Harmonia's Necklace

Someday, When I Finish This Dissertation, I'll...

2009-11-10T22:16:00.002-05:00

Read an actual long and involved novel - maybe even a series! - instead of short stories.
Get a life.
Stop getting headaches.
Stop having weary eyes (seriously, I've had tired dry eyes for the past three weeks).
Feel like I can relax.
Maybe end my dependency on Diet Coke.
Do something fun and not feel guilty
Build a bonfire and burn a copy of the dissertation.

This Is What It's Come To

2009-11-09T19:32:00.002-05:00

While talking to my dad on the phone

Dad: So, we're having [insert number] over for Thanksgiving. Prepare accordingly.

Me: Oh. Okay.

We reached the point where it is just assumed that I am in charge of all food-related aspects of Thanksgiving. Not that this is anything new, but in the past there have been at least been the pretense that I will receive assistance.

Dare I Make A Christmas Wishlist For The Kittehs?

2009-11-08T21:38:00.003-05:00

I'm seriously tempted to do it just to annoy one of my siblings. I can just see her frothing right now. Hee!

Everybody in my family makes a list - it's tradition - and I was considering putting a fountain for the kittehs on my list, because that's the type of thing I/they could use and that my parents might get for me. But suddenly, the idea of making a list for them really amuses me. And yes, it amuses me mostly because I know how much that one sibling would be annoyed by it. Especially if I compose it in LOLSpeak.

But honestly, could you possibly deny these two some goodies?

Oops, Forgot Friday's Post - This Is A Combo

2009-11-07T17:05:00.003-05:00

I intended to post this last night (I had posted it elsewhere:

Game Time! Below is a quotation. Name the book title, author, and date of publication (if possible). No cheating!!!

“It was after the catastrophe when they shot the president and machine-gunned the Congress and the army declared a state of emergency. They blamed it on the Islamic fanatics, at the time. Keep calm, they said on television. Everything is under control. I was stunned. Everyone was, I know that. It was hard to believe. The entire government, gone like that. How did they get in, how did it happen? That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn’t even rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn’t even an enemy you could put your finger on.”

For today, since it is Caturday, there are kittehs!

A Sign I'm Getting Old

2009-11-05T20:41:00.002-05:00

My facebook status the other day was a line from "Everyday Is Like Sunday." Specifically, it was the line "come, come, nuclear bomb." Apparently, this horrified a teenage relative who has befriended me. Having no idea that it was a line from a song - despite the fact that a friend had followed up the title - she thought I was seriously suggesting that we get bombed.

Sigh.

Mixed Feelings

2009-11-04T22:37:00.004-05:00

My niece is trying out for the cheerleading squad this week. As you might imagine, I have all sorts of feminist analyses of the situation rumbling through my head. I'm sure I don't need to go into all of them. I want her to be happy and making the squad will make her happy. I know plenty of people who were cheerleaders who are great people. I probably wouldn't even worry about it if it weren't for a conversation I had with her last winter.

We were at one of my nephews' basketball games. The team played in a church league - this was generally ok, but there were a few things I found "interesting" about the league. Perhaps a post for another day. Anyway, the league has cheerleaders.

At this point I should probably mention that the kids were playing in a school gymnasium and there were two games in-play at the same time. While my nephew was playing in his game, there was a game between two teams in the girls' league for the same age-level. So, I'm sitting there watching his game and occasionally glancing over at the other, and I start to wonder why the 8 yr old boy's basketball team had cheerleaders but the 8 yr old girl's team did not. Same league, cheerleaders don't belong to a specific team. In the game my nephew played, they cheered for both teams, switching every quarter. So I wondered, why can't they cheer for the girls playing on the next court every other quarter?

I wasn't sure if this was always the case, though, so I asked my niece if the cheer squad ever cheers for the girls. She replied, stating that girls are suppose to cheer for boys not girls. WAIT JUST ONE MINUTE!!! I hope that I dealt with it well at the time. I asked her why that was so, and she looked bewildered. She really didn't have an answer. She might have rethought that idea. It wasn't a good time for a feminist chat from Aunt K8 since we were suppose to be watching and cheering on her brother.

So, this is the type of thing that concerns me - that she might still think that it is all about cheering on the boys. Cheering on the boys is great, but I'm hoping that the squad cheers on the girls as well. I know that it isn't practical to have middle school cheerleaders cheering at every single athletic event at the school, but the practice of only cheering on the boys really disturbs me. It diminishes women's and girls' athletics by implying that they aren't worthy of the school-sanctioned support of the cheer squad. It also perpetuates this damaging idea my niece had (and I hope doesn't still have) that girls don't cheer for and support other girls.

So yes, I have mixed feelings. Rah rah, go team!

Any Ideas?**

2009-11-03T19:54:00.005-05:00

So, here's the situation: I have a lot of semolina flour that needs to be used.

I've been making pizzas and have considered pasta, but I still have about 2 pounds of the stuff left. Does anyone out there have a recipe they like includes it? I think I have some bread recipes that call for it, but I'm really willing to try all sorts of things.

**Earlier today I actually had an idea for a substantial post, but I've since forgotten what it was. I must be getting old.

Guilty Pleasures And Other Oddities

2009-11-02T20:57:00.004-05:00

Today I:

Danced around the kitchen while listening to (and singing along to) "I Enjoy Being A Girl"
Followed up listening to Mozart with listening to Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus"
Couldn't figure out what was wrong with my laptop until I realized that Plum had her head on the Control key
Ate some Halloween candy

Oh good grief, I don't feel guilty. I probably should, but I don't.

In other news, I made a pizza:

Usually, I make thin crust pizza, but I had a lot of tomato slices so I figured the crust needed a little more heft. The last of my Amish Paste tomatoes are on there. I saved a few before the freeze and the last of them finally ripened. And they were good!

NaBloPoMo - #1

2009-11-01T23:01:00.002-05:00

Since I've been bad about blogging, I've decided to blog each day this month. They might be short posts, and they might involve photos, but they will be posts. To start off, I give you Touchdown Sophie to honor today's Colts' win.

More Gratuitous Pictures Of The Kittehs

2009-09-17T11:48:00.000-04:00

Sophie knows what's going on and is keeping her eyes on me.

Plum is still crazy.

But they both still love each other.

This is the reason why I rarely eat at the kitchen table. It's also the reason I don't use a tablecloth anymore. It's much easier to just wipe down the table on a regular basis.

Both kittehs still enjoy playing with packing paper.

While spending some time at my parents' house, Sophie took advantage of the heat generated by the satellite receiver on top of the tv in the basement.

One last picture!

Found A Quotation I Like

2009-09-09T17:12:00.002-04:00

This just cracked me up. I hope the Shakespeare folks out there appreciate it, too.

"It has on occasion been a source of puzzlement to me that there are a number of otherwise sensible people, many of them old enough to know better, who maintain, perhaps from some kind of strange cultural snobbery, that William Shakespeare could not have written the plays that bear his name, and that these plays must, obviously, have been written by a member of the British aristocracy, written by some lord or earl forced to hide his literary light under a bushel. And, this is chiefly a source of puzzlement to me because the British aristocracy, while it has produced more than its share of hunters, eccentrics, farmers, warriors, diplomats, con men, heroes, robbers, politicians, and monsters, has never been noted in any century or era for the production of great writers."

from Neil Gaiman's Introduction to Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter. He goes on to note that Lord Dunsany was "one of the rare exceptions."

Attack Of The Mutant Vegetables

2009-09-04T14:52:00.003-04:00

I'm helping out my parents for a few days this week. A couple of days ago, I went out to their garden to see what needed to be done. Well, a lot needed to be done (and still needs to be done), but one thing in particular stuck out. Or should I say, stuck up through the ground. Even with the top of it showing above the ground, I had no idea how big this beet really was.

It is an enormous beet. I couldn't pull it all the way out. It broke at the bottom. There probably should have been someone there to film me pulling it out of the ground with both hands. I'm sure it looked pretty funny. Anyway, after it broke off I shoveled around it and found that I had left 4 inches in the ground. Unbelievable! People - don't let your beets get this big. It's just bad gardening.

That's a size 9 shoe next to it. Yeah.

Going To CCCC Despite My Lamest Presentation Title EVER

2009-09-04T11:55:00.003-04:00

Here's the proposal (and yes, I quoted The Music Man in the title - I am a dork):

“Ya Gotta Know The Territory”: Progressive Era Librarians Creating Community-Specific Literacy Programming in Rural and Urban America

In this presentation, I examine the ways Progressive Era librarians developed and employed a mixture of approaches in their literacy outreach work to a diverse and growing immigrant population. This project explores the ways a predominantly female workforce of public librarians adapted, revised, and rethought their work both inside and outside of the library, expanding their presence in their communities and in public life. Librarians working in these communities regularly contributed articles to various librarian practitioner journals and presented papers at local, state, and national conferences, some of which were reprinted either in part or in their entirety within these journals. In addition, some of their work was reprinted from booklets and pamphlets put out by organizations and roundtables within the American Library Association, most notably the ALA Roundtable for Library Work with the Foreign Born. These rich sources of literacy outreach narratives provide the foundation of this project.

Drawing principally on feminist rhetorical theories and analysis of historical recovery as presented in the works of Cheryl Glenn, Nan Johnson, Shirley Wilson Logan, Anne Ruggles Gere, etc., I weave together the relationships between literacy ideology, institutions, gender, and professionalization as they influenced this textual production during the Progressive Era. Specifically, I delve into the ways in which this gendered history can be recovered and continue with issues of gender and authority within the profession. My historical methods are informed by Cheryl Glenn’s notion of remapping rhetorical history to include those rhetors who have been lost to male-dominated histories of rhetoric and writing. Nan Johnson’s expansion of this concept, describing a project that not only ‘remaps’ women into the rhetorical tradition, but that also considers the ways in which gendered ideologies permeate these women’s (and men’s) rhetorical lives, illuminates the ways in which institution (the American Library Association), the profession of librarianship, and community factor into these librarians’ presence within their respective communities.

In this presentation, I focus on two locations of literacy outreach work: urban neighborhoods and rural communities. In the former, I explore the role of the branch library within the city as an institution separating lower-class immigrant library patrons from the middle- and upper-class patrons for whom the central libraries were built. Librarians at the neighborhood branches write about work in their neighborhoods, in the settlement houses, in the factories, and in the schools. However, librarians working in rural areas faced different challenges, particularly those engaged in bookwagon or bookmobile library service. These librarians worked with an immigrant and non-immigrant population that was largely isolated and their patrons included farmers and men working in mines. In narratives from both of the urban and rural communities, class and gender norms emerge as these advocates for literacy and citizenship seek to serve their immigrant patrons, as well as their own ambitions. Americanization work by librarians and the ALA provided opportunities for publicizing what they saw as the critical function of the American public library within a democracy. The articles written by librarians and library leaders in professional journals sought both to demonstrate the importance of the library as a civic entity and to demonstrate the ease with which librarians across the country could engage in Americanization work in their communities.

The Reason Portions Of My Dissertation Won't Contain The Letters "q," "w," "a," "s," "z," x," and "c"

2009-07-24T21:39:00.002-04:00

Bleh

2009-07-22T15:48:00.003-04:00

I've been really tired all day. I didn't sleep well last night and I haven't taken a nap. At this point in time, I don't want to, either. Regardless, my brain just isn't functioning anymore. So, this picture (taken by my niece last week) of Chewie pretty much sums up how I feel about this tired rainy gloomy excuse of a day.

Does A Happy Dance

2009-07-20T21:02:00.003-04:00

That would be one Cherokee Purple tomato on the left and one Old German tomato on the right. And yes, they are very good!!!

A Short Tale From Yesterday

2009-07-18T12:42:00.008-04:00

I spent yesterday afternoon with my niece and nephew, and later had dinner with the family. It was a gorgeous day - somewhat overcast, nice breeze, about 70 F. We were at my parents, who live about 1/4 mile from a soft serve ice cream place.
So, I suggested that we put Chewie on a leash, walk to Dairy Freeze, and have a treat. My mother thought we were being a little "adventurous" since there isn't a sidewalk (oh, the horror and danger of walking where there are no sidewalks!!!), but we went anyway and she even came along.

As you can see, a large part of the walk can be taken on a cart path at the golf course along the way. This isn't exactly dangerous. Anyway, we had our ice cream and the guy working there even gave Chewie a little treat - a small cup of ice cream with a dog biscuit on top. He enjoyed his treat.

Behind the Dairy Freeze is a small cemetery. I decided that I'd like to take a picture of a statue in it, so my niece came along with me while my mom, my nephew, and Chewie waited outside the gate. Nephew gets a little freaked out by cemeteries and my mother thought it would be improper to take Chewie. It isn't like I was planning to go off the pathways and let him "mark" someone's grave, but she didn't think it would be "right" so he stayed outside the grounds with them. (fwiw, this cemetery is so small that we could easily see that there was no one there to be offended - except, perhaps, for the dead folks).

Anyway, while we were there, we also took a quick look at a small mausoleum.
My niece liked it and decided that she wanted one. I told her to tell her mother and thought that was the end of the conversation. It wasn't, but we'll get to that in a bit.

As I mentioned, there is a golf course along the way. Next to the cemetery is a shed that belongs to the golf course. As we passed it, my nephew (age 9) asked, "Is that where they take out the heart and lungs and brain before they bury people?" We all looked at him with surprise. Apparently, he's getting his information from movies with aliens in them. He wasn't very clear, but he got this idea from either Independence Day or Men in Black. Note to self: kids this age probably won't understand everything that's going on in pg-13 films, especially in terms of what's real and what's not when it comes to the difference between the way dead alien bodies and dead human bodies are treated. We tried to set him straight, but I'm not sure how much of the truth actually sunk in.

Cemetery and dead body talk ended, we arrived back at the house and the kids played for most of the afternoon.
I shucked corn, my mom picked sugar snap peas from the garden, and the kids played with bubble stuff. A fairly calm afternoon.

Dinner was excellent. However, while we were eating, my niece said, "Mom, I have something to tell you." I suddenly thought, "Uh oh!" She told her mother that when she dies, she wants a mausoleum. Also, could her mom please pay for it since niece doesn't have the money for that sort of thing (she's 12).

I'm pretty sure my sister blames me for this. There was definitely a glare directed at me. I could barely keep myself from laughing. I couldn't bring myself to tell her about the conversation we had with her son about removing organs from dead bodies. Perhaps I should have, though. Just another normal dinner conversation with the family.

Progress - Fourth of July Food Edition

2009-07-02T11:52:00.003-04:00

So far today I have:

Completed the grocery shopping. At 9:30 am the supermarket was already packed.
Went to the butcher shop. Meats have been purchased, as well as several pickled eggs for my father.
Soaked dry beans overnight.
Boiled the soaked beans this morning.
Cooking beans with other ingredients in the crock pot for the next 9 hours.
Fried bacon bits for the broccoli-bacon salad.

What I still need to do today:

Make salsa.
Cut pork into kabob-size pieces.
Make marinade for pork (later tonight) and combine with pork.
Clean!!!!!
Furminate the cats.
Figure out what I'm going to put all of this food in/on

Tomorrow I need to:

Cut peppers and onions for the skewers.
Wash cherry tomatoes for the skewers
Prepare the skewers.
Squeeze 2 cups of lemon juice out of lemons for homemade lemonade.
Prepare broccoli-bacon salad
Get ice for the coolers
Place beer and soda in freshly iced coolers.
Table-top prep.

And probably a bunch of other stuff that I'll remember at the last minute.

How Do I Get Myself Into These Things???

2009-06-29T12:01:00.003-04:00

I'm hosting 4th of July-related festivities this Friday (that's when the fireworks at the lake will occur). We are also celebrating my dad's birthday that evening. Naturally, I'm in charge of a lot of food prep. I don't mind that so much, but I wish I had someone to clean for me. That part is a bit less enjoyable. While eating lunch just a moment ago, I plotted out my schedule for all of this work.

I'll be making/preparing the following items:

This salsa. My dad requested chips and salsa. I was going to buy salsa, but the nasty (and premature) heat last week caused my cilantro to bolt, so I need to use it anyway.
This broccoli-bacon salad.
Pork kabobs marinated in a sauce that includes curry, chili sauce, honey, and other goodies. This means I will be chopping up pork, onions, and peppers. Thankfully the cherry tomatoes require less work.
Hamburgers for the 2 or 3 people who are unwilling to try the aforementioned kabobs because they are unadventurous picky eaters. Two of these are kids under 9, so I forgive them. The adult has no excuse. I am picky, but I'll at least try things.
Baked beans. Fairly easy, but I need to keep track of the schedule since I start with dry beans and slow cook them in the crock pot.
Beverages for all ages.

All in all, it isn't too bad - my mom's making a Texas Sheet Cake for dessert and I'm making sure there's ice cream available. She's preparing some fruit, too. But of course, I have a lot of cleaning to do, as well as prep work and set up. I'm getting ready to make a grocery run today for all things that I can get ahead of schedule. I feel so domestic.

I'm Confused

2009-06-22T18:50:00.003-04:00

After spending a day in the sun with no sunscreen on, a person I know got sunburned. I thought this person looked fairly red, actually, especially on the face. Anyway...this person did not treat the burn in any way - said it didn't hurt. This person then chose to spend the next day (from about 1pm to 4pm or later) outside in the blazing hot sun with NO sunscreen on.

Why, why, why would anyone do this? Am I the only one who thinks this is incredibly stupid? When I expressed a little concern, my concern was scoffed at. It seems like this is just asking for major skin damage.

I just don't understand. Maybe I'm over-protective when it comes to these things, but this just seems crazy to me.

Just Got Back

2009-06-21T19:39:00.000-04:00

from Father's Day festivities. It was fairly low key, really. My dad got a new grill, so we grilled.

As such, I decided that it was ok to go with a cliché of a present and went with grill tools. Normally, I'd try to be a little more inventive, but, well, I wasn't.

I returned to this scene:

That's the packing paper my dad's present came with when it was shipped. The kitties seem to enjoy it. This was the first I had seen Sophie playing in it. Last night (yes, I've left it on my floor that long) Plum was all over it.

I think that maybe I just need to buy a big roll of this stuff.

I'm very excited about my container garden. I already have a few baby tomatoes!!! This is a pair of Amish Paste Tomatoes:

This is my first Old German Tomato. I love the creases in it!

And this is the start of a Cherokee Purple tomato.

I can't wait for them to ripen! I haven't seen any of my brandywines yet, but I think they take longer to mature. The plant does have blooms on it, though.

ok - time to get to work since I haven't done anything academic today.

Fireworks, Powerwashers, And Helipads

2009-06-07T19:07:00.005-04:00

I've seen fireworks for the past couple of nights. I wonder if there will be more tonight. I don't know if they are related to high school graduations/graduation parties this weekend, or if people are just setting them off for fun. There are at least two fireworks outlets/stores within 2 miles of where I live.

We had a smattering of rain earlier. Afterwards, my neighbor power-washed his driveway. He then brushed off the excess water. Then he power-washed the sidewalk/path around the side of his garage. Then he used the leaf blower on the walks and drive. I've never seen someone so obsessive about their landscaping and home exterior. He is constantly using his lawnmower, leaf blower, edger, or powerwasher - or, he's mulching, raking, sweeping, etc. It really is at the level of obsessiveness.

This past winter, I was shocked to encounter this scene outside of my window:

So, obviously my first instinct was to grab my camera and run outside to take pics. Anyway, as it turns out the guy two doors down now has a helicopter and a license to fly it. He has a helipad at his primary residence and is trying to think of a way to have one here. Naturally, my father suggested ways he could do this - primarily, building one, placing it on pontoons, and having it anchored/attached to their dock or yard or something like that. Apparently, this was already under consideration. So, we'll see if there ends up being a helipad in the neighborhood by the end of this summer.

Gratuitous Cat Photos:

mmmmmmm...a Sophiesicle!

2009-06-04T15:08:00.002-04:00

And, I finally got a picture of Sophie doing something strange. Just so y'all know that Plum isn't the only one.

This might just need a caption.

2 + 5 = 7

2009-05-25T21:52:00.001-04:00

About #1

2009-05-18T21:24:00.004-04:00

So, I've been asked in a couple places what my "secret" is for Lesson #1 from my last post. In it, I wrote:

"You know those guys who are arrogant, condescending, hyper-argumentative, and a little bit sexist to boot? Of course you do - academia has its share. This is the same type of male student who challenges female instructors' authority. Anyway, apparently I really am good at dealing with them. Although I have to admit that I feel a bit icky when I see them giving me respect while treating others like #%#$(%(#@. I really wish I didn't have to be good at dealing with these jerks."

The thing is, I'm still trying to figure. That is, I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I'm doing that works. I suspect it's a different combination of factors that have worked with each one.

Here's what I know.

I'm pretty good at being calm and firm, not letting them see that they get to me, not giving them a weakness to prey upon. They're like dogs who sense fear on a person. They really are. The second they sense a weakness, they will take advantage of it. For example, I've had a male student try to invade my personal space and try to literally back me into a corner. Thing is, I didn't back up. I stood my ground and looked him straight in the eye. I'm 5' 5 1/2", which is about average and he was definitely taller, but height doesn't really intimidate me. I guess that comes from being the shortest in my family by 3 inches. My brother is a foot taller than I am. The guy tried it on one other occasion and then gave up. However, my actions in that instance could be construed as aggressive, I suppose.

Anyway, I've had a couple out there students in the past, at least one of whom had some untreated psych issues. I guess my mom's (the former social worker) advice about dealing with abusive personalities stuck with me. A lot of that involves remaining calm (or at least have the appearance of calm), keeping the voice steady and firm. Raising volume or pitch can work against you. [It's probably telling that my mother didn't raise her voice when she corrected us when we were kids. Instead, she spoke more quietly, forcing us to lean in and pay attention.] Keeping aware of posture can help, too.

I know that my language tends to be more formal and more polite (but not obsequious) in these situations. Follow through is important, too. If I say that "x" will be a consequence for "y," I absolutely have to stick with it. Even if inside I want to be nice, it must be done.

The reason this came up in the last post, was because I just went through this in an online situation. Apparently, I'm decent in dealing with these guys online, through writing, too. Somehow, towards the end of a thread (about Shakespeare, no less), I was the only one he was treating with any respect. What happened? I didn't react to his outbursts and hyperbole. I didn't respond to his comments using the abusive tone he inflicted on others. I was calm and almost coldly logical with him and actually was able to get him to address the point of the original post, which he hadn't done in the beginning as he was too busy slamming everyone else's comments.

I did feel icky after this. He actually started addressing serious, on-topic comments to me while dismissing other people's valid points - even when I reiterated and supported those people's points. So yeah, he treated me like a human being, but he was still being a jerk to everyone else. Not a total win, but it made me think about this issue and a few "special" students I've encountered in the past.

As a side note, I'm also pretty good at breaking down their arguments logically, which doesn't hurt. As far as those academic guys like this are concerned, it almost disgusts me how many of them treat me like "one of them" because one of my reading areas was critical theory. Bleh! This happened with a number of my fellow grad students who also happen to be male. These are the same guys who are impressed by the fact that I've read Kant and a few other Dead Germans in German, never mind that I have a degree in the language. Even so, most professional translators have surely done a better job with these texts than I have.

Other than that, I'm not sure what the answer is. Maybe I'm oblivious to some things that are going on. Maybe I just don't care enough to let it bother me. Well, that's not true. It's probably more accurate to say that I have little-to-no problem confronting the jerks because I refuse to play their deranged reindeer games. I can be a little hard-headed about things like that. If nothing else, I am stubborn.

I was just thinking that all of these lessons about being calm, firm, and in control were also part of learning to work with the horses we had when I was growing up. Maybe working with large, powerful animals helped me learn how to physically and vocally present myself in these situations. Hmmmmmm.....something to think about.