I’m afraid my hair might fall out.
I’m dying it again. I just did NOT like the big blonde chunks I did when Jay dyed his. And I’m feeling like a redhead-ish brown again these days anyway… Besides, I was tired of running into the girls at work and getting that, “Oh girl, what have you done?”
And why is it I always feel the need to get my eyebrows waxed when I’m having a particularly bad day? Ahh, the secret masochist in me — but I definitely felt better after!
Perhaps I should find more productive ways to release my stress? Eventually my hair’s going to fall out and my eyebrows will be reduced to pink puffy patches of skin. Actually… stress will do that, too. Hrm.

Not too odd, it happens every so often: Refusing help, woman gives birth aboard T.
Butbutbut — this one is gooood:

About 90 seconds later, Chin said, “I saw a head, then full baby fall out from her skirt, hit the floor sideways and slide the length of the doorway, stopping when he bumped up against the next row of seats. Still she stared out the window. Either she didn’t know it happened or didn’t want to acknowledge it.”

And there’s more! Finish reading after breakfast, though, if you’re a little weak in the tummy –

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Growing up in suburban Long Island, I was always drawn to the commercials urging us to give the city kids a summer in my backyard, playing in the grass, swimming in our pool. Of course, we never got to “adopt” one of these kids, but it always stuck with me — I wanted to share my experiences with someone who didn’t know that kind of life, and vice versa (though I never did see a “send a suburban kid to South Bronx” program).
Today we took the kids to Bear Brook state park in NH. I don’t like to think of our field trips as glorified “let’s bring the inner city kids to the wilderness” treks. For me, it’s more the personal giddiness I get when we help the kids experience something they’ve never had the opportunity to experience before. They swam in the lake, splashed and chased each other (and me!). Then we rented canoes and took turns going out in two groups of four. Some of the kids had never been in a canoe before, and it was neat to watch them freak out when they all leaned to the same side to check out the tadpoles, or the lilypads, or the circles where a fish had just jumped.
But my favorite part of the day was when we took the canoes around this corner and into this sort of cove, and were far enough away that you couldn’t really hear the swimmers anymore. I told the kids to shhhhh, and just listen. After a moment of birds and wind in the trees and otherwise quiet, one of the younger girls piped up, “So, this is what the great outdoors is like.”
That is what I love about my job.

To quote my beloved husband: He’s a fucking moron.

“I believe marriage is between a man and a woman and I believe we ought to codify that one way or the other and we have lawyers looking at the best way to do that,” the president said a wide-ranging news conference at the White House Rose Garden.
Bush also urged, however, that America remain a “welcoming country” — not polarized on the issue of homosexuality.
“I am mindful that we’re all sinners and I caution those who may try to take a speck out of the neighbor’s eye when they got a log in their own,” the president said. ”
“On the other hand, that does not mean that someone like me needs to compromise on the issue of marriage,” he added.

I, I, I. “I believe…” Guess what, Bushie boy? It’s not about YOU. Remember us? The country that didn’t vote you into office? All those millions of people you’re supposed to represent? This is NOT about you. And please explain to me how you’re modeling “welcoming” people in our country — especially with statements like these, where you’re openly, as an “elected official,” excluding people and labeling them as sinners? Nevermind that we don’t all subscribe to your ideas of sins or your ideas of faith.
And don’t go babbling on about those in glass houses. When you boil it down, you’re saying that we have no right to go judging other people’s “sins” — and lord knows, you’re not exactly innocent on that one.
Doesn’t he pay someone to go over what’s he’s going to say beforehand? It blows me away that he actually gets away with saying half the crap he does — and that no one on his staff taps him on the shoulder and says, “Um, sir, the public thinks you sound like an asshole.”
Grrr.

Taking the campers to the park & swimming this morning. This afternoon is the UTEC block party — expecting prolly 150 teens. (If you’re in the general Lowell area, come on down! It starts around 6. Hint, hint.)
You’d think with going to the park and having a bbq, I’d be looking forward to going to work, right? Even with the fun stuff, it’s still work. It’s still crazy. I’m so grumpy when it comes to work lately.
So I likely won’t post much today – I will have my camera with me, however, so expect some pictures later on.
Have a great day!

Sometimes I think I should set an email reply for everyone who writes to me. It would automatically reply to anything that ended up in my inbox, and it would go something like this:

Thank you so much for your email! I’d love to comment on the something fun you wrote about or reply to a question you have. However, I am notoriously bad at responding to email, so if you never hear from me, please know I read your email and am thinking of you, and really, I have every intention of writing you back at some point. Really, I do. It will likely be months from now, but please don’t take it personally. I just suck.

I’m so awful like that — especially since I tend to sit around and wait for people to reply to my emails, and then get frustrated when it takes two hours for them to write me back. I know, double standard. I so suck.

After an hour long conversation with one of my favorite girlies, I had to post this. I got it last week, and it was so appropriate for a conversation filled with girl talk about body image. In case it’s hard to read, the shirt says, “If the definition of beauty gets any thinner, no one will fit.”
Get yours here.
A few links & articles on media literacy & eating disorders:

Statistics & information from eatingdisorderscoalition.org

Something Fishy

The impact of the media on eating disorders in children and adolescents

Growing up Female in a Media World

I take a shower every morning, without fail. Sometimes I take one at night, too. Or a bath and a shower — but you can rest assured, I am one squeaky clean eka.
I also wash my hair every time I take a shower. And shave — every time I take a shower, even if it means three times a day.
I’m a tad compulsive like that.
But today, I didn’t wash my hair. It’s been a frizzmuffin for three weeks of humid hell. I washed it last night, soaked up lots of conditioner, and let it dry naturally. Of course I took another shower this morning, but no soapies in the hair.
This, for me, is revolutionary. I don’t feel clean if everything isn’t scrubbed and soaped and rinsed every morning. So all day I’ve had nice, fairly non-frizzy hair, walking around with a slightly “I’m a rebel” feeling. I also can’t wait to get home and wash it– but that’s not the point. The point is — I didn’t wash my hair this morning! Crazy, crazy eka!
I’m a freak, I know. And yes, since you’re wondering, I shampooed AND shaved every single day we were camping. I’m a disgrace to the hippie-wannabes everywhere.
But damn, I smell preetttty!

(one of the kids playing with bubbles this weekend. wouldn’t the world be a happier place if we could all just make bubble cities and blow lots and lots of bubbles and run around and chase them down and dance in them?
I really don’t want to go to work.)

When I was in college, a friend gave me a comic where the main cartoon-person was in complete shock to learn that the world did not, in fact, run around her.
It was so cool to come back from the depths of hippie-happy-land and find out the world hadn’t exploded, work went on peacefully without me — and so did snazzykat! and Goddess!
I can’t thank everyone enough for the incredible, incredible, fun, amazing things you wrote to help raise money. And a huge, amazing thank you to everyone who donated. You are ALL goddesses — even you, Steve!

Our weekend rocked. Rocked, rocked, rocked. The weather held out until this morning, and for the most part, was bright, hot sun. The music was awesome. All my favorites got together for a Fab Four workshop — and belted out some great Beatles tunes. I flew a kite with the hubby. I sat in the sun and read my new Starhawk new book, Webs of Power (all about her experiences on the front lines during the WTO protests), surrounded myself with activist Holly Near’s music and people who want to make the world better. I learned the phrase, “We are a gentle, angry people” and felt better. I felt empowered and excited and hopeful. I sang along with 10,000 people to Eddie from Ohio and Tracy Grammer. I lay down on the grass and felt the air and smelled the millions of smells — food, earth, patchouli, people-smells, popcorn, beer. I listened to the sounds — drum circles, folk music, laughter, little kids dancing. I watched little kids find so much joy in bubbles. I told myself I was going to dance this time around, and I did, to my first taste of zydeco music, with a 13 year-old boy who asked me if I knew what he liked most about Falcon Ridge, and then answered that he liked it because no one judged anyone.
I was surrounded with friends, music and a sense of a peaceful world that might be, that could be, that eventually will be — and that there are so many others out there with a common vision. This year was a lot more political than previous, largely because of the war and a (safe to say) common dislike for the current administration — peace & change was a common theme throughout the weekend. It was incredibly comforting to me, helped counteract the random anger I’ve felt towards the world lately.
However little-earth-child I want to be, I am about to revel in a real shower now. I just can’t do the stinky dirt thing. I just can’t. But I know you want pictures…

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