My Bob Dylan Moment

The amazing thing about a 4 1/2 month old is that she actually thinks it is her momma singing when Bob Dylan is belting out Like a Rolling Stone.
I am going to try Bebel Gilberto next.

Giant Hail and Its Indelible Mark on My Psyche

I just closed windows and brought the dog in the house as the gigantic dark clouds loomed over my neighborhood. As I quickly turned off the electronic devices, I had a little flashback to my first experience watching The Wizard of Oz.
I was terrified, so scared that in one swoop, life could inevitably change. It was so close to the feeling that I had when first watching Ten Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, I was terrified that the gigantic octopus would rise up and snare me underwater, forever taking me away to some deep oceanic haze. Of course this fear was somewhat ridiculous as few octopi? ever resided in suburban above ground pools.This childhood fear continued when viewing David Bowie's movie, Labyrinth, but I won't even go there. I suppose all of this, as I sit here pounding the keys, has followed me my entire life...like I was always able to escape these little disasters and fears. I am afraid of the unknown, the uncertainty that life offers, and I think the more I love people and care, the fear grows. We are chased by our fears and perhaps that is what makes us human. As I look at this dark sky and some monster size hail, I just want to gather my loved ones and hide in some secret corner where we too can escape, safe from what can change or subtract.

Tim Russert, One of Buffalo's Finest

I am sitting her still stunned and saddened about Tim Russert's, moderator of Meet the Press, death. There is something special about Buffalo, and I have traveled many places in the world and found that this place is incredibly misunderstood. Tim Russert grew up from modest beginnings and made his mark on politics, journalism, and writing. He never forgot his home, and he embraced this place throughout his many successes. I am sad for his family as no one should ever lose someone so young and so suddenly. I am also sad for this community as our number one advocate has passed away.

Sick of the advertisements geared towards women...we are more than lip gloss, weight loss, and namebrands.

a poem.

Maybe Donna Reed Missed the Memo- K.P.C.

Sitting in rows during eleventh period English class I learned

The origin of Hysteria

We were learning Greek and Roman Mythology
Venus and Aphrodite, Athena too
Hestia, with her veil and those virgins,
Goddess of the hearth
That word hysteria
Came up somehow, though I doubt those goddesses really misbehaved
I hope they did though.
Hysteria, a condition thought caused by the womb
Like the witches from the Crucible
Those times when we are connected to the moon
Howling at the moon
Maybe when we are not even supposed to
Maybe it was all those goddesses, so hard to live up to
Standing in their robes, hair flowing, looking down on us mere mortals
Pawns sometimes to those women who seem untouchable
Like women on billboards or our shiny new Miss America’s
Towering over us once again
In those stiletto high heels
That often leave marks.

Question of the Week.

Hello.

On this Monday morning, I would like to pose a question. I have been thinking a lot about the upcoming presidential election, especially as I went to fill up my gas tank at $4.10 a gallon and read that another local soldier was killed. This election has already been sidetracked by various personal attacks, and in an effort to stick to the issues, I started to think about what issue was the most important to me. It is difficult to select just one, and as a teacher, I am destined to perhaps select education. It seems that education is one of the major issues, which connects to all of the other problems, that has not been discussed in detail. In my eyes, the system is not working, and it needs some revolutionary changes.

What is your definitive issue for the 2008 presidential election? What keeps you up at night or what do you feel impacts your life or the lives of others the most?

Feel free to post a reply. (Mike another shout out, perhaps? This means you may have to relinquish your Switzerland political status)

A poem.

I wrote this awhile ago....just thought I would put it up. Greg...here is a sample of my writing.

I Have the Monday Night News Blues-K.P.C

I wonder what a man thinks of moments before he dies?

Does the earth stop somehow to memorialize the passing,

Silent and still, as if we all could pause and pay reverence for a life.

I imagine all of the signs of new life coming,

First cries, stretches in this new world, occupying space on this planet for the first time.

I wish we could usher in each other, so full of hope and potential to do something,

To be someone, to love.

And I am sitting here thinking about death lately as I calculate my own breaths

Gliding in and outside of me, and I don’t want to be on that other side

Don’t want to see that light yet, clinging on to my own piece of this planet,

Clinging to people that walk in and out of my minutes.

I’m tired of going to funerals and wakes, tired of saying sorry,

Because it’s not enough, but some moments are too much for words, and the spaces between people are filled with that feeling, sorrowful and confused as it may be,as we all sit and contemplate why something must end.

As I turned on the news tonight, cameras congregate in California as we are set to watch

Another man’s death, sanctioned by the state, sanitized by appellate courts.

And he was a bad man, but I am wondering about redemption these days because I can feel it and maybe he felt it, and perhaps other deaths don’t need to be memorialized in this way.

Maybe we all need to just stop for a minute, if only the world could hit the pause button for a moment. Maybe it would just take a moment, to look one another in the eye, to look at ourselves,

To stop ourselves before we tarnish our humanity with all of this hatred. And maybe it’s the Joan Baez in me, but I want to write a protest song. And maybe someone out there will listen.

I don’t have a guitar, all I have are my words.

Maybe they’ll travel around, these little insignificant letters on a paper,

Maybe we can all try to fill these pages.

The Martha in Me

Alas it is 52 degrees in Buffalo right now, but in the spirit of spring and an impending summer, I am posting the link to a good recipe for a Capirinha, the classic Brazilian cocktail. You can add different fruits too....

http://www.recipezaar.com/95199

Insert beach waves and sun here....

Things I (You) Want to do...

Hello everyone....or probably just Mike for you are my most frequent reader.
I have been inspired by some other blogs I have been reading and decided to create a Things I want to do List....I am not going to put a finite timeline on them, but I just wanted to say them, write them, so in some way, I am obligated to actually see them through, my little bit of perfectionism won't let me fail this task....hopefully:)
So here it is, a list of things I would like to accomplish and experience. They are randomly ordered:
1. Go back to Capri where Mike asked me to marry him.
2. Go to Kyoto, Japan.
3. Learn to cook some different meals that are exotic and interesting.
4. Publish a book, any kind of book...
5. Write more.
6. Play with Sophia in the sand- This can be achieved when the Capuana clan hits Siesta Key!
7. Go to Argentina.
8. Regain my fluency in Spanish.
9. Drive up with my family to see Prince Edward Island, a place I thought about as a kid while reading Anne of Green Gables.
10. Climb Macchu Picchu with Mike and Sophia
11. Rent a house with the Pastore Clan in the Caribbean
12. Go back to Middlebury for more creative writing workshops
13. Shake Nikki Giovanni's hand
14. Run a half marathon (don't want to get too ambitious here)
15. Clean my closet out.
16. Collect more scarves--my signature element of style
17. Learn Italian
18. Rent a house and spend a summer in Italy
19. Keep all of my friends, thus get better at communication long distances
20. Make homemade pasta
21. Drink a cafe con leche in Plaza del Sol in Madrid again
22. Have my sister take me on a tour of her favorite places in Chicago
23. Fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans...(I'm getting close)
24. Read my grandparents letters with my Mom
25. Swim in the pool more with my Dad
26. Plant more trees and flowers in our backyard
27. Recycle every thing that is possible to recycle and not be lazy about keeping the earth green.
28. Go to the public library once a month
29. Learn to use chopsticks appropriately
30. Drink Capirinhas in Brazil with Mike on some fabulous beach
31. Teach Sophia to ride her bike


more to come...