my life 2007

Diana,

Just quickly writing to wish you a Happy Holiday!

Peace,

Linda

PD, about the only thing I can think of that you might try, given what you did when you gave the actual assignment, is to set up appointments for each one to come in and have a conference about their progress, AFTER they have at least made some sort of outline or written stab at the assignment. Then you could visit with them about what they are doing wrong and/or right, so they can see for themselves.

You’re doing a good job, dear, and I salute you for your work!

Sounds like a lot of trouble to me. I can make a meal off of rice and gravy.:D

Dave,

Someone else’s cooking? :D A-men. Maybe that’s the difference….

I’ve begun to believe part of my adjustment comes from my increasing intolerance for junk food, though. I can’t handle grease like I used to.

Aunt B’Ann,

Fried cucumbers? Hm. I never even thought of such a thing. Interesting notion. I know I’m oddly attracted to fried pickles (if you haven’t tried them, you’re letting the best things in life pass you by).

I’ll have to try them!

d

Diana, have you tried frying squash? ‘Tis good fried. Like fried cucumbers—now, I don’t like cucumbers, but I do like them fried. Just slice them, roll them in cornmeal and salt (pepper, too, if you like pepper on them) and fry until brown. Mmmmm! Delicious!

Diana,

Lasagna squash? That’s an interesting idea. I find the flavor of spaghetti squash is more like broccoli than squash. You make a good point about tastes changing, too. Maybe I should give squash another try.

One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that it wasn’t just my tastes changing that allowed me to enjoy things I didn’t like before. Sometimes I like things because it’s someone else’s cooking.

Dave

Dave,

I just learnt what “spaghetti squash” was a few months ago. My cousin across town introduced me to it. I just picked up one two days ago. I’m thinking of making lasagna with it.

I’ve never been much of a squash fan, either. It seems my tastes have changed over time, though. Most squash dishes I eat these days strike me as tasty, provided the squash isn’t boiled until it’s mush, or otherwise violated beyond repair.

Aunt B’Ann,

You’re welcome. :) It’s my pleasure.

d

Diana, I love the way you cook! Sounds about right, too, considering the way your mom seemed to concoct things—and the rest of the family did, too! Anyway, you had me grinning to myself, and anticipating you at times.

And since this is Veterans Day, I want to say Thank You for being a person willing to “stand in the gap"! I am proud of you, and proud to claim you as my niece! Thank you, Dear One!

Diana,

Thanks for the reminder on offering a burnt sacrifice when cooking; I’m more likely to leave a blood sacrifice on a knife myself.

I’m not a fan of squash - I might eat some spaghetti squash maybe every other year - but what you describe sounds delicious.

Dave

Dave,

I was thinking of nonfiction narratives about sustained trauma. I’m not even sure how this may differ from a single instance of trauma a person has problems recovering from psychologically, but I suspect the course–and efforts to relate such trauma to others–is quite different from single-time traumas.

I consider myself a fairly effective writer, but I recall the utter frustration of trying to express my experiences in Iraq via my blog, because there’s no way I can put you there and make you feel it. I’ve long thought that the reason we have so few books or even stories from actual soldiers is related somehow to the inherent problems of telling a Mars story to an audience which has never been to Mars, and expecting them to identify.

I’m interested in pursuing the question of the disconnects that make such stories ultimately unrelateable.

d

Well, Diana, I can’t say I’m surprised completely by the fact that you want to write non-fiction. You’ve always been the most “grounded in fact” person I believe I’ve ever known, unless it was your Uncle Julius. You already have a lot of experience in writing non-fiction, you know! And you are good at it!

So take your time, think about the pros and cons, and do what your intuition tells you is the best for you. Good luck, and I look forward to reading your best-selling book, some day before I grow too old to read!

Diana,

I’m glad you had a good time. I always liked conferences; it’s nice to see that at least SOMEBODY is working on exciting stuff while we’re slogging in the trenches.

Trauma nonfiction? Now that’s an intriguing idea if it’s what it sounds like. (To me it sounds like disasters and the people who’ve lived them. Am I close?) That seems like it could be a challenging field, being faithful to the truth yet respectful to the victims.

It sounds like you’ve discovered the other benefit of conferences, too - networking. I remember you said you were interested in studying at Iowa. I didn’t realize Minnesota was on your short list too. At least they’re both at low altitudes. (Grin)

Dave

I do everything I enjoy slowly. Heck, it takes me 2 hours to watch ‘60 minutes’. I get mad when I read for pleasure too quickly. It’s too expensive. Slow down and smell the pages.

love,
rog

I agree with Harry on this one, Diana! I don’t know if you knew that I retired from WalMart the end of May, but during the 4 1/2 years I worked there, I worked with a lot of people who thought nothing of calling in “sick” when all they had was a hangover—or just the “don’t want to work"s!

You and Harry were raised to do the job that needed to be done, as I was. Rarely were you let “off the hook” because you were not “feeling like going/doing” whatever! So you have the mindset that my generation still has, to a great extent. And I’m glad you do!

Keep up the good work! (And I hope you are well enough to get back to work by tomorrow!)

I’ve read all you wrote, and all the comments, with pleasure. And I can relate, in many ways! When I was teaching, I, too, had trouble just reading for pleasure. Partly because of the time limits, and partly because everything I read got in the way of enjoyment of reading!

As for finding time to read for pleasure, the secret is to find a book (or story, etc.) that you really WANT to read, and then carry it everywhere you go! When you find yourself with a couple of minutes or more, whip it out and read. (I’ve rarely had to go back to figure out where I left off, even when I had three books going at the same time–in three different parts of the house!) You can train yourself to read in snippets, just as you trained yourself to run a little at a time, or to write without having to finish a certain section at any one time. The enjoyment is still there, whichever way you go about it.

Love reading your writings, Diana! Keep up the good work!

Love you muchly, and wish you lived closer!

Aunt B’Ann

:) Speaking of preferred contractions, I prefer “it isn’t,” even though it requires more effort to enunciate, over “it’s not.” “It’s not” and “It’s snot” are homophonous.

d

Diana,

But then the contraction is “I am,” not “am not.” It isn’t the same thing. Or it’s not the same thing. Or something.

Dave

“I am not” may be easily and properly contracted to “I’m not,” Dave. ;)

d

Mr B:

I may have over-stated my dismay at the state of English use. What annoys me is things like they’re/there/their errors and to a lesser extent it’s/its. But my favorite rant is the greengrocer’s problem. “Ain’t” is a perfectly serviceable word; it fills in the gap in the contracted forms of the negative “to be.” (I can say “you aren’t” and “he isn’t,” but I have to say “I am not"? That’s not fair.) Besides, I grew up in the Appalachian foothills where it’s common usage. I ain’t about to change now.

Diana:

I think you may be onto something with the differences between reading for business and reading for pleasure. We talked a little bit about that before. You said that your cadets tend to read to find specific answers while you want them to also read for the joy of discovery. (I’m paraphrasing, obviously, but I think that’s what you said.) They’re very different attitudes to have while reading. I think there may be a tendency for us working stiffs to develop the goal-seeking attitude at the expense of the discovery attitude.

I wonder, too, if we unconsciously evaluate the risk involved in reading. When we’re reading for a purpose we have a set goal, and if we don’t meet that goal we’ve failed the task. Reading for enjoyment doesn’t have a well-defined goal; perhaps we’ve conditioned ourselves to view it as an automatic failure.

Dave

Let me try this again. I wrote for about 10 minutes yesterday, and it wouldn’t take it for some reason, and then I slap dab lost it.(the thing I wrote, I mean) :). Well, maybe I lost it too. I didn’t rewrite, and I aint now. (Go ahead Dave. I know that ‘aint’ galls you):D.

Anywho, PD, I find that the more I read for info, the slower I get, and when I read strictly for pleasure, I find myself being careful not to miss anything, thus slowing myself more. I find that reading for pleasure is more pleasureable if I get all the info as I go. That is one reason I find it difficult, but enjoyable non the less, to ‘read’ audio books. I don’t rent them or own them. I have a friend who loans them to me when she thinks she has one I would like. But I think, to put it succinctly, that content is both the enemy and friend of reading, and eventually slows us all down searching for the one little chit of info that makes everything make sense.