The 1 day belated Booeys Birthday Blog

So... yesterday was my husband's birthday... I will refrain from telling you all how old he is now.

We went to the new Carpo's on the westside, which was unimpressive, and then to an EXCELLENT poetry reading by Joseph Millar and Dorianne Laux... I'll post poems by them soon. It was wonderful.

Speaking of wonderful, the occasion of his birthday allows me to wax romantic about my hubby... he is the kind of husband you can drive across death valley in the middle of the night with. He is the kind of husband who helps with middle of the night feedings, every night more or less for a year now. He is a wondefful, spiritual, poetic person, and loves us unconditionally. I am so lucky.

Happy Birthday Booey!

The "IT" list...

Entertainment Tonight published
this list of top celebreties, etc. I hardly know who any of them are. So, rather than feel bad, I decided to compile my own non exclusive, somewhat random "IT" list, 20 people or groups of people that I think really rock the shack, so to speak... in absolutely no particular order...

1. Julia Butterfly and the Circle of Life Foundation. She spent two years living in a tree to save it. Talk about using your personal power to make a difference. She is also really into the love vibe, which goes a long way with me...


2.Davey D, Weyland Southen, Tsadae Abeba Neway, and Anita Johnson... aka Hard Knock Radio, put hip hop and radical politics together in a way that is really speaking for the "Hip Hop" generation... I learn from them every time I get to listen.

3. Despite being "powered by Novartis"(??), Seeds of Peace is a real beacon in times like these. These kids know that "Peace is Made By People".

4. The Indigo Girls. Honestly, I just love everything about them. I'm nutz over them like girls used to be over the Beatles.

5. The Sullivan Entertainment classics, Anne of Green Gables (and sequels) and The Road to Avonlea

6. Greg Palast, author of _How George Bush Stole The Election_. All the news the US media finds unfit to print.

7. Ariel Gore and Hipmama changed my life, how I see myself, and saved me. Even now that the old hiptalk boards are gone, the tradition lives through Rebel Mamas Coop and Mamatron. Mamas kick ass.

8. Dar Williams is a fabulous folk singer. I love love love her she is a spazz like me and loves many religions like me and does lots of things like me but better and cuter and set to music. She will be at the Rio on July 9th, if anyone wants to go...

9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I love it. Its camp, its Witches and Lesbians and super kung-fu action in "Sunnydale" (for a girl who grew up next to "Sunnyvale" this has an appeal). I know everyone loves this one, but so do I.

10. Democracy Now!. Tune in daily to hear Amy Goodman take on the military industrial complex and corporate global capitalism. It rocks. she rips people new assholes frequently.

OK, stay tuned for 10-20... I am out of time for the moment...

Hey!

My MOM has a blog! Go Mom!

I have no statement on the validity of this, but read on...

This is from "The Scotsman," Friday, May 24, 2002. "The Scotsman" bills itself as "Scotland's National Newspaper." The URL for this story is
http://www.news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?id=561752002&

Startled marines find Afghan men all made up to see them

Chris Stephen In Bagram

BRITISH marines returning from an operation deep in the Afghan mountains spoke last night of an alarming new threat - being propositioned by swarms of gay local farmers.

An Arbroath marine, James Fletcher, said: "They were more terrifying than the al-Qaeda. One bloke who had
painted toenails was offering to paint ours. They go about hand in hand, mincing around the village."

While the marines failed to find any al-Qaeda during the seven-day Operation Condor, they were propositioned by dozens of men in villages the troops were ordered to search.

"We were pretty shocked," Marine Fletcher said. "We discovered from the Afghan soldiers we had with us that a lot of men in this country have the same philosophy as ancient Greeks: ‘a woman for babies, a man for pleasure’."

Originally, the marines had sent patrols into several villages in the mountains near the town of Khost, hoping to catch up with al-Qaeda suspects who last week fought a four-hour gun battle with soldiers of the Australian SAS. The hardened troops, their faces covered in camouflage cream and weighted down with weapons, radios and ammunition, were confronted with Afghans wanting to stroke their hair.

"It was hell," said Corporal Paul Richard, 20. "Every village we went into we got a group of men wearing make-up coming up, stroking our hair and cheeks and making kissing noises."

At one stage, troops were invited into a house and asked to dance. Citing the need to keep momentum in their search and destroy mission, the marines made their excuses and left. "They put some music on and ask us to dance. I told them where to go," said Cpl Richard. "Some of the guys turned tail and fled. It was hideous."

The Afghan hill tribes live in some of the most isolated communities in the country. "I think a lot of the problem is that they don’t have the women around a lot," said another marine, Vaz Pickles. "We only saw about two women in the whole six days. It was all very disconcerting."

A second problem the British found came minutes after the first helicopter touched down at one of the hilltop
firebases, when local farmers appeared demanding compensation for goats they claimed had been blown off the mountains by the rotor blades. "Every time we landed a Chinook near a village, we got some irate bloke running up to us saying his goat has just got blown off the mountain ridge by the helicopter - and then he demanded a hundred dollars compensation," said Major Phil Joyce, commander of Whisky Company, one of four companies deployed.

As patrols moved away from the landing zones, the locals began pestering Afghan troops attached to the marines with ever more outrageous compensation demands - topping off at a demand from one village elder for $500 (£300) for damage to a tree by the downdraft from helicopters.

But the marines were under orders to win the "hearts and minds" of local farmers in what is one of the few remaining Taliban bastions. "I managed to barter him down to two marine pens, a pencil and a rubber," Major Joyce said. "He went away quite happy ."

So here is a poem by June Jordan:

"A Short Note to My Very Critical and Well-Beloved Friends and Comrades."

"First they said I was too light
Then they said I was too dark
Then they said I was too different
Then they said I was too much the same
Then they said I was too young
Then they said I was too old
Then they said I was too interracial
Then they said I was too much a nationalist
Then they said I was too silly
Then they said I was too angry
Then they said I was too idealistic
Then they said I was too confusing altogether:
Make up your mind! They said. Are you militant
or sweet? Are you vegetarian or meat? Are you straight or are you gay?
And I said, Hey! It's not about my mind."

What accounts for that tendency?

From: http://www.alternativeradio.org/Jordan02.html

I just found out that one of my favorite poets (and people), June Jordan, the single most published African American author, beautiful brave woman, finally lost her battle against cancer on June 14th, 2002. I was lucky enough to meet her once, when I was in college, when she came to speak at a lecture sponsored by a class I was taking... she spoke of poetry as a way to liberate yourself, as well as your people. She spoke of the power and strength of love. I will most miss hearing her and her students read poetry on KPFA on my way home from work.

For some more on June, see
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/authors/JuneJordan.html

So.... another busy Friday and Saturday.....


For details on Friday, and on how we succeeded in writing our letter to La Leche League about the Breastfeeding Walk being on the 4th of July, see BlueR_oses Blog.

Yesterday was a lovely day. We went up to the city for band practice, stopping on the way for breakfast at the New Davenport Cash Store.... then we spent a lovely day with the Whelohrs and other friends... the boys (ages 11 and 14) are so much sweeter than most boys their age. I mean they are pyromaniacs and they bicker, but they are so sweet with Rose and they spent a long time playing me their Goldfinger and White Stripe albums. I am so hip now. LOL. Seriously, how many boys that age would spend *any* time with a 29 year old MOM and a baby voluntarily?

Rose is definitely cranky, and it is definitely a molar. Dr confirmed it he said when molars come in it can cause almost an abcess and it hurts a lot. He said be generous (not *too* generous, duh) with the Infant Advil and alternate with Tylenol. I am also still using the Hylands but they do not always cut it. And Ice! Rose loves to suck ice.

OH!!!! She STOOD UP today! She was bouncing on my lap, and then she just stood up! And looked around, freaked, and sat back down in my lap!

Here's something I wrote for a friend who is about to have twins... (slightly edited)

Dearest Mama-to-be...


If we were not separated by quite so much space, I
would be getting ready to throw you a Blessingway or
something. Something to mark your impending mamahood.
Because the big mamahood initiation, the birth one,
that is, needs a quieter preparation. The real deal
can be pretty noisy and messy.

I would make you a beautiful bath with LUSH stuff and
flowers, and then wrap you in a fuzzy robe and brush
your hair. Then I would have you come and sit in a
circle of mothers, and then we would tell you what it
means to us to give birth, to be born again as a
mother...

I would tell you that yes, labor "hurts" (and maybe
twice as much for you?), or it sure did for me. Some
women will tell you it does not hurt. But what not every
book says, is that you go so deep down, so very deep,
that (if you're me) you forget everything, the pain,
your name, where you are, even that this is about
having a baby. You go down into the place where people
come from, to get your baby (babies). It scared me at
first, and then I let go, and things were so much
easier. I just wanted to tell you in case it happens
to you, too. You already know how to let go...

I would tell you that afterwards nothing is the same.
I don't mean the work, the diapers, any of that. The
things that have changed for me are the way I see my
self, the way I see my mother, the way I see the
world. How terrified the world makes me, and how I am
so worried that this is the world my daughter will
inherit, and how I am so glad that this is the world
my daughter will inherit. I know she will change it
for the better.

I would tell you that I wake up in the night every
night to make sure she is breathing. After nearly a
year, I still do it. The night she was born, after
they cleaned us up and took us down to our recovery
room, I was too excited to sleep despite 29 hours of
labor. I watched my daughter sleep, for the first
time. Her breathing was ragged that night, she was
tired from her journey, and so was I. But I could not
sleep. Her dad was asleep, in the nice Queen bed in
the recovery room. I took Rose out of her little
terrarium thingy and walked up and down the hall. When
I finally got to sleep, I dreamed I was a baby, and
that my mom was singing to me. When I woke up, Rose
was still there.

I'm so excited for you.

Blessings on your journey.

I'm obsessed with the East Village Inky at the moment... and feeling some creative urges. I think I will try to actually write something creative, as opposed to just ranting or giving descriptions of my day... what do you think? Shocking! So stay tuned for my futile attempts!