March 2013
1 post
Tupperwolf: Wealth, risk, and stuff →
vruba:
Via Anne Galloway on Twitter, I just saw Living With Less. A Lot Less, an opinion piece in the New York Times.
I run into some version of this essay by some moneybags twig-bishop about once a year, and it bugs me every time.
Here’s the thing. Wealth is not a number of dollars. It is not a…
February 2013
2 posts
Whenever anyone mentions rowing
rowingsoundsfun:
Haha, pretty much.
December 2012
1 post
November 2012
2 posts
1 tag
When it's 5am and your coach is going over the...
rowingsoundsfun:
And you’re just like:
July 2012
2 posts
it was a dream →
jonterri:
in which my greater self
rose up before me
accusing me of my life
with her extra finger
whirling in a gyre of rage
at what my days had come to.
what,
i pleaded with her, could i do,
oh what could i have done?
and she twisted her wild hair
and sparked her wild eyes
and screamed as long as
i could hear her
This. This. This.
—Lucille Clifton
(via poets.org)
2 tags
“What makes people smart, curious, alert, observant, competent, confident,...”
– ~ John Holt, Teach Your Own
May 2012
2 posts
“Character — the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life — is the...”
– Joan Didion on self-respect, a must-read. (via explore-blog)
AUSTIN KLEON: On Regina Spektor's “gift of small... →
austinkleon:
There’s a piece in the NYTimes today about how Spektor’s “shortcomings as a classical pianist turned her into a songwriter.” Spektor has very small hands, and while studying classical piano, “scores had to be rearranged, her left hand taking on part of the role of the left.” After a while, it…
February 2012
1 post
2 tags
November 2011
1 post
2 tags
October 2011
2 posts
4 tags
8 tags
RevNaomi Tumblr: 5 Smooth Stones of Liberal... →
revnaomiking:
I appreciate James Luther Adams’ complex and rewarding essay on the five smooth stones of liberal religion. I translated it into a simplified form for use in adult programming, but then that still didn’t pass the five-year-old-test.
I’d like us to be able to use the five smooth stones in our…
September 2011
4 posts
5 tags
2 tags
How I Became a Homeschooler
I could write far more about homeschooling/unschooling than tumblr was intended to display in a single entry, so I will start with a bit of personal history. Later I’ll write posts about different aspects of it and respond to online materials I see about education and homeschooling.
I’ll preface this by saying that, as a child, I experienced public school, private school, Islamic...
3 tags
small stone redux #1
Every morning I go to wake you
Can I turn on the light?
You’re face down
curly head squirming
half under the pillow.
There’s the point in the blanket where
your toes are pointed in a stretch.
Good morning, baby.
You smile
knowing I’m about to reach you
I dust you with kisses all over
and now you’re laughing,
eyes still closed.
August 2011
2 posts
Afternoon laugh-in w/ Kidlet.
July 2011
5 posts
1 tag
Tree of Life Rambling, Part 2 (Actual Movie)
continued from the extra-rambly Part 1
So, Tree of Life is basically a roux-based sauce, and whatever you loved or hated about Malick’s previous films (especially The Thin Red Line) has been distilled right into this here jar.
Much of the emotional territory is the same traversed by Witt and other soldiers in The Thin Red Line. Instead of the metaphor of family in TTRL, Malick made a movie...
3 tags
She Has Her Own Mind
Last time I took Kidlet to daycare, she started to protest my leaving - and then one of the teacher aides showed up. She hadn’t seen him in a few weeks. When she saw him, she let go of my hand and took several, slow steps towards him. I said goodbye to her but she didn’t look back at me, just kept moving for him until she was close enough to stretch out her arms and touch his knees. It...
2 tags
Tree of Life Rambling, Part 1
When it comes to commenting on movies, music, or any art, I try to keep this one thing in mind: There’s no accounting for taste. And that’s as true for my own as it is for anyone else’s. After all the expression isn’t, “there’s no accounting for YOUR taste,” is it? No. So I’ll be cheery about this: The first Terrence Malick film I saw was The Thin...
5 tags
Year in Review
This July marks the end of our first year in Seattle. I’ve spent the better part of a few nights this week putting together a photo album that highlights the past twelve months. I was struck by a few things. One, I take a lot of photos. Two, we are really enjoying Seattle. And three, to quote myself from that first night of picture-sifting: “We do too much shit.”
I knew we were...
June 2011
5 posts
May 2011
3 posts
3 tags
2 tags
4 tags
“There are people like Senhor José everywhere, who fill their time, or what they...”
– José Saramago - from the novel, All the Names
April 2011
8 posts
2 tags
WHITNEY RICKETTS: YOU READING THIS, BE READY →
whitneyricketts:
Starting here, what do you want to remember? How sunlight creeps along a shining floor? What scent of old wood hovers, what softened sound from outside fills the air? Will you ever bring a better gift for the world than the breathing respect that you carry wherever you go right now? Are you…
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”
– Zora Neale Hurston
3 tags
Don't Send Us a Postcard
Remember the days when people would go on vacation and you wouldn’t hear from them for weeks - because they were on vacation? And it would be a big production when they left - “Bon voyage!” and lots of waving and hugs, and even accompanying them to the airport. “Oh, we’re going to miss you!” and you’d be all excited for them, and wistful, and checking your...
2 tags
“Because when we find ourselves believing that killing a man makes us more of a...”
– Jay Smooth, founder of New York City’s longest-running hip hop radio program, WBAI’s Underground Railroad and video blogger. (via spunkywarcannon via clarityandchaos)
2 tags
Introducing The Lady Atheist
I set up a new Twitter profile today: TheLadyAtheist will be an atheist Quote of the Day (QOTD) account. There are many atheist news and quote of the day Twitter accounts already in existence, but I wanted one that committed itself to uplifting and positive quotes for atheists.
4 tags
Generation Gap (Part 2)
I wrote Part 1 of this post almost two months ago (wow), and I’ve been thinking about it often, particularly this part:
I think all conscientious parents want to take what they’ve learned in their lives and from their own parents and give that to their children PLUS more. But what that could mean is having children who are not very much like you after a while … or at least don’t seem like...
March 2011
4 posts
2 tags
Evening Ditty
Daughter,
I want to be with you
scratching color onto sheets of paper
while you laugh.
Are you laughing at me?
I am happy to be the source of your amusement.
Laugh at me,
I will sit here smiling for many years
your laughter
will fall on me like the rain
the snow
the twisting leaves
and the rays of the sun.
3 tags
Coming Soon: Free Time!
Now that we know for sure Kidlet will be starting part-time preschool this fall, the question of what to do with those eight, free daytime hours per week presented itself. My initial idea was that I’d start volunteering. Maybe at the MOHAI or maybe somewhere else. But that didn’t sound good enough. Preschool costs money; shouldn’t I be doing something to move our family forward?...
4 tags
From Nate Dogg to Paul Erdős
Another late night Wikipedia rabbit hole: informing Hubster of Nate Dogg’s death today led to reading about strokes and then, amphetamines … apparently, Paul Erdos used amphetamines. And what an interesting man he was, all his 83 years. Hubster had recently watched N is a Number, the documentary about Erdos’ life, but he didn’t know the story of Erdos’ suggestion for...
February 2011
5 posts
Anonymous asked: What's the wingspan of an European sparrow?
4 tags
Generation Gap (Part 1)
Last night I had the startling realization that Kidlet will be eight years old the year I turn 40. When my mother was 40, I was 21 years old. What I couldn’t get out of my head was the thought that Kidlet would see me as foreign, and I couldn’t wrap my head around how differently she would see me compared to how I saw my mother. For as long as I lived at home, my mother was young. In...
3 tags
Toddler Eating Habits
So I realized tonight that Kidlet will eat most anything, but not dishes like stir fry, lasagna and casseroles. I think my unconscious habit of always giving her food that is distinct and fairly simple (e.g. eggs, broccoli, noodles, carrot, apple, cake, pickle) might be having the effect of her not wanting to eat food with multiple layers and textures. The one exception she seems to make is if...
1 tag
Small Stone #31
Sick Day
A sanguine smile
as she scrambles into bed
and points her feet at me.
“Mawr,” she says
one hand rubs her belly
as she grins at the spoon.
“Mawr ice-cream.”
