Life After Expo 74

2010-10-01T00:14:00.000-07:00

Rivers and College Visits

2010-06-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

We stopped by Humbolt State University to do a tour with Litcelle and then headed south to camp in the redwoods near Sonoma County. On Wednesday we floated 8 miles of the Russian River starting in Healdsburg, CA. We had dinner with some of my family after the rafting trip. On Thursday, we headed to Fremont in the Bay Area to visit more family.
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Rivers and College Visits

2010-06-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

Redwood Giants

2010-06-14T19:39:00.000-07:00

I thought of the tree Ents while walking through a stand of redwood trees today. They are neckbreakingly tall and so ancient you can feel the history of the world whispering in their branches.
We are near Crescent City CA now, just 30 miles south of the Oregon border. We are renting a one room cabin at a KOA campground. The cabin in nestled in the trees, there is a playground, a rec room with pinball, goats and chickens and wireless. A few years ago, I would have balked at camping at a KOA facility, but I am taking an online class and need internet access. Plus, we thought the extra amenities would be fun for the kids. Following this, we'll be roughing it at a state campground with no electricity or matresses (we have thermarests). Now I know why my dad loved cooking with SPAM when we were on the baot or camping. It doesn't need to be refrigerated!! We don't have room for a cooler, so we buy meat or other perishable items as we need them or we do without.

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Juice Time

2010-06-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

Lena grabbed the orange juice jug and said "juice time" insisting that she drink out of the carton. Wonder where she learned that? We are camping, but seriously.....
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Inspiration for Dune

2010-06-13T16:12:00.000-07:00

Today we hiked in the Oregon National Dunes. Some of the dunes are over 500Feet high. The first mile of the trail meandered through a mossy forest of ancient cedars and fir. We passed through green tunnels of rhododendron and huckleberry. After the hike we stopped for some icecream, sat water taffy and fudge in Winchester Bay. We also picked up some smoked salmon from a local cannery and smoke house. Doug and Litcelle wrapped up the day with a dune buggy ride near our campground.
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Cannon Beach

2010-06-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

We crossed into Oregon into Astoria, and drove south to Cannon Beach. We stopped to eat some fish and chips and walk on the beach.
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The Mighty Columbia

2010-06-13T10:43:00.000-07:00

We decided to drive the entire coast line of Oregon yesterday. This added about 3 hours to our drive, but it was an amazing drive. We headed West on WA State Hwy 4 from Longview to The mouth of the Columbia. We will cross the Columbia a total of 4 times on this trip. The first crossing was at Vantage, WA in the bottom of the Great Columbia Gorge. There, the river is flanked by towering basalt walls and aromatic sage. Over 300 miles West,the mouth of the Columbia is so wide, a 4 mile bridge spans the gap between Washington and Oregon. The banks of the river are blanketed in lush green firs, maples, hemlock, alder and cedar.
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Giants By the Sea and Ancient Volcanoes

2010-05-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

We are planning a road trip to California this summer.
View Giants by the Sea in a larger map

Stops Along the Way:

Olympia, WA

Family pit stop...

Things to do:
play video games with Lucien
visit with Gramma Shirley
check out the bar at Trinacria's
go for a bike ride
Hike at Priest Point Park or Burfoot
Visit the Olympia Farmer's Market
See Patti at Traditions

William Tugman State Park, Reedsport OR

We'll be staying in a yurt for 2 nights.

The park is near the Sand Dunes National Recreational Area and Coos Bay, OR.

Things to Do Near Tugman State Park:
Umqua Discovery Center
Fly a kite
build a sandcastle
Jump the dunes
Rent a Dune Buggy
Compare salt water taffy or ice cream
Eat fish and chips
Splash in the waves
collect sea glass
Visit Oldtown Florence
Explore Reedsport and Winchester
Visit a lavender farm

Crescent City, CA
The northern most city on the California coast. We'll be renting a one room cabin in the redwoods at the KOA Crescent City Campground.

Things to Do in Crescent City:
Ocean World Aquarium
Explore the Redwoods
Visit a light house
Explore tidepools
Splash in the ocean
Fly a kite
Try out the local salt water taffy

Hendy Woods State Park, Philo, CA

Hendy Woods is between Ukiah and Mendacino. We've reserved another 1 room cabin for two nights in the state park. We may be "camping", but I do believe there will be some wine tasting while we are here.

Things to do:
Raft the Russian River
Dinner with relatives in Healdsburg
Kid Friendly Activities Mendocino
Glass Beach Fort Bragg

Fremont, CA
Family pit stop #2.
Angel Island 10 mile Trail Run
Choose your own adventure:
1. Bree-Dallas for a Conference
2. Doug and girls-Central Coast for more family fun

Shingletown KOA Mt. Lassen, CA
Renting another one room cabin for 2 nights, just 14 miles from Mt. Lassen National Park. Plan on visiting Burney Falls and the Subway cave in addition to the the cool sites at Mt. Lassen. Going to take the blue highway through Tule Lake and the Lava Beds National Monument on the way to Klamath Falls, OR.

Things to Do:
Mt. Lassen National Park
Lava Beds National Monument

Klamath Falls KOA, OR

Explore Klamath Lake and then Crater Lake.

Things to Do:
Crater Lake National Park

Tumalo State Park, Bend, OR

One more night in a yurt in Tumalo State Park on the Deschutes River near Bend, OR. From here, we'll be driving home.

Bold Spirit Reflections

2010-04-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

The book selection for my book club this month was Bold Spirit: Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America by Linda Lawrence Hunt.

At the conclusion of the book, Linda writes about the factors that caused Helga's story to be silenced. This got me thinking about my own family story. My dad, myself and my brother were silenced out of existence by my dad's birth mom. At some point in her life, she made a decision to tell a story that didn't include us. I can imagine that retelling her story was easier than dealing with the pain and guilt she must have felt for abandoning my dad. She died about a month ago and I never got to meet her.

When she died, I was so sad that I never got the chance to tell her that I wasn't angry. The silencing of this story must have caused her agony and a sense of unresolved regret when she died.
Did she wonder about my dad or us? Were there milestones or events in her life that reminded her of the story she'd erased? During book club we talked about how the process of silencing is sometimes done to protect others or oneself, but the consequences are often more hurtful than the messy truth.

Since her death, I have discovered family members that I didn't know existed. I have uncles, aunties and cousins I've never met. Through Facebook, I've been able to connect with some of them and I recently met one of my cousins for the first time.

Beliefs and Values: An exercise from a class at University of Idaho

2009-06-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

I am in grad school, working on my PhD in Education. This summer I am taking a multiculturalism in schools class and a class on linguistics, literacy and the brain. Here is one of the exercises we did in the multiculturalism class. Try it out for yourself.

1. Past and future: Assume that you will have children. Why (or why not) will you treat your children the same way that your parents treated you?

I have 2 children and I think, for the most part, I treat them like my parents treated me. There are some things I definitely do differently though. I’m more involved in my older daughter’s extracurricular and scholastic life. My youngest is a toddler. I don’t remember how I was treated at that age! I do know that I was surrounded by family and that I was loved. I don’t live near family now, but my husband and I have created a surrogate family in our community, that love and support both of our girls. I also encourage her to be more involved in sports and other activities than I think my parents did with me. I made a conscious decision to live in an urban area to allow my daughters to have more immediate access to enrichment and culture. My parents always made me feel trusted, loved and respected. My opinions were encouraged and my intellect was nurtured. I was taught to have an open mind, to find the truth in things for myself and that caring about the common good was important. I was taught that it’s okay to disagree and argue. I wasn’t given a curfew, my level of independence as I got older was negotiated and reflected my parents trust and willingness for me to make my own choices. I want to do the same with my kids. But I live in a city too, and I know my kids aren’t living in a sheltered environment like I did. I discipline similarly to my parents. I don’t spank my children, I use logical consequences and teach values that I think are important.

2. Success and achievement: If you could wake up tomorrow morning having gained any one ability or quality, what would it be? Why would you choose that ability or quality?

I would want the ability to bite my tongue every once in a while at home. I think my husband and older daughter would say their biggest pet peeve about me is that I jump in too quickly in conversation, especially during a conflict or tense conversation. Partly it’s because I think aloud a lot and I have a desire to fix the problem. I need to sit back and allow for more pregnant pauses and be at peace with the uncomfortable silence.

3. Friendship and personal life: If you made up your mind to do something but when your friends heard about it they strongly advised you not to, why might you do it anyway?

I would hope that if I had made a decision that was going to threaten my life that I would listen to my friends. But if they are opposed to my decision say to travel to a Muslim country because they perceive it to be unsafe, then I would go anyway.

4. Possession and priorities: If you could have a wonderful new experience that you would remember for the rest of your life or be given something you have always wanted, which would you choose?

I would definitely take the wonderful experience over the possession of something I’ve always wanted. There aren’t many things I covet. Life experiences shape who I am and I learn so much from them. Material things are so fleeting and can be replaced.

5. Money and values: Would you rather be given $100,000 for your own use or $1 million to give anonymously to strangers? If you prefer the former, what would you do with the money? If you prefer the latter, how would you arrange to distribute it?

I think I would take the $100,000 to pay off debt so I could then go live somewhere like Egypt and educate future teachers.

6. Living and dying: Has your life changed dramatically as the result of some seemingly random event over which you had no control? To what degree, or in what ways do you feel you have control over the course of your life?

My husband and I traveled to Micronesia to live and teach in 2005. We left Spokane, looking for an adventure and a new cultural experience. We left with 2 children. I don’t think it was random though. I think the Creator works in mysterious ways. I think we went there for a reason. Having said that, I don’t see God as some old dude in the sky pulling strings. I believe in free will and I think I have a lot of control over the course of my life.

7. Physical well-being and disability conditions: Would you like to have a child much smarter than you? Much more handsome or beautiful than you? Would it bother you to have a child who was mentally handicapped, or physically unattractive?

I think my girls are smarter than me in some ways. One is bilingual and much more adventurous and open to new experiences than I was at her age. She is brave and beautiful. Both of my girls are more beautiful than me and if one of them was mentally handicapped, I would still see them as a blessing. I was childless, and at the point in my life where I figured I would never be a mom. I was resentful toward other women who were pregnant and felt guilty for not being more excited for family members who were having babies. I traveled half way around the world to teach and came home with 2 girls!

8. Leadership and responsibility: If you were given full responsibility for creating a one-hour television show that millions of people would watch and about anything you wanted, what would it be about?

I would create a travel show or a bioscience/forensics drama.

9. Individuality and choice: If you could be granted one magical power, what would you ask for?

I would want the ability to read minds. My toddler is grunting and wimpering and pointing when she wants something and sometimes I feel frustrated, wishing she’d just say the word for whatever she wants! I was so happy when she said “pato” the other day and pointed at the computer. Pato is a cartoon character. That was her request to watch a cartoon.

10. Social and personal responses: When should it be illegal to help a terminally ill person to die? If someone is not dying but has chronic pain, should that person be assisted to commit suicide? What if the person is in emotional rather than physical pain?

I think suicide whether self inflicted or assisted during terminal illness should be legal. Who are we to judge whether someone’s pain is so unbearable that they can’t go on living? I would hope that the person would seek counseling and I can’t personally imagine being that desperate, but I lost a friend recently to suicide and know several people who have attempted suicide or contemplated it at point or another in their life. I think suicide is selfish and causes great pain for the loved ones left behind, but I don’t think mental health should be regulated in such a way as to say it’s illegal to kill yourself. Likewise, if someone has DNR(do not resuscitate, I think it is wrong for family members to not follow the wishes of the individual who is sick or injured).

Culturally Based Science

2009-02-15T17:38:00.000-08:00

Learn Science while helping the Tribe build a Pit House

Students in the 9th grade Physical Science class are learning about pit houses and science! The class visited a pit house site in the Burnt Valley with Randy Abrahamson right before Thanksgiving. Then the students created models of what they thought the house might have looked like.
The students learned about the physical and chemical properties of the materials used to build pithouses. They also learned about unbalanced forces by trying to build the strongest pithouse frame. The class added mass to the top of the pit house until it collapsed. Jeremy Campbell's design was the strongest, requiring 130 lbs of force to collapse. The students then created a poster display of the lab.

Following the pithouse demolition challenge, the students designed a model using paper mache. The domed pithouses were insulated with a variety of materials to demonstrate the properties of insulation in reducing the transfer of heat and cold. The students determined the best insulation based on which model had the least amount of melted ice after 30 minutes. They recorded the temperature inside the pit house every 3 minutes and measured the total amount of melt water after the time ellapsed. In the Spring, they will help the Culture and Language office build a full sized pit house on campus. In preparation for this, the students went outside to collect data on the proposed construction site.

The students made observations about sun exposure, tree density, and tree size. They noted the types of trees and which trees would be easiest to dig around due to root characteristics. Their next challenge will be to observe the changes in light throughout the seasons and determine the best location for the pithouse construction.

Summer: the Sacred Cow

2009-01-27T22:13:00.000-08:00

Doug recently ordered the book "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell. He's the author of "Blink" and "Tipping Point". Outliers is about the circumstances people experience in their lives that allow them to be successful. I haven't read the whole book yet, but Doug pointed out a chapter about low income children and public education in the US. Gladwell suggests that the way we have been debating about public education and closing the achievement gap is backwards. He highlights the results of a study by Karl Alexander of John Hopkins University. The city of Baltimore administers the California Achievement Test in September and June of every year. The dual testing allows researchers to measure how much students learn in a year as well as how much learning occurs over the summer months. Alexander discovered that the achievement levels of low income and high income children were no different between September and June. But if you look at student scores from June to September, the reading scores of low income children only improved .26 points, children from middle class families only improved by 7 points and wealthy children improved by 52.49 points. Gladwell writes;

"An enormous amount of time is spent talking about reducing class size, rewriting curricula, buying every student a shiny new laptop, and increasing school funding-all of which assumes that there is something fundamentally wrong with the job schools are doing. The only problem with school, for the kids who aren't achieving, is that there isn't enough of it."

Based on information in Gladwell's book, South Korean kids go to school 220 days. The Japanese school year is 243 days. I've intuitively wondered about the summer vacation problem. It seems there are 2 solutions, creating programs for low income kids to keep them learning and engaged in structured activities throughout the summer or change our school year calendar. Why not go year round? Why not have more extended holidays throughout the year of 2 week length rather than a 3 month vacation? For teachers who can afford to travel or who don't have to take a summer job, the time off is great. This past summer I used the time to intern in a lab at a local university. But why are we holding onto summers? Is it really in the best interest of our students? Would I be laughed out of the room at a teacher association meeting for suggesting a change in the calendar?

Cob Oven at Riverfront Fam

2009-01-25T11:12:00.000-08:00

Our neighborhood community farm, Riverfront Farm, has a cob oven. It's built out of recycled concrete, clay and corn straw. We had a cook out yesterday and roasted veggies and chicken. Our neighbor Andy is a chef for the Davenport Hotel. He provided the seasonings and coordinated the cooking. While we waited for the food to cook we stayed warm with a fire built in the drum of a washing machine. We discussed our plans for community gardening this year and talked about getting the Project X or Food not Lawns or whatever we're going to call ourselves, group together for a meeting. We also talked about how to create opportunities for low income families to access more locally grown food and how to bring the slow foods movement to the hood. Well, we sort of talked about that. I think some folks in the progressive camp don't know how to relate to or connect with poor people. So the trick is, how do you discuss gardening or buying organic food without sounding pretentious, preachy or uppity. Essentially the typical conversation or stance of a slow foodie is like that of someone staunchly opposed to Walmart. While I think the sticker "Mall-Wart. Source of Cheap Plastic Crap" speaks volumes, I'm not going to put the sticker on my car because it would alienate my neighbors and in all honesty I have shopped there when a limited budget dictated what I could purchase for my home and how much I could spend.

Christmas in Manitoba

2009-01-04T14:38:00.001-08:00

We traveled to Manitoba Canada for Christmas this year. We decided to take at the last minute. Driving would have been stressful with the bombardment of snow storms and Helena's desire to be moving around almost constantly. The train was a nice alternative. Helena and Litcelle enjoyed it much more than being stuck in a car. We ate dinner in the dining car, hung out in the observation car as we passed through Glacier Park in Montana and stretched out in our reclining chairs with foot rests during the night.

Doug's uncle met us in Rugby, ND and drove us to his farm in Holmfield Manitoba. Doug and I hadn't been up to Manitoba in 10 years. It was great to see his family again. Litcelle helped Uncle Glenn with chores around the farm. She even got to drive the tractor. Farming is a fickle business and sometimes it seems like dumb luck if one farmer is prosperous and another is not. Doug's family made a go of it in the late 70's. They grew wheat, other cereal grains and canola. Doug's uncle grows cereal grains and raises a few head of cattle. He used to have about 100 pigs. But small scale pig farming is not profitable now unless you go into niche markets like organic meat. His uncle's too close to retirement and too low in energy to make the switch. He and other small scale farmers were driven out of the pork market by agribusiness. About 2 miles from his farm, a facility housing 10,000 hogs was set up. Even in minus 20 weather, we could smell the pigs. These pigs never see the light of day and live out their lives in large wherehouse like barns.
Helena got to hold a hockey stick for the first time. She and Litcelle also took a turn at Guitar Hero when we visited Doug's cousin in Brandon.
The temperatures got so low, my breath froze on my hair when we went for a walk. I could feel the tears in my eyes freezing!

Crafty Holiday

2009-01-04T14:32:00.001-08:00

I picked up some new beads and made a new necklace. The center bead is hand made by a local artist. I'd really like to learn how to do that. Litcelle's got the beading bug too. Grandma Connie sent a beading care package. Litcelle and I also learned how to crochet over the break. I made the hat while riding Amtrak home from Manitoba. And I started making crocheted bracelets.

Beautiful Day for a Walk

2008-12-21T00:31:00.001-08:00

Today, the sun was out and the sky was blue. It was a great day for a walk. We live about half a mile from the Spokane River and much of the shoreline is public, providing a great place for hiking and feeling like you are far removed from a city.

Dork In A Box

2008-12-18T21:31:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have seen the Justin Timberlake sketch on SNL spoofing oversexed R&B love songs. It was called Dick in a Box. You can find it on youtube and hulu. Anyway, Doug thinks that sketch is one of the funniest things ever. Almost as funny as Pastor Gas (also available on youtube). Here's my dork in a box.

Moshi the Hypothyridic Frog

2008-12-18T21:24:00.001-08:00

Meet Moshi. He arrived in the mail yesterday, special delivery from Great Gramma Shirley.
He croaks when you whack him on the butt. As you can see, he's a bit rotund, but oh so soft. I think he has a thyroid condition. We're looking into it.

Anatomy of a Sled

2008-12-18T19:38:00.001-08:00

Maile made it to the post office just in time! Our new zipfy mini luges arrived before the entire city shut down from the snow storm. I saw the mail truck on our corner this afternoon, but there was no mail in our box. There were about 10 people trying to push the truck out of the snow in the middle of the intersection. My brother called to see if we'd used the sleds yet. He got himself a couple and they were able to sled in Seattle. Damon and I started reminiscing about our childhood and the rare snow days in Olympia. We'd be lucky to get 2 days of snow all winter and usually there'd only be 3 or 4 inches, which turned to slush within 24 hours. My mom would declare a snow day even if school was open, so we'd get the chance to play in the snow. Our house was ontop of a treed hillside. We used the driveway for a couple of years, until someone sled so fast down the lane, they crossed the main road and landed next to the pumphouse. The hill in our yard was forested with small Alders. One year we got sleds with hand brakes on the sides. Damon and I set a course, weaving around the trees. We called it the "cross country run". Later, the trees were cleared and inflatable rafts were used along with stolen realty signs (great for spinning). The raft ended up in a bramble of blackberry vines. Desperate to sled one year, we got the hose and sprayed the hill, knowing it would freeze overnight. We had a nice frosty, slick hill in the morning. Today, Doug, Litcelle, Helena and I walked to the edge of West Central to sled on the switchbacks down to the river. Most of the sidewalks weren't cleared and the snow was waist deep in some places. We used ruts in the snow, left by cars as a path. We had to break trail through the snow to the hill and with the help of some neighborhood kids with snowboards, created a nice sled run. The terminus of the run was a ditch full of snow. So you bottomed out and whitewashed all at once, with some icy cold snow going down the pants and shirt for good measure. (Glasses are not recommended, as you can see from Doug's picture below).

The zipfy is very light and easy to carry when you have to walk a mile to get to a sled hill. It also doubles as a snow pick, that can be dug into the snow to help pull you up after you slide down. There's a whole following for these little sleds. Check out http://global.zipfy.com/
This was Litcelle's second time to sled. There were screams of joy as she flew down the slope.
It's only supposed to be 12 degrees tomorrow, so I don't know if we'll venture out to sled. When we got home, there was hot soup waiting in the crock pot and cookies from Grandma Shirley. I ate the shortbread m&m cookies guilt free! Sooooo many calories burned today with shoveling snow and walking to the sled hill and back.

Snow Day

2008-12-18T08:12:00.000-08:00

We have over 20 inches of snow! I got a call at 5:30 a.m. from Wellpinit that school would be 2 hours late and I was going to call in sick! Then 15 minutes later the phone rang again. School was finally canceled. Wellpinit doesn't close unless the weather is really bad. Or the power has to be out like yesterday and the day before. I wouldn't have made it there if I'd tried. The City has closed most of the hills in town which means we're trapped in our own little downtown, lowland island. Suits me just fine. I love how quiet it is when the snow covers the ground. Our neighbor said there are abandoned cars on Maple Street bridge. Doug saw a few abandoned in intersections in our neighborhood. I dug out the car this morning, not that I'm going anywhere, but the snow is supposed to keep falling til sunset, so I figured I better do it in increments of 8 inches rather than 24 all at once!

It's been so cold this week, the deicing solution the City uses on our streets is freezing. Damon and Maile sent us sleds for Christmas. They arrived yesterday, just in time for the snow. We're going to try them out today.

Children of God

2008-12-16T22:17:00.000-08:00

The power went out at school this morning. We sent the students home at 9:30 and I got the rest of the day off. I finished a book called "Children of God" by Mary Doria Russell. It's a sequel to an earlier novel titled "The Sparrow". The story takes place in the near future. Life is discovered on another planet and a delegation of Jesuit priests and scientists are sent to make contact with the newly discovered beings. Throughout the story, the characters wrestle with questions about God and their role in expedition. For the Jesuits, their mission is to do work for the glory of God. Even with their modern understanding of ecosystems, culture, language and knowledge of the mistakes made by their predecessors, they manage to alter a society and cause the near annihilation of a group of 'people'. In addition to the foibles of the humans, the sentient beings from the other planet go through a transformation. Much of the story is about the oppressed being set free, revenge and forgiveness and about free will. The moral of the story is about the difficulty of seeking the Truth.

Near the end of Children of God, one of the characters says " I have learned that a soul's emptiness can become a place where Truth will dwell-even if it is not made welcome, even when Truth is reviled and fought, doubted and misunderstood and resisted. My own hollowed heart has made a space for others' pain, but I believe there is more, some larger Truth we are all heir to, and I want to be filled with it!"

This quote made me think of Gandhi. He believed that conflicts between people could only be resolved if we work at seeking the Truth. But we have to be open to the fact that our "truth" might not be the Truth. With that emptiness, we can find common ground. We can be open to growing and learning from our own mistakes.

Then I started thinking about the reporter who threw a shoe at Bush. What if Bush and many other Americans took the time to make room for the Truth to dwell regarding Iraq and other Muslim countries? What if we were the ones building schools, clinics and housing in Pakistan instead of the Taliban? What if we'd done that in Afghanistan after bankrolling their revolution against the Soviets? What would the world look like today?

Seasons Greetings

2008-12-16T21:37:00.000-08:00

Holiday Circus

2008-12-13T17:31:00.000-08:00

Picture found on google images from http://www.professorwonder.com/baloon45.htm

Nothing says circus like balloon animals! So, I wasn't surprised when a balloon nativity scene was approved for viewing in Olympia at the State Capitol. The circus began when after a "holiday" tree and creche and menorah were put on display, a placard from an atheist group was put on display in the name of balance and fairness. Then Bill O'Reilly from Fox News got wind of the story and next thing we know, the freak show began. Fundamentalist protesters against the atheist sign showed up, the sign got stolen, and then the balloons. When will the hilarity end?!!! I wish I was going to Olympia for Christmas this year so I could take a picture and see it in person!

Local Author's Book Banned

2008-12-13T16:53:00.000-08:00

Sherman Alexie's latest book, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian", was recently banned in a school district in central Oregon. Apparently, the primary parent behind the ban, objected to references to masturbation in the story. I can just see him lying to his kid, telling him he's never done it.

The book tells the story of a teenage boy who leaves the Spokane Indian Reservation (where I work) to attend high school in the predominantly white town of Reardan, WA. The book isn't Alexie's best, but it's a poignant story and has struck a cord with teenagers and English teachers alike. The book has been used in several schools, including my own. The irony of the book for me, is that many of my students don't like the book. They feel like Alexie portrays them and other Indians as cheap. One of my students is convinced that more white people like his writing than Indians. Her primary objection with the story from what I can tell is the depiction of an Indian wearing clothes from Kmart. She said, "we don't dress like that". We wear the clothes he depicts the white kids wearing. She told me she thought Alexie had turned white.

She also didn't like his portrayal of Indians as drunks. I wasn't surprised by her reaction to that part of the story. Drugs and alcohol are a serious problem. And the kids are in denial about how dangerous addiction can be. The ones who aren't in denial feel defeated, like there's nothing they can do about it.

Our Birdless Turkey Day

2008-12-04T20:32:00.001-08:00

We traveled to Olympia for thanksgiving this year. It's our first Thanksgiving back in the States and our first time with family since adopting Litcelle and Helena. Mom hosted. Her partner prepared prime rib. It was delicious. At first I was a little bummed out about no leftover cranberry turkey sandwiches. But prime rib, carmelized onions and melted brie cheese is a very, very close second to the traditional post gluttony meal.

We found snow pants for Helena at Value Village or VV. Gotta love second hand stores. The hat is from Helly Hansen. I had the hardest time finding practical winter clothes for her. Most stores only carry stuff like this for boys, as if baby girls don't play outside ever. Robbes and other moccasin shoes are great because they don't fall off, but they're not water proof or warm enough for winter. Helena is walking, and walking and walking. I can't wait for her to play in the snow.

3 months Absence

2008-11-24T21:52:00.001-08:00

catchup.....

I coached a sport for the first time.

I started my National Board Teacher Certification.

I retook the GRE and applied to graduate school.

Helena turned 1!!!

Litcelle went to her first Homecoming.

I finally read the Twilight Series books (at least the first 3).

Fanciful Speeches and Conventions

2008-09-05T06:15:00.000-07:00

If you watched the speeches from the Republican Convention and want to confirm how factual the speeches were, go to http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/ Check out the truth-o-meter and flip-o-meter. Supporters of Ms. Palin are stretching her resume to prove her readiness and expertise. Mc Cain claims she got executive experience through the PTA, a Fox News reporter made a statement that she's experienced with foreign policy because Alaska is next to Russia.

In case any one's confused, Obama has been clear that Ms. Palin's daughter is off limits and her pregnancy is irrelevant. Ms. Palin's skills as a parent, her daughter's choices are not something that should be judged. I felt sorry for Bristol and her boyfriend being paraded around the National Convention. The most important outcome of this story is that it highlights the Republican position on issues like abortion and the hypocrisy Fox News and other conservative pundits. All the supporters of Palin are claiming, her daughter made a choice, respect her choice. The irony is, the Republicans want us to respect her choice, a choice they don't want others to be able to make. Pat Buchanan defended Palin on Fox News, stating you can't blame Palin as a parent for her daughter's decisions. Teenagers are teenagers. When Brittney Spear's sister was pregnant, he didn't hesitate attacking her parents.

One final interesting tidbit about the Conventions from ABC News Chicago:
"The Republican National Committee is not releasing any official numbers about the demographics of its delegates, but some staff called from the Joint Economic Center for Information say there are about 1,900 delegates, and 36 of them are African American. That's about 1.5 percent. In 2004, at the Republican convention, seven percent were African American.
At the Democratic convention in Denver this year, 44 percent of the delegates were minorities, including all minorities, not just African Americans. And also a majority of those delegates were women.
At the RNC, the men outnumber the women 2-1 on the delegate floor. The average age for both parties' convention delegates is 54". According the NPR, women outnumbered men at the DNC.

45th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream Speech"

2008-08-29T07:49:00.000-07:00

Forty-five years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech on the Mall in Washington DC. Yesterday, on the Anniversary of that inspirational day, Barak Obama accepted the nomination as Democratic Party candidate for President of the United States. He moved his acceptance speech to Invesco Field to open the events up to the public. Thousands of people lined up for hours to get in. Obama is the first candidate to open his speech up to the public since JFK accepted the nomination in Los Angeles over 40 years ago.

Shattered Oranges, Shattered Teacher

2008-08-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

I've been spending my summer in a chemistry lab at Gonzaga with 2 of my students from the reservation. We're doing research on anaerobic respiration in bacteria. What we learn may be used to develop new drugs for intestinal parasites. One of our tasks is to create new batches of bacteria freezer stock. The bacteria need to be flash frozen to reduce death. We use liquid Nitrogen for this. When we're done, we get to play with the liquid Nitrogen. Last week we shattered an orange.

Amanda and Jordan are awesome kids with bright futures. Jordan wants to be an engineer and Amanda wants to be a pediatrician. They told me today that they aren't going to school in Wellpinit this next year. In fact about 8 of our top students are leaving (only 90 students in the high school). Rural schools struggle to provide all the opportunities and resources to students. On the flip side, Wellpinit students have access to things other kids in rural schools and urban schools don't. I sat in on a technology meeting today at our local Educational Services District. The other teachers in the room were from schools of similar size in non native communities. They don't have computers in every classroom or have really old computers. I have 13 brand new desktops, 15 7inch Asus eee pc's and a long term loan of 20 Tungsten E palm pilots. I have a document camera, access to biotechnology resources from the local colleges and connections with local agencies and colleges that offer my students opportunities for summer internships and exposure to many different life experiences. This Saturday, I'm leaving for a week to take 10 students to the Olympic National Park. The students I'm taking are the school leaders, the kids who show an interest in science.

For the first time an AP science class will be offered; in addition to AP English and AP Art History. In 2 weeks, I'm meeting with the different department heads in the tribe's Department of Natural Resources to identify possible research opportunities for my students.

World Heritage Sites

2008-08-04T15:50:00.000-07:00

Fellow blogger, Angelo, posted all of the World Heritage Sites he's visited. He's playing tag, so here are the sites Doug and I have been to.

1. Budapest (both Buda and Pest including the Palace and the Danube) in Hungary (both)
2. Chaco Canyon in New Mexico (both)
3. Glacier Park (Alberta/Montana) (both)
4. Volcano National Park in Hawaii (Bree)
5. Central Vienna, Austria (both)
6. Olympic National Park, Washington State (both)
7. Redwood National Park, California (both)
8. Giza Pyramids, Egypt (both)
9. Central Cairo, Egypt (both)
10. Taos Pueblo, New Mexico (both)
11. Baroque Churches, Philippines (Spanish Era church in Manila St. Augustine) (both)
12. Barrier Reef, Belize (Bree)
13. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming (both)
14. Yosemite National Park (Doug)
15. Carlsbad Caverns (Doug)
16. Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks (Doug)

Celebrating Our Freedom to Be Ignorant Rednecks

2008-07-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or does the 4th of July tend to bring out the worst in Americans. There could be an inverse relationship between shorter weekends and the number of assholes out on the lake. I like to call it the theory of troglodyte boaters and three day weekends. Or maybe it's just Idaho.

We went camping for the 4th. We decided to go to a small US Forest service campground on the east side of Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho. Before moving to Saipan, we spent our summers on a sailboat on that lake and visited the campground by boat. This year, we're boat less, so we drove for 2 hours on dirt logging roads to get to the campground. When we got there, the campsites were full and we were greeted by Billy Bob (not his real name) on an ATV who told us to go back to Washington. We found a campsite near the day use area that was no longer in use. The mosquitoes were more of a nuisance than the other camp sites, but it was in the shade and as far away from the other campers as possible. The county dock was full of boats, and a great number of them were all there together as the self proclaimed "Dock Hogs". They even had t-shirts and a sun canopy on the dock to prove it. Needless to say, our fabulous neighbors shared their music with the whole national forest for 3 nights in a row and a fight even broke out on the 3rd night. Doug and I overheard a couple talking shortly after the fight and figured out that the woman was the one we could hear yelling at everyone else. Apparently her wallet was stolen. The best part though? Her boyfriend proceeds to tell her "I lost out tonight too honey. I came all the way out here cuz all I wanted to do was relax and smoke a bowl. Now I can't do that."

Mr. Redneck on the ATV? On night 2, in all his drunken glory, he tried to climb on to the cabin top of his boat to adjust speakers (the music wasn't reaching the mountain goats in the hills above) and he slipped and cut his arm. All I have to say is KARMA!

I camped a lot when I was a kid. And we spent many weekends on a boat. I don't remember people being that loud, or music blaring through campgrounds.

Whiskey Rock is problematic on long weekends. Maybe the high gas prices will minimize the incidents of redneck revelry.

One year, I couldn't take it anymore (1 am, couldn't sleep due to the noise), so I got up blew the air horn to get their attention, walked down the dock with a flashlight to shine in their faces and told them it was a public place, it was late, and they needed to show some common courtesy and shut the fuck up.

The partiers in this instance were my dad's age. If they'd been 19 or 20, I might have been a little more forgiving. They relocated to the beach and demonstrated their maturity and wit by yelling "We're on the beach now lady, what are you going to do about it?"

You just can't fix stupid.......

My Summer Vacation

2008-07-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

How would you like to have a few of these suckers mooching off your intestinal wall? According to the World Health Organization, soil transmitted parasitic infections are the most common in the world and have the greatest impact in the most impoverished communities. Helminths such as the gorgeous hookworm above are most often found in the intestines of their hosts. Your intestine has 75% less oxygen than the outside air. Intestinal parasites like the bacteria in your gut, has to be able to metabolize glucose for energy without oxygen. This is called anaerobic respiration. In our cells, a catalyst triggers an electron transfer creating energy that allows oxygen to react with glucose (anyone ever hear of coenzyme Q10?). The by products are a chemical called adenosine triphosphate (ATP), carbon dioxide, heat and water. The ATP is used by our cells to start and maintain other cell functions. When oxygen is not present, a different catalyst is needed. Some anaerobic organisms, including helminths like our friend up above, use rhodoquinone(RQ) to trigger the electron transfer. Mammals, like us, don't make RQ.

Current drug treatments for parasites are not species specific and like antibiotics used to fight bacteria, the drugs are becoming less effective as organisms develop resistance. In addition, broad spectrum drugs tend to harm cells in the host as well because the part of the parasite being attacked by the drug also exists in the host.

Imagine if a drug existed that only targeted the production of RQ? What if you could stop the parasite's cells from producing the catalyst for anaerobic respiration? This is the latest direction in drug research. Whether it's TB or parasites, scientists are looking at species specific pathways in biosynthesis activities in the organism and in it's genome.

Instead of hanging out at the lake all summer, I'm working in a lab, assisting Dr. Jennifer Shepherd at Gonzaga University. She's trying to characterize the synthesis of RQ. I have 2 of my students with me as well. We're using a bacteria called Rhodospirillum rubrum, which can live under anaerobic conditions and uses RQ for cellular metabolism.

My 3 Earths

2008-07-01T07:58:00.000-07:00

If you go to www.myfootprint.org you can take a quiz to see how many Earths would be needed if everyone on the planet lived your lifestyle. As you can see I'm well below the national average, but 3 Earths would still be needed if everyone lived like me!!! There are some limitations to the quiz obviously. I'm an omnivore, but almost all of my meat lately has come from wild game such as deer, moose and elk. The environmental impact of eating deer is much lower than beef. The quiz doesn't allow for more specificity on categories such as food or where you get your food. For example, food banks are not included on the list. The quiz asks if you've purchased any carbon offsets. I'm skeptical about such programs and wonder how many legitmately use the money for alternative energy or planting trees. The other problem with the offsets is they're an excuse to keep living excessively and to keep polluting. Why not pay people to not pollute!!! Planting trees was not on the quiz. I should get credit for every tree or native plant I put in my yard.

The quiz listed collecting rainwater and grey water as conservation techniques. Apparently, collecting rainwater is illegal in Spokane. You'll be fined for stealing water from the aquifer if you're caught. So the water I catch from my downspout in a little pond is contraband. I've been using it to water plants. How about assessing the loss of aquifer water from strip malls, pavement and concrete? My kitchen sink is ideally located for grey water catchement. We'll be insulating and renovating our 90 year old garage soon and I've been thinking about putting in rain catchement and a composting toilet.

And I'm thinking about getting chickens. We can have up to 4 in the city.

story of stuff

2008-06-26T13:14:00.001-07:00

World Population

2008-06-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

I'm currently attending a conference for teaching advanced placement environmental science. This video quickly demonstrates how rapidly the population has increased on the planet.

Either before or after you watch the video go to http://www.myfootprint.org/en/visitor_information/

and find out how many Earths we'd need if everyone lived your lifestyle.

Then ponder the population video.

Frank the Cat

2008-06-26T08:35:00.000-07:00

This is Frank. He's the latest addition to Damon and Maile's family. He offered to help me check email this morning.

The Trifecta

2008-06-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

3 family members with birthdays, an engagement party, a visit with dad, an anniversary and a divorce.

The Brandt/Oatman Trifecta.

Places to Relax

2008-06-26T06:47:00.000-07:00

Remember this picture? This is our little patio in the back corner of the house. Someone had a pool there once. When we bought the house, there was a circular depression in the yard. So we broke up plates from a second hand store and poured a mosaic of concrete and colorful ceramics. Then we planted herbs, native plants and other sun tolerant, low water plants. Over 3 years, the weeds took over and of course Winter caused many of the plants to go dormant. Here's the patio now.
Stay tuned for July pics once the nasturium, dill, cucumbers and other seeds we added are more than little sprouts.
And, my latest project is painting old storm windows. We're going to hang them on the back porch and create hanging frames for a couple out in the yard.

Diamonte For My Man

2008-06-25T22:58:00.000-07:00

doug

hilarious, sentimental

parenting, loving, swearing

gently, humorously, patiently, passionately

laughing, talking, exploring

open, kind

husband

Happy 11th Anniversary

A Great Loss

2008-06-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

We got a phone call yesterday from a former student and close friend of Litcelle's. Her parents were scheduled for an interview with the INS for greencards when her dad had a heart attack. He was sent to the Philippines on a medical referral. He suffered another attack on the plane enroute back to the CNMI. The interview had been rescheduled for this coming Monday. All of their children were born on Saipan, making them all US citizens.

I can't imagine being thrown into that sort of limbo and loss.

Falling Behind

2008-06-18T05:52:00.000-07:00

I've been having blogging block. I sit down to write and nothing comes out, or I'm too tired to think about what to post. I have had several ideas running through my head, or experiences that get placed on a mental blog worthy check list. I think my loss of the camera put me in a blogging funk.

So here's another random thoughts blog post:

1. A couple of weeks ago, NPR covered the food security meetings in Europe. Several of the developing nations present at the meeting blasted the US and other Western nations for our wastefulness with food. Another issue was the concern about grains being grown for biofuel instead of food. Bottom line, food production around the world is not high enough to meet the demand. China's need for grains alone is staggering. Their own production is in decline due to farm land being converted to urban development, the loss of land to the Gobi Desert and shrinking rivers and aquifers. According to one report, China's wheat production is down by about 70 million lbs. Thats more than the entire annual production for Canada. The amount of grain China needs is equivalent to the entire production of wheat in the US. So will our commodities go to China at a premium or stay here to provide food for our own nation?

This got me thinking about our yard. We have a vegetable patch already, and I have planted drought tolerant native plants that have edible fruit like service berry and currents. We have fruit trees too (planted long ago). My goal has been to get rid of the lawn (see random thought 2). Initially I was thinking flower beds, xerascaping etc. Now I'm rethinking our yard and I think next Spring we'll add lentils, buckwheat, wheat, rye and barley.

Our neighborhood has started a community garden and an urban farm. Litcelle is working at the farm this summer. I was talking to one of the coordinators about grains and we are thinking about planting wheat and barley in vacant lots around the neighborhood and starting a collection for a grain grinder. Imagine neighborhood pancake breakfasts, or hand made pasta or breads.

Buckwheat and lentils can also be made into flour.

2. Water. Spokane is considered high desert. We get about 17 inches of precipitation a year. Seattle gets about 60 inches. For those of you not familiar with Pacific Northwest geography, Washington is not a rainy, soggy state. In fact, half of the state is arid and much of our farm land is irrigated by pumping water out of the Columbia River. The dry half is in the rain shadow of a big mountain range called the Cascades. You're all familiar with Mt. Rainier and St. Helen's right?

Unless you use native grasses, you need to water the shit out of your lawn to keep it green in Spokane. (Wheat and barley can be grown here using dry land techniques, meaning no irrigation needed). A recent story in the Seattle PI stated that Spokane shamefully uses more water than Seattle and we have 1/6 of the population. Statistical accuracy aside, I've always wondered in a pause and scratch your head sort of way why my mom is told not to water in Olympia (60 inches of precipitation a year) and we never have watering bans here. I have one tiny patch of lawn in the back yard that I keep green for the kids to play on. Otherwise, it goes brown. One of the silver lining moments of our yard being neglected for 3 years while we were gone is, we now know what will live on what Mother Nature provides and what won't. We'll be planting a lot more service berry, currents, oregon grape, wild rose, sage, oregano, lemon balm, and choke cherry.

3. Helena has 2 teeth!!! She likes to feel them with her tongue, dig into the rubber tip of the spoon, and her smile gives us a glimpse of her little girl face. She's eating meat now too. Her first taste was ground moose.

Wonder God

2008-05-30T14:59:00.000-07:00

I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America
and to the republicans for which it stands
one nation
wonder God
invisible
with libraries and justice for all.

Litcelle hasn't had to recite the Pledge every morning for the last 9 years of her educational career. And the other day she realized she better memorize it incase she's asked to do it here. She said she usually just mumbles. Would her knowing the words by heart mean more than mumbling? I doubt it. Most kids memorize the Pledge without even getting what its supposed to mean. Why make a pledge, which is essentially a promise or oath to something you don't understand? And if reciting the Pledge is coerced or forced by law, isn't that contrary to the liberty for all part of the pledge? I have a problem with blind allegiance.

Anyway, Litcelle came to her Canadian father and rebellious American mother for help. During our conversation we differentiated between republicans and republics, indivisible and invisible and liberty v.s. libraries. We went line by line and asked her what she thought the Pledge was asking of her or what the line meant for all of us. She initially thought it was a pledge to a flag. I asked her why would someone pledge allegiance to a piece of cloth. Here's the gist of the converstaion: The republic is our nation and as a united group we are supposed to fight for liberty and justice for all. We talked about the line Under God and how it contradicts the separatio of church and state. Plus, not all Americans believe in God, let alone the same version of God. And believing in God should not be a prerequisite for citizenship or patriotism. I personally don't believe God needs to be part of the equation for people to make the morally sound decisions. There are plenty of examples of "godly" people making morally reprehensible decisions. Then we asked her what liberty and justice mean. We talked about how liberty doesn't mean freedom from rules and that justice is more than just punishing people for breaking the rules. She knows what abject poverty is first hand. She's seen environmental injustice with her own eyes. She's lived in places subject to socially unjust government rule. All of which occurred on US soil.

Gold Star Day

2008-05-30T14:50:00.000-07:00

My horoscope says today is a 5 star day!!! Can't say anything spectacular has happened today but, it is Friday and I had several amusing moments today.

I know it's mean, but seniors who've slacked off and then come whining about a 50 questions final (20% of the grade according to school policy) and missing work, 1 hour before their last day, is funny. I need a t shirt that says No Whining or Sucks to Be You!!!

Even funnier? A student asked to borrow my car to go to the store today.

Don't Put Your Camera in Your Pocket

2008-05-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

My camera disappeared down a horny toad or badger hole. Or maybe Speelya made it disappear. Either way, the blog will be picture lite for a while. And from now on, I 'll use a camera case instead of putting the camera in my pocket. I was too caught up in the geeky pursuits of identifying plants and observing that lomatium (parsley family) have male and female parts on separate stems, to notice my camera had fallen out of my pocket.

The plant above is called Lomatium cous or Cous Root. The plant has a bulb root that tastes like carrot seasoned with anise and is white on the inside. So local Indians also call it white camas. But to us white folk, white camas means a deadly plant in the lily family with white flowers that looks exactly like the edible camas with purple flowers.

Anyway, every year the Spokane Tribe goes out to dig up cous or white camas. This used to be something the women did. Now men and women go, young and old. The first roots dug up are traditionally given to the elders as a gift of respect and honor. The plant grows in the scrub steppe desert west of the Reservation. Lomatium cous is an early bloomer and was the only lomatium gone to seed when we were out there. If you wait too long, other lomatiums will have seeded too making the identification process really difficult. As the science teacher, I started thinking about the implications of climate change and phenology (study of when plants bud). Maybe next year, I can have my AP Environmental Science students study this.

To Fence or Not to Fence

2008-05-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

Our yard has a chain link fence. It was cheap and necessary with dogs. However, we have no seclusion, no private place to barbeque. You can see our yard from three different directions. Last night we went to a neighbor's for dinner. Their yard has a privacy fence and they share space with their neighbor. So essentially two households share one back yard.

I like the idea of having a private space. On the other hand, I like being able to talk to my neighbors over the 4 foot high chainlink. I worry that if I put up a privacy screen, I'll be shutting my neighbor out. There have been so many times when an invite to dine, a gardening tool or plant is shared, or food is given over our short chainlink fence.

My yard is a collaborative project. Landscaped with basalt from old railbeds and other people's yards, concrete mosaics made from broken plates, divided perennials from friends, volunteer saplings from apples, peaches and cherries dropped by birds or left, forgotten, by us, round and smooth river rock, bricks fired the wrong shade of red from the Mica Brick Plant, plants positioned and trails set by observing the well worn path of my dogs. Our latest creation is the daughter garden.

Litcelle has added sunflowers to the list of things to go in this bed. In the mean time, pinwheels with blessing for her and Helena grace the garden.

Softball, Soccer Ball, Butter Ball

2008-04-25T14:34:00.000-07:00

Litcelle turned out for softball. She's not the stereotypical body type for the game, but that works to her advantage. Her closeness to the ground seems to consistantly throw off the pitcher who isn't used to a lower strike zone. And she's pretty good at making contact with the ball. But she'd still rather be playing soccer. Unfortunately for her, Wellpinit doesn't have a soccer program and the recreation league in Spokane doesn't start till Summer. I'm playing soccer for two teams. I'm in the 30+ Women's League and the a 30+ co-ed league. The weather hasn't been cooperating though and its been snowing, hailing, raining , blowing and freezing at every game so far. I'm number 17.

This Saturday, we're celebrating our children and return home by having a Houserewarming and Blessing for Litcelle and Helena. We'll be building a Daughter Garden and making pinwheels with blessings written on them. Helena is in the 95th percentile for weight and 50th for height. She's our little butterball.

mm....good!!!

2008-04-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

Rice cereal anyone?

An Extripated Bird and other things Saipan

2008-04-21T08:58:00.000-07:00

This is the Micronesian Kingfisher. It was unique to Guam and Palau and is now extinct on Guam. This little guy lives at the National Zoo in Washington DC. And right next to him, in a cage of its own was a brown tree snake. The snake was introduced to Guam and has decimated the bird population. My friend Angelo and fellow blogger, recently went on a brown tree snake walk on Guam. On our trip to the botanical gardens in DC we also saw some plants that reminded us of Saipan. And now that it is snowing again in Spokane (yesterday it got up to 39 and a 100+ year record was broken), I'm thinking about that warm greenhouse and all the orchids, the banana trees and the breadfruit tree.

We also visited the Natural History Museum. Litcelle got to hold a variety of insects including this hissing cockroach from Madagascar. Made me think of the late night feeding for Helena and the crinking sound I heard right before two long antennae emerged out of the diaper bag.

Several of the exhibits reminded me of Saipan's beautiful waters and amazing diving. Even a skeleton of a prehistoric sea turtle is spectacular.

Can anyone tell me what type of fish is just below the Swordfish on the right?
And, another shoutout to Saipan. What do you see in this image of the ray?

Here's some more Saipan mojo for you.

I met a guy on the plane to Boston who was married to a Chamorro. We talked about kelaguen.
We had lunch with Arin Greenwood in DC. She used to live on Saipan too.
Doug interviewed for a job a few months ago at the Humane Society. The director's birth mom (she's adopted apparently) is related to Tony Stearns or Tony's wife (I can't remember).
My carpool buddy, has a friend who was a doctor on Saipan back in the day.
Doug was walking the dogs along the Spokane River, and someone wrote Chuuk FSM 2007 under the Sandifur Bridge.
A lady who served as a Nurse in WWII was recently interviewed in the local paper. She was stationed on Tinian.
I turned out for a co-ed soccer game yesterday and the team captain went to college with John Jenkins, who works for NMC, used to teach for PSS, and was in Scrooge with me.

Wrestling With the Blob Beast

2008-04-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

Art work by Ezra Johnson, NY

A high school friend, Ezra Johnson, is quickly becoming a world renowned artist. His latest show is web based. He used hand painted images to create animated art that you can download as screen savers for your computer.

Go to http://www.diaart.org/johnson/screensavers.html

Spring Break in DC

2008-04-06T14:58:00.000-07:00

After spending 4 days in Boston at the GeekFest, I headed to Newburgh, NY on the Hudson River, to stay with Mary Anne (Saipan and Spokane friend). Mary Anne moved from Saipan to Newburgh last year. She is the Director of Distance Learning at Mount St. Mary’s College. Mary Anne used to be instructional technology guru at Northern Mariana College on Saipan. She was also the reason we moved there. Doug worked with her in Spokane when she taught at the alternative high school. One of Hopwood’s new teachers student taught at that school and the new principal is my former boss!!! Just another example of the power of the Spokanation! I took Amtrak from Poughkeepsie, NY (home of Vassar College and close to Hyde Park (FDR’s home) to New York City. The train follows the Hudson River and its one of the most beautiful train routes I've been on. Even in with fog on the river, the scenary was striking. Just south of Beacon, NY a castle emerged on a small island. Apparently the castle was built in 1900 by the Bannerman family as a wherehouse for their burgeoning army surplus business. Additionaly, there are bulkheads in the water that date to the American Revolution. These were used to anchor a navigation obstruction against the British. On the other side of the river, Storm King Mountain looms. The mountain and neighborhing hamlets are an inspiration for artists and offer interesting history and lore. The mountain was closed after a fire in 1999, when ordnance from the 19th and early20th Century were found. The US Military Academy at West Point is on the south side of the mountain and sits like a fortress on the cliffs overlooking the Hudson. From Penn Station, I took Amtrak to Alexandria, Virginia. This train travels through Philadelphia, Baltimore and DC. If anyone needs a quick lesson in race and poverty, I recommend spending a few days in any of these cities. From the train, you get to see the back alleyways and posteriors of row houses that look like victims of an air raid. I hadn't been on that train since 1996. I interned in DC in college and used the train to move from Washington State. Many of the poor neighborhoods in DC are gentrified or getting there. Construction cranes loom everywhere near Union Station and banners announce the latest luxury condos being built.

Doug and Litcelle joined me and Helena in Alexandria for Spring Break. We stayed in Old Town, where my dad and stepmom live. We spent the week exploring Old Town, got a tour of the Capital Building, and visited several of the Smithsonian Museums.

I'll get pictures up from the Smithsonian, et al. Soon. I'm tinkering with some different ways to show the pictures. Stay tuned.

Adventures of a Science Geek

2008-03-29T06:21:00.000-07:00

I'm in Boston for the National Science Teacher's Conference. On Thursday, I presented in a poster session at a one day International Science Education workshop. My poster discussed the Micronesia Challenge project my students did on Saipan. I got interviewed by someone with NPR and heard some very interesting presentations on internet based high schools for isolated "fly-in" communities in Northern Canada. I also connected with Mary Anne. She used to live on Saipan and moved to New York shortly before we moved back to Washington. She drove to Boston to meet me. Then I met her buddy from graduate school. He works for Yahoo and is promoting a cool new tool for teachers called Yahoo Teacher. We spent several hours talking about social networking, Web 2.0 etc.

Here's some cool stuff:

Voicethread allows you voice over powerpoints or movies you upload onto your computer and then you can embed the presentation into another website!

Jumpcut allows you to upload movies or power point presentations for uploading onto a website and can be used by schools without worrying about inappropriate content.

Tapped In allows teachers to network and collaborate on projects, professional development etc . Students can also be signed in for on line collaboration about projects.

Microsoft Live allows you to upload your Microsoft office docs and access them from anywhere. And if you make changes, say from your hotel room in Boston, the original document gets updated on your home computer as well.

Primo PDF is a free download that allows you to convert documents into PDF files. This is useful if you don't want your document modified or want to create something multiple people can view regardless of the writing software they use.

Loving Recklessly

2008-03-24T06:12:00.000-07:00

I apologized to a student this morning. He wasn't doing his assignment last Thursday and I got into a power and control struggle I knew I couldn't win. My interactions with him have been hounding me all weekend. I saw him this morning and told him I was sorry. I told him I put my heart and soul into my teaching and I sometimes take it personally when students don't participate the way I hoped. I also told him I get sad when students like himself, let their talents and smarts go to waste. I said I lost my cool and I was sorry. He said ok and walked away. He probably thinks I'm crazy. But I hope I planted a seed or mended a small tear in his broken heart.

The Useless Tree (The Tao by Chuang Tzu)

Hui Tzu said to Chuang:
I have a big tree,
The kind they call a "stink tree."
The trunk is so distorted,
So full of knots,
No one can get a straight plank out of it.
The branches are so crooked
You cannot cut them up in any way that makes sense.

There it stands beside the road.
No carpenter will even look at it.

Such is your teaching-big and useless.

This past week marked a very cold Easter in Spokane. We got 2 inches of snow of the first official day of Spring and a cold wind wipped our pant cuffs and ears as we performed the Stations of the Cross around a 2 block radius in our neighborhood. For those of you who don't know, the stations retell the story of Jesus's death and resurrection. For us, each station represented a different issue or concern such as our overcrowded prisons, domestic violence, addiction, child abuse, hunger, poverty and homelessness.

Even if you aren't a Christian or don't believe in the resurrection (I'm a skeptic at best, but value the message in the story), the Easter story is timeless and compelling. A man calling for justice, peace, care for the poor, let's face it, radical reform, is ridiculed and assassinated at the hands of his own people. Sound familiar? (Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., JFK, Lincoln). Many Christians gloss over the death part (Good Friday) and like to skip right ahead to Easter Sunday. But Good Friday is vital to the story. Jesus risked everything. Even when he was betrayed he modeled forgiveness and love. What would it be like to recklessly love others (unconditional love requires accepting many risks) to freely forgive others for their mistakes, to daily seek the truth about our own actions let alone others? How would we engage one another as family members, friends, co-workers, or neighbors. What would our story be now if we'd done these things in the face of September 11? How would we view and deal with issues like homelessness, addiction, domestic violence and poverty?

What would a simple debate about preserving some marine habitat in the Marianas look like if everyone agreed to consider what Jesus would do? I imagine, the discussion would not transpire like the conversations occuring at this site.

How do we balance loving unconditionally but not enabling others to continue living destructive lives? How do I engage my drug addicted neighbor who borrowed money under false pretenses and then used it to buy coke? Am I doing the right thing, by not getting angry at the student who tells me to fuck off when I ask them to get off of myspace?

In my mind, unconditional love means accepting people for who they are. Another neighbor walked by shortly after we moved back and I went outside to say hello. I invited her in for coffee and could see that she had started her day intoxicated. She said "thank you, but I started drinking again". There was embarrasment and shame in her her voice. I said, "that doesn't matter, come over some time for coffee". Her children were my students at another school. I remember helping them find winter coats one winter and I remember her letting me take gravel from the back yard where a garage used to sit. If she knew we had to go to the food bank, she'd be bringing me food, even though she needs the assistance more than us.

A quote from a book called Power verses Force got me thinking. "If the hopeless can come to want something better and then use the energy of anger to develop pride they may then be able to take the step to courage and proceed to ameliorate their individual or collective conditions." I want to know how to get my students to begin that process. How do we mend broken hearts?

Chuange Tzu replied:
Have you ever watched the wildcat crouching;
watching his prey-
This way it leaps, and that way,
High and low, and at last
Lands in the trap.

But have you seent he yak?
Great as a tundercloud
He stands in his might.
Big? Sure,
He can't catch mice!

Sor for your big tree. No use?
Then plant it in the wasteland
In emptiness.
Walk idly around,
Rest under its shadow;
No axe or bill prepares its end.
No one will ever cut it down.

Useless? You should worry!

Marzipan and Meetings

2008-03-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

I went to the West Central Neighborhood Council meeting tonight. It's always entertaining in a masochistic sort of way. Although I should say that the faces have changed a bit since 2005 when I last participated. And there seems to be a positive shift. Three years ago, members of the council opposed a Head Start expansion at the Community Center because they thought Head Start would attract more poor people into our neighborhood. A couple of cool things were discussed tonight. Our public swimming pool in Cannon Park is getting a face lift. Anyone who wants to give input on the design can do so on April 10th at the Corbin Art Center at 6:00 or 6:30 (hard to catch everything with a baby in my lap).

The city sewage treatment department has started a pilot project called SURGE which stands for Spokane Urban Runoff Greenways Experiment. The proposed site will be along West Broadway between Elk and Oak. The plan is for sunken planters with drainage from the street to catch, slow down and filter runoff before it gets to the Spokane River. It's a great way to minimize urban non-point source pollution and it adds greenery to our neighborhood at the same time.

Five trees are slated to be removed along Ash during a street repaving and widening project. According to a city staffer at the meeting, the city plants 2 trees for every tree removed. I hope we get those trees. West Central desparately needs them.

I volunteered to chair a committee to look at strategies for mitigating crime in the summer, particularly youth crime and gang activity.

While I was at the meeting Doug made chocolate marzipan!!! Yum Yum!!! Doug also went to the neighborhood food bank today. We got 20 lbs of food per person in the household. He had to show photo id and social security cards for all of us. They follow the same poverty guidelines as WIC. Our current income places us below 100% of the federal poverty guidelines for a family of 4 by about $2,000. I think we have to have even less money to get food stamps. But the pantry is stocked with dried beans, canned beans, chili, beef stew, cereal, rice, noodles, mac & cheese, canned fruit and some baby rice cereal, which Helena will be ready for in about a month.

There are about 10 cans of chili. I'll doctor them up somehow. Or it makes a great Friday night meal. Chips, chili, salsa, guacamole and beer. I put some dried beans in the crock pot for soup and plan on making some bread tomorrow.

Last night, we walked to Holy Trinity Episcopal Church for lenten soup supper, the Eucharist and a discussion about the saints. The church has been in the neighborhood for over 160 years. When we left for Saipan, it was practically vacant, congregation wise. A new priest was installed last year and now over 75 people are members. The priest is a Greener Grad like me. That means he went to the Evergreen State College, which virtually guarantees a theological perspective that's post modern, strained through a Marxist critique and environmentally sound! The cool thing is we figured out we graduated the same year and we probably met through mutual acquaintances 12 years ago. The church has several gardens including a garden of plants named after or symbolic of Mary and this memorial garden. Apparently, church records indicate that several members had their ashes interred here after they died.

The church has a huge corner lot. The lot is going to be converted into a community garden and the kitchen is being remodeled for commercial use. Several wheel chair accessible raised beds have already been built. The congregation is also involved with Project HOPE (Helping Our young People Excel) which is an ecumenical community based gang prevention/intervention initiative. One of the projects under Project HOPE is Riverfront Farms, which will hopefully employ youth in the neighborhood in urban farming, marketing and distribution of produce and plants.

Bachelors Degree $20,000...Masters Degree $24,000...Applying for WIC...Priceless

2008-03-10T22:31:00.000-07:00

If I had gone for a Masters in Nursing I'd be making about 100 K right now. Instead, I'm below 100% of federal poverty guidelines for a family of 4 and qualify for WIC. That's Woman, Infant and Children services. We get about $100 in assistance for formula. If I were breastfeeding, we'd get money for food so I could be healthy and fed well enough to produce milk. I applied for TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) for food stamps. But I think they require you to be even more poor.

Part of the problem is teachers are paid for the 180+ days they work. That amount is prorated over 12 months. Since I'm only working 88 days of this year's contract, I'm only getting paid the difference of 182 days minus the 94 days I didn't work, so my take home pay is equivalent to $36,000 a year instead of the $43,900 on my contract. $43,900 isn't anything to brag about either. My brother got paid that his first year working after college and he made sure construction jobs stayed on schedule. My job is much harder and now I have to go back to school again or my certificate won't be valid. I don't get financial aide and I won't get a pay increase for it either.

Doug's uninsured too. It cost me $30 dollars to insure myself and the girls. It would have been $400 more for all of us. Luckily there's a low cost clinic down the street that offers sliding scale fees.

Doug's caring for Helena and looking for a job. But we don't want to wherehouse her in a child care facility either. So it's worth the lack in income to have a parent with her most of the time. He has a few leads on part time jobs that pay well and have flexible hours. And child care would be at least $800 a month.

But until then, there's a food bank next to that free clinic. And the lady at WIC gave Doug a cookbook with bean recipes (low cost protein). I already tried that. My split pea soup gave Doug gas, and now he's afraid to eat the lentils.

I'm In Love!!!

2008-03-10T22:23:00.000-07:00

I know I already posted about baby laughs being contagious, but I think I must tell you again that baby laughs are absolutely amazing. Heart melting, mood altering power!!! If only it could be bottled and sold!

It Aint Over Till the Fat Lady Sings

2008-03-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, she wasn't fat, but she did sing the last line right before she jumped to her death. Wellpinit H.S. got free tickets to Tosca. The Spokane Opera Society produced the show at the Fox, which only recently opened after being restored to its original splendor (see picture below). Litcelle wore long underwear under her gown and I had fun finding a dress that didn't quite conform to opera standards. I made the necklace and earings to match (see picture below for a close up)
Even Doug got dressed up.

After the show, we took the students to Red Robin for dessert. The mudpies are ginormous!!!

Adventures in Idaho

2008-03-05T20:13:00.000-08:00

Spokane is only 20 miles from the Washington Idaho border. Over the past 2 weekends, we've ventured off into our summer playground. Spokane gets hot in the summer and North Idaho is always 10 degrees cooler (or at least it feels cooler). So we've always had a sailboat on Lake Pend Orielle and we'd disappear on weekends once boating season began. We're not anti-social, we just don't socialize with anyone not on a boat from June to September. Since the weather was nice on Sunday, we drove out to Bayview, ID and hiked at Farragut State Park. Then we walked the docks at Bitterend Marina, looking at boats.
The weekend before last, we traveled to the North end of Pend Orielle, and stayed with Cathy and Carl Sandell (Caitlin, of the Leaders are P.A.R.T.I.E.R.S fame, parents). We immediately figured out where Caitlin gets her sense of humor from! And this is another example of the 6 degrees of Spokanation. Caitlin lived and worked in Sandpoint (just 70 miles from Spokane, which is practically next door in the Western United States) and we never met! Even crazier, Doug and I anchored infront of her folks place on several occasions. It took Caitlin moving 6,000 miles away from the Inland Northwest to Saipan, for us to meet.

And Caitlin's totally jealous! Not only did we get to hang out with her awesome parents, Litcelle got to sleep in Caitlin's bed and Cathy got to hold Helena.

The Quiet Loneliness of an Absent Teenager

2008-03-05T19:47:00.000-08:00

Litcelle's gone this week. She's staying with Gramma and working as a legislative page in Olympia. She's having fun, making friends, her ankles hurt from all the walking she has to do, and she got to fly all by herself. We're a bit out of sorts with no teenager to wake in the morning. There's a quiet loneliness in the house with the absence of her laughter, not having the phone ringing, or not hearing the same hip hop song playing over and over again while she learns the lyrics. There are no empty bowls with milk in them left on the table or earrings left on the counter. Even her friends at school seem a bit sullen in her absence.

Wellpinit Places 8th In State

2008-03-05T19:10:00.000-08:00

The Wellpinit High School Boys Basketball Team placed 8th in state in the State B competition. Basketball is huge in indian country and this was the first time in 27 years that the boys team has made it all the way to the state competition.

Here's a story from the Spokesman Review http://www.spokesmanreview.com/stateb/2008/stories/?ID=234013

During the championship, I created lessons that tied basketball into science. In biology, we learned about muscle cells and cellular respiration. In chemistry we learned about polymers and how they're used in different products like the bladder of the ball. In physics, the students designed a shoe prototype for basketball. Check out the blog http://www.wellpinitscience.blogspot.com/ for more details and other science related stuff.

Da Chiefs!

2008-02-23T09:13:00.004-08:00

We saw the Chiefs play Kelowna last Tuesday. It was Litcelle's first hockey game. She's now a big fan. We got her on ice skates this past week too.

Lions and Tigers and a Liger Oh My!!!

2008-02-23T08:27:00.004-08:00

It's winter time in Spokane and we've had record snowfall. This is the time of year when my family on the westside gets snow envy and comes to visit. My mom was here 2 weeks ago and my brother and his fiance` came over last weekend. We took them hiking at the Palisades Park, which overlooks the city from the west atop basalt columnar cliffs.

Damon and Maile
The Reynolds clan.

Damon and Maile are cat lovers. So we took them to see the big cats. Cat Tales is a zoological park for rescued cats. They have tigers, lions, bobcats, cougars, pumas, cervals, lynx, etc. Most were 'pets'. I can't imagine how anyone could wake up one morning and think, "today I'm going to get a tiger for a pet! That's sounds like a fabulous and smart idea! My head can fit in its mouth, and it will probably eat my kids for a snack." Apparently, it's legal to have native cats as pets. So if you've been dreaming about that bobcat or cougar scratching the shit out of your front door, go out into the woods and catch one!!!" People really are stupid! Anyway, Cat Tales educates the public about the cats, their native lands, how they are at risk, etc. There's a litter of tiger cubs. We got to pet one. That was amazing!White Bengal Tiger

Bengal Tiger
Bobcat

Liger. This is a cross between a lion and a tiger. Totally un-natural and never to happen in the wild since these cats live on different continents. And, ligers are sterile, like mules.

We also went to the Townsend Winery up in Greenbluff. Townsend is our favorite of the local wineries. They make an amazing huckleberry port. I can't wait to go up to Greenbluff in June to pick strawberries, July for cherries and August for apples.

Can We Wait?

2008-02-18T09:11:00.005-08:00

Litcelle composed her first song last night. She arranged the cords and her friend Veronica and I helped with lyrics. We performed it at Jim and Linda Hunt's. They were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary and many of our friends were there. It was a great reunion. Aaron and Destiny accompanied us with drum and guitar.

Can we wait for tomorrow to come again?
I hate this feeling, that the world will never change
When the moon rises, and the sun sets at night
The world's turning and everyone's alright
Please don't leave me, in this world all alone
Why did He take you, and why'd you have to go?

Chorus
My world stopped turning and I'm not alright
Everything's changing and I need to find the light

I keep hoping, that the world is gonna change
My heart's breaking, will your suffering ever end?
Cold and lonely, starving in more ways than one
When I walk by you, I just wonder if you need a friend

Chorus

So many choices, but you pretend not to care
You're disappearing when we really need you here
Your feeling numb now as you try to hide the pain
But it's not working because everything's still the same

Can we wait for tomorrow to come again?
I'll keep dreaming that everything's gonna change

Fishing for Mice

2008-02-11T19:45:00.000-08:00

Finally!!!!

2008-02-10T19:20:00.000-08:00

Yay! I feel whole again. I have a computer and internet at home! I was going through withdrawals. Anyway, we made it to Spokane (just in time) about 12 hours before the passes closed for 3 days. Our home was blanketed in about 2 feet of snow. We immediately started painting, cleaning and fixing up the house. I painted the living room and made curtains. We made a new friend while moving in. Jed also happens to be a handyman. We hired him to fix our upstairs bathroom. The toilet had a hairline fracture and the water damage rotted out the floor. We now have a nice tile floor (was vinyl), a pedestal sink and an old fashion looking toilet that sits up high off the ground (nice for tall people like Doug, wierd sensation for those of us a little closer to the ground. I should have taken a before picture. We're not done yet. The ceiling is ugly and needs to be replaced, plus the fan quit working. So this week, that will be finished and I will hopefully get around to painting the upstairs bedrooms.

Litcelle's room in the basement was in pretty good shape. We had to touch up some of the paint and Doug found a used condom in the closet. Litcelle sucked one up into the shop vac while cleaning the shroom couch in the basement too.

Side bar: The shroom couch is a love seat we bought for $10 from a guy raising money to go to a Rainbow Gathering. While loading it into the truck, we found a bag of shrooms under the cushions. I showed it to the guy and he said they were mine since I bought the couch. I gave them back. Now we just call it the shroom couch. We've had 3 different people in the house since going to Saipan, so who knows who left the gifts for us to find. The couch should be burned. But for now, its covered with blankets and has been cleaned so we can watch movies on the 36 inch tv my brother handed off to us. We had to make a ramp with cardboard boxes to get it down the stairs.

Helena and Litcelle saw there first high school basketball game. Basketball is huge on the rez. My first lab with the students was about basketballs bouncing and airpressure. My classroom is awesome. I have a projector, a document camera, computers with internet, lab supplies etc. I teach biology (22 students), physical science (23 students) and physics (6 students). I have room for another class on my schedule. Next year I'm going to try and offer an allied health class for students considering health careers.
I have to drive about 45 miles to get to work. Litcelle is going to school there as well. We saw this deer last week. We also saw a moose and a bald eagle.

This is my good friend Ramona. She was sooooo happy we were back! My mom came to visit this last weekend and we all went out to dinner. I think I'm officially pasty now.

Other cool things: I found a neighbor who blogs http://www.spoblo.com/ They made us dinner and brought it over and they watched Helena for Doug the other day so he could go to a job interview. Our other neighbors, Lisa and Gideon, also made us dinner right after we got back.

First, ahhhh we're back in the hood moment: A guy about Doug's height, stole our neighbor's snow shovel and drove away with it by sitting on shovel while driving what looked like a FisherPrice mini bike (think clowns in the circus riding on bikes 2 feet in length). We watched the scene unfold from our living room. Unfortunately we noticed the guy after he was already trying to balance his ass on the shovel and didn't realize where the shovel came from until it was too late.

Took me back to the mattress rickshaw. More on that later. Gotta go get ready for school.

First Chamorro Sighting

2008-01-27T23:22:00.001-08:00

We weren't back in the States more than a week when we saw a Chamorita driving a Toyota Solaris on I-5. How did we know she was Chamorro?

The bumper sticker that said "Bebe Juice: Chamorro Natural Energy Drink"

I suspect we'll be able to identify many islanders this way (perhaps taotao bud stickers have made it over here too). I remember when we bought a puke green subaru wagon 10 years ago. We'd never seen that color before. Then after we bought it, we saw pukearus all over the place.

Angelo says we'll never "leave" Saipan. And this is how I think we'll never leave. We'll find a connection to others from there as we find them or seek them out. I'm already planning several rendevous with island friends this coming summer.

Boise or Bust Shar!!!

Homecoming Part 2

2008-01-27T08:21:00.000-08:00

There are 5 generations of my family in Olympia. Besides my brother living 60 miles away in Seattle and me living in Spokane, everyone else is still in the hometown. Above: Helena meets her great grandma.
Helena's grandma was so happy to meet her and Litcelle.
I spent as much time with my cousins as I did with my brother. We're all like siblings. And the older bunch are starting to have kids. Here's my cousin Adam, holding Helena, and Ashley, my other cousin's kid checking Helena out. I can't wait for Christmas. There will be 5 kids under the age of 5 and 3 teenagers. My 2 youngest cousins became instant buddies with Litcelle. On a sunny day, Mt. Rainier towers over Puget Sound like a movie backdrop. It's one of the most spectacular views on Earth. Seeing a 14,000 foot mountain from sea level is really amazing. We took Litcelle to the Super Mall in Auburn. Its not the best mall in the world or in the state, but Litcelle's only mall experience up until now was the DFS Galleria on Saipan. The Galleria is like a duty free airport mall. My aunt took her to Value Village too. The VV is an awesome second hand clothing store. We fondly refer to it as The Villa. I got 4 pairs of pants, baby clothes, a diaper bag, 2 pairs of pants for Doug, and 4 shirts for Doug for $104.

We're getting ready to head North. We rented a U-Haul and have been making the rounds to different houses in Olympia collecting free furniture from friends and family. My mom gave us a chest freezer and a treadmill! Everyone thought the freezer was pretty cool. I'm stoked about the treadmill! One of my cousins hooked us up with baby furniture and my mom and brother collected beds, bedding, a couch, a table and some household items. We're all set. The weather isn't cooperating though. The roads are icy, its snowing on Snoqualmie pass and we're going to have buy chains for the truck and our new car. But we have a couple of days to see if the roads improve. We're going to Seattle to stay with my brother for a few days. We'll leave for Spokane from there.

Going Home

2008-01-21T22:40:00.000-08:00

Litcelle saw snow for the first time in her life! We lucked out! It snowed in Narita, the night we stayed there.

My mom has been browsing thrift stores for months. We each had three large garbage bags full of clothes to rummage through. Helena's now our baby bear.
Robert Washington, Elvis Impersonator, performed at The Brotherhood Bar. We Olympians just call it the Broho. It was a family reunion of sorts. My Aunt Patti and cousin Carly were there along with Doug, my mom Jennifer, her boyfriend Dick, my brother Damon and his fiancee Maile.

Litcelle went to Great Grandma Shirley's and spent the night with her 2 new cousins, Max (13) and Nora (14). Grandma Shirley also watched Helena for us.

It's cold, but refreshing! Tomorrow we're going to tour the state capital grounds and try and visit our representatives from Spokane.

Making Lists

2008-01-13T22:14:00.000-08:00

I've been making lists everyday so we remember what we still need to do before we leave. Ultimately things get moved to the next day's list as the day slips away and we're too tired to go to one more government office or mail one more box.

Then I started thinking about things I didn't do while I was living here. Everyone, no matter where they live, takes what's around them for granted. I lived in Washington DC for a semester in college and never went to the Smithsonian. I kept telling myself I'd get to it and I never went. When we moved here, we explored every trail we could find and visited Tinian and Rota several times. The funny thing is, there are people who've been here their whole lives and they've never set foot on the beach at Bird Island or swam in the grotto at Forbidden.

Here is my list of must do's:

1. Hike down to Forbidden and swim in the grotto.
2. Watch the stars from Banzai or Suicide cliff.
3. Find the Mermaid and make a wish.
4. Snorkel over the reef at Lau Lau
5. Visit the bomb pits on Tinian
6. Bicycle around Rota
7. Stand next to the Taga Stones on Tinian and the latte stones in the quarry on Rota
8. Learn to scuba dive
9. Camp out on Managaha
10. Stop and have a beer and eat some bbq on the beach
11. Eat some apigigi at the street market
12. Buy some plants and bucayo at the Sabalu Market
13. Eat icecream at the Big Dipper
14. Try the garlic octopus at the Abyss
15. Start a collection of Budweisser coasters
16. Sail on a hobie with Lino Olopai
17. Listen to Gus Kaipat and his band
18. Sing kareoke at La Chambre with Angelo and Cinta.
19. Visit Asia!
20. Experiment with SPAM

Things I never got around to:

1. Diving the Grotto
2. Visiting Guam
3. Sailing to the Northern Islands
4. Going to Australia, China, Korea, Vietnam, FSM, Palau....
5. Kayaking on the lagoon
6. Camping one more time at Obyan
7. Learning how to make kelaguen or apigigi
8. Experimenting with SPAM
9. Diving on Rota
10. Going to the Sunday movies at American Memorial Park

Good Times, Good Times

2008-01-10T16:31:00.000-08:00

Twenty Things I'll Remember About Saipan

1. On my last day at Hopwood, I got bit by a shrew. Don't worry, it's just a flesh wound. The little bastard got caught in a trap in another teacher's room and she was too much of a pansy to take care of it. So I went in with a garbage bag (a moment to make my mom proud) and reached down to wrap the sucker and take it outside. Then it bit me. I left him in the trash can outside to starve to death. I realize that sounds cruel, but I had rabies and lepto swimming in my brain. I made the other teacher pour hydrogen peroxide on my finger while I squeezed out blood for a couple of minutes.

2. If the door on the car infront of you inexplicably comes open while in motion, put on the brakes, cuz the red spit is about to fly. I just love it, when I find streaks on my car.

3. A "tree fell on a power line" last year and caused an island wide outage for 8 hours.

4. I saw a bumper sticker that said "God Never Change". I believe it's supposed to say "God Never Changes". But the loss of the 's' is much more fun. It sounds like the person who wrote the phrase is begging God not to change. And then I thought, "God, never change. Your good enough, smart enough. And God damn it, people like you!"

5. I'll never forget the student who blurted out that copra (dried coconut) is a black lady on t.v.

6. The time I swam at Kilili Beach and got a rash.

7. When I cut Doug's hair and Tom asked Kerry to cut his.

8. Finding out some co-workers didn't realize Doug and I were married until our going away party. Apparently many students and staff thought we were brother and sister. I know, us white folk all look alike.

9. Diving for the first time after 9 years.

10. Watching re-runs of Walker Texas Ranger and Law and Order on Rota.

11. Being the only 2 people left in Songsong, Rota after a tsunami warning. We figured all the traffic out of the village was for a funeral or cock fight.

12. The 50% Off(expired date) sections at the grocery stores with the disclaimer "pet food". The meats are always my favorite, that beautiful Finnigan's Rainbow glistening on the surface of the meat, and don't forget the green bologna.

13. Forbidden Island and Bird Island

14. The cockroach in my baby's diaper bag, or the one that ran across my foot in the middle of the night, or the rat that ran over my foot in my class room, or the ginormous spider Doug killed. Man that was hot!

15. The sunsets from the lagoon.

16. Sea turtles

17. The bugs in my raisin bran. I ate a whole bowl before realizing the bag was infested.

18. The naked Japanese guy in the gym.

19. Offers of free food and beer every time we go to the beach.

20. My students, my friends.

12 Days of Christmas

2008-01-10T16:16:00.001-08:00

We attended a Three Kings Feast in Chinatown last Sunday. I think there are 7 baby Ninos in the picture. They're from the Kristo Rai Church in Garapan. The baby Jesus dolls are blessed and then taken around the villages where families pay homage. Then they pack up the baby's in numbered boxes and return them to the church. The cars that caravan the Ninos, have speakers attached to the roof, playing music. If they are traveling fast, the doppler effect adds a nice touch to the whole scene. And then if your neighbor is one of the drivers and his license plate says "1 badnis" you'll be treated to a boombastic bass experience that will cause the whole concrete apartment complex to shudder. Maybe he was rappin for Jesus.

Litcelle carried one of the Ninos in the procession to the cars, leading up to the baby Jesus road trip. Helena got to kiss the baby.

On a totally different note, the dogs are a little wigged out. They know somethings up. The dog crates came out of storage. There are packed suitcases in the living room and the shelves are bare. We got their health clearance to leave today. Cost us $230 for Dr. Tudor and then Dr. Dela Cruz with DLNR and Agriculture had to give them a once over as well. That only cost $40. Their plane ticket will be about $1,100.

We F'd Up the End Game

2008-01-04T18:19:00.000-08:00

The movie, "Charlie Wilson's War" is based on the book by George Crile. The movie is about Congressman Wilson's success at creating and funding the largest covert operation in US History. If you have any inkling of the current conflict in the Middle East and the history of the Taliban in Afghanistan, you'll wonder "what if" throughout the entire movie. How would things be different if the US hadn't intervened? Where would we be now if the the US had line itemed a million dollars for schools at the end of the war instead of just walking away.

Near the end of the movie, Phillip Seymour Hoffman's character tells Charlie Wilson, played by Tom Hanks, the story about the Zen master. Perhaps we should all refer to it before making decisions.

"A boy is given a horse on his 14th birthday. Everyone in the village says, “Oh how wonderful.” But a Zen master who lives in the village says, “we shall see.” The boy falls off the horse and breaks his foot. Everyone in the village says, “Oh how awful.” The Zen master says, “We shall see.” The village is thrown into war and all the young men have to go to war. But, because of the broken foot, the boy stays behind. Everyone says, “Oh, how wonderful.” The Zen master says, “We shall see.”

I remember thinking "No shit" as I watched that scene.

Staying for the credits is always worth it. The quote by Charlie Wilson is like a punch line for a cruel joke. Only it's no joke.

“These things really happened. We changed the world, then we fucked up the end game.”

Going Away BBQ and Clean Up Light House

2008-01-03T15:02:00.000-08:00

We're hosting a cleanup at the Lighthouse with Beautify CNMI and a going away bbq on January 13th. We'll start cleaning up around 3 p.m. and will watch the sunset from one of the most spectacular locations on island. We'll need chairs, tables, food to share, a grill to cook on, candles, and flashlights.

Bring food to share!!!

Email Bree at bree.reynolds@gmail.com if you can bring chairs, a couple of tables, coolers or a grill.

If you are going to help with the cleanup, bring a machete, rake, and water.

60 Degrees of Separation

2008-01-02T17:37:00.000-08:00

If you notice the weather icons to the right, Saipan reads between 79 and 86 degrees, fairly consistently. Spokane right now ranges from 10 degrees (night) to 30 (day). That's an average of 60 degrees difference!!! Of course next week, it could be in the 40's and raining in Spokane and in February the Chinooks come through, warming the air to about 50. It feels like t-shirt weather and the ground thaws just enough to give you a tease in the garden before freezing again.

Litcelle's in for the shock of her life! All of us are actually. I think Hollywood Theater is cold at about 70 degrees and PTI is frigid at about 65. But Doug and I know what to do and what to wear and we are excited about the snow. We miss it. I know you might think we're crazy. But we scheduled our lives around seasons until moving here and now I feel in limbo, stuck in Summer for ever. We bought season passes to ice skate in the Winter, went snowshoeing and skiing. In the Spring we gardened, started sailing and disappeared to the lake where the air is cooler in the Summer. In the Fall the leaves are brilliant colors of red, yellow and orange. Halloween usually marks the first cold night of the season and signals that Winter is on its way.

When we were in Bali, we went up into the mountains and it got down in the 50's at night. We could see our breath. Litcelle thought that was pretty cool.

For our move back, we bought her some warm boots and one of her aunties in the states sent a knit hat and mittens. I made her a scarf. She's ready to go.

Bird Streamer Flashovers

2008-01-02T17:25:00.000-08:00

Our power went out around 10:30 p.m. last night and came back on about 2 hours later. Not sure why it was out yet. Remember last year when a "tree" fell on a line and the entire island was without power for 8 hours? Here's one CUC hasn't used yet.

From The NEED Project Newsletter (a non-profit energy education group)

"Unintended electrical faults on transmission lines are major sources of power disturbances and blackouts. An unintended fault is known as a flashover. Scientists have studied unplanned outages for many years and discovered an unexpected cause-bird poop. A super-long stream of white fluid bird excrement is known as a streamer. When a bird perches on a power line pole and "nature calls", a streamer squirts from the bird's cloaca onto a power-line insulator. The insulator is shorted out because the streamer acts like a new wire. It links the line to the pole for a second. Electricity flashes across it, causing a bird streamer flashover. A bird streamer flashover may cause a black out and often kills the bird."

If the bird dies is it a bird steamer? Extra crispy or original?

Keepin it Fresh

2008-01-02T01:03:00.000-08:00

Someone passed on some hand-me-down clothes to Litcelle and this skirt was in the mix.

Litcelle: "mom isn't this cute?"

Me: "uh no! let me translate for you: pop my cherry here; i'm a virgin and i don't want to be much longer; i'm easy"

Litcelle: "ewwww!!! MOM!!!! okay, i wont' wear it."

Further thoughts on that skirt: Potential career opportunities: Pole dancer, hooker, teenage mother.

Looking for Comets

2008-01-02T00:51:00.000-08:00

New born babies can't wear sunscreen and she might die from heat stroke if I took her for a walk. So I've been feeling like someone under house arrest. Then, duh, we figured out we can walk different trails and explore different places just before sundown on the East side of the island. So on New Year's Day, we went up to Bonzai and hiked the Hilblohm trail at sunset and hoofed it back with flashlights to star gaze and look for the comet. We didn't see the comet, but the Milkyway was spectacular. And, Helena went on her first hike. Litcelle, got to hang out with a couple of her friends from Hopwood.

International Year of the Potato

2007-12-31T15:37:00.001-08:00

It's the International Year of the Potato!

http://www.potatomuseum.com/
Potatoes are great to eat just about any way you prepare them. And you can run a clock with one, stamp homemade wrapping paper, juggle with them, hide them in your worst enemy's house to stink up the place when they rot, are easy to grow, come in all shapes, sizes, colors, textures and flavors.
The Mariana's sweet potato is fabulous as a fry. And the purple ube's make interesting pastries. And did you know a potato has more potassium than a banana????!!!
mmmmm.....I think I'll go cook some right now. In fact, I think I'll do at least one potato meal/recipe a week! So send me your favorites. I'm willing to try almost anything once.

Recipe 1 Potato Slop (what to cook when you're moving in 2 weeks, the cupboard and frig are running low and you have $20 left until payday, and its already 7pm and dinner needs to be served. Just pull a 'recipe' out of your ass like me. Which basically means, I think something will taste good combined with certain spices and sort of go for it.)

WARNING: Measurements are totally inaccurate and according to taste.

1.5 potatoes (cut off the stale/oxidized part on the 1/2 potato)

1 can chopped tomatoes

3 cloves garlic

curry powder

coriander powder

ground sage

ground pepper

1/4 of a green pepper (check to make sure its not slimy or moldy)

1/2 cup chopped cabbage (lasts forever!)

1/2 cup red wine (thanks Jerry Facey) plus a glass or 2 for the cook

splash of balsalmic vinegar

splash of soy sauce

chopped Boca Burger sausages (not totally vegan or gluten free)

saute` garlic in margarine and seasonings. add green pepper and sausage. add cabbage and tomatoes. cook potatoes in a pan of boiling water for about 10 minutes, drain water. Then mix together.

YUM YUM

My Ears are Still Ringing

2007-12-31T15:16:00.000-08:00

Doug's suffering from PTSD. So is our dog Sassy. She's like an annoying shadow glued to my ankles, under foot, under chair, shaking in the crook of my knee while I sleep. Maybe its because she knows we're moving. But really, this whole thing started whenever the frick those fireworks went on sale! Fireworks are illegal where I'm from because the idiot factor goes up exponentially when you look at who purchases these infernal things.

uhhhhh fire.......ooohhhh pretty.......mmmmmmm hot......duhhhhhhh loooooouuuud

Who lets 2 year olds run around with firecrackers!!!???

Idiot with firecracker the size of a coke can=missing fingers, missing eye, or massive forest fire.

For those of you not living on Saipan, it was like a frickin war zone!!! And there's a shit load of concrete around our place so the noise was magnified.

We went to my friend Shar's family's place for dinner and made it til 10 p.m. We came home early to put baby Helena to bed. I think she slept, but Doug and I were awake til 2 (against our own wishes I might add).

I'm not a big New Years fan to begin with. What's the big deal anyway? But maybe its cuz the extent of my childhood celebration was banging pots and pans together in the middle of the forest where no one else would hear it. And in college I got hammered on a bottle of pink champaign while waiting for my boyfriend to come home from a party I couldn't attend, due to car troubles. I spent the evening with Audry Hepburn, Thai Spring Rolls, Orange and Chocolate sherbert and that dreadful champain. Why pink? Because it was Audrey's favorite.

Top 2 New Years: My friend Lisa's b-day bash at the Shop in the South Perry Neighborhood in Spokane. And, Budapest with my brother and Doug. Never knew how much fun you could have with marzipan pigs.

Ok, griping about loud fireworks aside, 2007 was a good year. Our family doubled in size when we were blessed with 2 beautiful daughters. My dad and step mom came to visit (first and only family members to visit). We got to go to Bali. I won an award from Beautify CNMI. Litcelle graduated from 8th grade and we made the decision to go home. Banner year actually.

Stolen Time

2007-12-29T17:44:00.000-08:00

Gotta be quick, my time is measured by fitful moments of sleep. She really, really loves mommy, I'm flattered. But daddy loves her too, so does big sister. The minute I hand Helena to Doug she follows me with her emerging brown eyes. Sometimes, he can not console her when she cries, her eating habits are jerky at best. And then, he passes her back to me and poof, she stops crying, snuggles up against my chest and serenely sucks on her bottle.

She seems quite content with most grown women that hold her actually. Maybe Doug needs some prosthetic breasts.

What else:

1. Christmas Eve we went to a pig roast at the neighbors and sang kareoke until 10, then it was time for bed. Christmas day we had a few friends over for brunch. I made a breakfast casserole, polenta with sausage and maple syrup (thanks Julie), and we served Limpa bread from my gramma Shirley. No big gifts this year since we're moving. Our stockings were full of handy items for long plane rides like neck pillows, crossword puzzle books, handy wipes etc. How did Santa know?

2. December 26th marked Helena's 6th week, which means time for more immunizations. Litcelle and I took her to Dr. Ada and we decided to also get some shots while we were there. Litcelle got the second HPV vaccine and flu. I got a flu shot, Hep A and Hep B. Damn that Hep A shot hurt! While I cringed and winced, Litcelle said "go to your happy place mom. My happy place is Big Dipper Ice Cream and then home". She added home as an afterthought.

3. Sleep deprivation results in the following: not remembering that the Doctor already handed you a prescription and its in your pocket (30 seconds after the fact); repeatedly trying to put the juice pitcher in the cupboard; having dark circles under your eyes and zits on your face; and peeing with your underwear still on.

4. We're leaving January 16th. Stay tuned for beach bash details.

Merry Winter and A Happy New Year

2007-12-19T02:49:00.000-08:00

I overheard a conversation in the office the other day about how we can't call the festivities this Friday the "Christmas Program" Instead it's the "Winter Program". Winter???!!! It's 86 frickin degrees outside with 95% humidity!!! Winter my ass.

The idea of a winter program seemed ludicrous to the person receiving this information as well. I piped in and said that public schools in the US aren't supposed to observe Christmas because of the separation of church and state. Not all students celebrate Christmas. But on Saipan, the separation of church and state has never seemed like a big deal. In fact, someone was just telling me about a Christmas program at San Vicente a few years ago that included the nativity story, complete with Taotaomona spirits. Every time my students have a party they want to bless the food. Our Spring break coincides with Holy Week and Good Friday is a holiday. In fact we have several school holidays the revolve around Catholic holidays.

Then I thought about a job opening just posted at Eastern Washington University. The position requires working with "freshpersons" on setting academic goals. I'm sorry, "freshpersons"? Seriously!!!???? I'm a woman (not womyn) and I find this ridiculous and silly. Are they keepin it fresh? Do they smell fresh? We better change them all. Sophomore is offensive because the word implies being juvenile, junior and senior imply agism. In fact the whole system reeks of classism! Upperclassmen and Lowerclassmen!!! There's the word "men" again!

Then I started to think about one of my favorite tv shows, South Park. And I found one of my favorite episodes on youtube. In this episode, the town goes crazy trying to create a holiday that is not offensive to anyone and the results are hilarious. Here are the last 10 minutes of it.

Cookies Galore!!!

2007-12-15T15:49:00.000-08:00

I attended a cookie party on Saturday. Everyone brought 6 dozen of one type of cookie and an empty container. I made ginger bread men. I came home with cherry filled chocolate cookies, macaroons, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and more!

Doug Got Bon Marche`d

2007-12-07T16:56:00.000-08:00

When my brother Damon was a baby, my mom had him in a snugli like this one. She was shopping at a department store called The Bon Marche`. Something mustard yellow, runny, gooey and smelly, dripped down the front of my mom. And for the last 29 years, any similar incident in the family is called "the bon marche`".

We've been trying different formulas for Helena and lets just say one of the formulas caused a similar gastrointestinal disturbance in her, while she was sitting in the snugli with Doug. Then less than 24 hours later, while Doug was changing Helena a projectile hit him in the heart like a bullseye! He says they are bonding.

Flooding Back Home

2007-12-06T19:55:00.001-08:00

My home state saw some of the worst flooding in recorded history this week. Bremerton, WA, just northwest of Seattle on the other side of Puget Sound, was hammered by 10 inches of rain in 24 hours. Seattle received about 4 inches of rain. Roads were blocked by mudslides, trains had to stop running and a section of Interstate 5 is still closed to regular passenger cars. Over 54,000 cars travel that stretch of road each day. That's almost the population of Saipan! The town of Chehalis was badly hurt after the Chehalis River breached well over the 100 year flood stage. I-5 was under 10 feet of water. Chehalis is about 20 miles from my home town. Luckily, no one in my family was caught in the floods.

Saipan shares a common threat with the rest of the world. Global climate change is disrupting ecosystems, the social and cultural fabric of communities and commerce. Many families lost their homes. Just before the flooding it snowed. Winter is a horrible time of year to be without a home or clothes. What's sad, is Christmas is just around the corner.

Have you done your Christmas shopping? Maybe your family can join mine and in lieu of gifts this year, send a care package to the Lewis County United Way and or money to the American Red Cross.

Here are some agencies that are set up to help. This information is from the Seattle Times

People who want to donate shovels, toothbrushes and other items to flood victims can contact the United Way of Lewis County, which has set up a donation "command center" in Chehalis to gather and distribute supplies for the relief effort.

The group is working with city and county officials to stock a large warehouse with goods ranging from garbage bags to Christmas presents, which will later be dispersed to those in the state's hardest-hit county.

The organization is specifically requesting shovels, floor squeegees, tarps, boxes, cleaning supplies, rubber boots, hygiene items, diapers, baby formula, bottled water, batteries, flashlights, rubber boots, rain gear, food and clothing of all sizes. The organization is working with KACS Radio to distribute gift cards, checks and cash.

"About 1,300 have been displaced and don't have anything," said the organization's executive director Debbie Campbell. "We're going to need the absolute essentials to get through."

Items can be dropped off at or mailed to the United Way of Lewis County, 450 Northwest Pacific Ave., Chehalis, WA, 98532. People should call (360) 748-8100 before dropping off items.

Here are some other ways to help:

American Red Cross: The organization is asking for monetary donations only. To donate: 800-RED-CROSS or http://www.redcross.org/. Donations meant specifically for the state's flood victims should be designated as such.

The Salvation Army: The greatest need is for monetary donations, gas cards and gift cards to home-improvement stores and chain stores. To donate: 800-SAL-ARMY or http://www.salvationarmynw.org/

R. Place of Refuge: The Kent organization is accepting everything except furniture. Kelly Carroll, executive director, is asking for everything from canned food to gift cards to Christmas gifts. Information: www.rplaceofrefuge.orgor 206-255-1178.

Oh Tannenbaum

2007-12-06T05:49:00.001-08:00

Our tree is real, not a figment of our imagination. But it is fake. The real ones make me homesick. Not because it reminds me of Christmas, but because where I'm from, the outside air smells like Joeten's in November and December. Even Payless Shoes forked out the big bucks for a real tree. I wanted to linger there, not because of the smell of new shoes, but the smell of Noble Fir. But our tree is all decked out with recycled ornaments from my students last year, hand blown glass ornaments my dad sent from Egypt, a crocheted Angel made by my gramma, a small drum given to me by a Korean student last year, a rumbly tumbly Santa from my auntie, glittery snow flakes sent in a care package for a tropical Christmas, and an ornament given to Doug and I on our first Christmas together.

A Pound A Week

2007-12-06T05:36:00.000-08:00

Helena weighed in at 3.81 kg today. That's a little over 8 lbs! She's gaining about a pound a week! Pretty soon those preemie to newborn outfits won't fit anymore. She's also starting her theater career early. Litcelle and I are in the musical Scrooge, which will be showing at PIC next week. Last night, I had to take Helena with me to rehearsal. She sat in the Snugglie, up against my chest and slept through the entire production, until my scene! She got quiet when I was singing and as soon as it stopped she'd start squawking. Tomorrow, she is posing as the baby Jesus for a Christmas photo for the Nazarene Church. Of course all the songs I've been singing to her are Christmas tunes. So she'll either grow up to love Christmas music or hate it.

Showering Baby

2007-12-04T14:05:00.000-08:00

People don't bathe here, they shower. Even if you are in a tub full of water you showered. We hired someone to help with caring for Helena when we both have to work again. She asked if she could "shower the baby".

Speaking of showers, Caitlin, Carla and Sally, the founding members of "Leaders are Partiers" threw me a baby shower last weekend. Thanks ladies!!! They made a diaper cake. My absolute favorite gift! I love getting free diapers! And, turns out Helena's auntie Maile in Seattle, works for drugstore.com. How lucky am I?

Milestones

2007-11-29T20:11:00.000-08:00

It's a miracle! Or maybe she sees the zombies who've replaced her usually bright eyed and bushy tailed parents in the morning. Either way, she set an alarm and got up, into the shower and dressed on her own! Now if we could just get her to walk the 200 yards to school without complaint and pleas for a car ride.

Sleep When She Sleeps

2007-11-29T08:39:00.000-08:00

New born babies sleep a lot. But they don't sleep like me! Tonight we went to sleep at 8 and at 10:30 I woke up for the feeding, changing ritual, thinking she'd go back to sleep after 45 minutes and 3 hours later I or Doug would rise to complete the ritual again. Tonight, she decided to stay up until 2 a.m. Now she's asleep and I'm wide awake.

Talking in My Sleep

2007-11-27T21:05:00.000-08:00

The other night I went over to Carla's to watch episodes of "Sex and the City". She showed me paint swatches and talked about wanting to paint an accent wall in her house red.

Later that night.......

Doug is up, feeding Helena, I'm sleeping.

I say, "Is she hungry?"

Doug thinks I'm awake and asking him a question.

Then I say, "I'm thinking about painting the crib red".

Occupational Hazards

2007-11-27T20:20:00.000-08:00

1. Changing a dirty diaper with a wind up flashlight, at 3 am, with sleep fogged eyes is risky business. You might find the soiled wipe under your pillow in the morning.

2. Cockroaches look twice as big and even more disgusting when they crawl out of diaper bags at 3 am, with sleep fogged eyes, in a dimly lit bedroom.

3. Forget flowers and candy, Doug killing that cockroach was as romantic as the time he killed the spider (see previous blog post 2006).

4. Garbage bags under receiving blankets make wonderful changing tables. Have a third diaper handy, because the 2nd one will likely be soiled as soon as you put it on her.

5. "Are You Sleeping, Brother Jon" makes a great lullaby tune and you can change the words "fussy baby, fussy baby, go to sleep" "are you sleeping, are you sleeping, baby helena" "mommy's tired, mommy's tired, goto sleep" the possibilities are endless really.

6. Nicknames creep in left and right when you spend hours with a baby who's main m.o. is eating, pooping, spitting up, crying and sleeping. "Squawker Texas Ranger", "Baby Spit Up", "Baby face" "Sweet Pea", "Miss Poo Pants", "Miss Big Pants", "Yogi Master".

7. Some babies are allergic to cow proteins in formula. 40% of those babies are also allergic to soy protein. We learned that the hard way. And formula is expensive!!! We found out we can order through www.drugstore.com and save some dough. But the hypoallergenic formula comes in containers 1/2 the size of the normal stuff for the same price! Ouch! So if you are thinking about sending us gifts for the baby? Cash for formula or gift certificates from drugstore.com would be cool.

Teacher's Comments Inspire Teacher Protest

2007-11-26T20:22:00.000-08:00

Teachers all over the CNMI joined in protest yesterday morning, inspired by the public musings of fellow teacher Ron Hodges. Desks and chalk boards in every classroom were tagged in graffiti with what appeared to be betel nut spit and the scratch marks made by the metal tips of mechanical pencils, since chalk has been unavailable since eversince. The messages ranged from "Nevermind! Gone to the the beach!" "Will trade, pugua for toilet paper", to "Let them eat bisk, I mean bisck, shit how is that spelled?"

Investigators struggled to read the graffiti due to island wide power outages caused by mysterious engine failures linked to recent unrest among the duendas, who are outraged over the dwindling number of people who still believe in their mischievous ways.

A group of students were also linked to a ring of hibiscus and plumeria bush whackings after they published a manifesto on myspace about going indigenous with mwars, stating "local flowers only" for mwars.

Lobster Bisque and Teacher Mince Meat

2007-11-26T17:10:00.000-08:00

Last time I checked, the CNMI was still part of the United States and the Bill of Rights apply to all people in the United States whether they be citizens, resident aliens, contract workers or teachers. The 1st Amendment protects our right to freedom of speech and assembly. That means, contract workers can organize a protest without fear of retribution. Middle school students can write letters to their legislators about funding education, teachers can write letters to the editor or post comments on blogs without fear of being fired or ridiculed for voicing their opinion.

A couple of weeks ago, a history teacher at Marianas High School wrote a satirical letter to the editor voicing his outrage over labor laws, "slave" wages, utility fraud etc. He made a call to the public to rise up against the corrupt system and force change. While his suggestions of spitting in the lobster bisque and using graffiti to voice our outrage were tongue in cheek, they elicited quite a response. The president of Taotaotano, the same group that organized a rally this past summer with signs reading "this is our island, go home", wrote a letter to Dr. Borja, Commissioner of Education, demanding that Ron Hodges be fired for his comments. At least Dr. Borja recognized that Mr. Hodges was trying to be funny. In a public response, Dr. Borja suggested that Mr. Hodges try and clarify his point, since it was clearly missed by most readers. Apparently members of the legislature missed the irony, because a resolution was brought to the House admonishing Mr. Hodges for fomenting anarchy and disturbing the quality of life of the island people. One of the members of the House suggested, Mr. Hodges be shunned and exiled from the island. I can think of a 1,000 other things the Legislature could be doing with their time.

Mr. Hodges did clarify his point in another letter to the editor. He stated that the exploitation of workers, mistreatment of people and continued corruption in the CNMI are so bad they warrant some kind of public outcry, some civil disobedience. His original examples were merely that, examples. It was not an actual manifesto to rise up against the system. Even if it were an actual call to the masses, he has the right to do that. And, as a civics teacher, I think he's created himself a great object lesson for his students.

I do think he failed to realize that one of the biggest cultural differences between white Americans and our fellow Islander Americans, is that satire and irony are not part of the local humor and no one likes to be spanked in public. Perhaps the local populous needs to be reminded that civil disobedience was not absent from the Covenant proceedings. The Carolinian Utt was burned down, and public unrest was a powerful tool in shaping the direction of the proceedings.

Paid Less Payday

2007-11-24T16:02:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday was Education Day and the day before Thanksgiving. Education Day is the day where PSS announces Teacher of the Year, all the schools parade around in matching t-shirts and do skits like it's the Homecoming parade. We have 10 non student days on our contract for professional development. Education Day counts as one of them. Perhaps it's a lesson in learning how to behave professionally in absolutely ridiculous situations. Don't get me wrong, I totally support honoring teachers and support staff. Schools should celebrate their accomplishments etc., but I still can't figure out why we don't do the recognitions during the opening session of one of the 2 Statewide Professional Development Days. Why are we threatened with loss of pay or breach of contract if we don't participate?

We got paid last Wednesday too, and almost everyone's checks were short. One teacher was short $80, another $200. Between Doug and I we're missing about $250. So we didn't get paid for work already done. YAY Education Day!!! How ironic. I got an email today from a colleague at Hopwood. Those of us who had short checks are getting reimbursed this week. This is the 2nd time this has happened to me here. I've been working since the age of 16 and never had this happen until I moved here. With all the talk about budget cuts and money shortfalls, makes you wonder if someone's stealing from Peter to pay Paul.

Thankful and Blessed

2007-11-23T20:05:00.000-08:00

My dad and stepmom came for Thanksgiving. This trip has been in the works for a year. Who knew they'd be the first family members to see Litcelle and Helena? Litcelle was so excited to meet her grandparents.
Who knew I'd end up with 2 beautiful daughters when I moved here over 2 years ago? After 10 years of marriage, having our own children became a painfully obvious challenge. This moment, this experience is indescribable. I don't know how to convey my gratitude, my thankfulness and sense of being blessed to Helena's birth mother. How do I thank her for such a sacrifice!?! I'm thankful for my husband, who took time off from work and takes turns staying up with Helena at night. He's turning into a wonderful father.

Baby Helena

2007-11-17T16:22:00.000-08:00

It's a Girl!!!

2007-11-13T21:38:00.000-08:00

We brought home a baby girl today!!! She was born on Tuesday November 13, 2007 at 4:17 pm. Her name is Helena Beryl Tata Reynolds. Litcelle picked Helena and it's pronounced with a long a sound for the second e. Beryl is Doug's mom's middle name and 11/13 is her birthday! Happy Birthday Donna!!! Beryl is also the name for the mineral that Aquamarine and Emerald come from. Aquamarine is my birthstone. Tata is Helena's birth mom's clan name in Chuuk.

I got to be there for the birth. What an amazing experience!!! I'm considering becoming a nurse midwife now! WOW! I stayed with Helena in the hospital last night and we snuggled all night long.

We were expecting a boy! So she's all dolled up in outfits with cars, dinosaurs, and spiderman. Oh well, I'll just add a touch of pink here and there and she'll be the first Micronesian Astronaut!

St Francis or Dr. Doolittle

2007-11-08T16:03:00.000-08:00

Remember the turtle? This is Marvirick. He's St. Francis reincarnated. Today he found a kitten on the side of the road on his way to school and brought it to me. I'm giving a quiz today and its unusually quiet in my room. Everyonce in a while you can here "meow". Some kids are little rough. So its a good opportunity to talk to them about caring for animals.

Princessa Dimagiba Day (aka Litcelle Day)

2007-11-05T03:11:00.000-08:00

Tonight we celebrated Princessa Dimagiba Day otherwise known as Litcelle Day. Dimagiba is Tagalog for "never to be destroyed". She may weigh in under a 100 lbs and not even reach 5' but she's got super powers!
One year ago we went from being married for 9 years and no kids to becoming instant parents of a teenager. And what an awesome year it has been! So we decided to mark the auspicious occasion by taking our little wonder woman out for dinner at Hard Rock Cafe.

Then we wandered around the DFS Galleria and laughed at all the ridiculously priced clothing and marveled at how anyone could spend $400 for a purse or a pair of shoes. Litcelle got lost in the cosmetics section.She's our shining star! Our drama queen with attitude, our chica with charisma, our princess who can't be destroyed.

School Bullies

2007-11-04T15:15:00.000-08:00

This article appeared in the Variety over the weekend.

By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

EDUCATION Commissioner David M. Borja on Friday said that without “clear guidance” from the Board of Education regarding the Public School System’s budget shortfall, PSS management will have no choice but to enforce a “salary reclassification” to cope with their limited personnel funding.
Last year, the board adopted a new salary scale for PSS personnel.
This was to apply to classroom teachers and school administrators who pass rigorous tests, obtain teaching certification and earn degrees.
Borja said the move to suspend this pay increase is in line with the PSS budgetary shortfall this fiscal year as a result of their budget of only $35 million and the administration’s failure to return the $2 million it “borrowed” from the school system.
“At this time, there is a need for us to consider that there is not adequate funding made available to PSS to process the pay hikes,” Borja said. “We would like to wait until there is some direction from the board on what PSS needs to do.”
PSS was supposed to issue the pay hike suspension memorandum to employees last week but decided to temporarily delay it until the board took action.
“We are informing the affected teachers on an individual basis that we are preparing the notice of personnel actions,” Borja said. “Our concern is that there is no way we can provide this (pay hike) because we have no funding.”
According to Borja, the board “needs to act now and identify solutions.”
He said the planned reclassification and modification will not only affect those who are waiting for their test results, but also highly qualified teachers.
“This will affect those who have met the certification steps, and attained the years of service and the degrees. The affected number increases on a daily basis,” Borja said.
PSS records show that there was a total of $37.3 million transferred by the finance department to the school system, of which $3.9 million was allotted to the “all others” category during FY 2007, or from Oct. 1 2006 to Sept. 30, 2007.
But PSS said the “cash” transferred totaled only $33.6 million.

Newly elected BOE member Galvin Deleon Guerrero was interviewed in the Variety and had an excellent response to this issue. Jeff posted about it on his blog. This is probably another incident of PSS shaming the government by exploiting teachers' and their families' fears of not being able to pay rent or buy groceries.

Comments have been made that those of us complaining might only be in the education business for the money. I can't think of anyone who has ever taken a teaching job for the money!!! That's funny and really, really pisses me off! My dad tried to talk me out of it. He wanted me to pursue medicine or bio-genetic engineering, which I could have done, but I didn't want it.

This isn't about frivolous pay raises in a time of economic crisis. PSS, under Federal mandate, implemented criteria for teacher qualifications and a new salary schedule was also created. Several things happened all at once. Some teachers, like myself, quickly jumped through all the hoops to maintain certification because that's what I would have to do in any stateside school dist., and once the salary schedule was implemented, I got a pay increase to match my years of teaching, Masters degree and PRAXIS/CNMI classes etc. That pay increase closely matches what I got in Washington State where the cost of living is about the same as here.

Last year, PSS following timelines established by the Feds for hiring highly qualified teachers, cut teacher salaries down to the entry level 28,000 if they didn't have their PRAXIS completed. Those teachers were told they would get their pay back if and when they passed the test. Some of them have been teaching for over 15 years and were making over $40,000 a year. Many did as they were told and are not getting their pay back as promised. Others retired and now are double dipping as subs. Another group of teachers, mostly new hires, were told they'd be given a sub contract of $100 a day, no benefits until they get their scores in. Then they'd be given a contract with retroactive pay. What's not clear is who exactly would be affected.

This isn't about group sacrifice, which is a load of crap anyway. This is about following through on your word, honoring a contract and agreement made in good faith on the part of the teachers who did stick around even after the pay cut and restoring their pay. It is the ethical, moral and scrupulous thing to do.

A year ago, I was prepared to take the 10% cut. I was willing to lose a little to help make sure others kept their jobs. But every year a little more gets shaved off and then what's left? The everyone sacrifices for the common good line is starting to reek of self flagellation. I'm not a martyr for PSS and I won't sacrifice my personal health and wellbeing for the common good of a community that doesn't support what I do in the first place.

It's unethical for PSS to go to recruiting fairs in the US, paint a rosy picture, get teachers to move 6,000 miles from their homes and families, offer no assistance finding housing, furniture etc. and then 4 months into their job tell them they won't be getting the salary they were promised. If new recruits ask me, I would say come with caution and look at like a Peace Corps assignment with better benefits. And you'll either love it or hate it.