287 My basketball injury

My right shoulder really hurts. It is a basketball injury. During the NCAA Tournament, I've been watching a little TV in bed propped up on pillows because the tournament is on in the living room. I fall asleep in that position in about 2 minutes even if it is a good movie and fund raising time on PBS. Yesterday around noon I was chatting with a friend on the portable phone, and felt something go zing snap pop behind my right shoulder. I know what caused it--the basketball tournament.

286 Preparing for book club

The sun is shining and it is a nippy 40 degrees in Columbus, but there was a man sitting on the outside patio at Caribou this morning reading a textbook, Corrosion Basics. I was on the inside reading Monday night's bookclub selection, The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy. I wondered if he'd be willing to trade.

There are some very interesting, well-written sentences in this book--unfortunately none of them seem to be in the same paragraph. I use my Dostoevsky method--write down every name with a brief description so you can tell the dog from the grandmother from the town.

I've tried starting at the beginning. I've tried starting in the middle. The story lies beyond my grasp. Has life so passed me by, comfortable in my condo and retirement, that I can no longer read a "national bestseller," one that received glowing remarks in the New York Times Book Review and the Washington Post Book World?

Every page I turn to seems to include defecation or the male's lower body parts in their purest Anglo-Saxon simplicity. I find myself longing for the participle driven, acronym laden sentences of a library task force report, or something of comparable clarity.

285 Visiting

Today we visited Highland Elementary to meet James Ransome, illustrator of children's books. He was speaking throughout the day in the library, so we sat through his presentation to kindergarten age. He did a wonderful exercise with the children and they all learned new words and how a book is put together. All the children in the school had been primed for this visit and to the smallest, they were so excited and well-prepared.

The building is very old--probably over 100 years--and the student body comes from many ethnic, religious and income groups, Somali, African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and white. There are many "real" windows in the building--not walls of glass--even in the halls, the doors to the classrooms have half lights and transomes, the ceilings soar. So different than the squashed, absent-minded look of the late-20th century with flat roofs, endless dark corridors, and regimented lockers. Wonderful murals were everywhere, some based on the faces and bodies of the actual students, paintings of quiet and well behaved children waiting in line, for instance. We saw them changing rooms everywhere--no pushing, shoving, shouting. We peeked in at the physical ed class in the gym. Teachers didn't raise their voices, but talked to the students very quietly. Respect for others builds a wonderful learning environment.

Every child in the building got a book autographed by Mr. Ransome--for some, it may be a first--paid for by donors. For large families, they will have many.

When I was in elementary school, we had no library. This library was in the basement (but had windows), but was very well organized and stocked, both fiction and non-fiction, and I believe there were 4 computers, but with all those wonderful books, I really didn't pay that much attention.

Parents and volunteers were everywhere. Children at Highland Elementary have the most basic foundation for an education--people who love and respect them.

284 Ironing Update--Three have to go!

I ironed again to day. This time they were all pre-Bush administration, and two may have been pre-Reagan! Sri Lanka, Philippines, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, and 2 USA. However, the gray plaid, the pale flesh tone, and the gold are going into the missionary barrel. My husband is very pale, even when he has a sun tan, so at the end of winter--those colors don't look too great on him. They make him look either dead, dying or diseased. His birthday is Monday, so I told him today he would be getting some new shirts. (He loves surprises, but I don't.) I'll look for USA made, but am not hopeful. I will definitely look for blue, green or brown, however, in the deeper tones.

Update: April 4--He sneaked those three shirts back in the closet--even the one of folded up and put in the furnace room with his work clothes! The selection at Kohl's was a little limiting, but I bought 4 new ones. Most shirts seem to be made for wrestlers and basketball players, so it took a little time.

283 Our bodies, our destiny

I remember learning back in the 70s that women who live together and/or work together cycle through menstral periods together. Yes, have PMS together. Now Nature Magazine says a woman is at her prettiest during the time of the month she is fertile.

Both men and women consider a woman's face to be at its most attractive when she is at the peak of her fertility, according to new research. . . article here.

In another study, women were found to judge other women more harshly during the peak of fertility

The research shows that when women are at the most fertile point in their monthly cycle they tend to have a lower opinion of other women's looks. And that's not just because of mood swings. Menstrual phase had no effect on how the same women rated the looks of men. article here.

282 Shifting the Collection

The letter writing book I blogged about yesterday was found while I was shifting my premiere issue collection. Magazines are terribly heavy and I was lugging them up two stories. Being a librarian, I also decided to put them in subject piles, and they are now all over the floor of the guest room and bed awaiting their new home in the upstairs hall built-in bookshelves (if we had a third bedroom, this would be the door way to that room).

While cleaning off the shelves in the family room, I decided we were never going to use the small, extra microwave we had put down there. We just aren't big enough snackers to warrant a back-up. So I put it on the floor and retired about 10:30 before deciding what to do with it, or the empty shelves.

This morning my husband asked me about the microwave. "Did you open it?" he asked. "No, is there something in it?" I asked eagerly, knowing he sometimes hides presents. He didn't say anything. So I opened it, and there was the package of corn chips I told him to hide from me.

281 Letter Writing

You may think having four blogs is a bit over the top, but I have always written more than most people. When my children were young--before the days of personal computers and word processing--I managed to write once or twice a week to a high school friend, my mother, and my sister. I have boxes of letters that were returned to me over the years from my mother who saved them. They are great diaries.

Letter Writing by Agnes Morton (Philadelphia: Penn Publishing, 1914) is a book I picked up at a used book store, just because I'm interested in letter writing. It doesn't have a beautiful binding, and by today's standards of e-mail dashed off in two or three sentences, it is quaint if not hopelessly old-fashioned. She writes

In a crystal well lie the drops of ink,
And many a pen dips over the brink,
Plunges, then rises, its keen point wet
With a shining drop of liquid jet.
I wonder what story each one will tell;
For 'tis strange what varied meanings may dwell
All in a drop of ink.

Her last section under Social Letters concerns love letters. After declaring one should never tell your heart's desire and hope in writing, she acknowledges that sometimes miles may separate the lovers, and there will need to be love letters. The examples she gives are accepting and rejecting a proposal of marriage, renewing a suit that has been unfavorably received, a proposal indicating a prudent choice, and a letter from a sedate, elderly gentleman.

Pause, my soul, and linger yet;
What wouldst thou do with this liquid jet?
Search out thy motive, ponder it well;
The solemn truth I bid thee tell:
Is thy message one of love, or hate,
Of truth, or falsehood? for soon or late
Thy written words shall come again
To bless or curse thy ready pen.
If loving-kindness move thy heart,
If noble impulse bid thee start,
If clear sincerity be thine--
Then write; and show what power divine
May dwell in a drop of ink.

280 Every once in a while

I find out I did something right. The papers and morning talk shows today have stories about children not getting enough sleep, about parents despairing at bed time, children cajoling to stay up later. I just shake my head. We never had a problem getting the children to go to bed and stay there. I think they were freshmen in high school before they stayed up past 9 p.m. As toddlers their bedtime was around 6:30 p.m. and my peers thought I was crazy.

I recall that my daughter used to wake up about midnight and call for me. So I'd go into her room, pat and kiss her, and she'd roll over and go back to sleep. Finally, one night when she was about four years old I told her, "Mommy needs her sleep; let's not do this anymore." And she never did. Obviously, I was in as much need of reassurance in the middle of the night as she was, and when it wasn't working for me anymore, we agreed to stop.

We had a quiet dinner together as a family, sat together on the couch for reading (no TV), bath, individual prayers with both parents, a good-night kiss, and turn out the lights. Only when we had a sitter was there a problem. They were often teen-agers of the "wear them down" variety. I'd always have to remind them that rough play, hide and seek, or snacking just caused wakefulness. I still think so.

That said, how they sleep as kids, makes no difference in their adult life. It is not life altering. We are born with our clocks already ticking. We have one slug-a-bed and one up-and-ready. Our quiet sleepy child turned out to have a thyroid disorder, and our jumping up and down, rocking the crib kid is still hyper and very high energy.

Our bedtime schedule for our children fit our lifestyle, made evenings pleasant, and gave the parents time together. Didn't make a bit of difference to our children!

279 Game Tables and Great Rooms

According to the Wall Street Journal, great rooms are on the way out, and game tables are making a come back. We have a game table/secretary which we think was made for my husband's grandparents, Stanley and Irma Byrum, when they married in 1906. What makes this piece unusual is that we have a black and white photo of the man who did the intricate inlaid wood designs. It makes me wonder if he was a relative, because I'm not sure why they would have saved a photo of the craftsman all those years. Unfortunately, water was allowed to damage the one side, inlaid with roses, so we have to place a book or lamp over that.

Some game tables are the specialty of Butler Specialty--desks and consoles going for $300 to $1400. Brighton Pavilion has $3,800 models. There are 65 companies now designing and creating game tables, up from seven just four years ago. WSJ article here.

I've never cared for the "great room" concept where the dirty dishes in the kitchen were visible from every angle of the living space. We rejected many condo plans for that reason. It was a popular plan in the 80s and 90s, so this condo built in the 70s was just right. To our surprise, one family here with our floor plan, gutted it and made the entire first floor all open! WSJ says "privacy" is the new ultimate luxary--"a room of one's own."

278 What I like about guys

This is what I like about guys--even if they hate each, they can unite for a common cause. The photos of Gore, Clinton, Kerry and Carter, all of whom have said awful, hurtful things about each other, is just heart warming. Politics and beds, or something like that. Women would never do that--just forgive and forget for a cause.

"The Democrats' top totems -- including two former presidents and a vice president -- preached unity to a roomful of the party's faithful last night at a fundraising bash at the National Building Museum. They were unified in support of John Kerry, their presumptive presidential nominee. And they were unified in contempt for President Bush." Washington Post

277 Mixed messages from Page

Black teen age girls don’t get much respect, even from each other, says Clarence Page, syndicated columnist for a number of papers, including the Columbus Dispatch, where I read it March 26. In Hip-Hop culture, Page writes, everyone disses black females, including black females. He writes that the code words for males includes dog, homeboy, playa, lame, sugar daddy and payload, but for female they are skeezer, ‘hood rat, ho, trick break, bitch, gold digger, and hoochie mama.

Page cites an undated study by Motivational Educational Entertainment (MEE) Productions Inc. which says that urban youth are untouched by positive messages from schools, parents, media and health-care providers about responsible sexual behavior. I found the executive summary on-line, and it was dated January 2004.

Maybe I read it too fast, but I didn’t see anything in the MEE report about blaming Hip-Hop messages, unless Page is using the term very broadly. Also, later in his article he says, We, their elders need to provide someone to look up to, to believe in when he has just made the case that they are looking at the Hip-Hop performers and their marketers for their life style. The MEE executive summary, however, definitely stressed the importance of parents in forming the teen’s attitudes.

276 Soup's On

Each Friday night in Lent we've invited different people to our home for a simple soup, salad and dessert meal. Our Friday night date money is going to the Lower Lights Medical Mission on Columbus' west side.

Tonight it is broccoli soup with onions and mushrooms, fresh fruit/veggie plate, and apple/raisin/date pie with sugar free ice cream. As I was tasting the soup, I complained to my husband about the amount of sodium in commercially prepared chicken broth--38% of the RDA in one serving.

"Why must they put so much salt in it--it costs more to buy salt-reduced!" I complained.

He said, "I feel a blog coming on."

275 Around the world in six shirts

I needed to iron my white linen table cloth for dinner tomorrow night. I think it was a wedding gift, so that makes it about 44 years old. It was probably made in the USA, but a long time ago, we thought things made in Europe were superior, so possibly not.

While the iron was hot (which is where that expression doesn't come from), I decided I might as well do up the shirts and blouses hanging next to the washer. It truly was a trip around the world.

Blue, long sleeve, cotton blouse--Macedonia

Beige with black, red and white dots, long sleeve silk blouse--China

White, short sleeve, cotton t-shirt with button trim--Vietnam

Coral and white stripe, long sleeve, cotton blouse--Indonesia

two blue denin shirts, one about 10 years old, the other new--Bangladesh

I wonder which shirt off my back Mr. Kerry wants so we can stop shipping jobs overseas?

274 For cancer survivors

I noticed in the paper March 24 that there will be a new magazine in the summer called Heal. It will be free and they expect a circulation of 100,000. It will focus on articles dealing with cancer survivors, post treatment issues, insurance, fear, fatigue, etc. Here is the website for Heal--the editors are looking for stories and advertisers.

When treatment is over, a new life often begins. Being healed is when the spirit and the soul merge with the physical self whether cure has occurred or not. In essence, cure is possible without healing, but healing can happen with or without cure.

And thanks to modern science, many are living years with cancer as a chronic illness. Others reach remission/cure but often fear recurrence.

Heal has a sister publication, Cure, which focuses on research and education. It was launched in 2002.

And let me segue here to my new blog In the Beginning which is about my hobby, collecting premiere and first issue journals and magazines. Nothing makes me more unhappy than to walk up to a news stand, scan the shelves, and find a Vol.1,no.2. I thought that happened this week with LowCarb Living, but I wrote about it anyway because I was preparing something on the obesity epidemic for this blog. Then I did find vol.1.no.1 in my collection. Look at my blog links at the right and you can click on it. I have just a few entries so far, and it is evolving as I go, but it will continue to be about my hobby and the exuberance and hope that goes into a start-up.

273 Free Martha!

Web site for free Martha buttons, including the witch hunt theme.

272 Europeans react to the bombings in Spain

Chuck Bearden has posted a thoughtful comment at www.LISNews.com about the reaction of Europeans about the March 11 bombings in Spain. A librarian, he formerly worked in public and academic libraries, in information technology, and now works in health informatics, according to his bio at that site.

“I would go further and say that 9/11, and Bali, as well as something like Madrid 3/11, would have taken place even if the U.S. hadn't invaded Iraq, or even if Bush hadn't been elected. Of course, the invasion of Iraq necessarily changed the calculations of AQ et al. in their choice of targets. It brought new problems, new demands, new reasons to attack here instead of there, but the first WTC attack, and the USS Cole attack, and the African embassy bombings show us that war was declared years ago.

Until the war on terror is over, the question will never be "Will they attack?" but rather "Where?".”

271 Kerryaoke with the liberal press

Maureen Dowd's journalism style has lent itself to a new noun, Dowdification, coined by James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal. It means, used as noun or verb, the willful omission of one or more words so the meaning of the statement is no longer understood but that the statement suits the needs of the writer in launching an ad hominem attack whether or not the construction is truthful or grammatically complete. Dowdsizing would be a better term, in my opinion.

So I'm coining a new word--Kerryaoke, pronouced "carry-yokey." Karaoke is a Japanese word for a form of entertainment in which patrons take turns singing the lyrics to prerecorded music. Kerryaoke would be the press singing along with John Forbes Kerry, no matter how off key, no matter how "nuanced" his contraditions of his previous stance, no matter how harmful to our battle against terrorism, no matter how many unnamed foreign leaders support him.

I'm relying on Google here to declare myself the first to use this word, Kerryaoke, in this manner. The word exists on the Internet in one record, because there is a guy named Kerry who sings karaoke.

270 Through the eyes of children

This morning our Visual Arts Ministry hung 120 pieces of art of the children of Highland Elementary School in Columbus, OH. We have one of the finest spaces in the Columbus metropolitan area for art, and I'm surprised that artists don't beat down our doors for this kind of gallery space.

Seeing this much kiddy art in such a terrific display can bring tears to the eyes, particularly since these kids don't have a lot of what we think of as advantages in this area. Their parents probably don't drag them to art shows they way we did, or buy them special materials, or enroll them in Saturday art classes at Ohio State.

But the color, shapes, and fantasies just bubble right up and appear in colored pencil, ink, fabric, acrylic, and pastel to illustrate bugs, birds, their neighborhood, flowers, parks, pets, patriotism, automobiles, friends, and just a few things that make you just pause and wonder at the enthusiasm.

If you live in the Columbus, OH metropolitan area, you can see this show at The Church at Mill Run, 3500 Mill Run Drive, Hilliard, OH 43026, upper level. Here's a map.

269 The Constitution

One of the most important things going on in Iraq right now is the hammering out of the constitution. Perhaps this is a good time to look at ours.

Constitution of the United States
Adopted by convention of States, September 17, 1787;
Ratification completed, June 21, 1788

Particularly take a look at the dates, and notice how long it took our forefathers and ancestors (both my German and my Scots-Irish ancestors were in the country before the Revolution, but not part of the process) to get it together after our revolution.

Check it out here at Emory.

Readings and audio for The American Revolution and the Founding of a New Nation, Sunday, June 23, 2002 to Friday, June 28, 2002, Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio, which has numerous free institutes on line with recorded lectures and list of readings.

Ashland University is the home of the Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs which"was established and named in honor of the late Congressman who represented Ohio's 17th Congressional district for 21 years. Representative John Ashbrook was a popular and forceful advocate and spokesman for limited constitutional government and reduced federal spending. That concept was re-emphasized by President Ronald Reagan when he personally dedicated the Center on May 9, 1983."

Among the offerings at the Ashbrook Center are free Saturday seminars for teachers.