October 27, 2008 - The Six Word Memoir

"and they call that a tree"

Student teacher and wonderful new sister-friend Dana Comiskey assigned students a six word memoir. The idea was pillaged from a Smith Magazine project. Smith was inspired by a legend that Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in six words. His response was, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." The Smith Magazine website now contains and shares hundreds of thousands of six word stories written by as many authors. Dana's assignment inspired my own tiny collection of favorites by friends, family, colleagues, students, and a few of my own:


Mine

• "and they call that a tree"
• Married the best man I know
• Outside I am inside a church

Dana's

• I wear sweatpants whenever I can
• Wore fake glasses over contact lenses

Bob's

• I'm what they call man pretty
• sports trivia run by me first

Student favorites

• Found true love lost my soul ~Stacey Fox
• Truth outside my heart lies inside  ~Shaniece Wells

Jenn L's

• A lot I wish I was
• I didn't need to be Mrs. Badonka-donk
• There's nothing I won't say publicly

Joe D's

• Tried everything, liked some, loved few
• I have no moral center, biatch

Ken W's

• I always do it my way

Dakoda M's

• Will be the world's best baller

Mary-Tina's

• Fro it up like I do

T.J.'s

• Make every day a circus day

October 18, 2008 - Karaoke Cool

Saturday night karaoke at the Crow Bar, downtown Saugatuck - crazy, smokey goodness. I am loving Susan L. who sings one of the sexiest renditions of Hanky Panky ever. She is adorable-sexy-nervousness. We are all dying for a chance to come out of our self-conscious disguises. We want to break free through karaoke, or any other way we can find to throw our egos aside and connect ourselves, to REconnect ourselves to everyone and everything else around us. That connectivity is the energy behind the music-the life force that makes the movement happen. I am fascinated by music's capacity to change energy. It is great? (totally inadequate)...sweet? (not right either but that's part of it)...what is it? Magic?...yup, that's it...it's energy magic the way each song climbs onto everyone, moving them through love and sex and drama and sadness and sweetness... and the ones that make us laugh...mouth-wide-open, cheeks-sore, throat-scratchy...bringing us... dragging us back to high school freedom and silliness. These are my favorite! I miss NOTHING. It is all here right now in this perfect moment.  Thank you, universe, for giving us music.

October 18, 2008 - We Put Our Pants on When We Put Our Pants On

Another of Jenny's book ideas...

We Put Our Pants On When We Put Our Pants On:

Lessons from Little People

It would consist, of course, of big life lessons from the little ones in our lives. This was inspired by one of Wendi's twins saying this, all matter-of-factly, to Jen when she was worrying about timing. She, of all people, should know better because no one I know has more perfect timing. The whole universe aligns to make sure timing is exactly right for her. She is usually quite aware of this and trusts it completely. This day she was worried, and Kody or Max said to her, "Don't worry, Jen, we put our pants on when we put our pants on." This made her smile and put everything in perspective. She stopped choosing stress and embraced the flow of the day.

Three year old Maggie, after watching Cinderella, told her mom "Cinderella's step mother and sisters are mean because they don't get enough love." This lesson goes along with one of The Four Agreements: Don't Make Assumptions. Maggie was not willing to hate these women as we were all so quick to (myself with great fervor). She did not assume they were just plain mean. How many times have our paradigms shifted around someone we assumed was "just plain mean?" There is always a story under the mean. All people want to be loved. When are we ever going to learn this?

Jen took four year old Cortez to feed her neighbor's cat, as they were away on vacation. When they got there, Cortez asked, "Doesn't this cat have a human?" This, in no uncertain terms, defines the reality of the cat-human relationship. 

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I love this book idea and think we should keep it going, here, with more stories of kids getting it right. Then we can share it for free...which is how Jen would want it anyway. Or we could publish it together and collect a gazillion dollars to use for vacations! Jen would like that, too.