Not the end of racism for sure, but maybe the beginning of good possibility for this country and the world.
Fireworks, parties, and honking horns all over the neighborhood. Strangers on corners hugging, shouting out, and whooping it up.
As a stranger said to us on the street, "It's a new day."
- Location:the other side of election
- Mood:
ecstatic - Music:the talkers talking
There were a lot of smiles there. Two young women, first time voters, took each other's photos in front of the booth.
I love our old voting machines with the big, red lever. As an ex-catholic it always feels like going into the confessional, and the ka-CHUNK! sound the lever activates somehow adds to that feeling of a momentous act about to take place.
I thought about the last eight years in my life, this country, and way beyond. This election my mother and Lissette's step-father voted for Obama, which is really shocking and hopeful. I thought about the Black guy around my age on the news this morning who said he's been waiting for this day his entire life. I put some qi into that machine before turning down the little levers.
Tonight a gathering with friends, and my sweetie comes home :)
And I hope tomorrow we wake up to greater possibility *
- Location:home from voting
- Mood:
hopeful - Music:news
There are wizards and vampires outside already, and only some of them are kids!
A few days ago I found a gray-blue plaid woolen poncho hanging on someone's from gate (which people do in the Slope all the time - leave clothes, shoes, books for others to take.) I planned to give to my mother, as a poncho isn't my style, but I kind of love it now because I feel a little like I have wings when I wear it. And if it's butch enough for Clint Eastwood (not that I'm super butch) then it's good enough for me :)
Yesterday I visited my mother, sister, and brother-in-law in Mamaroneck. My mother had pretty severe pain and I gave her treatment which left her feeling better and sprightly enough to go out. We all had a great early dinner at a cafe in the village, complete with brownie dessert. Later I treated my brother-in-law's torn rotator cuff and got paid in a large container of fabulous, fresh, homemade hummus!
Grand Central is such a weird place to spend time in, and it's funny that I now feel kind of like I know my way around.
On the subway at the beginning of the trip there was an amazing do-wop group singing and passing the hat. They ended with one of the members urging us to vote Tuesday, and to go with friends and family, to help older people at the polls as well. He said that change was possible and happening, and that he felt like it was the sixties again because people were waking up and making new possibilities. I burst into tears right on the F train.
I'm both anxious and hopeful about the election. When I think about Obama as president it's kind of overwhelming (in such a good way!) Though I know deep change isn't about a single person in power, it would still be so meaningful in a million ways across communities and borders.
Now off to watch the Park Slope Halloween Parade, just down the street *
- Location:home alone
- Mood:
bouncy - Music:children in crafty disguise
Anyone want to join me on Sunday from 4 - 7 PM?
Here's info about it: http://www.manoamano.us/
Here's info about the Day of the Dead: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the
It's a good chance to honor the ancestors *
- Location:home
- Mood:
ditzy - Music:rain + wind
Family goodness abounds! My niece A. was in town last week and we got to spend some good time together catching up and sharing music. She may be spending next semester doing an internship in the city which would be really great :) My mother is in town from Miami this week and spending most of her time up in Mamaroneck at my sister's place. Before A. left we all got together up there for a great Thai meal (my mother's first!) Everyone was there including A's boyfriend K. Lissette wasn't able to make it because of work, but she joined us back in the Slope for a good falafel lunch on Sunday.
Lissette leaves for Miami herself tomorrow. She'll be gone a week visting her parents and mine. I'll miss her so much even though it's brief. (I always do when she's away.) We'll talk every night, and that helps.
Last night Lissette made a Duncan Heinz fudge cake with olive oil - and it was weird, but good! I almost wanted to put a little pesto on it.
Since I've been so nasally congested lately I've started using a neti pot. This is quite intense and leaves me sputtering, but I like the results! Any advice from others who do neti?
Teaching has been fun lately. I taught a de-escalation workshop to a group of queer South-Asian youth this weekend and one fellow managed to incorporate a flaming baton into his role-play :)
- Location:next to window under blustery sky
- Music:wind in leaves
I've started the licensure process and already can't wait to see the end of it. (But yay! Started it!)
Last weekend my friends hosted a Moveon.org Obama callathon party to mobilize volunteers in swing states. I called about 40 people in a small county in Virginia from my cell phone and had some great conversations. I got a horse farmer (talking to me from the barn phone) who told me that he's been in touch with at least two dozen friends and family members who are registered republicans, but are voting for Obama. His grandfather died two weeks ago, and this weekend he's driving to his grandmother's assisted living facility to pick up her absentee ballot. She's voting for Obama. I did have one elderly man call me back and politely explain to me that I'm in danger of going to hell. In the end he said he'd pray for me and I wished him well. It was a pretty amazing experience that we found each over the phone in a world that feels like it separates people like us so completely.
( Health stuff ahead... )
- Location:home
- Mood:
tired - Music:"worrywort", radiohead
- Location:deep in post-NOLOSE cold
- Mood:
content - Music:school kids singing "Twinkle, twinckle" outside window
- Location:post-nolose
- Mood:Ooun!
- Music:economy angst
There are photos below the cut to prove this!
Three plus years of learning with mind, body, spirit (though not necessarily at the same time :)
Graduation highlights:
1) Having Lissette and family meet three beloved teachers, people who have inspired me deeply.
2) My teacher and mentor Jeffrey presenting me with with a rice paper sheet of his caligraphy with the character for "knowledge," which he created specifically for me. (And him speaking about me which made me blush and cry simultaneously.)
3) My brother-in-law instantly emailing my father photos of me with my diploma, and my father calling me immediately to congratulate me. (He and my mother are in Miami and unable to make it.) My mother was so happy and sweet on the phone, and my father told me he was proud of me - something I don't remember him saying ever before. (This made me cry and smile simultaneously :)
Click below for photos.
( Read more... )
Thanks to all those friends out there who have supported me and been patient with me over these years of missed calls, parties, and events. Hopefully I can make up for lost time. And if I can't make your party, I can happily give you a treatment!
- Location:out of school
- Mood:
accomplished - Music:snoring cat
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
charlottecooperI'm starting from pretty early on, and there's gaps:
Sketches and caricatures
Caligraphy
Apartment painting
Cat sitting
Babysitting
Caretaking elderly and ill folks
Cleaning
Snow shoveling
Telemarketing
Phonebanking for NYU
Phonebanking for NOW-NYC (where I helped organize my shop in the midst of the fabulous feminist leaders who thought we earned too much at $5 / hour, but I got to meet David Dinkins :)
Leafletting on the street
Canvasser for Greenpeace (once chased by dobermans :o)
Bussed tables in Anchorage (just a couple of days)
Phone surveys
Assisstant Montessori teacher
Volunteer coordinator, suicide hotline
Volunteer interviewer / trainer, suicide hotline
Assistant Director, suicide hotline
Childcare at domestic violence shelter
Trained abortion clinic support people (defending women going in and out of clinics from anti-choice hordes)
Organized women's conference
Nursing internship (paid) in labor & delivery dept. (got to catch a baby on a very busy, full-moon night :)
Receptionist at domestic violence organization
Hotline worker, domestic violence
Self-defense teaching assistant
Self-defense teacher (adults, kids, teens, queers, people of color, etc.)
T'ai chi and qigong teacher
Karate teacher
Receptionist and support staff, anti-violence organization
Tarot reader for a psychic hotline (OK, I was hired, but never officially worked a full day ;)
Staff nurse at mental health agency
HIV counselor at mental health agency
Triage nurse at mental health agency
Visiting nurse
Labor and delivery nurse
Staff member, anti-violence organization
Anti-violence youth program teacher (ages 6 - 13)
Community education coordinator
Teen programs coordinator
...And coming soon, to an undiscovered location (hopefully) near you - Acupuncturist *
- Location:home
- Mood:
sleepy - Music:me
School remains weird and overwhelming, while my education remains glorious.
Changes in the school's accreditation body, as turns out, mean that my class will have to graduate with both a BA in Professional Studies (whatever that means) and a Masters. The good thing is that I won't need to do any other course work.
In a bizarre and tense meeting between the administration and the student body, in the depths of the most tension and misunderstanding, I actually stood up and yelled, "THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Um, this isn't like me...I've become a little bit of a crazy person since becoming a student again.
This semester (last one!!!) I'm working at a non-profit AIDS organization in Queens. We do a weekly clinic in the conference room and treat everyone community-style (mostly doing ear points, and some arm/leg points.) Last week we treated folks after a Mother's Day party and every one of my patients (mothers, daughters, and sons) cried at some point of their interview or treatment. lots of issues around the Earth element, being nourished, supported. Wonderful people struggling with lots of stuff (clients and staff, both.) I get to do some body work, essential oils, and speak Spanish again all day. I love it more than I can explain.
Now I'm off to get treated myself :)
- Location:school library
- Mood:
chipper - Music:clicking keys
1)
telurian and I went to an event an Cooper Union on Saturday. We got to see Howard Zinn talk about "A People's History of the American Empire," which is in graphic, non-fiction form. He was fabulous and looked and sounded great. I almost got to shake his hand, but had to settle for thanking him and waving at a slight distance. (He smiled and waved back.) We got the book, which telurian refuses to put down.2) I developed an *awful* toothache from a long-standing dental problem I've been remiss in taking care of. I'm not able to see my dentist for a while, and probably need to see an oral surgeon. I'm researching ones that accept my insurance now. The pain comes and goes, needling, bleeding (a specific Chinese medicine type) and rinsing with salt water help. Most of the time now it's fine, but over the weekend it was horrible. I now have an emergency prescription of vicodin to use at my discretion :)
3) On Sunday a bunch of classmates and I had an amazing pulse taking class at the home of our teacher in Chelsea. Fabulous stuff, and time to practice on each other. I am equally thrilled and frustrated by how much there is to learn *
- Location:home
- Mood: content
- Music:creaky squeeky cars
I've got lots of conflicting feelings about this neighborhood that I grew up and still live in; parts of me feel at home, and others not, but some things here are lovely.
Like neighbors putting out workable things they don't need on the sidewalk with politely informational signs taped to them: cat food - "still good, but my cat's allergic; " furniture - "sturdy, and no bedbugs."
The best was a tv today with a little loose-leaf page over its face that said, "I'm a little fuzzy, but still work." I turned to a passing yuppie guy and said, "I need a sign like that." He laughed into his latte :)
- Location:park sloooooope
- Mood: amused
- Music:"it's a wonderful life," sparklehorse
Here I am, digging myself back out into the lj light.
Jeez, I almost forgot how to post, and I'm hopelessly behind on your posts and lives, Friends. Someone once told me that when you're a grad student you end up having to leave lots of things interrupted, and that's certainly true in my case. I miss people and things, and I can't wait to have some control of my own schedule again (or even just the illusion of it ;)
Here's the timeline:
1) Late April / early May - beginning of last semester.
2) Early August - end of last semester.
3) Late August - graduation
Things I'm thinking about:
1) Yin and Yang in Daoist belief don't actually have anything to do with dualistic thinking. When one becomes too strong it turns into the other, and one can't exist without the other. They're actually a vehicle to express the reality of a huge range of possibilities that are somehow connected. Difference and sameness. This is comforting (and exciting!) to me.
2) I'm glad I have more music in my life these days. (And the Breeders have a new album! So eerie and sweet at the same time. Got a little crush on both those sisters...)
3) We lost all our cable channels except for basic, and now I'm watching stuff on netflix. In the past two weeks I watched all the Quantum Leap episodes in which Sam leaped into women. There are more than you'd expect!
Happy Spring *
- Location:after reviewing notes and before washing dishes
- Mood: chipper
- Music:The Breeders!
I just found out that my class and I are graduating on time, in August! It's a huge relief, as it's been hanging over my head of a few weeks. Wow!
In other good news, <lj-user="telurian">, who has been away, is returning to me as we speak! (Now that's a good sigh of relief :)
- Location:school
- Music:"reckoner," radiohead
This means that those of us (including me) that didn't have enough credits entering the program for a bachelors would have to take more classes and make up the credits. I only had an associates degree from nursing school, so this could potentially mean an extra year and a-half of school (more debt, more loans, more not working, etc.) The other scenario is that, as students so near to the end of the existing program already, may class may be grandfathered in.
Communication from administration to students has been almost non-existent, and there's already a lot of tension. They haven't even given us an idea of when we can expect more information about our fate. I'm not convinced that the school will actually advocate for us at this point. Our student rep is going to force the issue in the next meeting in two weeks. And yes, there's been talk about lawyers and potentially pursuing a lawsuit. Ugh.
Today - more rest. Tomorrow - Practice Management class. (Jeez, class on a Sunday :O)
- Location:home, post breakfast
- Mood:
indescribable - Music:radiohead
I made the decision that I didn't want to expose my HIV folks to whatever bug I caught, so I stayed home and took it easy all day. I did gua sha on the back of my neck http://discoveringwellness.hdmenterprise
My supervisor called to check in on me and gave me the good news that my patient with the missing consent form came back and now all is well. Nice!
I never had sake until last night, and Iiked it quite a lot. They offer it for free with dinner in the nice Pan-Asian restaurant across the street from school (which doesn't bode well for my future alertness in evening classes :)
- Mood:
listless - Music:pundits
I'm trying to rev up my energy for this new semester (my second to last), but it's not really working. My mind and body just want to lie back and not do much, certainly not write long papers.
The nice thing is that I have Mondays off this time around.
( Read more... )
- Mood: lazy
Wishing you all a beautiful new year in 2008 (with the help of Judy Garland) *
- Location:home
- Mood:
groggy - Music:judy garland
****************************************
First, here's my email:
Hi Mr. Gerrold:
My name is Stillwell. I'm a former registered nurse and youth program coordinator currently studying acupuncture and Chinese Medicine in New York City. I have no way of knowing if this email will get to you, but I wanted you to know that we share a mutual (and significant to both of us) anniversary - December 29, 1967.
Of course 12/29 is today's date, but 40 years ago it was the premiere date of "The Trouble with Tribbles," and my own premiere - I was born on December 29, 1967, at 9:50 PM, Eastern Standard Time. (I figure that I came into the world just about the time that Kirk got bombarded by millions of tribbles falling from the open hatch. And yes, I've been told I am tribblish :)
Thank you for your good work in creating rich, new worlds that allowed me as a young person, and so many others, to consider larger realms of possibility.
Wishing you well, and Happy Anniversary *
~ Stillwell
****************************************
Here's his note in response:
Bless you, Stillwell. Thank you for a lovely New Year's wish. May all of your tribbles be little ones.
David Gerrold
- Location:home
- Mood:
geeky - Music:snoring cat
