What part of your childhood do you miss the most?
Submitted by Maretta.
I miss the neighborhood where we lived: Macalester-Groveland in St. Paul, Minnesota. I grew up on Goodrich Avenue in St. Paul, which was walking and biking distance to all kinds of things. I had a best friend next door (Gretchen) and across the street (Krista), and other friends down the block (Krissi and Susan). The proximity to Macalester College was terrific, of course, but there was a soda fountain, good alleys for riding bikes through puddles, places to get candy and baked goods, two outstanding bookstores (Odegaard and my beloved Hungry Mind, both closed).
When we were 13, my family moved to a suburb. It was the right thing to do as far as space was concerned, but I lost all of my mobility: there was nowhere to bike, nowhere to visit, and for that matter, no friends in my neighborhood. The summer between 7th and 8th grade, I took "Acting, Music and Dance" at Macalester's TCITY (Twin Cities Institute for Talented Youth), and one day, sat down in front of my old house and just cried.
My brother Andy lives two blocks from this house now; my Dad still teaches a mile away from it at William Mitchell College of Law. Every time I visit home, without fail, I drive by it and wave. The crabtree we planted nearly dwarfs the house now; the skyline locust that replaced the elm tree after the Dutch elm disease outbreak is broad and mature. I still dream of that little house when I think of home.
BoingBoing alerted me to Sean Tevis' campaign for the Kansas state House of Representatives. He's running against an incumbent who represents all the worst we've come to expect from Kansas: "anti-abortion, anti-evolution, pro-censorship, pro-surveillance, anti-gay." He's polling within three points of his opponent and is looking to raise $8.34 from $3000 people to enable him to get the name recognition it takes to win at the polls. I just donated $25.
Tevis is our kind of people. Internet-savvy to the point of producing an XKCD-style graphic that explains his situation.
He's also blogging about what he's learning as a new politician. I particularly liked this blog entry:
Many front doors have a prominent “No Solicitors” sign displayed, which is a nice way of pointing out to hopeful door-to-door salesmen that the door will be shut on their face. Thankfully, as a politician, that sign doesn’t pertain to me as I’m not selling anything. The trick, however, is to let people know that I’m not a solicitor.
I rang one doorbell and heard someone on the other side of the front door. I think they were looking at me through their peephole when I heard a man yell “No solicitors!” without even opening the door. “I’m not a solicitor!” I sort of yelled back through the door. “I’m a politician!”
There was a pause.
I wondered if he had gone away, and then he yelled back, “That’s even worse!”
He's campaigning on the issues of sales taxes on food (doesn't like them), education (Kansas can do -much- better), illegal immigration (it can be solved calmly) and my personal favorite: government transparency (more please).
His site seems to be getting slammed right now and is slow to load. If you want to go donate directly just paypal it to
sean@seantevis.com
My college buddy and inspiration for the 52 things project is touring with Bootsy Collins right now. Soimeone uploaded this video that captures a trombone solo of his. Go Thomas!
Scenes from the SAKK office: Chris prepping for his talk, the Taco party thereafter, Nob's talk to the ProNet community, Chris's family visit, and lots from Tesla's 5 minute visit.
What have you been putting off all weekend?
I've been putting off starting this blog. I've been putting it off for a bit more than this weekend. I just went back and looked at my friend's original invite to join VOX and it was dated 7/5/06 (almost a full two years - that's pretty impressive procrastination).
First, I said I would get to it; next, I didn't know what I'd write, the latest (and most pathetic), I just could not come up with a name for my blog; finally, I just got started. It seems like a good time. I've been reconnecting with some old friends and I figured this would be a good place to share some of my thoughts, interests and a bit of my life. I have also been encouraging my 6 year old to keep a journal (she has to keep a journal in school and I thought it would be good to keep it going over the summer) and I guess I can use this blog to set a good example.
I actually wrote this while Mie and Tesla were in Japan for a week but hadn't posted it yet. When they came back Tesla's ability and/or willingness to repeat new words had increased significantly so there are actually more words now. I'll post it as originally written though.
Tesla isn't really talking in the general sense yet. I've heard that toddlers being raised bilingually take a bit longer to start talking, and it seems to be the case. She has a limited vocabulary though, here's a round up:
Japanese
word (english meaning): tesla pronunciation
moto (more): toto
hana (nose): nana
ashi (foot): ashi
teh (hand): teh
meh (eye): meh
kuchi (mouth): kuchi
zousan (elephant): zousan
uma (horse) uma
shu shu (going to the bathroom): shu shu
wau wau (doggie) wau wau
tori (bird): tori
gomi (trash [man]): gomi
shu shu (use the bathroom): shu shu
arigato (thank you) - gato
chodai (give me that) - dodai
isu (chair) - isu
ringo (apple) - lingo
English
no: no
uh oh: uh oh
Sofia: fia
banana: nana
apple: bapple
wash you hands: wash wash
water: wawa
meow meow (cat): mrau mrau
quack quack (duck): quack quack
Schnappi: bappi
pig: big
frog: fuk
book: book
flower: fower
chair: chehr
shirt: shoot
shoes: shoooooz
diaper: daipah
all done: all done!
door: door
juice: juice
thank you (but she uses it when she wants to give you something): tankoo
Tesla-ese
milk: gotsche
blankie: daiki
pillow: ba
She understands more words in both Japanese and English, but these are the ones she uses.
