The silence around the gendering of violence is as inexplicable as it is indefensible. Sex differences in other medical and social conditions — such as anorexia nervosa, lupus, migraines, depression and learning disabilities — are routinely analyzed along these lines."

"For millennia, human society has struggled with what to do with young men’s violent tendencies. Many cultures stage elaborate initiation ceremonies, presided over by older men, which help channel youthful aggression into productive social roles. But in contemporary society, we have trouble talking about the obvious: the transition from boy to man is a risky endeavor, and there can be a lot of collateral damage."

Now to read:

Men Never "Had It All"

After I take out the spinach-kale pie (buzzer just went off).

And then...

Forbes Thought Of The Day

“It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them.”
— George Eliot

If Women Can't...

so I baked something

but then the timer went off
apparently I didn't actually bake something
so I turn on the oven and then click on an e-mailed link and watch these as I attempt to re-bake something
The Interrupter - 1/24/06
The Interrupter - 2/9/07
The Interrupter-11/13/08
("something" is the new Trader Joe's "kale-spinach pie")

English slang

Think I'll send this to those who sent along the military fairy clip
Hugh Laurie: the British accent vs the American

cute song! though it lacks a drummer

We're Going To Be Friends

good morning

this was in the inbox

Monty Python's Military Fairy

"This would be an unfortunate ring tone to have go off at, like, a 4th of July parade."

good customer

Apparently "Not Always Right" has an "awesome customers" section...

This We'll Defend

I mistakenly kept imagining that place of work as a beer-soaked restaurant/bar...

these were interesting to me

Miss M's Dream Jobs

Gratitude and Thoughts on the Biz

laughter: almost like a natural form of ritalin...

one might think so in the case of certain young persons

(case in point:  this dangling modifier question and the wrong answer)

blissfully quiet afterwards and somewhat more on-task too

only two paper airplanes on the floor after class

also enjoyed the cat motif

strange and melancholy news from another coast

today my friend from highschool told me that our friend's sister died...she was only 34 and stopped breathing early Friday morning...they aren't sure why...she was buried facing Mecca...her brother said the family is observing Ramadan right now and not to bring over any food for them...and he already went back to work today because he prefers to keep busy...she also said the husband of one of her friends (a girl I also met who referred to herself as "rabbi" and worked at this adult theater) died earlier this month...

things this past week

sometimes I've considered asking certain not-so-motivated 18-year-olds if they'd rather be doing something like this instead? OC is hell

media

watched a film by female co-directors called Entre Nos
clip about Entre Nos creators

song floating in head
Negra Presuntuosa

now this one had never occured to me...

because when i tell people that i wish to follow in my family profession
this is also interesting:
my mother needs feminism

fb is ok

the internet is okay

found Who Needs Feminism?
via It's like twilight...
(which I think is by someone I don't actually talk to now but we both TA'd for the same sketchy prof many many moons ago)
I need feminism and I've been told people in the army do more
april 14 was an interesting day on that one
also got invited to an ordination at a cathedral in the United Kingdom
#timesitwouldbenicetohavesomeextratravellingspendingmoney

She sounds funny and interesting

this is kind of exciting

toasted cumin seeds on chunks of cut-up pineapple

and cherries

sightseeing outdoors

sightseeing indoors

sightseeing - temple

what is it about vegetables

A girl who is on Mad Men and is the daughter of a playwright is in this Girls clip (I must say, I enjoy how very un-Barbie/Ken-doll-looking they are in that scene) and Tom Selleck and some other guy shared a rather villianous laugh at her vegetables comment...

Things to look up

I've never seen Girls or Tiny Furniture, but this clip just made me realize that the host has a Benjamin Franklin political cartoon tattooed on his arm...
Craig Ferguson -_- Lena Dunham - 2010.12.16

little temple statues



DOnut

a song that can get stuck in the head

Off To The Races by L. Del Ray

Like it, or is it annoying?

Headache

Wanted to lie down because of a headache, but instead...

How To Make A Rape Joke

"Part of progress is constantly reevaluating yourself and owning up to your shit. Here, I'll start. I made a rape joke once and I genuinely regret it. Two years ago, in my review of Sex and the City 2, I wrote:

SATC2 takes everything that I hold dear as a woman and as a human—working hard, contributing to society, not being an entitled cunt like it's my job—and rapes it to death with a stiletto that costs more than my car.

I chose "rape" on purpose at the time—because it's gendered and jarring and I wanted to convey the severity of my disgust, as a woman, with that fucking garbage movie. But if I wrote that review today, would I write it the same way? Nope. I would probably write "bludgeoned." Because right now, as I see it, there is no systematic cultural influence that leads to the mass bludgeoning of people. I would not be contributing to a culture of bludgeoning. I, Lindy West, am sorry."

And then...

The Mrs. Brigstocke World Rape Tour

Followed by....

Googling Helen of Troy

and

Helen by H.D.

news

crusader gold and tsunami debris

Also on the list

On the list

After I read Ramona

ha, this

Abebooks Weird Book room

I read.

And think about reading. And check out too many library books.
Yesterday, one of the books I checked out give me a little bit of a surprise...

Page 14: "Mystical night journey" description.

Me to myself: That kind of reminds me of Christine de Pizan...

Page 15: "It is generally accepted that Dante based his Divine Comedy on the story of Muhammed's night ascension into heaven..."

Really?

Why did I never learn about that in Dante class at Jesuit college?

(Unless it was sandwiched in somewhere between lengthy disquisitions on Thomas Aquinas...)

I wish I was better at reading in French

inspired by recipes

Sage Walnut Pesto

Thyme Pesto

I got some free herbs this weekend. Now I am going to cram a whole bunch of herbs and toasted walnuts in the blender and see what happens!

I wonder how it will turn out.

a grammar-y night

me, grammar, some cut chemist, and cleaning and trading onion stories
friend sent: unrealistic "daily planet" story
i replied with: k.r.'s housekeeper story
and then: special little adventures
partly to remind us of what $ we're $ missing...

Aw

I didn't realize that she has passed away.

When she spoke to me, she taught me the words "antediluvian" and "anachronistic."

(Or at least, she made me run home and look them up...)

getting older...and greener!!!



At The Moulin Rouge

Whimsical llama encounter

From Wild.

geocaching.com

A couple of hours later, I came to a spring in an idyllic meadow and stopped to get water. It was too beautiful a spot to leave, so afterwards I lingered, soaking my feet in the spring until I heard an ever-loudening jangle of bells. I had only just scrambled to my feet when a white llama rounded the bend and came bounding straight up to me with a toothy grin on his face....

….He smelled like burlap and morning breath. I pulled him discreetly in the direction of my boots and stuffed my feet into them and then petted his long bristly neck in a vigourous manner that I hoped struck him as commanding. After a few minutes, an old woman with two gray braids down the sides of her head came along.

“You got him! Thank you,” she called smiling broadly, her eyes twinkling. With the exception of the small pack on her back, she looked like a woman out of a fairy tale, elfin, plump, and rosy-cheeked. A small boy walked behind her and a big brown dog followed him. “I let go for a moment and off he went,” the woman said, laughing and taking the llama's rope from me. “I figured you'd catch him—we met your friends up the way and they said you'd be coming along. I'm Vera and this is my friend Kyle,” she said, pointing to the boy. “He's five.”

“Hello,” I said, gazing down at him. “I'm Cheryl.” He had an empty glass maple syrup bottle full of water slung over his shoulder on a thick string, which was odd to see—glass on the trail—and it was also odd to see him. It had been ages since I'd been in the company of a child.

“Hello,” he replied, his seawater-gray eyes darting up to meet mine.

“And you've already met Shooting Star,” said Vera, patting the llama's neck.

“You forgot Miriam,” Kyle said to Vera. He placed his small hand on the dog's head. “This is Miriam.”

--Wild, pages 229-230

The Tyranny of Tradition

Power

In Wild, Strayed mentions this poem and the book it is in, The Dream of A Common Language. I was quite struck by it when I read it in college. Later, I got a chance to see the poet read in Seattle, and I asked her if she could sign her name on the page this poem was on, and she did. Power

Silfra

Draw A Map Bounce Bounce

Ha

It's cheery to see people critically dissect yet another facet of our culture's ridiculousness when it comes to beauty standards for females of any age...

"Celebrate Freedom and Independence" ridiculousness

or

http://mlkshk.com/r/HFG9

If Beatles songs had mouths

that could gobble a person up,
some might be...

I'm So Tired

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

My Sweet Lord

Interesting family genesis story

My sibling and myself were quite excited when she traced some of our ancestors back to Charlemagne several years ago. However, when I really thought about it, I realized that we might not be all that unique, and that half the planet is probably related to Charlemagne in some fashion, although not everyone can trace it back. I realized it would probably be more rare or extraordinary to be related to someone like Mozart, or George Sand. Recently, I came across a a very intriguing family genesis story in a library book...

"My father once told me that we Nusseibehs came from a long line of thieves. All family dynasties, he explained with an expression between earnest and jest, can trace their histories back to some act of brigandage....My family's story in Jerusalem begins with Mohammed's Night Journey. By the time the Prophet took his legendary pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he and his few companions had already been forced out of Mecca to Medina. It was on the outskirts of this desert town that he was met by his first followers: fourteen tribal leaders....four of the fourteen tribal leaders were women, and one of these was Nusaybah, from the warrior tribe of Khazraj...Nusaybah, the progenitor of my family was a fierce fighter who, on horseback, skillfully defended the Prophet...In one battle she lost two sons and a leg, yet continued fighting."

--Once Upon A Country

Summer reading

Favorites so far....
Wild (Cheryl Strayed)

Zinzin.com

The High Road (Review of Wild)

& Aleph (Paulo Coelho)

4 de julio (night)

4 de julio (day)



An American Collage

Maybe it could play along to John Mellencamp songs (such as Pink Houses and the little ditty about Jack and Diane....)

Politicians...

A friend sent a link to this HuffPo article, which includes an old photo of a politician named Josh Mandel, with this comment: "The personality remarks makes this funnier, as he has the reputation for having the personality of a filing cabinet."

I said, "I'm a little frightened of the high-school-photos-of-people-about-our-age-who-have-turned-into-Republican-politicians thing..."

In perpetual denial about the years-stacking-upon-years process...

Fireworks, East L.A.

Can't sleep...

never watch this stuff on cable
insomniac on holiday standard time

Nice Off

Pretty

Toddlers & Tiaras with Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks! So this one time, when I was a teenager, I met the son of my dad's army buddy out in California, and his mom worked as a model, and she was an extra in Turner & Hooch...

Beauty...

is the mis-heard lyric (it's actually "building")
Caught A Lite Sneeze

H-A-N-D-S-O-M-E

The Handsome Men's Club

Unexpected "Up" Moment

Sitting in traffic and watching train gates lift while listening to "Sara" by Fleetwood Mac.  

Picture from some site that has videos about trains



Oh, B.F.

B.F. was rather good with money. But also...

"...was a very complicated, even tragic individual with strong approach/avoidance tendencies. He loved the United States but spent most of his last years in England and then France. His relations with the opposite sex were muddled and confused. He loved his wife and family but was away more than at home and suffered a painful split with his son William over politics."

--The Unforgettable B.F.

Celebrating...

with a library book
(one of many; have to renew the others)
and a nap after mental exhaustion from stuffing head with grammar for days
library book: Wild
better finish it; it's on a waiting list

I shall try this sometime...

Sweet and tart summer cooler

Cool picture; like the colors

From gwadzilla

And speaking Spanish!

Hope

Bob Hope
mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy...

fi-yah