my meh list*

things that are neither great, nor terrible, just... meh. 
1. lukewarm tea
2. furniture
3. gourmet cupcakes
4. How I Met Your Mother
5. board games
6. cardigans
7. microgreens
8. white rice
9. john krasinski
10. clip-on feathers for your hair


*inspired by the NYT's weekly "The Meh List" in the Sunday Magazine

POD: Mayda del Valle

it's been a while since the last poem of the day, but i was lucky enough to find this clip during a youtube scavenger hunt that started with a single from a new pop cross-over album by Esperanza Spalding (a young jazz musician from Portland who was named Best New Artist at last year's Grammy's, much to the rage of Justin Beiber fans); Lin-Manuel Miranda rapping about Alexander Hamilton (i love his work, but i don't know if i can get into this Hamilton-as-hip-hop thing); and finally, Mayda del Valle, an incredibly powerful spoken word artist who wrote + performed for Russell Simmon's Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. when i listen to her, i wonder why "spoken word" as an art form is so absent from our daily lives. there are plenty of spoken words that come out of my mouth every day, but they are mostly boring + flat (especially since, as a child therapist, i try to have the kids do most of the talking). i can read poetry to myself, but that also lacks dimensions of tone + color that a human voice brings. the words i speak are usually thrown around carelessly, chosen without much thought, with lots of extra unnecessary words added in. there is none of the crafting, editing, imagery + rhythm that spoken word artists put into their work. i need to start thinking more like a spoken word artist, choosing my words more carefully.

Spring Break!

thank the good lord almighty, spring break is here!

m+m's cost $1.50 now. what the what!?!!

i had to pay an extra $15 for a window seat- damn corporate bastards! 

but the view is worth it.

this is what life looks like when you're 4 + you sit in the last row of the family van.

i was lucky enough to get to spend 24 hours with good friends in philly. they have 3 kids: 4.5, 2.5, + 0.33 years old (yes, they are brave... and very mellow). my seat in the car was in the last row next to the 4-year-old, a brilliant supernova of a child who's really good at documenting her perspective on life with my camera.  

here's her series on Christ Community Church on Chestnut St. she chose it because it was across the street from where we parked to go to lunch (huzzah for new delhi indian restaurant's lunch buffet!).

and lastly, a series on a mysterious green object. (i think it's a corner of my airplane pillow- but how is everything around it so white? so ethereal, like a lime green sunrise. i'm telling you, this girl's a genius).

Thin Spaces

"What is a Thin Place? A thin place is a locale where the distance between heaven and earth collapses and we're able to catch glimpses of the divine... Not everyone finds the same places thin. It's what a place does to you that counts. It disorients. It confuses." 

--Eric Weiner, New York Times, 03/11/12 

tucked deep within today's sunday times's travel section was an article about thin spaces ("Where Heaven and Earth Come Closer"). the author, being a travel writer, described having these experiences in places like the Hong Kong International Airport; a bar in Tokyo; and a Sikh temple in New Delhi. 

me- being not a travel writer- my thin places are decidedly less exotic. the place that immediately jumps to my mind is: school. not the schools i went to as a kid, but the schools where i work now. if you ever find yourself doubting that life holds magic, go figure out a non-creepy way to hang out with some kids. my job alternately elevates me + terrorizes me (sometimes at the same time), but there is nothing more divine than playing intensely with a kid. in the past week, i've played dragons, brain surgeons, aliens, + a punished child being eaten by a crocodile- all of which was not only fun + intriguing, but also allowed me to see the world through a particular kid's eyes. disorienting? check. confusing? check. a great ride? absolutely.

as i think more about this idea, i'm realizing that my thin places are rarely physical locations. for me, the times i'm transported out of body + mind are primarily visual/aural experiences: watching Fred Armisen act; watching Kyle Limin dance (here's a clip of his Funkanometry company class; he's the one who turns the music on in the beginning); listening to Whitney Houston, or a Jason Robert Brown song (here's "I'd Give It All For You"- don't watch, just listen); eating hand-pulled noodle soup; performing in a band. during these times, i forget where/who/what i am + simply revel in the gift it is to experience these things. as i get older, these experiences become fewer + farther between- why is that?

Petroglyphs: myth or reality?

i am fully aware that my brain has been so thoroughly warped by tv + movies that i have a hard time appreciating reality because i've "seen" it all on big + small screens. for example, i have no desire to see the eiffel tower or the pyramids- i've seen them in so many movies that i almost feel as if i've already seen them in real life. i'm not saying this is a good thing- there's something sad about how satisfied i am with a fictional re-creation that i have no desire to see the real thing. it's like when one of my first graders bit into an apple and declared, "It tastes like fruit punch!" (luckily, there's hope for me yet: i still prefer listening to live music than to a CD).


anyways, i say all this because on saturday i went to Petroglyph National Monument (just outside ABQ) and wandered around piles of black rocks, some of which had "petroglyphs" carved into them. i put quotes around the word because my above-mentioned warped brain had a hard time believing that these carvings were really hundreds of years old, part of the sacred ceremonial rituals of the people who lived there at the time. i stood there, staring at the images, thinking, "these can't be real petroglyphs, they look just like the pattern printed on a piece of decorative paper i used to cover a book last month." these images have been reproduced commercially so many times that i couldn't appreciate the original form. wah.