Saturday, April 21, 2001
I got to see my Great Aunt Polly and my Aunt Olive this evening. They told stories all evening while we had a nice dinner at the Sterling Cafe (Polly's favorite of the two dining choices), and then they gave us a tour of the town where my grandparents were born. I got to see the red brick road that my grandfather laid that runs through a couple of wheat fields. It made us think of the the yellow brick road running through those fields and had an magical air about it. Then we saw what was left of my great grandparents house after it was hit by lightening and burned. Aunt Polly was married on that porch and had plenty of tales about playing and working on the farm. We saw the house my Aunt Olive and Uncle Theil built and the first house they lived in there. We saw Great Aunt Polly's old house and where her husband's family grocery had been. We saw the "Blacksmith Shop" where some relative had stored all the junk he collected and eventually it was all auctioned off to antique collectors once he passed away. Then i sat with Aunt Polly in her room at the senior home where she shared pictures and more stories of family and her time teaching in Taiwan. She's always had the best stories. I found out that she wrote an operetta for the kids while she was there, but the libretto has been lost. Mostly i listened. It was wonderful to see her and know that she's as bubbly and happy as ever and is still living fully at 90. It was a little out of our way, but well worth the trip. Tomorrow i'm having breakfast with my cousin Jim (Aunt Olive's son) who is the editor of the paper here in Hutchison. Sometimes it's really nice to have family and feel like you belong even when it's been years since we last saw each other.~w
wendi's 12:34 AM ravings
Friday, April 20, 2001
I'm wiped out. We did 3 shows for sophmores today and then an evening show at the community center. In between shows i tried to finish organizing next week and set up hotels.
The one thing that stood out to me today was the individuality of the students at the mid-high school. Unlike many schools these days, they don't have a dress code and they are free to dye their hair any color they want. We pulled a variety of students up on stage for participation and everyone seemed to get both encouragement and praise from their peers. The school is big, but it didn't seem overwhelming and the teachers all seemed very enthusiastic themselves. I guess what i got overall was a sense of community and inclusiveness that allowed for everyone to just be themselves. Maybe i'm wrong, maybe they have the same problems as other places, but they sure made us feel good.
One interesting thing that was mentioned was a city wide "word of the week" that involved quotes all over town (not just in the school). This week it's "trust." I understand the words are part of the city's effort to continue to build self-esteem, respect and community in a town that is growing in diversity and changing economically. Another tidbit i found interesting was the idea that it doesn't help kids to talk about confidence and respect in school when those attributes are not modeled at home. Bartlesville is not nearly as large as Tulsa or OKC, but they are certainly a good sized city. I admire the pro-active nature of their efforts to really make their city a true community. I'm glad i've had the chance to meet these people and visit this city.~w
wendi's 1:02 AM ravings
Thursday, April 19, 2001
Petitions, product warnings, virus threats...the emails that seem necessary to forward are not always so necessary as you think. I've reduced the amount I get or forward with a couple of handy references. One is Urban Legends Reference Pages which can tell you not only that a petition is old, but can also tell you where to go if you really want to do something to help when the problems presented are real. The other handy one is Vmyths.com which can tell you when the virus warnings you get are hoaxes. Of course, you could always check an anti-virus company's site like Symantec or McAfee, but they make you wade through ads and stuff to get to what you need. Anyway, i had to look up a virus for a friend and thought i'd just go ahead and post this in case other folks needed a good debunking tool.
Be glad you weren't near me today. The work stuff went well, but i was a roller coaster of emotions today outside of that. We performed for an Elder Care group that was very interesting. Some of them loved the show and had much to discuss with us afterwards, some slept through the show, and some couldn't figure out who we were or what we were talking about. The most vocal was a man who spent the show trying to figure out whether i was Italian. I'm not, as far as i know, and tried to tell him more than once, but he didn't seem to hear me. Oh, well.
The upshot of it all was that i decided it was most necessary for us to drive a few hours out of our way this weekend so that i can have dinner with my Great Aunt Polly who turns 90 as of a few minutes ago. I spoke with her on the phone today and she's looking forward to seeing me on Friday. She's never met Ciro, but i'm sure she'll have no problem entertaining both of us. I remember her as being one of the best storytellers in the family, and if our phone conversation is any clue she still has plenty to share. I'm looking forward to seeing her too.~w
wendi's 1:07 AM ravings
Wednesday, April 18, 2001
We finished reading The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester this evening. It was great up until the last couple of chapters where suddenly i felt like i switched on an old episode of Star Trek or The Prisoner. However, it seems like the tv show Babylon 5 has used quite a few ideas from this book (perhaps that is why the PSi Cop in B5 is named Bester). Over all it was a great source of conversation and ideas for the past week though. Now we just need to find something to read for our drive to Michigan...any suggestions? We're thinking of Heinlein.
Played with Kindergarteners today. Wheee!
Tomorrow is a senior center and a workshop with teachers. It's the opposite end of the scale from today, but it should be fun in a different way.~w
wendi's 12:28 AM ravings
Monday, April 16, 2001
My mind is a spider-web in a wind storm. I feel like i'm trying to hold a bunch of fragements of information together by thin threads ready to snap. Next week is going to be a long haul. We've got overstuffed days with many people i need to get in touch with to confirm it all. I still have to stay focused on this week while organizing the next and i feel like i'm stretching to manage my time and brain power properly. Getting in the way are a bunch of feelings and needing time to take time to sort through some of my own stuff that i keep trying to put off.
As a performer, every day has to be on. I have to show up happy to be there and free of baggage. Since all the characters come out of me, that me needs to be in order. It's very easy to let frustrations and all that scattered stuff impact ciro since he is the only person i am truely myself with each day outside of work. I was very testy the beginning of last week and that has tapered off to be replaced by second guessing myself and that can be just as frustrating. I didn't get a chance to get any exercise today outside of the shows and i find i'm missing that 20 minutes or so of time to let my brain relax and just work my muscles. Maybe just getting to bed soon will help me relax and get over that.
Tomorrow we have some driving to do, so i guess that will be my time to relax. Plus we have little ones tomorrow which means lots of silliness to offset all this business stuff.~w
wendi's 11:47 PM ravings
Sunday, April 15, 2001
"O-klahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plains..." or something like that. That's where we are today at the lovely Best Western with it's full bacon, egg and pancake complimentary breakfast. I don't remember the school, but i remember staying at this hotel several years ago. Perhaps when i see the place i'll remember it. Sometimes that's what it takes these days. After so many schools they start to run together.
You wouldn't necessarily think of it, but Oklahoma City is also home to some of the best Indian (as in from India) food i've ever eaten. No, strike that, the best Indian food i've ever eaten. Usually we stop in for the buffet and leave stuffed, but today we drove through town mid-afternoon on our way to El Reno. In the past they closed between lunch and dinner buffet, but luckly they've started serving a reduced priced menu mid-day. Perfect! They won't do the buffet all day because the food won't stay fresh, but the food they served us (Palak Paneer, Lamb curry, rice, and nan started with toasted bread with chutney and finished with vermicelli pudding) was absolutely delicious and we left stuffed and happy for less money than the buffet would have cost. Whoo hoo! Oh, in case your interested the place is called Gopuram and is located in a shopping center on N. Meridian and N.W. 23nd street in OKC. Yum yum.
Besides that, i read a bit of The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester out loud to ciro while we were driving. I got it as a late birthday/christmas present from my friend Matthew and it has us entranced enough that we had to read one more chapter this evening in the hotel. It was written in 1951 and is the first winner of the Hugo award. That's all i'll say for now.~w
wendi's 11:51 PM ravings
Laundry day. I was lazy for the most part.
Ciro and i did make it over to Clebo and Noemi's for some fun conversation and dinner. Clebo made delicious bbq'd pork chops, yum yum. They have a great little castle of their own in south Dallas that is very relaxing as long as you like dogs. They have two beautiful german shepards and a bijou and a yorkie. They loved the extra attention, but the dogs stayed outside most of the time. Ciro's allergies eventually got the better of him though and we had to leave. It's nice to have friends. It's great to have the chance to just catch my breath and talk to people who know something about me and what it's like to be a road poet.
One topic we puzzled over a bit this evening was why it's okay for women to say they're a feminist and get up at a poetry reading and bash men, but a guy would get booed off the stage if he wrote a poem about the evils of a woman. Yes women and men are different, but we can all be abusive at times to members of the opposite sex. As far as equality goes i've always felt that poetry is an art form that is less biased about who is considered "good." In fact for many years the indiviual champion at the National Slam was always a woman. So why do so many women feel that they are not being heard in the slam community? The question came up because of a recent creation of SlamSisters as an organization under the Poetry Slam, Inc umbrella. They really have some great projects in mind, but why the exclusivity. Couldn't the talents of these hard working individuals benefit all of the slam community rather than just 50%? Do the men need to form their own SlamBrothers organization in order to create the same opportunities? Do we need to have separate organizations for Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Indian, and Native American slam poets? I think it's great to have a support network, but i don't quite see the need to become a distinctly separate entity. Perhaps that's because in regards to publishing and performing my work through the Slam community i've found that men have been just as supportive, if not more so, than the women. In fact, my poetry that has been published has been by men of the community 90% of the time. I haven't had time to commit to anything much outside of Poetry Alive! lately, but if i did i don't think i would want to be exclusive about the support i offer to poets. I guess i'll just have to see where things are though when and if i decide to jump back into the fray.~w
wendi's 1:32 AM ravings
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