The Bare Minimum

On the bus a few weeks ago, I sat with some friends and we talked about the bare minimum requirements for living. Melody and I came to the conclusion that we could survive on coffee and sunlight. I think I can safely add that we were taking the Lord's grace for granted as we made our lists.

I'm in Waynesboro and have just enjoyed a lovely cup of coffee. It's time to show my face to the sun. And it is a-shinin'!

Christmas Break

Hustle and Bustle
and
breathe.
Hustle and Bustle
and
breathe.


Finals claimed my last three weeks of this semester. I am so grateful to the Lord that I had the chance to focus completely on my schoolwork. I was only distracted by meandering thoughts and the insatiable desire to make things rhyme, or put words to cadence. My winter break will include: another go at the Lord of the Rings, a visit to the Fulton Theater, a visit to the Vietnamese restaurant down the street, dusting, some working, talking on the phone, and some quiet contemplation.

Teaching vs. Apprenticeship

I have not even finished reading this article, but I have to stop and wonder at these bits. It is taken from an article on Wishtank.com, "From Schools to Learning Communities: A Historic Shift" by Dr. Ron Miller.

"During the past 25 years, education has become ever more standardized, ever more mechanical, as it serves a political and economic agenda of competition, production and corporate profit. Young people in the present system are not perceived as growing, active human beings who seek meaning and connection to the world, but as units of production whose academic achievements contain primarily economic value. The age of modernity has reached its zenith, so that now even first graders — six year old children — are rigorously tested to ensure that they fit into the system, while those who resist mechanistic discipline are sedated with powerful drugs."

http://www.wishtank.org/magazine/commons/from_schools_to_learning_communities_a_historic_shift/

A Deli Christmas

First things first: this is finals week, and the week before Christmas, and there is a lot to do. But at work, there is not a lot to do. By what evidence, you ask? Wayne was inspired by the muses this afternoon and rewrote the Twelve Days of Christmas for me, complete with props, it was beautiful.

an old moldy wedge of brie cheese
two chicken breasts
three french fries
four thawing burgers
five onion rings!
six geese have laid these [eggs]
seven olives swimming
eight pints of milk [that's one gallon, to the layman]
nine honey mustards
ten leaves of lettuce
eleven peppers pepping
twelve hashbrowns browning

Also today, Bill got locked inside the ladies' room for over ten minutes. He always uses the ladies' room, see. And the lock had been finicky for months. But, o fates!, the door has always managed to open in the past, despite great difficulties that the poor customers suffer. He called Leonardo, the prep guy, from his cell phone. Leonardo, doubtless, recognized on the caller ID that it was Bill calling. But he is kind of vindictive. So he let it ring. Finally Gary came to the rescue and opened the door. Bill then posted a sign that read something like: You may enter, but good luck getting out, the lock is broken.

Something to Begin

Please write a poem ending with these words:



those indifferent stars.

My Thanksgiving

Ride the train to see your friends. Let them pick you up.
Have a seat in the living room. Sink into the familiarity.
Do not take it for granted.

Enjoy the trees without their leaves. Meet the gray sky with
steely resolve to be happy no matter what,
As you glide along the highway.

Enter a warm house and start right in.
Don't expect the red carpet,
For it wouldn't be home that way.

Go to the church service in the passenger's seat.
Experience the strangest sensation to be driven by someone you
Used to take to school.

Look at faces so dear, that used to fill your heart
So full that they still do. But it's not the same.
And you don't take them for granted.

Feast.
Laugh.
Walk in the blurry four o'clock, almost snow, almost rain.
And do not take it for granted.

Muppet Christmas

Beginning in last October, when I would think about winter coming, I would have brief flashes from A Muppet Christmas Carol. It has been over ten years since I have seen that movie, but it must have made quite an impression on me! Being opposed to cold in my life, it is perhaps my only happy association with the cold. Plus, the city is so innocent and filled with joy. Very soon, I expect to walk out of my front door in Lancaster, and join in with a line in a song spanning the entire neighborhood.

Wayne will step out of the deli's door, saying something about there being "one more sleep til Christmas."

Jonathan and Lis will have a duet in the street, playing with the other children, keeping time by bouncing their kickball off the side of the theater building.

Justine and Jake will sit out on their porch with their huge dog and sing, "we're always much warmer, this time of the year!"

Linda will stroll toward Harrisburg Avenue, holding a cigarette, whistling in cadence while

Charlotte will hold out two Turkey Hill iced teas, spinning on the corner of Mary and Pine, "we cannot wait til Chriiiiistmaaaas!"

I am almost afraid to see the movie now, for being disappointed.