Poetry

So today we brought in poems to present to the class. I brought in one of my favorite poems, "My Son My Executioner" by Donald Hall, but now im kind of wishing I chose another one. I'm pretty sure I made my teacher tear up and probably made myself look like a crazy mother since the poem has a kind of morbid feel to it. But I really dont find it morbid, in a bad way. Its very moving. Its not about death per se, but about parents realizing that they have a legacy to leave behind when they do pass. The last stanza is the part that really expresses that because the speaker is talking about how they are young and when you are young you feel like you will live forever, but of course you wont. And by looking at their son they are realizing that life will continue on, through him. But maybe not everyone got that? I got the feeling afterwards that everyone thought a was a bit loopy. "/
I had two poems and couldn't decide which to go with and at the last minute chose that one. I should have just gone with "Self in 1958" by Anne Sexton. I love the 1950s housewife persona the poet uses.

Self in 1958- Anne Sexton

What is reality?

I am a plaster doll; I pose

with eyes that cut open without landfall or nightfall

upon some shellacked and grinning person,

eyes that open, blue, steel, and close.

Am I approximately an I. Magnin transplant?

I have hair, black angel,

black angel-stuffing to comb,

nylon legs, luminous arms

and some advertised clothes.

I live in a doll’s house

with four chairs,

a counterfeit table, a flat roof

and a big front door.

Many have come to such a small crossroad.

There is an iron bed,

(Life enlarges, life takes aim)

a cardboard floor,

windows that flash open on someone’s city,

and little more.

Someone plays with me,

plants me in the all-electric kitchen,

Is this what Mrs. Rombauer said?

Someone pretends with me –

I am walled in solid by their noise –

or puts me upon their straight bed.

They think I am me!

Their warmth? Their warmth is not a friend!

They pry my mouth for their cups of gin

and their stale bread.

What is reality

to this synthetic doll

who should smile, who should shift gears,

should spring the doors open in a wholesome disorder,

and have no evidence of ruin or fears?

But I would cry,

rooted into the wall that

was once my mother,

if I could remember how

and if I had the tears.

Food Expert's Food Rules

1) What did you find most surprising? Why?
What I found to be the most surprising was that the food expert claimed that people around the world who eat a more "traditional" diet are far more healthier than people who eat a "Western" diet. I find this surprising because, well I wouldn't think that cow's blood or seal blubber would be healthier than cereals that fight cholesterol (which, btw, the FDA warns is a falsification). Usually when I think of diets around the world I think of foods that seem so outrageous to me. But the Food Expert has some great points, in particular the rule about only eating things that rot and avoiding things with ingrediants that a third grader cannot pronounce. The majority of food in my fridge has chemicals in it or has been processed, and THATS outrageous.
2) What do you consume on a regular basis that is an "edible food-like substance"?
It is pretty embarassing that the majority of what I eat is what would be considered an "edible food-like substance". My great-grandmother would be appalled. I am a junk food junkie. A specific example would be the bag of chips I grab from the vending machine on any given day.

Spring Break

Spring Break was very enjoyable and laid back for me. Unlike some college students I didn't go to the beach, or go clubbing, or go have some crazy wild time in Cancun; instead I spent all my time with my son, which was so much better. I woke up with him and we went to the park every day. I feel guilty a lot because when im in school I have to rush off to class in the mornings when he wakes up and when I get home I have a ton of homework to do so sometimes we dont make it to the park. It breaks my heart to hear him cry as I have to rush off, especially now that he is going through seperation anxiety. Sometimes I think I should maybe postpone school until he is in school himself. But I know that the only way I can give him a good childhood is if I have a degree and a job by the time he is entering school, so that is motivation for me to stick through school, no matter how stressful it is.

Other than spending a lot of time with Aden I also got to go out with some friends to go see Alice in Wonderland (great movie! visually beautiful). I reconnected with two old friends, one whom I hadn't seen in YEARS. I got to visit my cousin and her newborn baby girl (I was amazed at how tiny she was, I cant believe Aden was that size!). I went to my field experience at the middle school. And, last but not least, I treated myself to an amazingly relaxing massage at the spa. It was my early birthday gift/ early Mother's Day gift/ congratulatory gift for not jumping off a balcony so far this semester.

But, now its back to reality. And reality sure does bite when first day back you have a super hard math test! >:[

Author Presentation

Out of all the presentations we were able to get to, my favorite was Richard Wright. I didn't really know who he was but during the presentation I learned a lot about him. The thing that stuck out the most to me about him was that he was an alcoholic at the age of 6. That to me is insane! The classmate presenting about him said that he would go to bars and the men there would get him drunk so that they could watch him do things. That is so wrong! I cannot imagine anyone getting a child drunk for play. That part of the presentation just stuck in  my head the entire time.

Faces of America

So this blog post is going to make my level of geekness go up even more, but thats okay. Tonight I was watching a show on PBS called Faces of America. It is basically a group of several celebrities (I dont know their names but I will post a link if anyone is actually interested) and a journey through their ancestry back CENTURIES. I personally think ancestry is one of the most interesting things ever. I mean, we know who we are now and who our parents were and our grandparents but what about the people that came before them? What did they do and who were they? It may seem irrelavent to some but to me its like, how could I not wonder about them?! Those people influenced and shaped (genectially at least) me today. And I actually, personally, have a piece of that puzzle. At a McGregor family reunion (my dad's side) in 2004 the coordinator of the reunion did ancestoral research and found out we are the descendants of a Lord of Scotland and his mistress. Its weird, but I think thats pretty cool. But back to the show, at the end of tonight's episode they did a human genome project type thing and discovered that EVERY person in the study group shared a common ancestor with another person in the group. All different ethnicities, but all somehow related. For example, actress Eva Longoria shared an ancestor with Yo Yo Ma. Essentially, this means that we could are all related. Now, I know I know, that sounds crazy or like I am getting carried away. But I think it true. Surely, it can be possible? Think about it, a man is capable of having hundreds of children who of course are all half-related, then those children have children and somewhere down the line those children can get together not even knowing the genetic history they share. Now, Im not talking creepy 1st 2nd cousin incest here, but I think that along the generations and centuries we could all have connections to one another. Well, thats just my opinion at least. Maybe its a silly theory, but its what I believe. And I think that if people really thought about it and realized that we could all be connected, that hatred and racism might go away. Again, JMO.

Heres a link if there ANYONE who is as much of a geek as me ;)
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/facesofamerica/