Seis Manos

If I write something, am I committing myself?

2010-03-17T11:23:00.002-05:00

It's spring break 2010 (yes, almost a year since I last posted). Having a couple of free days has sent my mind wandering into creative, textual pursuits that I've sort of abandoned over the past year. Not that I've been lazy: my needle has been my constant companion. But I just haven't felt like writing. (This is partly Facebook's fault.)

So: maybe I'll try to post stuff now and again. What I really like posting is pictures, but it often takes me too long to get things off the camera and onto the hard drive. I promise to start small, OK?

Membership has its rewards

2009-06-09T09:36:00.002-05:00

Now that a single adult admission to the Art Institute of Chicago is $18, I finally caved and got a two-year family membership. Astrid likes to spend time there---though, really, her idea of "spending time" is racing past every painting in a gallery, taking a 30-second rest on a bench, and moving on to the next room. That is, of course, unless she has a sketchbook....then she's likely to stand in front of a single piece for up to ten minutes.

Yesterday I forgot to take her sketchbook out of my backpack before I checked it, so we were in racing mode---right up until our last minute in the museum, when she was completely wiped out. That's when I got this picture of her.

Astrid and the Bike are Now Friends

2009-06-01T12:29:00.002-05:00

After struggling to admit that she really *does* know how to ride a bike without an adult holding the back of her t-shirt, Astrid gives in to her own expertise and rides independently. We are very proud of her, and thankful to Elliot for riding up and down the block with her for an hour yesterday (she's not allowed to go around the block without a grownup).

T-Ball pictures

2009-06-01T12:18:00.004-05:00

I took these pictures of Astrid the Astro (and her biggest booster, Elliot) a couple of weeks ago. I especially like the shot of the team huddling with Coach Ernie--he's an excellent teacher, and he ends every game by inviting the girls to chase him around the bases. "Chasing Ernie" has quickly become a treasured ritual.

And I came tumbling after....

2009-05-28T15:00:00.003-05:00

Last night I slipped on our (wet) back steps....my goodness, did it hurt. I am spending the day in bed, on my side, because neither sitting nor standing (for more than a minute or so) is an option.

I'll be missing a daylong "retreat" at work tomorrow--not something I was looking forward to, but certainly it would have been much better than the fix I now find myself in.

I have a view of fluttering maple leaves outside my window, and I can hear the cars zooming down the street, and the birds singing, and the psycho squirrels squabbling on the roof overhead. In a minute or two, I'll hear the kids walking home from school; Astrid will go to her caregiver's house as she usually does. Later she has a t-ball game, which I will sorely miss (no pun intended, believe me....)

Otherwise....I was able to get Netflix to work on my laptop, so I watched a good documentary on Petey Greene, the African-American talk show host and civil rights activist from the 60s-early 80s. I'd like to find a way to work the film into my spring 2010 seminar on cultural capital and advanced literacies. I also watched parts of a couple of films on Joe McCarthy and the Statue of Liberty--neither one was as gripping as Petey Greene.

I'd like to sleep, but I can't get comfortable.

I found a writer to read

2009-05-05T10:33:00.003-05:00

My children are frequently puzzled by the fact that I don't like to read fiction all that much, especially since I'm an English professor with a special interest in narratology. I love to teach fiction, but I don't like to read it. I'd rather read about history or politics or medicine (best of all: the political history of medicine!), or about how to make things.

As part of the research I'm doing on body image, motherhood, and DIY culture, though, I have been looking at some creative nonfiction by women writers. This morning, I came across the writing of Susan Ito, a blogger and the fiction co-editor at Literary Mama magazine. (I ask myself why I've been assiduously avoiding Literary Mama for so long---is it my busman's holiday thing [I don't want to read literary stuff when I'm not officially working]? Is it my sense of inadequacy at being an academic writer rather than a "real writer" [a distinction that my mom made back when I was in graduate school. I don't think she still sees my work that way, though I haven't asked her]?)

Susan Ito is a wonderful writer, and Literary Mama is an excellent publication. I'm very glad that today I found both of them.

I miss CRAFT

2009-05-04T13:44:00.003-05:00

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while, and now that I'm trying hard to avoid writing the article that I'm supposed to be completing, it's probably the perfect time to do so. I miss the printed version of CRAFT magazine. Even though some of the projects were dumb (I'm putting this nicely), I loved seeing what people were coming up with. I learned to embroider by reading CRAFT--an outcome that I think was worth the price of my subscription, given the halo of serenity I've learned to create for myself while embroidering (at baseball games, on airplanes, while playing seemingly unending board games with my fractious children....).

The columns (especially Susie Bright's) were often really good, and even when I disagreed with them, they helped me think through some of the theoretical issues that handwork constantly raises for me (like the blurry relationship between "art" and "craft" [something Jennifer New has been writing about], connections between handwork and environmental sustainability, the power of handwork to nurture social relationships and communities, etc.).

I wanted to be excited about getting issues of CRAFT's sister publication, MAKE, in place of CRAFT....but so far, MAKE doesn't grab me. I generally ignored articles about electronics in CRAFT, and there's a lot more of these (plus lots of computer stuff) in MAKE. On the up side, Elliot seems somewhat interested in these features, especially now that he's learning more advanced stuff about computer programming from his father.

I sure hope Threads never goes out of business. That would be a really, really sad day for me....

The swine flu is not at our house (I don't think)

2009-04-27T18:28:00.003-05:00

I'm thinking we took our trip to Mexico at *just* the right moment...the weather was great, and no one was wearing masks. We're now five days back, so the incubation period is just closing out, and while I have a cold, I know it's not the flu! (We had the plain-old flu three weeks ago....not something you can mistake for something else.)

Still, I'm half expecting the State Department to call us and tell us that we are quarantined. Having experienced a quarantine many years ago (when I had measles in graduate school), I know that public officials do-not-fool-around when it's time to isolate the agents of infection in their communities.

Back in Chicago

2009-04-23T22:29:00.003-05:00

A tiny bit hungover from our trip---yes. I feel really, really tired....a bit grouchy....overwhelmed by how much work there is to do....but every time I look at one of our pictures or goodies from Guanajuato, I feel a tiny spring in my step again.

Here are the two collages I worked on in Guanajuato. The one of Elliot in the Jardin Union is 8 1/2 x 11, while the view of Guanajuato is 6 x 8 (I think). I have more work to do on the Jardin collage

Tonight I got to see Astrid's second t-ball game of the season--Elliot and I missed the first because we were in Mexico. Astrid bounces around on the field, trying to be in "ready position," and succeeding about 80% of the time. (The other 20% is spent twirling around or trying to catch the words of the other team's cheers so that she can repeat them for us.) She stopped the ball a couple of times and made a run, and the Astros won their second game. (I make it sound like there's a direct cause-and-effect relationship between Astrid's performance and the outcome....there's probably *some* relationship, but when the score is 25-23, it's hard to find a single heroine to praise....)

Seis Dias en Guanajuato

2009-04-21T19:16:00.003-05:00

Elliot and I are getting ready to return to Chicago from an absolutely wonderful trip to Guanajuato, a colonial-era city in central Mexico. We did a lot of touristy things (though we did *not* go to the Museo de Momias--the Mummy Museum). Most of the time, though, we just hung out--either in public gardens, or on the patio of the amazing bed and breakfast where we stayed (Casa Zuniga--check it out). Together we played many games of Scrabble (Elliot won all but one) and read; on our own we played computer games (Elliot) or embroidered and made art (me). We had only one day where our tummies were treasonous; the rest of the time, we felt fine (though our feet have been tired from the get-go, as Guanajuato is a city of hills and many, many stairs!)

I'll try later to post pictures of the collages I did this week....can't get anymore pics to load tonight.

A spring "break" for the record books

2009-04-03T13:46:00.002-05:00

Today's the last day of the kids' spring break. We had great plans: a nature walk, a trip to the Loop, bowling, a nice lunch out. Astrid, though, came down with a fever on Saturday night; the nurse told us to bring her in, because she had scarlet fever symptoms. Happily, the strep culture came back negative, and the dr. said she had the flu (a.k.a. "La Grippe"). Unhappily, Elliot and I have it now, and the spring break is officially a bad memory. Wow, I'm sick.

Since I last posted, I've gotten a lot of writing done (none this week, of course): 26 pp. and counting. It looks like this article is turning into two. I'm eager to feel better, have a quiet house, and get a lot more writing done.

Sometimes retail therapy is OK

2009-03-12T20:47:00.005-05:00

I'm finally getting over the stupid cold that has had me down for about 10 days. I've been writing intermittently while I've been sick, but it hasn't been going well, and the thought of sitting in front of the computer all morning just made me want to fuss and whine....so I went shopping. I did the chore shopping first (Target), and then made my way to the fabric store around 9:45....a *great* time to be at Hancock's on a Thursday. I was even able to get my hands on the Simplicity catalog without having a line of people glaring at me from behind.

I brought my coupons so that I could pretend I was getting some great deals...and, as it turned out, I got some great deals. I picked up some intriguing 60" blue shirting (it's not that often that you read "intriguing" and "Hancock's" in the same posting, is it?) at 40% off $3.95. I got 6 yards of it, washed it as soon as I got home, and cut out my first (of many, I hope) pair of Folkwear churidar pants (#119--the Sarouelles package). They took about 2 yards, so I think I can get a kurta (tunic) and possibly a couple of long-sleeve blouses for Astrid out of the rest of it.

(If you're wondering about the picture, I went looking for an image of a kurta and this is the first thing that came up. I dig this guy's sunglasses and no-nonsense pose. I don't, however, plan to make a kurta like his, awesome as it is).

My plan tomorrow is to use sewing time as an incentive to get some more serious writing done. (If I could only get past the 12 page mark--I'm at about 8--I'd feel like I was getting somewhere!)

Oh, yeah, I guess I should also say that I refashioned five of my old, stretched out, stained, or otherwise wrong knit shirts into spring/summer shirts for Astrid. I did two last night and three this afternoon. I'm getting my mojo back, I think.

Alka Seltzer cocktail time

2009-03-04T13:44:00.002-06:00

I've got a cold. If I were a truly strong person, I would try to do the writing that needs to get done, but I am a sleepy, achy person. I'm sitting on the couch listening to republicans on NPR debate whether Rush Limbaugh is or isn't the head of the party....geez, I must really be sick, because I can't even get up to turn it off. (Here's an example of what I'm hearing: though FDR's economic policies were a complete failure, he successfully "captured the imagination" of Americans, and that's why a lot of people still think [mistakenly] that he was a good president. If Obama's misbegotten policies aren't a complete flop, they say, it will be because he "captures the imagination" of people who aren't bright enough to understand that they've completely given away their liberty.)

I think I'd rather watch Aqua-Globe commercials....

That's the best cookie I ever read....

2009-02-24T16:39:00.002-06:00

I'm stuck at home with something like the flu, so I've spent too much time on Craftster, just a-lookin' around. I have to pass this cool, cool project on: "Greats of Russian Literature Rendered in Gingerbread." My favorite comment on this project is this: "I fully approve of history-related baking." ME TOO!

Using the Museum

2009-02-17T16:46:00.003-06:00

Yesterday the kids and I went to the Field Museum, Chicago's gigantic natural history and conservation resource. We'd had a *long* long weekend, in part because Astrid had half-days at school on both Thursday and Friday, so I was frayed and a bit daunted by the prospect of schlepping out to the Field. But we did it--drove to the parking garage by the CTA, got on the train and waited in the cold wind for a bus--and we were all glad we did.

Elliot had been to the Field most recently and was eager to take us through the Aztec and Evolving Worlds exhibits. I love seeing just how much he retains about topics that excite him, and how clearly he explains difficult concepts to Astrid--who, in turn, is hungry to catch up with her brother in all things scientific.

About midway through our visit, Astrid decided that she was ready to do some drawing--which was Elliot's and my cue to step away from her (without taking our eyes off her). She made some lovely quick ink sketches of animals in the very old taxidermy exhibits. (It took her a while to really understand the status of the specimens she was studying--they looked very alive to her, though they weren't moving, and she was understandably disturbed when she put two and two together--these animals had been killed by or for scientists long before she was even born. When we discussed older ideas about how people might study the creatures around them, she seemed to forgive them...an interesting moment to share with her.)

I hope we can get back to the Field soon (I got a membership to increase the chances that we will). I learned from my mother, who earned her BFA at the Museum School in Boston, that museums are places for people to study and work--not places for people to stand in awe of discoveries made by other folks. I'm happy to pass this idea on to our next generation of scientists and artists.

The tablecloth campaign--first encounter

2009-02-09T21:26:00.003-06:00

The nice Martha Stewart cotton tablecloths I bought several years ago are finally so oily and disreputable that they make me think of the greatcoat worn by Turkey, the choleric scrivener in Melville's story about Bartleby. The last straw--and I confess that I did little to prevent the cloth's demise--was that Astrid and I made our gloriously glitter-gluey Valentines on it last week, so now the tablecloth is oily, glittery, and stiff.

Today, having gotten frustrated with the writing I was supposed to do, I switched gears by making a new tablecloth. I used a big chunk of the extra-wide light-blue linen blend that I've been eager to get out of my stash, and rather than hemming it, I used narrow, double-fold bias tape in forest green. It's nothing special--but I like having several cotton tablecloths ready for use at any given time, so style ain't all that important. I'll probably make a couple others, perhaps one out of an ill-conceived quilt top (backed by an old bedsheet, to improve the drape of the cloth, and maybe one from some unbleached muslin. Given what slobs we are in my family, they won't be stainfree for long, so I don't want to put a lot of work in them. (For example, I'm tempted to stamp them with fabric paint, but I'd probably rather use the time I'd spend embellishing one tablecloth by making a couple more.)

I haven't seen a lot of tablecloths I want to buy lately, and the ones I like are usually at least $25, so I think homemade ones are probably a decent deal.

Lay down the drawbridge!

2009-02-09T21:00:00.003-06:00

I never get picture order right when I upload photos, so the chronology is out of wack here....but the bottom picture shows Astrid's tooth in the hours before it fell out, and the top one shows her minutes after the tooth fell. Two interesting facts: her grown-up tooth had been sitting there, all ready to go, for at least a month, before the obstinate little baby tooth finally decided to go.

The other interesting fact, which says much more about Astrid's odd imagination than about anything else, is that she started referring to the baby tooth as "her drawbridge" in the last week or so. She liked pushing it down so that it touched her bottom lip, and then she'd imagine all the tiny horses and knights that could get into her "castle"--*if* she let them.

The last thing I should point out is that the mess on her face is chocolate, not blood. I just couldn't wait to get her post fall-out picture taken. It was just an excellent moment for the whole family.

Puddles and tears

2009-02-07T17:27:00.006-06:00

We're having one of those unseasonably warm winter days--which we totally deserve--and the dirty, gray snow is finally melting. Astrid enjoyed splashing in the huge puddles on our sidewalk. This was certainly the high point of a day that has been full of Astrid's emotional ups and downs....actually, brief ups followed by deep, long downs. A trying day.

On days like this, I like to think of one of my favorite King Pleasure songs, "Tomorrow's Another Day." To be honest, it's been such a tough day that I can't even remember the words to the song, and the Internet's not helping! I'm sure I'll remember the words tomorrow....

Sigh. I can't even get our puddle pictures to load. Maybe tomorrow?

A new start

2009-01-21T16:08:00.003-06:00

OK--I've been away from this blog for a really, really long time--since almost the end of my fall semester. I was wrapping up my grades, then hurrying to prepare for Christmas, then enjoying time with my mother, and, finally, ramping up the research project I'm working on this term.

I've decided that, with the new start provided by the Obama inauguration, I can honorably grant myself a new start as a responsible and sociable blogger. Here goes!

2008-12-03T21:13:00.002-06:00

I heard today about the death of Odetta, a folk singer whose music I remember listening to when I was a little girl. It's been a couple of weeks since Miriam Makeba died--I *loved* listening to her when I was little--and a couple of weeks before that, it was Studs Terkel. (I didn't know about him until I was an adult, but I think he had a lot in common with those two great singers.) Their deaths make me wonder who from that generation and area of endeavor might be next to go--a morbid thing to think about, I know, but not that strange, I guess.

When I heard about Makeba, I immediately ordered her first album on CD; it took more than two weeks to arrive, which I took to mean that a lot of people were just getting reacquainted with her music. I don't think the kids are as crazy about it as I am, though, when we were driving to the supermarket in a sleet storm on Sunday, Astrid seemed to agree heartily with me that Makeba's voice sounds both "fiercely joyful" and "joyfully fierce."

Sad Mano-Warmers

2008-12-01T20:04:00.003-06:00

My office is fre-free-freezing now that winter has hit Chicago in earnest. I regularly use a neon-green blanket on my lap (where no one can see it), but I can't type with my hands under a blanket. So, over the past couple of weeks of surfing, I was happy to see the many fingerless glove ideas around the crafty blogosphere. As always, I was sure I could improve on the ideas I'd seen. For one thing, with the gloves that start with a sleeve from a felted wool sweater, I was worried that I'd get itchy--so I decided to line my cuffs with some cotton lycra. That seems to have been an okay design change. But I also thought I'd use some of my many, many yards of foldover elastic to keep the cotton and lambswool together around the knuckle area. Bad idea, as the photo shows. The one without the foldover elastic is goofy-looking enough. I'm not sure how I'll approach my next pair.

Exquisite City

2008-11-22T20:07:00.005-06:00

Last Saturday, the kids and I went to see a very cool exhibit, "Exquisite City," in a theater on the North Side of Chicago. As in the old game "Exquisite Corpse," the artists who contributed to this show were each asked to imagine, in cardboard, one city block in Chicago--without knowing how the other artists were picturing the assignment. Astrid was clearly feeling like Godzilla as she stomped around the "streets" of the miniature city--and I was a little nervous that one or more blocks might tumble in her wake. But both she and Elliot were impressed by the level of detail many of the artists achieved, as well as the humor and weirdness of many of their creations. In the same place, there was a little voyeurs' heaven....a wall full of windows into which we could stare. Elliot and I really liked the Mexican wrestler with the knife in his back. Astrid was not so delighted by this window.

Talking after class

2008-11-13T22:30:00.002-06:00

Lately I've been getting home around 8 or 9 on Thursday evenings. I teach from 2-4:30, but I've been observing other instructors' evening courses--so by the time I've sat in on the first half of someone's class, I still have an hour-long commute home, often in very dark and rainy weather. I'm *really* tired on these evenings, but also a little wired (adrenaline from my dark drive, I guess).

Tonight I got home in time to kiss Elliot goodnight, and then I sat on the couch with Terry just chatting. For some reason, this is something we don't get to do all that often, so it was very, very nice. The best part of chatting was this: Terry recounted for me a conversation he'd had walking home from Elliot's school. The conversation consisted of Elliot explaining how he'd worked a math problem involving cube roots--how he'd set up the equation, the false starts and missteps he'd made, and how he did the whole thing without using any "materials" (he's a Montessori kid).

I'm sure that long ago I learned how to do whatever it was Elliot had to do today (I used to love math), but I don't remember how to do it, or even why it's a good thing to know how to do. But there was something very sweet to me about Elliot walking his dad through a problem that really interested him, and then knowing that his interest mattered enough to his father that Terry would remember what Elliot said and then tell me about it--especially when he knows that I don't get the math. Terry admires both of our kids' thinking, and his love for them comes through so clearly when he's telling me what's going on in their heads.

Marathon sewing lady

2008-11-10T15:36:00.002-06:00

No pictures right now, but man, have I been a-sewin'! While Elliot was away at Nature's Classroom in Wisconsin last week, I wanted to sew him a new bathrobe (with Malden Mill's polarfleece that I got for $1.95/yard at Fabric.com. I bought four yards each of brown, grey, and wine). I was able to trace off the pattern and cut the fleece by Thursday evening, but I was worried that I wouldn't get to do any actual sewing before he came home on Friday afternoon at 2. I got up early on Friday, got Astrid to school, and sewed non-stop until 12:30. Done! And it looks great: a deep chocolate brown, with nice big patch pockets. All Elliot needs now is a pipe to smoke....

On Saturday, I started working on pants for Astrid. Unfortunately, the polarfleece is a bit heavy for pants--the construction of which I'd hoped to streamline by using foldover elastic. I made one pair from the fleece and had to do a regular elastic casing. Then I pulled apart three *way* outgrown pairs of jeans I sewed for Elliot and used them to cut out three pairs of jeans for Astrid. I've got one sewn and I hope I can get to the others tonight or tomorrow. Since the fleece didn't work too well for regular pants, I think I'll use a lot of it for winter pajamas---maybe even some for me....

Tired and happy....happy!

2008-11-05T14:51:00.006-06:00

I've been super-busy with papers to grade, sick kids, Halloween costumes to make....and a new blog I've been writing for work. (As you know, life blog and work blog must never cross paths....so the life blog has been on hold while I've been getting the work blog up and running).

None of this matters, of course....what *matters* is my pictures from Election Day! I work across the street from Grant Park in Chicago, and, while I decided not to stay downtown for the rally (I wanted to be home with my husband), I really wanted to document my experience of living through the giddy tension of the hours before election returns came in. I even walked over to Sears to buy a nifty little ultracompact, as I didn't have our clunky (but beloved) old digital camera with me. An expensive, impulsive purchase, but I'm glad I did it.

What a day! What a night! What a speech! It's a gooder-than-usual day to be alive.