Anything

[Anonymous]

Hi Learning:

I admire your 80 / 20 example anyway, even if it isn't exact.  I am trying to aim for those numbers, or at least, I have great intentions too.

I'm glad the pile is getting smaller and you're walking away from it and that you are using laughter to help with the trip.  I really like your description.....I can picture this steaming pile of stuff, shrinking and shrinking, and sliding further and further away, getting smaller and smaller.  Soon it will dry up and disappear!!!  Let the sun shine!!!

Thankyou for your kind words, Learning.  You seem the same and I'm sure there are lot's of people here who are too, and who deserve the best, including you.   I hope things are working out for you in your life.

Hey Mum!  That is a great song, isn't it?  I love her voice.

Icecream (cheetos), when what is really needed is a nourishing soy milk smoothie, eh? (but it's so hard to resist the icecream and cheetos, sometimes, isn't it?  We are only human!).   It's like trying to cure a fever with coffee.  Sort of like trying to build something proper with inadequate pieces, or like trying to move a mountain of stuff with a little dinky dump truck.

Stepping Stones

I struggled to move boulders
And many an obstacle
Out of my way.
I wore myself out
Pressing against them,
Pushing in vain;
Then wept at my own inadequacy
And their relentless strength.

And then, one spring morning,
I listened to the birds and felt refreshed
Watching their trusting flight
Above the dangers and the discontents.
"Oh, to have wings," I prayed.
"But you have feet." the answer came.
"Were they not meant to climb?
And hands, are they not able to cling?
I have put stepping stones for you
and rocky promontories fitted to your hand.
Look up and scale the heights."

And lo! my obstacles,
Which I had tried to shove out of my way,
Were stones to climb upon
Out of the marshy bog.
And from each one another came to view,
And none of them was singly hard to reach.
And when they seemed too steep,
I stretched my hand above
To feel it close upon a firm, strong aid,
And laughed to think I was so blind
A few short suns before.

                                Gertrude Helen Crawford

GFN

[Anonymous]

Hi Mum,

Sarah's voice is magical.  I don't know if I've heard this song before, but the ice cream imagery (or tastery) is great.  I am so glad that you have this love in your life.  Your happiness is contagious!

GFN,

Thanks for the poem.  Sometimes it is all about perspective, isn't it?

Take Care,
Learning

[Anonymous]

Hello all:

Ya!  Learning!  There are so many magical voices, like Sarah's, out there!  They keep me sane.  They keep my spirit healthy.  They even flush stuff out sometimes...like pain...or joy.  Bless those magical voices!

Re: perspective.  There are as many as there are people alive.  And the more we gather, the richer we become, in a way.  People try to see eachothers, sometimes.  But our own is the one that often grips us.  Our view can change too, when we decide to let it.  Some have a very narrow one.  Deeply entwined with our beliefs, our perspective evolves.

  Japanese proverb:

Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.

Cheers to all who are trying to act with vision!!!

GFN

[CHICKSQUIP]

I appreciate the observations about personality types.  Here is a site I haven't seen before.  Interesting!


http://www.ptypes.com/correspondence.html

chicksquip

[bludie]

So cool to hear there are other Joni Mitchell fans on this site. She was my absolutely favorite artist in the 70s/early 80s. The Court and Spark album virtually saved my sanity the summer I become legally emancipated. I played "Free Man in Paris" many times each day. Have never been to Paris but vow to get there in the next couple of years.

Love this thread. It's fun. Thanks to all.

Best,

bludie

[mum]

Hey, Bludie:  I used to sing "Blue" into my guitar box through the strings (because I really sucked at playing it, but it sounded soooo cool into the hollow!)  I am probably only slightly younger, because as I recall, it was the hide in my room album!
Just read a very interesting interview with her and gosh, was it Elvis Costello? I have a brain like a sieve for name details, but it was very interesting/political.....was it in Vanity Fair or Rolling Stone?  
Were you also a Ricki Lee Jones fan (she seemed an natural progression from Joni Mitchell for me).  Her latest is awesome (last year, maybe?) and "Ugly Man" is scathing politically.
Speaking of politics/music, I just heard an interview with Steve Earl.....lamenting the lack of power music has politically, compared to the sixties....his new CD is such a statement.
Have a great day.

[bludie]

Hello dear mum,
YES! Ricki Lee Jones was my favorite artist in the 80s. Saw her in concert twice. "We Belong Together" was soul food. Unfortunately it also helped me romanticize my proclivity toward incompatible men.   But if I ever find my true-healthy-have-it-together partner, this would be our song. Or at least my song in regard to him/us.

Other favorite female artists: Aretha, Tina Turner, Norah Jones, Amy Mann, Sarah Vaughan, Diana Krall, Suzanne Vega, Annie Lenox....

Best,

bludie

[mum]

Bludie: we should share records (oops, old school) I mean CD's.  Saw Norah Jones in concerts....she is so genuine.

[bludie]

I had to correct my post because I was thinking, like you mum, albums and not CDs. Would LOVE to see Norah Jones in concert. Something my daughter and I agree on musically (for a change - I'm just not into rap)  

Best,

bludie

[Anonymous]

Hi all:

From the past.....some of my favorites are Elton John and Genesis.  Then, Supertramp and Queen.  And Led Zep, Pink Floyd and such.  Those were the wild and crazy days!!!

GFN

[mum]

GFN: the hilarious thing for me is that my son, the musician, is getting into all the classic "retro" stuff you are talking about.  Now I'm the expert, and he thinks maybe once upon a time I was cool.  Ha....his friends think I'm cool now.....but as his mom, I simply can't be!
OH....but I'm not the "cool mom" from the movie "Mean Girls" (did you see that?  what a riot...a scary and scathing riot)  Tina Fey (wrote it) is so sharp!

[Anonymous]

Yes Cool Mum!!!

Not long ago my daughter told me:  "Mom!  There's a really cool new band called the "Stones".  Have you heard of them?"

Ever since then, I guess I'm pretty cool and expert myself!  It feels weird to be considered cool by my kid.  Does it feel that way for you?  I mean, I'm used to being the mom who drives everybody everywhere, who makes mean cheese cake, who is strict about homework and curfews, and who they come to with a problem or just to talk.  I guess, I'm used to being.....just mom.  But cool??
Whooo!  Too much!  So do I have start dressing cool too?  Do I have to know the coolest stuff to be real cool?  Too much pressure.  I usually say...."Ya.  I'm as cool as an old mom can get.  But you're a much cooler kid!".  It is nice....I admit.....to be considered somewhat cool.  Better than:  "The b*^#+"ch" or "The old lady" (as I've heard some call their moms).  

....the movie "Mean Girls" (did you see that?

Nope but definately another one to add to my "gotta see" list.

This past weekend, I did go and see:  "Meet the Fockers".

OMG!  I cannot express how hilarious that movie is.  We were just about rolling on the floor!  Not for kids but truly funny.  I'd go see it again and I don't often say that about a movie.        

GFN

[mum]

GFN: yup, saw "meet the Fockers" too.  I did think it was funny, really funny. But the Ben Stiller character is such a putz, as he was in the last movie, it bugged me, but the parents were hilarious.  Strange to see such monumental actors in something so silly, huh?

On being "cool": All through elementary school, my kids went to my school, where I am the art teacher....everybody likes art, sooooo.... I guess that makes me cool, right?  The kids I teach who can't stand me are the kids whose behavior I won't put up with, so mostly, the kids like me.  It is just extrapolation (sp?) that those kids think I must be "cool" to have as a mom too. I think my kids fill them in on what it's like to live with the "image".  

Students are funny...they think whatever you do here is all you do (are you going to paint pictures this weekend? )  and if they see us (teachers) out of context, it's mind blowing for them (teacher's shop for groceries???).
Because of my job (I tell the kids it's in my contract) I get to dress pretty much however I want...so I do!  So I guess that's cool too, except that now, as my daughter matures, she really has opinions on what I wear ("but I like that, how could you buy it?").  Hard to shop lately.  Unless it's expensive, it's hard to find cool stuff that doesn't look like "art teacher/hippie mumus" or little tart!
Jeans are a staple.  Always ok.

[Anonymous]

Hi Mum and everyone:

Strange to see such monumental actors in something so silly, huh?

Isn't it though?  I would never have imagined them in those roles but wow!!!  They did a great job!!!  Really a great movie for lots of laughs eh?

Students are funny...they think whatever you do here is all you do (are you going to paint pictures this weekend? ) and if they see us (teachers) out of context, it's mind blowing for them (teacher's shop for groceries???).

So true!  I remember thinking this way myself, as a kid.  I remember seeing one of my teachers skating at the ice rink, with her family, and thinking:  "Wow!  She has a family?  They go skating together?  That's so weird!"

...it's hard to find cool stuff that doesn't look like "art teacher/hippie mumus" or little tart!

LOL!!    Ya....go...go mumus!!!  I love it!   Conversation in the teacher lounge:  "Did you see what that hippie tart teacher is wearing this morning??"

"Ya......what a little go-go mumus!!!"

There's got to be a happy medium between what's cool to kids and staff alike.  That must be a real challenge to locate???

I'm lucky.  No one to impress.  I can wear what I like when I like and I do.  I don't think I dress the least bit cool.  I go for practical and comfy.  I feel more productive that way.  That and my smoothies!!!

It sounds like you have a really enjoyable, rewarding job.  Teaching kids art has got to be a happier thing than teaching rocket science?  Most kids like art because at least it is a break from the routine and a way to have a bit of fun.

When I was a kid, my artistic abilities were on stop.  I think I was too shy to really express anything by way of art.  Maybe it was too frightening a risk?  I didn't think anyone would like it.  I always got a "C" in art.  As an adult, I have explored in this area a little more and created a few really unique projects.  They look "ok" to me but some people have said that I have real talent.

I think everyone has artistic talent (some more than others).  Art is such a great way to express feelings and ideas and one I really had not considered much use until not too long ago.  I'm glad it's still taught in school and there are teachers like you around to teach it.  I bet you enjoy your job?
   
GFN

[mum]

GFN: you just had a bad art teacher....                                                

My own mom and dad came to watch me teach 20 years ago, not long before my dad died.  I can tell you it was a magical day for me.  My dad was very creative, but my mom never felt that way about herself.  The greatest compliment I ever got was that day, when my mom said, "I would have enjoyed life so much more if you had been my art teacher when I was a kid".
She told me about the ONE experience she had that closed her down, artistically for good> she was in elementary school and she painted a black house.  The teacher held it up and sarcastically announced "nobody has a black house, this is wrong!"  And that was it, she decided then and there she couldn't draw/paint etc.  How sad.  But she went on to be an athlete and a mother to nine children adn an amazing person despite feeling incompetent in art!  My personal goal is for no kids to EVER feel they CAN"T in my classroom.  
Currently my mom lies in a nursing home, her body and mind failing slowly but surely... I fly to see her next week and I will bring up how much that meant to me.... she still finds great joy in her children and reliving good moments with them.  thanks for reminding me!
As far as loving my job: well it is a job, and they have to pay me to do it, but I get to stay within my passion and that's not so bad.  Kids can wear you down, though, and some of their parents are the worst....and the direction education is taking right at the moment is scary, but hey, the pendulum will swing again.
thanks for asking.  Have a great day.  I actually will be painting this weekend!!!