Village Green/Town²

Getting mad at your blog is like getting mad at your mirror or your scale. If you don't like what you see you have no one to blame but yourself, or bad genetics, I suppose. Getting mad that you have at least five bad ideas for a blog post and not a single good one is merely a reflection of your own short-comings. Not that I would know. Just passing along that wisdom. From a friend. Along with that I'm passing along some great advice I really didn't want to get during the past year: *****You have to go door-to-door. *****If you call out someone on your blog, even if you don't mention them by name, you're basically saying, "come at me, bro'!" *****Don't be bitter. Just sharing in case you, um, you know, need some unwanted advice for the year 2013. As for the year 2014, here's some advice I'm giving myself, for starters: *****Try something different. *****Be bold. *****Make your own fun. It is one-forty in the afternoon a...

I woke up far too early this morning, came downstairs to read and fell asleep on the couch. At some point I thought I heard movement upstairs, and so I thought someone would be coming downstairs. I tried to stir myself and couldn't. I lay there on the couch, trying to wave my arm or call out, but nothing happened. And then it happened again, in the same sequence. I thought I heard something, tried to move... This happened a total of four times, back to back, with varying details: it was my husband, it was my daughter, a television was turned on, coffee was brewed. But in all of them I was completely unable to move. And no one would help me. I opened my eyes. Finally. I was actually able to open my eyes. I heard water running upstairs, then a door opening. My daughter came down the stairs. I don't think I have ever been so happy to sit up. I knew right away that I had been trapped in a moment of sleep paralysis. It has occurred only a few times in my life, thank goodness. N...

A Rite for Teenification   Question: Do you renounce all of your mother's values? Answer: I renounce them.   Question: Do you renounce all of your father's points of view? Answer: I renounce them.   Question: Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of material possessions? Answer: I renounce them.   Question: Do you turn to television and pop music celebrities and accept them as role models? Answer: I do.   Question: Do you put your whole trust in tutorials on YouTube? Answer: I do.   Question: Do you promise to follow and obey advice only from your peer group? Answer: I do.   Do all you who witness these vows pledge to remember that those who make them were once human, and will to humanity return...in about eight years or so?   Umm...maybe?   Posted with Blogsy

Since we have a minute, and the old year is winding down , let me share with you some things that really bug me, in no particular order: Political fundraising emails that say, "Just chip in 3 dollars." Then, when you click through, suggested donation levels begin at 15 dollars and they actually have the gall to suggest that people 'like you' donate 25.00 or more. This is just cheesy, folks! As God is my witness, if they actually offered the low amount as a choice I would probably give. Every. Single. Time. The trend to put huge amounts of power over education in the hands of people who aren't teachers, have never studied education, have never taught. See also: entire education reform movement. If what you are is a test-maker, everyone looks in need of testing. Follow the money. School rules that mean you can't send birthday invitations to school (might hurt feelings) but you can't get access to students home addresses (privacy). How are you s...

The year is winding down. Any minute now, if it hasn't begun already, we will be seeing and hearing and reading retrospectives of 2013. We begin to think of things we might have done better, and make lists of things we want to try in the year ahead. In the United States there will be much focus on New Year's Eve and the ball dropping in Times Square. Christmas comes, and passes, and then we are moving towards the end. But that isn't the only way to look at it. In the Christian tradition, the year begins with Advent. So Christmas marks the beginning of a journey, not an end. It's a very different world view--we are not winding down; we are only at the start. It is completely in line with Advent being a time of contemplation and preparation. Pack your bags, get your maps, the journey begins anew. I must admit that our societal observance of the calendar year usually leaves me feeling flattened after Christmas, not refreshed and ready to undertake great journeys. It...

I grew up in a neighborhood that looked like this. (This photo is from a Coventry/Cleveland Heights Facebook group.) Mature trees, old sidewalks, tree lawns, older homes of the center hall colonial variety. As an adult I lived in one apartment after another. I yearned for the day I would live in a real house, in a real neighborhood. My older daughter and I had a mantra of sorts, "Someday we'll live in a house with an upstairs and a downstairs, a washer and a dryer. And a treehouse." When we moved to Columbia in 1999 and embarked on a new life as a family in the New American City, it was, in many ways, a dream come true. We finally had that house (minus the treehouse, but, maybe someday...) and yet something was missing. I had in my mind the now somewhat mythical neighborhoods of my youth. But my new home was a quadroplex amongst quadroplexes. No fireplaces, long driveways with garages out back, no architectural detail, no back staircase, or butler's pantry. ...

This morning my little family consists of just three: parents and one teenaged daughter. It feels so tiny to me, having grown up in a family of five.Later today we will have my husband's parents over for Christmas dinner. We will see my older daughter and our son in law tomorrow for Boxing Day. I've spent too many holidays separated from Alice through the challenges of joint custody. Now that she is grown it isn't quite so heartbreaking, as she can make her own choices. It makes me happy to see her creating her own family and family traditions. Far away in Indiana are my sisters. One sister has isolated herself from our family, and I haven't seen her in over thirteen years. The other sister and family are very dear to us, but we rarely get to see each other. Our reunion at Alice and George's wedding was a highlight of last year for us. And by marriage is George's family in Pennsylvania, and my sister in law in England. While we have never spent a single hol...