Sunday

The ideal Sunday in autumn:

1. Sleep in an extra hour thanks to daylight savings (a boon when babysitting 'till 2 a.m.)
2. Sing in choir at church and rock the house with worship
3. Visit with lotsa friends after the service and load up on hugs to get me through the week
4. Wend way through autumn streets and parks on bike. Stop at Mickey D's for a guilt-free lunch and bring it to a soccer field to watch 9-year-old babysitting charge strut her stuff.
5. Come home and read "Prince Caspian" on back porch, with small dog ensconced on lap to ward off autumn chill
6. Take a short nap
7. Get up, clean and organize
8. Invent yummy baked chicken/potato/broccoli dish and make homemade applesauce with hand-picked apples
9. Work on Salt
10. Walk through evening neighborhood to church for two hours of worship
11. Go to bed on time, not neglecting to polish off "Prince Caspian"

And that was my day--or will be. Better get busy on 9, 10 and 11.

New Look

As you can see, I've changed templates. The old one was so wimpy.

I love this one. I'm sorry, Shanel, for swiping your design, but there's just not that many good ones available, unless you are a Web wizard who can design your own (I'm not).

The Good Arts

First it was the movie "Crash." Now it is the book "Blessings" by Anna Quindlen that I read yesterday while home sick from work.

These are two examples of a movie and book I may not have seen/read a year ago. "Crash" because it is so intense and "Blessings" because I've had a hard time diving into general "adult" fiction for some reason. I like intense movies, it's just that so often when I want to watch a movie, I want to relax, especially if I'm hanging out with friends. And I like good contemporary fiction, but, again, I've wanted to relax, so I've tended to choose more lightweight novels that I can really escape into. "Blessings" is not really that deep or that intense, and is very easy to read, but it is a book fraught with emotion and I felt that I'd been on an emotional roller coaster by the time I'd finished it. (I highly recommend it, by the way).

I think sitting with the other features writers (the arts editors and reporters) now at work has been good for me. It has encouraged me to see movies I wouldn't normally see, like Crash. And I'm currently working on a sweeping article about book clubs, and as I interview women all across Chicagoland, I'm realizing how many good books there are out there and how many I want to read. Plus, my own book club has reminded me of the fun of reading a wide variety of authors and genres.

I'm still reading snippets of L'Engle's "Circle of Quiet." In last night's reading, L'Engle said that stories are a vehicle for truth.

I watched another good movie a couple of days ago. Alison lent it to me. It's called "Educating Rita" (1983) and both stars received Academy Award acting nominations. The movie was about the effect culture and education can have on someone, and whether it will really make her a stronger person. I remember one line: Working class Rita, who has defied her family and husband to start taking literature courses at a university, tells her English prof. Dr. Bryant about how she realized she no longer fit into her old world. She was sitting at the neighborhood pub with her parents, sister, husband, and friends and they were all singing along to some cheesy pub song and she realized she didn't belong. And she tells Dr. Bryant, "I want to sing a better song." Later in the movie, though, he tells her, "Rita, this isn't a better song. It's a different song."

I am like the book of Psalms

Cool! I guess all those mornings of reading through the Psalms has rubbed off on me.



You are Psalms.

Which book of the Bible are you?
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New Links

I've posted links to some of my essays, articles and letters from the editor that have been published at www.saltsite.com. See the bar to your right. (If your page loads funny, try refreshing it).

Autumnal Wonderings

I love fall! It was the season I missed most after we moved to Arizona when I was 9 (and then that college/grad school gap year when I was a teacher in Phoenix).

I was so glad I finally got out into it this weekend, although it was while I was driving for work, playing with little kids and then picking apples off the ground with Sus (there were none left on the trees). But even though it's been glorious the last couple of days, with trees exploding into color and blue blue skies, everything's seemed a little off. Perhaps because it's been so much warmer than usual.

Everything feels a little flat and worn out in Chicago this year. Is it the heat and the drought? Plants don't seem parched now, but I know this summer's dryness will have lingering effects. Or is it just that this place has begun to pall? This is the beginning of my ... 4th autumn in Chicago. Is that possible? Yup, I moved here summer 2002, though I spent all the next spring in D.C.

I think I am getting wanderlust again. But the longer I stay, the harder it is to leave. Where would I go? I don't know. Emails from friends who are missionaries in foreign countries are enticing. And so is the prayer update from old, old friends who've planted a church in Seattle. And I'd love to be near my family again. But what about all of my "family" here, my community of dear dear friends? And most importantly, where does God want me?

Ahhh....here I go again.

(I wrote this more than a year ago).
http://www.saltsite.com/index.cfm?salt=features.story&aid=216

Crash

I watched this movie last night. Normally it's hard to get myself to watch intensely disturbing films, and this was an intensely disturbing film, but it came highly recommended and I'm so glad I saw it. It was very powerful. (This is the 2005 version with an all-star cast).

Anybody else see it?

busy with Mom

The skyline (view from the window of the dorm I lived in back in grad school--with the help of a mighty zoom lens).

Since my last post, I have:

1. Completed many lengthy work projects, including an emotionally-draining article on domestic violence
2. Posted the latest version of Salt magazine (always an adventure)
3. Entertained my mother for one week, with jaunts to Springfield for the new Lincoln museum (5 stars!), the Italian Village for the VIP treatment, the Art Institute (twice), Milennium Park, a blues club, the Chicago Botanic Garden and many other fun touristy places!
4. Decided to move into a new apartment with a new roommate or two

It's been a very crazy couple of weeks, but my mom's visit was a wonderful respite. I miss her, of course. As always. But I'm excited to find a new place and set up a new home.