Northern Noise

It's Halloween again.  This year I'm going to be in Anchorage so I'll miss out on the trick or treating.  Bob can take the boy and, unless things change by Monday, it will be a warm and low snow evening.  I keep thinking of the years of 20 below and snowstorms, but this year has been weirdly mild so far. Jed is probably going to be an astronaut.  Aileen is still deciding.  This year, no costume for me.  I'm not in a school and I'm not trick or treating, so mellow I will be. I suggested to Ali that we make her a tin woodsman costume, with a cute heart inside.  She liked the idea for a minute, then nixed it.  I suggested a little girl, an octopus or an M&M.  No go.  I suggested she take her dad's overcoat and galoshes and go as a flasher.  Her dad said no.  I wonder what she'll decide. I was a punker one year at Lathrop, and then we went to buy a new car and I looked like an 80's throwback crazy woman.  It was a cool costume though, and the stude

18 years ago today one of my oldest, dearest, and onery-est friends got hitched.  She married a great guy, and they're put up with one another -happily it seems - for all these years.  I had the honor of being her maid of honor, one of my fondest memories. One memory I have is that it was my first time to rent a car.  I flew into Seattle from school in Fairbanks, rented a car and headed out to the boondocks of Oroville, Wa.  I brought with me my electric blue bride's maid dress.  My mom was supposed to make it for me, and she pretty much did.  Only she ran out of time and motivation before she got  the button holes done.  So she figured she could accomplish the same look by sewing the buttons on the outside, and attaching snaps to hold it shut.  Hmmm, that was a decision that would haunt me later. The whole family was there - on both sides and everyone was happy for Bill and Denise.  I always really liked Bill, and not just because he owned a bar and had a lead on lots of b

On election day I think about Shakespeare - specifically Julius Caesar and Macbeth.  hmmm. Let me have men about me that are fat; Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights; Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. (Julius Caesar, 1.2.192)  'Tis a common proof, That lowliness is young ambition's ladder, Whereto the climber-upward turns his face; But when he once attains the upmost round, He then unto the ladder turns his back, Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees By which he did ascend. (Julius Caesar 2.1.22)  Fair is foul, and foul is fair. (Maceth I.i.12) Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under it. (Macbeth I.v. 64)   I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And falls on the other.  (Macbeth I.vii.25-28)   When in doubt, look to Sh

I have been trying to remember to stop every day and give thanks for the blessings I have.  I love my job, I have a wonderful family, although we're not always the healthiest family we don't have anything chronic or life-threatening.  We have enough money to live, our house is modest but comfortable, we have heat and we generally all get along pretty well. It's a shame that it often takes something bad to remind of us of how lucky we are.  A friend's cancer, a too-early death, an unexpected divorce, or a bad choice with devastating consequences...these things remind me that one never knows what tomorrow will bring. I need to translate my thanks and blessings into action.  If I can be healthier and reduce the risk of contracting a disease that will make my family hurt, I need to do that.  I need to tell people thank you, and how much I care for them. So here's my reminder to myself.  Peace.

I miss teaching literature, Shakespeare especially.  I think of literature as a science experiment.  Since we can't take actual people and put them in various, potentially traumatic situations we read.  The thesis is simple:  if we take character A and add environment or conflict and then shake it up, what will happen?  Literature shows us this and then we can ask ourselves, how would I react in that same spot? Shakespeare is especially awesome because his plots and characters are so relevant throughout time and for all people.  Issues like ambition, guilt, love, honor apply to everyone.  I miss helping students realize that, not only can they understand Shakespeare, they can enjoy it.  And that amidst the sex and death and laughter are themes that will shape the choices they make in the future. I don't know that I can find a comparable topic or experience to teaching Shakespeare within my current world of facilitating curriculum and teaching teachers.  But I guess I'