What a Week

Dione gave me a personal blogging tutorial, but my memoy sucks and I haven't figured out the finer nuances of managing my blog yet. Of course, this is only my second entry, so I hold out hope that I'll improve with experience.

It's been a busy week. I haven't felt like getting up and getting going, but I've done it anyway. My sockets haven't healed yet and my lymph nodes are still backed up. This causes me constant discomfort and occasional pain, dizziness, nausea, and fatigue. I was supposed to see my surgeon about it last Friday so he could decide if he wanted to "clean them out." That didn't exactly sound pleasant. Well, I had been driving around for four days with my empty light on, and I ran out of fumes halfway down my own street on the way to that appointment. I got help pushing the car home from some rowdy looking but very nice boys, then called to cancel my apointment.
Dr. Park asked me to call him early the following week, but somehow time flew! I left him a voice mail on Thursday, but didn't hear from him Friday, so I'll try again Monday. I guess I have to resolve this sooner or later. Funny how it feels like I have a marshamellow stuffed in each of my cheeks.

I had two highlights this week.

When Cliss discovered I was an English Lit major, she asked me for book recommendations. I told her about a current favorite, Life of Pi by Yan Martel, which I'd read in a lit theory class about three years ago. Life of Pi is about a young, indigenous boy whose family owns a Zoo in India. When he and his family accompany some of their animals on an exchange with another zoo, their cargo ship sinks, leaving Pi the only human survivor. He becomes stranded on a lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan, and a bengal tiger. I won't spoil the story, but suffice it to say that only one of the three animals survive! One of the book's major themes surrounds the nature of faith and whether or not faith has limits. Cliss enjoyed the book enough that she chose it as her annual selection for a neighborhood book club, which she's been a member of for the better part of the last decade. She invited me to join her last week when it was her turn to hostess the meeting in her home, and because they would be discussing Life of Pi. A few members volunteered to bring Indian dishes to sample for the refreshments, so I volunteered to bring the appetiser: some vegetable samosas with spicy ginger-mango and mint chutneys. I wish I hadn't taken my dear, long-time, Indian friend Jairaj's advice to cheat and use puff pastry from the freezer section. I've enjoyed samosas on several past occasions and I know the pastry texture turned out all wrong. Still, I think the chutneys were yummy and the samosa fillng tasted pretty authentic. One woman carried on that the food was too spicy, but I used a fraction of the spices each recipe called for becuase that was just the sort of problem I was trying to avoid. I wouldn't say the chutneys were mild, but if they'd been Mexican salsas they might have been labeled medium. They certainly left a warm glow in my mouth, though it was not sharp or unpleasant as far as I was concerned, and I have had less tolerance for spicy food in recent years. My only other regrets were that I hadn't read the book again so I'd forgotten much of it and much of our classroom discussion, I'd lent my copy out and couldn't retrieve it in time to re-read it, I couldn't afford to purchase a new copy, and I couldn't find my notebook containing my class notes. Still, I was thrilled to be invited and it was a really enjoyable evening with my sister.

The other highlight of my week was the ACLU membership meeting. I have been a member since the Utah chapter's legal representative, Marina, spoke at one our Martin Luther King, Jr./Civil Rights Week events last spring. But this was the first ACLU meeting/event I've been able to attend. It started with a one hour update to the members, including an overview of legislative issues we're currently working on. Many of them are perennial issues like immigration and LGBT issues. But one of the ones which I found somewhat amusing was a bill containing a steep "dancing tax" which our conservative Utah legislators are currently pushing. It all sounds so Footloose-esque! I realized if they actually passed this bill, it will no doubt be enforced in a completely arbitrary manner. I cannot imagine they'll tax members of the Utah Ballet company, members of the Ririe-Woodbury modern dance company, dance majors at Utah colleges and universities, high school cheerleaders and dance teams, step dancers and cloggers in summer parades, and 3-year-olds taking their first ballet and tap classes. They'll single out young people 21-26 years old who frequent dance clubs. While some peolple consider dance clubs undesirable in their state (they're generally zoned away from residential neighborhoods already), this approach is unconstitutional and yet another example of how so many people believe that the idealogical end justifies violating the civil liberties of Othered Americans. I also thought about the Eagle Club in south Salt Lake where so many middle age and senior couples go for ballroom dancing on the weekend. There is really no way to enforce this law justly. In spite of some discouraging information, I found much of the report encouraging and moving. The meeting was held at the Salt Lake Art Center one door north of the Energy Solutions Arena, and was followed by a reception and art exhibit, "Liberties Under Fire," celebrating the ACLU's 50th year in Utah. An artist from Georgia by the name of John Traubaugh was featured and we had a delightful "conversation" session with him.

Tomorrow I have to wake early to attend a Sub-for-Santa workshop. When I was assistant to UVSC's Faculty Coordinator of Academic Service-Learning two years ago, I had the privelege of being solely responsible for the giving tree project on campus, and was heavily involved with the Sub-for-Santa program as well as the Winter Warmth and Canned Food drives. It was a rewarding experience to be on the helping end of things. But I'm afraid this year the kids and I are on the other side of the situation, and I feel quite wistful about the reversal. Still, I'm grateful for the opportunity. We missed the UVU deadline, but the Utah County program is still open to applicants, so that's what the workshop is about tomorrow. UVU's program suggests $50 of expenditure per child and the application asks each child's shoe and clothing sizes as well as their gift wishes. Sponsors may go beyond the recommendations to spend more per child and even provide gifts for parents and older siblings at their discression. I understand the Utah County program is a lot more restrictive. Children ages 15 and 16 will be considered only if they have younger siblings in the home, but there is no garantee they'll be included. Parents are certainly not included, which is understandable. The Ut Co application requires a great deal of documenation. I shouldn't complain, but I confess it has been a real challenge to pull everything together in time for tomorrow's workshop. I couldn't find the kids birth certificate and/or social security cards, so I hope their medicaid "card" (the monthly printout of current benefits) and/or their library cards will do. I had to obtain CAP2 (whatever that means) and financial printouts from Department of Workforce Services, so I have to wonder why it's necessary to also provide proof of income and children's IDs. UVU goes on an "on your honor" basis. Certainly we saw abuses of the system, but we all (faculty administrators and student volunteers) felt they were small matters, easily remedied with sensitivity, in the face of all the families we were able to help. Cass will turn 17 the week before Christmas, so I guess I'll find out tomorrow if she qualifies based on the application date, or will be declined based on the date of December 25. That is, of course, providing we're accepted to their program at all. I think it's getting late to apply and sponsors may be scarce by now. Funny how two years ago when I worked with UVU's program, we had more sponsors than we had applicants, and referred our surplus to the Utah County program. Anyway, if it doesn't work out for us, it doesn't work out. One of my favorite childhood Christmas memories was that year we really had to make do for Christmas. Perhaps it's good for us to have one of those experiences in our childhood to learn from and look back on with fondness.