My favorite things from the last 7 days...

I will do it sort of chronologically, Monday through today:

1. Discussion with teenagers:
I am doing a residency at Lincoln High School and one of the classes I am working with is an African American studies class. This is their first year offering it, so it is definitely a work in progress. This week when I visited I was explaining one of my pieces, "Freedom and Justice Are Not Optional." The conversation led me to get into the criminalization of the poor, the war on drugs, and the prison industrial complex. Before I knew it the bell was ringing to dismiss for lunch and there were still hands in the air. A couple of young brothers even stayed after to talk to me more. It wasn't that we were all on the same page, several of them had bought into the tough on crime mythology. But to be in a high school classroom with predominately Black students talking about stuff I usually discuss with college students was amazing! So much potential!

2. Recording for KBOO with 4th graders at Rosa Parks:
OK, since we were gathered in larger groups than usual, in order to take a couple students at a time in to record, it was hectic for sure. (Our "studio" was a classroom and the set up was super simple.) But being there to witness kids recite their own writing and have an opportunity to record for radio for the first time was fantastic! To be able to share resources with them and give them opportunities we didn't have at their age, to support their creativity, is so inspiring! It will be on the air in late March. (If I have finished rebuilding my website by then I will add the link to the calendar.) And Erin, the KBOO volunteer who agreed to come out and do the project was so great with the kids. She was patient, and even gave them an opportunity to check out the equipment. We are talking about 25 or so kids around 10 years old. That takes patience!

3. Achieving some success at fundraising for my daughter's exchange program to China:
I was on the verge of giving up. Folks hadn't been getting back to me, plus its a recession. But I really hated the thought of squashing my daughter's ambitions and goals over money, when she is really doing such a great job in school and being really involved all around. Then, this week, people actually started getting back to me and pledging support. While it is still only a fraction of what we need, it makes a huge difference in my level of overwhelmedness and came just in time before I was going to have to say a definitive "No" on the whole thing. So we are not giving up and my daughter will hopefully have her first opportunity to see another country with classmates and teachers from her school.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP OUT, send me a message and I will gladly send you more info! Every bit helps, $10/$25/$50. (If you can give $100 or more my daughter will send you a piece of her art.) We will send EVERYONE who contributes pics and a letter from the trip.

4. Free Wine and Cheese:
There was a function around student learning in our modern era, which I knew about because the organizers are also doing this training I am involved in this term. I am learning more about pedagogy and techniques for teaching on line in preparation for my on-line summer courses. So they had free wine, fruit, cheese and crackers. Free snacks gets me excited. Adults really need more snack times, it shouldn't be just a kid thing. Also I saw someone I hadn't talked to in ages who really inspires me and is super supportive.

5. Lebanese Food:
A good friend, whose company is like sunshine on a cloudy day, took me out to dinner at this incredible Lebanese restaurant downtown. We shared chicken shwarma and this amazing lamb dish. I really like lamb when it is well cooked, which this was. I always mess up lamb when I make the attempt, so I rarely eat it. Oooh and the dessert was fantastic!

6. Teaching 4th Graders at Glencoe elementary:
I was battling a cold throughout the residency this week and last, but they kept me energized. For the first time, I did in class poetry slams with elementary students. They were awesome! Their skills and styles covered a pretty wide range, but they stepped up and took on the challenge with contagious enthusiasm. Over the course of the residency, I talk to them a little about African American oral tradition- from Brer Rabbit trickster folktales, to blues and jazz, to hip-hop. They wrote a variety of pieces in a range of styles and almost all of them performed the last day. I loved it, and I gave them the full on slam host vibe and had them cheering and rowdy. FUN FUN FUN!
As an important side note- there was a day this week where we listened to a hip hop song to find examples of alliteration, metaphor/simile, and internal rhyme. I said they could use highlighters if they had them. They were so excited about highlighters! Some of them just highlighted everything! Remember being young enough to be excited about the little inexpensive things? A new box of crayons... a cool barrette... getting to color in class? Maybe subconsciously that is why I still get excited about office supplies.

7. My son brought me breakfast in bed today:
He made me a breakfast sandwich with a perfectly fried egg, cheese and turkey bacon. Yummy!

8. Having the weekend to rest:
While I was originally supposed to be in Eugene this weekend doing a workshop/performance/ panel at U of O with Walidah & Boots from THE COUP (among others), because I have been so sick and over worked I cancelled. I am bummed that I don't get to see Boots, who I have known for almost 20 years... : ( But my body is glad to be resting after a whirlwind couple of weeks where I couldn't take a day off since my schedule was so insane and I couldn't reschedule anything. Also, my blankets are warm and toasty and I have time to lay here and blog. If only weekends could be longer...
ok, wait. As a parent of school age children in Oregon I maybe shouldn't say that, cause there have been schools talking about going to a 4 day school week due to the budget crises. But I'm sure people know what I generally mean about wanting more days off to relax!

Returning to technology... slowly

When my computer crashed I was at an all-time height of productivity. I started a facebook account, I was updating everything, blogging, making and finding friends in the virtual terrain. Then it happened, like a swift icy smack in the face of all my efforts. Words cannot describe the sensation fully.

Its seismic impact ripped holes in my file, rendering my technological landscape of hard work into a ragged disaster of unorganized chaos. Slowly, I am making my way through the rubble in an attempt to resurrect and recreate that which isn't lost forever.

Photos- many are gone, with no hope of retrieval.
Music- my itunes library is but a shell of empty references to the songs (approximately 3500) and albums that used to be there. Sure most are on my ipod, but my ability to sync and add is stunted until I figure out how to remedy it.
Website- sure it is still online as it was when I last updated it before the crash, but the files that I built and published from are no longer in my software program, which means I have to rebuild my website from the ground up before I can publish any changes. To publish it now, would erase what is currently on-line.
Files- I recovered the most important things, my thesis/ manuscript and work saved before April of 08. But the gap between then and now- gone.

This is why I haven't been blogging.
This is why the calendar on the website is growing stale.
This is why, after all my progress over the last couple of years temporarily halted.

Yesterday I started rebuilding my website. It has a lot of pages, a lot of links, a lot of files. What I have saved from 08 are random pieces saved in weird formats from it being published, not all of them translate over correctly and it is frustrating since I no longer have all of those photos and files on my computer. Some things I can cut and paste, but it is slow going.

I still like my laptop, but the glowing 2 year honeymoon "love" phase is over. I have doubts now, fears, phobias, caution and a sense of hesitancy. Will it betray me again? Like the love interest who is initially perfect, then starts making crude jokes, acting a mess, leaving trails of disfunction and you wonder, "how did I not see this before?" You can't go back to the way it was, instead you have to find ways to forgive, forget and/or move forward. All "F" words, which ironically also starts the curse word that keep coming to mind as I try to make order out of the chaos.