oh...just me: October 2005 Archives

It was a heck of a day. Gorgeous (summer?!) weather packaging a raft of tough things. One of my roomie's dogs was hit by a car and killed yesterday (flashback :-( city), and a deaf man who was a total character also died over the weekend. I'll miss John's sense of humor, not only was he a tease, but he could do it with such a straight face you'd think you'd really messed up. I put one or two over on him, too, but I'm sure if we'd kept score he won. :-)

Death is hard though, both the actual and symbolic kinds.

Lucy was my favorite dragon of all time.

Funny - googled myself (as if I have nothing better to do this morning), and found this poem by another "Stephanie Kent". Reinforces the importance of that middle "Jo"!

there's also an alias making loads of bucks (listed by Forbes). envy?

Here's one I hadn't come across before, about the disableism workshop Shemaya and I did at Mt Holyoke a few years back.

The original crew of the Enterprise were my best friends and role models while I was growing up. Everyday during elementary school I would rush home to watch. I now have a hard time watching Kirk, but Spock remains an icon. I am still taken by the camraderie across supposed difference which all subsequent Star Trek series have continued to emulate.

Am I surprised by George Takei's widening corridor"? No. It makes such sense, especially the way he explains it - tying his own life experiences (including internment as a child) with contemporary media and political life. An overlapping story highlights Takei On Politics, Being Different And Social Activism.

via Eric, socialjustice listserv

So says the "Vandalism in progress" page of Wikipedia. I haven't tried yet, but when I do I'll be a newbie and will dutifully play in the Sandbox before venturing into the 'real wiki-world.' I'm still learning about disambiguation in my real, 'real life', but this is the way of communication technology, isn't it? All input/exposure flows endlessly on, segmented arbitrarily or by convention where we've been taught such divisions ought to occur.

Not only did I get a piano recital of Fur Elise over the phone last night, I also learned a bit about what it takes to become a Boy Scout Star, was implored to come for a visit (very tempting!), and was impressed with a (soon-to-be) young man's maturity and kindness.

I was also extremely proud of my brother's parenting skills. Can one say "the proof is in the pudding" in reference to a male? (Who, me? Messing with gender norms?!) There is no doubt he has pulled off being a dad.

Am I pegged or what?!! Robin just sent me info an upcoming workshop, Body as Camera, with this organization, Listen with your Eyes. Wish I could go...

but maybe another time, another event, now that I know about them.

I drove from western Mass northwards into Vermont today and it was stunning. The leaves are in their state of glory, some colors displayed in full now, delayed by the extraordinarily warm and long fall, some even still green! It was a clear day, cool, and there was frost in patches...eventually I hit some stretches where the snow was just deep enough to cover every single branch and twig. With the glow of the leaves beneath and the shine of the sun above, it was a beautiful day. "Gloriosky!" as someone I know would say. :-)

Tonight I drove through pouring rain to pursue a mythical quest. I prepped throughout the day, even to the point of selecting Green Dragon tea. :-/

I returned to this cautionary article on academic blogging, sent by a friend. Will I accomplish proper balance on the razor-thin edge of fitting in and (trying to) push the envelope?

Ok, Reflexiity was gone for about 18 hours. "Document has no data." I guess it was just a hosting problem, according to my two favorite computer gurus. I actually stayed calm - three years of work, poof!

The upswing . . . may it continue!

(As if I have time for leisure reading, but when I do, Phantoms in the Brain : Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind looks like a winner.

It's definitely timely, as I wax and wane between what can only be empirically described as fantasy yet feels, phenomenologically, like a vision of the future. I know it's only a potential future, but I cannot shake the conviction that if I find the proper alignments it could come to pass. Could be a text book case of what neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran explores regarding hallucination? There is external stimula, which I don't think I'm misreading (that would be an illusion according to the Wikipedia definition) - empirically observed behavior. "A hallucination is a sensory perception experienced in the absence of an external stimulus..." seems more on target because the moments of perception (possibly an example of insight?) occur in spatial and temporal distance from the stimulus.