Just write. See what happens.
For those of you who don’t yet know, E’s cast is now off – it was only on for 5 days. The orthopedist looked at the leg and determined it was soft-tissue damage only. Just as well to have immobilized it for a while, so E could get around without making it worse.
Here are a couple videos, just for kicks. Silly kid(s).
Coming soon: favourite new quotes!
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Categories: Toddlerama, Videoposts.
Here’s a book that makes me feel lucky. It puts into perspective the easiness of my life. I live in Canada, in a time when cultural diversity is considered a virtue. I’m white and middle-class and educated. I’m female, but I have a union-protected job in a female-dominated field… and now that I think about it, even my hobbies are female-dominated. I’m a Quaker, but no one even knows what that is around here, much less cares. I have never suffered due to discrimination.
[For the record, I can remember when I was young being made fun of and excluded sometimes… I was homeschooled and had freakishly long hair (both by choice) and was innately nerdy… but I can’t say I suffered. We’ve all had hurt feelings and we mostly manage to be okay.]
A lot of the books the GGG has read have made me feel lucky – A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Book of Negroes come to mind – but those didn’t have quite the same effect, because they seem so far removed. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, takes place less than fifty years ago, in the land of our southern neighbo(u)r – which makes the discrimination seem that much more incongruous, inappropriate, and downright idiotic.
It’s a story set in Jackson, Mississippi of the early 1960s, told from the perspective of three different women: two different black maids who work for white families, and one young white woman who sympathizes with them. It gets right into the lives of these characters. It brings home, humanizes, and makes real the craziness of that time and place – from the segregation of schools and bathrooms and water fountains – to the beatings and shootings. The characters and their situations are fictional, but completely plausible. Continued…
Categories: BANG Book Reviews, Ideosophy, Politethics.
Well, I think this clinches it.
When asked how my March break was, I can firmly say that it was un-relaxing.
I can’t say that it was completely un-fun, although much of it was. Both of my boys on drugs – the little one for pneumonia, the big one for bronchitis and sinusitis. Not very good sleep for anyone… and by Thursday, despite my best efforts not to, I was succumbing to some kind of coughing/sore-throat ailment. I still have hope that I’m getting the abridged version of whatever it is – I do feel better today than I felt yesterday.
It didn’t help, of course, that I spent about four hours of yesterday at the ER, breathing into vexatious little disposable face-mask. (E didn’t much like that look on me.) Continued…
Categories: Photoposts, Toddlerama.
It’s been an unlovely week at Dilovely’s house.
My son is sick – ear infection last week, cough that won’t go away, neon-yellow banana-flavoured antibiotics, resulting frequent diaper changes, occasional feverishness and not-so-occasional moodiness for him… worry for us. Of course we think he’ll be okay any day now… but altogether it’s been over two weeks so you start to wonder.
My husband is sick – almost a full week of bad congestion, coughing, fatigue, NyQuil, DayQuil, Buckley’s, Halls, etc. Neither of us can remember him having a flu this long before. Sleep has been somewhat difficult for all of us.
As you can imagine, I am religiously taking my vitamins and doing my nasal rinse, and Sean and I are trading off naps, struggling a bit to keep up with the everyday needs of life.
One might start thinking one has it rough. Luckily, there are always sources of perspective – sometimes glaring ones.
All you have to do is imagine being in north Japan at this moment, and suddenly it’s apparent how sweet life is right here, right now.
Let’s have some silence so I (and you, if you want) can think about this enormous good fortune – and its opposite, to keep perspective.
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Categories: Foughts and Theelings.
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After seeing The Adjustment Bureau last night, I decided to read the story it’s based on – “Adjustment Team”, by Philip K. Dick. A strange experience on both counts.
I’d seen trailers, so I knew the movie was about some guy who gets involved with a group of sinister guys in fedoras who reveal to him that free will is not what he thought it was. Guess I’ll stick in a SPOILER ALERT here… I will try not to ruin the plot for you if you don’t know much about it, but I can’t guarantee I won’t let small details slip – ones you may or may not care about.
Notes on The Adjustment Bureau:
Categories: BANG Movie Reviews, Ideosophy, PopCulturalism.
I’ve realized a large percentage of what E says on a daily basis is a quote from something. Usually a book. Here are some examples:
Then there’s the more esoteric “Litany”, by Billy Collins. You see… there’s this kid we love to watch at our house:
E was fascinated by this right away. He started asking to see “bread knife” whenever one of us had their computer open. Soon, we realized he was remembering bits of it. He could fill in the blanks if we started each line for him: “You are the bread and the…” “Knife.” “The crystal goblet and the…” “Wine.” “You are the dew on the morning…” “Grass.” “And the burning wheel of the…” “Sun.” Then, the other evening, we were driving home from an evening with friends, and E was talking to himself in the backseat. Suddenly Sean realized he’d overheard “Boots in the corner” and “Cornflowers at dusk”. (E worked quite hard on the word “dusk” for a minute or two.) He’s really taking it ALL in. Continued…
Categories: Uncategorized.