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Middlesex
Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides (author of The Virgin Suicides), is first and foremost the story of Calliope, a young Greek girl growing up in the suburbs of Michigan, and how at puberty, she becomes Cal, a young Greek boy. The story spans three generations, starting with Desdemona and Lefty, a brother and sister fleeing Greece during the war with Turkey in 1922. Unfortunately, Desdemona and Lefty are in love with each other, and the anonymity of fleeing their homeland for America gives them the opportunity to start over, as husband and wife. Their story is a sad one, because as Desdemona discovers the dangers of birth defects involved if they…
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Lick The Tins
Do you remember that 80’s John Hughes movie, “Some Kind of Wonderful“, in which the boy (Eric Stoltz) is in love with the ‘pretty’ girl (Lea Thompson), while the ‘cool’ girl (Mary Stuart Masterson) pines away for him, hoping he’ll wake up enough to notice that she’s actually cute and might be a better match for him? I really liked that movie, especially since I never felt like I was as pretty as my friends, and so worked to cultivate a ‘cool’ persona instead. So I identified with her. Of course, I suspect everyone identifies with the unrequited love theme at some point in their lives. Anyway, the movie ends…
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Licorice Day!
Today, April 12, is National Licorice Day! Who knew? As a matter of fact, you may wonder how I know this factoid. Well, I went over to Chrissy’s blog, where I saw the pile of candy that she won, and spied in that enviable pile a Bit O’ Honey. I remember Bit O’ Honey being made by the Ward Candy Company, because my maiden name was Ward, and I used to imagine that it was MY company, or maybe my Grandpa’s company, and I would be able to invent all kinds of groovy candy, ala Willy Wonka. Well, Nestle bought the company at some point, and I felt a little…
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Kindness
(picture found here. Kind of a groovy article accompanying the picture as well.) I’ve written about Kindness before. It is the virtue that resonates most deeply with me, because I feel like if more people were more kind more of the time, many of the world’s problems would disappear. If we were more kind to strangers, we would have many fewer problems like road rage and fights in bars. If we were more kind to children, we would raise more kind, thoughtful adults. If we were more kind to our families, we would have more harmony and laughter at home. If we were more kind to ourselves, we would have…
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J likes…
In keeping with my NaBloPoMo vow to travel sequentially through the alphabet, stopping at each letter at least once for a post, I’ve decided to make a Thursday Thirteen today, of things I like. None of these are going to be deep and profound, I’m afraid. You all already know that I love my family and friends, and kindness and justice and gratitude and honesty and butterflies and NPR, right? OK, so we’re going a bit more shallow here. This is just things that make me happy if I happen to have them around, things I notice that I like. And I apologize in advance, because this post is going…
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Isolation
(picture found here) I was IMing with Dot yesterday, musing about ideas for an ‘I’ post. Ice Cream. Ikky. iPod. Ichabod Crane. Isolation. Isolation…I like that one, so I’ll run with it. Sorry, Dot, if you wanted it. You can have Ichabod, or go with Idolatry, Idiots, Ingenious, Idealism, Inspiration, Instant Messaging…whatever you want. Really, I shouldn’t take this one from Dot, because she gave me the thought as well, which was how we all feel, at least sometimes, like we’re alone in this world, that we’re the only one going through crap and no one really understands. And yet, you talk to someone, and they say, Yes, yes, I…
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I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for…
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Happiness
(click to enlarge) (warning…I started this post with a simple idea, but it sort of took over and became unwieldy. In other words, I lost control of it. So it’s not completely coherent and doesn’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. At least not as I would define them. But I can’t think of what I would change, because that’s how my brain works anyway.) Pursuant to yesterday’s post on grace, a post on happiness came easily to mind. After all, I firmly believe that one of the main components in living one’s life with grace is a sense of gratitude, and the ability to focus more on the…
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Grace
(The image is one of the stained glass windows at Grace Cathedral, a Catholic church in San Francisco.) What does it mean to you, to live your life with grace? To a religious person, I would assume that it means living in God’s grace. But what does that mean, and does it mean the same thing to an atheist? I can’t speak to the religious side as well as Tracy or Dot might, but I can say that for me, to live my life in grace is something to strive for. Sadly, not something that comes exactly naturally. It means letting go of anger and bitterness, and embracing your forgiving…
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Fine Wine
(our haul from the day) Friday, Py and I took the day off of work to have some fun. It was the last day of Maya’s spring break, and originally we thought we might go to a local amusement park, but it turned out that they were closed. Most of the school districts in our area had their spring break either the week before Easter, or the week after. Including those of all of her friends. but not hers. So what else do you do with a 12 year old on spring break in Northern California? That’s right, you go wine tasting! We went up to Napa Valley for the…
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Etouffee at the Elite Cafe
Back in the day, that day being our time spent in San Francisco, one of our favorite restaurants was The Elite Cafe. Loved the neighborhood atmosphere of it, loved the oyster bar, loved the cozy booths if you could get them. The blackened steak, awesome. Clam chowder, yummy. But above all, the shrimp etouffee. Tiny rock shrimp in a yummy, yummy sauce. Oh, so very good. Love love loved it. And really, there aren’t many cajun places around here, and if they have an etouffee, it’s usually crawfish, which I just don’t enjoy as much. So, maybe two years ago, I took my friend Neva to San Francisco for the…
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Desire…
Is it wrong that this knife is more tempting to me than jewelry or clothes? (Update at 10:30am…Ooh…I just had a thought…if I had this knife, I could make tuna tartar! Drool indeed!) And then there’s this. Drool. I think I may start saving my money, and get the real deal, just what I want, perfect knife and dutch oven. But it might be awhile, because they aren’t cheap, and I don’t want a Target knock off. Why wasn’t I born rich?
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Delicious, Delectable, Daring Drama
This post is just for Melissa, who wondered how I would post about BSG with a “D” theme, since I’m doing the one letter a day thing. The real post is over here, written by the biggest BSG fan in our house, Py. Well, Maya might argue with that. They’re both huge fans. Oh, and Melissa? Wish you lived closer, because we’re totally going to a BSG party. Big geeks out this way. 😉
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Clean Plate Club
Are you a member of the ‘Clean Plate’ club? Were you raised to finish everything on your plate, lest starving children elsewhere go hungry? I understand parents wanting their children to fill up on healthy, nutritious food, rather than picking at their dinner and then chowing down on dessert. I also understand that food is expensive, takes work to prepare, and shouldn’t go to waste. But forcing your children to finish their food when they’re full isn’t the answer. I was reminded of this on my recent trip to Alaska. My mom was sitting in the hospital, faced with yucky meatloaf. I had gone down to the salad bar to…
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Birthday Breakfast