Good Reads

November 8, 2009 by Melanie

Being under the weather has its perks when you have a Sony eReader and a great library. Here are some of the books I’ve read recently:

olive kittOlive Kitteridge is Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitizer-prize-winning story of a retired schoolteacher’s reflections on her life in coastal Maine. This is an exquisite gem of a book, its prose never jarring but always True.

dark mirrorDark Mirror is Barry Maitland’s latest offering in the Brock and Kolla mystery series. In this installment, a London student, Marion Summers, is researching the use of arsenic among the Pre-Raphaelites (Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris, and others), until she herself falls victim to arsenic poisoning. Brock and Kolla investigate, keeping us guessing right up to the end.

familyThe Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power is a well-written expose by Jeff Sharlet. The book explores the activities of Ivanwald, a Washington-based fundamentalist group which sponsors the National Prayer Breakfalacunast. Most frightening to this former campus minister is the Family’s ties to Young Life and Campus Crusade. Frankly, I tried to read this book three times and couldn’t. It’s an amazing piece of journalism and highly readable, but it’s too scary for me. Maybe it’s just a little too close to home.

On the To Be Read pile is Barbara Kingsolver’s latest, The Lacuna. According to reviewers, this is Kingsolver’s masterpiece, and it features two of my favorite people from history, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.

According to the Latest Poll…

October 31, 2009 by Melanie

truthtrackerIf you’re paying attention to all those political ads on your television, then you have been informed that all of our candidates in all of Tuesday’s elections are liars and crooks possessing ethical and moral principles you wouldn’t allow your dog to hold. Worse, at a time when we desperately need our media to stick to the facts, news broadcasters line up to infotain us with gimmicks called Truth Trackers (which aren’t) and parodies designed to Pump Us Up (incite us to riot). To top it all off, national clubs are funneling their money into and imposing their ideals onto small campaigns that regular folk have had no trouble deciding without outside help for the previous couple hundred of years or so. I’m pretty sure that at this point, we wouldn’t know the truth if it smacked us in the face.

Poem from My Friend Jean

October 28, 2009 by Melanie

Here is some digitized artwork by me and a poetry response from my friend Jean (Jean H. Kirkham, Yorktown, VA). Details on the artwork later.

Pomegranate cross stitch

we

sat at separate tables
yesterday
sorting though the seeds
of our lives


you

dallying here with
the tree of life


we

connecting through our
shared dreams and memories

Handmade Nation

October 26, 2009 by Melanie

handmadenation

My wonderful friends Nancy and Diane treated me to a fun afternoon last Saturday. We ventured to Colley Ave. in Norfolk, part of the Ghent area, to see an indie film, Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design, a documentary by Faythe Levine. Nancy and Diane had been hanging out with their knitting at Barnes & Noble on Friday evening when they ran into a handmadenation2young woman with a cute haircut and a Namaste knitting bag. They commented on her hair and her bag and then moved on to a knitting discussion. Amber invited Nancy and Diane to the showing of Handmade Nation at the Naro, and the rest is history. (See previous post on the Naro here.)

We arrived on Colley Ave. about 4 pm, in time to enjoy the sale and knit-out by 7 Cities Crafters, Amber’s group which also sponsored the film. 7 Cities Crafters meets once a month on Sunday evenings for a potluck and crafting – more info on their 7citieswebsite. [Note: See some more cool posters, like the one above, that have come out of Handmade Nation screenings here.] Then we hopped over to the Red Dog Saloon, just a few doors down from the Naro, for a little refreshment before the screening.

mcclurecalendarAs loyal readers know, I am a huge fan of the Arts & Crafts movement that occurred around the turn of the last century which was led by such luminaries as Frank Lloyd Wright, William Morris, and John Ruskin (more here and here). Handmade Nation shows that young artisans and crafters today are drawing on that heritage by using their hands to find their souls. One such artist is paper-cutter Nikki McClure. McClure produces works of fine art that sell in galleries, as buyolympiawell as calendars and journals that are easily accessible to all of us (2010 Calendar cover pictured above). McClure’s artworks can be purchased at BuyOlympia.com, an online enterprise of indie crafters in Washington state, or at the BuyOlympia retail store, Land.

knitknitSince Diane, Nancy, and I are knitters, we especially enjoyed the Handmade Nation segment featuring Sabrina Gschwandtner. Sabrina publishes the magazine KnitKnit, and her book, KnitKnit: Profiles + Projects from Knitting’s New Wave, came out in 2007. Sabrina seems to be a voice for the indie craft community and the handmade nation movement. [Note: I was intrigued at seeing Sabrina all grown up as I was briefly employed by her parents magazine, Selling Power, many years ago.] Sabrina’s book also features a segment on Lisa Ann Auerbach, a knit-artist whose work I’ve been following. See Sabrina’s write-up of Lisa – and get the pattern for Lisa’s Body Count Mittens – in KnitKnit magazine here.

Is It Funny, or Am I Crazy?

October 24, 2009 by Melanie

community

I think Community, Thursdays at 8 pm Eastern on NBC, is the funniest show on television. My husband, who actually teaches at a community college, thinks I’m nuts. Oh well. Set in the ultimate school for losers, Greendale Community College, Community chronicles the life and times of a Spanish 101 study group. Led by Joel McHale, who plays Jeff, a former attorney who – oops! – forgot to get his Bachelor’s Degree and finds himself back in college, and the amazingly wonderful Chevy Chase, the group is up to the task of mocking their educational setting, without being mean-spirited.

dean peltonJim Rash, formerly Fenton on That 70s Show, plays Dean Pelton (photo right) whose greatest aspiration is to turn Greendale into the next Harvard. Dean Pelton attempts to motivate students through loudspeaker announcements: “Good morning students! A few changes to the college catalog: Cosmology is actually Cosmetology, Astrology is Astronomy, and the students in the photo on the front cover are supposed to be smiling!” Rash is joined by John Oliver, known for his witty portrayal of a news correspondent on The Daily Show, who plays psychology professor Ian Duncan. Ken Jeong plays Spanish teacher Senor Chang (“Come on, hands people! It’s 90% of Spanish.”), who believes himself to be a Spanish genius and is tired of answering the question, “Why do YOU teach Spanish?”

Jeff lusts after the beautiful Britta, played by Gillian Jacobs, who is up to the task of thwarting his advances:

  • Jeff: So I guess the cell phone number you put on the study group contact sheet was fake, which I just learned in the awkward conclusion of a month-long text-message affair with a dude from Boulder.
  • Britta: Sorry.
  • Jeff: That’s okay, just give me your real number and I’ll cleanse my pallet while Kevin rethinks his marriage.

But when Britta confesses to cheating on a Spanish test, Jeff steps up to defend her. Dean Pelton holds the tribunal at the $6,000 Judges Table aside the newly-built Olympic-size pool. As things heat up with Britta’s defense, a student does a cannonball off the high dive causing water to splash on the Judges Table. “Save the table! Save the table!”  Dean Pelton yells. I’m hooked.

Ben’s Chili Bowl

October 23, 2009 by Melanie

man vs foodAdam Richmond recently filmed his show, Man V. Food, at Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington, DC. You can find Adam’s show on the Travel Channel Wednesdays at 10 pm Eastern. Ben’s Chili Bowl is an institution in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, DC. I had the privilege of visiting Ben’s a couple of years ago when I visited the Shaw neighborhood to learn more about affordable housing efforts in the area. Ben’s was founded by Ben Ali and his wife Virginia after they immigrated to DC from Trinidad in the 1950s. Ben Ali passed away on October 7th and will be sorely missed. Thank goodness the chili lives on.

Hat by Hat

October 15, 2009 by Melanie

I have been somewhat disturbed about the fact that since I finished my doctorate, I haven’t been much good as a teacher. It didn’t make sense to me that after 30 years studying theology, I would spend two years in an intensive doctoral program and come out with nothing to say. A few folks were even generous enough to invite me to teach, based on my brand new degree, but the classes were not anything like my old teaching style. There was nothing witty or charming or provocative about my words as I sought to impart my wisdom. In fact, in a job interview earlier this summer, a prospective employer challenged me with the question, “Why aren’t you teaching?” I didn’t really have an answer except to say, “I just don’t want to. Maybe I’m tired of it.”

Enlightenment, as author Nevada Barr says, comes hat by hat. In my case, I think enlightenment is coming because I’ve taken off all my hats. I’m nothing definable right now, beyond wife, mother, friend. That’s not to diminish the importance of those hats, but simply to say that all those other hurry-scurry-worry hats I’ve been wearing have been discarded. I’m not a pastor, I’m not a pastor’s wife, I’m not an employee, I’m not an employer, and most significant of all, apparently I’m no longer a teacher. It’s lonely not having a hat when everyone else seems to.

labyrinth at mckays

September 15 I was invited by a good friend to join her and some other women in walking a labyrinth in Yorktown, VA. The labyrinth, pictured above, was made stone by stone (hat by hat?) by the owner of the property and her husband. For 35 years, they have carried river rocks from their native home in western VA to create this extraordinary labyrinth on the banks of the Poquoson River. While we walked the labyrinth, a young violinist played Celtic music. The weather was perfect, and even nature seemed to wish us well as two white herons lifted into the sky and flew over the labyrinth just as we were gathering to begin.

zen ties

I made my way to the center of the labyrinth and sat on a small stone bench. I had to pick up a book to sit down. The book was Jon J Muth’s Zen Ties. As I read the story of Stillwater the Panda and his cousin Koo (“Hi, Koo” everyone says, and Koo answers in a haiku), I couldn’t suppress the giggles that came up. According to Muth, “Zen Tie” sounds like the Japanese word which means “we are all one.”

A few days later, I read this: “Words cannot describe everything. The heart’s message cannot be delivered in words. If one receives words literally, she will be lost. If she tries to explain with words, she will not attain enlightenment in this life.” -Mu-mon 1228

Maybe not teaching is just another step on the path to enlightenment . . . just another hat to be taken off. When walking the labyrinth by the river, I removed my hat and was surprised as the freshness of the river breeze which ruffled my hair, the warmth of the sun beating down. Maybe what I’m feeling in my hatless state isn’t loneliness but freedom.

Drop Spindles

October 14, 2009 by Melanie

Our friend Kathy taught us to use drop spindles at knitting this past Monday evening. Thanks, Kathy!

drop spindles

If you’re skating on thin ice. . .

October 14, 2009 by Melanie

. . .you might as well dance!

skating

Thanks to my friend Ann in Arkansas who sent me this wonderful card.

Learn more about the creator Shannon Martin and Madison Park Greeting here.

Good Company

September 16, 2009 by Melanie

When I posted The Way It Used To Be? on September 13, I didn’t realize I’d be in such good company. Go here to read more.