I am thankful for a literary magazine that won’t suck or be riddled with grammar mistakes and misspellings.
Exercise: ran two miles, walked the dogs 1/2 mile, biked to Burris to RB then home
Food: banana,milk, waffle, juice, cheese sandwich, apple, animal crackers, hot chocolate, nachos, diet 7-Up, Klondike bar
Tonight we watched Pit Bulls and Parolees, a show on Animal Planet. Do you suppose she would hire me to work at Villalobos Rescue, even though I am not a parolee? I think that would be the perfect job for me. I could be the chef for the pit bulls, making gourmet dog food and treats and doing nothing else but loving on dogs. I would love on mine 24/7 if I could. There is just something about a big, furry mess of a dog, particularly one with a huge mouth that peels into a smile when she looks at me. I would love to move out into the country somewhere and be a foster-family for a pit bull rescue. Maybe we can do that when we move to wherever we end up. I would love it.
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I am thankful for people who make a difference in the world. People who love the unlovable and who give second chances.
Exercise: walked the dogs 1.5 miles, rode my bike to RB to Burris back to RB and home
Food: banana, waffle, tea with milk, juice, cheese sandwich, apple, pretzels, chocolate milk, two pieces of double-crust pizza, salad, mint M&Ms
Posted in Food, Grace, Relationships
I love The Doors’ song “Strange Days,” and I think applies to this weeks reflections from my Burris students: “Strange days have found us. Strange days have tracked us down. They’re going to destroy us, our casual joys. We shall go on playing or find a new town.” I don’t expect my students to love everything I love, but I find it hard to believe the fact that the Beat poets aren’t at least liked by some of them. Maybe it is because I wanted to spend an entire week on them, but since we missed two days, which we still have to make up, for the swine flu, we only got to talk about them for two days. I despise teaching all of American Literature in one semester. I think it short changes the students. However, I am still amazed that the Beat poets aren’t some of their favorites. To each his or her own, though. I still love my Burris kids. They rock.
When I was in high school, I absolutely loved the Beat poets. I remember thinking they were my saving grace because they talked so much about how corrupt our culture was/is and how we needed to majorly overhaul it if we were going to survive. I loved the apocalyptic nature of their writings and how they sought to confuse the boundaries between the sacred and the secular. I mean, how genius is it to resurrect a dead poet, Walt Whitman, and then talk about how the speaker follows him through grocery store while he is eying the grocery boys, stealing food, and avoiding the store security? It’s fucking brilliant.
Maybe this is a sign of a generational shift. Or maybe I am simply abnormal, which is probably more likely. I can remember Jaymes and I being (or fantasizing about being) so counter-cultural. We read Kerouac and ate him up with a spoon. We started an underground newspaper to rage against the machine before the band was even popular. I just think I should have been born in the late 40s so I could be a hippie. My blood runs pinko and sentiments do too. Either way, at least my students have been exposed to a group of writers whose influence is still felt in many ways.
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I am thankful for the ability to agree to disagree with people. And, I am thankful there are multiple churches that reach multiple audiences.
Exercise: none, absolutely none, I read all day
Food: banana, juice, strawberry Belgian waffle, nachos at La Palma, black bean burger and veggies at Chili’s, chips and salsa
I spent the better part of today rereading a book that I read last spring semester. I had been warned that I would one day open a book that I had read in graduate school, one that had my notes and everything in it, and forget that I had read it. I didn’t expect, however, to forget the contents of a book that I just read last semester. I know I read it. I remember because I remember the bus driver and being just as confused about what was going on with him and driving the bus into the marsh. I simply have no idea how the book ends or what is really going on it. I seem to remember that it all comes together in the end.I am just happy that there is so much about healing and wholeness in the book.
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I am thankful for the healing of my foot. It seems to feel much better today.
Exercise: walked the dogs 2 miles
Food: banana, juice, strawberry Belgian waffle with whipped cream, spinach and spring greens salad with poppyseed dressing, sunflower seeds, and cheese, cheese cube and piece of bread, tomato soup, grilled cheese on homemade bread, two long carrots
Remember the movie Son In Law? I loved it when Pauly Shore said he was “munching on some grindage,” because I love to eat, and I think his expression pretty much sums up my life: munchin’ on some grindage and chillin’ with the Wease. Want to know a little secret about me? I LOVE Pauly Shore, even as dumb and base as his humor is.
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I am thankful for a day to hang out with my mom and brother, though I was sorry Dad couldn’t join us. And, I am thankful that my dad may be able to retire next December.
Exercise: walked the dogs 1.5 miles, walked around at a couple of stores
Food: spinach artichoke dip with bread and pasta chips, Italian nachos (yes, as weird as they sound), french toast steamer, cherry cola soda, homemade spicy basil mushroom pine nut pasta with whole what pasta and tofu, bread, strawberries with real whipped cream sweetened with maple syrup
Reason Breeds Insanity 