Tuesday, October 28, 2003

I have a sore throat again. I went to sleep just a little after ten. it's pretty sad when I can't even stay up for the west wing. I have been going to sleep in the vicinity of ten for several days now. I want all of this rest to shield me from sore throats. why isn't it working?
we don't have the heat on. I love the space in time after the air conditioning but before the heat.
most of what I did yesterday beyond direct action child rearing was read my book, cold flat junction by martha grimes. it's moody and sad and lovely. it feels a lot like margaret atwood.

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

I feel quizzish, how 'bout you?

Salvadore Dali
Goo!! You are SALVADORE DALI.
You paint the bizarre and surreal. No one can
figure you out, and everyone has given up
trying to guess what crazy thing you'll do
next. Your friends look forward to whatever
outrageous endeavor you will engage in next.


Which famous artist most reflects your personality?
brought to you by Quizilla

I am getting in gear for the bookfair. I need to get a long armed stapler from someplace. oy.
meanwhile, girlmom & mamaphonic are back up, the new hip mama is gorgeous, the weather is nice if it a bit warmer than I'd prefer, and I'm okay.

Monday, October 20, 2003

song of the day: anchorage by michelle shocked

I took time out to write to my old friend
I walked across that burning bridge

***

I had a great weekend in atlanta, with old friends, chai, thai food, a wedding, dinosaur bones and a long train ride
go on over to the new hip mama site and make me a nice, satisfying poll.

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

wow, I really enjoy the grim reaper's age guesser. it says I'm 33. that makes it sound like I'm being all, ooh it called me young! that's not what I mean. I enjoyed the questions and am impressed with the accuracy.
this household has gone from stomach flu to cold-and-flu without missing a beat.

Thursday, October 09, 2003

as I post this, my fluish kids have been in front of the set all day...

Television


The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set --
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotised by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink --
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK -- HE ONLY SEES!
'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?
'How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ! They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There's Mr. Rate and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start -- oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.

Roald Dahl

we were hit hard by a stomach flu beginning on tuesday night. now, I'm placating recovering kids by tolerating the freaking wiggles. I can't stand the wiggles.
saturday is the national day to empower teen parents. look for events near you.

Friday, October 03, 2003

news: someone stole my kids' shabby yard sale bikes from off of our front porch.
reminder: the submission deadline for a mama's calendar is nov. 20.

Tuesday, September 30, 2003

I don't want to post about things that are causing me grief, so I'm avoiding the present by posting meme after meme, but...
here are some positive things I can say:
*a friend of mine taught nash how to crochet and he's really into it
*jonathon richman was wonderful last night, even though the crowd was mostly unresponsive and it was the shortest headlining set I've ever seen him play
*the children's halloween costume choices so far are an undead pirate (nash) and a ballerina (liam).
*the weather is a joy to behold
*I'm reading martha grimes latest, foul matter
today is hard.

Saturday, September 27, 2003

now, who is going to babysit for me on monday night so I can go see jonathon richman? who?
Gynocide's Banned Book Meme!




The Top Most Frequently Challenged/Banned Books from 1990-2000.

bold the ones you've read. I've read surprisingly (to me) few.



Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz

Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling

Forever by Judy Blume (a long, long time ago)

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman (this is one of nash's favorites)

My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (I can recite this book, I'll bet)

The Giver by Lois Lowry

It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris

Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine

A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Sex by Madonna (heh heh)

Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak (I was just enjoying this today)

The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard

The Witches by Roald Dahl

The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein

Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry

The Goats by Brock Cole

Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane

Blubber by Judy Blume

Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan

Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam

We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier

Final Exit by Derek Humphry

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (oh, such a great book! I need to read the sequel, now that there is one)

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Beloved by Toni Morrison

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

The Pigman by Paul Zindel

Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard

Deenie by Judy Blume

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden

The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar

Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz

A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)

Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole

Cujo by Stephen King

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell

Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy

Ordinary People by Judith Guest

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras

Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Crazy Lady by Jane Conly

Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher

Fade by Robert Cormier

Guess What? by Mem Fox

The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende

The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Native Son by Richard Wright

Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday

Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen

Jack by A.M. Homes

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya

Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle

Carrie by Stephen King

Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume

On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer

Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge

Family Secrets by Norma Klein

Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole

The Dead Zone by Stephen King

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Always Running by Luis Rodriguez

Private Parts by Howard Stern

Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford

Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene

Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Running Loose by Chris Crutcher

Sex Education by Jenny Davis

The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene

Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy

How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell

View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts

The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney

Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Thursday, September 25, 2003

the ranking process of this meme is pretty entertaining.

Hipsters, Bill Clinton, The New York Yankees
Circle I Limbo

PETA Members
Circle II Whirling in a Dark & Stormy Wind

General asshats
Circle III Mud, Rain, Cold, Hail & Snow

Rush Limbaugh
Circle IV Rolling Weights

Bill Gates
Circle V Stuck in Mud, Mangled

River Styx

Camille Paglia
Circle VI Buried for Eternity

River Phlegyas

diet industry CEOs
Circle VII Burning Sands

the Man
Circle IIX Immersed in Excrement

George Bush
Circle IX Frozen in Ice

Design your own hell

Tuesday, September 23, 2003

autumn! at last.
and it's gorgeous, sunny with a soft breeze. cordero and trailer bride are playing at el matador tonight.
life is not so bad.
so many times in the last two days I thought of things I meant to write about. now it's gone, all gone from my mind.
things went well at work sunday morning. I embarked on the very ambitious project of cleaning my room afterwards and got, I dunno, maybe a third of the way done.
sunday night I happened upon a roseanne marathon and watched it for HOURS. it was amazing. I had to force myself to turn it off at 1:30 AM.

Thursday, September 18, 2003

it's my birthday, and I have no cake. something must be done about this. tomorrow, sometime, somehow, something. I won't have my 35th pass without cake!

Saturday, September 13, 2003

quote of the day:
"You can follow your book and your map of wars, but I'll go and follow my kids." -- Woody Guthrie

Thursday, September 11, 2003

and now to take a moment to live in the moment, and experience these things: homemade iced chai, the air conditioning blowing just a little too cold (but in a really good way), liam making up his own harry potter stories (that's right, fan fic from a four year old!), nash continuing to dedicate himself for preparing for the life he will lead after he gets shrunk, and one more wordy quiz:

First bike: I had a tricycle when I was three, it was metal and I am pretty sure it was purple
First best friend: Melissa Merrill, fourth grade
First car: an 87 nissan sentra, red; it was mine from 93-97
First job: aside from babysitting gigs? when I was 15 I started my career in food service at GD Ritzy's in Fort Myers, Florida
First screen name: my very first screenname was my full name, first, last & initial, on the hip mama boards. I was clueless.
First self purchased album: the Beatles, Love Songs
First pet: I'm not sure if the puppy came before the kitten, but neither one lasted long. the kitten had to be given away after it gave me cat scratch disease.
First piercing/tattoo: I got one ear pierced when I was 18, and the both done when I was 20.
First independent home: I got my first apartment when I was 20, February 1988. it was a nightmare of rattan furniture, in a way that was not at all my fault. it was hideous and I hated it. I moved out in May.
First credit card: I got my first one late, which is a good thing, I guess. I got it when I was pregnant with Nash and a couple hundred bucks right away on maternity clothes.
First love: David in the first grade. he sat behind me, and he used to slip me pringles chips out of his lunch box during class. my second love (after david moved away) was later that year, and his name was either Kirk or Kurt. I got it wrong half of the time, but that's okay because he always called me Corleen. We played monopoly - I would help him with the reading parts and he'd help me with the math. It was a great relationship. Kirk/Kurt, where are you?
First enemy: no idea. I went to elementary school with a whole host of meanies.
First big trip: what is big? as a child, I went with my family to california (from florida) when I was 4 or 5. When I was 16, I went all the way to the USSR.
First play/musical/performance: I was maid marian in robin hood with my 2nd grade class, which consisted of 5 children. I was the only girl in the class. I had no lines.
Last movie seen: I went to see The Whale Rider yesterday afternoon. It was lovely and hard. I cried from the get go.
Last book read: I read all of Little House on The Prairie last night! for the first time in many years.
Last cuss word uttered: I have no fucking idea
Last beverage drank: iced chai with honey & soy milk
Last Food consumed: leftover evil jungle prince, using the east village inky recipe
Last crush: like I'm going to answer this
Last kiss: Liam Everett Vercouteren Murphy
Last phone call: my mother
Last TV. show watched: queer eye for the straight guy
Last time showered: I took a bath this morning
Last shoes worn: my painfully smelly mary janes with the studs
Last cd played: the bottle let me down
Last item bought: an obscenely large thing of popcorn at the movies yesterday
Last downloaded: an anti-virus and firewall thing that I don't entirely understand
Last annoyance: my back is still sore from falling up the stairs back on monday
Last soda drank: dr. pepper a few days ago
Last word written: "ago"
Last word spoken: okay
Last sleep: this morning I was able to go back to bed from about 8 til 10, which is a rare treat.
Last IM: last week or maybe longer ago than that... it was with max.
Last weird encounter: I have no energy for this question.
Last ice cream eaten: last week, I fiished off Liam's birthday ice cream in a root beer float.
Last time amused: this morning
Last time wanting to die: it's been since 1987
Last time hugged: this morning
Last chair sat in: my computer chair, which is really a dining table chair, wooden with reddish brown vinyl. it's technically my dad's.
Last shirt worn: I'm wearing a shirt today that pleases me very much. my mom put it on Nash the last time we were at her house, after he'd mushed bean burrito al over himself. it's dark blue with a big white women's symbol and it says, "womanstrength, womanpower, womandream" in small block letters with "Sonia" written in cursive in the center. I wonder if it's from some Sonia Johnson campaign.
Last web page visited: bust.com


I got the news from meghan about the suicide in korea, and I wanted to send her something hopeful and beautiful for this day, and then I thought: why just send it to meghan? why not... the world!
I heard about this project from my friend lli, who posted it in her journal. I'm into it - I'll be leaving at least one book in the park today.
love to you all, coleen

ps happy birthday, john kleber!

A "Poetical Happening"

On Sept. 11th, join a "poetical happening" and free a book!

Because a book is a symbol of freedom, sharing and tolerance.

On Sept. 11th, 2003, take a book which is important for you, a book that has changed your vision on the world, write in it a dedication, a few words, an address, or a drawing, and free it!

Leave it on a roadside bench, a bus stop or in a cafe making it available for any unknown reader!

In this way Sept. 11th will be not only an anniversary of tragedy.

Together let us affect this global sorrow with creative and generous action!

A general mobilization from Bruxelles, Paris, Florence, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, New York, Seattle, Whidbey Island and more! Almost all over the world readers, artists, writers, poets, and publishers of vision and heart will free books that are important for them on Thursday Sept. 11th 2003.

Readers, authors, publishers - free a book!
Because a book is a symbol of freedom, sharing and tolerance!
Some who have already decided to free a book:

Sophie Buyse, Anatole Atlas, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Evrahim Baran, Graziano Staino, Guy Montens, David Giannoni, Patrick Depauld, Luca Del Punta, Xavier Löwenthal, Antonio Bertoli, Emmanuel Lequeux, Marco Parente, Martin Bakero, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Nati B. Laïtem, Cristina Abati, Ed Sanders, Carlo Salvador, Luigi Grechi, Anne Waldman, Marianne Costa, Giuseppe Monaco, Leslie Aguillard of Denver, Victory Lee Schouten
This poetical happening originated with:
Éditions Maelström - Bruxelles, Éditions Le Veilleur - Paris,
Edizioni CityLights - Firenze, City Lights Publishers - San Francisco,
A.C. Biofficina - Roma - Leslie Aguillard, Denver
Belgium: info@maelstromeditions.com
France: e.lequeux@tiscali.fr
Italy: citylights@firenze.net
U.S.A. : stacey@citylights.com
Because a book is a symbol of freedom, sharing and tolerance!
Victory Lee Schouten < victory@greatpath.com >
Great Path Publishing < http://www.greatpath.com/ >
Phone/Fax: 1-360-331-7099 Ordering: 1-800-858-5063
P.O. Box 882, Freeland, WA 98249, USA

"The moon rolls through the trees, rises
from them, and waits."
-William Stafford