It's a Cinnamon Toast Night

Two guys who haven't bothered to call or connect with me in over three weeks have both decided to ask me how life is going.

I'm seriously perturbed.

I am feeling sad. There's nothing wrong with me. I'm just sad.

I had my first rehearsal for Midsummer on Saturday. There are reasons to be really happy, and there are reasons to want to throw a butterknife into my eye. It will be great. It will be great.

Right now though, I'm watching "King of the Hill" and trying not to go back onto facebook where losers can "chat" with me. Dang it! I wish there was a way to go on there without people knowing you were online.

I finished my book. I ate all the ice cream and chocolate. What else is there?? I'm out of solutions people.

I think it's time to pull out the big guns and make myself some cinnamon toast.

I Enjoy Being a Girl

Last night I sat in the midst of hundreds of faithful women and just relished the power of the Relief Society General Meeting. On my left was Jackie, an amazing African American woman who personifies energy and charity. On my right were two young women, one with a brand new baby. All around me, women of every walk of life were just soaking in the talks. It is like Christmas. It was such a gift. I kept sighing with joy.

We were invited to come early and eat a nice dinner together. There were 4 lines that winded their way towards the food in the center. I stood in line, socializing with the ladies next to me for 45 minutes, and finally gave up and drove to Panera to buy a sandwich. I feel like I was able to enjoy the social aspect, but I wasn't about to finally make my way to the front of the line for scraps. Besides, I was getting a little bitter as I imagined inconsiderate women "jumping" in line. 45 minutes is just too long to stand looking at food. I wanted to feel a spirit of love and charity, and my spirit of love and charity was leaking from me the longer I stood in that line.

When I got back, I sat next to Jackie and just relished in the power that was in the room. If you're mormon, you either heard Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk already, or you're planning on hearing it--but if you're not mormon--and you just want to hear an amazingly uplifting sermon directed specifically towards women, go to www.lds.org and listen to the mp3 of the meeting. Elder Uchtdorf is the last talk, but the first 3 are given by amazing and inspiring sisters as well.

He explored the source of God's happiness. He talked about the need to understand what made our Heavenly Father happy and he narrowed it down to creation and compassion. And then he encouraged women to emulate God's happiness by filling our lives with opportunities to create and share compassionate service with one another.

There were so many wonderful moments in this conference. I'm really looking forward to General Conference.

And as a post script--Baby Asher comes home from NICU today! Monday morning, Crystal's doctor declared that "elves must have been in her room" and that her liver was miraculously healed. They sent her home. Thank you so much for your prayers.

I have never been more humbled by the gifts and powers that women of faith hold. It is an overwhelming honor to be a woman.

The Bailout

I haven't read any of the articles on what's going on the plan to save the bankers, so this post is coming from my heart. I don't really know who's on what side of this fence.

I was up all night thinking about the 700 billion dollar bailout. I have been going back and forth on my feelings about this. As Clarissa mentioned to me last night, if we gave all Americans their share of the 700 billion dollar pie--we'd each get $43,000.

Well heck! We could afford to pay our mortgages and get out of credit card debt with that!

I think about the relationship that Americans have with debt. We need debt in order to buy homes and cars. We abuse debt in our willingness to use it for various other items like our much needed computers and cell phones. We live outside of our means.

We blame the CEOs of these banks for getting into this mess--but they were merely taking advantage of OUR bad habits. We're all to blame for this mess.

So, why give the money to them?

There's already a huge disparity between the rich and the poor in this country. Why rescue the rich?

As a consumer, I owe money for my car, for my computer, and a little for unpaid credit card bills. I owe whole helluvalot for student loans, but that's in a different world of issues. I HATE the late fees and the high interest rates. I feel enslaved to my debt--to these CEOs who milk money from the American people. But, when I needed a new computer, these banks were there to rescue me. When I needed a car--I was rescued. I appreciate our American way of doing things because I'm able to drive to work, whereas without these options, I'd be up a creek without a paddle--or rather, up the beltway without some wheels! (ha ha ha!)

I say we "rescue" them by indenturing them to us, in the same way that they've indentured us to them. I say we lend them the money that they need because they've lent to us. And then I say we gouge them with late fees and we up their interest. Perhaps the interest on this loan can pay for our social security. Let's take advantage of this opportunity to turn the tables on these pirates.

Like it or not, we need them. So let's take control and turn the tables in our favor.

NICU and Post Op

I stopped at the hospital to tell Crystal that Valerie was fine. I don't know what I expected to find. I just needed to see her and find out what she needed me to do. I needed to do something for her. I didn't care what. I brought in an ipod and a book and any random thing I could find. I just didn't know what to do and I was overwhelmed by this sense of futility.

I got there and delivered my message and she said that she was in a lot of pain. Her liver was distended. She had sharp pains above the actual incision. And it didn't appear that anyone was doing anything to alleviate her pain.

She didn't want to talk--and I didn't want her to. I just needed a moment to actually feel what was happening to my friend, without having to worry about censoring for a watching child.

I sat on the couch and felt a flood of emotion wash over me. This poor mother was lying in a hospital room in total agony of spirit. Her baby had a hole in his lungs because he had cried through the night, and there was nothing she could do but lay there and just feel her body's pain and sickness. I was overwhelmed with sadness and peace at the same time. I didn't feel hopelessness in the room. I felt the spirit so strongly. But I also felt a heart wrenching empathy. Tears kept falling down my face. I couldn't get off the couch and leave her to sleep in peace. I felt I was swimming in a monumental and undefinable emotion. I couldn't say anything outloud for fear I would disturb the sacredness of the moment. I began to pray in my heart. I began to pray for her aching heart, and her liver and her womb. I prayed that love would wash over her atoms and cells and help to clear the toxins from her body. I prayed over and over and over again in my mind. I began to will that her body and heart would begin to heal. I sat there overcome by how filled with energy the room was. Finally, I stood and left.

I stopped by nurses station and with tears streaming down my face tried to formulate a question about her health. It didn't matter. They couldn't tell me anything anyway.

I drove off to UVA. I arrived with toiletries for Matt, but Matt wasn't there. I imagined that I might be able to hold Asher and try and tell this baby about his mother's love since she couldn't be there. I just wanted him to feel Crystal's love for him. After getting a sense for the love and sadness she felt--I wanted to do everything in my power to let this little guy know how loved he was. Instead, I just stood there numbly watching the nurse change his little diaper. His little lungs were working so hard. His head was wrapped in gauze and he had a tube down his nose. I was frozen. I had no idea how to help or what to do. Suddenly I felt so overwhelmed with fatigue. I just didn't have anything left in me to give. I felt embarassed to talk to him. I felt like he, like his mother, just needed to sleep. And there was nothing I could do to help him.

I felt horribly humbled at my inability to help.

I called Matt and told him that I had stuff for him, and finally just left it there in the waiting room.

The ride home was long and painful. I have a headache from crying and probably more so from the moment where I didn't cry, but needed to.

I'm home now. I would be there still if I felt like there was anything I could do. But there isn't anything. Except ask you good people to keep Asher and Crystal in your prayers. I'm worried about her. Asher will be fine. They'll both be fine. But Crystal needs your prayers to heal her heart. Not to mention her liver. But especially her heart.

Weekend with Valerie

I need to blog a little bit, but frankly I just want to crash into bed.

This weekend has sapped me. There were certainly some very bright spots, but I was either crying or on the verge of tears all weekend. OR, I was trying to be happy so that Crystal's daughter wouldn't realize how serious things were. I guess I'll start at the beginning.

Friday night, Crystal's husband Matt called and said that they were going to take her in for a c-section that night. I immediately imagined Matt and Crystal there alone with no plans for someone to look after Valerie. The baby was a month early. Why would you randomly plan for a babysitter on a Friday at midnight. I knew that Crystal needed to know that Valerie was being taken care of. So I told Matt I'd be there asap and I threw clothes in a bag and immediately got on the phone trying to get things taken care of for my rehearsal for midsummer.

As I drove down the highway, I began to realize how perfect this was. I had just bought a new car, the actors didn't really need me--they just needed the time to run through their stuff in preparation for the run thru next week. I have a great producer and wonderful people I can rely on in a pinch--and everything was going to be fine. I had kind of anticipated the baby coming early, and I had prepared myself to help out as much as possible. I really wanted to have a new car in time to be able to help Crystal out, since they live 2 hours away from me.

On my way, I called our friend Bri and asked her to come to the hospital in case they took Crystal in for surgery earlier. Bri got there in time to see the whole family asleep in their hospital room. Bri and I took Valerie from her parents and whisked her off to a motel. We got to bed and talked about how fun it would be to have a new brother. Crystal and Matt live an hour away from the hospital and I knew Valerie needed to be close to the hospital for the birth, etc.

The next day, the three of us went to the hospital in time to see Crystal wheeled off to surgery. We waited to see baby Asher come out, but we weren't able to see him. I was playing a careful balancing act with Valerie. I needed her to be close enough that Crystal felt Valerie wasn't missing anything important--like seeing her new broher--and I needed to keep Valerie's spirits up so that she wouldn't become worried about her mom. Crystal was pre-eclampsya and in a lot of pain. Valerie tends to turn her stress and worry into anger that I knew Crystal didn't want to deal with--so my goal was to keep Valerie's stress levels down--even if everyone else was going crazy.

A few hours after the birth, we found out that they were going to have to take the baby to UVA. We came over to see him. He was in his little travelling incubator. Matt gave him a blessing. And they took him away.

Crystal--who has given herself shots of heparin everyday to avoid blood clots because of her lupus to keep this little guy alive--who has felt this little guy kick her for the past 8 months and risked her life for this little guy--watched as they wheeled her baby away from her after barely touching his leg. I could hardly keep it together, but Valerie was watching.

After that depressing scene, Valerie and I went to McDonald's and then to Mamma Mia! We came home and colored a poster of dolphins.

This morning, I called Crystal to see how things were, and she told me that the baby had cried so much that he now had a hole in his lung. Matt's mom and sister were calling me trying to get information and I had to keep info to a minimum so that Valerie wouldn't get too worried. She began to complain about who she was going to be staying with and I could tell that some of the stress was getting to her.

I tried to keep her busy by having her clean her room. Yeah . . . they don't like that.

I tried to keep myself busy by cleaning a little here and there. I just needed to feel like I was doing SOMETHING to help.

Matt spent the morning on the phone with family members. And I packed up Valerie and took her to church.

At church, I helped the primary chorister--Cortney--get the kids to sing louder. It was brilliant and funny. Cortney is a genius with primary children. This was the bright spot of my day. Cortney volunteered to take Valerie for the next couple days. Her daughter is Valerie's best friend--so all is well there. I think Valerie will enjoy being with the kids. I heard her telling everyone how cute her little brother Asher is. The girl makes me smile!

After leaving Valerie with Cortney's family, I drove off--not knowing how I could help but still feeling this great need to do SOMETHING.

I called Matt and he said that he was staying in Charlottesville and I asked him if he needed anything. He said, a toothbrush. On my way to UVA, I stopped in to visit Crystal just to let her know that Valerie was being cared for.

To be continued . . .

I need some prayers

One of my dear friends Crystal just had a baby boy Asher. He was born this morning after an emergency c-section. Asher Matthew Scott Croshaw. He's a cutie. 7 pds, 11 oz. He was born almost a month early and had to taken to UVA hospital because he's not breathing well. Crystal is at the hospital here in Staunton healing from the c-section and I think the separation is hurting her heart. I'm here with her daughter Valerie and her husband Matt is at the hospital with the baby. Please pray for baby Asher--but please pray especially for Crystal. Her spirit is hurting right now. She needs to feel strengthened by some prayers.

Thanks for your help friends of the blogosphere!!

Adieu Sweet Escort!

Last night I cried.

I had to clean out my little car before giving her away to the car dealership, and I wept like a baby.

I remembered the time when we had runaway from Provo together to Iowa. My mom had asked me to drive across the country with someone so that I wouldn't have to brave the 22 hour drive by myself. Instead, I told her I was leaving Provo on Wednesday, and took off on Tuesday by myself. I figured, I would call to tell her "goodbye" and then say--"And just so you don't worry about me--I'm already here! Ta da!"

It was a brilliant plan. Except that Tuesday night my mom came down to surprise me and my roommate told her that I had already left, by myself.

Just me and the little Escort.

I had no cell phone coverage throughout the night, but on Wednesday morning when I hit Nebraska--I had frantic and apologetic messages from my roommate Mary who had spilled the beans. I called my mother and prepared for the onslaught.

"I have been up all night! I wrote your obituary!! I was worried sick! I can't believe you did this!"

You see why my original plan was so brilliant. If only . . .

My little Ford was with me then.

I packed her up in Iowa when I got into graduate school and we cried together as I left the good people of Iowa City. We drove down the Pennsylvania Turnpike and down into the Shenandoah Valley.

I packed her up when I graduated and we drove to DC with $50 in the bank and an even bigger cell phone bill just a year ago.

Oh dear little Escort. Three blog entries just isn't enough to show my love for you.

Goodnight Sweeet Car,
May Flights of Engines Sing you to your rest.

(taps play gently in the background, and a volley of gunfire salutes the sky. )

Eve Buys a New Car

Part 2: (continuing the experiment of writing in 3rd person)

The morning broke early. Eve rolled into the shower at the terrifying hour of 7:45am. The lovely Sarah drove her through the horrific bumper to bumper traffic to the car dealership. Luckily, the two girls made it 7 miles in just under 45 minutes!

Sarah left Eve to the mercy of the car dealer, and Eve pretended as though she was not desperately seeking to buy a car. She searched through the cars and finally arrived at the car she had been waiting for.


She smiled at the gold Hyundai Elantra. It seemed to smile back. It said to her, "Eve--my name starts with an 'E' too! And so did your Escort! We are meant to be together!!"

Eve thought, "Wait, I should struggle over this! This shouldn't be so easy!" But as she realized that this lovely car was a small sedan that would get great gas mileage, and that this car was only 3 years old--and when they told her that it was hers for only $6,000--she just had to have it.

So she bought it.

And now, Eve and her Elantra will live happily ever after. And if Eve decides to ever name a child Elantra--well--don't be entirely surprised.

Story Time

The Fantastic Adventures of a Ford

Once upon a time there was a girl named Eve. It was 2001 and she had just gotten off a mission and needed a good car. She decided to buy a 1994 Ford Escort for $3,500.

This little car was wonderful. From 2001- 2008, it drove from Utah to Iowa and from Iowa to Virginia. The little hatchback hauled beds and a her entire household through countless moves. She loved this car. And at 36 mpg, the little Ford loved Eve. Sometimes it even got over 40mpg!

Sadly, the little car began to grow tired. It got a crack in the muffler, which is like a person getting throat cancer. She sounded like a Harley Davidson. She didn't have a/c--so things were a little uncomfortable. And finally today--the little clutch went out.

Magically, Eve's friend Bridget called last night out of the blue and asked Eve if she would like to go to lunch and a movie! The two friends met for Thai food in Old Towne and then Bridget followed the little Ford to the movie theatre. Just when the two cars were 1 block from the LDS chapel--the clutch went out. Eve knew what was happening immediately. She shoved the car into reverse and then through the car into 3rd and coasted into the church parking lot.

As though God knew Eve would need a friend at this sad sad time--Bridget was right there for Eve. She pulled up behind her in the parking lot. Eve smiled as she thought of all the other places the car could have died. She locked the car up and left it in the church parking lot and hopped into Bridget's car and then the two of them drove to the movies!

The End.

(Stay tuned for the next installment "Eve buys a new car!")

The Joy of Thinking

Tonight's ethics class was a riot. I wasn't feeling like talking too much, which is a problem when you're supposed to conduct a class for 4.5 hours. I went into the class and asked them how they were doing and my three ladies--Abi, Chi Chi and Doris--just started chattering for the next 20 minutes about everything. I just sat back and smiled and tried to figure out a way to segue into the lecture.

After they talked for a bit, I began to steer the conversation. I asked them about moral isolationism. I asked them to describe how our shrinking world made it impossible for us to be morally isolated from one another's problems. They began to chatter about family in Nigeria and in Atlanta. It was wonderful. We talked about responsibilities of rights, which led to a conversation about the responsibilities we have to embrace our right to happiness. Then we discussed how we have a responsibility to heal from crimes acted against us. We talked about the importance of forgiveness. We moved into a discussion of Kant and the categorical imperative about seeing people as an end itself and not as means to an end. We discussed torture, and the pros and cons and we talked about what a deontologist would say about torture and what a utilitarian would say about it.

I introduced new concepts and then threw in old ideas just to help them start associating the old and the new. I pulled out a book that introduced philosophers and they went crazy looking up pictures of their favorite philosophers. Abi immediately turned to John Stuart Mill and Doris went straight to Sartre.

We discussed the relationship between Ethics of Rights and Egoism. If we have the right to choose what makes us happy as individuals--then we are individually responsible for our happiness. Whereas, if we rely on a king or despot to choose the good for the majority--as stated in utilitarianism--then isn't he ultimately responsible for our happiness or heartache? With egoism and libertarianism--we exercise our rights--and we are ultimately responsible for our own happiness.

They were bright, attentive and I didn't have to do a lot of talking--which made me very happy. I was so pleased to hear their thoughts flow from one thought to the next. My goal in these classes is to help students learn to think and value their own ideas. I could not have been prouder of my students.

Lessons of Trees

I try to keep this blog positive, but lately I find myself at a loss.

I really want to try and be good at things. I want to try and be my best self. But, I suck at this sometimes.

Lately I've felt a little disconnected, despite feeling closer to friends--I'm just feeling a little depressed as I watch my friends progress so happily in their lives. I am so happy for everyone, but I keep trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. I went to the ward retreat this weekend and it was great to spend time with friends, but frankly I felt more connected with the wives in the bishopric than with the 18 year old singles who had just moved in. And rightly so! We're closer in age! I feel like I'm stuck in a social realm where I just don't fit in. But in the marriage and family realm--I haven't quite met the basic qualifications. So I'm living in this limbo place where I really just don't fit in anywhere.

I came to some very positive conclusions this weekend that I am happy about. I watched the trees growing towards heaven and realized that in order for them to grow straight and tall individually--they had to spread their branches so that the leaves could collect the sunlight. The sunlight they gathered gives them the strength to climb higher and higher, but in order to climb higher--they must reach out and embrace the solitary trees next to them. We can't climb higher without reaching out and embracing others. This was a nice little lesson in the wilderness.

I walked through the stream with Spencer. We found different mushrooms, looked at lavendar molds and enjoyed feeling the stream ride through my toes. I miss his friendship. We don't spend much time with each other anymore. We will never work beyond friends, and we both know that it's not good for us to spend too much time together because we're so close. It was so refreshing to just be around a friend that knew me so well. Within 5 minutes of being alone, I was crying and confessing everything that had been bothering me. And he was sharing his latest song. It's just so rare to find someone that you can feel so at home with. I miss him. But, this is truly what is best. I love him so much more when I know that I'll never have to put up with his flaws--rather as his friend, I get to simply enjoy his strengths.

I was talking with my friend Audy about being single. I recognize that everyone who lives righteously will get the blessings of family and love. But, not everyone will get the blessings and opportunities that come with being single into your 30s. I love my life, and I realize that I would never have had the opportunities to meet my friends and work with the students I work with if I had gotten married before this time.

I am grateful for my life. But I'm tired of being stuck in the middle. I feel an expectation to be happy with where I'm at--and frankly that's just silly. I'm not.

I have joy. I am happy with who I am--but I have no joy in feeling socially powerless. I have 3 dates this week with 3 different guys--all 3 aren't interested in me or in having a relationship. Why on earth am I going on these dates? Because I want to make new friends and because staying home is too depressing.

So, that's my life right now.

I'm going to go and get some food and buy a plant. Maybe having something living in my room will make me feel more alive. Maybe I'll remember the lessons of trees and recognize that I can't possibly touch the sky without spending some time branching out.

Poverty

Tonight in class we read a story about Poverty.

The article is "What is Poverty?" by Jo Goodwin Parker.

Read it.

I just want to run off to West Virginia and give away money. Seriously.

After reading the story, I wanted my class to write a response, but I needed them to take a more creative approach to their writing. (They're writing research papers, so they're sick of writing.) I

I asked them to write about moments where they were enriched. I told them to find a moment where they felt poor--either in spirit or otherwise--and someone or something enriched them.

Their stories made me cry. It was so difficult to keep it together!

Helen described how she is the poorest student in class, and she can barely afford to pay her bills, but she knows that because she is getting an education--she is going to have plenty.

Ethel was a refuge in Ghana without anything and three small children. She told about how she and her children won visas to America and how long the flight was. When they finally arrived in New York her oldest was astonished to see that America wasn't encrusted with diamonds!

And Barbara--dear Barbara. She talked about how her father had died when she was 16 months old. She couldn't read her own story--so Zainab finished reading for her. She described how much she loved her mother. She raised 7 children by herself. Her proudest moment was when she graduated high school with honors--a tribute to a woman who had given up so much to make sure that her family thrived in spite of their poverty.

Ishmael described how much his daughter lights up his life.

I wish I could express how wonderful it is to be in this class. There is nothing like the laughter of a happy African woman. I cannot wait to visit Africa now!

Read the article. If nothing else, I'm filled with gratitude for all that I have.

My name

Popularity of names starting with GENESIS

Popularity of names starting with EVE

I think it's interesting to note that both of my names were not remotely popular in 1978. I believe Eve was at a big ol' 0. But, if I was born today--my name would be extraordinarily trendy! Well done Mom!! I believe I shall name my children something horrible by today's standards and it will set them up for their adult life! "Come little Icarus! Come Henrietta! Let us go to the zoo!! And bring baby Hagar! He doesn't want to miss the fun!"

Perfection and Happiness

I feel older. I don't know if that's quite right. I feel changed. Age doesn't have anything to do with it. I'm just older. I am letting my nails grow out, which makes typing a beast. But, it's just one little thing that makes me feel better.

Sometimes I get depressed reading old journals because it seems like the same things I wanted years ago, are the things I'm working on still. I don't know that I'm any better at living than I was 5 years ago, accept that I've come to accept exactly who I am. I will continue to work hard to better myself, but the difference between then and now is that I wouldn't allow myself to be happy until I had conquered myself. Now, I work hard everyday. I try and workout. I eat my vitamins and I try and eat right, but tonight I had a candy bar and a bag of skittles--and I just don't care. Before, I would have taken that action and subconciously punished myself for that action by believing that because I'm not perfect, I don't deserve to be happy. This thought process was VERY subconcious because I would never admit to such unhealthy behavior. But now, I like myself, flaws and all.

The difference is difficult to explain, but I think that a year ago--I had two choices--either be fat and alone--or lose 100 pounds and be happy and in a relationship. Now, I have lost 40 pounds and I know I have a lot more weight to lose, but so do a lot of people! And they're happy now! So, I will continue to lose weight, but my happiness CANNOT hang in the balance of whether I lose weight or not. My choice now is to be happy. And as far as the alone thing is concerned, I'm discovering that my love life is contingent on men not being insane. And I can only control so much in the universe.

I am more than fine just the way I am. It has taken me 30 years to come to this conclusion. I have always felt inadequate. I have always needed other people to make me feel adequate because in the back of my mind I had a list of things I still needed to accomplish before I would allow myself to like myself. If I allowed myself to like myself as I was, it was like I was giving up on myself.

I'm not giving up on myself at all. I just realize that perfection can wait. Happiness cannot.

Good day

Reasons today was a great day:

1. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's speech
2. I flirted. And I wasn't bad at it!
3. I wore a new bra that makes me feel perky and pretty!
4. I ate pizza and brownies.
5. I got a nice text message that said, "Seriously, you are so nice and cool." How nice is that?!!
6. I flirted.
7. A guy pseudo asked me out. I responded by pseudo asking him to make out with me. Too much?
8. My breasts are perky.
9. I took the garbage out and the dishwasher is empty.
10. My laundry is done and I am ready for the week!!
11. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's speech. Read it.

Midterms

This week I've been torturing my students with midterms all week. I feel like midterms should be used to teach rather than punish, but if you haven't paid attention to the readings or lectures for the entire class, then I imagine a midterm that reviews those things could be considered torture.

At the end of the English midterm, I have a quote from Henry Bibb's Diary where he talks about the evils of slavery. I ask the students to express how this passage inspires them today. One woman stayed after and rewrote her response over and over again. She felt so strongly about his book that she is having her son read it now. I was so touched at how moved she was by his story. This is why I teach.

I believe in the importance of sharing our stories. I am moved by reading your blogs! I believe it is important to communicate our experiences, because they do inspire us. Henry Bibb could have simply escaped to freedom and kept his story to himself, but he didn't. He educated himself and wrote a beautiful anti-slavery treatise and travelled all over the north preaching against the evils of slavery in 1848! He is a true inspiration for standing up for our beliefs, despite difficult circumstances.

And to see one student become so excited about a man's story from over 150 years ago made my job worth all the late nights and the traffic.

Acting 1

Today I handed out acting scenes. They're such delightful students! Before handing out the scenes I had them act out a poem by Octavio Paz called "Two Bodies"

Here it is:

Octavio Paz

Two Bodies

Two bodies face to face
are at times two waves
and night is an ocean.

Two bodies face to face
are at times two stones
and night a desert.

Two bodies face to face
are at times two roots
laced into night.

Two bodies face to face
are at times two knives
and night strikes sparks.

Two bodies face to face
are two stars falling
in an empty sky.

I was really pleased with their creativity. This is going to be a great class.

And now I'm going to bed. . .