As is the custom among my people, allow me to wish you a Merry Christmas!
If you do not celebrate Christmas in one of its current incarnations, I hope your own holidays, if you observe them, have been/will be wonderful, and that your December 25 is one of peace, happiness and fulfillment.
Here’s some of the music I like to hear during this season. Enjoy!
Filed under Seasonal
One of my dearest friends is organizing the GR Below Zero Project, which works to collect and distribute scarves, hats, mittens and more to those that need them most.
If you are in the Grand Rapids area, this is a great cause that makes an immediate, tangible difference for the people in our community. Please consider getting involved. I can promise you that this is a credible group with nothing but the best of motivation and intentions.
For too many, what is supposed to be the happiest and most festive time of the year is actually the coldest – physically and emotionally. We can’t change that for everyone, but we can try.
Some of my favorite women are graduate and post-doctoral level scientists and science educators.
Whether or not they know it, they are inspiring me to encourage my daughter to not only advance her education, but also investigate, question and hypothesize. If you’re reading this, science-smarty lady-friends, I thank you.
It’s no secret that women are under-represented in the areas of math and science. For my part, I did alright in both of them, though less so as I moved into later high school. I also happened to display an early aptitude for writing, and so was always encouraged in that direction.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve discovered an awe for the natural world. Instead of arty movies about poets, I choose dinosaur and astrophysics documentaries. This isn’t to say that I fully grasp them – far from it. But I can’t help but think a different pedagogical approach might have nudged me and some of my female peers to at least give science careers a try.
Filed under Science
I have to step back for a minute and pretend it’s summer.
For the most part, I feel like I’ve been doing really well this year – not being too much of a grinch, hating on the snow or dreading the frequency of social obligations. Having a child helps a lot. Small things like Christmas lights and falling snow take on a new magic when you watch someone else discover them.
But. This is the lull. My birthday has passed, Solstice and Christmas are well over a week away, and I want a break from the snow (which Just. Kept. Fallingthisweek).
My mood is less candlelight and hammered dulcimer, and a little more free-moving and laid back. There is anticipation and appreciation in the air. Things are good physically, mentally and professionally, and I just want to bask for a while.
So, as I’m due to be creative, please visit the letters to my ancestors (above links), and groove to one of my favorite live Umphrey’s McGee covers (above video). The footage is not the best available, and not from a show I attended, but this rendition and video of Toto’s Africa is where I am today.
Happy Friday!
Filed under Seasonal
Getting back to my roots here, in a manner of speaking. I was inspired by a recent article about the supply and demand of the meat industry.
The point of the article is that the current meat industry exists as it does because consumers demanded it. Meat has long been a status symbol, and the people of the United States went a little nuts when they could produce a lot of it, and then eat it for cheap.
Let this sum it up:
Filed under Current Events, Health
I was due to be born on December 20, 1980.
I was, in fact, born on December 10, 1980, right in the middle of my parents’ move to their newly built home.
My feeling is that I dodged a nearing bullet with those 10 extra days. My mother, however, might have disagreed at the time.
Having a non-summer birthday is bad enough, but celebrating this close to Christmas makes it even less ideal. I have to stop and say – please don’t think that my birthday was ever over-shadowed, or that I’m to be pitied. My family and friends have always been more than generous, and I have every reason to be appreciative.
Still, the older I get, and especially after having Iris, it becomes harder to get excited about my birthday. The tree is up, gift lists are made and I’ve even given into the music (but not the sappy crap. I hate sappy, sentimental Christmas music, and there is oh so much of it…). And really, unless they raise the drinking age to 41, those milestones don’t hold the same excitement.
I suppose I should look on the bright side, count my blessings for those 10 extra days, and get over it. But in reality, I’ve got my eye on June 10. I am literally jubilant in May and June, and would probably make a better birthday girl then anyway.
For the moment, my birthday is still December 10, and I plan to celebrate with a donation, a dance party with my child (who has her own sense of comedic holiday timing) and probably pasta. Bring on 33!
There was no question about the image that would accompany such a title.
I don’t make a habit of becoming overly friendly with my clients. While there is certainly always pleasant chit-chat and some insight into personal lives, we’re both there to get a job done, and don’t tend to form deep, personal connections.
At the moment, I’m working with a local custom home builder, and part of that work is developing biographical material for their site. The designer – a woman I believe to be around my own age – sent me an email the other day with some information about who she is and what she likes. I was glad to see that she enjoys cooking from scratch, makes a serious effort to lessen her impact on the environment and uses humor as therapy.
Filed under I'm a Professional
Gonna cheat and link you to a cool little article about aliens.
Well, not really. It’s about the theory that possibly existent conditions could be favorable for the sustaining of potential life. So, aliens.
The point I took away, as I have from so many other things before, is that the universe is vast, and we are so completely clueless about it. Heck, we’re ignorant about what’s at the bottom of our own oceans, let alone the water forms on one of Jupiter’s moons.
If we’re not paying attention to the things scientists say about space – if we’re implying to our children that we have it all figured out because of cosmic favoritism – we’re missing out on the real magic. Wonder and awe do not have to cease just because our telescopes are bigger.
Whatever is, or isn’t, out there, I plan to be listening.
Also, Cosmos Cometh.
Filed under Science
“Do you remember how disgusting it seemed, that first time you drank a glass of blood? And now? It’s just sort of like, ‘Hmm.'”
I looked around at the people gathered in the room. We were all relaxed, and happy. The work day was done, and now we could unwind with a fine beverage.
I was a vampire. And it was such a relief.
Real vampire life is nothing like what’s in the books and movies. Even when we were outed, it wasn’t nearly so dramatic as popular culture would have you expect. In fact, we’re more like you now than we ever were before. Joining society – living by its rules. At 15 years out from the Revolution, we’re working jobs and going to community meetings. We drink blood, sure, but it’s from donors, and resisting the urge to kill, for me, is as easy as you not killing a pig just because you crave bacon.
Filed under New Story
In order to be successful at eating a clean diet, one must be prepared for obstacles, failure and renewed attempts to get back on the wagon.
By clean I don’t mean vegetarian, raw, gluten free, paleo or any other diet focused on the restriction of food groups or components of found-in-nature edibles. I simply mean eating meals made from ingredients that exist on their own, like fresh produce, real meat, unprocessed grain, nuts and seeds, untainted seafood, beans and legumes and yes, even dairy, and not including a great deal of refined salts, fats, sugars, hormones or preservatives. I mean cooking and eating at home, and not relying too heavily on boxed, bagged or canned ingredients. I mean what people did back before the industrial revolution.
Anyway, it’s hard. I fail miserably more often than I’d like to admit. In addition to this list of shortcomings, I enjoy going out to eat with my parents, who are very generous in taking me out. The thing is, most family restaurants don’t make it easy to eat cleanly. This means obstacles, inevitable failure and an eventual round of “try again.”
For example, last week, we went out twice while my husband was working over time. Obstacles. While I did order smelt and sweet potatoes, they were deep fried. Macaroni was eaten covered in thick cheese sauce and mayonnaise. Canned tuna and sugary applesauce were rounded off with chocolate pudding and syrupy fruit cocktail. It was delicious, and my gut paid for the fun over the following weekend. Failure, coupled with a bonus consequence. Lucky me.
Last night, I made that renewed attempt. Carrot puree soup, bulger with lentils and veggies and hummus were on the menu, and I made it all myself. It certainly wasn’t the most sumptuous meal, but it tasted good and filled us up. Tonight we’re having salmon and maybe quinoa with grapes. Baby steps.
As I’ve been telling my dear mother (who is on a quest to lower a few numbers): It’s never too late to change your diet or improve your health. Baby steps.
Filed under Health
