Fidget

Last night Barak Obama returned to Eugene to address the townsfolk at the U of O campus. He’d been there about a month ago, and we’d been amazed to see the line of people waiting to get into the basketball arena stretching clear around the entire sports area, a good city block. This time we were on campus again and decided to join the lineup and pack into the library quad for this second rally.

I felt very American, going to see a presidential candidate - never done that before. In spite of (or maybe because of) my lack of experience with campaign speeches, I was struck by Obama’s sincere and personable demeanor. The people there were excited and eager to throw their support behind his ideals of change. The idea of changing how the country is run, the idea of finally solving the problems that have plagued us for decades - the idea of bringing the war to an end. These are admirable goals. Is this “change we can believe in?” If we just believe it hard enough, wave enough “HOPE” signs, will it happen?

We had quite awhile to wait before the speech, packed together with lots of young Eugenians and a smaller number of middle aged ones. A youngish man sitting just in front of us had a Barak Obama campaign image sewed to his jacket. As he stood up, another patch became visible: a cross (Christ) crossed out, in the red “no-smoking” style. I guess that’s not the kind of hope this crowd is looking for. But I believe it’s the only real hope there is, the only kind that’s not just wishful thinking.

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” Romans 5:1-5

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

I think it’s a basic human desire to be “on the inside,” to have secret knowledge, to belong to the group of people who are “in the know.” Isn’t that what tempted Eve back in the garden? Since the time of Christ, devotees of attaining secret knowlege have been referred to as Gnostics.

I felt a little manipulated, reading this book. Dan Brown is a very cunning author. As the codes, secrets, connections and riddles converge, they reveal concepts that I found very offensive, twisting the truth that my life is built upon. But, one of the main promoters of these ideas turns out to be the unexpected villain, so you are tricked into transferring your disgust onto him while the other “insiders” seem pretty much OK by comparison.

The fact of the matter is, you don’t have to join a secret society to get access to the way, the truth, and the life: “… since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:19-20) No one group of people - whether intellectuals, governments, organized religion, secret societies - has a monopoly on the truth.

I also didn’t like how sex-saturated the book was, but not because I believe sex is dirty and sinful as Dan Brown accuses the Catholics of insisting. No… I believe God gave us sex as a gift, for men and women to enjoy in the context of marriage, as an earthly picture of the union we will eventually have with God in heaven. The church is intended as the Bride of Christ! (That’s the reason Jesus never got married – as the book explains, marriage was an integral part of the Jewish culture and a good Jewish man would always marry.)

“‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ This is a profound mystery — but I am talking about Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:31-32

There’s a woman at my church, LS, who loves to throw elaborately themed parties. Last night, her home was transformed into “the Hip Kitty,” a beatnik cafe. In the invitation, we had been instructed to write a beat poem and wear our cool threads. We sat 4 to a table and sipped faux martinis and munched hors d’oeuvres. This is what I wrote for the poetry reading:

While We’re There

I declare and how to stare
my wild and more than mild extraordinary child
melt the walk and north to talk
from there to you on shore
what’s in store we’ll try some more if it’s enough we won’t fall short
of his last bale of wool to cushion the prickle
of southern pride and northern cold
before were old
the shortest life is one that took
awhile to save
and knights and knaves can’t solve the crime of misinterpretation
sweeping the nation
under the rug.
We feel unknown but it’s more obvious to seem methodious
and melodic like the tunes you know by sight without a name or a label
to force unstable
and while I’m able I’ll hawk your wares.

While we’re there let’s check the timetable
as we’re able the west was won by the cat’s curiousity.
There’s no you in curiosity
and curios are even farther from the truth.
In my youth I thought it uncouth when muddy dippers
would double dare and howl to scare.
Please believe I’m all that I seem and more besides
and I hate to see you cry.

When we’re through and so will you
show some style of colors dialed.
Drill in to the interaction of distraction come to roost
and must distrust what youth forsooth,
I swear the spare was all that’s there
on the left side of the dashboard mirror.

***

[Thanks to BN for encouraging me to just jump right in and try writing stream-of-consciousness. It’s not hard at all!]

My favorite music:

It’s pretty hard for me to say I like or don’t like a given genre of music - except there are some that I truly despise: like country! (I think it’s mostly an attitude thing. Country singers sound cheesy and sentimental to me…) And some of my tastes rule out other genres like heavy metal or hardcore because I don’t like vocals that are screamed rather than sung. I guess that’s how I would sum up what I like: I like guys and girls who sing, with natural style (not too much affectation) and with meaningful/interesting lyrics. My favorite songs are ones I can sing along to. I tend to like bands rather than pop diva/divo? [what’s the male equivalent of diva? Sister-in-law, help me out here…] types. I like it when rock bands mix in some fancy instruments like piano, strings, and brass. I notice the singing first, and it’s kind of a make-or-break thing for me, but I also pay attention to the instruments. One of my favorite songs is by Sarah Masen and it’s got her pretty voice, and then an interlude that mixes a kind of wail-y electric guitar with twangy banjo. Nice! I like classic/old school jazz, ever since I took a history-of-jazz class for my senior semester and got turned on to Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, and Duke Ellington. I like the Beatles, because they deserve it. I liked Ska during that fad - tons of fun!

My favorite artists:

These ones I like pretty much every song they’ve played, and I’m loyal to them for my own reasons (regardless of popularity or cultural “importance”):

Coldplay

Switchfoot

the Newsboys* (my first rock music love)

the Waiting*

Jack Johnson

Some other top favorites:

Collective Soul

Lemon Jelly (I usually don’t care for electronic music but this is in a class by itself)

Sarah Masen*

Barenaked Ladies (Go, Canada!)

Dave Matthews Band

R.E.M.

U2

Beatles

Dianogah (scant on the vocals; drums and bass play the melody. Cool!)

Thelonious Monk

Miles Davis

Jars of Clay

Sixpence None the Richer

the Sundays

Cranberries

Silage*

Dido

Simon & Garfunkel

Enya

Five Iron Frenzy*

These artists, while I can’t say I like everything I’ve heard (and maybe haven’t heard much anyway) have songs on my favorites list:

Alanis Morissette

Burlap to Cashmere*

Built to Spill

Cat Stevens

Counting Crows

Cracker

Death Cab for Cutie

Flaming Lips

Frou Frou

Goo Goo Dolls

Modest Mouse

Natalie Merchant

Norah Jones

Phish

the Police

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Sheryl Crow

Smash Mouth

Squirrel Nut Zippers

Tori Amos

The Cloud Room

*If you haven’t heard of these people or can’t find them on iTunes or Pandora, it’s probably because they are in the “Contemporary Christian” pigeonhole. But I think they’re just as cool… goes back to that meaningful lyrics thing…

Yesterday, we had quite a full day of non-school and non-work activities. Yay!

We got up early enough to feel like we had time for a real breakfast. I made crepes - yum!!! The basic crepe recipe in Joy of Cooking is as simple, if not more so, than regular pancakes and they are so delicious in flavor and texture. Then I just throw a bag of frozen mixed berries in a saucepan for awhile to make a fruit sauce, and with whipped cream or even just yogurt, it beats a restaurant breakfast all hollow. (Except you have to clean up the mess. That’s the main reason I like eating out nowadays - my cooking is good, but I hate to clean.)

Next we headed off to the Craft Center to glaze our most recent ceramics pieces before the term’s last kiln firing early next week. I had a flower pot, 2 bowls, and a mug to work on, and I managed to get them all done while we were there. Glazing is such an involved process. First you have to sponge down the piece and dip the bottom in wax to leave a spot unglazed (which keeps the piece from fusing to the shelf inside the kiln.) You can paint on details using oxides, which react differently under or over the various glazes. Then you want to dip your piece, either completely or partially, in 2 to 5 coats of 1 or more glazes - the Craft Center stocks about a dozen or so. All of which turn out differently depending on how you layer and overlap them. I tried a drip-on effect with some of my items, using an eyedropper. And, between coats, you’re supposed to let the piece dry pretty thoroughly. So it’s good to plan at least 3 hours to glaze a batch of pots.

I survived the marathon glazing session by snacking on some nuts and dried fruit I had brought from home, but I’m a pretty cranky camper until I’ve had some lunch. We headed over to the Glenwood for a home-style burger. Whew, now I feel better.

It was another beautiful afternoon. I knitted outside on a bench while BN finished up some more glaze, and then we sat in a coffee shop (I knitted, B journaled) and people-watched the flip-flop clad folks strolling in the sun outside.

Back at home we ate Mac n Cheese and played Settlers of Catan. It’s really better for more than 2 players, but we’ve adapted some rules and it usually turns out to be a good game. BN won by a narrow margin - this time!

We stayed up way past our bedtime to go see a movie - a video recording of a U2 concert, 1987 in Los Angeles. It was a professional recording, not some bootleg … Rock ON!!! They played all our favorites. You may not know this about me but I actually love rock concerts. I can’t resist rockstars when they’re up there in their element. The long hair, the enthusiastic stage stunts. Takes me back to 1987… just kidding, I was 10. Actually, it takes me back to 1997, when I was actually somewhat in on the “scene.” I knew some guys in local bands and my cousin was Woody, (“the Woody?!”) guitarist for 2-Car. Those were the days, in the late 90’s when ska was the thing and going to a show meant a full cardiovascular workout, dancing and jumping around. Fun, fun, fun. I’m a fairly new U2 fan but they rock so hard. Bono - yeah, he’s the best ever. Gotta love that voice, which sounded great even (especially?) in the live recording.

So, yeah - it was nice to have such a stress-free weekend to kick off Spring Break. BN’s giving his trig class their final on Tuesday, and then we’re off to SJ for a 10-day visit with family and friends.

You know, even though we’re stuck inside during a solid week of rain, we’ve been sustained by a bunch of new music. Have you heard of Pandora? Not the irresistable box of Greek myth fame, but a free Internet radio service. It’s pretty cool. The way it works is you tell it a musical artist or even just a song that you like, and it sets up a custom “radio station” for you with similar sounds. You can rate each song, like or dislike, and it’ll take that info to keep “tuning” the station. And you can have a ton of different stations, up to 100. (It beats the real radio by far, because there are no commercials, just ads on the web site, and they play much more than the same 20 songs!) It’s totally made my week, and if you’re bored over there with your same old tunes, check it out!

…specifically, things from the 80’s. The buzz is that the 80’s are coming back in fashion, in a big way. I’m a little apprehensive about this, having been a pre-teen in the late 80’s, just starting to look around and notice styles and care a bit more about how I looked. I think some of these bleed over into the early 90’s when I was in junior high and I hope they don’t come back either:

Pegged pants. Also those ridiculous zipper-with-bow contraptions at the ankles…

“Paper-bag waist.” this only looks good on tiny children, like 3 or 4 years old. Proof of this is the model in the photo above - she’s obviously very tall and slender but those pants make her look, well, like she’s wearing a bag!

Shoulder pads!

Acid-wash denim: I think this looks very ugly, even in moderation. But especially on top as well as bottom - picture this: parachute-style jeans, with a jean jacket featuring shoulder pads. Both acidly loud. It’s like static you can wear.

Big hair - long, poofy perm with huge spiked-up bangs. Remember those girls who had like a peacock-fan thing on their head? What were they thinking?

Florescent colors

Puffy sleeves

I’m somewhat opposed to jumpers, jumpsuits, and overalls. I think overalls look kind of cool in some cases (not shortalls, though, see photo above), but they were not a good fashion choice for me, who looked childish enough in my teens without wearing OshKosh.

Here are some things I don’t mind:

Leg warmers… but not those puffy “slouch socks”

Colored tights… maybe even leggings, but NO stirrup pants and only under something that covers the derriere. I have to admit I loved that long-sweater-over-leggings look when I was 12. And now I love tights in colors and even patterns such as stripes - I wore my blue and white tie-dye tights just this past Sunday.

Scrunchies! But no side ponytails.

And I just have to say, I absolutely adored jelly shoes and jelly bracelets. I don’t think I would wear them much if they came back in style (and I have seen them around once in a while) but I’m so glad they were in while I was a little girly-girl.

Oh, and one thing that’s back and I’m happy about, but I haven’t gotten around to wearing, are long dangly earrings. I loved dangly earrings because I could make them myself so easily. I made them out of beads, “Friendly Plastic” - honk if you remember that! and even small toys like those thread-wrapped worry dolls. aw, yeah, ha-ha!

Last Friday night BN took me to the theater for my birthday outing. We went to the Very Little Theater, which is a small (duh) community theater very near to our home. We’d both been there before, to see December Bee, a play that was very similar in some ways to the one we saw this time, Enchanted April. Both are about women having somewhat of a mid-life crisis. December Bee had surreal, tragic ending, but Enchanted April ended very happily. But it was not at all sappy or sentimental - it was quite clever, funny, and all the characters were very interesting. The four women who take a vacation together to Italy are 4 very different personalities, and then adding 3 men - two of the women’s husbands, and the host/landlord; plus the housekeeper who speaks only Italian - makes for all kinds of entertaining interpersonal scenes. It’s set in the mid 1920’s, and this production managed to gather lovely period “frocks” for all the women. I love the look of the 20’s. It seems there’s a movie version, and it’s based on a novel - I’m going to have to check those out.

My beautiful and talented little sisters performed in HMS Pinafore this weekend, and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to see them on opening night. I flew into town on Wednesday, and have been having a lovely time here with my family. I do miss my BN, and I’m sorry that he missed the show - it was quite a show!

14-year-old GC has been taking voice lessons with our sister-in-law, SW, who was the musical director of the production. GC absolutely blew us away with her confident, flawless and spirited performance. She sang 4 or 5 solos, technically challenging music, in such a professional and beautiful voice that I could hardly believe it was my little sister up there with her flowing gown and operatic technique. I am so impressed with GC’s progress in vocal skill and how much SW has taught her. Bravo, encore!

I am also extremely proud of my littlest, HN, for throwing her enthusiasm and effort whole-heartedly into the play. She played a prominent member of the “sisters, cousins and aunts” of the Admiral Sir Joseph. She performed her moves, choreography, and singing with focused precision. She sacrificed her comfort for days leading up to the performance, spending the night in curlers.

I was so impressed with this talented group of kids and thoroughly enjoyed the performance.