PicoBlog

In June 1995, my husband Tim and our children Katie 8, Bethy 7, Brendan 5, and Brigid almost 2 and I moved from Maplewood Avenue in Chicago to Valparaiso, Indiana. I loved our Chicago block. The Maplewood friends were tons of fun and amazing looker-outers for each others’ kids. Many were police officers, firefighters and city workers. ncG1vNJzZminoJq7b7%2FUm6qtmZOge6S7zGinrppfo66vr9ismpqmnpq5rXvPaJilpZ%2BowW65zqajnqujdMK1ub6spq6qk5qKsbvSrV2cp52isq%2FA0narq62VW8K1ub6mnJ2hpaKKuLHB

There’s a quote I’m sure you’ve seen floating around before, attributed to the late chef, author and TV host Anthony Bourdain: Eat at a local restaurant tonight. Get the cream sauce. Have a cold pint at 4 o’clock in a mostly empty bar. Go somewhere you’ve never been. Listen to someone you think may have nothing in common with you. Order the steak rare. Eat an oyster. Have a Negroni. Have two.

Hey Emily, I enjoyed your post! I can certainly empathize with the heat and humidity. I think it comes with the tropics. I remember living in Hong Kong and we would be wet as soon as we walked out the door. Btw, my grandparents and uncles/aunts raised avocado’s in Los Angeles. After harvest, they would get the trees cut to about 15 feet high, every 5 years or so. It might be sth to look into.

Haha I totally resonate with piano. I took lessons as a kid too, and I'm kicking myself for being so apathetic about it at the time. I can't remember if I read this in Range or something else someone else wrote, but it was the idea that a study found the first music teachers or high-achieving musicians, and they realized the teachers weren't exceptional in any way except that they got their students to enjoy the lessons.

Environmentla concerns and Climate Change went out the window, when they ship chicken all the way from China ,creating a large Carbon foot-print. Also Avian Flu originated in China ,the result of a suspected bio-warfare attack, closely folowed by Swine Flu, MERS and SARS. All intended to disrupt the booming Chinese Economy. Expand full comment ncG1vNJzZminoJq7b7%2FUm6qtmZOge6S7zGinrppflra0uMinnqikn6q0qbjIp2apZ5OdtqS3yK2wZpuYnruiedOhnGabmJ67pr%2FEZpqhoZOgsq%2BL1K2kmKufqr%2BksZyppqysVpi8rrnEp6usdaSnwqZy1K2kmKWVmba2uZywnJs%3D

This post LITERALLY got me to subscribe so I could comment. We stopped watching Cocomelon with our 3 year old because the Cocomelon-version of Wheels on the bus... Babies on the bus go whaaaa, whaaaa, whaaaa ... mommies go shhhh, shhhhh, shhhh BUT DADDIES say I love you, I love you, I love you. TF??? Nope, not today or any other day for that matter. Expand full comment ncG1vNJzZmirkaeusbHTnqmsnZ5jwLau0q2YnKNemLyue89omqibn6KyrbvNZqSopZ2ueqq%2FjKemrWWfoHyku8ymnKesow%3D%3D

I learned first from a news article that Colorado is lucky enough to have you as its poet laureate and it made me feel so light and happy. Thank you for all you've done to get here and in advance for all you will do. Thanks too for your poem. After a week in ICU for pneumonia, followed by 14 days in the hospital, and 20 days in rehab, my 89-year-old Dad and 87-year-old Mom are on the way home, driving their motor home four hours each day and refusing help from everyone.

I like how they submitted work to be rejected, failed, and threw a fit over it. Is the anti-Zionism sincere, I wonder, or are they sucking up to the progressives who would cancel them if they didn't profess it? I guess I'd wonder about it more if the art was any good. "Rematriation," give me a break. Expand full comment ncG1vNJzZmicmajAqrDEp6umraOae7TBwayrmpubY7CwuY6pZpytnKl6t7HRrKysZZOqubV7wqikpp2eqcA%3D

Here's a bright moment involving Rez Dogs and a public high school classroom this week, but I need to briefly preface first. Preface: I've taught for eons at a large public high school in a state which recently passed legislation mandating further teachings of our state's Native histories and heritages. Unfortunately, for the same reasons Mr. La Tray shares here, this instruction has been a mandated slide deck to be used once per week by all teachers.