Shakespeare

How to best convey one's love for something, anything, but especially, this season, with my oldest two students/children; Shakespeare? It has been a long love affair, dating from a speech contest where I saw an extract from Othello, and spent the ride home reading Shakespeare to myself, half-silently, half-whispered. The words were begging to come off the page and into the air, with a will of their own.

Great Expectations

are not always As You Like It, sometimes they are more akin to A Comedy of Errors. When it comes to computers, I often feel like I am falling through a rabbit hole and I need a little Persuasion to get back on track. Today's experience was no exception. I began the day with a new intention; 30 days of keeping one daily habit, mine was to work on my book for 1 hour a day. It will feel like Paradise Found to finally finish a book.

Only, my google-doc-thingy, once opened, would not allow me to edit my book.

From "Was Marx Right?"; or One Reason I Homeschool

I was sent this article today: (my comments are in rainbow shades, Haque's original text in black). This is not political, this is a reflection on the fall-out of the economic crisis and a look toward the future, thus to our children. I live in America because I believe in the empowering of the individual that our country offers through freedom of choice. I know capitalism is the way to go, but there may be room for an improved vision of things.

Was Marx Right? - Umair Haque - Harvard Business Review

Having spent the past week thinking about ways other countries have found to reform life for the middle classes after reading; "Were you Born on the Wrong Continent?" by Tom Geoghegan, I found the following extracts right on:

Alienation. As workers were divorced from the output of their labor, Marx claimed, their sense of self-determination dwindled, alienating them from a sense of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment.

Puppy Love?

Why does my head completely disregard the age of my body? I found myself, bag in hand, heading out to jump the chain link fence to surreptitiously enter the neighbor's back yard. How did I get to the point I found myself in, of hoping against hope that this particular neighbor liked to sleep in on a Labor Day morning as, nose to the ground, I crept around the lawn clad in nothing but a pair of short pyjama bottoms, a hoodie and tennies with no socks? (have I mentioned how much I hate the feeling of sneakers with no socks? the reason, I am sure, I was not cool in high school.)

Our Fluid World

I don't like change...and yet I thrive on it. I am a typical human being. There have been monumental changes in our house, and yet they are not that great in the scheme of things...one child is in school and I have reduced my work schedule, but that is enough to completely turn my world upside down. In school? How did that happen? Abandon my fantastic job, why?

Very Patriotic

Citizenship

It is 1am, I should not be doing anything but getting myself to bed. I had to drop a quick note to let friends and family know that my husband became an American citizen today.

The ceremony was not what I was expecting, but then again, who knew what to expect from something you'd never experienced? The three speakers were welcoming, especially the federal judge who urged the new citizens to remember where they come from, to teach their children their native language and to be themselves, thus adding to the rich diversity of our culture here. (How perfect is it for children to hear, from the presiding judge, that their "other" language is important and that they need to practice it each day?) This can and will be repeated in our house.

It is not an easy decision to decide to begin the procedure that leads to citizenship. It's a different sort of commitment than buying a house with the intention to live there for many years, or choosing  an educational approach for your children, both big decisions as well. You are accepting a new culture and choosing to make it your own, after many years in that country. Still, I was not expecting the warmth and the emotion that was present in the room and remained with us all throughout the evening. Congratulations, mon cheri!

Front and Center; our new American

Eczema Conquered

I have been struggling with eczema for years. This is a condition in which doctors look at the itchy bumps on your skin that: come and go, keep you from sleeping, make you worry about what you eat and what you touch, itch to the point of bleeding and scaling, and keep you ugly in way too many places and they say: "oh, it's eczema, not a lot we can do about it."

Going Plasticless; begin with a basket, fill with cloth bags...

Number of Complaints at the Check-Out: 0

Easy as 1, 2...6: and that's the groceries for 7 people for one week

A Midsummer Night's Eve

secret spot

Me Too