I know of people who are inspired by rainy days. I'm not one of those people. It's been raining non-stop since...I can't even remember, and it doesn't seem like it will let up anytime soon...so I quite literally have nothing to say.
No, really. I'm not kidding. Talk to you later...when the sun's out.
So of course most of us are nothing more than a (patented) ear of fake corn.
I can't wait to see Food, Inc -- even if I'm incapable of watching a movie in the theater without eating fistfuls of popcorn and Milk Duds. You know, together. It's caramel-popcorn-chocolate nirvana.
However, I do believe in honest food labeling. I hate "food products" even if I will eat them if I have to. Call me an elitist if you want, but I think McDonald's is a sad substitute for a backyard burger with fresh tomatoes and lettuce. It simply doesn't compare. So this is the most excited I've been about a movie in ages. I just hope my fellow foodies don't mind my Milk-Dud-and-popcorn habit.
"Papas work and Mamas don't."
My husband and I stop eating and look, surprised, at our son. He was already happily back to eating his breakfast cereal. We, on the other hand, were stunned, and not just because he had been chattering away about spiders just a minute ago.
(Ah, the non-sequitur. That's just how it goes with a four year-old in the house.)
"I'll have you know that your Mama is a lot smarter than I am, " was all that my husband could come up with. I couldn't thing of anything to say. And I'm supposed to be the smart one. But I knew that's not what our son meant, though I'm well aware that to many people paying work and brains are one and the same.
Instead, I thought about the day ahead of us: The driving, the cooking, the endless negotiating. I thought about the nice air-conditioned offices where I have worked in the past - places with doors and windows that look out at planes, planes that I used to take to to go to Very Important Meetings. I remember the thrill of a job well done - and the bonus checks that felt much better than any pat in the back ever did. I thought about my diploma collection - high school, college, grad school - the last one obscenely large in size and filled with beautiful calligraphy (which I've never bothered to decipher because it's in Latin. Once again, genius.). I realize that right now, no one cares.
Then I remembered.
I remembered what it was really like for me. I remembered working with my last boss, God bless her incompetent heart. The jealousy in her voice when I quit because I didn't want to be a brand manager anymore. I remembered the rows of cubicles and the persistent hum of the printers, white noise that would make me zone out - and what did I daydream about when I was half-awake and half asleep in front of an Excel spreadsheet?
Escape.
I remember that I chose this life of uncertainty. I wanted to write. I wanted more control of my days. I've found that that's a lot harder than being told what to do. Have I wasted my education, my work experience? I don't know. But if there's one thing I know is that the person who should benefit the most from all my hard work is me. And I think I have: If anything, I have the confidence to say no to projects, things and people that don't fit me. I like that.
But enough about that. My kids and husband are still looking at me. Are they waiting for an answer?
"It's a little more complicated than that," I tell my son. I rub his hair and smile. He smiles back and asks if he can wear his spider tee to school again, the one he wore yesterday.
"Sure. Why not?" One decision down. Another endless day is ahead.
So, this year's Spring garden left a lot to be desired -- no special post went up because I was too damned sick with allergies and whatnot to actually enjoy the flowers. So here, all you get is a shot of some potted gardenias I've plopped next to the garage:
We're pretty much overcome with weeds at this point, and since I have a very difficult time bending over to reach them I've told myself I'm pretty much over the glamour of gardening. But then I noticed a curious thing:
My peonies! They're coming to life!
I planted this peony bush two years ago, and it has never flowered. In fact, last summer it "died" because I never watered it. I read somewhere that it takes up to five years for a peony to take root, and since they're my favorite flowers I was willing to take the chance. So imagine my surprise to see the emerging blooms on my plucky little shrub. I'm not going to lie, I was excited.
The next day, I was rewarded with this:
I can't believe I planted this thing. I watered it (sometimes), and let's face it, neglected it, for two years -- and finally, FINALLY, my patience is being rewarded.
I love peonies, and not only because their name lends itself to bad puns. I love how big and extravagant they are, I love their fragrance, I love them in centerpieces, and I love that they only bloom in June. They're the perfect middle-of-the-year pick-me up.
I'm not even going to pretend that this a political blog (or I should more accurately say, a judicial watch blog) but the constant exposure to Sonia Sotomayor's "wise Latina" quote, taken out of context is -- to put it mildly -- disappointing to me.
Dirty GOP politics is nothing new, but that the mainstream media keeps repeating the quote out of context thus doing the GOP's dirty work for them is pretty scary.
Sigh.
Why such a sophomoric smear campaign? In Sotomayor's own words,
You could argue that those words are proven right by the storm brewing around her right now, but I'll let you decide on your own. I trust that my fellow Americans are capable to form an opinion based on facts, something that talk radio seems to think is impossible.
Anyways.
Here is the offending statement:
First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.
Let us not forget that wise men like Oliver Wendell Holmes and Justice Cardozo voted on cases which upheld both sex and race discrimination in our society. Until 1972, no Supreme Court case ever upheld the claim of a woman in a gender discrimination case. I, like Professor Carter, believe that we should not be so myopic as to believe that others of different experiences or backgrounds are incapable of understanding the values and needs of people from a different group. Many are so capable. As Judge Cedarbaum pointed out to me, nine white men on the Supreme Court in the past have done so on many occasions and on many issues including Brown.
However, to understand takes time and effort, something that not all people are willing to give.
Does this sound like a racist to you? I get that "racist" is a charge that is guaranteed to get you press, but it also makes you look desperate when it is thrown about so cheaply.
(And yes, Hispanic is not a race, but the concept is clearly too difficult for people to understand right now. Let's keep things simple.)
Read the complete speech here and make up your own mind.
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