portlandia genius

That new show Portlandia might be my new favorite thing since Flight of the Conchords came out.

Thanks Design Sponge for this one...



Oh yeah design world, I will also mercilessly make fun of your ampersands & twine & xoxo's.

Love ya.

xoxo

hope that conquers fear

As I type, my oldest friend in all the world is having surgery to map/remove/test lymph nodes and remove melanoma cancer cells. So as I sit here in the McWane Science Center watching 35 13 year olds run around like lunatics in a play area that they are entirely too old for, my mind is entirely somewhere else.

I know and Meredith knows that our Lord is sovereign, that He is faithful, and that He is just as good today as He was the day he rescued us by giving us his very life.

Even still, I am afraid. Fear is a beast, isn't it?

The very thought of Mere being sick or hurting or a single cancer cell lurking in her body has every cell in my body tensed and terrified.

Thankfully, the one in whom we put our hope is also the one who crafted our every cell and who holds all things together, working them together for Mere's good, for our good.

An oldie but goodie from yesteryear.

Because this will make Mere giggle. Sorry Ya.

My new favorite picture of Nita & me. Just because.

swirling in my head this saturday morn...

"It is impossible that a Christian can truly follow Jesus and not suffer for Him. The question is how much will we volunteer for? That depends on what we think the Good News is... And what abundant life really means."

-Bryan Kelly, Common Ground Montgomery

an unfortunate dental milestone

Here's my advice for anyone who's getting a root canal:

Don't watch a video of the procedure on YouTube the night before.

Even if it is a cartoon.

I had an emergency root canal today. It involved a cracked tooth, not decay, lest you think all those circus peanuts are to blame.

It was my first root canal, and I feel like this means I have one foot in an early grave.

What's next, wooden teeth?

(That one's for you, Kate)

ps. It didn't hurt.

I am so, so thankful for laughing gas and anesthesia.

"Who told you you might meddle with such hifalut'n foolishness, hey?"

It's been years since I read Huckleberry Finn.

I am no acclaimed literary scholar, nor am I easily offended by issues of artistic integrity. But when I learned of the new edition of Huck Finn & Tom Sawyer that will soon be released by a local publishing company with all 219 uses of the N word replaced with "slave" and references to Injun Joe in Tom Sawyer changed to Indian Joe, I was frightfully taken aback.

I'm not sure what kind of a right I have to speak to this. I'm white. I have no idea what it feels like to be the object of racial slurs. Exept for that one time this kid called me White Chocolate back in 2006. Apples to apples here, as you can see.

So you can imagine my apprehension when I found out that I might be interviewed for CBS's 60 Minutes on this issue. I could handle the .18 seconds of the back of my head appearing on Anderson Cooper, but you might remember my reference to the damage I could have done had they handed me a mic.

So would you mind if I used you, my certain mass readership, as a sounding board for a minute?

All I can say is this: I don't know what it's like to stumble across a word in literature, in school, that is deeply offensive to my heritage, my ethnicity, my ancestors.

But isn't it more dangerous, more risky to sugarcoat here? Especially when it comes to classic literature? Should this not spur on the hard conversations that none of us really want to have with each other in the company of mixed races? Or, ahem, when you're the only white girl in the room?

It's not easy, it's not comfortable, and it's not supposed to be. But it's the reality of our country's past, and we're not doing ourselves any favors by pretending it wasn't as bad as it was. Nor or we doing ourselves any favors by acting like there aren't still remnants of that history in all of our lives today in some way, shape, or form.

My biggest question here has little to do with what Mark Twain would think, because the truth is that the stories ARE no longer under copyright, and besides, he seemed to be of the sort that was okay with tweaking, changing, and messing with his works after they were penned.

My biggest question is this: Is it WORTH it to alter such literature so that it becomes easier to deal with the language that reminds us of our past? Is it worth it to tweak classics so that the at times shocking reality of our own history is a little easier to sidestep, particularly in the classroom? How relevant is it?

Quite relevant, I think.

Now granted, I'm speaking out of a mere 5 years experience in the classroom compared to Alan Gribben's 40. Also granted that the term "slave" isn't quite sugarcoating. But I feel certain that Twain's use of the N word 219 times was purposeful, and I don't think it's ok to undo that intentionality for the sake of not having to deal with the explosive nature of the word in the classroom.

Because what is Mark Twain if not explosive?

And how is this still-uncomfortably-real kind of tension to be dealt with if not head on, regardless of the comfort level?

So there you have it - my very white, somewhat naive take. Hand me a mic at your own risk.

the power's still on

I am NOT complaining (goodness knows every bit of rest I can get is a gift from above), but a hint of cabin fever is settling in over here in my neck of the snowy woods. Today has been nice, but school's been cancelled tomorrow also. I'm starting to wonder how I am going to pass this time holed up in my smallish condo.



On one note, why can't my bangs look as good as hers?

On another note, here's a little of what I've been doing today.

I just baked a loaf of beer bread, and with some basil pesto, mmmm...

Also I have Eastmountainsouth on repeat...I forgot how much I love them. This may or may not be because I first heard them on the movie Lucky Seven back in 2002. Go listen to "Still Running."I watched the first disc of this with my cup of coffee this morning...SO good!! It made me want to start writing a book immediately. It also made me very excited that it's part of my job to teach and hopefully impart a love and appreciation of story to impressionable minds. I know. Don't take me seriously.

Speaking of good stories...and Mere, I'm spoiling the surprise...this is what's on its way to you...I am more excited about this book than I have been about a work of fiction in a long while. I've not read beyond the first page, but based on the reviews, I'm already sold. It definitely has the potential to be overly philosophical, in which case I might promptly return it to the shelf, but I'm really hoping for a winner here.
And finally, this vagrant showed up at my door this afternoon, to my delight.

So tonight we'll hole up and watch the championship game (ask me if I care who wins), do yoga, check The Bachelor on commercial breaks (there's a girl on there this season with fangs) and make a list of things to do if we're shut-ins again tomorrow.

Any suggestions?

winter weather tip

"And remember: Your electric can opener won't work if your power is out."
Thank you, Birmingham radio.

Hope your power stays on.