what the little boy said when the docent asked him

"What can you tell me about these girls from this picture?"

 

 "I think they like rock and roll."

Check out the exhibit online here.

Delicious

I haven't been cooking as much lately, but here is a recipe I made yesterday/today. Eliza helped with the chopping of the vegetables.

Minus the bell pepper, bay leaf, dried hot pepper, and the red wine vinegar. I substituted black beans for the black-eyed peas, and penne for the tiny pasta.

art vs. life

I wonder
what meaning people would see
if someone hung my life
on a wall
with a title
and the proper frame
Maybe a frame is all you need.
The universal clue,
"You should find meaning in this;
this is important"

Bookshelves and glasses
frame my life
course schedules
paper outlines.
Not things you
can easily make art out of

But then again,
I've always been taught
that art is a matter of seeing meaning,
not just objects
The art of perspective
instead of conveying
absolute-unmistakably-clear-ideas

Perhaps  what I choose to see
in my life
is more important
than what is actually there.

the battle

I think that not getting distracted, is the other half. Or whatever is left of it.

Maybe the best life lies in the middle of the two, the best part of a venn diagram.

Either way, I'm still working on both of them.

What I am embarrassed to admit

Yesterday my friend Hedi texted me, telling me that if I really want to do something different this summer I should join the Medieval Club, and write an expose. For those of you who don't know, the Medieval Club at BYU is the butt of many jokes; as it looks like a club for those enamored of the fantasy genre and whenever they have events they dress up as if they were part of a Renaissance fair. I laughed out loud as I read this suggestion, and then texted her back that I would have to change how I dressed. She added to this, how I spoke. She said "You could do it!" I seriously considered it. "The Semester I Joined Medieval Club." What a title. It could be a hit. I really could do it.

And then I thought, what if I actually make friends with these people? What if I connect with them and build real relationships? Instead of it being a social experiment; getting the in for the story, what if they actually begin to meet my emotional needs?

That is what I am embarrassed to admit. The thought that I was afraid of connecting with another human being. Because of who they were. Because what would that say about me if I connected with someone like that? As if me making more friends would be detrimental. As if a friendship with someone would reflect poorly on me. In fact, I think that me being afraid of building meaningful relationships with fantasy geeks really says more about me than it says about them.

I am so disappointed (with myself).

word of the day

Occasionally students present a word of the day for extra credit. A few days ago, Zach presented one, and I have to admit I was only half listening (reading under my desk has never ceased to be a problem for  me) as he sounded out a word that ended with "my-ee-oh-lie-tis." Defined as something about paralysis (see, I really am a poor listener) "marked by inflammation of nerve cells in the anterior gray matter," gray matter, I thought, I know what that is. "...in each lateral half of the spinal cord." Funny, I thought, that he would pick some obscure disease for his word of the day. These kids are weird. Funny how there is this super-long name for something really specific that many people don't even have to know about. 

"Polio," Zach announced. 
"Really?" my supervising teacher asked. "That's the full name of Polio?"
"Yup. Poliomyelitis." And Zach tacked his word of the day on the bulletin board.

Funny, that the threat is so far gone, I don't recognize the word for polio anymore.

Potatoes Connotation

We're learning about connotation vs denotation in my 7th grade class. One student summed up the concept nicely: It's kind of like saying 'potato' is different than saying 'Your head is as fat as a potato,' right?

Right, Zach. Right.

7th grade utopias

Today I got to grade brochures made by the 7th grade class I'm working with. They had to write a brochure about their utopia (we are starting "The Giver" next week), detailing the government, education, law enforcement, economy, etc. Enjoy.

-"If you do anything bad in this government, you get launched out of a cannon over the town fence and you don't ever come back in."
-"If your brother or sister picks on you, you get to launch them in the lake with a catapult."
-Under the heading "Problems In Our World" (the ones they propose to solve in their world)"Prepy people, know-it-all people, some school subjects, inequality, poverty." I like that poverty was on the list. At the bottom. First? Preppy people. Who wrote this? You got it, the resident goth.
-"I will be the leader. I will be treated like everyone else with slightly more respect."
-"Everybody workds on a farm and there is a set amount people can ask for their crap and everyone who lives in Utopia starts with one billion dollars to spend how they want."
 -"The reason that Yankeetown was made was because some young people were being corrupted by Red Sox fans...For girls, the coaches [for baseball school] are Megan Fox, Taylor Swift, and so on. It's the best kind of school."
-"Serenity Island-- We always take to the most peaceful of solutions. Violence is quite unneeded."
-"Stealing will not be tolerated, as all houses have an active burglar alarm."
-"I am in charge. Everyone follows my orders. We have the popo, just in case."
-"Society of Happiness! No parents allowed."
-"Everyone has whatever they want, including the best cheesecake."
-"Democrats are NOT allowed. If they enter they will be shot in the head. Same goes for Obama, Jonas Brothers, Lady Gaga, Mick Jagger, Brittnay Spears, and Justin Bieber. Others may apply."

 

this example's utopia was named, creatively, "Utah." At the bottom of the brochure it says "That's basically it." 

battle

I think that, in life, not falling behind is more than half the battle.

the solution to loneliness:

work harder.