If your name is Nashina stop in for a free rose.
This week, all you Delaneys are in luck. Go get your free rose at the corner of Broadway and Memorial.
2.03.2010
If your name is Nashina . . .
Every day I pass by a flower shop on my drive home. For the past six months they've been running a cheap campaign; on the letterboard out front is an advertisement for a free rose . . . if your name is so obscure your mom can't even spell it. Last week's was my favorite:
Image
This week, all you Delaneys are in luck. Go get your free rose at the corner of Broadway and Memorial.
This week, all you Delaneys are in luck. Go get your free rose at the corner of Broadway and Memorial.
1.02.2010
as promised
This is long overdue; but I still wanted to write about our farm experience.
Fun fact: the food you eat, regardless of where you get it, comes from a farm (yes, even the high-fructose corn-syrup, even though it doesn't resemble a plant anymore). Our CSA experience was a cool farm-to-table experience. I knew exactly where my food came from, how it had been grown, that the seeds weren't "roundup ready" so I wasn't eating plants genetically altered to repel or kill bugs (I know; I have problems.).
So, what is a CSA? So glad you asked. This is how it works: you buy a "share" of the farm's spoils upfront - which is the appropriate word because there is some risk involved. In our case, we purchased our share in the winter; the farm has to plan ahead and buy seeds, equipment, etc. At our CSA, the earlier you buy, the cheaper the share is. Your share entitles you to a portion of the spoils, but if there aren't any spoils due to bad weather or pests, you lose. Once a week you pick up your share. In our case, we went directly to the farm in Victor, ID, which was fun . . . for the first 8 weeks or so (Our share lasted 17 weeks). (In other locales, with a greater infrastructure for local food, you can pick up a share at a farmers' market or other such convenient location.) We loved it. Okay, I loved it. I learned to cook new things and appreciate a diversity of vegetables and mushrooms. I acquired a love of fennel. I have to say, if you haven't ever had fresh garlic (before the skin gets papery and dry), you are missing out. The only downside is that it was so much food, and a lot of it was pretty labor-intensive to cook or preserve. I cook, and I don't mind the time in the kitchen. But harvest time is also back-to-school time, and I took a full-time course load while working full time. Clark cooks too, but his culinary vein runs along the familiar instead of the adventurous. So, some of our fresh produce went to waste, and that is my only regret. I would do it again in a minute and recommend it to anyone who likes vegetables, cooking, and is interested in getting the most vitamin-rich, fresh food available.
There is likely a CSA near you. You can check it out here.
Fun fact: the food you eat, regardless of where you get it, comes from a farm (yes, even the high-fructose corn-syrup, even though it doesn't resemble a plant anymore). Our CSA experience was a cool farm-to-table experience. I knew exactly where my food came from, how it had been grown, that the seeds weren't "roundup ready" so I wasn't eating plants genetically altered to repel or kill bugs (I know; I have problems.).
So, what is a CSA? So glad you asked. This is how it works: you buy a "share" of the farm's spoils upfront - which is the appropriate word because there is some risk involved. In our case, we purchased our share in the winter; the farm has to plan ahead and buy seeds, equipment, etc. At our CSA, the earlier you buy, the cheaper the share is. Your share entitles you to a portion of the spoils, but if there aren't any spoils due to bad weather or pests, you lose. Once a week you pick up your share. In our case, we went directly to the farm in Victor, ID, which was fun . . . for the first 8 weeks or so (Our share lasted 17 weeks). (In other locales, with a greater infrastructure for local food, you can pick up a share at a farmers' market or other such convenient location.) We loved it. Okay, I loved it. I learned to cook new things and appreciate a diversity of vegetables and mushrooms. I acquired a love of fennel. I have to say, if you haven't ever had fresh garlic (before the skin gets papery and dry), you are missing out. The only downside is that it was so much food, and a lot of it was pretty labor-intensive to cook or preserve. I cook, and I don't mind the time in the kitchen. But harvest time is also back-to-school time, and I took a full-time course load while working full time. Clark cooks too, but his culinary vein runs along the familiar instead of the adventurous. So, some of our fresh produce went to waste, and that is my only regret. I would do it again in a minute and recommend it to anyone who likes vegetables, cooking, and is interested in getting the most vitamin-rich, fresh food available.
There is likely a CSA near you. You can check it out here.
12.18.2009
this one's for haley
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Clark was helping the scouts by delivering flyers about the upcoming food drive. Here's what happened:
Clark: Hi. We're helping the local food bank and we'll be back in a week to pick up non-perishable food. If you have anything you want to donate, just leave it by your door.
Lady: Well, this is low-income housing, so I'll probably be getting your food.
Door closes.
End of story.
12.13.2009
'baring our souls and telling the most appalling secrets'
One of the classes I took this fall was a leadership class. My classmates and I did projects and case studies and a therapy-inducing 360 review to evaluate and develop our leadership capacity. As the culminating project, we were asked to write a "This I believe" essay to help us identify our core values. Writing the essay was an interesting experience; it made me realize that while my values don't change easily or often, the way I choose to express them does. Needless to say, there were drafts and drafts of drafts before I was finished. The hardest part was knowing that I would have to deliver it as a speech to my class. How much of your soul can you comfortably share with relative strangers? Turns out, not very much; I prepared to get uncomfortable. Some of my classmates' essays were deeply personal, sharing details about losing children, finding forgiveness, and developing or losing faith. Others were more of the bullet point variety. I think mine lay somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. Anyway, I figured if I could share it with them I could share it with you, so here it is:
December 2009
I believe a culture that values education will thrive and grow. Education bears the fruit of tolerance, self-knowledge, and positive social change. I believe learning is its own reward and that those who believe money is their reward for education, will get it, and without much trouble but likely without much knowledge. While a college degree happens to be a strong social currency, Education and its applications are not and must not be confined to classrooms. Jed, a young student I met while working as a writing tutor, showed me this (names have, of course, been changed). He returned to college after serving a sentence for a felony conviction. While working together on his essays, he confided that by going to college, learning to focus on math and sociology and writing, he has also learned to control his anger. He now has some good friends, a scholarship, and a fresh start. I believe in education. I believe it is the best solution to long-term problems because it is the only long-term, transformative solution.
I believe in the power of food as a healing instrument and a means of cultural self-expression. Every day I make choices between options that are narrowed by a culture that is powered by corporations and industry. I have the power to take back my original, now invisible options. Common sense and communion and have given way to Gogurt and Gushers, fruit loops and high-fructose corn syrup. Before they came from multivitamins, nutrients came from food. Uncomplicated, unpackaged, unprocessed food. Last summer I found a part of myself as I learned to make cheese from milk as my great, great grandmother must have done, and yet another as I visited the farm where my food was grown and grew more vegetables in my own garden. I can comprehend, though vaguely, the complexities and joys of life halfway across the world as I parse a complicated curry or burn my first souffle. I believe Food is a way to simultaneously connect with the earth from which it came and the people who create meals from its bountiful ingredients. When I make deliberate choices about food, I recognize myself as a part of the whole.
I believe the mouth is one of the most important parts of the body. It is where nourishment enters body and the mind finds expression as ideas exit in the form of words. I believe that I, along with many others, would find more happiness and health if I guard more closely what goes in and what comes out. A large ship is indeed guided by a small rudder.
I believe in the transformative nature of words and ideas. Among others, Victor Hugo, Charles Dickens, and Harper Lee have shown me the power of words and parts of me are real products of their fictions. Scout’s innocence and evolving devotion to justice, Pip’s realization of his self-destructive search for external happiness, and Jean Val jean’s story of kindness, mercy, and personal redemption express some of the best parts of me and ideals to which I aspire.
Although I had read or been read to all my life, the first book I remember getting excited about is Johnny Tremain. I was ten, and my teacher had assigned the book. I read it twice, once for fun, and answered every question with a paragraph where a sentence would have sufficed. A new world had been opened. Reading has allowed me to glimpse the wonder of science, experience the beauty of a diverse humanity, and find companions in this human experience.
I believe that we are connected in ways we do not and cannot understand that are best expressed through literature. Poetry, once inaccessible to me, has given breath and validity to my own deepest emotions and core beliefs. With John Donne, I affirm that all mankind is of one author, no man is an island and that any man’s death diminishes me. I believe, like W.H. Auden, that we must love one another, or die. These words and ideas penned by great authors and poets have allowed me to think their thoughts and become, if only slightly, the product of their ideals. God bless Gutenberg.
Okay, bloggers, Consider yourselves "tagged." If you choose to blog a This I Believe essay, post a link in the comment section; I would love to read yours, now that I've borne my soul. It's a challenge, and knowing that someone else will read it changes the quality of the experience. You'll find instructions here. Who knows? You may like it so much that you'll want to go on the record by submitting it to the NPR Essay database.
December 2009
This I believe
I believe a culture that values education will thrive and grow. Education bears the fruit of tolerance, self-knowledge, and positive social change. I believe learning is its own reward and that those who believe money is their reward for education, will get it, and without much trouble but likely without much knowledge. While a college degree happens to be a strong social currency, Education and its applications are not and must not be confined to classrooms. Jed, a young student I met while working as a writing tutor, showed me this (names have, of course, been changed). He returned to college after serving a sentence for a felony conviction. While working together on his essays, he confided that by going to college, learning to focus on math and sociology and writing, he has also learned to control his anger. He now has some good friends, a scholarship, and a fresh start. I believe in education. I believe it is the best solution to long-term problems because it is the only long-term, transformative solution.
I believe in the power of food as a healing instrument and a means of cultural self-expression. Every day I make choices between options that are narrowed by a culture that is powered by corporations and industry. I have the power to take back my original, now invisible options. Common sense and communion and have given way to Gogurt and Gushers, fruit loops and high-fructose corn syrup. Before they came from multivitamins, nutrients came from food. Uncomplicated, unpackaged, unprocessed food. Last summer I found a part of myself as I learned to make cheese from milk as my great, great grandmother must have done, and yet another as I visited the farm where my food was grown and grew more vegetables in my own garden. I can comprehend, though vaguely, the complexities and joys of life halfway across the world as I parse a complicated curry or burn my first souffle. I believe Food is a way to simultaneously connect with the earth from which it came and the people who create meals from its bountiful ingredients. When I make deliberate choices about food, I recognize myself as a part of the whole.
I believe the mouth is one of the most important parts of the body. It is where nourishment enters body and the mind finds expression as ideas exit in the form of words. I believe that I, along with many others, would find more happiness and health if I guard more closely what goes in and what comes out. A large ship is indeed guided by a small rudder.
I believe in the transformative nature of words and ideas. Among others, Victor Hugo, Charles Dickens, and Harper Lee have shown me the power of words and parts of me are real products of their fictions. Scout’s innocence and evolving devotion to justice, Pip’s realization of his self-destructive search for external happiness, and Jean Val jean’s story of kindness, mercy, and personal redemption express some of the best parts of me and ideals to which I aspire.
Although I had read or been read to all my life, the first book I remember getting excited about is Johnny Tremain. I was ten, and my teacher had assigned the book. I read it twice, once for fun, and answered every question with a paragraph where a sentence would have sufficed. A new world had been opened. Reading has allowed me to glimpse the wonder of science, experience the beauty of a diverse humanity, and find companions in this human experience.
I believe that we are connected in ways we do not and cannot understand that are best expressed through literature. Poetry, once inaccessible to me, has given breath and validity to my own deepest emotions and core beliefs. With John Donne, I affirm that all mankind is of one author, no man is an island and that any man’s death diminishes me. I believe, like W.H. Auden, that we must love one another, or die. These words and ideas penned by great authors and poets have allowed me to think their thoughts and become, if only slightly, the product of their ideals. God bless Gutenberg.
Okay, bloggers, Consider yourselves "tagged." If you choose to blog a This I Believe essay, post a link in the comment section; I would love to read yours, now that I've borne my soul. It's a challenge, and knowing that someone else will read it changes the quality of the experience. You'll find instructions here. Who knows? You may like it so much that you'll want to go on the record by submitting it to the NPR Essay database.
12.08.2009
the genuine (definite) article
Remember when Clark was studying his maths? Well, it was because he was prepping for the GRE and applying to graduate school. Now it's official; Clark is IN. He actually got notice over two weeks ago, sent in the commitment letter one week ago, but didn't want to announce to the world how awesome he is until things were squared away at work. Now things are squared, and Clark is awesome squared.
Beginning in January, Clark will be a graduate student in the Educational Technology Leadership program at The George Washington University (the 'The' is part of the name. Funny.). The program can be completed online; considering the field of study, it should be a great way to learn. With any luck, we'll graduate at the same time.
Beginning in January, Clark will be a graduate student in the Educational Technology Leadership program at The George Washington University (the 'The' is part of the name. Funny.). The program can be completed online; considering the field of study, it should be a great way to learn. With any luck, we'll graduate at the same time.
11.24.2009
what to get your loved ones
available in blue, red, and green
. . . if you want them to have nightmares.
11.19.2009
gobble, gobble
Sara asked, so you all get to know.
"Just curious - are you outright vegetarians or will you be feasting upon the turkey this thanksgiving?"
So glad you asked.
I think our friend Randy summed it up best when he said, "So, you don't eat meat, but you're not vegetarians."
It all started because I love food and I love to read, which eventually led to reading about food . . . how to cook it, bake it, roast, it grill it, grow it, spice it . . . and then I got to how it is processed*. I don't have to be too explicit (nor will I, for my bacon-loving friends' sake). But, I will say that don't ever want to a) eat animals as if they are just protein delivery systems, b) vote for unsound environmental practices with my dollars, or c) grace my system with extra hormones and antibiotics. We do eat meat if it falls outside those parameters (eg. chicken that lived a chickeny life, cows that eat grass instead of corn, etc.). It can be hard to find and it's expensive, so we don't do it often. I also feel better since I started eating meat sparingly, so I don't really miss it.
Last year we had a great Thanksgiving which involved a not-great, but free Tofurkey from PETA. This year PETA can keep its Tofurkeys. Ew! We got over the finding-substitutes-for-meat and this-dish-is-supposed-to-have-meat-in-it phase pretty quickly. Vegetable based meat substitutes are generally not a healthy or tasty option because they are so heavily processed, and the texture is always slightly off.
This year, I am happy to say, we found a turkey. My heritage turkey is currently living in Arimo, ID. On Tuesday, just before I pick him up, he will be killed (as humanely as possible) by a turkey farmer I met this summer. My turkey has lived his antibiotic/hormone free turkey life in an open field and eaten grass and bugs to his little heart's content. He is going to taste great with gravy and mashed potatoes. Which reminds me that I still need to blog about our CSA experience, which is good because there is nothing that motivates me to blog more than food and farming.
*Reality-shattering reading list available upon request
"Just curious - are you outright vegetarians or will you be feasting upon the turkey this thanksgiving?"
So glad you asked.
I think our friend Randy summed it up best when he said, "So, you don't eat meat, but you're not vegetarians."
It all started because I love food and I love to read, which eventually led to reading about food . . . how to cook it, bake it, roast, it grill it, grow it, spice it . . . and then I got to how it is processed*. I don't have to be too explicit (nor will I, for my bacon-loving friends' sake). But, I will say that don't ever want to a) eat animals as if they are just protein delivery systems, b) vote for unsound environmental practices with my dollars, or c) grace my system with extra hormones and antibiotics. We do eat meat if it falls outside those parameters (eg. chicken that lived a chickeny life, cows that eat grass instead of corn, etc.). It can be hard to find and it's expensive, so we don't do it often. I also feel better since I started eating meat sparingly, so I don't really miss it.
Last year we had a great Thanksgiving which involved a not-great, but free Tofurkey from PETA. This year PETA can keep its Tofurkeys. Ew! We got over the finding-substitutes-for-meat and this-dish-is-supposed-to-have-meat-in-it phase pretty quickly. Vegetable based meat substitutes are generally not a healthy or tasty option because they are so heavily processed, and the texture is always slightly off.
A happy harvest celebration to all.
*Reality-shattering reading list available upon request
11.12.2009
fall fun
So, it's been a while since I've streamed my consciousness here. I just haven't really felt like writing. . . Well, maybe I have felt like writing, but I couldn't allow myself write recreationally when I have so much obligatory writing to do (see Administrative Ethics. I never wrote this much in an English class). Anyway, here I am.
Fall has already melted . . . or, rather, frozen into winter around here, and I can't wait for Thanksgiving. Despite my loathing of all (most) things Halloween, I had fun taking the nieces and nephews trick-or-treating. This year Clark put together a great costume for the obligatory Halloween fun at work.
I wasn't home most of the time he was constructing this amazing costume but every night after class I would come home and see the progress on his robot. One night while I was away, he got stuck in his costume - for an hour. Somehow, he got out of it without ruining it before I got home. I found a distressed-sounding text message much too late to be of any help.
In other news, Clark placed second at the poetry slam put on by the Eagle Rock Art Museum. It's a fun event that the museum puts on twice per year. The facilitator randomly assigns people in the audience to rate the poets and then she averages the scores. Before the finalists are announced, she passes a hat to collect whatever the audience is willing to donate to the winner. Last spring Clark took first place. His winnings: $90 and some change, a half-empty pack of watermelon-flavored gum, and a cigarette. This time he made off with a gift card to Barnes and Noble.
Fall has already melted . . . or, rather, frozen into winter around here, and I can't wait for Thanksgiving. Despite my loathing of all (most) things Halloween, I had fun taking the nieces and nephews trick-or-treating. This year Clark put together a great costume for the obligatory Halloween fun at work.
it was more effective in the dark - complete with flashing lights
In other news, Clark placed second at the poetry slam put on by the Eagle Rock Art Museum. It's a fun event that the museum puts on twice per year. The facilitator randomly assigns people in the audience to rate the poets and then she averages the scores. Before the finalists are announced, she passes a hat to collect whatever the audience is willing to donate to the winner. Last spring Clark took first place. His winnings: $90 and some change, a half-empty pack of watermelon-flavored gum, and a cigarette. This time he made off with a gift card to Barnes and Noble.
10.15.2009
doing maths
Clark has been studying his maths* lately. That may be a surprise. But there is an even bigger surprise: he's enjoying it. This makes me wonder.
Like many people, I didn't have many good experiences with math in my early years.
I see the math paralysis in the eyes of students who come to me in tears because they are near failing despite their hours with tutors in the math lab. Like them, I never savored college algebra. I saved my one required math class (statistics) until my last semester of college . . . and I understood it. I studied it. I even liked it.
So why do so many people fear math?
I have a theory about why. First, I think our brains were just not ready for it when it was first introduced to us as children. The power of abstract thought generally develops in early puberty; this ability is essential in order to understand how 'x' could possibly equal 42. So, that being said, can't we let kids perfect the basics before we mix the letters and the numbers?
*I first heard "maths" in plural form from a student from the UK, where, apparently, there is more than one math. Love it.
10.08.2009
schmalloween
I have a confession.
I HATE HALLOWEEN!!!!
There. I said it. Just so you know how serious this is, you have to know that I also hate all caps (QUIT YELLING, already) and excessive use of exclamation marks (use sparingly!!!! - overuse causes punctuation inflation).
I know some of you will protest, but I don't care. You can have your costume parties and your haunted houses . . . and your spiders and rats, and your masks and gory face paint, and your blood and maimed limbs, and your carved and smashed-in pumpkins. Enjoy. I'll be at home baking my pumpkin into a pie instead of carving it into a Jack-O-Lantern.
The past four years I have strategically, purposefully turned off all the lights or been gone that night. When we have littles, I will just buy them the candy they want on that day and we will go home and plan the menu for Thanksgiving.
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