Odds and Ends at the End of January

I have been grading for hours, but happily, I got the first essays from my online classes graded.  I feel a bit brain dead, so let me just capture some snippets from the past day or two that I want to remember.

--This is the kind of week that makes me wonder what I might accomplish if I wasn't trying to accomplish so much.  I've got a full-time teaching job, a part-time teaching job, a part-time pastor job, and my MDiv program.

--That said, I am coming up with interesting ideas.  My English 102 classes are looking at works by Susan Glaspell that have plots that rely on a knowledge of quilting, which no one has these days.  I woke up Tuesday morning thinking about a quilting bee that could be open to the whole school.  Yesterday, I sent out this e-mail:  

Dear English Colleagues,

My MWF 102 class meets in the same room for my 10:00 class and noon class.  I am planning a quilting bee as we begin discussing "A Jury of Her Peers" and "Trifles."  I'll set up quilts in 206 and since there's not an 11:00 class, I'll leave it set up.  The quilting bee will go from 10:00 until 1:00. 

My plan is to open this up to the whole campus as a drop in quilting bee.  There will be quilts to knot and quilts to quilt and small items that students can hand sew and take with them.  Students can experience quilting first hand and learn about the history of quilting—and my students will then be able to tie the experience to the literature in a way that might feel more real.

I'm thinking that I'll do this on Monday, March 24, but before I plan too much, I thought I'd run the idea by all of you to see if you know of anything else big happening on campus that day.  I like the idea of doing it in March, too, as a great Women's History Month project.

The quilts we'll knot will then go back to my local church quilt group that sends them to Lutheran World Relief, so we'll be quilting for fun, quilting for literature, and quilting for charity.  I'll also have information on Lutheran World Relief.

Does anyone see any huge issues that I've overlooked in my enthusiasm for fabric arts?

Thanks!

Kristin (B-A)

--I've been enjoying hot tea with a bit of warm milk and sometimes sugar.  I still drink coffee in the morning, but I often switch to milky tea. 

--I went to a bricks and mortar office supply store to buy paper and printer ink.  Not special paper--basic paper for printing out the occasional document and my weekly sermons.  Wow--paper has really increased in price since the last time I bought it.  I got a special deal:  2 reams for $16.  Wow.

--Here we are at the last day of the month.  Let me check in on my 2025 goals:

     --I have done a bit of strength training for 20 days this month.  It may not have always been 10               minutes each time, but I came close.

     --I did a lot more poetry writing.  I finished 7 poems, along with a lot of shorter pieces in my                   sketchbook which I'm not sure how to count (5 of them).

    --I've worked on sketching hands and faces.  I'm impressed with what I can do if I pay attention.            Hands are still harder for me than faces.

First Funeral of a Parishioner

Yesterday, after I finished banana bread baking and sermon writing, we got in the car and headed across the mountain to Faith Evangelical Lutheran in Bristol, Tennessee.  One of Faith's parishioners died last week, and his funeral was yesterday at 1:00.  I was happy that the family wanted me to preside and relieved that the funeral was at a time that was easy for me.

Let me stress that even if it had been at a time that wasn't easy for me, I would have done it.  The parishioner had been such an important part of the faith community, and his brother and sister-in-law are part of the congregation.  It felt important to be there.

The service was relatively short; we didn't have communion.  My sermon seemed well received.  The eulogy after my sermon was the perfect counterpoint.  I've only been part of the community for 18 months, so I didn't have the personal stories that were shared during the eulogy.  I did the theological stuff that needs to be done, the assertion that we are resurrection people and death doesn't have the final word (to read the sermon, go here).  But I wouldn't be surprised or hurt if the eulogy gave people more comfort.

As we got in the cars to go to the cemetary, I thought, this is what the Church does well:  comforting the grieving.  I know that many people would say that it's not enough, that the Church needs to be on the front lines confronting the federal government, and that may be true.  But there are plenty of activists of all types who do that job better than the Church.

I was struck by how many motorists stopped or pulled to the side of the road as the procession went by.  I was touched by that measure of respect and happy that it still exists in the world.  We live in a world that seems increasingly angry and cruel.  None of that world was on display yesterday.

We returned to the church where church members had prepared an amazing meal:  roast beef at a carving station, salad, potatoes au gratin, and several desserts--all delicious.  We are lucky to have a member who had a past life as a chef, and he took charge of the meal.  We ate around 3, which seems a perfect way to minister to the family.  They could eat a lot or a little, and it meant that they didn't need to think about preparing a meal later.

We headed back across the mountains to our home in Arden.  I had a few bites of cheese and a glass of wine while doing my reading for seminary class tonight.  I went to bed early.  Of course, most nights I go to bed early, but last night I felt a level of tiredness that's unusual for me, a depletion of my reserves.  It was good to be able to crash.

I am feeling a bit discombobulated this morning, even as I am more rested.  I have the "What day is it?" feeling.  Happily, today is an easy teaching day, and my seminary class tonight is wonderful (as is my Monday class--I am so lucky!).  And tomorrow, it's Friday again.  It's a week-end with a lot to get done, but it will be good to have a bit of extra time.

Banana Bread Baking

This week is another unusual one, with unexpected schedule changes.  So far, every week this semester has had unexpected schedule changes, so by now, I just expect changes, even though I'm not sure what will trigger the changes.

Today's change is a funeral at Faith Lutheran in Bristol, TN.  A beloved parishioner died, so we will go up for the 1:00 funeral.  Happily, before I realized we would have this disruption, I had scheduled library orientations and research in the library days for my English 102 classes.  I don't really need to be there, although I realize my students might take it more seriously if I'm there.  

Last night I looked at the bananas on the counter.  On Saturday, I bought a paper bag of bananas that were on sale; periodically, the produce dep't of the grocery store bags up bananas that are past their prime, and it's a heck of a deal.  On Saturday, I got over 20 bananas for $1.99, and I bought the bag because the bananas in the bag looked better than the ones that were at regular price.

Of course, that left me with a lot of bananas.   So last night, I decided to bake banana bread and take some loaves with me today.  Instead of flowers, I'll bring banana bread!  This recipe from the King Arthur baking site is remarkably easy.

I really enjoyed the process--I knew that I would make the recipe numerous times, so I had stations:  banana blending, wet ingredients, dry ingredients, loading the pans.  It worked really well.  I still can't imagine doing it on a larger scale, a bakery scale.

I had a lot of bananas, so now I have a lot of banana bread.  So I'm glad that I could taste the bread.  It's tasty, not overwhelmingly banana-y.  I didn't put any of the add-ins, like walnuts, that would make it even better.  Since I'm making it for other people, I wanted to make it appealing to as many people as possible.  I realize that people with gluten sensitivity will need to avoid my bread, but people with nut allergies can enjoy it if I don't put nuts in it.

Let me turn my attention to my homily for today's sermon.  It's a different kind of sermon, but I have an idea which I think will work.  Let me get it into manageable shape.

Watching "Little House on the Prairie" at 3 a.m.

It's been a long several days in our household.  My spouse goes in for a colonoscopy this morning, and instead of just having a 24 hour getting ready process, it has stretched over 3 days, with increasing food restrictions and increasingly effective laxatives.  He got up at 2 for the last dose of prep liquid, and I had trouble falling back asleep, so I got up too.

He was watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie, so I made some tea and joined him.  For over a year, I've been noticing that if that show is on, it sucks me right in.  One time I was at a car repair place, the only one in the waiting room, and the show was on.  It was an episode about a blizzard and people who needed to be rescued out there on that prairie and fear of dwindling resources.  The car passed its safety inspection, and I was tempted to stay, just to see how it ended.

Of course, I knew how it ended.  One of the appeals of the show is that there is always a happy ending.  It was made back in the 70's, made to be a family show, and the people who made it took their task seriously.  At the time, I remember being miffed (as a child viewer, mind you) that the TV show created new plot lines that weren't in the book.  As an adult, I am in awe of how they stayed true to the spirit of the books--and in fact, elevated the themes and spirit.

Little House on the Prairie is one of the rare TV shows that came into being because of the reading habits of girls.   I did some "researching" to see if I was remembering correctly.  Sure enough, various entertainment executives noticed their daughters reading the books over and over again, moms reading the books too, and they took note.  The fact that family members read the books may have helped the creators stay true to the books.

I say creators, but in my reading this morning, I discovered how deeply Michael Landon was involved in the creation of the series, down to researching every day life during the time period for pioneers.  There's a reason why the show looks so authentic.

I suspect the interpersonal relationships are not realistic depictions of life on the frontier.  The care and compassion, particularly for children, are much more 1970's than 1870's.  For that matter, the level of care and compassion for all the characters is much more 1970's than 2020's.

I feel this aching sadness for the society I thought we were building in the 1970's based on this TV show.  I also laugh at myself, since other TV shows of the same time period, shows not made for the whole family, show we were headed towards something different.  And here we are, in the 2020's, in a society that's different yet again.

Weaning Myself Away from Amazon

I just bought three poetry books from the University of Pittsburgh Press instead of Amazon.  I expected the shipping cost to make me change my mind, but it didn't.  I want to read more poetry and support poets and presses of all sizes, and it seems that buying from the press directly makes sense.

In the interest of transparency, I decided not to buy a book from Norton when the shipping cost was more than the book.  And I always check my local library--I know that checking out books might keep them from being culled from library holdings.

In further interest of transparency, if Amazon had offered deeply discounted books, I might have bought from Amazon.  But more and more, Amazon irritates me, especially in their delivery times.  Almost always in the past 6 months, when I place an order, having been told it would be here the next day, it's not.  I wouldn't mind a longer delivery time if I was told up front.

Since the great dish soap debacle (go to this blog post to read more), I have been much more careful about what I order from Amazon.  I thought I was ordering dish soap made by Proctor and Gamble, only to have an imperfect copy made by Joysoap.com arrive--and then it arrived damaged.  I have yet to find a good dish soap to wash dishes by hand.

So, I'm suspicious and on the lookout for deceptive trade practices, which means I won't order anything that goes on or in our bodies from Amazon.  I'm not happy about the cheap junk from China that often arrives.  I would like cheaper prices, but I know what those cheap prices are doing to the planet.  I worry about the types of merchants I'm supporting when I buy products on Amazon.  I try to make sure I'm buying from known companies, only to have weird substitutions.

Of course, with our current president, all protections are likely going out the window.  Sigh.  Perhaps more than ever, it's good to support smaller venues of manufacturing.

Poem Made of Abandoned Lines

This morning, I decided to play with lines from rough drafts that I abandoned, never turning them into finished drafts.  I opened documents going back to May, and assembled these lines (feel free to play too):

I leave the key
To unlock the code in my sewing

Basket.

A monastery in the desert, too far
For the maniacal


We all comment on the coldness
Of this winter.

I am tired of tethers,


We saw the signs early


a summer
Of sorbet and lemonade.


Walking by flashlight, startled
By my bear shaped shadow.


the wolf
At the door in the form of a hurricane


In a time of trouble, she knits
Socks of all sizes.

--------------

After an hour or two of tinkering and internet meandering, here's what I came up with.  I have no idea how I feel about the poem itself, but the process of creating it was immensely satisfying.   It is not autobiographical--I've had no biopsy, I can't scramble up rock faces, I prefer crocheting to knitting while my grandmother preferred embroidery, I don't think I should have been making plans to move.  The bit about being startled by my shadow, thinking it might be a bear as I walked in the dark with a flashlight--that part is true.

After a summer of sorbet and lemonade,

I tire of my own frivolity. I am the grasshopper,

not the ant.  I have made ice cream

when I should have been earning 

money and making plans to move.

The wolf at the door

in the form of a hurricane 

or a biopsy or election results.

I dream of a monastery in the desert, far

from the maniacal.

I saw the sign early,

walking by flashlight, startled 

by my bear shaped shadow.

In the summer, I scrambled up the rock face

to gather berries.  In the fall,

I fight the urge to hibernate.

We will comment on the coldness 

of this winter.  I struggle

to stay awake.  In my sewing

basket, a small ball of yarn.

I think of my grandmother 

who knitted socks of all sizes,

her form of resistance.

I prefer scarves.  I have always chosen

long lines: poetry or code or check out line,

a chain to connect us all.

Report on a Week that Had an Inauguration, a Snow Day, and a Return to Seminary Classes

I had planned to go to the grocery store yesterday.  But when I left the house, I didn't realize that Trump had planned a trip to Asheville yesterday.  I decided to avoid Airport Road, since his plane would be landing at the Asheville Airport, just a few miles from my house.  I was surprised to find that traffic was so backed up on the other major road, Highway 25, that takes me to my house.  Happily, it was backed up in the way opposite to mine.  I decided not to try to get to the grocery store.  I knew we had plenty of provisions.

Once I got to the house, I changed clothes and went for a walk.  It wasn't too cold, almost 40 degrees, which seems balmy this winter.  More importantly, the winds were calm.  I had a great walk, with a stop in the weight room.

It was a quiet evening:  some reading, some television watching, an early bedtime.  This morning I was up very early, working on poems, sending out some submissions, writing in my offline journal.

It's been such a strange week.  It seems like weeks or months ago that the inauguration happened, but it was only on Monday.  Such a flurry of activity.  I am glad that I don't work for a government agency or a group that reports to a government agency or a larger school.  I have heard from various sources about the confusion that comes in the wake of all of the declarations and orders of the new administration.  Ugh.

We had our second snow day of the semester--for a school in South Carolina!  Two snow days in three weeks.  Amazing.

I continue to be very happy in my teaching.  This week I finished my self-evaluation that each faculty member is required to submit, and I feel good about what I've accomplished.  The publishing part of my evaluation is fairly empty, so in the coming year, I'll work on that.

I am finishing an MDiv, so I'm hoping that fact will counteract my lack of publications.  This semester will be my last semester, and my Thursday night class that I'm taking is fantastic so far.  We're looking at Christmas and Easter together, taking out the middle to see how the beginning and the end of the Christ story inform each other. 

Let me get to the grocery store this morning and get stocked up for the week-end.  It feels like the calm before any number of storms--but we're not expecting snow this week, so that's something.