Swamp Paddling

See the pictures to the side? Jacob and I paddled in Sparkleberry Swamp. Wowee, what a weird and wonderful world. Gorgeous! When they say black water, they are not kidding. I felt like I was in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. There was even a shack we happened upon. We went with a paddling group. I would never go alone as I would have gotten lost in the first 10 minutes. It really all looks the same in places - cypress and more cypress. But the water lilies were beautiful. I did get to see an alligator, but it was dead. Probably safer. I hope to do more of this. It ain't a running TN, MO or Ark river, but it was very cool!

From the men's room at the Science Fiction Museum, Seattle.

Gas prices and my bike

So I bought a used bike from a local shop. Great deal, not pretty, but the best bike I've ever owned. It's a women's Giant. I've ridden to work (18 miles roundtrip) this week three days in a row. I'm proud of me! And it's a great ride (it's flat here in SC). But Florence, SC is not what you would call "bike-friendly." First, I have to ride on the shoulder of a very busy road (the ONLY road to the beach) because there are no bike lanes in Florence. It's OK because there is a very wide shoulder (most of the way). However, the shoulders are in various stages of disrepair. So today, as I gently swerved to miss a crack in the pavement-- I'm not kidding, I swerved maybe a foot on a five foot shoulder-- a woman in a mini van with a couple of kids just fell on her horn. Sigh. Nice role model...oh yeah, and her mini van had one of those "fish" on it. Jesus loves me too! From my house to the big beach road, I have to drive through a kind of dicey part of town. I'd never go through there after dark. I was asking a male bike rider about that part of town and told him that I was a little uncomfortable. He sort of admonished (maybe it was just his British accent) me and said, "They are just poor...,not bad." I said, "And how many times have you been called: honey, honeybaby, sweetheart, sweetthing, wooo-hoooo mama...??? It happens to me almost every day." You would think with these ungodly gas prices, things would change. So every time I'm flipped off by a person that obviously is compensating for something by driving one of those gigantic obscenities, I think, maybe they just paid $150 for a tank of gas and are taking it out on us poor peddlers.... "Stupid is as stupid does..."

As much as I HATE those #*@$%# plastic bags...

This is what doing art is about. That moment/thing/happening between the artist and the spectator--that joy in doing/seeing the work. The bear inflates as the subway passes under.

Funny - thanks Tiger....

Some more woo woo....

Woweee...check out this video:
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229

Ahhhh SETC...

I'm sitting in the airport waiting to fly home from Chattanooga and SETC. I have been gone since Tuesday. It snowed while we were there. I saw lots of old friends, went to a sh*tload of meetings, presented papers, panels, drank, ate, slept...no wait, I didn't do much of that.

My colleagues and I were talking about, as K put it, "I would have hocked something to make it to SETC!" Our students went for the first time and only because the school paid for the van and drove them there. Hard to believe. I wonder if young students aren't so used to being handed everything that they don't know how to think about solving their own problems (employment, education, etc.). I just remember piling into a car with four to five people I didn't know or even like very much to get to SETC, then pile into bed with at least 3 other people (if you were lucky enough to get the bed and not the floor or tub) to sleep for a couple of minutes so you could get up to audition, attend workshops, and meet people. I was very self-directed and remember thinking at the time, that I wasn't self-directed enough. No child left behind....

Thank all the gods and goddesses that it's our spring break this coming week. I'm sleeping Monday, then doing taxes and travel claims on Tuesday and Wednesday, then riding the train to DC with Jacob and our friend to show Jacob "our nation's capital." Looking forward to that, although I can't really think about it right now.

My life on the weekend....

Even more vaginas....

So we made $4000 for the Pee Dee Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse and 6 of us are off to New Orleans in April to Eve Ensler's VDay to the 10th celebration. Fabulous! We're off to New Orleans because the president liked it so much he gave us money to go. I gotta say, it's been a really long time since I've been onstage and experienced a crowd like that. Everyone had such fun and the air was just buzzing. I was smug for a week. Take that...Dubyah (those in TN will know what I mean).

Oh and...yeah....I told you so....Dubyah!

tee hee

Oh and...yeah...on a whole different subject...to the dean... regarding one of my former colleagues...I really did tell you so....backed the way wrong horse didn't you? pthttttttt....


not that I'm bitter....

Vaginas....

Yes, I am doing The Vagina Monologues for the first time ever at FMU, but the fifth time for me. I cast half faculty, half students. The experience so far has been wonderful! In fact, today at lunch, the president asked me how the play was going. I said, "very well." He said, "let me know how I can help you." Sigh... He has been very supportive. The FMU Foundation found us a sponsor even. Morgan/Stanley gave us money to hold a fancy ticketed reception in order to make more money for the Pee Dee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Abuse. Pinch me....

Link to the student newspaper article:http://media.www.patriotnewsonline.com/media/storage/paper1198/news/2008/01/08/News/Students.Faculty.To.Perform.Acclaimed.Play-3146869.shtml