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Historical Fiction
Whilst in Portland, I read a short book titled “When the Emperor Was Divine“, by Julie Otsuka. At only 144 pages, it is difficult to believe that this novel can cover the subject of the Japanese Internment during WWII so well, so evocatively. I’ve never studied this chapter in American history, other than perhaps as a footnote to our study of WWII. Reading this book made me think of how effective a class would be that incorporated the dry facts of history with novels, which really open one’s eyes and imaginations to the experiences of those people who were alive at a particular time and place. What if, for example,…
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Heads Up
I’ve told you once before about my cousin, Tony, who is in prison, convicted of a murder that, tragically, he did commit. Tony has been in prison now for just over 30 years, and is a very different person than he was back then. Tony’s mom, my Aunt Lori, recently began reading my blog, and had emailed me to ask if I might print and mail Tony the 3 part story about when I met my father for the first time. I did so, and wrote him a letter as well. Upon returning from our vacation in Oregon last Monday, I found a letter from Tony, including some lovely pictures…
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Nietzsche
For those of you who read my blog, but maybe not Ted’s or Lura’s, I’m sorry to tell you that I lost my dog-in-law on Tuesday. (that sounds like she was my dog…she was my mother-in-law’s dog, but not her dog-in-law, or Ted’s dog-in-law, so that’s why I phrased it that way.) Nietzsche was a very good girl, the kind of dog who you dog-sit, and then think, “hmmm….maybe we should get a dog,” which is how we ended up with Genevieve. Nietzsche, you will be dearly missed. You’re such a good girl, and I’m so sorry that we didn’t get to say good bye to you. Don’t worry, either…
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Domo Arigato
I’m sleepy today. I’m kinda thinking that I would like to climb back in bed and have a nap. Working from home, with my ‘office’ in my bedroom, doesn’t help matters any. Being stuck on my project and sitting here waiting for a coworker to get back to me with some info doesn’t help so much, either. So, while I wait, I’ll fill my time by telling you about the concert that Ted and I went to last night. You’ll get his side on his blog, which will be full of interesting information about the band and all kinds of cool tidbits, I’m sure, so I’m going to be really…
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Happy Birthday Cherry!
Today is my dear friend Cherry’s birthday! Happy Birthday, Missy! Cherry is a wonderful, giving, (too) hard working, friend. She loves to cook for her friends, go out with her friends, hang out with her friends, whatever…just bless us all with her company. Thanks, Cherry, for being the wonderful person that you are. Now, if you look at Cherry’s post today, you’ll see that we celebrated Cherry’s birthday in style on Sunday at Fenton’s Creamery in Oakland, where the smallest ice cream they serve is still as big as your head. Maya and Jackie shared a 3 lb. banana split…(she has the ‘before’ photo on her post) But they finally…
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Our Amazing Dinner
Friday evening, Ted, Maya and I were invited to dinner with our friends, Pat and Beatrice, and their friend, Unita Blackwell. If any of my 5 daily readers are familiar with the civil rights movement of the 1960s, specifically the voters rights movement in the south, you may have heard of Mrs. Blackwell. I am not terribly familiar with that movement, though I admire the hell out of it, and I see a strong correlation between the struggles of the black people in the south, and their success, and the struggles of women and gays, as well as the anti-war movement. So to meet a pioneer in this movement is…
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Sunday Morning Thoughts…
I just got up, looking at a few blogs, and the first two I came to had some interesting coincidences… 1st, my mom’s blog talked about the sexualization of children, about how dressing young girls in adult’s clothing, and visa versa, is dangerous because it sends very confusing messages to the world. This reminded me of when I was a girl, and I wanted to get my ears pierced…I wasn’t allowed, because my mom said that earrings were a symbol of being a certain age and maturity, and so I didn’t get them done until I was 16. I’ve put a lot of thought into when to allow Maya to…
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Saturday Meme
Leave it to Jay to tag me for a good one. I’m not sure what happened to #9, though. You can listen to the Beatles in your head if you want to. (OK, if that’s a confusing reference, think of John Lennon saying, “number 9….number 9…..number 9….” I know…I’m lame.) 1. Things that scare me: Global Warming Religious Fanatics The thought of losing my family 2. People who make me laugh: Autumn’s Mom Ted Neva 3. Things I hate the most: Politics and the way they work Liver and onions People who harm children 4. Things I don’t understand: Foreign languages (unfortunately) The “isms” – Racism, Sexism, Ageism, Fatism (is…
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It’s The End of The World As We Know It….
Oh God, the day has come…We are truly in the final days, the days of apocalypse…and what proof do I have, you may well ask? Well, I’m truly ashamed, but within the span of one week, 1 WEEK I tell you, I have found myself agreeing with both George W. Bush AND She Who Must Not Be Named. Before you pass out, or rush to have me committed to a mental institution (which, truly, I beg you to do should I ever TRULY agree with these spawn of Satan), allow me to say that I only agreed conditionally… 1st, on Monday, we were having breakfast at our hotel in Ashland,…
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Uh Oh…
I just saw this article. If signed, children under 8 need to ride in a booster seat, and children under 12 need to ride in the back seat. What’s the big deal? Well, Maya’s been riding in the front seat for a little while now…the Volvo doesn’t have any airbags (too old), and on the Camry, we have the passenger seat pushed all of the way back. Ted reasoned that many small adults are in the front seat, so she would be OK. I read some reports that said that there is no proof that kids who have been harmed by passenger side airbags in the front seat were ‘properly…
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Ode to Forest Park
When we go to Portland, Maya’s favorite thing to do is to hike in Forest Park. She told me that Forest Park is her favorite place on earth. This most recent trip was no exception, and happily, Ted was able to join us this time, and I think he may be hooked as well. For Maya and I to enjoy hiking is definitely saying something, because we are two girls who do NOT like to get hot and sweaty. Sadly, there is almost no way to hike around here without getting hot and sweaty, because there are simply not enough trees to keep you shaded. So the sun is beating…
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Happy (Belated) Birthday, Sesame Street
I have a couple of Portland related posts in mind…one is about the yummy and not-so-yummy restaurants we went to, one about books I read or bought there…one about the beautiful world of Forest Park. But I had to stop and do this, because Issa and Mom-101 did it several days ago, and it will soon be too late to jump on the bandwagon. Stupid vacation. So, this started on Mrs. Davis’s blog, where she talked about popular culture influences you had as a child, due to the new season of Sesame Street starting on August 14th. She gave out a bunch of linky love on the 14th, but I…
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Convoluted Vacation Wrap Up
Hello Bloggy Blog Blog Blog, I’ve missed you so. I’ve posted, sure, but it’s not the same as actually writing something NEW, and I haven’t been reading my friends’ blogs, and I haven’t been commenting, and boy, I have a LOT of catching up to do. Let me start by saying, I’m still Biff, because I’m thinking…One Week Ago Right Now…I was getting ready to go to Seattle…on vacation. Sigh. So, today I’ll tell you what we did on our vacation to the Pacific Northwest. (Mostly Portland.) We left home and drove to Ashland, where we hoped to see a play, but we got a bit of a late start,…
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Did Anyone Else LOVE This Show?
Boy, I used to love to watch “Land of the Lost” when I was 8 or 9…Saturday morning cheezy crap TV at its finest! I loved Holly, kind of wanted to be her. Loved Cha-ka (Who, by the way, was NOT played by a member of the group, Sugar Ray, at least according to this article. I know, you’re crushed. I happen to have it on good authority that Ted’s friend’s Matt’s Wife’s exboyfriend, the actor, was Cha-ka. And I’m totally kidding there. That’s an inside joke that only Ted will get, because his friend and friend’s wife don’t read my blog.) The Sleestack were TOO SCARY (OK, even then…
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The Food Meme
We’re having a wonderful time in Oregon…spending time with family and relaxing. 🙂 Not much time for the computer. I’ve posted a few posts that I had “in the can”, but I’m running out of those…so maybe I’ll find time to write a bit about our vacation. No pics, though, because I’m not sure how to download them onto this computer, so you’ll have to wait for that. I did finish another book, so maybe I’ll write something about that in a day or two. Anyway, here’s one of my last ‘canned’ blog posts, from before we left CA. 🙂 I found this at Ally Bean’s site: How do you…