Month: June 2010

  • You Know How On Extreme Makeover They Drive the Bus Away for the ‘Big Reveal’? This Is Kind of Like That, Only Nobody Gets a Jungle Theme in the Living Room

      The kids raced away from the school bus on the final day of the school year, sweat and excitement mixed on their faces. Breathlessly, Paco reported, “Al the Bus Driver is so nice. We’re the last kids off today, so he gave us each TWO suckers to celebrate the last day!” Just then, Al […]

  • I Never Can Say Quite As Much As I Know

    “I Never Can Say Quite As Much As I Know” –Robert Olen Butler The thing about attending an academic conference is that the days are packed so full of sessions and readings and “plenaries” that participants find their time booked from early morning until dusk. When attendees have taken several flights to reach a major cosmopolitan […]

  • Northern Ascendancy: The Moxie of the Imperfect

      I crossed a border yesterday. For a passport-toting white woman nowhere near Arizona, this should have been a straightforward endeavor. However, I failed to factor in that the airplane slotted to fly me out of Duluth was to have come from Chicago, and Chicago is windy and foggy and muggy and corrupt. Plus, pilots out of Chicago often […]

  • The Rare Photo That Captures Perfectly Each Kid’s Personality

      One of these kids will grow up to teach in an elementary school classroom, run a human resources office, or become a sociological researcher. The other one will grow up to work as a Lego masterbuilder or–even better–a mad scientist. One of these kids passes spare moments sawing out new tunes on the viola. […]

  • One of My Favorite ‘It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over’ Examples

      While it always saddens me when my virtual life is neglected, I can’t mourn it too much when the neglect stems from a flurry of activity in my here-and-now life.  That is to say:  we have visitors this weekend, as we did last weekend. This time, our pals Virginia and Kirsten are visiting from southern […]

  • Just Read the Eudora Welty Story Already

    Summer session began last week, and I was immediately reminded that the nub of my job is closing gaps.  For everyone, college does some bridging:  from past to future; from who one was to who one wants to be; from never having had a beer to imbibing a twelve-pack every Monday (“Rock ON, dudes!  Chug for Monday Madness!”).  […]

  • My Breast Hath All Those Pieces Still

      A brief summary, in case you’ve been spending so many hours cruising awkwardfamilyphotos.com and bluntcard.com that you were too pressed for time to read the last few posts: So I had a break-up, and it took the stuffing out of me, and I cried a lot; and then I had another break-up, which really […]

  • Nothing Can to Nothing Fall (Part III of III)

    (continued from the last post): Once I was plainly dumped, all the energy that hadn’t known where to land during the course of our relationship stopped spinning around up in the air. It came crashing down, thundering in like a freight train. I couldn’t fall asleep at night; to feel as though I had company, […]