The Rope Walk
By Carrie Brown
Copyright 2007
321 pages
This is, I think, a young adult novel about 10-year-old Alice. It's a coming-of-age novel that has been influenced by To Kill a Mockingbird, for one, and a lot of MFA education for another.
We meet Alice on the day she turns 10. She also meets two people that day who will play an important part in her life over the summer. One is Theo, a boy her age who has come to this quiet little Vermont town to stay with his grandparents. He is a mixed-race young man who is headstrong, knowledgeable about the world, and vibrant. He is also incredibly independent and the reader cannot help but love him. Alice, who seldom watches TV and lives in her head, certainly needed someone like Theo in her life to shake it up a little, though with five (or was it four?) brothers and a father you'd think she would have plenty going on. But no.
The other person she meets is Kenneth. He is an older man, an artist, who is now sick and ill with AIDS. Both of these fellows will lead Alice down a trail she never intended to follow.
Together Alice and Theo befriend Kenneth and they decide to give him a gift of independence. Kenneth can barely see and with his weak body he has trouble maneuvering. They create a path through the woods for him, complete with a guide rope, so that he can walk alone through the forest he loves.
Their gift turns out to be a curse for its givers but a blessing, of sorts, for the recipient. Alice learns hard lessons and finds growing up to be difficult at best. Actions have consequences, often unintended ones, and living with the results sometimes can be hard.
The Rope Walk starts out slow. It took me 70 pages to get into it, and those pages took me many days, not an evening as I expected when I first picked up the book. I thought I may not finish it but the story finally found its footing about a third of the way through.
The author goes into poetic detail about everything, from the way people smell to the play of light and whatever may be in between. I can endure this generally and when skillfully done I even enjoy it. However, in this instance, I felt like the language inhibited the story, especially in the first part of the book.
Single sentences are whole paragraphs long.
Here's an example from page 258:
"His posture, his hungry, almost ardent exploration of the drawing, reminded Alice, as she stood there with the flowers in her arms, of her own yearning into thin air from the edge of her windowsill, the way she inclined toward that bright, busy emptiness, seeing there the crack in the rock, the secret fissure in the wall, the door hidden by ivy that would open, if only you could find your way through, into a secret garden, the dusty backstage and marvelous winding catwalks of the world, the echoing pavilion in which the clanking, whirring, brilliant machinery of the universe was stored."
Whew!
Don't get me wrong. The writing is beautiful and full of important messages. Maybe this isn't a young adult book, really, but instead a book for adults about a young person.
The Rope Walk won all kinds of awards, so don't mind my picky comments about sentence length. I'm just a Hollins grad who's published about 3,000 articles, but never written a novel, so what do I know?
Author Carrie Brown is the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Hollins University. She autographed this book for me in 2012 when I heard her read at Hollins last year. I like to support the Hollins writers. I can't remember what Ms. Brown read from but I don't think it was this work.
You can watch an interview with her about writing and this book at this link. She has a new novel coming out later this year.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Comet Watching
Saturday was not the night to watch for comet Pann-Starrs: that was Sunday night, and we had clouds. But I took the camera out Saturday to take photos and get a kind of baseline of the sky.
The sky was lined with trails from airplanes.
This is not a comet. It's an aircraft. I think.
If you look along the mountain ridge top, you can see the trail of an airplane glowing in the light of the setting sun.
I have not yet seen the comet, but it certainly was a pretty sky. I will look again on the next clear night.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Finish the Sentence
I went all the way back to 2008 to hunt up these questions from Sunday Stealing. This is the "finish the sentence" meme.
1. My uncle once . . . cut open the back of his hand on a piece of glass. I could see the tendons in his hand moving when he wiggled his fingers. He needed stitches.
2. Never in my life . . . have I sailed away on a cruise ship.
3. When I was five . . . my parents sent me to the hospital to have a large mole removed from my chest.
4. High school was . . . not the best years of my life.
5. I will never forget . . . to brush my teeth.
6. Once I met . . . the current governor of Virginia.
7. There’s this boy I know . . . who is now a grown man.
8. Once, at a bar, . . . I played music in a rock and roll band.
9. By noon, . . . I’m ready to eat lunch.
10. Last night . . . I had a long talk with my husband.
11. If only I had the ability to . . . go back in time and talk to my younger self. I would fix some mistakes.
12. Next time I go to church . . . the roof will probably fall in.
13. What worries me most . . . is that I am growing old.
14. When I turn my head left I see . . . two clocks and a camera.
15. When I turn my head right I see . . . a calendar and a pile of cards sent to me by friends.
16. You know I’m lying . . . when I can't look you in the eye.
17. What I miss most about the Eighties . . . is how young I was.
18. If I were a character in Shakespeare I’d be . . . Hamlet, except I'm the wrong sex.
19. By this time next year . . . I will be another year older.
20. A better name for me would be . . . Queen Anita.
21. I have a hard time understanding . . . why people are mean.
22. If I ever go back to school, I’ll . . . earn my Ph.D.
23. You know I like you if I . . . give you a hug.
24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be . . . my husband for putting up with me.
25. Take my advice, never . . . go swimming with your mouth open.
1. My uncle once . . . cut open the back of his hand on a piece of glass. I could see the tendons in his hand moving when he wiggled his fingers. He needed stitches.
2. Never in my life . . . have I sailed away on a cruise ship.
3. When I was five . . . my parents sent me to the hospital to have a large mole removed from my chest.
4. High school was . . . not the best years of my life.
5. I will never forget . . . to brush my teeth.
6. Once I met . . . the current governor of Virginia.
7. There’s this boy I know . . . who is now a grown man.
8. Once, at a bar, . . . I played music in a rock and roll band.
9. By noon, . . . I’m ready to eat lunch.
10. Last night . . . I had a long talk with my husband.
11. If only I had the ability to . . . go back in time and talk to my younger self. I would fix some mistakes.
12. Next time I go to church . . . the roof will probably fall in.
13. What worries me most . . . is that I am growing old.
14. When I turn my head left I see . . . two clocks and a camera.
15. When I turn my head right I see . . . a calendar and a pile of cards sent to me by friends.
16. You know I’m lying . . . when I can't look you in the eye.
17. What I miss most about the Eighties . . . is how young I was.
18. If I were a character in Shakespeare I’d be . . . Hamlet, except I'm the wrong sex.
19. By this time next year . . . I will be another year older.
20. A better name for me would be . . . Queen Anita.
21. I have a hard time understanding . . . why people are mean.
22. If I ever go back to school, I’ll . . . earn my Ph.D.
23. You know I like you if I . . . give you a hug.
24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be . . . my husband for putting up with me.
25. Take my advice, never . . . go swimming with your mouth open.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Bye Bye BAM
This morning as I was slowly reading the Sunday paper, an advertisement in the main section caught my eye.
Books-A-Million in Roanoke is shutting its doors.
The bookstores are dropping like flies that have passed through a cloud of Raid. Soon not even the chains will have bricks and mortar stores, and we'll all be ordering off Amazon.
This is not the first major bookstore closing recently. Ram's Head Bookstore, the area's largest and most interesting independent book dealer. The owners retired, closing the doors. Printer's Ink also closed its doors. Also, while it affected fewer people, Hollins University's bookstore stopped stocking textbooks.
Soon we'll be left with only Barnes & Noble in this area, which according to reports is teetering financially.
This scares me. It also makes me very sad.
It scares me because Amazon has already shown, in at least a few instances, that it won't hesitate to reach into your Kindle and pull your purchase back. And the fact that it can do that is frightening. Why should this company have the final say over what you read, what you learn, and what you think?
What if, say, the government decides that you shouldn't be reading 1984, because it might give you ideas? And you bought it on your e-reader, not as a hard copy? And then poof, it's not there anymore, so you can't go back and revisit that again. In part that's because you're not buying the actual book, you're buying a license to read the book. While the model may eventually change (thanks to litigation, necessity, and money (but not morality)), that's how things are at the moment. E-readers are also moving from their own stand-alone units to being on apps on mobile phones and tablets.
I don't know about you, but my eyes are not too happy about trying to read a long work on an e-reader, let alone on a phone screen. I have an e-reader and still prefer a real book. I don't have to plug up a real book. And a real book doesn't access my email or Facebook or have other distractions.
So I guess I'm a dinosaur. I like paper.
The loss of yet another bookstore in my area means I will have one less place to go and feel at home. One less place to browse to find things I might not otherwise read. One less way to enlarge my world. One less place to get away from it all.
It seems like everything I care about - reading, liberal arts, art, English, morality - all of that stuff has gone by the wayside. There are enclaves of writers and readers still, but more and more they are being cast aside like so much rubbish. All that matters anymore are tech inventions - being able to code is so much more desired than being able to write a strong sentence.
We are losing so much in this headlong dash to destroy ourselves that I am starting to think it will be a good thing when we are all gone. Mother Nature must be throwing up every time she looks at humanity.
I used to embrace technology but I eventually realized it was an insidious beast that eats its young. I stopped trying to keep up with the new and improved in the race to the bottom. I refuse to go there though I know now that is where I will end up in this topsy-turvey world we have created.
Books-A-Million opened its chain store in Roanoke in the late 1990s. I thought it was great. Rams Head was over on the other side of town for me, and while BAM didn't have the same stock of poetry and writing books, it carried some. When WaldenBooks closed it was nice to know there were other choices.
I frequented them all and alternated purchases between them. Each offered a unique selection, a different feel. And now they're gone.
Bye Bye BAM. I guess B&N will be next.
Books-A-Million in Roanoke is shutting its doors.
The bookstores are dropping like flies that have passed through a cloud of Raid. Soon not even the chains will have bricks and mortar stores, and we'll all be ordering off Amazon.
This is not the first major bookstore closing recently. Ram's Head Bookstore, the area's largest and most interesting independent book dealer. The owners retired, closing the doors. Printer's Ink also closed its doors. Also, while it affected fewer people, Hollins University's bookstore stopped stocking textbooks.
Soon we'll be left with only Barnes & Noble in this area, which according to reports is teetering financially.
This scares me. It also makes me very sad.
It scares me because Amazon has already shown, in at least a few instances, that it won't hesitate to reach into your Kindle and pull your purchase back. And the fact that it can do that is frightening. Why should this company have the final say over what you read, what you learn, and what you think?
What if, say, the government decides that you shouldn't be reading 1984, because it might give you ideas? And you bought it on your e-reader, not as a hard copy? And then poof, it's not there anymore, so you can't go back and revisit that again. In part that's because you're not buying the actual book, you're buying a license to read the book. While the model may eventually change (thanks to litigation, necessity, and money (but not morality)), that's how things are at the moment. E-readers are also moving from their own stand-alone units to being on apps on mobile phones and tablets.
I don't know about you, but my eyes are not too happy about trying to read a long work on an e-reader, let alone on a phone screen. I have an e-reader and still prefer a real book. I don't have to plug up a real book. And a real book doesn't access my email or Facebook or have other distractions.
So I guess I'm a dinosaur. I like paper.
The loss of yet another bookstore in my area means I will have one less place to go and feel at home. One less place to browse to find things I might not otherwise read. One less way to enlarge my world. One less place to get away from it all.
It seems like everything I care about - reading, liberal arts, art, English, morality - all of that stuff has gone by the wayside. There are enclaves of writers and readers still, but more and more they are being cast aside like so much rubbish. All that matters anymore are tech inventions - being able to code is so much more desired than being able to write a strong sentence.
We are losing so much in this headlong dash to destroy ourselves that I am starting to think it will be a good thing when we are all gone. Mother Nature must be throwing up every time she looks at humanity.
I used to embrace technology but I eventually realized it was an insidious beast that eats its young. I stopped trying to keep up with the new and improved in the race to the bottom. I refuse to go there though I know now that is where I will end up in this topsy-turvey world we have created.
Books-A-Million opened its chain store in Roanoke in the late 1990s. I thought it was great. Rams Head was over on the other side of town for me, and while BAM didn't have the same stock of poetry and writing books, it carried some. When WaldenBooks closed it was nice to know there were other choices.
I frequented them all and alternated purchases between them. Each offered a unique selection, a different feel. And now they're gone.
Bye Bye BAM. I guess B&N will be next.
Friday, March 08, 2013
More Snow Pictures
This is how much snow I measured Wednesday morning on the deck after it snowed Tuesday night.
About midday, the sun tried to peek through.
I might tire of the view from the front door one of these days.
But probably not.
Now *this* is a pretty shot.
I am not anticipating any more snow this year.
After this last hurrah from Ol' Man Winter, I look for Mother Nature to bring out her Spring finery.
Because, you know, it's March.
And while I remember the March 1993 blizzard,
I really don't see it happening again.
I find snow peaceful and calming, for a little while, anyway.
I know that's not true for others.
My husband, for example, has to feed cattle and drive around in it.
But you can't tell me that the boy in him doesn't secretly like to leave tracks in the snow.
Thursday, March 07, 2013
Thursday Thirteen
More In the News . . .
1. Scientist Predict Doom but are Optimists About It
2. Federal Meat Head Resigns
3. Supreme Court Ponders Executing Innocent Person
4. Women's Whine and Cheese Party Set
5. Spay/Neuter Clinic Set for Low-Income Families
6. Homicide Victims Rarely Talk to Police
7. Travel by Ship Eliminates Jet Lag
8. New Dishwashers Leave Plates Clean Enough to Eat Off
9. Federal Openness Workshop Closed to Public
10. New Sick Policy Requires 2-Day Notice
11. Doctor: New Execution Drug Risky to Inmate
12. Parents Keep Kids Home to Protest School Closure
13. Starvation Can Lead to Health Hazards
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 284th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
1. Scientist Predict Doom but are Optimists About It
2. Federal Meat Head Resigns
3. Supreme Court Ponders Executing Innocent Person
4. Women's Whine and Cheese Party Set
5. Spay/Neuter Clinic Set for Low-Income Families
6. Homicide Victims Rarely Talk to Police
7. Travel by Ship Eliminates Jet Lag
8. New Dishwashers Leave Plates Clean Enough to Eat Off
9. Federal Openness Workshop Closed to Public
10. New Sick Policy Requires 2-Day Notice
11. Doctor: New Execution Drug Risky to Inmate
12. Parents Keep Kids Home to Protest School Closure
13. Starvation Can Lead to Health Hazards
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 284th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
Overnight Snow
We had snow overnight.
My husband guessed 6" after shoveling the deck.
But neither of us measured it.
It always makes for a lovely photo.
I took these as soon as it became light, because the wind is blowing.
The snow will be out of the trees soon.
Then the photographs won't look so lovely.
Because the white against black makes the beauty.
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Monday, March 04, 2013
Who Knows What It's Worth?
Again these are from Sunday Stealing. Apparently these are questions from a 5,000 question meme. Ye gods! By the time you did all of those questions you should know yourself pretty well!
Anyway, Sunday stealing had numbered these, and I haven't done the first 100. I suppose I will have to go back and pick those up sometime.
101. What does happiness/joy feel like physically?
It's a jiggle in your tummy, and a wiggle in your brain! It's a dancing in your feet that you simply can't explain! It's a shimmy in your heart place and a smile upon your lovely face!
102. List five things you love starting with the one you love the absolute most.
A. My husband
B. My brother (even if he is a ... ha, I know you read my blog, bro!)
C. My friends (in multiple, yes)
D. My other family members (also multiple)
E. My home
Oh. Wait. It says list five THINGS. People aren't things. Let me try this again. I tend not to love things, really, but here goes:
A. My home
B. My car
C. My books
D. My computer
E. My guitar
Nary a single one. Can you believe that? We did order a movie called Hope Springs on the pay-per-view on the television, but I suppose that doesn't count.
My husband wants to go see that new Long Ranger movie with Johnnie Depp when it comes out.
104. If you could have 3 wishes...but none of them could be for yourself, what would you wish for?
I'd like to see world peace but shoot, that ain't never gonna happen, I don't care how many djinn (or genies) are out there working on it. So how about this:
105. In what ways do you relax and de-stress when you are really tense?
I do tai chi, believe it or not, which helps a lot. I also read, play video games, and take walks.
106. How much money would it take to get you to sell your blog address?
Hmm. Not something I have ever thought about. One of the websites that values blogs says mine is worth $218,000! Hard to believe that, and I don't. Another says it's worth about $1,100. So let's go with a number somewhere between those.
107. Have you ever been hunting?
Yes, but I wasn't holding the gun.
108. Have you attempted this 5000 question meme in the past?
No. I'd never heard of it before.
109. What do you think of cloning?
I don't think much about it but it seems dangerous.
110. Do you read or watch TV more often?
Read.
111. With all this talk of terrorism going around are you willing to sacrifice rights and freedoms for increased safety?
It would depend on exactly what "right" I suppose, but in general, no. I don't think it makes you any safer. A lot of other people disagree, it appears.
112. What is the punishment you would come up with for Osama Bin Laden if you caught him alive?
That is not for me to decide.
113. Have you ever named an individual part of your body?
No. Eww.
114. Have you ever been on the radio or on TV?
Yes. I was on TV a very long time ago.
115. Have you ever won a lottery, or sweepstakes?
Are you kidding? I never win anything like that.
116. Have you ever won a contest or competition?
I've won writing contests. I suppose those count.
117. Have you ever watched The Joy of Painting show with Bob Ross (check out this link if you don't know who he is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Ross_(painter)?
Um. No.
118. Do you know what your grandparents and your great grand parents did for a living?
My maternal grandfather worked for Kroger in the warehouse. My maternal grandmother was a homemaker but she did spend some time in the meat packing business at a place called Valley Dale. My paternal grandfather was an insurance adjuster. My paternal grandmother was a homemaker.
My maternal great-grandfathers were farmers; their wives were farmer's wives and homemakers. My paternal great-grandfathers I'm not sure about but I think one of them was a minister who owned a brothel.
119. Is there anything really interesting in your family history?
My lineage goes back to the Revolutionary War and my direct many-great grandfather fought in the Civil War on the Confederate side. Some of my line traces back to Ireland.
120. Is there anyone you trust completely?
No.
Anyway, Sunday stealing had numbered these, and I haven't done the first 100. I suppose I will have to go back and pick those up sometime.
101. What does happiness/joy feel like physically?
It's a jiggle in your tummy, and a wiggle in your brain! It's a dancing in your feet that you simply can't explain! It's a shimmy in your heart place and a smile upon your lovely face!
102. List five things you love starting with the one you love the absolute most.
A. My husband
B. My brother (even if he is a ... ha, I know you read my blog, bro!)
C. My friends (in multiple, yes)
D. My other family members (also multiple)
E. My home
Oh. Wait. It says list five THINGS. People aren't things. Let me try this again. I tend not to love things, really, but here goes:
A. My home
B. My car
C. My books
D. My computer
E. My guitar
103. How many movies have you gone to see this year?
Nary a single one. Can you believe that? We did order a movie called Hope Springs on the pay-per-view on the television, but I suppose that doesn't count.
My husband wants to go see that new Long Ranger movie with Johnnie Depp when it comes out.
104. If you could have 3 wishes...but none of them could be for yourself, what would you wish for?
I'd like to see world peace but shoot, that ain't never gonna happen, I don't care how many djinn (or genies) are out there working on it. So how about this:
- equality for women
- health care for everyone
- no more poverty
105. In what ways do you relax and de-stress when you are really tense?
I do tai chi, believe it or not, which helps a lot. I also read, play video games, and take walks.
106. How much money would it take to get you to sell your blog address?
Hmm. Not something I have ever thought about. One of the websites that values blogs says mine is worth $218,000! Hard to believe that, and I don't. Another says it's worth about $1,100. So let's go with a number somewhere between those.
107. Have you ever been hunting?
Yes, but I wasn't holding the gun.
108. Have you attempted this 5000 question meme in the past?
No. I'd never heard of it before.
109. What do you think of cloning?
I don't think much about it but it seems dangerous.
110. Do you read or watch TV more often?
Read.
111. With all this talk of terrorism going around are you willing to sacrifice rights and freedoms for increased safety?
It would depend on exactly what "right" I suppose, but in general, no. I don't think it makes you any safer. A lot of other people disagree, it appears.
112. What is the punishment you would come up with for Osama Bin Laden if you caught him alive?
That is not for me to decide.
113. Have you ever named an individual part of your body?
No. Eww.
114. Have you ever been on the radio or on TV?
Yes. I was on TV a very long time ago.
115. Have you ever won a lottery, or sweepstakes?
Are you kidding? I never win anything like that.
116. Have you ever won a contest or competition?
I've won writing contests. I suppose those count.
117. Have you ever watched The Joy of Painting show with Bob Ross (check out this link if you don't know who he is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Ross_(painter)?
Um. No.
118. Do you know what your grandparents and your great grand parents did for a living?
My maternal grandfather worked for Kroger in the warehouse. My maternal grandmother was a homemaker but she did spend some time in the meat packing business at a place called Valley Dale. My paternal grandfather was an insurance adjuster. My paternal grandmother was a homemaker.
My maternal great-grandfathers were farmers; their wives were farmer's wives and homemakers. My paternal great-grandfathers I'm not sure about but I think one of them was a minister who owned a brothel.
119. Is there anything really interesting in your family history?
My lineage goes back to the Revolutionary War and my direct many-great grandfather fought in the Civil War on the Confederate side. Some of my line traces back to Ireland.
120. Is there anyone you trust completely?
Sunday, March 03, 2013
The County "Fathers"
Every month I attend the county's Board of Supervisors meetings. I cover it for the local weekly newspaper. They used to hold the meetings in Fincastle, which is the county seat, but now the meetings are held at the Greenfield Education and Training Center located in Amsterdam.
The public rarely attends these meetings. Only a few people (other than county employees or other county officials) come almost every time. One is a member of a homeowner's association, the other is a county surveyor. Another who comes somewhat regularly is ... well, I am not sure what he is, other than an interested citizen. Other people show up when they have some reason to - maybe they need help with something, or they want something changed. But for the most part the county does its business and the public doesn't seem to care, until it time to raise taxes. I wish more people would come to the meetings, to watch and see how the regular business of the county is handled.
I like all of these fellows; they are nice men. I think if they had a bit more input from the citizenry - everybody, not just the ones in their own political parties or their own cronies - things might work a little differently, and probably for the better. But a lackluster citizenry tends to end up with the governance it deserves, I suppose.
The board meets on the fourth Tuesday of every month at 2 p.m.
Aren't they an official looking bunch?
This is Steve Clinton, the supervisor chairman. He's been on the board a long time. He represents the Amsterdam District, which is the area around LBHS, Daleville, and out my way. He is my supervisor.
On the left, Mac Scothorn is a newbie on the board. He represents the Valley District, which is the Cloverdale Elementary/Read Mountain area of the county. On the right is Terry Austin, another long-time member and the vice-chair. He represents the Buchanan District, which is, logically, in the Buchanan area.
On the left is Jack Leffel, another newbie, who represents the Fincastle District. That area takes in Fincastle/Eagle Rock - the northern end of Botetourt. On the right is Billy Martin, who represents the Blue Ridge District, which of course takes in the Blue Ridge area. He has not been there as long as Austin and Clinton but longer than the other two.
This is what it looks like from my vantage point. I sit and listen, take lots of notes, come home, write about what I heard. I try diligently to keep my opinions to myself when I am doing my newspaper work, and just report on what they said and did. I let the readers decide if they are doing good or bad. The meeting last week was a little boring so I got out the camera. Unfortunately the only one I had with me was not my good one so the photos are not the best. But what do you expect out of a $69 camera?
The public rarely attends these meetings. Only a few people (other than county employees or other county officials) come almost every time. One is a member of a homeowner's association, the other is a county surveyor. Another who comes somewhat regularly is ... well, I am not sure what he is, other than an interested citizen. Other people show up when they have some reason to - maybe they need help with something, or they want something changed. But for the most part the county does its business and the public doesn't seem to care, until it time to raise taxes. I wish more people would come to the meetings, to watch and see how the regular business of the county is handled.
I like all of these fellows; they are nice men. I think if they had a bit more input from the citizenry - everybody, not just the ones in their own political parties or their own cronies - things might work a little differently, and probably for the better. But a lackluster citizenry tends to end up with the governance it deserves, I suppose.
The board meets on the fourth Tuesday of every month at 2 p.m.
Saturday, March 02, 2013
On Being Happy
This is from an article I read yesterday:
When I was reading those statistics I was reminded of Will McAvoy's opening speech in the fictional HBO show The Newsroom, where he points out that the USA is not the greatest nation in the world. "We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and in defense spending, where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined," McAvoy says.
I guess if you want to be a nation of poor, miserable, lonely drug addicts with prison records who die early deaths, we're doing just fine.
I would like to think we're better than that, but obviously we are not.
As I write this, we are into our first full day of something called a "sequester," which entails $85 billion in cuts to federal spending. The cuts are across the board and who knows what the fall out will be. Will grandmas who depend on Meals on Wheels end up with no lunch? Will children in Head Start fall behind? Will our shores go unprotected because we're still outspending the world in defense efforts?
I don't know. I am fairly sure that these cuts will only add to the happiness quotient of certain rich white men and others who call themselves "teapartiers" because they don't know any better. And I think that last category of folks will ultimately end up miserable because of it but likely will never know what hit them. They'll be too busy blaming something else.
But back to being happy. What is happy, anyway? This article says this about happiness:
Many people confuse pleasure with happiness. I take great pleasure in eating fine chocolate, but is that happiness? Maybe momentarily. But happiness, I think, is something long-lasting, that is there nestled in a corner even during times of great grief. It is that little grain of happiness that allows people to endure and go on, perhaps.
According to this article, you need three things to be happy:
I am not a happy person. I am the first to admit it. Life has been tough on me, and frankly I have had way more than my fair share of crap and BS over the years. On occasion, I have told people bits and pieces of my life and made them cry, so I don't talk about it in public. I certainly don't write about it in my blog where the world can see it. I don't like to make people sad.
I will say that my self esteem is in the toilet and generally always has been. Part of that comes from being born a girl, a misfortune of nature that I could not possibly overcome. It is the biggest reason I find feminism and women's liberation so heady, because I have known from birth that others thought me inferior simply because I didn't have a penis. Finding out that that inferiority is unwarranted is a wonderful thing.
However, many folks seem hell-bent on proving to me that I am inferior, a nothing, and to ensure I know my place. I find that continues to happen today, often to my great surprise. Sometimes it comes at me from completely unexpected quarters - there I am minding my own business and boom! someone lets me know that I should not be strong-willed, express an opinion, attempt to do my work, try to better myself or my world, or what-have-you. I guess this is because I think differently than most, I am analytical, and, I have finally learned, I really am a fairly smart girl and few people like smart women. It is not because I am wrong, because frequently I am right or proven right later (if I'm wrong then by all means correct me, says the doormat). Sometimes it feels as if the entire world has gathered at my doorstep explicitly to rain anvils down on my head and beat me to the ground until I'm a sobbing, bloody pulp.
Frequently, they succeed.
However, I always get back up again. I may not be a happy person, but I am a resilient one. I am growing older, though, and I don't bounce back quite as well as I once did. I also find that with each knock-out punch, however brief, I become more cynical. One of these days I might even wake up from one and find I have become mean due to brain damage.
I have had a tough time lately. I will be turning 50 in a few months, and I am not taking it well. My health is in decline despite efforts to do better. I've been diagnosed with a number of problems that are chronic and that will require attention for however long I have left. My life probably peaked about six years ago and its all downhill from here. My happiness outlook is not very good, to be perfectly honest.
I've even thought about stopping my blog, because I have been unable to keep thinking of happy - or at least neutral - things to write. Maybe it is time to move on.
But I do like making others happy, or at least giving them pleasure. I may not be able to do it for myself, but I wonder, can I do it for you?
While the United States has one of the world’s largest per capita GDPs, it trails most other wealthy countries and some poorer ones in many ways. A few examples:
Yet sadly, the American economic model is becoming more dominant, even in Europe. We are sacrificing our health, happiness, social connection, leisure time, and the environment in the blind pursuit of growth. We can’t go on like this.
- Americans are more likely to report experiencing stress than are people of 144 other nations. Rich and poor Americans are more likely to be anxious or worried than people in 88 other nations. The United States ranks 11th in “life satisfaction” according to the Gallup-Healthways poll, but well below Denmark, Finland, Norway, and the Netherlands.
- Americans consume nearly two-thirds of the world’s antidepressants.
- More than a third of Americans over 45 report being chronically lonely, up from 20 percent in 2000.
- U.S. life expectancy is 50th in the world according to the CIA World Factbook, shorter than in any other rich country, despite the fact that Americans spend twice as much on health care per capita than other countries do.
- Rates of poverty and child poverty in the US are the highest among wealthy countries, and more than double the average in Europe.
From - The Happiness Initiative: The Serious Business of WellBeing
When I was reading those statistics I was reminded of Will McAvoy's opening speech in the fictional HBO show The Newsroom, where he points out that the USA is not the greatest nation in the world. "We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and in defense spending, where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined," McAvoy says.
I guess if you want to be a nation of poor, miserable, lonely drug addicts with prison records who die early deaths, we're doing just fine.
I would like to think we're better than that, but obviously we are not.
As I write this, we are into our first full day of something called a "sequester," which entails $85 billion in cuts to federal spending. The cuts are across the board and who knows what the fall out will be. Will grandmas who depend on Meals on Wheels end up with no lunch? Will children in Head Start fall behind? Will our shores go unprotected because we're still outspending the world in defense efforts?
I don't know. I am fairly sure that these cuts will only add to the happiness quotient of certain rich white men and others who call themselves "teapartiers" because they don't know any better. And I think that last category of folks will ultimately end up miserable because of it but likely will never know what hit them. They'll be too busy blaming something else.
But back to being happy. What is happy, anyway? This article says this about happiness:
According to psychology research, . . . about 50 percent of how happy you are depends on genetics, 10 percent on environmental factors (such as the state where you live!), and the remaining 40 percent on things that you can control day-to-day. -- Revealed, How Happy Your State IsOkay, that is how happiness happens, I suppose. According to this article, my state, Virginia, has a 67 rating in the happiness scale, just a little above average. Hawaii is number one and West Virginia, right next door, is dead last. As best I can tell, the results are from a couple of years ago. I hear a lot of grumbling about the state government these days; maybe we're not so happy here anymore.
Many people confuse pleasure with happiness. I take great pleasure in eating fine chocolate, but is that happiness? Maybe momentarily. But happiness, I think, is something long-lasting, that is there nestled in a corner even during times of great grief. It is that little grain of happiness that allows people to endure and go on, perhaps.
According to this article, you need three things to be happy:
- self esteem
- a life purpose
- reliable "tools" (attitudes, beliefs, etc.) that work to bring you joy.
I am not a happy person. I am the first to admit it. Life has been tough on me, and frankly I have had way more than my fair share of crap and BS over the years. On occasion, I have told people bits and pieces of my life and made them cry, so I don't talk about it in public. I certainly don't write about it in my blog where the world can see it. I don't like to make people sad.
I will say that my self esteem is in the toilet and generally always has been. Part of that comes from being born a girl, a misfortune of nature that I could not possibly overcome. It is the biggest reason I find feminism and women's liberation so heady, because I have known from birth that others thought me inferior simply because I didn't have a penis. Finding out that that inferiority is unwarranted is a wonderful thing.
However, many folks seem hell-bent on proving to me that I am inferior, a nothing, and to ensure I know my place. I find that continues to happen today, often to my great surprise. Sometimes it comes at me from completely unexpected quarters - there I am minding my own business and boom! someone lets me know that I should not be strong-willed, express an opinion, attempt to do my work, try to better myself or my world, or what-have-you. I guess this is because I think differently than most, I am analytical, and, I have finally learned, I really am a fairly smart girl and few people like smart women. It is not because I am wrong, because frequently I am right or proven right later (if I'm wrong then by all means correct me, says the doormat). Sometimes it feels as if the entire world has gathered at my doorstep explicitly to rain anvils down on my head and beat me to the ground until I'm a sobbing, bloody pulp.
Frequently, they succeed.
However, I always get back up again. I may not be a happy person, but I am a resilient one. I am growing older, though, and I don't bounce back quite as well as I once did. I also find that with each knock-out punch, however brief, I become more cynical. One of these days I might even wake up from one and find I have become mean due to brain damage.
I have had a tough time lately. I will be turning 50 in a few months, and I am not taking it well. My health is in decline despite efforts to do better. I've been diagnosed with a number of problems that are chronic and that will require attention for however long I have left. My life probably peaked about six years ago and its all downhill from here. My happiness outlook is not very good, to be perfectly honest.
I've even thought about stopping my blog, because I have been unable to keep thinking of happy - or at least neutral - things to write. Maybe it is time to move on.
But I do like making others happy, or at least giving them pleasure. I may not be able to do it for myself, but I wonder, can I do it for you?
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Thursday Thirteen - Virginia Suffrage
Buoyed by the film I watched on PBS and the upcoming celebrations this weekend that honor women's suffrage (obtaining the right to vote), I thought it only fitting that my Thursday Thirteen this week speak to this issue. This is a particularly frightening time as politicians continue to take steps to erode this most precious right.
Here are some Virginia women who fought for the right to vote and a little information about how it went in this state:
1. Anna Whitehead Bodeker, who came to Virginia from New Jersey, in 1870 organized the Virginia State Woman Suffrage Association in Richmond. She tried to vote in 1871 but was rebuked.
2. Orra Gray Langhorne of Lynchburg in the 1890s attempted to organize another suffrage league, but it was unsuccessful.
3. In 1909, a group of Virginia women joined together to form the Equal Suffrage League. The leader of those women was Lila Meade Valentine, an activist and reformer in Richmond.
4. Valentine was joined by Mary Johnston, a writer from Botetourt County, VA (where I live). Johnston authored To Have and To Hold, the #1 bestseller of 1900, and 36 other books.
5. Ellen Glasgow, a Richmond writer, also joined this group. Her many novels were social tales, created to illustrate the plight of southern women.
6. Kate Langley Bosher, another writer of social books, also joined.
7. Adele Clark, an artist and dean of women at the College of William and Mary, served as an officer in the group.
8. Nora Houston, an international artist, also joined.
9. Kate Waller Barrett, a physician, author, and social reformer, was the other leader of the movement.
10. "Virginia suffragists employed a variety of techniques to enlist women to their cause, making speeches across the state (often from decorated automobiles), renting booths at fairs, and distributing "Votes for Women" buttons. By canvassing house to house, distributing leaflets, and speaking in public, the members of the league sought to educate Virginia's citizens and legislators and to win their support for woman suffrage. Beginning in 1914, the group published its own monthly newspaper, the Virginia Suffrage News. (Lily Meade) Valentine persuaded a group of Richmond businessmen to form the Men's Equal Suffrage League of Virginia. The state archivist Hamilton J. Eckenrode was among those who signed a resolution in support of woman suffrage in 1912, arguing that the state constitution should be amended "so as to enable Virginia Women to vote on equal terms with Virginia men." Eight years later, his successor as state archivist, Morgan P. Robinson, registered women to vote in Richmond. (Mary) Johnston visited women's colleges to rally faculty and students to the cause. Soon local leagues sprang up across the state." - Encyclopedia Virginia
11. "Virginia's suffragists argued that women were intelligent, sensible, tax-paying citizens, and therefore deserved to cast ballots. The home and the world in the early years of the twentieth century were overlapping, not separate, spheres, and women had special concerns and interests that were being poorly addressed by male legislators. Virginia suffragists staunchly maintained that women, in order to be good mothers, needed to be good citizens. "Home is not contained within the four walls of an individual home," suffragists argued; instead, "home is the community." When antisuffragists argued that men were the commonwealth's natural-born leaders, intellectually and physically superior to their female helpmates, suffragists countered that women could add valuable insight and energy to solving a number of problems largely ignored by politicians, including education, health reform, and child labor. The woman suffrage movement worked toward equal rights for women as citizens, as well as the right to vote. It was perhaps more important that the movement was building change on the foundation of a new, self-developed, economically independent womanhood." - Encyclopedia Virginia
12. Mary Johnston, through her suffragist efforts, became the first woman to address the House of Delegates in Virginia. As a suffragist, Johnston led the way for quiet rebellion. Though she has been described as shy and retiring, she ventured upon the Virginia House floor to beseech the gentlemen of the state congress to give women the right to vote. In 1912 she spoke before a conference of governors of all the states in the union, requesting the right to vote for women.
13. Virginia suffragists succeeded in bringing the issue to the floor of the General Assembly three times between 1912 and 1916, but the vote never came close to passage. - Encyclopedia Virginia
Women in Virginia obtained the right to vote when the rest of the women in the nation did: 1920. The Virginia General Assembly DID NOT RATIFY THE 19th AMENDMENT (which gave women the right to vote in 1920) UNTIL 1952 (just 61 years ago).
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 283rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
Here are some Virginia women who fought for the right to vote and a little information about how it went in this state:
1. Anna Whitehead Bodeker, who came to Virginia from New Jersey, in 1870 organized the Virginia State Woman Suffrage Association in Richmond. She tried to vote in 1871 but was rebuked.
2. Orra Gray Langhorne of Lynchburg in the 1890s attempted to organize another suffrage league, but it was unsuccessful.
3. In 1909, a group of Virginia women joined together to form the Equal Suffrage League. The leader of those women was Lila Meade Valentine, an activist and reformer in Richmond.
4. Valentine was joined by Mary Johnston, a writer from Botetourt County, VA (where I live). Johnston authored To Have and To Hold, the #1 bestseller of 1900, and 36 other books.
5. Ellen Glasgow, a Richmond writer, also joined this group. Her many novels were social tales, created to illustrate the plight of southern women.
6. Kate Langley Bosher, another writer of social books, also joined.
7. Adele Clark, an artist and dean of women at the College of William and Mary, served as an officer in the group.
8. Nora Houston, an international artist, also joined.
9. Kate Waller Barrett, a physician, author, and social reformer, was the other leader of the movement.
10. "Virginia suffragists employed a variety of techniques to enlist women to their cause, making speeches across the state (often from decorated automobiles), renting booths at fairs, and distributing "Votes for Women" buttons. By canvassing house to house, distributing leaflets, and speaking in public, the members of the league sought to educate Virginia's citizens and legislators and to win their support for woman suffrage. Beginning in 1914, the group published its own monthly newspaper, the Virginia Suffrage News. (Lily Meade) Valentine persuaded a group of Richmond businessmen to form the Men's Equal Suffrage League of Virginia. The state archivist Hamilton J. Eckenrode was among those who signed a resolution in support of woman suffrage in 1912, arguing that the state constitution should be amended "so as to enable Virginia Women to vote on equal terms with Virginia men." Eight years later, his successor as state archivist, Morgan P. Robinson, registered women to vote in Richmond. (Mary) Johnston visited women's colleges to rally faculty and students to the cause. Soon local leagues sprang up across the state." - Encyclopedia Virginia
11. "Virginia's suffragists argued that women were intelligent, sensible, tax-paying citizens, and therefore deserved to cast ballots. The home and the world in the early years of the twentieth century were overlapping, not separate, spheres, and women had special concerns and interests that were being poorly addressed by male legislators. Virginia suffragists staunchly maintained that women, in order to be good mothers, needed to be good citizens. "Home is not contained within the four walls of an individual home," suffragists argued; instead, "home is the community." When antisuffragists argued that men were the commonwealth's natural-born leaders, intellectually and physically superior to their female helpmates, suffragists countered that women could add valuable insight and energy to solving a number of problems largely ignored by politicians, including education, health reform, and child labor. The woman suffrage movement worked toward equal rights for women as citizens, as well as the right to vote. It was perhaps more important that the movement was building change on the foundation of a new, self-developed, economically independent womanhood." - Encyclopedia Virginia
12. Mary Johnston, through her suffragist efforts, became the first woman to address the House of Delegates in Virginia. As a suffragist, Johnston led the way for quiet rebellion. Though she has been described as shy and retiring, she ventured upon the Virginia House floor to beseech the gentlemen of the state congress to give women the right to vote. In 1912 she spoke before a conference of governors of all the states in the union, requesting the right to vote for women.
13. Virginia suffragists succeeded in bringing the issue to the floor of the General Assembly three times between 1912 and 1916, but the vote never came close to passage. - Encyclopedia Virginia
Women in Virginia obtained the right to vote when the rest of the women in the nation did: 1920. The Virginia General Assembly DID NOT RATIFY THE 19th AMENDMENT (which gave women the right to vote in 1920) UNTIL 1952 (just 61 years ago).
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 283rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Watching "Makers"
Last night I watched a documentary on PBS called Makers: Women Who Make America. You can watch it online here and I heartily recommend it.
This is particularly true if you believe in women's rights, as I do, and think that women are people, too. It is good to be reminded that it had only been 40 years since things were really, really bad for women.
The documentary outlined the women's movement, from the inception of NOW to radical feminists (they are not one and the same), to what the film called "the conservative push-back" and resulting decimation of the women's movement and the stalling of the female climb to her rights as a person.
While the women you might expect were in the documentary - Friedan, Steinem, Clinton - the thing was loaded with women you may not have heard of. It was empowering to hear these stories, from the first woman to run in the Boston Marathon to the Southern Bell switchboard clerk who took the phone company all the way to the Supreme Court.
I really admire women who can stand up for what they know is right, who can see that laws and attitudes in place are wrong. They made a powerful stand against injustice and inequality and fought not just for themselves but their daughters and granddaughters. They fought for me!
The patriarchy and the glass ceiling have always been very real to me, and I have experienced harassment in many forms, both in the workplace and outside of it. Some of it - most of it - has been simply because I am a woman. In the early 1980s Oprah Winfrey was told she didn't deserve the same pay as a man - because she was a woman. That was just 30 years ago for her - but I heard the same line only 10 years ago!
It is easy to be harassed because you're a little different - a woman in a man's workplace. It's easy to become the target when you're a little more ambitious or a little more conscious of what is going on (it doesn't take much to be different). As a woman, I have been harassed for having an opinion, (because women aren't supposed to have them), for having different ideas (because women aren't supposed to have those, either), and for wanting to do things that were not considered "womanly" (like the time I worked in a machine shop). It certainly makes you feel like you are less than human when you are treated as such.
I have hoped for the last several years that we are on the cusp of a new women's movement. Eventually there will be one too many transvaginal ultrasounds legislated, and things will erupt, I think. Or maybe I am just foolishly hoping that legislated rape with a probe will eventually outrage enough women that it takes them to the street. Perhaps it will have to go a little further, to the point of The Handmaid's Tale, before complacency is no longer a viable alternative to what is happening.
Homemaking certainly is a valid career or life path. But I am opposed to having that forced on every woman, and that is where certain political paths and ideas lead. It was the lack of choice and the lack of opportunity that drove the women's movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I certainly don't want to go back to that era. I like to work and I like being able to own property and have credit in my name. These things have only been allotted to women in the last 40 years. Just 40! No wonder it remains tenuous and slippery.
So I applaud these trailblazing women who have broken the glass ceiling, who have changed laws, who have taken their lives and made them their own, and not remained trapped in a life someone else molded for them. Thank you to the filmmakers for this marvelous film.
This is particularly true if you believe in women's rights, as I do, and think that women are people, too. It is good to be reminded that it had only been 40 years since things were really, really bad for women.
The documentary outlined the women's movement, from the inception of NOW to radical feminists (they are not one and the same), to what the film called "the conservative push-back" and resulting decimation of the women's movement and the stalling of the female climb to her rights as a person.
While the women you might expect were in the documentary - Friedan, Steinem, Clinton - the thing was loaded with women you may not have heard of. It was empowering to hear these stories, from the first woman to run in the Boston Marathon to the Southern Bell switchboard clerk who took the phone company all the way to the Supreme Court.
I really admire women who can stand up for what they know is right, who can see that laws and attitudes in place are wrong. They made a powerful stand against injustice and inequality and fought not just for themselves but their daughters and granddaughters. They fought for me!
The patriarchy and the glass ceiling have always been very real to me, and I have experienced harassment in many forms, both in the workplace and outside of it. Some of it - most of it - has been simply because I am a woman. In the early 1980s Oprah Winfrey was told she didn't deserve the same pay as a man - because she was a woman. That was just 30 years ago for her - but I heard the same line only 10 years ago!
It is easy to be harassed because you're a little different - a woman in a man's workplace. It's easy to become the target when you're a little more ambitious or a little more conscious of what is going on (it doesn't take much to be different). As a woman, I have been harassed for having an opinion, (because women aren't supposed to have them), for having different ideas (because women aren't supposed to have those, either), and for wanting to do things that were not considered "womanly" (like the time I worked in a machine shop). It certainly makes you feel like you are less than human when you are treated as such.
I have hoped for the last several years that we are on the cusp of a new women's movement. Eventually there will be one too many transvaginal ultrasounds legislated, and things will erupt, I think. Or maybe I am just foolishly hoping that legislated rape with a probe will eventually outrage enough women that it takes them to the street. Perhaps it will have to go a little further, to the point of The Handmaid's Tale, before complacency is no longer a viable alternative to what is happening.
Homemaking certainly is a valid career or life path. But I am opposed to having that forced on every woman, and that is where certain political paths and ideas lead. It was the lack of choice and the lack of opportunity that drove the women's movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I certainly don't want to go back to that era. I like to work and I like being able to own property and have credit in my name. These things have only been allotted to women in the last 40 years. Just 40! No wonder it remains tenuous and slippery.
So I applaud these trailblazing women who have broken the glass ceiling, who have changed laws, who have taken their lives and made them their own, and not remained trapped in a life someone else molded for them. Thank you to the filmmakers for this marvelous film.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Happy is Too Much to Ask
1. Where is your significant other?
A. On the couch watching TV.
2. Your favorite thing?
A. This is not a complete question. It needs a "where" or a "what in front of it. However, to offer an answer: my favorite "thing" is my computer and it's sitting on my desk. I also like my books, my telephone, my binoculars, my cameras, my stapler, my cookware . . .
3. Your dream last night?
A. I don't recall my dream from last night.
4. Your goal?
A. My overarching goal is to be content. I think "happy" is probably too much to ask but content is good.
5. Your hobby?
A. I love to read and write. I also like to take walks and watch the deer.
6. Where do you want to be in 6 years?
A. I want to be content and to have done whatever it might take to accomplish that.
7. Where were you last night?
A. I was at home.
8. What you're not?
A. Is this a real question? I'm not an alien from another planet even if I feel like one most of the time. I'm not green in color. I'm not ordinary. I'm not the sharpest dresser but I am a pretty sharp tack. I'm not sure why I am answering these questions.
9. One of your wish list items?
A. You mean like from amazon? I have a lot of books on my amazon wish list. Any book makes me happy. I also wish for world peace. Look where that's got me.
10. Your pet?
A. I have a herd of cows, free-ranging deer, and stink bugs.
11. Missing someone?
A. One of my friends has gone AWOL. She's in accounting and it is tax season. I haven't seen her in a month.
12. Your car?
A. I drive a blue Camry. It's 10 years old and I expect to be driving it for a few more years.
13. Something you're not wearing?
A. This is another question that I find to be poorly worded. But if you must know, I am not wearing my socks.
14. Love someone?
A. I love my husband. He is a dear sweet man.
15. When is the last time you laughed?
A. Saturday night when we were watching Bill Cosby: Himself.
16. Last time you cried?
A. Saturday during the day. You don't need to know the circumstances.
17. Favorite past time?
A. Reading. Although I also enjoy computer games.
18. Are you a hater or a lover?
A. A lover. Or at least I used to be. I fear I might become a crotchety old lady. But crotchety is not hateful.
19. Any vices?
A. I overeat and I chew my nails. I also hold grudges sometimes.
20. Favorite meme other than Sunday Stealing?
A. Thursday Thirteen.
A. On the couch watching TV.
2. Your favorite thing?
A. This is not a complete question. It needs a "where" or a "what in front of it. However, to offer an answer: my favorite "thing" is my computer and it's sitting on my desk. I also like my books, my telephone, my binoculars, my cameras, my stapler, my cookware . . .
3. Your dream last night?
A. I don't recall my dream from last night.
4. Your goal?
A. My overarching goal is to be content. I think "happy" is probably too much to ask but content is good.
5. Your hobby?
A. I love to read and write. I also like to take walks and watch the deer.
6. Where do you want to be in 6 years?
A. I want to be content and to have done whatever it might take to accomplish that.
7. Where were you last night?
A. I was at home.
8. What you're not?
A. Is this a real question? I'm not an alien from another planet even if I feel like one most of the time. I'm not green in color. I'm not ordinary. I'm not the sharpest dresser but I am a pretty sharp tack. I'm not sure why I am answering these questions.
9. One of your wish list items?
A. You mean like from amazon? I have a lot of books on my amazon wish list. Any book makes me happy. I also wish for world peace. Look where that's got me.
10. Your pet?
A. I have a herd of cows, free-ranging deer, and stink bugs.
11. Missing someone?
A. One of my friends has gone AWOL. She's in accounting and it is tax season. I haven't seen her in a month.
12. Your car?
A. I drive a blue Camry. It's 10 years old and I expect to be driving it for a few more years.
13. Something you're not wearing?
A. This is another question that I find to be poorly worded. But if you must know, I am not wearing my socks.
14. Love someone?
A. I love my husband. He is a dear sweet man.
15. When is the last time you laughed?
A. Saturday night when we were watching Bill Cosby: Himself.
16. Last time you cried?
A. Saturday during the day. You don't need to know the circumstances.
17. Favorite past time?
A. Reading. Although I also enjoy computer games.
18. Are you a hater or a lover?
A. A lover. Or at least I used to be. I fear I might become a crotchety old lady. But crotchety is not hateful.
19. Any vices?
A. I overeat and I chew my nails. I also hold grudges sometimes.
20. Favorite meme other than Sunday Stealing?
A. Thursday Thirteen.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Let's Meet Karen!
Karen Wright is the owner of Soothing Solutions. She is a massage therapist, yoga instructor, and great friend!
Her office is in Blue Ridge. She has created an oasis of tranquility in the corner of a small shopping strip.
Karen takes her work out of the office. She sometimes gives massages to businesses. I took this photo of her at an event in the county a few years ago.
I've been seeing Karen for problems with my back for about 10 years. She is always friendly, always helpful, and she always gives me a great massage.
I have even sent my husband to her! He loved his massage.
A few years ago Karen demonstrated something called Laughter Yoga to my arts and letters group, The Roanoke Pen Women. It remains one of the best programs we have ever had.
She offers yoga classes every Monday and Wednesday morning at the Blue Ridge Library. The classes routinely are full. “If you can breathe and sit in a chair, you can do yoga,” Karen said in an article I did on her in 2006. “Yoga is doable for just about anybody. Yoga can be done at the desk if necessary.”
Karen grew up in Botetourt County. She was the area's first massage therapist, blazing the trail for other alternative medicines to move into the county. She had a bit of a struggle getting the license to operate from the local government - officials didn't understand that she is a therapist, not a call girl, and thus her work is about helping you feel better. But once they figured it out, she was able to open her office in 1998. I did an article on her when she first started and that is how we met.
She has also taught aerobics, senior strength and stretching, and is a stress management consultant, among other things.
Once she spent an hour with me teaching me how to breath in order to help lower my blood pressure. It works when I remember to do it.
If you're interested in having Karen help you out, check out her website and give her a call. She is definitely a good person to know!
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