penn

101 things: month 18

This has been a good month, even if I didn't get a bunch done. I'm growing ever closer to my Christmas 2010 finishing date, and I'm working on quite a number of these. I have a feeling it will still come down to the wire, but that's alright.

in progress:

10. Leave the country twice

I visited Canada! I went to Toronto and the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton (pictures forthcoming eventually). I also visited the very wet Niagara Falls; there was enough wind that it was hard to get a good picture, but I do have these two to share:

14. Visit 5 of my unvisited lower 48 states

I visited Upstate NY on my way to Maine, so that's one more unvisited state that I've been to.

Completed:

53. Start a Roth IRA (or other investment fund)

I have finally started a Roth IRA. Now to not look at it often. Quite difficult, as my IRA is at the same place as my bank account. Still, I'm trying to ignore it as best I can, and I'll add to it when able.

1 more in progress for 5 total in progress
1 more completed for 44 total completed

Some Days

Some days are super wonderful and fabulous. There are days that make you sing, and days that make you so happy that you chose your career. There are days when you are in the moment and everything that just flows.

And then there are some days that just aren't. And today is one of those days. And it's only 3 pm. And I think it's okay, because it helps me appreciate all the days that are like the above.

I won't write too many specifics; I think it's important to not talk too much about work here. I do love my job, but today was a big transition day, and it was difficult. We had one group of kids leaving as another was coming in, the pile of dishes in the kitchen was endless, and the floor was filthy. We had lunch for almost 300 people; half of those ate in the dining hall, and the other half came through the dining hall to pick up food that they ate on the playground.

I should add that I'm in charge of the dining hall this week. Instead of teaching nature, I'm just making sure everyone gets fed. It's . . . interesting.

I'll give you this: I have a newfound respect for each and every member of Top Chef, and I don't even have to cook the meal. Being a front-of-the-house is HARD, people, hard.

I'm going to go relax more now, and then I'm going to make bruschetta for my coworkers. We do treats on Wednesday, and it's been a long, hard day for all of us.

Wagon Wheel

My favorite-song-of-the-moment. I heard it for the first time last week when my friend played it on her uke. I feel an itching to pick up a guitar again . . .

Self

The rain is pouring down outside, thunder just boomed across the night sky, and I am reading book 1 of the Crosswicks Journal by Medeleine L'Engle: A Circle of Quiet. The first bit of the book deals with ontology, the branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of being. I'd like to share a bit with you:

"When we are self-conscious, we cannot be wholly aware; we must throw ourselves out first. This throwing ourselves away is the act of creativity. So, when we wholly concentrate, like a child in play, or an artist at work, then w share in the act of creating. We not only escape time, we also escape our self-conscious selves."

She talks quite a bit about the creative process and also about children in the first few chapters of the book (I'm only on page 13 so far). Another excerpt:

"The concentration of a small child at play is analogous to the concentration of the artist of any discipline. In real play, which is real concentration, the child is not only outside time, he is outside himself. He has thrown himself completely in what he is doing. His self-consciousness is gone; his consciousness is wholly focused outside himself.

I had just witness this in Crosswicks, observing an eighteen-month-old lying on her stomach on the grass watching a colony of ants, watchin with total, spontaneous concentration."

And this really reminds me of an article I read recently about the important of play in small children. Specifically, the article follows a program called "Tools of the Mind" wherein kindergarten students are encouraged to play and do make-believe. They also keep track of their day. And the important part, I think, is in blending the article and the reading; as the students play, they are outside themselves, but they also learn a keen sense of self-control. They are able to become immersed in something that is more than themselves, and they bring a keen skill to it. In the article, the author cites a research study on play. In the study, authors find that kids cannot stand still for more than a moment. However, those same kids will gladly play guards at a factory -- and stand still -- for quite a long period of time. And it is in the play that kids are able to come out of themselves but also learn how to be something more. They are no longer self-conscious of what they're doing; they are instead immersed in the play.

I've been feeling for quite some time now that I am becoming overly self-conscious of my movements, actions, thoughts . . . everything. And perhaps it's time to practice play. Instead of being me, maybe it's appropriate to be Leah the Naturalist or Leah the Adult (or, this week, Leah the Dining Hall Coordinator). Just for a little while. It's time to step out of myself and just be.

Food allergies

Sometimes I listen to a video web thingy called momversation. It's just moms sitting around and chatting on their webcams, but I find it kinda neat. I started watching it because Mighty Girl and Dooce are both on there, and I read their blogs. Today, for the first time, I watched a video that made me want to comment:

The moms are talking about nut allergies and the "nut free zones" in schools. And, truly, the topic has me quite torn. I've got an allergy to a medication, so I know how much going into anaphylaxis is so not fun. To that end, I think it's great to be careful of kids with nut allergies. At the nature centers/camps where I've worked, we've always been sure to double check the ingredients of everything if we have a known food allergy, and we excluded peanut butter based crafts during those weeks.

On the other hand, I love peanut butter. Wait, I don't think I said that strongly enough: I love peanut butter. PBJ is my all-time favorite sandwich, and I can eat it for days on end. In fact, during the fall semester of my junior year of college, I pretty much just ate PBJs for 2-3 meals a day in order to save money for studying abroad. My passion for peanut butter runs deep. On top of that, I really don't like most other cold sandwich options. Sure, I'll eat a ham sandwich, but I won't enjoy it after two or three days of eating one. Same with any other cold cuts.

Because of my love of PBJ, I really don't know what I would have done during elementary school if I had gone to a nut-free school. Maybe my recall is faulty, but I remembering eating tons of peanut butter as a kid, and I'm pretty sure I brought a lot of it to school with me.

I guess my main hesitation on the topic is why a school is declaring a nut-free zone. If the school is doing this out of general concern for potential food allergies or to because some kids simply can't ingest nuts, why not ban sharing of food and do in-classroom education about nut allergies? You could remind parents to only bring nut-free treats to share, but you wouldn't have to ban nuts from every kids' lunch box. If, however, the school is banning nuts due to the rare occurrence of an airborne nut allergy (they do occur), then I think it is only right and fair to ban all nuts (the alternative might be setting up different lunchrooms, but I think that's more trouble than it is worth, and I'd hate to banish airborne-peanut-allergy-kid to eat lunch alone in a special room every day of the K-12 education).

My main concern is being fair. Of course, being fair to everyone doesn't exactly mean doing whatever each person would like best. But it is key to reduce the infringements on kids' rights just enough so that the rights of the children with allergies are protected.

Common Ground

Yesterday, I visited the hippy-fest known as the Common Ground Fair. Put on by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, the event was an organic food, gardening, and crafts extravaganza. There were also tents dedicated to folks arts (blacksmithing, spinning, and the like) and alternative energy.

I spent the vast majority of my time wandering the crafts and boogying down. See, they had my all-time favorite dancing there: contra dancing! I spent a solid two hours spinning, chaining, starring, and more. I really don't get enough contra in my life. If you've never heard of contra dancing before, think square dancing with a bit more folksiness and a bit less country. It's descended from English country dancing

Contra maddness!

This guy had a skirt made out of ties. How awesome?

Pictures of Maine

By request. Many more to follow, I'm sure. And this weekend, I'm off to visit the Common Ground Country Fair, which I've been assured is a hippy-state fair for the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. Fun!

The Atlantic: much warmer than the Pacific. Better for wading. Not as wild where I am.

Just beyond this house lies the dunes and beach. I love this bare tree reaching toward the heavens.

Ann Arbor

I love roadtrips that bring me to people (really, I make sure all my roadtrips bring me to people, as people are a large part of what makes a place a place). And this roadtrip to Maine brought me to one of my favorite places: Ann Arbor.

I had a fabulous time catching up with friends. I was only in town for a day and a half, but I crammed a whole lot in during that time. Of course, I also missed a lot of people, which was sad . . . but inevitable. I'm already looking forward to my next visit, which will hopefully be longer.

I remember the first, and only other, time that I've seen this sign (my only trips west after moving were via train or plane). The first time I saw this sign, I was finishing a 13 day roadtrip from Seattle to Michigan to completely and utterly alter the course of my life. I was so scared and excited. At the time, I thought Michigan would be my home for 6+ years. Ah, how things do change. But it was still good to see this sign again and feel comfortable in Michigan.

Of all beautiful things

Of all the beautiful things in the world, I saw one of the more amazing tonight. I was leading my students (a group of 10 eighth graders) on an evening night hike. Having exhausted our planned activities for the forest, we ventured to the beach to watch some stars, enjoy the soothing sounds, and relax in the sand.

Then, we ventured into the wet sand exposed as waves rolled back from the shore. With care, due to the advancing tide, we played in the sand. And, there, we discovered something most amazing:

bioluminescent dinoflagellates

Okay, let's break the Latin down. Bio: living. Luminescent: lights up. Bioluminescent is specifically used to talk about organisms that make their own internal light. Dinos: whirling, flagellum: small whip. This beautiful, glowing light is made by a small, single-celled organism with two whip-like tails (flagella). Relatives of what we saw produce red tide, but this was just sheer beauty. As we dragged our fingers through the sand, the plankton glowed momentarily. In some areas, the concentration of dinoflagellates was so high that my fingers appeared to glow in the sand.

The beauty is simply indescribable. I am now motivated to swim amongst the bioluminescent plankton. What I saw was not nearly so bright, yet it was still amazing. For now, I am happy playing in the sand on my little piece of the coast of Maine.

PS Do yourself a favor and check out this google search for pictures of bioluminescent dinoflagellates. So beautiful!

Mail

Hi all,

If you'd like mail, please email me your address. And I'd love to get postcards from anyone. You can find my email on my info page (check out the sidebar).

cheers,

Leah