Saturday, November 04, 2000
Better and better, but now ciro's sick with a head cold. Ugh!
We performed in Lawton, OK today. This is the 4th or 5th time i've visited Lawton and it seems strange to remember how to get across town to a good restaurant or find a natural food store where ciro can get cold medicine. We started the day at Woodland Hills Elementary and received a warm welcome from Principal Davis and kids who remembered us. When we arrived they were just cleaning up their "Election 2000" art project. On next tuesday the students will hold their own elections, not just for president but all the offices including "district" (classroom) representitives. They seemed really excited about it. I wish i could get excited about slogging through my own ballot that arrived today. I've been using my county board of elections link for Buncombe County as well as my home town newspaper the Asheville Citizen Times. Plus, few other sites like WRAL TV, Politics 1, and ElectNet. But, even though i've been digging for 4 hours or so now, i still have more to go...~w
wendi's 12:06 AM ravings
Thursday, November 02, 2000
Just a little dizzy today, but the headache is gone! Whoo hoo!
Today was seeming a bit chaotic, but we did some interesting shows. East Central Oklahoma Univ was having a literary arts festival for high school students from all over the area. We did a show for the students and then a workshop for their teachers as well as teachers in training at the university. The high school folks received us very well. personally the shows felt rocky, but the students helped us pull it off with their enthusiasm. The teachers seemed really excited about what we had to share with them too, so that made it worth it. Our afternoon show for a general university audience was small and intimate, but again we had lots of lovely comments after the show.
I think today was one of those days though were ciro and i were on different wavelengths. We didn't fight, we just had trouble communicating. I think we're both a bit tired and frazzled this week. Ciro's coming down with a cold and not very happy about it and i'm dizzy so we make an odd pair. On our break this afternoon we took the World's Smallest Political Quiz that determined we are both Libertarians with liberal leanings. So i guess we're not all that different in our thinking. I'm a little worried i won't get my absentee ballot in time to actually vote though. I've found it really difficult to dig up information on the candidates for all the local offices that i'll vote on though. Seems like they just want you to know which party they're affiliated with and not much else about them. No wonder the government seems to be run by special interest groups. It's a full time job almost trying to figure out what these "representatives" are doing to "represent" the common American (whatever that is).
I'm planning on getting some quality sleep tonight, maybe it will all seem better in the morning. ~w
wendi's 11:28 PM ravings
Wednesday, November 01, 2000
Well i got to a chiropractor (Dr Denton J. James) and i'm not so dizzy, but i have a splitting headache so this will be short.
We had another fun day in Ft. Worth, TX. At Elder Middle School the kids were so inthralled that when we paused at the bell and the Vice Principal interrupted, the kids said in one voice "NO!" He merely excused the teachers who needed to go meet their next classes and we performed another 20min for a rapt audience. The performances later in the day for younger kids were precious. The little preK-2nd graders at Como Community center's after school program all wanted to help with each poem. They were wild and wooley but beautiful all the same. We paused for a photo with our contact from Northside Library and some of the little ones and nearly didn't make it out since they all wanted to touch and play with us in person. lots of hugs today! I slept while ciro drove us up to Ada, OK (small university town hard to see in the dark). The hotel room is musty and dark but this was recommended as "the best in town." Oh, well, dinner at Los Dos Amigos was good. I'm off to bed to get rid of this headache. ~w
wendi's 11:08 PM ravings
Happy Halloween!
Actually i guess it's over by now, but we had some fun shows in libraries today. Our first show we were introduced by a ghost. The next show was at Oakhurst Elementary where none of the kids were dressed up, but they had a blast with us pretending to be animals and creatures in the poems. The third show was the best though, a library with babies through seniors in attendance (the teens were hiding in the bookstacks though, pretending to be looking at books, but we could see them peeping through the shelves at us). It was precious having a young "fairy princess" play the angel in Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem Dawn bending down to blow a kiss to a burly elder gentleman playing "night." Or, My "Vampire" Aunt being devoured by my tour parter ciro "the weed" in "My Aunt" by Ted Hughes. Or, not to be forgotten the lovely senior ladies playing e.e. cummings' maggie & millie & mollie & may being tormented by a teenage boy being the "horrible thing." All in all a fun halloweeny day ending with watching a bad scary movie on tv in ciro's hotel room while eating the leftovers from last night's dinner. Too bad my back's messed up and i've been dizzy all day. Got to get to a chiropractor soon, hopefully tomorrow. Till then... ~w
wendi's 1:19 AM ravings
Tuesday, October 31, 2000
So, here we go. Today we're in Ft. Worth, Texas. Saw a Bush/Cheney sign with a big red "no" mark through it by the side of the road. I guess there are some Texans who are tired of govenor Bush. Not surprising. Working in schools we hear a lot of complaints from teachers, parents etc about both the Bush brothers. But enough politics, until i figure out how to get my absentee ballot mailed to me i can't do much about the election. I must admit though it's been tough trying to find out about the local candidates while traveling. Best help so far has been the League of Women Voter's site The Democracy Network. They at least have some info and links for all the candidates and issues once you've entered your zip code. Anyway...like i said enough politics.
Spent the majority of our day at the airport exchanging our rental car. Hertz is great for us, whenever something goes wrong with a car we get a new one. Thinking of buying a new car? Make sure you test drive it on a rainy day. The newer Ford Tauruses (or is it tauri?) seem to have leaking problems in the trunk. They also don't drive as smoothly as the Mercury Sables (almost the same car otherwise). But, we've run into two 2000 Sables that have leak problems in the front passenger's side on the floor. After driving through one rainstorm my feet and pants were soaked and within a day the car stank of dank wetness. Of all the cars we've driven in the past couple years the Dodge Intrepid was by far the best ride and coolest looking too. Too bad Hertz doesn't rent more of those. Can't have everything though. That's all for now, must sleep before performing for kids with Halloween and sugar on the brain tomorrow. ~w
wendi's 12:03 AM ravings
Monday, October 30, 2000
Hello there! Welcome to my first raving. Actually this is going to be short, because it is late and i should be asleep (like ususal). This is hopefully going to be a fun little page of notes, doodles and ravings while i travel the country working for Poetry Alive! I kinda stopped writing notes after my first year, but if your interested they're located at Tour Doodles. Check back soon to see if i can get going with writing these notey things...~w
wendi's 4:06 AM ravings
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