More Sword Dancer

And More Sword Dancer

I hearted Ren Fair

And I shall look at the pictures when the raspberry cider headache wears off.
I love it when people do a double take after they ask for my I.D.
"What's the matter, does my age shock you?"
"Yes!"
"How old did you think I was?"
"Not that old."
Thanks! Please let that last for at least another decade, or until I no longer care...

How sad

This is very lame. Lesbian Woman Arrested...
And in the exact town where half my family is from, too.
That is like, dumping creamers and sugar bowls over peoples' heads lame.
Maybe later I'll dig up an old picture of me and my prom date.

And a kid's book to reread....

Noisy Nora!
Haven't read that in ages...
Well, now you don't even have to. There's the video.
This is not Noisy Nora, but sock puppets:
The Nora Song

Children's book to read...

I want to read In The Night Kitchen. I never read it. I love that title.

Interesting quotes:

"Sendak's own childhood, like the ones he portrayed in his books, was fraught with peril, isolation and fear. It's appalling but not surprising that many adults have found his vision of childhood alarming and want to keep it from their innocent babes. Sendak's "In the Night Kitchen" is 25th on the American Library Assn.'s list of most frequently banned or challenged books".
(from Sendak Lives On...LA Times)

"His linework was elegant, sometimes even cute, but always honest. He was wise, and he never patronised any readers, adult or child. I devoured interviews with Sendak: he was a grumpy, Jewish, brilliant, wise contrarian and he didn't mellow as he aged. But then, he had never created mellow books. His coming out in 2008, age 80, was a final act of honesty.

Something Sendak once said is the epigraph of my next book. "I remember my own childhood vividly." he explained. "I knew terrible things. But I knew I mustn't let adults know I knew. It would scare them.""
(from My Hero...The Guardian)

Happy Ren Fair Day

That will be today!
Another happy thing is the prospect of employment this summer.
Who knows, if this keeps up, I might even have enough money to eventually have a cat!
Such as back when I actually made a living wage.

The guy in The Laughing Song

does look like Ben Franklin.

(Pics from Sodahead and Pharos games)

THE LAUGHING SONG

I wish I made this

From Sublimating rage through arts and crafts again.

The song Sunrise, Sunset by Bright Eyes sounded strangely lulling in the evening.

Bus conversations so old

1) REALLY, REALLY OLD...LIKE, BEFORE EVERYONE HAD INTERNET AND CELL PHONES
Ella: Why don't you do your art homework? You know, they said in class that Muhammed is against art in the Koran. El: I don't feel like it. Yes, and he was right! Ella: Oh come on, you don't believe that! You should do your homework!
(Who can beat that with a stick?)
2) EVEN OLDER - Ella: So are you going back to your country someday? El: Yes, of course. Ella: I want you to remember my name. El: Why? Ella: So then if you are somewhere in the world you can find me. But the way that my name is spelled is really weird, so this is how you spell it...will you remember it? El: Okay. Ella: I want you to spell it...

Fun little discoveries

I discovered a twitter hash mark poem!
It is fun to discover things after you wonder about them.
Are there poems/artsy things about religious people in the military?
I found a video about being Muslim in the Marine Corps.
That guy seems fairly amiable.

Needlecrafts

Sublimating Rage Through Arts & Crafts

A fun site.

Chickens

I quite liked this post: Three Cheers For Chickens!
Perhaps in my life I have not properly assessed the attractiveness of chickens.

Tsk!

What the heck. "Are You Mom Enough." I've heard about this from friends with kids. The breast feeding wars in internet chatrooms. Whatever. Society is always trying to pit women against enough other in one way or another. Isn't it disgusting? And also, BOOOO about the gay marriage thing in North Carolina. I have family in that state. I have a cousin whose name is the same as "a traditional small cake from Commercy and Liverdun, two communes of the Lorraine region in northeastern France." Perhaps she will follow in the footsteps of other family members by attending the wondrous Wake Forest... 
~~~~
I love that wikipedia entry about Madeleines! I really want to read the work with "The Episode of the Madeleine" in it now.

Super

cali

fragilistic

expi

ali

docious

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Chim chim cheree (in Russian!!!!!)

And last, but definitely not least...

Bert The Pavement Artist

art class - elementary school

There was the ugly poster I wanted to hide. I won a trophy for it. I was shocked when I received applause from an auditorium full of people after I came in late (because of throwing up on myself in the car coming back from West Point.) There was a clay elephant sculpture that got put in the hallway display case. (That was more of a pleasant and tranquil experience.) When there was a newspaper article about an elephant figurine uncovered on an archaeological dig, grown-ups compared my little sculpture to the artifact. But then, there was the visiting art teacher. I wanted very badly to impress her. She had us draw a tricycle. I tried; I couldn't do it, and I cried. But on another day, she told us to draw a monster. I had been happy with the elephant sculpture, so I drew an elephant-looking Snuffleupagus kind of creature. But this did not impress her. I didn't know why...the class artist was always making something good (she grew up and became a writer) but I don't remember what she drew. I think some kid (named Paul?) drew the teacher's favorite monster. And, because my elephant monster was so forgettable that it wasn't even hung up on the wall with the rest of the class's art work, I always remembered how she raved over his very geometric monster. It was a triangle monster. In my memory, it hung in the most prized position on the wall, and it mocked me.

What should I do with all these people?

Beatrice and Dante and Thomas Becket and Ben Franklin and Christine de Pizan and Elisabetta Sirani etc., etc., etc....

Because on occasion

I can be susceptible to some kinds of old stories, dreams, etc.
What was burdensome can flip flop itself in a strange way.
I imagine some old parts of myself would like to die/get reborn. 

Oh well, a never was there ever...

a cat so clever as Magical Mr. Mistoffelees!
that version is rather fun
it's more drawn out than the one I used to hear on the Cats CD

Sigh

I confess, I miss having a cat. Not enough money to have a pet right now. Suppose cat gets very sick? Wouldn't want to not be able to pay vet bills...