Duly Noted

 I hadn't showered in two days (or was it three?) so I decided that I might as well wait to shower until I had the chance to go for a run.  It was Sunday, Mike was at church for his Sunday morning church gig, and Grandpa could keep Sula company.  Misha was out sledding.   So I went for a run with Rachel the dog.

To our surprise, our schools decided to call it last night due to the expected forecast.  I was pleased to wake up this morning with no snow on the ground.  It is now almost four and the snow is just beginning to flurry.  Eager to make the most of a gifted day off, I knew that I needed to shift my energy from the Sunday blues that I was feeling yesterday.  Two things are instant mood lifters for me: exercise and updating the house!  I am going to pause for a second and give a lil affirmation to the man that has my back every day- Michael My Dream Man Vasich.  He accepts me as I am and he helps me to return to center when I go off course.   

Over the last two years or so, I have discovered Gretchen Rubin and hopped onto her happiness train.  When her first book, The Happiness Project ,  caught my eye a number of years ago, I resisted reading it because I worried that her happiness experiments would end up being another thing on my "should do" list.  At that time, my expectations of myself were high enough.  I needed to work on accepting myself. That season of my life passed, and now, in my thirties, I have a solid foundation.  I know myself better- my strengths and my flaws- and I have settled into my identity and my life.  From this place, Gretchen (yes, I'm going to refer to her by her first name- I am that kind of fan) speaks to me, encouraging me to be more self-aware, test out new behaviors, and challenge myself to keep growing while being true to Molly.  Her first personal commandment, after all, is "Be Gretchen."   Over the last year or so, as I read "Better Than Be...

Summertime is the ultimate time of year for me.  I have always been a summer girl.  Summertime girl, if you will (thank you, LFO).  I love the sun, the water, bare feet, and the fresh produce. This summer is the first one in which Mike and I are both on a total teacher schedule- meaning no schedule.  In summers past, one of us or both of us were either working, teaching, or in school (or all three).  This summer, we are free agents with parenthood as our only duty. So what to do with all this free time?  No worries, my friends, we can fill it.  Hours pass quickly with a newborn.  It's all treats and snoozing, snoozing and treats.  Passing time with a three year old is a different story, but a BUSY one.  I should put a pedometer on Misha.  I know he doubles my steps-a-day.  In need of social interaction and movement, staying home all day is out of the question.  Morning is the time for adventures, when the sun isn't too...

Musings: The Art of Globalization: an exhibit that demonstrates how meaning depends on both the HOW  (the choices the artist makes in terms of materials and construction process) and the WHAT (the content of the work). The Art Of The Sacred: What is sacred?  How do we know?  What does it mean to be sacred in a certain space?  How does context influence interpretation?  Can an object be sacred or does it symbolize something sacred?  How important is the process to a work's sacredness?

Ten questions... 1. Do you have a morning routine? On the weekdays, yes. I like to hit sleep a few times before climbing out of bed. Water on, coffee on. Stretches and sit-ups. Oatmeal and checking my email. Wash, brush, and clothe. Take out Rachel and feed her breakfast. Kiss Mike and I'm out the door. Weekends, I play it by ear. Lately, I've been getting up earlier still. 2. How do you judge if its been a "good day?" Often its as simple as if I have had time to get outside and run. The fresh air fulfills me. And then, equal positive with others and myself. 3. What advice would you give to someone who wanted to live more fully? Know what you want and make it happen. Plan ahead and live in the moment. It's hard to do, but you know when it is working! 4. What do you take with you when you leave the house? Too much! My purse which contains, but is not limited to, my journal, my calendar, my uncouthly huge wallet (due to access of receipts a...

Lifetime Bucket List: Hike the Appalachian trail (or a comparable trail) Bike across  a cross country bike trip Win my age group in a triathlon or running race Join a master's swim team Create a documentary film Knit a sweater Run in a 50k trail race Attend a spiritual retreat Own a VW van or some other impractical form of transport (like a vespa) Live in another country for a year (with children!) Write and submit an editorial Coach a running team (again!) Establish and maintain a consistent yoga practice (could be once a week for a year, could be every day for 30 days...just variety of consistency)

I checked out a handful of books from the ol' local library that seem inspiring and suited reading a random page when I get a free moment. Rainn Wilson's SoulPancake" is one of these books, recommended by one of my eleventh grade students.  Basically, Wilson's thesis is that spirituality and creativity go together.  Or, in his own words, "I believe art and its expression are the same as faith and its expression.  Science, too, for that matter.  And quite frankly, everything that urges us to create, to love, to think deeply, to breathe in the moment, to be of service, to be human..." (x).   SoulPancake is basically a workbook that provokes its reader with essential questions, writing prompts, and creative challenges. His first creative challenge is "sum up your personal philosophy of life" and then he instructs us to write it with chalk on the pavement. Molly's Personal Philosophy of Life: Every day is a new day with an opportunity to make...

Girls In Disguise Feminine & Feminist Perspectives In Sofia Coppola Films A feminist approach to film analysis often considers the historical, political, and social contexts surrounding the production of the said film. However, sometimes, I feel it is critical to examine an artistic creation on its own terms. I feel this is particularly the case when the artist herself is entrenched in an inescapable back-story, alà Sofia Coppola. Older viewers tend to frame the younger Coppola’s films within the context of her father’s work, the prophetic, Francis Ford Coppola. Best known for the Godfather series and Apocalypse Now, his films were often heavily masculine- dark, heavy, and disturbing; the tone set through the visual effects as well as the plot. Comparatively, Sofia Coppola’s films could be easily construed as deeply feminine- pink underwear, macaroons, and puffy clouds. Yet, beneath the artifice of, well, pink, her films are real psychological dramas with less than perky hero...

May Day. One of the top two days to be a twin cities resident, if you ask me. If you haven't witnessed the May Day parade, you are in for a real adventure. All of Twin Cities' creative and fun-filled brains are out in full color. what is your motto? Love Loud! Kindness first. Sing and dance whenever, wherever. When in doubt, eat a carrot. Toodle. Sometimes, its better not to think about it. Trust yourself/myself.

As someone with a wide range of musical tastes and a musician boyfriend, I found the prospects for this music artifact assignment overwhelming. However, my experience with our second subject option- graphic novels- is rather limited (okay, "French Milk," a graphic novel written by a twenty-something art student about her trip to Paris with her mom is the only graphic novel I've finished to date). Thus, writing about music as a cultural piece is ultimately more accessible for me. This past weekend, I attended my first bachelorette party. It was the real deal (though, no male strippers, thank god). Out on the town (specifically, Minneap downtown), one song dominated the clubs and bars. We danced to it at least three times. I was later informed that the coinciding bachelor party also heard the song twice during their own bar-hopping adventures in Northeast. You, dear reader, must wonder, what is this wondrous tune? Well, if you didn't pick up on the reference in ...

My news log dated last Sunday, March 29th, tracked Fox local news at 5:30pm. To me, perhaps the most interesting aspect of my log was the amount of time spent on different news stories. The second longest news story (2 minutes exactly) was the first one: the impact of the Red River Flooding on Fargo schools. Following this story, the rest of the thirty minutes was broken into 90 to 10 seconds. Each of these brief stories were interspersed with the reminder, "Weather...coming up!" It was embarrassingly clear that the station recognized that most people watch local news for...THE WEATHER REPORT!!! Let's make a comparison: The weather report=3 minutes and 30 seconds Clip on local shooting=10 seconds Clip on North Carolina nursing home shooting=10 seconds Duplex Fire=10 seconds Greenhouse that can grow crops on the moon=40 seconds In this way, I find that the imbalance of time spent on the weather vs. the rest of the stories is more of a reflection of audience viewing ...

Facebook. During the course of my ethnographic research, I've come to discover perhaps what I always knew: Facebook is MASSIVE. This site affords an immense supply of juicy research. Today, I simply tasted the depth of facebook flavor. Although in his chapter on "Media Ethnography," Beach writes, "Increasingly, adolescent audiences...participate in virtual communal experiences of interactive media in virtual communities...adolescents can experiment with different roles and stances without concern for the constraints of gender, class, race, age, or disability markers that inhibit their participation in lived-world, face to face interaction," this certainly isn't the case for the biggest virtual, interactive community on the web- namely, facebook. In this community, we often know our community members, or friends . Further, gender, race, class, age, and disability/ability are thoroughly explored and enacted. However, I'd argue (as an ethnographer and...

I struggled with this assignment because I feel like I don't watch enough TV to make a holistic argument about media representation on any given topic. However, after talking with some friends, I feel like I can discuss the few representations of queerness that I've witnessed over the past couple of years. As a quick disclaimer, this post is based on my personal observations and perceptions; I am very open to all opinions as anyone reading this is likely to be more versed in television/movies than yours truly. First of all, I've noticed that the media seems to place gays and lesbians in two separate and distinct categories. Further, it seems that the gay community or at least gay relationships are more heavily represented in mainstream media. However, my perception regarding the gay vs. lesbian representation binary is based on the number of shows in which gays are portrayed as opposed to lesbians. That said, several question remain: is the portrayal of gay men accur...

It's been a slow and cloudy morning so far...I think I'll wear my bright blue raincoat today!

In this essay, it is my intention to capture the essence of international travel. To be brutally honest, a few of these photos make me very uncomfortable. As viewer, I see myself as a complete outcast- a total nerd! I just previewed this post and I nearly took some of these photos down. Yet, I can't recall feeling awkward at the time these pictures were taken. Traveling is odd to me. The desire to leave all things known and venture into a land that is physically and culturally different than mine can be terrifying. Still, I remember feeling fulfilled and peaceful when they were taken. For instance, the shot of my boyfriend, Mike, in the shower wasn't taken in despair (though it may appear so). Rather, both of us were admiring the Nicaraguan spirit in spite of the lack of natural resources. This essay was an attempt to juxtapose real happiness with the moments of humiliation and reflection associated with travel. In her article, Selfe writes, "one goal is to help s...

Playing with gizmoz...my mother thinks i look like sarah palin. god help me. http://www.gizmoz.com/video/12451169_coffee_in_nicaragua

In the article, “When sex, drugs, and violence enter the classroom: conversations between adolescents and a female pedagogical agent,” the authors express surprise regarding the students’ abuse of the conversational agent. However, personally, I am not surprised in the slightest! Drawing from my experiences with pre-teens and teens, I’d argue that adolescent misuse of technological tools is rampant. For instance, recently, my friend told me that her thirteen year-old niece had been receiving sexually abusive text messages from a number of boys in her classroom. Afraid or embarrassed to tell her parents, the niece asked her aunt for advice. When my friend told me this story, we both remarked on the tendency for digital communication devices to lessen human inhibition (regardless of the person’s age). Why do typed, satellite-fueled messages seem to encourage regular dismissal of social norms? The Sex, Drugs, and Violence article predicts that the abuse/misuse of conversational age...