Oh Shit, That time again already??

Well folks, that is right- we have made it to the end of another month. that means it is time for my monthly, "Oh MY God I Have So Much To Do" Post.

Except this time it is worse because I have recently had my ass kicked by a hell of a cold the last two days and cannot think straight. And I have more to do than usual because one of my favorite pass times is apparently going to meetings and opening my mouth. What comes out is usually something like, "oh I can do that, it would be easy."

One job I am looking forward too is preparing our church service for Sunday. I am leading an intergenerational service entitled, "The Poetry of Langston Hughes and Other Influences From the Harlem Renaissance."

So far I have planned to choose a short Hughes' Poem for lighting the Chalice.

As an intro read his two most well known poems, I, too sing America and Mother to Son

Then I will play maybe some Ella Fitzgerald and bring egg shaker instruments for the kids to play during the song.

Then I have a book called Langston's Train Ride by Robert Burleigh I will read. This book talks about how he might have written the poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers.

Then I will have the group discuss what speaks to them from nature, have volunteers read short poems from a book I have of his poems that was collected for young people. I will also show some paintings from the period at this time.

Then I am going to choose some instrumental piece and encourage the group to write poems or draw pictures while listening, followed by a time to share the creations,

I will the end with another piece of music that is fun, followed by sponsoring a fair trade coffee hour.

So, basically I need to choose the music, and print up the orders of service, plus collect all of the supplies.

does that sound fun and meaningful? what music would you choose?

Quite a busy week....

Isaiah is turning 10 years old tomorrow.

I cannot believe that we have been mom and son for 10 years. He and I have gone through so much together to get where we are now. It has been such a wonderful ride, and I have loved (almost) every minute of it!

He and I went from being a loving, happy family of two, to being a part of a busy and complicated family of 7, 2 dogs and a degu not included. That is a big transition, but so worth it. I didn't think I would get teary eyed typing this out, but as I reflect on everything we have been through ... wow. It amazes me that such a wonderful, smart, caring person could come from MY body.

This has been the best ten years of my life. Thank you.

Life is simply amazing.

Happy Birthday Isaiah!

MLK Day

Most of my upbringing falls into two categories: 1) Memories better left repressed, and 2) Thank God my parents were hippies.

How I feel about Martin Luther King day stems from the second category. The study of the American Civil Rights Movement was religion in my house. From an early age, I remember being taught about grass roots movements, civil rights, equal rights, etc. I remember at a very early age my parents encouraging me to choose non white/Europeans to write reports on or read books about. I got a sense very early on that it was my responsibility to learn outside of the Eurocentric framework of the schools, and that no one else would do that for me. that thinking has had a profound and positive effect on my life and I am so thankful for it. I am trying my best to not only do the same for my family, but to do it on an even more intense level.

When Isaiah was a baby, I was a full time student at Lincolnland Community College in Springfield, IL. He was one and walking around getting into everything on his first Martin Luther King Day. I was a bored Mom who needed something to do with a crazy kid that day. Just like that, a tradition was born.

I took him to the book store and purchased a book about Martin Luther King. 9 years later, we are still doing the same thing every MLK day. Within a couple of years however, our book purchases ceased to be relegated to books about Dr. King, but began to include other notable figures from Black History and themes that just in general support diversity and general sense of broadening ones mind. Our book collection has grown quite a bit, and we study them throughout Black History Month, melting into Women's History month and the entire year.

The whole process has lead us to constantly be on the lookout for biographical studies representing figures and themes from more than just the prominent Eurocentric viewpoint taught in schools. Nine years ago, I wouldn't have imagined the impact that a trip to the book store would have on the education, and I believe, the personality development of my son (and myself as well.).

Just for those who might be interested, this years book bounty included the following books:

Of Beetles and Angels: A boy's remarkable journey from a refugee camp to Harvard by Mawi Asgedom

Sojourner Truth: Voice of Freedom by Kathleen Kudlinski

Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney

We followed the book store trip with a visit to the Southern Illinois African American History Museum, a small but growing museum in Southern, Illinois.

The Band I Hate to Love

By all rights the Scissor Sisters really suck ass.

Their music seems hell bent on trying to capture an era of music that should never have existed. Except, really, my secret is out- I loved The Bee Gees too.

But they are the modern form of the Bee Gees, except when they sould like someone else- some group I can never quite put a name to.

I know I should hate them, but I love them. My mind gets wrapped around the lyrics to songs like Tits on the Radio, Take Your Mama, or their new biggie- I don't feel like dancing.

The Scissor Sisters just make me smile and want to dance.

Opposing Bush's Plan?

I am glad that Bush's plan to send 21,000 more troops to Iraq is running into so much opposition, but it would still behoove us all to contact our congress people and senators to let them know how you feel about it. If you don't know who to contact check this page for Senate and this page for Congress to find out. Now hopefully,I won't get so distracted by my morning that I forget to do the same.

Secretly though, I admit something. Since I believe this surge is going to happen anyway- I am hoping beyond all hopes that somehow, defying all logic, it is the right thing to do.

The Topic of God

I just got back from my monthly church discussion group.

Tonight was a fascinating discussion about the "Topic of God". It was a small group tonight, just me, another lady, and a man. All three of us come from very different understandings about religion and God, so it was great to share our thoughts on the subject.

One of us is an atheist, or non-theist. The other is a traditional, though quite open minded Christian. And I am me. I don't particularly fall into a label (though I have toyed with a few: Humanist, Pantheist, Atheist, extrememly liberal Christian, Neo-Buddhist, but they all failed to work upon further examination of myself and my beliefs) but I had to muster up my beliefs about God tonight.

What it came down to, for me, is that God is not a being. God is not a creator, but is more the creation. The higher power feeling that is evoked when I think about "God" is the collective conscious/energy of life together as it is. God is not good or bad, evil or loving, God is all that is; God is the lifeforce that perpetuates the existance of creation.

The conversation brought a few questions to mind:

• Do you believe in God?
• What is divine?
• Where does your moral compass come from?
• Is god good or perfect?

What it had me thinking on the drive home, was one, about the imagery of God. What are the different images that are evoked in our minds when we contemplate God?

The other, another testiment of spending too much time online, was wondering what you get when you go to Wikipedia and type in God. It is actually a pretty interesting read, especially when you follow a few links through cyberspace.

There are a few classic images of God that came to mind right away.

Michelangelo's God:


The God Vishnu:


The Greek Gods:


Ancient Goddess Images:


And musicians who compare themselves to Gods:

And so on and so on.

I have seen a book at the bookstore a few times called The Many Faces of God, which I would like to check out sometime. Another book I want to come back to, as I only read a bit of it, is The History of God by Karen Armstrong.

I just feel so fortunate to have found the church community that we have. It is wonderful to get together so often to discuss these issues that rarely come up in general conversation.

Morning Grog

morning workout: 25 minutes on treadmill

morning gruel: muenster cheese, 1/2 a banana, 2 cups of coffee

morning reading: New York Times

morning music: Neko Case, Blacklisted and Paul Simon, Surprise

morning playtime: ball drop toy, dancing, playing instruments, and chasing baby with a swiffer

morning book: The Biggest Snowball Ever by John Rogan

morning snack: melba toast with ricotta cheese, dill weed, green onion, & tomatos

morning chore: straightening living room & kitchen counters, swiffer floors

morning nap: 10:00 a.m.

well geez, I better get to day 3 already.

Okay, I have a brief minute here. (well not really, I should be performing my wifely duty of preparing spinach & mushroom sauce to pour over some store bought ravioli, but I'll get to that in a minute.) I want to get this Chicago blogging done with so I can blog about important things like, does turning 30 mean one should get her eyebrows waxed?

Anyway, day 3. We had planned to go to Shedd aquarium, but decided to drop that and just enjoy the city for the morning and head out after lunch. We started out the morning by walking down to Navy Pier. We got there just as thing were opening up, and before the crowds started pouring in for the winter fest. I kind of wished we planned more time there because the winter fest was kind of cute. Des LOVED it, he loved all the Christmas trees and "ball" ornaments.


And a city view through a window at Navy Pier:


As it became apparent that the day was slipping away rather quickly, we walked over to Michigan Ave so Chelsea could buy some boots. I think this was the highlight of the trip for her, though she did enjoy the art musuem as well.

On our way to Michigan, Chel showed off her good nature by being the only family member willing to pose for a picture like this:


I personally think its a great shot and I hope she doesn't mind me posting it here. Chel- if you see and don't like it, just say so! I'll take it down.

Also on our way to Michigan, we talked about all kinds of things, including city life and Chelsea's ambitions of life in the big apple. Chicago couldn't make the cut for her I guess.

While we were inside the store shopping for shoes, these guys had a little talk outside. I don't know why, but I just love this picture. It seems so real.

I got this picture on our way to lunch. One of the things I love about cities is the architecture and detail that go into so many of the buildings. You just do not see that in suburban/rural existance so much. Sure this isn't an awe striking example, but its struck me as beautiful anyway:
And for our final Chicago destination, Eric was given the final say. He really asked for so little on this trip, it was fun to let him pick. We had a good and fun lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. As touristy as it may be- it is usually good food in a fun atmosphere. Its fun to visit the different locations 9unlike, lets say the rainforest cafe. I have seen it once thanks) We couldn't even resist buying Desi a Hard Rock t-shirt when he liked it.

A final shot of Adam in the old HRC:


Well, and I guess the trip wouldn't be complete without mentioning our final stop at Steak and Shake on the way home for Milk Shakes. They were quite yummy. I had a strange concoction in the form of a side by side milkshake with Chicolate mint on one side and peanut butter on the other. I know I am a strange duck.

And too bad I don't have any cute pictures of Desi puking all over his bedroom a few hours later! Wouldn't that be fun!

Chicago: Day 2, Museum of Science & Industry

Here we go with a few too many Chicago Pics again. Thursday we went to the Museum of Science and Industry near Hyde Park in Chicago. This was the highlight of the trip for Isaiah, and also the biggest disapointment. Adam and I had been telling him for months that we would take a tour of the U-505 Submarine that is on display at the museum. We felt like failures when we got a later start than expected, waited in line for over an hour, and found the tour sold out. He was really, really sad, but did okay. Fortunately, the general sub exhibit was pretty good too, and we bought hima DVD of the tour instead. Still, we felt a little bit like failures as parents because of our poor planning. Isaiah's life goal at this point is to join the Navy and work on Submarines.

This is Isaiah at the sub area entrance:

and working very hard at the encoding/decoading station:

He took the exhibit very seriously and really learned a lot. This is a shot I got of the Periscope of the sub, which was put in a long case outside of the sub:

This is Desi very cutely breaking the rules and enjoying freedom from the stroller for a few minutes:


The other highlight exhibit was actually a marketing exhibit, but it used balls as the example marketing item. Desi was in HEAVEN. He is totally fascinated with balls of any kind, as anyone who spends 10 minutes with him can attest too. This set up showed him what a cross section of various balls looks like:


And Eric and Chelsea enjoying some computer games at the exhibit:


Later that night we ate a quite affordable meal (22 bucks for ALL OF US!) and some damn good, although simple, food (kids ate pizza, I ate chicken chili, and Adam ate a sandwich). I can't remember the name of the place though. This is the only shot I got there:



And Desi sacked out after a long walk in Chicago at night:

Day 3 pics tomorrow I guess.

Desi is still sick :( I am getting worried. He hasn't really eaten since Friday. maybe a bite here or there. I am taking him back into the doctor this afternoon just to check him out, though I am pretty sure its just a nasty virus that he has to fight off.

Happy New Year

I intended to get some Chicago pictures up yesterday, but we have been dealing with the flu since Friday. Desi threw up for three days and really isn't eating foods yet. Thank goodness I am nursing still, I don't really know how we would get through it without him wasting away otherwise. I got hit with it yesterday too, and now Adam is down for the count....anyway, lets hope we can get through it.

But, back to Chicago.. The first place we went was the Art Institute of Chicago. We saw a photo exhibit by artist Charles Sheeler. It was pretty good. I liked the standing photography exhibit downstairs better though. Isaiah enjoyed an armour exhibit. Unofrtunately, we only stayed two hours at the museum total- I would liked to have stayed longer but some cranky kids encouraged us to shorten the stop and head for a restaurant.

After the musuem, we enjoyed a brief walk past Millenium park on Michigan. We didn't stop to enjoy much though. The kids, well at least two of them, seemed hell bent on getting to eat and back to the hotel room.
And, as we approached the hotel, still not having eaten- Isaiah began extoling the legends of The Rainforest Cafe, a tourist trap chain in every major US city. He had heard all about it the halls of J.L. Buford school, and since vacations are about the kids- we said yes.

Big freakin mistake, sort of. I guess it was cool enough, but all in all it took us 3 HOURS to get in and out. Thats a high price for a jungle theme and some latex elephants to entertain you. but what else would we have done instead I guess (remember the cranky kids hell bent on getting back to the hotel room)? Desi liked the big tanks for a bit anyway, and the food was good enough, but the service was crapola. At least now Isaiah can say he has seen the inside of The Rainforest Cafe.

Well, Desi is starting to object to me posting so much online while he isn't feeling his best yet. I'll leave you with one final shot, and come back later to post some pics from the rest of the trip.