Ten on Tuesday

1. I am very ready to get past this first year of preschool germs. I don't think we've all been well at the same time for longer than a week or two since August.
2. Henry Louis Gates's Faces of America = fantastic. The second episode will be on tomorrow (Wednesday) night.
3. After I made my list of favorite educational experiences the other day, I looked up my Shakespeare professor on Facebook and wrote him an email to tell him how much I liked his class.
4. I also recently wrote an email to the corporate headquarters of my (former) salon to complain about the $10 charge to get my hair blow-dried last time I got a trim. The charge wasn't listed anywhere, and had I known they were going to charge me an entire Alexander Hamilton, believe you me I would not have accepted the offer. I could make a very long list of things I would rather spend $10 on.
5. It's probably a good practice to keep a relatively even record of fan mail and angry mail, eh?
6. Juliette is such a skinny-minny these days, it's increasingly hard to remember her roly poly infancy:
7. On the topic of old Juliette pictures, I just happened upon this one. It was a favorite when I took it, but I've never printed or posted it anywhere. iPhoto tells me its circa January '09.
I really, really like the colors.
8. I was one of the millions of people who were irritated by the sudden and presumptuous presence of Buzz in my Gmail account last week. I'm obviously not hysterical about privacy or I wouldn't have a blog. But it was extremely odd to discover I was already "following" people and seeing the responses (and full names and email addresses!) of all the people who were "following" them. It took me multiple tries to figure out how to opt out; at first I tried to UNFOLLOW (as a reader of Dooce, it seems obligatory to write that word in all caps) people, but then Google would helpfully add more people to my list. After being informed throughout the day that various and sundry people were following me, I was beginning to feel like I was... being followed. Apparently they've apologized and made changes.
9. I've been listening to Hope for Haiti Now; we downloaded the album the day it came out. Nearly every song feels like a classic. (Excuse me while I put Justin Timberlake's discography on my List of Things I Would Rather Spend Ten Dollars On Than Getting My Hair Blow-Dried. His version of "Hallelujah" was breathtaking, and I have no fewer than six version of the song.)
10. Elizabeth is really lucky that I have a slow and unwieldy scanner that is not usually hooked up to a computer. She is under the impression that she didn't start a no-holds barred scanner battle by uploading twelve family photos from my eleventh birthday. Yes, I did post a photo of my nerdy eleven-year-old self. I didn't post THIS picture of my nerdy eleven-year-old self.
Oh wait... I just did. Well, that's beside the point. I need to make the point that I was not verklempt, as Elizabeth suggested. That is my making a wish face, thankyouverymuch.

Stay tuned. My scanner isn't so slow and unwieldy that it can't handle a few gems from, say, 1986.

Flashback Friday: Brass Edition

So. I've written about my days playing trombone in the high school marching band, and my recent reacquaintance with the instrument. I even posted my first public performance in eleven years. So I was really excited to happen upon this photograph - taken on my eleventh birthday.My parents gave me a trombone. I loved the trombone, of course. But there are all kinds of other details in this picture that take me back - and not just my dad's polyester golf shirt. ;-) The painting of Stow United Methodist Church, the picture of my paternal grandfather, Elizabeth's graduation photo, the kerosene lamp, the little flag pin I was wearing...

C to the S to the T

I went to the Claremont School of Theology. And I'm glad I did. Yes, there were things about it that drove me bonkers. There were some pretty significant areas in which CST did not prepare me for pastoral ministry, but they at least prepared me to be unprepared, if that makes sense. I made lifelong friendships, and I certainly loved many of my professors. Quite a few have moved on, but Philip Clayton is still there. I only was able to take one class with him - Pneumatology - but it was among my all-time favorite educational experiences of my life.¹ The work he's doing through the Transforming Theology project is really exciting, and addresses some of what drove me bonkers about CST. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make it to their big Theology after Google conference in March, but I would highly recommend it to anyone in the So-Cal area who does have a couple days to spend with emergent and progressive theologians who are interested in relevant ways of doing theology.

CST was having a seriously tough time when I graduated. The new president, Jerry Campbell, has done a fantastic job of pulling the school out of financial crisis and directing it toward an innovative era through the Claremont University Project. But last week the University Senate of the United Methodist Church recommended that disciplinary action be taken against the school, partially due to a financial report that hadn't been completed yet (but was on schedule and projected to be balanced), and partially due to the fact that the UMC apparently doesn't like CST's plan. The school's response is available here. The recommendation places an embargo on funds allocated to the school. It's so disappointing. And honestly kind of chilling. I'm no Methodist, but I do care deeply about the future of the UMC and other mainline denominations. I don't think now is a good time to hinder faithfully-discerned innovation. My seminary pal Susan has set up a FB page and blog to protest the decision. She's passing out the publicly-listed email addresses of the University Senate members... certainly, this is worth sending off a politely worded missive of protest.


1. I sort of threw that line out without thinking about it, and it made me want to think about it. My all-time favorite educational experiences also include AP English with Mrs. Johnson, Shakespeare with Simon Morgan-Russell, creative writing class with Maj, teaching-poetry-in-the-schools class with David Hassler, Systematic Theology with Professor Helmer, and Peacemaking/Christian Ethics with Ellen. (I prefer to standardize names, but this time it feels more appropriate to name them by how I think of them in my head.)

Sweet Juliette

It's amazing to observe Juliette's development - her language, humor, physical capabilities, etc. But I think the most remarkable is her emotional development. I see a girl who is sensitive, observant, and loving. (Oh yeah, she finally said, "I LAH YOU!!!" She says it just like that, with many exclamation points. She is equally enthusiastic with "AMEN!!!")

She's always had big emotions and fierce attachments. I've said before that we became attachment parents because we had an attachment baby. I know I've already gone on (and on) about how hard it was to say goodbye to Lila, but the reality hit even harder on Friday, when Juliette began asking for Lila and, bless her heart, confirming "I sad."

Lila gave this doll to her for her birthday. It's a replica of a doll Lila has, a doll Juliette knows and associates with her friend. Seeing her tenderness toward this doll just makes me immensely proud of my little girl and her big heart.