Anyone can do Anything if He or She Knows ehow

I was doing a web search for summer camp themes and stumbled across the funniest website I've seen in a few days. I just love its ambition and cheery pragmatism. Gosh, there's a 7 bullet answer to any problem. For example:

My dog is having puppies right now. What can I do?

I have a sudden yearning to write a sestina. I wonder how to do that?

My reputation is besmirched. I need a quick and easy way to restore my good name.

I like Robert, but he just ignores me when I try to makes friends. I'll do anything to get him to like me!

The best parts are the chippy little tips at the end of each short instruction list. Guess which tip goes with which problem...

• If companionship is your goal, consider a dog. They're better company and more reliable than a person whose friendship can be bought.
• Mention the rumors in a direct but nonconfrontational way: "Burt, I heard that some folks think I am having an affair with Helen in graphics. I'm sure you know there's no truth to the matter."
• Stage two of labor begins with full dilation of the cervix and ends with full delivery of the first puppy. Stage three begins after delivery of the first puppy and ends with the expulsion of the placenta.
• Do not be discouraged by peers claiming to be poets. When you hear a poet say how much he or she dislikes writing in form, remember that a great artist sees the opportunities in every canvas, regardless or shape or size. A poor artist sees only the limitations.
  

No more worrying about life's problems, big or small. Just consult ehow.com

Question: No need, I can ask ehow!

mompoet - stepping toward Stepford

Sunday Morning

I had planned to sit with coffee and the newspaper and wear pajamas as long as possible. But it was not to be. There I was, reading the New York Times online, when I looked up to see a worried face peering in my kitchen window. Shady the dog was back.

Shady first showed up in our neighbourhood this summer. She escaped from her house several times in June and July. We're not sure where she lives, but one of the neighbourhs had her family's phone number, so we'd call them and they'd get her. After a while we didn't see her again. Her owner said they were building a fence, so I figured the problem was solved.

Shady is a labrador cross. She's so shy she looks like she's black. Somehow she looks smaller and is harder to see than she really is. Really she's a dark brown with soft brown eyes. She wouldn't let me near, backing off each time I came over to her. I knocked on my neighbour Sue's door. Sue is a veterinary technician and has a legendary way with nervous creatures. Sue lured Shady in with some dog treats and lovey talk, and got my dog's leash on her. There we were, two moms in our pajamas with coats over, talking about what to do with this dog. Kirsi, who has her family's phone number, was out of town. I took Shady to my house and called the SPCA and Animal Shelter. I knew Kirsi got her number from one of those places.

SPCA had never heard of her. Shelter knew her, but wouldn't give me her number. Shady wore no license, had no ID tag and had no ear tattoo (in the time she spent here she warmed up enough to accept some cuddles, and allowed me to look inside her ears). Shelter said they'd come for her, and they'd call her family to fetch her.

I set Shady up with some of Soleil's food and a bowl of water, and gave her a blanket for a bed. In no time, Sara from the Shelter was here and took shy Shady away. I felt guilty giving her up, but I know her family never came to look for her before until we called them, so we couldn't keep her here and wait. Sara told me she was a frequent visitor to the Shelter. Thinking about how scared she must feel to get away from home like that and be captured by strangers and taken away in a van, I wanted to keep her and make her our dog. I wish her family would appreciate her enough to build a fence or lock the door, or whatever they need to do. I hope she'll be okay.

Question: Why get a dog if you won't take care of it?

mompoet - suppressing urges to rescue everything that is not perfectly happy

Noises Off Again

My birthday weekend of abundant bliss continued with a performance of Noises Off at the Vancouver Playhouse. It was so funny! I've seen it once before about 20 years ago, but I didn't remember much from the first time. It is lightweight but hilarious. It's on until mid-December and well-worth seeing. I love to laugh. I laugh a lot and loudly. This was one of those rare occasions when I wasn't the laugh-loudly-est person in the joint. That's a treat!

Also, my husband bought me a cd player for my car. Now I don't have to tape cds to listen to them on the cassette deck. My husband likes to have all of the latest electronic gadetry. I resist buying just about anything but the basics because I feel overwhelmed by stuff. But he convinced me I would like this, and I do. Now I have to start my own collection of cds for my car. I listen to a lot of music by default, and enjoy mostly everything. Now I have my own sound in my own space. This will be fun.

Then we went out for supper at Rosa's. Gosh, it was yummy. We had to wait about 45 minutes for a table, but it was worth it. The meal was very good and pretty reasonable and Rosa is a doll. She cooks and serves and runs the place and chats with everyone at their tables. When she found out we frequent Pappagallo's she insisted that her cheesecake is better than her sister-in-law's and brought us a chunk. It was very, very, very good. We will definitely go back.

My friends brought me beautiful presents. Kathy gave me all the fruity soap I could ever need for about a year from the Body Shop and some new pieces for my tacky Christmas pin and earring collection. Michele gave me a soft and lovely pair of lounging pajamas. We three are friends since grade 4 and have been celebrating birthdays together forever. It's tradition for the birthday girls to give presents too, but they have to be unusual. I gave my friends each a silicon spatula. Last year, Michele gave us welding gloves. Once I gave them screwdrivers. We are stuck together by some weird glue, all right.

So now I'm sitting here in my lounging pajamas, skipping church and finishing this entry so I can go read Saturday's paper. I am the luckiest, happiest, noisiest, birthday treatsy-est person you could imagine right now.

Question: How'd I get so lucky?

mompoet - appreciating

Birthday Cake Binary Style

On the cake my mom baked and my dad lit:

six candles in a row
first, second, fourth and sixth candles lit
third and fifth not lit
= 43 without burning down the house

yes, we are weird, but we like it

Question: How old do I have to be to need a 7th candle?
(Don't answer Dad. I know you know.)

mompoet - warmful and sleepy and loved

What it's like when I'm not here

I took off from work just after lunch to attend parent teacher interviews at the secondary school (all good - yeahh!) then came home by about 2pm. It was interesting to observe what happens in this house on a weekday afternoon. Normally I have the early hours with the kids and pets. I get everyone out the door then head out to exercise then get to work around 9:30 or 10. By the time I get home, everyone is here, supper's on, and likely one or more are heading back out the door soon to whatever happens that evening. I usually work through a couple of nights a week and don't get home until 9 or later. Two to 6pm on a Thursday is very mellow at my house. Husband accepted the cup of tea that I offered, watched a bit of Orange County Chopper (I think that's what it's called) then took the dog out for a long walk. The cat ignored everyone and slept at one corner of the couch. Son retreated to the basement where he alternated between Nintendo and something on TV. Daughter got home and hugged me like finding me here was the best treat she could have had (that was sure nice!) then put on her tap shoes and put a board down and clackety-clacked for half an hour. I washed floors and vacuumed and emptied wastebaskets, then cooked supper. Various people read various newspapers. Everyone took a turn on the internet. It was nice. I could get used to working half days. Hey, I would actually see my husband when he is awake! I could spend time with my kids when they are not shower/breakfast/backpack/wherearemysocks?ing or being herded up to bed around 10. I could cook sit down meals start to finish on other than Saturday/Sunday nights. I could walk the dog in the winter without carrying a flashlight and see the cat wake up. My floors might get vacuumed/washed twice a month rather than once (I do not exaggerate).

I guess there'll be a time for that, but probably when this house is not nearly so busy as it is now. For now, I'll try to sneak home early more often.

Question: what else happens when?

mompoet - craving omniscience

Good thing...

pomegranates taste better than chocolate
chocolate is actually good for you
you have stuck with this for 3 lines (might as well read to the end)
three yellow lines (with red on them) mean even thinking about passing is illegal
illegal is still what marijuana will be but not criminal
criminals who make it to reality tv are so stupid
stupid people will be eliminated by natural selection because they watch reality tv instead of having sex
sex with the tv on is possible but not recommended
recommending a chinese restaurant to a friend is possible but not always a good idea
a good idea is worth sharing credit for
credit for groceries means you are having serious difficulty
serious difficulty usually occurs when something is not a good idea or really worth doing
doing anything is better than doing nothing
doing nothing is incomprehensible when you see someone doing something reprehensible
reprehensible behaviour is still less acceptable than pointless pondering
pointless pondering is a good way to unload
unloading mental contents promotes sleep
sleep comes when the pillow sings
pillows sing beautiful songs at the end of the day
the end of the pillow is a day long
a long day is the pillow of a night
pillow night night day pillow
tra la la
pil la pil
la

Question: nzzzt?

mompoe - tired

Correction

358/365 = 0.980821917... , but 359/366 = 0.980874316... . 2004 is a leap year and it's after February 29.

That's my dad, who read my last post and offered some help with my math.

Question: Do you think he loves me??

mompoet - supported by strong walls and soft arms

42.9808219

One week until my 43rd birthday. I love my birthday. I have fun. Here's what I know so far...

I will be 43. My husband just turned 47. We are both prime numbers this year. Our ages combined make 90, which is an insignificant but large number. You may know already that I plan to remain 43 until I turn 47. It's not that I don't want to get older. I'm just going to be only prime numbers from now on, or perhaps numbers divisible by pi, but I'll have to take a while to work that second idea out, and even longer to explain the concept to people, so I'll stick with prime numbers for now.

I will eat a lot of good food. Mom's cooking Thai food and baking a cake. Couple of lunch and suppers out. My friend Louise and I celebrate just 5 days apart, and we've lunched at the same restaurant for 18 years. (Oh gosh, now I'm really starting to sound like Rain Man.)

Big yummy supper with my husband and a couple of other couples who I birthday with every year. Kathy turned 43 in May. Michele turned 43 in January. I'm the baby. We've known each other since Grade 4. Lucky for our husbands that they like each other too. We're going to try Rosa's in Port Moody. Rosa is sister to Pat who owns Pappagallo's in Burnaby. Rosa's is in the little house that used to be Johnny's Place, but now it has curtains. If it's not raining, we can walk there from our house.

I'll bake myself a big fat chocolate cake and take it to work. That's our office tradition. If you don't want a fuss you don't get one, because you have to bring your own fuss. I always do.

It will snow before then. It always snows a day or two before my birthday. Not a lot, but enough to run outside and yell and get snow-faced and slip and slide around and watch the dog try to bite the air, and listen to the kids fantasize school closing in the morning.

I will get lots of cards. I always get lots. I love cards.

At least one person will sing to me.

I will remember how lucky I am to still feel goofy like a kid when my birthday comes. I think my soul is very young. I'm grateful for my curiousity, persistence, energy, creativity and enjoyment of absurdity. Fun is fun is fun and there's something fun or funny about most things. My birthday is the most fun.

Question: When's your birthday?

mompoet: counting belly-button growth rings

ps

Found the pants. Went Friday directly after work. Mission accomplished.

Well, there are shoes and a shirt still to be found, but they are minor objectives. The tricky part is done. No casualties, 75 minutes total mall time. All is well.

Question: pants?

mompoet: born not to

Fine Day

Irene and I went to the Pandora's Collective Poetry Reading at the Culture Crawl on Saturday. It was lovely. Bonnie and Sita have things set up for a gorgeous, intimate experience. The reading/musical lineup is spectacular. It's on all day Sunday, so if you happen to read this posting fresh and early, try to get there.

Pandora's is set up in 1200 Parker Street - a giant industrial building now full of artists' studios. You'll need to go to the third floor, studio 330. It's well worth the adventure through labyrinthine hallways. If you suffer from claustrophobia or paranoia about escaping from a building in a fire, or if you have a wild imagination about lights going out or being trapped in creepy empty places at night, you will be uncomfortable. But sometimes that is fun too.

Irene and I read at 1 on Saturday. We each began with only half a dozen in the audience, but people were drawn to the room by the words floating out into the corridor. That was neat. Irene read a bunch of her "weirds." "Til the Rich Lady Sings" was a particular hit. We were all yelling "AROOOOOOO!" even later in the afternoon during a gorgeous musical set by Melic Thrum. I did a mishmash of stuff and debuted my new "midlife part 2." We saw quite a few friends there, including my Mom and Dad who surprised me by showing up, and Helmi from Shoreline Writers, who wins the prize for travelling for culture. Now I know that she drives into Vancouver from Whonnock for: Friends of Chamber Music, Vancouver Film Festival and East Side Culture Crawl. Don't sell all suburb-dwellers short. We know how to go to the city!

Mom and Dad invited my husband and me out for Szechuan supper after as a belated 20th anniversary treat (ours, not theirs). Yummmmy - us not supper. Well, supper too.

All in all it was fine day. I am blessed to have opportunities like this.

Question: so, are you afraid in big old places?

mompoet: ARRRROOOOOOO!!!!

Psycho Class for Endorphin Addicts

Hi, my name's mompoet. I'm an endorphin addict.
I am admitting today that I have been hooked, once again by the cardio-craving, sweat-savouring, adrenalin-chewing bug. I'm not running or aerobicizing. I'm going to studio cycle classes.

The setting is great for us closet oxygen-gobblers - dark room, loud music, everyone clipped into bikes facing the front of the room. We pedal pedal pedal until we explode. At the front of the class, our endorphin-pusher urges us to go faster, pedal harder, INCREASE THE TENSION!!!!

Actually, it's not as bad as that, but it is weird. Who'da thunk anyone would go into a room full of exercise bikes and pedal hard for an hour, with loud music playing and a leader urging you on to stand up, sit down, hover, sprint, long-hard-uphill? The first 2 or 3 times I tried it I thought it was awful, but everyone else seemed to be doing great so I persisted. Then it clicked. I figured out the body positioning, bike adjustments and how to pace myself, then I was one of them - the manic stationary cyclists. This has to be the hardest workout I have ever done, and it is great. I would never, ever crank the tension on the bike in the weight room and pedal standing up for 5 minutes to simulate climbing Mt. Seymour. I would never sprint like some Tour de France racer. I would never keep it up for an hour. I would never laugh or sing along or shout encouragement to someone across the room who is taking her turn to sprint. But in the class it seems natural and it works. When I finish, I am drenched and energized and I feel like I could do just about anything. I go a couple times a week when I can fit it into my schedule. I'm still walking and weight-lifting throughout the week. It's all at the community centre too - inexpensive and friendly. So I'm feeling better heading into 43 than I was when I was turning 42 or 41 or even 40. Yeah!

Question: what's your weird but good?

mompoet: thighs like tree trunks

Culture Crawl...not the Mall

My friend Irene and I will perform at the Pandora's Collective Poetry place, part of the East Side Culture Crawl. We'll be at 1000 Parker, 1-2pm on Saturday. I've never been to the Culture Crawl before, so I'm looking forward to it for more than just the poetry. Looks like there will be a lot of very interesting art.

I hope that I will have time to crawl around a bit. Daughter wants me to come straight home after and take her out. She needs new everything for her December shows. Her dress pants and shoes are too small, and she wants to wear the same shirt as her singing partner, so they must go shopping together. I'm sure if I chose matching original hand-painted silk shirts for her and her 12 year-old friend and brought them home from some artist's studio, they'd think I was weird and groan and roll their eyes and stuff. They want me to take them to the mall. Home of The GAP (in judgement) and Old Navy (bean soup). Which I hate. Especially this time of year. They should send people who do bad things to the mall and make them stay there longer, the worse it was what they did. But I love my daughter, and while my husband is still the champion at buying her running shoes, the rest of the clothes shopping is now a mother-daughter experience. Ugggg.

I would never go to the mall unless I absolutely had to.

Question: What place do you avoid?

mompoet: nada shoppa

Whether Report

I walk the dog every morning, sometime between 6 and 7:30. This morning it was 7. The ground is still wet with heavy dew, but there's frost on the rooftops for the first time since last winter. Car windows aren't yet frozen, but that'll come soon I'm sure.

Checklist:

Hiking boots GOOD
Sweaters LOTS - THANKS TO MOTHER-IN-LAW WHO BUYS AND SHRINKS
Winter Coat YUP
Gloves and hat GLOVES FINE - STILL LOOKING FOR A HAT THAT FITS
Snow Tires GOTTA DO THAT!!!
Car Scraper YUP
Work at Home Box START TODAY

Living on a hillside and valuing life and limb over compliance with arbitrary schedules, I pack work home in a box on winter evenings so if it snows overnight, I can work from home the next morning. Transit's good where I live, but most meetings get cancelled on snowy days, and with email and voicemail it's possible to function by remote control for a day or two when necessary.

I know it probably won't snow in earnest until January, but there's always that first sloshy few centimetres sometime before the end of November. And that's the day that everyone goes nuts and slides off the road and predicts doom and gloom. I like to stay home that day and avoid joining the hysteria.

Question: what would it be like if I lived in Ontario?

mompoet: west coast wussing

Fish-chronicity

Why do things always happen in weird clusters? On Thursday I took the kids to see Shark Tale. I didn't know that it was about a vegetarian shark who dresses in dolphin drag until I got there. It was kind of cute, but too much like Shrek underwater to be really exciting.

Now today I read in the paper that PETA has begun a campaign to convince people that fish are as smart as non-human primates, so of course we shouldn't eat them. Check it out.

I'll have to stay tuned and pay attention. Three's the magic number. So if a can of tuna falls on my foot today, I'll know there's a message meant for me.

Question: in a brook or in the pan?

mompoet - who lists sushi as her "desert island" food

Time for a Movie

I was 13 years old when my Mom took me to see One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It was restricted, so she had to sign me in. I will never forget it. I had not seen a movie like it before. I was frightened. I laughed. I was shocked. I was sad and angry at the end, but also full of hope as I watched the Chief disappear into the mist. Images from the movie have stuck with me through all of those years. Of course I read the novel immediately afterwards. It was one of those few times that I felt like the film lived up to the book. I still think of it as one of the best movies I have ever seen.

Somehow, a couple of weeks ago, my 11 year-old and I got into a conversation that led us around to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I can't remember if she was questioning me about the meaning of some reference to it on Futurama or the Simpsons or if we were talking about mental illness and institutions...Anyway, I decided we should watch this movie together. So I rented it on Friday. It's a 7-day dvd rental now.

On Friday evening my daughter was reluctant to watch it. My husband advised her that it was really an adult movie, so she needed to be ready for some harsh scenes that might be hard to watch. I didn't push it. On Saturday evening I decided to watch it myself, and let her choose. She was right there. For part of the movie she crawled into my arms on the couch, and she asked questions all the way through - about which characters were "committed" and which "voluntary" and who's girlfriend Candy was. She was sorting out a lot of mature ideas and concepts but she kept up pretty well. She noticed that there was no music except for during the credits at the beginning and end, and the music that the nurses played on the ward on that old record player to keep the patients docile. She said, "I've never seen a movie with just the real sounds and quiet when everyone is quiet." It made me realise again how special and different this movie is. I was delighted to see that the story appealed to her quirky sense of humour and to her sturdy sense of justice and intense insistence on qualities of humanity. You know that feeling when someone you love loves something you love and you say "yeah!" That was there.

I loved watching it again. My daughter liked it very much. I'm glad my Mom took me to see it. I'm glad I watched it with my daughter.

Question: 21st Century rite of passage?

mompoet: soaking up the good stuff

Help a Fellow Bean

There's a fundraiser tomorrow, Saturday November 13, noon to 11pm at Myles of Beans Restaurant on Kingsway at Edmonds Street in Burnaby. This is a great little neighbourhood coffee house that has served the community and welcomed artists and community people for years. There's rarely a night when some performance or fundraiser isn't happening at Myles'. It's a warm, friendly stopping place for people who work and live in one of the toughest and sweetest neighbourhoods in Burnaby, a neighbourhood that is now undergoing gentrification with a boom in upscale housing and corporate offices and re-development of the local shopping centre. Starbucks has just opened down the street, and recently Myles was robbed of $1,000. The fundraiser is a chance for all of us who appreciate the place and the people to help keep this business afloat. There will be music and poetry and a raffle. Please come if you can.

Question: What do you know that's worth saving?

Mompoet - dreading the day that the world is owned by Starbucks, Chapters and Microsoft (yeah yeah yeah, I know, the weapons manufacturers too)

Compensating for Cold

I dreamed that I was walking in shallow, cold water, at the edge of a lake. My friend was swimming, but I didn't want to join her. Closer to the shore the water was more shallow and not so cold on my feet, but there were sharp rocks. Deeper in, my legs were swallowed by chilly water but the bottom of the lake was smooth sand.

I woke up wearing warm red pajamas, snuggled between flannel sheets. The furnace had turned itself on with a timer. I made coffee. Porridge is cooking. Dog waits under the table. She'll let me tuck my slippered feet under her soft furry tummy while I read the paper. Cat rubs my leg. Children have not surfaced from under duvets. There are compensations for the cold.

Question: How much of each is right?

Mompoet: safe and slow starting

Help for those of us still Mourning the Outcome of the U.S. Election

I sure am, but this helped. You have to scroll down and press play, but it's worth it.

Question: why why why why why why? (ok, it's a rhetorical question)

Mompoet: why

History of the World

The true story of the sphinx (according to Weebl and Bob).

Question: Pbbbllllttt?

mompoet - too tired and sweaty to write anything, but happy to share a joke

Remembrance Sunday

Church rocks.

Okay, before you think I am some gooney Christian-fundamentalist smiley-faced la la, hear what happened at St. Andrew's United Church in Port Moody today.

It's Remembrance Sunday, so we honoured all of the veterans who are in our congregation and all of the veterans who are loved by the people in our congregation. Best of all, Mary Duncan, our new minister, delivered a totally direct and vivid sermon about war and our part in taking responsibility for peace. She read stories told by soldiers from the second World War and the Gulf War and criticized George W. Bush for professing to be a man of God but acting in a very ungodly manner with respect to peace. The scripture reading included Luke:

This is Jesus talking:

"But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. "

I thought about this afterwards and realised it means not only to love Iraquis and Al Quaida, but also to love George Bush. I'm still working on the personal responsibility part. What can I do here in my home with my family in Port Moody to really help promote world peace?

For starters we can try to teach our children to value love and peace and to make those values part of their decision-making and problem solving. The best way to teach this is to model it. Also, we can speak out against policies that promote violent solutions to local and world problems. We can also honour those veterans who walk in the parade on Thursday and thank goodness we did not have to see what they saw and do what they did.

I cried in church today. I felt very sad, even shocked by the stories that Mary shared. But I also felt grateful to be part of a religious community that is a leader in Canada's peace movement, and to attend a place of worship where the real events of the world are made part of our worship and our instruction for everyday living.

That's all for now.

Question: When will we ever learn?

mompoet - somber

A Day about Nothing

Thinking about my November resolution, and having nothing terribly pressing on the agenda, I tried to do nothing for a day.

I rose at 7, but stayed in pajamas until 11:30, reading Friday's and Saturday's newspapers, drinking coffee and eating waffles. I did check email, post a journal entry and make waffles, but that was it. At 8:15 I had to hold onto the edge of the table and will myself not to dress and run out the door to a studio cycling class at the rec. centre. But I made it. Phew! The power of an endorphin addiction is really something.

After taking a shower I took the dog for a long, slow walk at noon. Then I cooked lunch and ate with the kids, who were also in slo-mo mood. My husband was still asleep, having worked overtime through Friday night. After lunch I made a list of all of the chores, errands and housecleaning that need to get done. Then I put the list away.

I worked a bit on my two new poems...still picking through recycling bins and junk discarded along the roadway of my psyche, but it's stuck down on paper so I can do something with it when it gels. I made a couple of friendly phone calls and checked email once more. A day that is normally very quick began to slow down. From where did all of this time come?

My daughter had to watch Remember the Titans for a school assignment (watch the movie and write a paragraph on one character explaining why he or she is a good leader). So I made a cup of coffee and sat on the couch and watched the whole darn thing. Husband got up and joined us.

There were balls of dog fur on the floor, a pile of bills waiting to be paid, diminishing stocks of home-made wine running up to Christmas, Halloween decorations still on display in the carport. I did nothing about any of them. At supper time I re-heated pizza and chicken wings from Friday's supper for the kids, then took my husband out for a birthday supper at The Flying Fish Cafe. When we got home I did not make up for my laziness by picking up even one sock off the floor. I stayed in my nice "out for supper" clothes until early bedtime and continued to do nothing.

It was nice. Nobody died. The family really enjoyed seeing me not as a blur. We talked and relaxed. I can do this.

So maybe I will try to have a nothing day once a month for starters. Maybe I can even fit in two for November. There's a long weekend coming up, after all.

Question: If a mom sits stills, does anybody hear her?

mompoet: slightly de-velocitized

What it's Like

Sometimes, writing a poem is like giving birth or falling in love. It's hard, exciting, wonderful, follows a semi-predictable progression. It's intense and certain to yield results of a particular kind.
Sometimes it's like making waffles. There's a recipe. Skill counts. Practice helps. It's not exciting, and there are few epiphanies, but it works just fine.
Sometimes it's like making a friend, more of a gentle adventure but possibly including fireworks.
Sometimes it's like sleepwalking - hypnogogic visioning or auto-writing. Maybe there's channeling, maybe it's divine inspiration or demonic possession. More likely just engaging pathways that are usually operating only in the background.
Sometimes it's like looking through the dumpster for something that might have been thrown in there by accident. Crap and crud pile up, but you sense it's worth it to keep looking. You're going to need a shower and a uhaul at the end.
Right now I'm working on one like that. It doesn't even feel like an important poem - more comedic that grave. But there must be something there, I think, as I go back to the dumpster.

Question: What's it going to be like today?

mompoet: also making waffles (literally)

New Blue

Well, it's not an extreme makeover (thank goodness), but it is a new look. I hope you like it. Maybe tomorrow I will think of something interesting to say. In the meantime. This it it. TA DAHHH! Really, that's all. We can go now.

Question: which?

mompoet: blank

Proud Mama

Eleven year-old daughter phoned me at work today to tell me that they did fitness testing at school. Out of all of the Grade 6 girls in the school, she can throw a basketball the farthest. This is doubly delicious for me because I was a giant p.e. avoider and still can't throw anything much or far anywhere. I'm so glad she has not inherited my ineptitude (whether it's genetic or attitudinal).

Then she found out that her reading score is 4th year university level. That's no surprise. She reads stuff that I enjoy. She was tickled to see it officially scored, though.

She is an artist/writer/actor/singer good friend and ambitious envisioner. I'm pretty darn proud of her.

Fourteen year-old boy child came to the office with me on Wednesday. It was national "Bring our Kids to Work Day." He sat perfectly nicely and with quiet enthusiasm through a 2-hour seminar on Korean Culture, then talked with me about it all the way back to the office. After lunch he helped input programs with our automated registration system. His big thrill was helping me proofread my own computer work. He found tons of mistakes and fixed them. Then he asked me, "Will the kids who come to these programs know that I prevented lots of problems and confusion by doing this work today?" I said nope, it's quiet glory we rec. programmers enjoy, working behind the scenes. The guy with the ball and whistle is always the hero. He was okay with that. Actually, he was so helpful I'm considering asking him to bus over to my office a couple of afternoons each month after school to help me. It will do us both good.

Finally, he offered to fix my computer mouse at my office desk, which seemed to have lost its ability. What was inside? one very clean mouse ball plus a giant bread crumb. Ooops, that's what happens when I go to the gym for lunch and eat a sandwich at my desk. Good thing it wasn't sushi or a samosa, huh? Honest. I do not use my snacks as mouse pads.

Amazing husband is 47 years old today. He's had lots of calls and cards, and we're about to eat a yummy supper at home together. I met him when he was 18. He's holding up great! (Don't tell him I said that).

Question: What makes you beam?

mompoet: happy to be me

Good Show

I saw Take a Breath at the Roundhouse last night. It was very good. It's on through Sunday and worth catching (oops bad pun).

I had always thought of community theatre projects as reheated Broadway musicals or awkwardly-rendered one acts, but this is something new. The show was developed by people in the neighbourhood, led by the Roundhouse's artist in residence, Valerie Methot.

The thirty actors in the show are all ages and from many different backgrounds with very different experiences in the theatre and in life. Each one brings a one minute "piece" to the show, and also works to support the others in their presentations. There's song, dance, creative movement, poetry, even a version of the Snow White story. It is immediate, exciting and real.

Tickets are just $10 in advance or $12 at the door. Don't count on the latter though. I bet this will sell out for the rest of the run. It's short too, just about an hour and a quarter. You should go.

Question: How would one minute of your life look/sound/feel on stage?

mompoet: uncurling

November Resolutions

It's a good time to start new things in November. September is just too distracting with things that have to start at that time. January is too cliche and inclined to guilt and denial type resolutions. My birthday is at the end of the month, so there's a natural milestone here for me. Last year I began weight-lifting on November 15. Three years ago I was baptized in November. I'm pondering whether I should start something new, or give up something I don't need anymore now that my arbitrary fresh page month has come again.

If I could put my finger on one thing I would like to change in my life right now, it's that I'm so darned busy. I am scheduled up from 6am until 9 or 10 most nights. Most of it is stuff that I love to do, and that I believe does some good in the world. But almost every day I feel like I am neglecting many of my commitments by rushing past and through things without stopping to listen, reflect, savour. The outcome of this is that I look back on yesterday or last week or a few hours ago and wish I'd done something differently. Maybe if I had taken a bit more time to consider and actually be there when it was happening, I would not have so many small regrets.

Maybe also I am addicted to experience. How can I say no to things that will be interesting, challenging, stimulating, beneficial to me and to others? I have this amazing energy and don't often feel tired. When I try to sit down and breathe out, I just bounce up again and start doing something. I have a really good on/off switch, but sometimes a dimmer switch would be mighty useful. You should see my husband and kids, snuggled up watching tv, talking to the cat, reading a book, and I'm writing/charging up and down the stairs/talking on the phone/cooking/cleaning/organizing/repairing. Then I run out the door. They must think I'm nuts, and I know they wish I'd stop and sit down with them more. I am hard to trap. I do sleep very well and instantly every night. Six or 7 hours seems to do me just fine during the week. I grab a couple extra on the weekend, but I get to thinking about things I could be doing, and BOING! I'm up.

And in case you know me very well and you are wondering. I had my thyroid level checked last month and it is perfectly normal. It seems I am definitely well now, and medication-free for one whole year. So it's really and truly me charging around like this - not the disease.

If you have any suggestions about a concrete or introspective step that I could take as my November resolution, drop me a line. I like things pretty much the way they are, but why settle for over-the-moon when over-and-over the moon and stars and Mars is a possibility? Or is that the kind of thinking that got me into this happy mess?

Question: see above

mompoet - always in development

Tricks and Treats

Halloween night is quick and thorough here at our townhouse complex. The first kids knocked on our door at 5:20pm. Like always, we set up a table in the carport for the steady stream of ghosts, witches, dinosaurs, unicorns, princesses, Pippi Longstockings, robots, hippies, ninjas, pumpkins, tigers and Pooh bears. My husband bought 154 candies, and we ran out. Luckily a couple of neighbours pooled loot with us. We started out inviting the kids to take "one of each" but soon saw we'd be empty in no time, so we stretched it out to last until 7:30. Thank goodness - I'd hate to turn a kid away!

I served coffee and brownies and cookies for the parents as they came by. It's a tradition, and makes it more fun for sure. My neighbour was home alone handing out candies, but just before the fireworks she screamed up to our house on her bicycle to get a brownie. She said it wouldn't be Halloween without one.

At 7:30, trick-or-treating closes. Everyone goes down to the rec. centre for community fireworks. It's a fabulous display and prevents us all from setting our houses and trees on fire by doing it in our small back yards. My husband is one of the lucky volunteers who gets to stand up front with a blowtorch and set off a whole bunch of things that look like dynamite, all pooled by the neighbours. Boom boom boom boom ahhhhhhh!!!!

I think that Halloween is more fun than Christmas.

Question: What do you think?

mompoet - sparkling without chocolate (better not to start, eh?)

PS - Andy carved the gigantor pumpkin on its side, so the stem became its snout. Then he put a strobe light inside, instead of a candle. It was the best jack-o-lantern I've seen - except maybe "puking pumpkin." Well, maybe they are tied.

Dead People, Adolescent Cross-Dressers, Inverted Jack-O'-Lanterns and Dog Tumours

My daughter went to school on Friday in her Halloween costume. She's 11 years old and, in the past, has been a cow, a scarecrow, and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. This year, she is "Little Dead Riding Hood." We found a jumper and sweater at Value Village and I sewed her a red, hooded cape. Then she took the scissors to the lot to simulate the results of a wolf attack. Some fake blood completed her look. It's gruesome and very effective.

Dead is probably the #1 theme in middle school costumes. I discovered this last year when our son was in Grade 8. Of course, there are ghouls and zombies and mummies and Jason and Freddy (didn't see any Tabithas, but I bet there were some). More popular though are dead cheerleaders. Last year and this year, Dead Cheerleader was the most popular Halloween Costume at Moody Middle, for girls and boys. Cross-dressing is a favoured at-school activity of 11-13 year old boys. They don't just do it at Halloween either. Last December's spirit assembly featured what I thought at first were 3 very homely girls doing totally manic cheer and dance routine, until I realised they were actually 3 of the best-liked grade 8 boys. One of the teachers confirmed it. "The boys all want to dress up like girls in middle school," she said. My daughter also reports that short boys are admired and sought-after. "Every short boy already has a girl friend. The girls like the little ones," she says. Anyways, there's potential for lots of research into adolescent psychology there in case anyone wants to look into it.

I took the dog to the vet. The tumours are mats of hair that have formed at the base of her ears. Five minutes and $43 dollars later the mats were shaved off and I was instructed in how to properly and regularly comb this sensitive area. The vet tried to comfort me with a story of another canine patient with a similar affliction. Thanks doc, I know, I'm still a beginner dog-person. Mostly I'm relieved that she's not sick.

We carved the pumpkins yesterday afternoon. Behemoth still awaits us in the garage, but the little ones are done. I thought I was so clever, opening mine at the base instead of the top, so the clean curve around the stem is preserved. But then I forgot to flip it right-side-up before I carved the face, so now I have an upside-down-jack-o'-lantern. Hmmm, actually, I kind of like it that way. Yeah! I meant to do that. Right.

By the way, add to your list of things not to do: Jack-o'-lanterns attract bears. Bring all pumpkins indoors after trick-or-treating so the bears are not attracted by the scent of parched pumpkin. It's all over the news. I don't mind disposing of the small ones on Halloween night, but I count on the boys with firecrackers to help get rid of monster pumpkin. If they don't blow it up I have to take an axe to it. It has to be reduced to liftable chunks before it can be put in the dumpster. Last year somebody stole it (all 80 pounds or so) and apparently took it up to the top of the fire road and rolled it down to the bottom - we found the smashed carcass there. I wonder how they got it to the top - you'd need a wheelbarrow, or maybe a skateboard?

So there's all that's weird enough to report for Halloween eve. Happy spooky weekend.

Question: Are you dressing up?

mompoet - gathering up candles and putting on warm socks

ps The middle school principal dressed up as Austin Powers - complete with teeth and English accent all day.

Now in British Columbia - 50% MORE NDP

Jagrup Brar won the Surrey by-election with a healthy margin, so we now have 3 NDP members in the legislature.

Congratulations to Mr Brar and the NDP party! It will be great for Jenny Kwan and Joy McPhail to have a 50% addition to their team. Their work in the legislature has been heroic over these past 3 years.

My son just asked, "What if in the election in May, the NDP gets elected with a majority, but we get stuck with a Liberal MLA in our constituency?" I told him I thought I could live with that but we'll try to do better.

Question: blip or sea change?

mompoet - fizzy

Day Off

I worked so many hours in the last two weeks that I have to take tomorrow off. It will sure feel good. Things are under control at the office, thanks in large part to the wonderful people with whom I work. And they'll be there tomorrow in case anything unexpectedly pops. So I'm not fretting about things left undone (although there are a few). I'm just going to enjoy the extra day this Halloween weekend.

I have 2 poems bumping around in my head, vying to be the first past the gate. I'll probably work on one or the other. I'm also going to the gym. I've missed a couple days with this week's crazy schedule. I'll do weights and the cycle class (or psycho class as I sometimes call it). It's really hard work, but the benefits are superb. Air tastes delicious to breathe all day long after I do one of those workouts.

Sol goes to the vet mid-afternoon, for those mysterious ear bumps. Then when the kids come home we'll carve pumpkins. Probably nest with a video in the evening. I am so tired, I just want to slow down to a halt. Well, I guess that's what I'll do right now. Get a good sleep. That way I can zip around and do all kinds of things on my day off.

Pillow is singing a song, "come hither...come hither...softy softy softttt..."

Question - zz?

mompoet - idling

Day Off

I worked so many hours in the last two weeks that I have to take tomorrow off. It will sure feel good. Things are under control at the office, thanks in large part to the wonderful people with whom I work. And they'll be there tomorrow in case anything unexpectedly pops. So I'm not fretting about things left undone (although there are a few). I'm just going to enjoy the extra day this Halloween weekend.

I have 2 poems bumping around in my head, vying to be the first past the gate. I'll probably work on one or the other. I'm also going to the gym. I've missed a couple days with this week's crazy schedule. I'll do weights and the cycle class (or psycho class as I sometimes call it). It's really hard work, but the benefits are superb. Air tastes delicious to breathe all day long after I do one of those workouts.

Sol goes to the vet mid-afternoon, for those mysterious ear bumps. Then when the kids come home we'll carve pumpkins. Probably nest with a video in the evening. I am so tired, I just want to slow down to a halt. Well, I guess that's what I'll do right now. Get a good sleep. That way I can zip around and do all kinds of things on my day off.

Pillow is singing a song, "come hither...come hither...softy softy softttt..."

Question - zz?

mompoet - idling

Later

That boy is ready. He knows more about the Declaration of Independence than I ever did.

The moon was spectacular, wasn't it? Orange as a pumpkin and almost totally wiped out, then revealed again. I missed the disappearing stage - inside at the dance.

The kids are just kids, young, energetic, faux-mysterious, anxious, jazzed, the teachers and admin people really care about them. I witnessed Principal and Vice Principal talking to a student outside as I left. There's respect and accountability happening in all directions there. My job was to make sure no students went into their lockers or down the stairs. The concern is that they will stash alcohol around the school during the day then go get it at night. I worked the early half of the dance then left before 8, so if there was any excitement, I missed it.

If #1 son decides to go to a dance I won't be worrying about his safety or if he's having a good time. His hearing may be temporarily impaired, but that's what teenagers do. My real concern is his heart. We teach our kids to be safe with sex and drugs and gangs, but what about love? The crush that crushes, the embarassment that overwhelms? I guess everyone goes through it and he will too. Watching the boyfriends and girlfriends strolling made my eyes prickle. I hope when his time comes the swoops will be worth the plummets.

Question: what's a mom to do?

mompoet - loving

Immunization, Poetry Prizes, Dog Tumours and Science Tests

That's about it for now.

mompoet - just kidding

Today I took Grade 6 daughter to the Health Unit for Hep B and Meningococcal C immunization. They handed those out en masse at the school yesterday, but some kids find it too embarassing to line up and get poked. Also, the big grade 7s and 8s punch grade 6s in the arm after they get their shots. The verdict after today's visit to the nurse and 1 in each arm? Easier than getting ears pierced. Well.

I just found out that I won second prize in the Summer Dreams Poetry Contest sponsored by Pandora's Collective. It's for my Venus de Milo poem. The winners are on the website, but the links to the poems don't work yet. I'll post the url when they do. I feel so happy and encouraged. I haven't sent anything out to a contest in a couple of years, so I'm doubly delighted. I had to squoonch the poem down to 40 lines - hard for 3-minute-me to do. I turned it into a prose poem, and it worked.

Soleil the big black dog has mysterious lumps, one at the base of each ear. Their symmetry makes me think it's glands or something, but they weren't there before. So off to the vet we go. She has been pretty much her usual self lately, except that she stole 6 bagels off the counter the other night while we were sleeping. Maybe they are bagel tumours - surgery will reveal poppy seeds and some raisins.

Grade 9 son has a science test Friday and a Socials test Thursday, so I'm helping with the study cards and review. They're studying energy in science - magnetic, mechanical, potential, kinetic, hypothetical, imaginary, gratuitous (ooops, not those last 3). In socials - English Parliament and the American Revolution. (?) okay, I know that's important, but what does it mean to grade 9s? Luckily my boy loves a good story, and has a good memory for all of these people and battles and successions. Maybe he'll take after his mom and study it in university too?

Oh yeah, also the High School Dance. Never went to many when I was there, but I'm volunteering tonight. Son is staying home (not interested). I want to find out what goes on there. I have discovered that any opportunity to be at the school when people are busy and not putting on an open house or a prepared meeting is a very good time to find out what it's really like. Snoop snoop snoop. I think my job will be to sit beside a door through which students are not to pass. Security-Mom at your service!

Question - what does any of this have to do with anything?

mompoet - trying to remember to look outside and see the moon in shadow tonight

Sppppoookkkyyy

We meant to decorate the carport on the weekend, but it was raining too hard, then we went out to the movie. I got the boxes out of the attic, but that's as far as we got.

Monday afternoon it was raining, but still light outside. With the prospect of a very busy week ahead and a free hour right now, I said "Let's do it." Son got lower braces added in the morning so he was moaning and taking ibuprofen and feeling pretty lousy. Daughter was studying for a science test before her rehearsal, so husband and I did the job.

In our neighbourhood the houses are close together. Carports adjoing and front yards are non-existent. We live on the street a lot, though. Everyone has deck chairs and bicycles in their carport. The kids play while the adults chat. Cats stroll, dogs are promenaded. Cars do the obligatory crawl or risk having a dozen voices call sternly "Slow down! There's kids out here!" It's a pretty people friendly street.

For all special days we decorate. Canada Day is a riot of real flags poking precariously off balconies and out of eavestroughs. Christmas is over-the-top. Good thing the tour buses haven't heard about us! Halloween is just goofy. There are more pumpkins assembled in our complex already than in the rest of the lower mainland. By Halloween night, more houses than not will have lights and lanterns and witches, bats and ghosts.

We own about 4 boxes of stuff we've accumulated over the years - mostly home-made by the kids, but also dollar-store novelty bits that husband-shopper has brought home. He hung up all of the electrical stuff while I did the lower-tech. It took us about 35 minutes, and the place looks like it. There's a scarecrow staple-gunned to a post and those goofy plastic bags stuffed with straw that look like ghosts and pumpkins (well, not really, but you get the idea) staple-gunned along the eaves. A row of "creepy masks" from Dover books finishes the non-electrical picture - oh yeah, there's caution tape too - Stay Back! Danger! Halloween House! For lights there are pumpkins, skulls, purple spiders, flashing pumpkins and black spiders. The actual pumpkin vegetables are still in hiding to avoid smashage. Our friends brought us another behemoth this year - must be 80 pounds. We'll carve the beast on Saturday (with a chain saw?) It's big enough to imprison a wolverine inside, but husband plans to put a strobe light in it. Cooooolllll.

What were two grownups doing outside on a drippy, cold Monday afternoon with a staple gun and boxes of tacky decorations? our neighbourhly duty? reliving childhood? unleashing stifled creativity? meaningless obligation? moon-crazy obsession? Whatever, it looks good when it's dark out.

Question: Did you?

mompoet - not likely to get hired for any display windows anytime soon

Blink

up,makebreakfast,walkdog,shower,drinkcoffee,checkemail,herdkidsthroughshower,
drivedaughtertochoirpractise,drivehome,letdogoutback(peedyesterdayonrug),loaddishwasher,
puticeskates&briefcase&coolerchestwithfundraisercookiesandpiesintrunk,tellsontoputon
shoesandbrushteeth,takedogoutbackagain,leave

drivesontoorthodontist,watchwhilelowerbracketsareputon,thanktechnicianandorthodontist,
encourageson("Goodjob!that'sallthehardpartsfinishednow!")dropsonoffatschool,drivetowork,
checkmail&email&voicemail,phoneclients,phonestaff,skating'scancelled-toobadwe'lltrynextweek,
listentofrontofficestaffcallingeachother"lardass"inloudvoiceswhileImakephonecalls,closedoor,
sendemails,sendfaxes,leavevoicemails-TAGyou'reit

checkifco-workerhasridetomeeting,goto$storetobuygiftbagIforgot,wrapgiftincar,getcellphone
voicemail(forgottoturnitbackonafterorthodontist),drivetoartgallery,meetbossandco-workers,
halloweenpotluck-BOO!yumyumyum

callofficecheckvoicemail,returncallsfrom(parked)car,day'sdoneat3YIPPEE,12hourdayslastweek
payoffrightnow,drivehome,checkhouse-dogkeptitallinsidetoday-YAY!letdogout,letkidsin,make
hotchocolateforkids,greetcat,greethusband,putlasagnainoven,callartscentretoregisterdaughterin
tapdancelessons,makehotchocolateforme,checkemail,doblog

pheewwokaysofar

question:getit?

mompoet - continuouslybeing

I am trying to love America

I am trying to think loving thoughts about America.

I am imagining that there is good intention, buried somewhere in the frenzy. I am assuming that the people who are preparing to badger and bully voters and senior citizens working at the polls in the name of democracy are doing it because of liberty, justice, and truth and not just because they are afraid they will lose some advantage.

I am thinking that there has to be more hope than fear, more generosity and idealism than isolationism, more love than distrust.

I am hoping that everyone will remember the definition of "society" that was taught to us in grade 9 social studies - something about people agreeing that taking care of everyone is more important than taking care of just one's self and one's own. I'm sure they teach that in American schools too.

I am hoping that fight or flight will not prevail, that pluralism doesn't translate into a civilization designed by a committee - just good enough to offend everyone equally, just bad enought to please nobody.

I am picturing America on election day, remembering what it was meant to be, being better than its promise, walking like a prayer.

I am trying to think loving thoughts about America.

Question: ???

mompoet - discouraged but still hopeful

Seth (and others) to the Rescue

Back at the Asset Building Conference today, I started talking to people at my table about my worries about this model of market-based poverty-reduction being used as an excuse to spend even less on income support for poor people. Lots of people were thinking the same thing. In the meantime, several of the presenters pointed out that asset-building programs like Individual Development Accounts (see my previous post if this sounds like Greek) are a complement to income assistance, affordable housing, public schools and universities, job training, universal medical care etc. So I was starting to feel better.

Then at the lunchtime panel (yup, they kept talking even while we ate lunch - no time wasted at this event) Seth Kline of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives spoke. This turned my doubts around. Here's what Seth said, in a nutshell:

• While he agrees with many of the things that the asset-building people are saying, he is concerned that some governments will see asset-building as a substitute for social welfare systems and income support.
• The asset-building model is helpful only to a subset of those in need of assistance.
• Current social policies are in conflict with the asset-building approach and penalize people for saving money for a small business or education.
  
• He is skeptical about programs geared to fix policy mistakes. He sees some asset-building initiatives as less comprehensive and administratively more expensive replacements for good programs that have been eliminated. For example, learning bonds and RESPs are good, but don't replace accessible, affordable post-secondary education.

I was willing to turn my optimism up because the organizers of the conference invited Seth, knowing he would express this point of view. The rest of the speakers throughout the day referred to his remarks, agreeing with them, as they framed their comments and recommendations. At the end of the day, in the wrap-up, several speakers talked about the need for those at the forefront of the asset-building movement to ensure that asset-building is seen as just one approach in a continuum of services and supports for people in need.

I also ate lunch with VanCity and Western Economic Diversity representatives, and talked to them about the kinds of criteria their organizations consider in choosing which projects to support. What I heard was a sincere commitment to programs that initiatives that build strength in communities and strengthen the economy at the same time. Sure, they're doing it because it's good for the corporation, and good for the government, but it's good for the people too, which gives me a nauseous and disoriented feeling because I think if I look in the mirror there will be Gordon Campbell's head stuck on my body and it's still a week before Halloween. But maybe this can work, to some degree, and with some degree of real goodness.

I'm exhausted and overwhelmed, with a stuffed and stretched brain. I will sleep and go back for 4 more hours tomorrow, then it's over, but it's never over, really....

Question: Sincere good intention or slickety-smart PR move?

mompoet - not quite ready to buy the Brooklyn Bridge but willing to have a look

mompoet's brain gets stretched

Last night I attended the opening of a conference about Asset Building. My work is sending me. I'll be there all day today and Saturday morning. The conference is in Burnaby, and I expected people from parts of BC, but last night I met people from other parts of Canada too. Public sector people and not-for-profit types mostly, but also people from VanCity, Western Economic Diversity, The Vancouver Foundation and SEDI (Social Enterprise and Development Innovations).

Someone asked me yesterday what "asset building" is. I admitted that I'm not really sure, but I think of it in two ways. When I am optimistic, I think of it as tapping into all of the power and good in the community that lies dormant when we don't invite people to participate or when people and agencies don't work together. When I'm being cynical, I think of it as making the people and agencies who are still standing during tough times work together to pick up the burden laid down by those who could not go on.

Last night we heard from 3 women who have particpated in asset building programs in their communities. In this case the programs were sponsored and supported by VanCity. In each case, people were invited to begin Individual Development Accounts - basically bank accounts where they could save $15 to $50 per month for up to 3 years, saving for a specific goal (home ownership, education or small business startup). They attended monthly financial management meetings and received individual mentoring. VanCity matched their savings 3:1. Each woman was able to save enough to start something new: One, who is an immigrant with a degree that doesn't count in Canada went back to school for a year and now has work. Another started a home-based business that blossomed. A third impressed the VanCity people and ended up getting a full-time job with their company. Programs like this are being piloted all over the world. What impressed me in what the women said was how the experience changed their convictions about their own potential to participate and be successful and independent. One said, "I just wanted someone to give me a chance. Nobody did that before."

I.D.A.s are just one form of asset building. I'm going to learn about other models and case studies and meet other people from other organizations interested in doing this kind of work. My work thinks it's my job to do this, which is really cool.

I am curious and warily impressed. I know this can't be the panacaea for poverty and financial accessibility, but just the fact that 200 people have got together to find out more about what they are calling "an investment economy" as in investing in people's potential, is very compelling. The keynote speaker last night woke up my brain by saying that in order to do this we would have to "get into bed with people who we hadn't considered before." He talked about people setting aside political differences and public sector/not-for-profit and business working together. For someone like me who is very suspicious of anything big companies do, this is an uncomfortable stretch. I will go to the sessions with my optimism turned on, but my skepticism running in the background. I would love it if we could continue our social welfare system to take care of people, and at the same time, developed policy and practice to effectively enable more people to participate in productive and self-sufficient living. Are there really companies with hearts? Is there the political will to make these changes? Can I (and should I) drop my prejudice against rich people and their corporations and give each one a chance on his/her/its own merits?

Question: That is the question

Mompoet: wanting a paradigm shift, not a bait and switch

Our Competition

Thanks to my Dad, here's the list of the cities against whom Port Moody competed:

Port Moody will go head-to-head against 14 other cities with populations between 20,001 and 75,000. Those cities include Ballyfermot, Ireland; Camden, Australia; Celje, Slovenia; Coffs Harbour Local Government Area, Australia; Fayetteville, U.S.A.; the Municipality of Kamnik, Slovenia; City of Kladno, Czech Republic; Commune of Nabeul, Tunisia; Port Stephens Council Area, Australia; Ptuj, Slovenia; Qian Dao Hu, China; Salekhard, Russia; Westmont, U.S.A.; and Znojmo, Czech Republic.

This is from our local paper on September 31 via Google. So far no word on who came in first and second. I will award a lovely prize to anyone who can find this information and get it to me first. Guess if you like, but for the prize, you need verification.

Personal opinions will be interesting too, in case anyone has actually visited any of these places. Come to think of it, it would make a great theme trip - around the world to see the places not quite as nice as Port Moody. Hmmmm

Question: WHO WON????

mompoet - inquizzzitive

We're Number 3!

Port Moody, the beautiful little city, was voted a whole bunch of awards in a "most liveable community" competition. Over all we came out 3rd world-wide. I'm still trying to find out who-all competed and who came in first and second. Here's a news clipping.

Not that we need an award to know that this is a great place to live. I love this city for so many reasons. We look out the window at the ocean and can walk to it and walk around it whenever we want. We have a great community theatre and arts centre, museum, artists' studios open to the public and lots of community groups including a film society and a writers' group. We have only one library, but it's like a house in a dream - small on the outside, huge on the inside. There are churches and martial arts schools, two outdoor pools for our kids and parks, trails and woodsy spots. We have a community garden, even "faux Whistler" at Newport Village. There are pubs and restaurants and so far no big box stores. By car or transit you can be downtown in 30 minutes. Everywhere you go in Port Moody, you know somebody. No wonder we won!

When my husband and I bought our house, we thought we'd live here for a couple of years, until we could afford a bigger house, probably farther east, in Maple Ridge or Pitt Meadows. Thirteen years later, we have not budged. This is a great place to live.

Question: Why would we live anywhere else?

mompoet: nesty

Voting

Posting postponed for tonight while I read voluminous pages of instructions and mark my ballot for the US elections. Gonna mail it express post tomorrow morning.

Vote, give blood, spend time with your kids, be nice to dogs and cats, share you snacks, let cars in, object to the objectionable, hold the elevator door, say thank you to the bus driver, tip the server, that's all I ask.

Question: What would you add to the list?

mompoet - happy to oblige

Too Much Week, Too Little Me

Accckk. Long days, hard work - all good stuff but too much. I'm working Monday through Saturday this week because of a conference, and only Friday evening at home with the family (I think - better check that conference schedule). And at work it's meeting-meeting-meeting-meeting-meeting so the list extends and the pile grows higher. Good thing I love my job!

Went to a Poetry House meeting last night which was fantastic. We got to work on actually planning the 2005 Canadian Spoken Word Olympics. It feels good to get started and make some decisions. It'll be a lot of work, but fun and rewarding, and an opportunity to do something with a group of very good people.

My mom told me one day that she thinks we have some kind of energy that most people don't have. When I look at weeks like this (not even unusual) and at the pace of her days too, I believe her. Is it genetic? learned? conditioned? Why do we not sit down? Why do we get revved up by more work and excited by complicated projects? I'll never know why, but I'm glad I can do it. It's like going to the gelato store and being allowed to have 8 flavours when other poeple can manage 1 or 2 tops. Delicious, if sometimes a bit overwhelming.

Off we go to today now....tarump, tarump, tarump.

Question: How much work can a worker work if a worker likes her work?

mompoet: wound up at 6:30 in the morning

Corporations in Schools - Good new Tyee Article

This article by Judith Ince of The Tyee is right on the mark. I'm sad to see so many examples from my own school district used in it. More food for thought for our intrepid Consortium 43.

Question: What about your $chool?

mompoet - pushing this one up on the priority list

Happy Fallout

At Shoreline Writers' Society's monthly meeting today we welcomed two new members. Both came to us after participating in our October 2 workshop at the Port Moody Library. New members are always exciting, and they want us to do more workshops. We want to do more workshops. We'll look at the calendar next month and plan more workshops (along with our other half-dozen events that we do each year). Shoreline is small (about a dozen active members) but mighty, and mighty happy too.

Question: What's good?

mompoet - exzuberated

In the Newspaper this Morning

In case you didn't know all this important stuff:

• Purple is the new black
• Guys in parking lots knocking out women with perfume samples that are really ether is an urban myth
• The recipe for shrunken heads is available on page A3
• There are 30 or 40 "active bears" on the North Shore
• Goth culture is less about death and more about cool clothes
• Telus just made a sponsorship deal with Science World which will now be renamed "TELUSphere"
• There's a real crisis in the US around the flu shot shortage

This information does not reflect the beliefs or opinions of mompoet. In some cases it does not reflect reality. But it's in the paper this morning. Gotta go to the library today and get a good book.

Question: Do you buy it?

mompoet - wondering whether to shred it or forget it

Oh Barf!

I watched Supersize Me on video last night with the family. If you haven't seen it, it's worth a watch. Our kids aren't into McDonalds food anyhow (one likes sushi, the other likes bagels, both love szechuan) but now they won't go, they tell me. Hey, that's good!

Question: Are you what you eat?

mompoet - omnivorous, but in moderation

Some Days Beauty Just Gets in your Face

What a day. Not just because it's Friday. Mostly because of unexpected beauty. Today at lunch I went for a neighbourhood walk with my friend Louise. She spotted some beautiful spider webs on a gate. Then we noticed them on a hedge, a tree and everywhere. There were hundreds of them - seemingly all the same size, shape and design, and all covered with jewels of rain. They were so evenly distributed and obviously placed it was almost like someone had put them there for set decoration in a movie. Scientifically thinking, the spiders are probably genetically programmed to build webs a certain distance from each other to maximize their feeding and avoid damaging each other's work - but from an aesthetic and emotional point of view, it was magic.

Walking the dog through the green belt behind our house I saw about 8 different kinds of wild mushrooms. The variety and abundance is like nothing I've ever seen around here. They looked like pictures of mushrooms in a fairy tale book - or maybe marzipan mushrooms at a European bakery. I guess the hot dry summer and this gentle, misty rain make for ideal conditions. Wish I knew which are edible and which are deadly, but then again, I love just seeing them where they are. So far no fairy sightings, but I'll keep my eyes open.

And finally, a carpet of red. The broad leaf maple dropped her entire walloping glory on the hillside tucked up between two rows of our houses. Chestnut and scarlet wherever I looked. Magnificent.

Sometimes beauty is visible only out of the corner of your eye. Sometimes it comes upon you slowly, as perception develops and matures. Sometimes, like today, it pokes you in the belly and says "Boing!" You have to love when it does that.

Question - Got beauty?

mompoet - dazzled

Activist Moms

The fall season for grassroots political action has begun in the Coquitlam School District. On Tuesday night I attended a forum at the University Women's Club called "Our Schools, Our Future." One of the panelists was Gwenda, a founding member of our own Consortium 43. She did a fabulous job. The whole evening was very interesting. We heard from a school administrator, ministry rep, teachers' union rep, parent advocate for children with learning disabilities and Gwenda, our own advocate for education funding.

That was a powerful kickoff for last night when we worked late to get our submission to the Select Standing Committee on Finance before the deadline (midnight). Jennie, another founding member, compiled a very good financial analysis of the funding province wide from 2001-2008. Basically she demonstrated that even with "surprise" funding additions, local districts have been running with smaller real "per pupil" funding amounts since 2001 and will likely continue to do so until 2008. We added to this a description of some of the resulting changes in services in our district and in specific schools.

Our report will be just one of hundreds received by the government, coming from all parts of the political spectrum and all kinds of interests. It feels good to get it done, and a bit easier because we sumbitted a report last year also. We are learning as we go, raising a bit of awareness and sharing and networking with other interested citizens (whether or not the government pays attention to what we say). Oh yeah, that reminds me: send a copy of the submission to the local papers. Last year we got some good coverage of the issues that way - one more thing for the list!

If you want to know more about Consortium 43, you can contact us at consortium43@yahoo.ca

Oh yeah, and mark your calendar for May 17, 2005, when we know we can make a difference.

Question: What's happening at your school?

mompoet - finding spare molecules to point toward another critically good cause

The Voice

Me and the cold are neck and neck. I am insisting that I will win.
The voice is caving to the cold. Maybe I will get that happy laryngitis thing where I just sound awful and get lots of sympathy, but basically feel okay.
Pluses: Taking echinacea and zinc and drinking water, heading to bed now (early)
Minuses: Skipped the gym this morning, glass of wine now (cancels out echinacea?)
Benefit: The voice - oh la la - call me on the phone tomorrow, it's a good voice!
Deficit: The ears - cottonful uselessness mmmfff
Oh well: whole day in the office tomorrow (finally) with only one meeting at 5pm and a szechuan lunch promised at work. Chili is good for stuffy noses.

Question: what about the wine? Do you think it'll hurt? Maybe not if I whine while I drink it?

mompoet - snuzzled but not defeated

ps Thankx Mom. I will add vitamin C to the mix. Ate about 20 little tomatoes at lunch - does that count?

Republicans First Off the Mark

The Knox County Elector's Office must have received my request to be registered as an absentee voter, because I just received airmail campaign literature from the Ohio Republicans in the county where I lived when I was 4 years old, just before moving to Canada. Now I know who not to vote for.

I became a Canadian citizen when I was in university and Ronald Reagan was elected president of the US. I assumed that I would cease being American at that time, but it didn't work. The guy at the US Consolate said that unless I joined the Canadian Armed Forces or something equally extreme, I would continue to be an American. So I still vote in the presidential elections, not that it has worked lately.

(Un)fortunately?? my children are not American. They would be if I had spent a minimum of 2 years past the age of 14 living in the US. So if your mom goes through puberty after leaving the country, you are not a citizen, even if she is. Still, I can live and work in either country, so could probably get us all down there if I wanted to. Now that Andrew is working for Technicolour, it's not impossible, but it sure wouldn't be my choice.

I will vote. In big old Republican Ohio, it might make a difference, if only a symbolic one.

Question: Whoda Thunkit?

mompoet - citizen of north america once I figure out how to join Mexico

Sngggrrrrkkk-gak-cccchhhhheeeewww!

Tumbleweed is growing in my throat. Nose is balking at simple breathing activity. I'm gobbling echinacea and sucking zinc lozenges, and I blasted a full hour, hard and hot in a cycle class this a.m. to try to simulate a virus-snuffing fever. Alas, I think despite my efforts, I am getting a cold.

Last hope is positive thought. Send me some white light, please if you read this. Picture me hoovering lungfulls of fresh air, singing, "The hills are alive...." (if you prefer, you can imagine it with the mute button on) I will think positive too. Don't have time for this right now, no way!

snuffle

Question: What's your remedy? I can use all the help I can get!

mompoet - viral spiralling

How to Help?

Thanksgiving was peaceful and plentiful for our family. Two desperate situations came to light, however. I'm adding them to my online journal on the outside chance someone who can help may read this.

Rachel Adams and Mark Rempel are missing. You may have read the story in Sunday and Monday's Vancouver Province. If not - here is a photo of Rachel. There's a photo of Mark in the Province. I just couldn't get a link to work. They have been missing since Thursday. There are signs of a struggle at Rachel's apartment. Their families and friends have been searching and there's been a media blitz, but so far nothing. Their families think they may have gone up to Whistler, so if you know anyone who lives there, or who spent Thanksgiving weekend there, will you please forward this information? They may be driving a white 1988 Nissan 300ZX with a missing bumper. If you have any clues, please call the Vancouver Police.

At church on Sunday morning, our minister told us that a woman is living in the church because she has run out of resources and lost her home. The woman's name is Linda. She lost her job, ran out of EI, cashed in her RRSPs and sold her car. On September 30 she was forced to give up her apartment that she has lived in for 30 years. She has begun receiving Income Assistance, but that's only $525/month for a single person with no dependents. She is looking for a furnished room with access to kitchen and bath. I'm sure cash donations would help too. If you know of an opportunity or if your family has some extra to share with her, you can contact Reverend Mary Duncan at St. Andrew's United Church in Port Moody 604 939-5513, or call me. If you're the prayerful type, please add Rachel, Mark and Linda and their families to your list for the next few days.

Last night in the car on the way to Thanksgiving supper I thought I was in a cactus patch. My husband was exhausted and stressed from work, and not at his friendly best. The kids were being 11 and 14 and sniping at each other and us. For a moment I wanted to be somewhere else. But then I thought of all of the somewhere elses that are really bad and sad, not just temporarily irritating, and I was truly thankful.

Question: Can you help?

mompoet - sobered

Turkey Turkey

Our family will celebrate Thanksgiving today. There's a Thanksgiving service at church, but the kids have opted out because there's no Sunday School or youth group. Andrew is a Christmas-only goer, so it's just me heading down there. I'm looking forward to participating in Mary's service right through. Teaching Sunday School is very rewarding, but I miss what's going on upstairs.

Supper is at Andrew's Mom's place. My parents are still in Cranbrook, so it will be a small gathering, with a big bird I'm sure. Andrew's mom cooks a complete, traditional supper on such occasions. She is so gracious, she has incorporated my Mom's favourites into her meal. So there'll be little shrimp cocktails, V8 juice, mashed potatoes and a pickle tray (her traditions) and also brussels sprouts and yam casserole ( my mom's). Even though my parents won't be able to come this time, she still does it that way. Dessert is dedicated to the kids. There will be 4 in all, our two and Andrew's brother's two grown sons. Each one will find his or her favourite pie or ice cream, plus the famous can of whipped cream (which we don't splurge on at our house). I think the kids look foward to force-feeding aerosol whipped cream to each other more than anything else. Adults have to look out or we get attacked too. Actually, it's a lot of fun. "Hey Mom, open your mouth, close your eyes and be ready for a BIG surprise...."

I'm not crazy about the big English style meal. I like the leftovers better. Andrew's mom will send us home with a care package, so we'll have turkey stir fry (including brussels sprouts) this week. Then we'll make soup with the bones, which is really the best part. I could live on homemade soup of various kinds. mmmmm

Question: Why do I spend so much time thinking about food?

mompoet - I yam what I yam HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Can I try that again?

Sean and Chrystalene of the West Coast Poetry Festival and Ten Dollar Words invited me to record a poem for a CD they are putting together. The spoken word artists who featured at the festival are each recording a poem. I'm very grateful to be asked, as I wasn't a feature. I did host a couple of shows, so was included on that basis.

The recordings are being made at Western Front, a really cool gallery/performance place in Vancouver. I've never been there before so it was really interesting to have a look. We recorded in a big open space, rather than a little booth, which felt good. I've been in the little booth at Co-op Radio, and it's so weird - especially the sound. The room just gobbles all of the sound before it has a chance to go anywhere. I know that's the way it's supposed to be when you are recording, but it is weird to talk in a room where invisible sound-suckers capture and devour the vibrations. I am tempted to shout, just to find out how loud it would have to be to make a lasting impression.

My husband, Andrew, came with me. That made me happy. He doesn't come to the slam partly because of the late hours. Also, the spoken word scene just isn't his thing. That's okay. We do a lot of things separately. I was glad he wanted to come this time, to hear my poems other than hollered around the house and to meet some of my poetry friends.

Anyway, I sucked at it. Totally, big-time. I know Sean and Chrystaline, and Sara, who recorded,were very kind and said I did just fine, but honestly, I was awful - forgot my words, mispronounced, ran out of breath. I stopped short of channelling Porky Pig, but I was pretty close. I couldn't figure out why it was so much more difficult than when I am on stage. I hardly ever forget my words of lose my momentum when I perform. Why was I such a vocal gimp in this new setting?

As we drove away, I figured it out. The room was set up with the microphone facing away from where the people were seated, so I could see them only out of the corner of my eye. I was staring into the flyswatter screen that goes in front of the mic, so I closed my eyes part of the time - but either way, there was nobody to look at. No contact, no response. I need to see faces because when I perform my poems I am communicating. I practise a lot on my own, but I always picture an audience. It's not enough to know people are listening. I have to see in their eyes that they hear me.

If I get a chance to do this another time, I'll know to ask someone to sit in front of me. I bet it will work. I hope I get another chance. Except for sucking big-time it was fun.

Question: Did you ever discover you couldn't do something that you thought you could do?

mompoet - breathing out

Something about a Shovel?

Stupid BC Liberal comment of the day that proves they are just Socreds with a new label:

On the way to work this morning I heard a sound bite on the news that was so outrageous I stopped and wrote it down. I can't find the quote anywhere on the web tonight, but I promise you I heard him say these words.

Lorne Mayencourt, touting his new Safe Streets Act, on "squeegee people:"

"If somebody wants to hop between cars they should get down to the A&W."

I know I am not the first to draw the parallel, but we have to keep reminding ourselves, and everyone we know. Our opportunity to make things better is coming in May 2005.

Arrrg

Question: Should I even be surprised?

mompoet - still holding on to the concept of compassion and human decency

Go Team(s) Vancouver

The first ever Canadian Spoken Word Olympics are happening right now in Ottawa. Vancouver sent two teams to compete. I hope they both win (but I'm really voting for team 2). I came close to making it onto that team, and will work hard to improve my chances for next time. I wish I could be there to cheer on our teams, and soak up the talent and energy that must be buzzing around this event. Also, it must be interesting to be in Ottawa during the first days of the minority government. I bet there will be less bickering and more sporting behaviour in the halls of slam than in the halls of parliament this week.

Yay Vancouver! Hurray Slam! Come home happy Teams 1 & 2!

Question: If Jean Charest isn't Prime Minister of Canada after all, could he maybe be a judge at a poetry slam?

Mompoet - keeping the faith

Count me in with the "Negatives"

This article in the online newspaper The Tyee illustrates how our public schools are becoming "haves" and "have-nots" according to the wealth and financial savvy of their parent communities. I have never met Jeff Bickerstaff, The King of Parent Fundraisers, but I do know Patty Bacchus, Julianne Doctor and Maureen Bayless, from my school funding advocacy work. If they are "The Negatives," I'm on the Negative team for sure.

Question: How much would you pay for a ride to hell in a handbasket?

Mompoet - laughing at the irony, crying about the reality

Hi Mom, Hi Dad!

My parents drive up to Cranbrook today to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with my sister and her husband and kids. I miss them already.

I don't know why I always feel this way when they are away from home, but I do. I'm not worried for their safety. I'm not jealous that they got to go and I didn't. It's no trouble, really. They don't even ask me to feed their cat. It's more like my world is a bit off kilter when they are not where they're supposed to be. It's like my big picture of "all is well" has a piece temporarily out of place. There's a word for it. I'll find it and post it later.

When they're home we can go for days without a phone call or visit - it's not like we're the kind of people who check in even if we have nothing to say. It's more about knowing, "Yup, they're there. Good." I've talked to them about about it so they know. They make an extra effort to stay in touch because of it. They take along their computer notebook and check email and send me reports on how the trip is going. We probably talk more about the details of their day when they are away than when they are home.

I wonder if it's because I'm the first child, and I've never quite let go of all of my identification with them. Maybe it's my stubborn streak - not wanting anything to happen that I didn't plan. But I don't think so.

Gestalt - there it is.

Oh well, nice to know I'm weird in more than one way. But this is a nice part of weirdness, mostly to do with loving, I think.

Hi Mom, Hi Dad. I hope you're having a good trip.

Question: Is that the right word?

mompoet - balancing on a three-legged chair

Kirsi made me do it

Kirsi says I forgot to say that I came in second at the Vancouver Poetry Slam Monday night. She says if I don't post this information she will reveal to the world that I copy all of my poems off the back of cornstarch boxes and skytrain tickets.

Question: Is that good, Kirsi?

mompoet - slam-happy yeah!

Things that made me laugh

Feeling itchy, restless and distracted. Shouts, tears, laughter and inappropriate snorts all near the surface on a day just too busy for low-level impulse control. Luckily laughter prevailed. These things made me laugh out loud (and those who know me know what that sounds like):

*That was not a smileycon just there. It was a bracket and a colon. I don't do 'cons.

• A skeleton. Don't ask me why - about 40 cm tall, dangling over a hanging basket on a neighbour's house, as I walked the dog this morning.
• A German Shepherd sitting in the middle of the street while it was still sunny. Just sitting there. I drove my car around him v e r y s l o w l y, laughing. He didn't even crack a smile.
• A beagle, singing a sad song outside the video store, and a man, standing inside the video store shaking his finger at the beagle singing outside the video store.
• An email from a friend telling me that families at the Preschool Fair spoke languages from every continent except penguin. It was only funny because I didn't get it and had to email her back to ask her to explain it, then I laughed at how stoopid I was not to get it.
• Then I thought, is the opposite of a continent an incontinent? and I thought I was funny.
• "Pumpkin-scooping kits" at Walmart. I didn't know what's funnier, the idea, or the sound of the words. (Luckily store security was not nearby)
  

Okay, you can detect that these are not hilarious things. But laughing at them felt good.

Question: Ha ha ha ha ha...right?

mompoet - "I'm a little teapot!"

Poet on Call

Mompoet stayed out late Monday night at the slam. Taking her place for today's post is a Poet On Call..

Click here for notmompoet.

Question: Unquestionable

notmompoet - prancing and spitting, and wearing paniers

Big Goofy Grins

So we stood outside of the church holding signs telling bikers that Jesus loves them. A few ignored us, or at least rode by without seeming to notice. Most got big, goofy grins on their faces as they passed. Whether some of them thought we were a joke doesn't matter. We touched them anyway. There were hundreds of them - mostly rough looking characters on Harley Davidsons. Some were dressed as Santa. Some had toys strapped to the handlbars. One had a chihuahua in his jacket. Watching their faces crinkle up was too much fun. The kids got a kick out of it too.

After the parade we went in for Communion, the first served by our new minister. She seems to be good stuff. She brought her bread machine and set it up beside the communion table before the service, and the bread was ready just in time. Very cool. Afterwards I talked to her about the biker parade and told her that I saw a moral dilemma in my decision to take my class to greet the bikers. She said she felt the same way when she heard that it was the plan for the morning. She said her perspective is that Jesus loves everyone, even if he doesn't love everything they do. The way things timed out, I didn't get to talk with the kids about the issue. Next week we will start with that conversation.

Big goofy grins. Ha! I just kept thinking, no matter what's in a person's heart, or what a person has done or will do, there are reasons in that person's heart for what he or she has done. Also, there's a chance that some time in the future, that person may have an experience or a change of heart and end up taking a turn towards goodness. In the meantime, why not remind that person that he or she is loved?

Question: Did anyone tell you today?

mompoet - feeling okay about loving probable participants in organized crime

Parallel Universe

Check the new Weebl and Bob animation entitled parallel. I love Weebl and Bob.

Question: Do you?

mompoet - not purple and mostly not egg-shaped, but I do like pie

Workshop Worked

Jody, Jim and I put on a workshop today at the Port Moody Library. We planned and promoted it to people who are "closet writers," ready to take the first step and dare to call themselves writers and do it in public. We kept it simple: introductions, a 5 minute free-write, round table discussion of why we write, some writing exercises and a book talk by the librarian. We don't see ourselves as experts. Our objective was to share some of our enjoyment of writing and perhaps attract some new members to our writing group.

What a wonderful, amazing time we had. Thirteen people came, 11 women and 2 men. Most told similar stories: I've been writing since I was little. I stopped writing because life got busy. Now I've started again, and it was frightening for me to come here, but I just have to find a way to get going with this thing I have to do. For a moment I felt way out of my depth, like I was unexpectedly presiding at some 12-step meeting, only nobody told me the steps or something. (Lucky thing Jim's a counsellor!) Then I remembered myself just 8 years ago, scared silly walking into my first meeting with the Shoreline Writers. I remember that I felt like such an idiot presuming that anyone might be interested in my poems and stories. But I was brave, I brought and read a story called Dinosaur Mom that I made up to convince the kids to eat their broccoli. Everyone at Shoreline was friendly and encouraging and told me I had to keep going with my writing. When I listened to the other writers there that day, I knew that I could learn from them and that I did belong there. I was worthy of this.

Witnessing some of the women going through this experience today was an unexpected joy and very special privilege. They came in tight as the buds on November rhododendron bushes, then began opening. Only they popped open like popcorn. Something like magic happened. They were laughing and reading out loud and saying things like, "I really want to be with other writers. Listen to me...other writers! I've never said that before." We did some writing exercises and they shared some of their spontaneous work, which was very very good. By the end of the three hours the room was filled with such a good feeling. For Jody, Jim and me, it was like some surge of wonderful power. Who knew it would be so awe-inspiring? But it was.

Now Jim wants to plan a series of workshops. I wonder if the Library would accommodate us? What fun it would be to watch this garden grow!

Question: Have you been waiting to do something?

mompoet - lucky, lucky, lucky

Angels at Sunday School

On Sunday morning I'm planning to take my Sunday Church School class outside to watch the annual motorcycle toy run. Every year about this time, hundreds of motorcycle riders collect money and toys and go for a ride from Coquitlam Centre, along the Barnet/Lougheed Highway, through downtown Port Moody and Burnaby, out to the PNE. For as long as I've attended St. Andrew's United Church it has been a tradition for the Sunday School teachers and kids to stand out in front of the church and wave at the bikers. We hold signs that spell out, "St. Andrew's Sunday Church School says Jesus loves bikers."

Reading this morning's article in the Sun about the local Hell's Angels chapters and their ongoing conflict with local police, I wonder about the implications of taking the kids outside to watch the parade. Are we buying in to a warm fuzzy PR effort to polish the image of organized criminals? Or are we saying, "Love everyone like Jesus does." Or does it work out to be some of each?

Not all of the bikers are Hell's Angels, although more than half appear to be. Most of my 9-11 year olds probably haven't heard of the Hell's Angels, or if they have, they don't know much about who they are or about the ongoing controversy: violent organized criminals vs. unjustly persecuted motorcycle enthusiasts.

I think the answer is to enjoy the parade, but also talk to the kids and find out what they know and how they feel about the issue. The Sunday School curriculum that we work with is based on questioning and discussion, and encouraging the children to think independently. There are no answers in my teacher resource book, only lots of questions and ideas for guiding the children to deepen their thinking and make personal connection to issues of morality, social responsibility and truth, in the light of a liberal Christian theology. As a new Christian (3 years in November) and rookie Sunday School teacher, I'm learning right along with them how to connect all of this together.

I'll check in with the minister and Sunday School coordinator too. Their experience and wisdom will help me with this one. In the meantime, I'll count myself lucky to be working with these kids, who remind me to stop and think about things more than if I was deciding only for myself.

Question: Any thoughts?

mompoet - believing in angels all over the place

Not an Urban Myth After All

I read what sounded like a very silly story in this morning's Vancouver Sun (There's Cocaine in your wallet, probably by Chad Skelton, Oct. 2 Vancouver Sun p. C4). I looked it up on the Urban Legends website and found out that it is true. Most $20 bills have traces of cocaine stuck to them. You have to read it to believe it. The Sun website is now locked up tight to all but daily subscribers, but there's more detail on the Urban Legends page anyway (although the latter's content is American). Read it and snort.

Life is more complicated than we could ever imagine.

Question: Could my habitual sobriety be directly proportional to my continued insolvency?

mompoet - straight from the suburbs after paying for karate, musical theatre, private voice and a couple of field trips already!