poem by alastair reid

I do like that my job affords me opportunity to read poetry while supervising students in the computer lab:

Curiosity
may have killed the cat; more likely
the cat was just unlucky, or else curious
to see what death was like, having no cause
to go on licking paws, or fathering
litter on litter of kittens, predictably.

Nevertheless, to be curious
is dangerous enough. To distrust
what is always said, what seems
to ask odd questions, interfere in dreams,
leave home, smell rats, have hunches
do not endear cats to those doggy circles
where well-smelt baskets, suitable wives, good lunches
are the order of things, and where prevails
much wagging of incurious heads and tails.

Face it. Curiosity
will not cause us to die--only lack of it will.
Never to want to see
the other side of the hill
or that improbable country
where living is an idyll
(although a probable hell)
would kill us all.
Only the curious
have, if they live, a tale
worth telling at all.

Dogs say cats love too much, are irresponsible,
are changeable, marry too many wives,
desert their children, chill all dinner tables
with tales of their nine lives.
Well, they are lucky. Let them be
nine-lived and contradictory,
curious enough to change, prepared to pay
the cat price, which is to die
and die again and again,
each time with no less pain.
A cat minority of one
is all that can be counted on
to tell the truth. And what cats have to tell
on each return from hell
is this: that dying is what the living do,
that dying is what the loving do,
and that dead dogs are those who do not know
that dying is what, to live, each has to do.

my 9th-grade self tells all

Oh, get ready: I was reading my 9th-grade journal today, and I found these gems:

"The good thing about family parties is Mom buys you a lot of presents since your friends don't come."
"The quality I like about myself is my ability to get along well with other people."
"I'll tell you one thing, if I was a teacher students would like to come to school so much, there would be no absences."

Out of a list of things I would do with unlimited money:
"give money to the government to get it out of debt (even though there may not be enough money in the world to do that)." "I would buy someone to teach me every little thing and I would become the smartest person in the world."

"Today so far has been a pretty boring day. Things have gone so smoothly and so according to routine that I'm just a little bored, but hopefully things will get a little more interesting."
"I guess you could say I have a taste for situational irony."

After my Dad came back from Europe:
"You know, he said 'you expect lazanya [I love my 9th-grade spelling!] to come from Italy, well they served some kind of ravioli.' We were all a little surprised."
"In Spain, he said he loved the paella (it's a favorite Spanish dish with rice, some sort of meat, and seafood). My Dad said he didn't bother to learn any Spanish: just paella."

About my 16th-birthday party:
"I want my party to be the biggest one ever! (I sure am planning ahead, I haven't even celebrated my 15th birthday yet!). I'm going to invite almost everyone I know."

"I think the Government is trying to give too much power to the States. This could lead to states wanting to become separate countries and perhaps start another civil war."

"I am trying to learn to write with my left hand, that way I can use both my left and right hand to write with, that way if one hand gets tired like mine is now, I can just switch to the other." [On this one, I even drew an arrow to "I can" and wrote "this is lefthanded (pretty bad, huh?)."]

"You also may know that my hand and arm are hurting pretty bad right now and I have a bad case of writer's cramp, but so far I've got almost 2 pages, and I'm going to keep going. I may never write again after this so I hope you appreciate it."

"I've never been much of a person to go to football games and things like that, I must confess, and it's simply because I just don't want to."

"Mrs. Grey, a lady who lived in a big white house whom I used to rake leaves for, died Sat. She was 97 years old, she was one of my favorite older people, she was sweet and serious."

"One thing that's been in the news is the death of Rabin, Israel's Prime Minister, and I am totally for sure that I will most definitely not be the only one writing about this."

And finally, an entry about George Washington:
"Oh, if 'ole Georgie could see how the government is being run today, he would probably faint at all the chaos, how more emphasis is put on who is getting elected than who in this world is getting killed by people who were getting life-imprisonment got to go free in a minimum of 7 years. I think he would be most concerned."

I'm so glad I still have this precious English journal. I'm going to go encourage my students to save the journal they're writing for me now!

political thoughts

Am I really doing this? Since my political science major (5 years ago - my 2nd major), it's like I've been on a long hiatus from political discourse, but in the last few days, I've been quite interested in a few things and even discussed some at length with a colleague during our mutual planning time.

First things first, though. Lindsay asked if I got the second frap - the answer, of course, is "no" (one coffee per day is enough for me, and I didn't need an afternoon caffeine boost disturbing my nap time). After talking this over with some friends, though, I realized that if you teamed up with a friend and your friend liked to drink coffee in the morning, you drank in the evening, and you split the cost, you really would have a symbiotic relationship that fared well for you and Starbucks. Use it to your advantage! (Who knows how long this promotion will go on?).

Anyway, my colleague mentioned a quote from Bill Clinton that I thought was just beautiful: "People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power." Doesn't this hold true for each of our lives? We should definitely take care of the economy at home and bless others by leading by example. I thought about how much America is in debt and how many people in America are in debt. Could it not be because of our leaders' examples?

Oh, but the reason I'm so amenable to democrats and republicans is because I also see the need to finish what we started in Iraq. I guess not so much in a war sense, but could we repair what is broken over there? Could we rebuild what we've destroyed? The most frustrating thing to me is not knowing what really goes on day in and day out.

And, what else? McCain chose a woman for his running mate. A history teacher told me just mins after it happened. This came as really good news to me (and is certainly complicating my voting choice). I do wish health to McCain, but man, if he were to die in office, we'd have a woman president. That was a smart political move for him, no doubt.

revival

Hey all! School's back in session, so since I can't access facebook at work, I'll probably get to do some more work on my blog.

The freshmen are SO CUTE.

Just went to Starbucks (this year is SO different from last year in regards to me having time). I ordered a tall mint mocha frap, which I highly recommend (chocolate whipped cream on top: imagine that!). Now, the hilarious thing was that with my purchase, I got a coupon to receive a $2 grande version (I think it has to be the same drink) after 2 p.m. TODAY. It is clear that yet again, Starbucks is certainly requiring addiction.

So, last night at writers' group, I wrote a few journal topics for my freshmen, but this question is certainly one I've been pondering over the last few days:

* Are certain people destined to be popular? Why or why not? How do appearances factor into one's status, or do they matter?

It's certainly an interesting question when observing teenagers at any level (and even some adults).

Open Mic tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at Broad St. Cafe - be there! I had a tough time choosing out of SEVERAL poems I'd written throughout the summer (not to mention the two I wrote last night).

review of a week in the mountains

Friends,

Zoe is awesome.

Monday - we painted a little - mostly enjoyed one another's company, and I played guitar for the first time EVER! (wanted to buy one immediately, but I've gotta save the learning on that for some other time, I think).

Tuesday - painted for four hours in the woods (First time painting outside). Picked mulberries during a rainstorm and climbed on a precarious bridge in order to do so. Went to church and then went contra dancing. Then watched Bella, which is a great movie and is directed by a Christian.

Wednesday - Painted with Zoe's friend Cindy in her house on top of a mountain, made key lime pie, and performed at open mic. They gave us free steak dinner - how cool is that?

Will have art pictures to share soon!

Hope everyone's enjoying their summer. Going swimming in the rock quarry tomorrow!

Need an Outlet

I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT GOING TO BUDAPEST!

God's provision will be made known.

I told Jeff Bullock today that I had a prophecy that said "I'm going to whistle and call you to another nation" - told him I had no idea what the whistling was about, and what did he do?

He whistled . . . for a long time.

When they prayed for me, they prayed, "Thank You, Lord for sending us cool people."

I know my Hungarian numbers up to 20.

I also know just enough to be dangerous in photoshop right now. . . .

Ah, what a wonderful summer of dreams!

A Snippet of Open Mic

I read a series of lists, and since I'm procrastinating a little bit on my project right now, I thought I'd post:

Top Ten Ways to Scare a Friend:

10. Change your identity.

9. Change your friend's identity.

8. Become a zombie.

7. Once you're a zombie, bite your friend so that he or she becomes a zombie.

6. Show your friend "Salad Fingers" on youtube.

5. Stage a car accident and "die."

4. Eat an entire bag of Doritos in under five minutes and then throw it up.

3. Have a party and invite all three versions of yourself.

2. Tell logical knock knock jokes. Knock, knock. Who's There? Duh, Me.

1. Eat a llama while it's still alive--start with its toes.