A week in the life...

Posted by Melissa Baumgart

Just do it.

Highlights of This week:

• Monday - Really?  You think I remember what I did on Monday?
• Tuesday - Clinic from 8am-8pm.  Ran 5K
• Wednesday - STRENTH studio workout to "Ferdinand the Bull."  Every key word was associated with an exercise.  For example, every time she read the word "Ferdinand" we had to do 5 burpees.  Do you know how many times that word is in that book?  A Lot!  There were no breaks in story-time, and I thought that while the workout was creative, I was likely to not live to tell about it.
• Wednesday night - Levi's baseball game and got to see my brother!  Homework, homework, homework...until the wee hours of the night, close to 1am.
• Very early Thursday - Woke up at 3am to go to a birth.
• Thursday - Left birth at 8am.  Ran (actually, I drove) home to shower.  Clinic from 9am-6pm.  Meeting from 6pm-8pm.  Homework.  Bed.
• Friday - Meeting 9am-10am.  Cleaned the house and did laundry. (Well, really just kinda tidied house and now there's a mountain of laundry unfolded on my bed.  I seriously hope some fairy is back there folding it right now so I don't have to shove it all on the floor as I crawl into bed.)  Homework.  Ran 5K.

I think I did my best to squeeze in some me time this week.  It's not always easy.  And honestly, I probably spent hours each of those days on the computer not doing important tasks.  It was a full week (both emotionally and physically), and I can't believe it, but I feel really good right now.

Tomorrow, I wake up and run my first race since I was pregnant with Levi back in 2001.  Wish me luck!

John Darling Terry

Posted by Melissa Baumgart

Below is an article that recently appeared in the U.S. Army News about my great-great-grandfather.  It's long, but it really is a great story.  Hopefully it makes up for my lack of posting this month.  I plan on using this month as inspiration to get in my application to the DAR. (Daughters of the American Revolution)  I hope you enjoy reading a bit of my Terry family history...

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, April 5, 2013) -- A Union Army war hero and Medal of Honor recipient was recognized recently by the Army for brave and honorable service, when a past injustice to his record was corrected.

That Soldier's story begins in the early days of the Civil War.

In May 1861, young John Darling Terry left home in Montville, Maine, for Boston where, on the 23rd, he joined the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment. He was only 15.

Just a month before Terry enlisted, the Confederate guns had fired on Union defenders at Fort Sumter, S.C., signaling the opening volley of the Civil War.

The final chapter of Terry's story was not completed until nearly 150 years later.

This year, the highest echelon of Army record reviewers, the Army Board for Corrections of Military Records, or ABCMR, heard Terry's case and completed that work.

Robert "Bob" Haddon Terry, Terry's great grandson, was instrumental in providing critical documents, obtained from the National Archives, to the board for their review. Much of what follows is a result of his decade of diligent research.

Terry's service with the 1st was short-lived. His father notified the Army that his son was underage; so on July 5, just two months after he enlisted, Terry was discharged.

But he was persistent. On Sept. 5, 1861, just two days after turning 16, Terry joined the 23rd Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment, despite Army policy that a young man needed to be at least 18 to don the uniform.

Six months later, Terry would be tested in combat.

NORTH CAROLINA BATTLES

In March 1862, Terry arrived in North Carolina with the 23rd. Since many of his fellow Soldiers came from fishing towns along the New England coast, the Soldiers embarked on Union gunboats and attacked Confederate vessels and forts in a naval engagement and amphibious operation around Roanoke Island near the Virginia border.

Terry's gunboat blew up and his clothing caught fire. He jumped into the water to quell the flames, but survived with minor injuries. The Union forces were victorious.

On March 13, 1862, Brig. Gen. John G. Foster led the 23rd and sister regiments in battle against Confederate forces near the town of New Bern, in northeastern North Carolina.

During that epic battle, Terry was shot in the lower left leg, which later had to be amputated below the knee.

In 1882, Terry was interviewed by John S. Pierson for the book "Sabre and Bayonet: Stories of Heroism and Military Adventure." In one of the passages, Terry said:

"On the 13th day of March, 1862, the 23rd Regiment Mass. Vols., landed some 15 miles below Newbern, N.C., my arm still very sore and lame from a contused wound received in the fight at Roanoke Island, some few weeks before. Company E, in which I was a sergeant, was recruited in the old historic town of Plymouth, Mass., strong, healthy, robust young fellows, all of whom were accustomed to the management of boats, and therefore we were detailed to man the boats and disembark the regiment.

"I had charge of the vessel's 'cutter,' and worked very hard in order to make the most landings. After the regiment was all ashore we took up line of march by the right flank towards Newbern. It came on to rain very hard and the narrow road was in bad condition. Just before dark we went into bivouac in the woods, on the left of the road, having marched about 13 miles that day, very hungry, cold, wet, sore, and tired. My arms became very painful, and to sleep was entirely out of the question, and to make a fire was contrary to orders."

"Daylight, however, broke at last and with a little half cooked coffee and well soaked crackers, we were soon on our way to 'do or die,' and almost before we knew it, were under fire, shooting away for dear life. In going from the road into and up through a little ravine, column of fours, the Col. (John Kurtz) passed us and called to me to go with him. I had been acting as right general guide of the regiment. Soon afterwards the colonel ordered me to go down the rear line and find the lieutenant colonel."

"In obeying this order I saw that the regimental line was very ragged; everybody seemed to be all mixed up with one another, and badly scattered from their own companies. I sought out Company E. and found the men brave as young lions, but in bad order and no officer in command, captain wounded. I immediately reported these facts to the colonel, whereupon to my great astonishment and delight, he ordered me to go back and take command of the company. I did so, and succeeded in getting the men well up and together, and they very soon became steady as old veterans."

"We had been firing some little time when the lieutenant colonel came to me and asked if I saw a single gun (12 pounder) that the enemy had got out in front of Fort Thompson, this fort contained 12 guns. I answered him that I did. This single gun was doing our ranks great injury."

"The lieutenant colonel then asked me if I thought we could charge and take it. We charged, we got the gun, the very last shot from which, before we reached it, got me with seven other comrades, including the lieutenant colonel, killed. My foot was gone, and we were left on the field in very nearly the same spot as where we fell. Our regiment claimed this gun, and (Maj. Gen. Ambrose) Burnside ordered that it should remain with the regiment. Some days after the fight (and my foot had been amputated) Col. Kurtz and Gen. Burnside visited the hospital and the colonel told me that I should have a commission. I got that, and the Congressional Medal of Honor besides."

Terry's actual Medal of Honor citation is terse but telling: "In the thickest of the fight, where he lost his leg by a shot, still encouraged the men until carried off the field."

That would have been the end of the war for many, but Terry had different ideas.

He was sent to Lexington Army Hospital in New York City, where he was fitted with what was described as a wooden "peg leg." He remained in the hospital for rehabilitation, serving as the sergeant of arms until he was discharged as an "invalid" on March 20, 1863.

DRAFT RIOTS

While remaining in New York, Terry attempted to re-enter "active service." In July 1863, the notorious draft riots broke out. The protestors were angry at Lincoln and Congress for initiating a Civil War draft, since the war at that time was unpopular in many areas of the North.

Protestors took their anger out on African-Americans, killing an estimated 100. Police, augmented by Union Soldiers and volunteer militia, were called in to quell the riots.

Terry, now classified as an "invalid" by the Army, volunteered for service with the outnumbered military forces in New York City, where he was ordered by Maj. Gen. Harvey Brown "to deliver the muskets and ammunition to the Custom House and Post Office authorities for their defense," Terry wrote in a letter.

He continued: "I was assigned to command a body of convalescent Soldiers and ordered on guard duty in Gramercy Park by order of Gen. Brown, where, on the corner of 21st Street and Third Avenue, I was struck a severe blow over the left eye with a club by a rioter and was badly hurt. I was mentioned in orders issued by Gen. John A. Wool, for the 'Very signal service rendered.'"

It was on day three of the riots while reinforcements were arriving from the Battle of Gettysburg that Terry got word of his appointment as a lieutenant in the 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers.

Terry headed back south to New Berne to join with his new regiment.

The Army welcomed him back. Brig. Gen. Edward A. Wild did the honors of promoting Terry to first lieutenant in the 1st North Carolina, which was later renamed the 35th U.S. Colored Troops in February 1864.

The 1st North Carolina enlistees were former slaves from coastal Virginia and the Carolinas.

Wild too was an amputee, having lost his left arm at the Battle of South Mountain in Maryland.

Incidentally, Col. James Beecher, commander of the 1st North Carolina, was the half-brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the famous abolitionist and author of the influential novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin," a depiction of the lives of African-Americans slaves.

BATTLE OF OLUSTEE

In February 1864, the 1st North Carolina participated in the Battle of Olustee, just to the west of Jacksonville, Fla. Fighting alongside them were African-American Soldiers from the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, who had previously fought in the Battle of Antietam.

As an aside, men of the 54th were portrayed in the 1989 movie "Glory," based on the true story. The film, starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes and Morgan Freeman, was nominated for five academy awards.

Once again, the fighting was intense and Terry was in the thick of it. And once again a bullet struck his leg. Fortunately, the leg that was shattered was his peg leg.

On March 2, 1864, the Hartford Evening Press in Connecticut reported the engagement and Terry's ordeal:

"A lieutenant of the same regiment, who had lost a leg in an engagement in North Carolina, and who had supplied in its place with an artificial member consisting of a stout oaken peg, was present at this fight, and, a rebel sharpshooter put a bullet through his trousers leg and his wooden peg. He felt the blow but escaped the twinge of pain that generally accompanies the passage of a pellet through genuine flesh and muscle, and enjoying a keen sense of the ludicrous, he forgot the battle and its dangers, and gave way to the heartiest and most explosive laughter.

"He pushed along the line and approached the colonel, to whom, after a severe effort, he was able to communicate the cause of his mirth. Almost convulsed with laughter, he exclaimed, 'colonel! By George! The dammed rebels have shot me through the wooden leg! Ha! Ha! Devilish good joke on the fellows!' and he hobbled back to his position on the line, and chuckled to himself immensely over the sell [sic]."

Terry left the Battle of Olustee with his regiment in the trailing troops, who along with the survivors from the 54th, had to push a disabled train by hand for more than 10 miles back to Jacksonville. In the months that followed Terry was fitted with two new prosthetics in order to remain in the active service.

A week after Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on Palm Sunday 1865, President Lincoln was assassinated. Then on May 9, 1865, the war was officially declared over and on May 23, Terry accepted a promotion to captain by Brig. Gen. Rufus Saxton.

On Sept. 19, 1865, the Army withdrew Terry's promotion to captain, citing his disability and that a captain of a company is expected to march with his command and perform duty on foot with his men.

RECONSTRUCTION

On Sept. 23, 1865, Terry was assigned to Saxton's staff at the Freedmen's Bureau in Charleston, S.C. Creation of the Freedman's Bureau was initiated by Lincoln in March 1865, with the purpose of assisting freed slaves. The bureau was under the Department of War and played a major role in post-Civil War Reconstruction until it was disbanded in 1872.

In January 1865, Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman was said to have directed Saxton to provide families of freed slaves "40 acres and a mule" by order of the president.

In October 1865, Terry wrote a letter to a family friend, former New York state Sen. Preston King, asking that he look into restoring his rank to captain. Maj. Gen. John G. Foster, who heard the case, denied the senator's petition. King could not reply because he died shortly after receiving Foster's letter.

On Nov. 25, 1865, Terry submitted a letter of resignation, saying he didn't want to serve as a first lieutenant after having served as a captain. On Dec. 16, 1865, Terry had second thoughts about leaving the Army and withdrew his letter of resignation.

Terry was given a brevet promotion to captain on Feb. 21, 1866.

A brevet rank comes without the additional pay of the higher rank and exercise of authority is limited. The practice was common during the Civil War. For example, George Armstrong Custer was promoted to brevet major general but after the war his rank reverted to captain. He was later promoted to major and then lieutenant colonel and was later killed at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.

On Jan. 23, 1866, Terry was transferred to Headquarters, Department of the South, in Charleston, under command of Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles, who was still serving within the Freedman's Bureau.

Like Terry, Sickles lost a leg. It was shattered by a cannonball during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Terry was mustered out of the service on June 6, 1866, with the rank of first lieutenant. On June 22, 1867, the Army officially recognized Terry as a brevet major but his final rank remained first lieutenant.

After the war, Terry had a 50-year career at the Customs House in New York City as a deputy collector in the audit department and he also served as a clerk.

Terry, who was born in 1845, died on March 4, 1919 and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York, Plot: Section 141, Butternut Plot, Lot 14454.

POSTSCRIPT

Donald Terry MacLeod Jr., the great, great grandson of Terry and also Bob Terry's cousin, has a special interest in Terry. He said his grandmother shared memories with him about Terry, since she had conversations with him. She was 18 when he died.

"My grandmother told me that when they were children he would sit on the porch of their home in Westchester County, N.Y., and take off the wooden prosthesis and show it to them," said MacLeod. "He would also apparently bang it on the front steps and make them laugh. He supposedly joked that the South had bad aim because when they shot him in the leg the second time they hit the wooden leg."

MacLeod also shared his thoughts on America's evolving attitudes toward race.

"We do feel strongly that his rank of captain was withdrawn due to the change in attitude after Lincoln's death about the officers who were close to the former slaves and working for their good, masked of course by the premise that he couldn't function as a captain with his disability. This is a larger story that is only exemplified by what happened to John D," MacLeod said.

Bob Terry shared his thoughts as well, in a letter to the ABCMR.

"In a twist of irony, officers who became amputees such as Gens. Wild and Sickles were allowed to remain in service, but enlisted personnel were not," Terry's letter read. "Additionally, Maj. Gen. Foster obfuscated the issue because he not did attempt to revoke my great grandfather's commission, but decided simply to demote him from captain back to first lieutenant on the basis that my great grandfather could not possibly perform the duties of a captain with only one leg."

"Extensive records in the National Archives provide clear evidence that my great grandfather's commission was not fraudulent, that he was already serving honorably as a permanent captain at the time of his demotion, and that he performed admirably as a brevetted major after his demotion. Documentation also shows there was no attempt to hide his disability at the time of his permanent promotion to captain."

During an interview with Bob Terry, he echoed his cousin's thoughts on race as a factor, although Terry himself was not an African-American:

"The idea of correcting the record was his family carrying on a fight that we found he waged up until his death in 1919 to gain justice. The injustice was because John Darling associated with officers like Maj. (Martin) Delaney, the highest ranking black officer in the war and John's commander of the 104th U.S. Colored Troops; Maj. Gen. (David) Hunter and Wild, who recruited former slaves in South Carolina and North Carolina respectively for the Union Army; Saxton and Sickles, the latter who on Grant's recommendation replaced Saxton after President Johnson fired him for refusing to take back land grants awarded to freed slaves."

"My great grandfather and all these officers suffered greatly for the stands they took," he said. "But they stood for what was right and fought the war after the war in spite of having to sacrifice rank, position, and peace."

Bob Terry said as a result of his research, he feels for combat veterans today who are struggling from losses of limbs, other physical injuries, and mental wounds suffered years after.

"Terry lost his limb because he was left on the battlefield for five days and gangrene set in," Bob Terry said. "At the time, there was no ambulatory service and medical care that was provided was appalling by today's standards."

"Also, there was a stigma associated with being an invalid," he said. "But Terry refused to be labeled as such. He was offered positions in the artillery, home guard and even in the newly formed Invalid Corps. But he turned them all down, wanting instead to go back into the field where he would have to move about on his feet."

"I hope Terry's story will be an inspiration for vets who were injured and are struggling today."

ARMY REOPENS CASE

Based on evidence that Bob Terry, the great grandson obtained from the National Archives and elsewhere, the ABCMR ruled in favor of Terry.

"Our board has substantial authority and equity and we made the decision that Terry did in fact prove he could serve and lead from the front as a captain, even with the peg leg. Our board felt revocation of his promotion was unjust," said Conrad V. Meyer, director, ABCMR.

"Therefore the board determined that the evidence presented was sufficient to warrant relief and recommended all Army records be corrected by reinstating his permanent rank to captain."

EDITOR'S NOTE: Bob Terry and MacLeod welcome inquires and conversation about Terry. They have a lot more information about Terry and events surrounding his service and they plan to eventually put it all in a book. To get in contact with the two, send an email to arnews@dma.mil to ask for their contact information.

Jamie's in the kitchen!

Ran across this magazine while shopping for the class,
how appropriate!

Posted by Melissa Baumgart
I was determined to have the cooking lesson with Jamie last night.  Even though the gig he said was on Wednesday, turned out to be on Thursday!  The very night of our first lesson!  You know what?  He totally erased my marks on the chalkboard and wrote "Gig" in the same spot.  Oh no you don't, Jamie.  If his gig ended at 8:30pm, then our cooking lesson would begin at 9:00pm.

The lesson for "Spring Vegetable Garbure" began with Jamie reading through the recipe I had chosen.  After the first time through, he walked out of the kitchen looking bewildered.  I wan't quite sure if it was from the recipe or how late it had become.

Getting the goods.

"There were like four words that I have no idea what they are," said Jamie.  Yes, I supposed it was the recipe after all.  "Blanch, sachet, render?  What?" He shook his head.

I recommended he read it again and use to the cookbook to find out what those things meant.  The way the cookbook is set up, as many good cookbooks are, is there are notes referring you to other pages for resources or definition on what possible new terms might mean.

We started with sachet.  We found a recipe and an explanation for its use in the back of the book.

"Sachets are used to flavor cooking liquids.  A cheesecloth sachet encloses small herbs and spices such as peppercorns and cloves, and works like a tea bag.  Once the contents have added their flavors to the cooking liquid, the sachet can easily be removed and discarded."

What a good slicer!

The contents of our sachet were as follows:  1 bay leaf, 3 thyme sprigs, 10 black peppercorns, and 1 garlic clove, smashed. We made up two of those and moved onto some veggie chopping.  Keep in mind, it is around 11pm at this point.

Jamie was starting to fade, and his conviction to finish the soup before falling asleep was absent at this point.  I totally thought we could get it done, but didn't want his first lesson to wipe him out completely, so I obliged his desire to call it a night after copping the carrots and the leeks.

I demonstrated each cutting technique for the veggies; carrots thinly sliced, carrots cut obliquely and leeks chopped. Then Jamie set off to cutting.  His technique was spot on, but his slices were a little thicker than called for.  But, as I told him last night at the kitchen counter...better to have the technique down and to work on getting thinner.  That comes with practice and time.  The oblique cut was a new one for me too, and so we learned together.  The leeks went smoothly as well, I just made sure he knew that they can be quite a dirty vegetable, and you want to get all of that out so your whole soup isn't gritty and ruined.

Just look at that technique!

Before he was finished with those tasks, my younger two had awoken and need shepherded back to bed.  It almost goes without saying that I never got back up, as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out for the night.

So, although, we will not get to Lesson Plan 2 tonight since we will be finishing Lesson 1, we will have worked in two nights of cooking class this week.  And I am very thankful for that.  I can't wait to try the finished product tonight! We only have 6 more veggies to cut and blanch and quickly get into an ice bath...not to mention assembling the whole soup and broth situation.  And I didn't forget the bread...maybe I'll go get that started for him now.

No, no, no.  That's exactly what I do, I step in to "help" and in doing so, take away his ability to learn.  I will not do that this time.  Even if we do break bread way past dinner time.

Tackling other priorities

Posted by Amy Baranski

After the one fly casting class I took earlier this month at Greenlake (read Melissa's summary) I quickly realized I wasn't going to fish in May. It's not that I didn't want to go fishing. I had a blast learning how to cast. It felt great to be out early in the morning trying something new with a fun group of women. Interest wasn't  an impediment to trying this new thing.

So what gives? I've had other things on my mind. Like having a baby! This month has been full of baby planning and other fun. Here's a quick run-down of things I've been doing instead of fishing:

Mariners games! We got free tickets for the Cinco de Mayo game because of some Opening Day snafus. I love springtime at the ball park, and so does Baby!

Master gardener clinics and volunteering! This spring I've spent time working at two of my Master Gardener posts--the Cesar Chavez demonstration garden and the Arboretum Plant Clinic. I even committed a new botanical name to memory - Ceanothus, commonly known as the California Lilac. Bees love this plant! 

Book-themed baby shower! Hosted by my mom and sister. Read my sister's blog about planning the details. Those cupcakes were delicious and the theme of the party helped us start building a beautiful collection of books for Baby. I can't wait for story time! I also got to spend some time with my luvable cuddable nephews!

Childbirth class with  local childbirth educator Penny Simkin! Penny is an outstanding, balanced, and evidence driven educator. Talk about contributing your life's work to the good, this woman's got it going on! Her books Pregnancy and the Newborn and The Birth Partner are worth checking out if you're expecting.

Planting tomatoes! Memorial Day weekend is the time to plant those tomato starts. I decided to cloche some of mine since the weather can be a bit unpredictable here. But I left some uncovered just to see how each will do. Unfortunately I waited a bit too long before planting them so I significantly stressed my starts before finally transplanting. Oh well.

Beekeeping! Every single sunny day in the spring is so important for the bees and the beekeeper! I tagged along for a few days and helped my husband inspect the hives. I'm the designated picture taker. It was hot underneath our long sleeved shirts and bonnets, but oh so worth every moment.

Working on unfinished projects! Remember that pallet garden? Well I got really far and then I stalled out on the easiest part--planting the starts. In a week I'll be calling on my brawn to lift the garden to its upright position. But I think it will look much better next year. Ouch that was an expensive project. The starts totaled $

Celebrating love! Friends of ours got married this past weekend. We had planned to be out of town on a little road trip but canceled at the last moment because we were too tired to travel and too stressed with work to not work overtime. (Huh? I know!) So we crashed the wedding, which was a total tear-jerker. Ah love.

There were other adventures of course but those were the highlights. Would I have rather been fishing? Not really. April and May are the months for gardening and getting the bees off to a good start. Now we know that spring time will always be abuzz in my house. I'm looking forward to the coming years and living more according to the seasons.

I am looking forward to the onset of summer, the slowing down before Baby comes, and Baby's arrival. I'm feeling really picky and choosy about how I spend time outside of work hours. I think it's important to listen to those instincts and to build a strong cocoon that will keep my creative energy warm and safe and able to transition into a new form of life.

It takes love, not fear

Nettles, one of the many herbal teas
Dora Rare learned about in the book,
The Birth House

Posted by Melissa Baumgart
It's about time to tackle that fridge and freezer and get them all cleaned out and organized.  And it should be time I get my butt back to a water aerobics class.  But I have been consumed since yesterday with two things.  One is my statistics project, where my study partner and I compared the likelihood of breast feeing among populations of women that gave birth vaginally and women that gave birth via a C-section.  The other is the book I finished today, The Birth House.  I feel so alive; I can feel joy and satisfaction expanding in my chest where my heart resides, as I have been living and working with these two "projects."

The first, the statistics project, overtook me with a fevered pitch of internet research.  I found a "Breastfeeding Report Card" issued by the CDC (Center for Disease Control) in 2011 and discovered that there is a push to increase breastfeeding rates by 2020.  I was impressed, and admittedly a bit skeptical.  I don't know why, I guess I have some inner dialogue that tells me my government isn't actually every going to do anything truly healthy for its people.  What a pessimist.

In our small sample of 133 women, we found that the rates of women that give birth vaginally and are still breastfeeding at 6 months was quite a lot higher than the national average (this included all births, not just vaginal), which is 44.3%   We found that 76% of the women we surveyed, regard less of how they gave birth, breastfed for at lest 6 months.  And that the rates were fairly equal among both ways of birthing.  

I scoured the internet further.  I found loads of studies on the government's WIC (Women Infants and Children) program and the drastically low breastfeeding rates of the recipients of those benefits, regardless of WIC's claims that it overwhelmingly supports breastfeeding.  I am not shocked to find out that the infant formula triopoly of Mead-Johnson, Ross and Carnation all contribute to the fact that WIC has a dependency on rebates from formula companies to fund a portion of the program.  And I wonder why I question our government!

The second, the book, the lovely book I found on a random shelf at Value Village on President's Day.  It takes place in Scots Bay, Nova Scotia in the early 1900's, and revolves around the main character, Dora Rare.  She is sent to live with the old witchy midwife of the small rural town where she learns all of her skills and secrets about women and babies.  There is drama around a new maternity center in a more cosmopolitan town nearby and the Dr. that runs it.  The reader learns of the drastic difference between the way Dora learned to help women through birth, and the twilight sleep and forceps used by the all knowing Dr. Thomas.

As I was sitting in the café at school today, finishing The Birth House, I unexpectedly felt tears rolling down my cheeks.  It wasn't that the ending was sad, like the last books I have read.  It was that the ending was so heartwarming.  Miss Dora Rare, after having been through so much, finally comes to a place where she is able to assist mothers in the way she had been trained.  I read on, as she lays out the simple rules of her birth house:

• No woman or child shall be turned away.
• No payment shall be required.
• No idle gossip or cruel words shall cross the threshold.
• No one may attend a birth unless requested by the mother.
• Mother and child (or children) shall stay in confinement for at least nine days after birth, or until the mother's been churched.
• Well-wishers may not enter unless the mother approves.
• The mother's home must be clean and tidy, her house-hold chores looked after, and supper enough for a week must be waiting for her when she returns home.

Now that's what I am talking about.  I bet all those women breastfed their babies, and if they couldn't, some one else did it for them.  Now I am not saying this is the way for everyone, but Dora Rare and the women of Scots Bay sure were on to something.  And that something is honoring women enough to allow them to birth in the way they choose.  It means trusting that each woman will instinctually know what her baby needs, that we should stay quiet enough to let her figure it out, while offering just enough love and support to make that process as stress free as possible.  It takes love, not fear.

"The world will know and understand me someday.  But if that day does not arrive, it does not greatly matter.  I shall have opened the way for other women."  -George Sand

Hot Tubs, Moldy Towels and The Birth House

Posted by Melissa Baumgart

A Weekend Away.
I had the pleasure of going to the Oregon Coast this past weekend.  Our dear friends (and GLWT reader number uno) hosted us at their beach house just south of Astoria, OR.  I loved every minute of it, from driving through the old town where the Goonies was filmed, the windy walk down to witness the mighty Pacific Ocean, the sauna, the breakfast of seasonal frittata and dinner of dungeness crab to catching up in front of the fire after the kids were tucked in bed.  So, no, I did not do any water aerobics this past weekend.  Not unless you count raising my glass while relaxing in the hot tub as a form of excersize.


My Pool is Closed.
It's a bummer, Green Lake's Evans Pool is closed for two weeks.  I am hugely disappointed, since that was my favorite place for water aerobics in Seattle.  I just don't know if I'll find another spot that fills me up, emotionally and physically, like that one.  If you know of one, I am all ears.  And in case you weren't aware, I prefer my water aerobics in the deep end with lots of old people.

Project Simplify is on.

I don't even use half of this stuff.

Last week, Amy started a challenge that has to do with organizing.  Amy found a blog, Simple Mom, and she does a decluttering/organizing project every March.  She sets up guidelines and helps you to focus on one "hot spot" in need of attention in your home every week.  When I first read Amy's post, I cringed.  Organizing and cleaning used to be my thing, until kids.  I suppose I still do OK in the category, but for me, with these things, it's like I either do it really well or I throw in the towel.  Consider my towel thrown, so long ago, it's probably in some cluttered recess of my closet growing the mold that is giving me allergies and my leg rash.  Now when I hear about other people "organizing" my ego takes it as a personal blow.  Like someone just plastered my old moldy towel on the cover of US magazine next to Snooki's baby bump.  


My weekend away was spent with a friend of mine that excels in the organizing and cleaning categories of life.  Every closet or drawer I opened was a new challenge.  How do I feel good about my personal flaws in the face of perfection?  Well, believe me, it is hard for a Virgo woman.  Hell, it might be hard for any woman, if they are being honest.  It wasn't until I got home that it really hit me, when I was faced with all the clutter and disorganization and mess of my own space.  I walked through my door with a smile on my face from all the fun, and quickly discovered an uncomfortable chip on my shoulder, longing for the neat and orderly me of yesteryear.

The wretched container cupboard. 

Instead of wallowing in my imperfections, I decided to move through my cringing and right on into Project Simplify.  It feels like less of a To-Do list for me, and more like some kind of intense exposure therapy.  Let's just hope it goes better than my trip to the mountainside.  Although, I wouldn't rule out a few tears being shed.

This week is going to be spent tackling the kitchen.  I love cooking, so this is an area I spend a lot of time in.  I figure it is a good place to start.  I have agreed to three things for the week:

1. Cleaning out my fridge and freezer.  This means getting rid of things I don't use, no matter how healthy and good they are for me.  If I don't use them, they are doing no good.
2. Organizing my containers, plastic and otherwise.  This cupboard is out of control.  I can get it all tidy in the afternoon, and by nightfall it is a complete mess.  I am going to also find a way to keep it tidy.  My recent purchase of a Martha Stewart magazine on organizing says, "Staying organized is an ongoing process; if something isn't working well for you, change the process until it is."  That is my goal for this cupboard.
3. Making a meal plan and sticking to it.  I used to do this and it always felt so good.  Knowing that all the fresh, healthy food in my fridge is going to be used and not found rotten two weeks later is always a good feeling.    

Reading more.

I have continued to read, since last month sparked my love for reading.  I am not reading at the same pace as last month, but I am working through a 400+ page book, The Birth House by Ami McKay.  It takes place in the early 1900's and is about a woman that apprentice's with an old granny midwife and has to cope with medical technologies like twilight sleep being offered to the women of her rural town.  She has to walk the delicate line between being a good wife in the context of the culture she was raised in, and following her calling, which is serving women, not her husband's needs.

I am really enjoying it and I feel a strong sense of reading the right book at the right time.

Until next time.  And please, consider checking out a water aerobics class near you.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
-Melissa

A new chapter

Posted by Amy Baranski

Dear readers

I've been carrying around an heirloom tomato-sized secret for the past four months. It recently grew that big. It was skittle-sized, then proportioned like a strawberry, and lime-sized before that. In addition to the three books I've completed for Read a Book a Week month I've had some other literature on my mind. I'm sure you can see why.

Perhaps our 2012 list of things to do, and it's order, will make perfect sense to you now. This month was about reestablishing good reading habits. A love of books and reading is something my husband and I share, and we know that where we might lack in other areas that's one gift we can always give our child. Many moons ago we ditched our television in pursuit of listening to more music, playing games, having conversation, and reading. It's been hard! And, we're both really going to miss watching the Tour de France in real-time this year.

Read a Book a Week month has been very inspirational, even if I did quit one of my books. I feel great about having completed three in 29 days, and today I am starting my fourth which is Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. When I was 23, Abhijit, a co-worker of mine took me to a second hand book store and bought me 10 books that he felt important for me to read. This is an excellent gift for a 23 year-old. A collection of Ray Bradbury novels was one of them. I  plan to continue reading as much as possible throughout this pregnancy, and beyond. Navigating sleepless nights and busy schedules will be an adventure that will hopefully allow us to continue reading and growing together.

It has been asked multiple times: Did you think about doing Have a Baby month on the list this year? Of course! I just couldn't give up tennis.

My blog partner was very accommodating in designing this year's schedule, thank you Melissa. So, now I join the ranks for the mommy blog-o-sphere! God help us all.

In all seriousness, giving birth is one of the biggest adventures of my life, and I couldn't be more thrilled.

I have experienced such an outpouring of love from so many people that helped form my life--such as my mother, who bawled like a baby when I told her the news, and my sister, who is over the moon with baby shower themes and ideas and sisterly support, to my nephew Ty who tells me repeatedly that he loves me, (and that he like my baby too), not to mention my father and brother who gleam with the Baranski pride in their eyes when they see me. There is so much love, it's humbling, and I've only mentioned just a very few people who have been supportive. There's a whole party going on over at my Facebook page at the moment and it's very humbling and heart warming. I hope you can share in my joy.

If you're new to this blog: my friend and I try to step out of our comfort zone by trying something different each month. Read our list for 2012.

...ponderous weight of wisdom

The sea @ the Jersey Shore.

Posted by Melissa Baumgart
The Awakening was a lovely read.  It was interesting enough to hold my attention, short enough to fit into my week without overwhelming my list of things to do, and sentimentally reminded me of my college literature days.  Kate Chopin writes in a way that I used to love to read in college, with symbolism that you can dissect during a good class.  And I loved when I found myself with the right teacher to guide the discussions, yet without too many directives, so as to not steal the student's fresh ideas away from them.

One of my favorite passages was at a point when Edna Pontellier (her name sounded so marvelous as I read it with a French accent silently in my head, heaven forbid I try to utter it aloud) is realizing there is something changing within her.  She is not only realizing it, but accepting it, opening herself to it.  It is something far deeper and broader than the infidelity the book synopsis spoke of.

She is beginning to come into her own person, her own woman, and from this point on she grows more and more beautiful, both outwardly and debatably inwardly.  The debate occurs depending on whether you think a woman has her place in the world, or she creates her place as she sees fit.

Here is the passage:

EDNA Pontellier could not have told why, wanting to go to the beach with Robert, she should have in the first place declined, and in the second place have followed in obedience to one of the two contradictory impulses with impelled her.

A certain light was beginning to dawn dimly in her, -the light which, showing the way, forbids it.

At that early period to served to bewilder her.  It moved her to dreams, to thoughtfulness, to the shadowy anguish which had overcome her in the midnight when she had abandoned herself to tears.

In short, Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to  realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her.  This may seem like a ponderous weight of wisdom to descend upon the soul of a young woman of twenty-eight - perhaps more wisdom than the Holy Ghost is usually pleased to vouchsafe to any woman.

But the beginning of things, of a world especially, is necessarily vague, tangled, chaotic, and exceedingly disturbing.  How few of us ever emerge from such a beginning!  How many should perish in its tumult!

The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in the abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation.

The voice of the sea speaks to the soul.  The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.

This passage is on page thirteen, and Chopin has beautifully written the book so that it allows the reader nearly one hundred more pages of being with Edna on this journey.  There is no rush, life does not allow for the process of self discovery to unfold with any quickness.  I can only imagine what it must have been like to read this as a woman in the late 1800's.  Or to have had the courage to be a character like Edna Pontellier during that time period.

Whether you agree with her choices or not, she certainly maintained an aura of courageousness.

I highly recommend this book.  It has a fantastic ending...but I refuse to give it away.  You'll simply have to read it yourself.

One more day of February left, I wonder if I can fit in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck today and tomorrow, to make it 4 books for the month.   It is 106 pages.

-Melissa

When to quit reading a book

Posted by Amy Baranski

Call me a quitter, a slacker, a blank--I don't care. I quit reading Shop Class as Soul Craft and I'm not picking it up again.

My husband's Good Reads review of it tells me what I need to know. Besides I'm not going to figure out the new direction of my life's work by reading this book--my expectations were too high. And do I really need some PhD-turned-craftsman's pseudo thesis-style book disguised with a cool title dissecting the value of the working class in which I grew up? I think not. I got 20 pages in, now I'm out.

But I wouldn't quit that piece of fiction you might be working if you're not at least 50-70 pages in. Because you are so close to 100, which is already a half, third, or quarter of the way through. That's my new rule. I'm not sure what the rule for non-fiction is. I suppose I'll have to try another and see how long I last.

So now I'm 72 pages into The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The Alchemist is also from my ridiculous stack of unread books. It's actually a book that someone asked me to give to someone I went to college with as a graduation present, and I never did. That was a LONG time ago. It's been sitting on my shelf all these years. I tried to pick it up once. But, I usually stray from anything that wreaks of moral high-ground or is explicitly about following your moral compass. We have the bible, and or the great religious texts for those stories. But this time with the Read a Book a Week challenge I needed something doable (so I could potentially squeeze in two more books to reach my four book quota for the month) by the 29th. Thank God it's leap year!

So far I'm liking it. The storytelling kind of reminds of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince. And I'll probably knock it off the list today since I have a few hours of free time (thank God for personal time on a Saturday and Sunday -- I'm going to miss that someday!)

So, if you're quitting a book to pick up and finish another one, consider yourself absolved. I do.

Reading The Awakening

Posted by Melissa Baumgart
I chose a new book.  I am leaving Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy behind for now.  Perhaps I will still finish it, but it might take me a bit more time than a week.  Like when I read All the Pretty Horses.  I thought about giving up on it, since it was taking so long to get through, but I stuck it out and ended up finding so much beauty within those pages.  As for TTSS, I am simply taking a break, coming back later to discover its beauty.

The book I am reading now is The Awakening by Kate Chopin.  It was recommended by GLWT reader and my dear friend, Erin, in her comment when entering our sweepstakes last month.  As I was browsing through the books at the Value Village in Capitol Hill, I happened across the title.  It was a thin book, and so I picked it up.

I read this description on the back of the book:

When first published in 1899, The Awakening shocked readers with its honest treatment of female marital infidelity.  Audiences accustomed to the pieties of late Victorian romantic fiction were taken aback by Chopin's daring portrayal of a woman trapped in a stifling marriage, who seeks and finds passionate physical love outside the straitened confines of her domestic situation.

Aside form its unusually frank treatment of a then-controversial subject, the novel is widely admired today for its literary qualities.  Edmund Wilson characterized it as a work "quite uninhibited and beautifully written, which anticipates D.H. Lawrence in its treatment of infidelity."

Although the theme of marital infidelity no longer shocks, few novels have plumbed the psychology of a woman involved in an illicit relationship with the perception, artistry and honesty that Kate Chopin brought to The Awakening.

Shocking, daring, honest and controversial.  I was won over.  Given the number of pages, 116 compared to the 382 of my last book, and the recommendation as well as the description, how could I not choose this book next?

I have read eleven pages thus far.

What I like: You definitely get a feel for the time and place, the late 1800's and at a summer resort outside of New Orleans.  While current literature and media may throw infidelity at us left and right, numbing our reaction to the plethora of indecencies, reading The Awakening brings a level of purity to the reader's perception.  You get a sense for how "wrong" it was then.  Whether it happened as much as it does now is a moot point, for it is within the views of the society in which you live that that you find the shocking quality.  Current media still plays upon the drama of infidelity, but with an underlying thread of inevibility.

What I do not like:  Coming across words like befurbelowed.  "Children, freshly befurbelowed, were gathering for their games under the oaks."  What the hell does that mean?  Jamie and I had a ball with that word last night, using it willy-nilly in various sentences, and thinking about trying to use it out and about in the world the next day.  It was so fun (OK, so I didn't really not like this part after all) that I don't know if I even want to know what the definition really is.

I looked it up.  As far as I could see online, it is not defined by any dictionary.  I did find this answer on ChaCha, a Q&A website that I have never seen before, "Befurbelowed ? Furbelows are flounces or elaborate trim on a dress or shirt. Befurbelowed means to be dressed up in particularly fancy clothes."
So, have fun with that one.  We kinda like how it sounds like Beefer the way we pronounce it.  "Beefer-bellowed"  he-he

Have fun reading!
Melissa

  

Mission Aborted

"And that's how Wacky Wednesday began."
This really is the page where
Tallulah's bookmark was found this morning.

Posted by Melissa Baumgart
My family walked to the library yesterday.  It was Tallulah's second time using her first library card, which meant she was returning her first library books.  The fact that these books were returned before the due date is a Baumgart Family Miracle.  The fact that she read all of these books is also quite impressive.  As Lily checked her books out, she was informed of some late fees (see what I mean), which she responsibly paid with her own money.  I watched from behind a shelf of books, wondering if I should be walking up to offer my motherly, if not monetary, help.

When I got to the self-checkout a bit later, the librarian popped over to my station.  I was ready to offer some excuse for our fines, or apologize for my kids being too loud.  But instead she offered this observation, "I just want to share with you that your children are very polite.  You oldest daughter was so responsible and mature, handling her late fees and talking with me when she checked out.  And she's so beautiful, she really rocks that short hair cut."  We joked some about the fact that my middle-schooler doesn't seem to be experiencing any awkward stage like those of us nearing forty painfully remember going through.  And I thanked her for sharing, since on my end, as the mother, I don't always get to see that side of my own children.

Should I have chosen something...easier?  More fun?

I can tend toward hands off parenting.  Sometimes I wonder if I should help more, like when I was watching Lily check out, and saw Levi walking to find me to get one more dollar for his sister to pay her fine.  But I think this allows them to discover their autonomy and independence.  To have interactions in a safe environment with adults that allows them to learn about the world they live in, firsthand.  Oh, and by the way, Levi returned with the dollar a few minutes later, "Lily didn't need this after all.  So, I am going to keep it, OK?"  "No," I replied and snatched it back.  See, this is the version of my kids I get to see.  

When we got home, Tallulah sat down to read and in one evening, my six-year-old read more than I did this past week.  By bedtime she had read "more than she had not read" (as she put it) of The Big Green Book of Beginner Books, by Dr. Seuss.  She read 138 pages.  I have been stuck at 72 pages for the past five days.

I woke up at 1am last night and sleepily made my way down our long hallway to the bathroom.  I heard something and turned to see Lily.

"What are you doing up, sweetie?"

"Oh, I am just going to bed.  I was reading that pink and green book I got from the library and I couldn't stop reading it so I finished the whole thing."

 "Wow, OK, well, get to bed," is what I said, half asleep.  But what I was thinking was, "Damn, both of my girls are showing me up today."

It is now Wednesday morning.  I did not read Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.  I did not finish any book this past week.  I am left with a choice.  Do, I trudge on through and attempt to finish the book I started?  Or do I pick something more fun and easy?  And sometimes, it is hard to know what will be fun and easy.  I know a friend that loved this spy book.

The truth is, this past week, I chose studying for school and being a mom over the blog.  Sure, if the book had been easier and more to my liking, I would have done all three things.  I typically do.  But this past weekend, Jamie was away at a silent meditation retreat and instead of reading all weekend, I chose to study some each day and spend the rest having fun with the kids.

We went to the Burke Museum, went bowling, found some supplies for a paper mâché solar system, shopped for ingredients for homemade ricotta cheese (we learned how to make it at a demonstration while at the museum), among many other things.  Lily and her BFF made us dinner Sunday night: fresh pasta pesto lasagna with homemade ricotta, caprese salad, breadsticks, and almond cake.  I even made an exception to my Healthival exemptions and ate everything!  It was all soooo delicious, especially the cake.  Just this morning I was still thinking about how happy I was that I chose to eat the cake.

Oh, and I even got to reconnect with a friend over tea.  It really was a lovely weekend.  So, to be honest, I don't feel all that bad (Not that I think you think I should, it's just that I usually think I should.  Feel bad, that is.) about the reading being left out.  I feel like I made my choice, with no excuses or regrets, and sometimes that is what we all must do.

How is all of your reading going?  Are you sailing along?  Or are you finding that you, too, need to make some choices when reality stands in your face?

Happy Wacky Wednesday!
-Melissa

Book Number 3 Competing Priorities

Posted by Amy Baranski

For my third book I've chose a piece of non-fiction, Shop Class as Soul Craft by Matthew B. Crawford, that was once in a heap of books belonging to my husband. The title caught my attention. I think I was romanced by the last two syllables "soulcraft." It's subtitled An inquiry into the value of work. I've often explained to friends, co-workers, anyone that will listen, that my most rewarding job was one in which I was working with my hands. This book, at least by title,seemed like it would address the struggle I feel as a knowledge worker who feels a contradictory and deep seeded primal desire need in me to make art or anything with my hands. I think that's why I enjoy the process of cooking so much. It allows me to create with my hands, away from the computer and abstract ideas, and work with tangible and raw materials.

So on one hand I feel a great importance and value in finishing this book. It doesn't feel like reading for pleasure. It feels like reading to better understand the human condition and my role in society.

Although it ironically comes off a bit academic-y, given that it's about valuing work outside the ivory tower, it has potential. But I'm in a bit of a pickle because I didn't start reading this book until a few days ago, and even then I've only handled about 10 pages at a time, versus 42. Last night, my husband suggested I take on a piece of young adult fiction just to meet the Read a Book a Week requirement. But I stared him down explaining the month's exercise was to stop setting down books that I've picked up and letting them collect dust for months on the bedroom floor near my nightstand. The point was to carry on with it and meet the deadline. I just don't know if it's feasible today. I still have loads of work to do, a trip to the bank ahead of me, dishes to wash, dinner to plan, weekly grocery shopping, and a slough of emails to respond to from friends and family. This week, or at this moment, I keep telling myself that I must be guided by my list of priorities (and yes I keep that list tacked to my wall updated daily). So, maybe I'll conk out and read a smaller, easier, more enjoyable book just to feel like "I did it" for the blog. Or maybe I'll extend this book into next week and try for a fourth book later on. I'm not sure yet what I'll do.

So on the other hand I feel a great importance in facing the facts of meeting personal goals beyond this blog that may help me better understand my own human condition and change my role in society.

Reading Ishmael Pt. 2

Posted by Amy Baranski

On Friday, my husband and I escaped Seattle for the great Pacific Ocean. One of our favorite spots, a place we've returned to year after year, that’s located on the Olympic Peninsula. Getting here feels like traveling to the far reaches of earth. I love everything about it, except Weyerhaeuser.

The peninsula, rich with ancient cultures and still home to indigenous peoples, has a vast and unparalleled beauty. The traditions of the Makah, the Quileute, and the Quinault, to name a few, date back thousands of years. These first nations still practice ancient traditions such as fishing, now in motorized vessels, and hospitality to foreigners, now with resorts and RV parks. And ancient ways, in the ancient forms, are still alive. You can experience them and learn more by joining in weekend-long celebrations that honor Native American heritage or by simply talking to tribal members to learn more.

The reason I bring up indigenous cultures is because of Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. I finished Ishmael last week as my second book during our Read a Book a Week challenge this month. Ishmael imparts an ecological urgency for humankind to change its current course which is doomed. Quinn stages his story as a conversation, in the Socratic Method, between a man and a teacher. Ishmael, the teacher, sits behind a large Plexiglas window and takes the shape of a giant ape that munches on leafy branches while bemused by the intellectual density of his pupil—a man.

Ishmael guides his student through an epistemological and anthropological journey to understand how we know what we know and what pivotal cultural events have led us to the brink of our current ecological demise. Quinn penned the first draft in 1977. After many revisions it finally published as a novel in 1990. That’s when I was ten and before the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was discovered in the North Pacific Gyre. It’s 2012, and there are now five garbage patches in different oceans around the world.

Ishmael, who doesn't know about the Pacific Trash Vortex, but can account for other frightening man-made environmental disasters, theorizes that during human evolution (which continues today) home sapiens split into two groups. Each group has enacted a different story, based on cultural norms and epistemological values. Ishmael calls one group the takers and the other the leavers. Ishmael argues the taker offshoot began in 8,000 BC, during the beginning of the agricultural revolution. Leaver culture began long before, and continues as a minority culture found in the practices of indigenous peoples.

In short, taker culture requires humans to take more than they've had in the past and hold dominion over the earth. Leaver culture requires humans to limit consumption and leave enough to satisfy the competing needs of other organisms to achieve a balance in nature. Takers view themselves outside of nature while leavers don’t make that separation. Ishmael says this difference comes from variant creation mythologies between the two groups. He details the stories of Adam’s fall and the Tree of Knowledge and the conflict between Cain and Abel in the book of Genesis. How we interpret these stories influences the dominant themes and customs of each culture.

Getting to Ishmael’s central argument feels tedious to the pupil, and a bit to this particular reader. He spends a lot of time discussing population explosions in relation to food production—as manufactured by methods born out of the agricultural revolution. Ishmael and Quinn want their student and reader to have hope. The message is, even though there’s much to be pessimistic change can happen at a greater speed than ever before.

There’s a lot more to the book, and in some ways the story feels a bit dated but in others it holds merit. Although Ishmael pales in comparison to one of the greatest environmental books ever written, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, it’s still worth picking up as an interesting thought-experiment.

I spent the better part of the weekend immersed in nature listening to the boom of the surf, watching bald eagles buzz the tree line and a nearby kite, searching for the periscope necks of harbor seals, beach combing for sea glass, and leapfrogging over drift wood. At a glance the environment appears in balance here, but beneath the surface lies another truth.

(Not) Reading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Posted by Melissa Baumgart

Me, reading last week's book, and having
some Æbleskiver.
(Although, it has wheat and sugar, so I
didn't actually eat any.)

The New Book-of-the-Week
I feel like I am just reading words.  Like this book is in another language, and words after words keep logging into the spaces of my brain, but not congealing into anything that makes a lick of sense.  Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carré is my third book this month.  After the reading success of my previous two weeks, I am feeling defeated as I am on the 4th day of this book and I have barely read 30 pages.  Maybe, after I get 50 more pages in, it will all start making sense.  That is if I remember any of these words I keep reading and rereading.  A big IF.

The Theme
I love a theme.  I don't know if I was always this way, but I noticed it cropping up when I hosted dinner parties.  If I am making Indian food, then it is all Indian, and as authentic as I can manage.  I love to find some Indian music and perhaps a drink from the country to add to the flavor.  Recently, at our Mother-Daughter book club, the host made Æbleskiver (a Danish donut kind of thing) because the book we read took place in Denmark.  I felt right at home, even thought I am not Danish nor do I think I could ever remember how to pronounce the sweet treat's name.

This is all to say, I created a theme for myself with the books.  I decided to read all books that had been made into movies.  I heard that my friend's teenage daughter scoffed a bit at my "movie" books, wondering if that is all I read.  I do read other books, actually besides one, I don't think I have read any other movie books. (Probably because I have not read many books at all.)  Right now, I wish I had picked any other book than the movie book I have next to my keyboard.

The worst part: it turns out reading books and then going to see the movie almost always sucks.  Jamie and I went to see The Descendants this week.  I was really, really looking forward to it.  We both were, because he had read the book too, and loved it.  Loved the BOOK, let's just be really clear about this.

We did NOT love the movie.  Within the first 30 seconds I was done.  The main character's wife is in a coma, and in the book her name is Joanie.  I grew to really like her name, it fit her personality, and I felt a little like I knew Joanie as they author took you back in time, before the accident.  Well, then there goes Goerge Clooney up on the big screen, playing Matt King, Joanie's husband, and what does he call her?  Elizabeth!  Really?  WTF is wrong with the name Joanie?

Beyond that, there were glaring differences, touching and important scenes left out and poor casting.  The best actor in the whole movie was the grandma that had dementia.  I have heard that people who have not read the book really liked the movie.  I say, good for you.  But I am glad I read the book, even if it meant having to sit through that terrible movie.

I doubt I'll even try to see the movie version of Extremely Loud & Incredible Close.  Even though everyone I know loves it.  After my Descendants experience, I seriously cannot imagine the brilliance of Foer's novel standing up to a screen version.

The Screen Diet
I have been true to my word on the screen diet.  I have seriously cut back on screen time.  I do find it difficult to keep track.  I wonder if there is a screen time version of a pedometer.  Keeping track of every blink of your online steps.  I suppose I could practice statistics by gathering information for my browsing history.  That sounds fun.

The phone is a tempting ground for cheating on my diet.  I have Facebook, email, Twitter...all of it right there letting me know every time something new has occurred.  It is harder to not pretend to myself that it doesn't count to check in real quick on my social media world via my phone.

The phone is always there.  Even in the car.  Just the other day, I *very softly* rear ended someone at a red light after I had looked at the photo on the screen saver for my phone.  I wasn't even doing anything with the phone while actually driving.   But glancing down at it at a red light was enough for me to be distracted, and not realize the person in front of me slammed on their brakes just after the light turned green.

The screen diet has been a catalyst to me making a commitment to not look at my phone in the car.  I am embarrassed to say that it is proving to be difficult.  But perhaps not as difficult as reading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.  Can't I just rent the TV series from the video store up the street and call it good?

Well, I won;t do that, so wish me good luck in finishing this spy book.  Why in the world did I pick a spy book from the 70's?  I think people who know me are probably wondering the same thing.

-Melissa

Reading Ishmael Pt. 1

Posted by Amy Baranski

It's Valentine's and I'm cozied up to a warm cup of Midnight Blue tea listening to Life in a Glasshouse by Radiohead at Victrola. It's perfect.

Reading Ishmael at the Broadview branch library.

I finished Ishmael today.

What an interesting and completely unexpected book. I knew next to nothing about it before picking it up. My friend Christina gave it to me in 2008. A couple years later, when a writing professor from Valparaiso was staying at our house, it came up in conversation. She eyed it on our big bookshelf and said her students often talked it up in class. She was curious what the fuss was as all about. I told her I'd read about 10 or so pages and wasn't compelled to read further. Thus making it, even two more years later, an excellent candidate for Read a Book a Week month.

When I posted on Facebook that I was currently reading Ishmael I received some interesting comments from a cluster of people I've met at during different decades of my timeline, people whom I have admired, and who know nothing of each other:

• "I read it for the first time in high school shortly after it came out. it held up pretty well shortly after college but I have since read some of his other books and he has one really good argument. But I am not sure it can really sustain more than one book. Ishmael is by far the best."
• "I love Ishamel!!!! I read that in high school! Oh I love that book!"
• "Read that many moons ago! Such a good one!"

Melissa, or perhaps it was Jamie, offered that Ishmael was one of those books that develops a cult following like the Celestine Prophecy or The Secret. I wondered what I had gotten myself into. 

Then Melissa sent me a email asking what kind of book was I reading. Her email contained a link to an article published in the Christian Science Monitor: "My Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn: Why did gunman James Jae Lee embrace this book?

Curious indeed.

I am going on a diet

Oooh, so I see some screens down there?  
Oh well, just books!

Posted by Melissa Baumgart
I am 77 pages away from finishing my book this week.  I had a huge anatomy & physiology exam this morning and I had a hard time studying for it.  I just couldn't seem to engage with the material like I usually do.  I found myself picking up my Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close book instead, completely engaged with every word.

And while I didn't perform to a perfect standard, as I like to do on exams of all sorts, I still think I did OK.  The cool part was that I wasn't stressed or panicked during the exam.  I wasn't hastily scribbling down my answers for fear that if I took too long the information would somehow escape like sands through a broken hourglass.  I was calm and I took my time, thinking through each question and making sure to breathe.  It was a completely different experience.

It may have come from having a calm place to go besides always staring at a screen for entertainment.  I have my book.  It is stimulating in an entirely different way then a screen is.  Screens can create overstimulation for myself.  And the social media aspect, the Facebook and messaging and Pinning and checking to see if anyone repined or liked your identity in the form of a virtual dream collage, creates a state of anticipation that acts like a stress response in the body.

Sure, it is fun for a bit, but prolonged exposure to the stress hormones isn't so great for your body.  I heard a classmate share that when she was teaching high school in Japan, several of her students complained of not being able to sleep because they didn't want to stop texting and Facebooking.  Kids are losing sleep over this?  Because they have to respond to the next message, and the next, and the next?

It all brings me back to a nagging notion that I have has since starting "Read a Book a Week" month.  I need to go on a diet.  A screen diet.  Did I ever tell you that once during game of charades, my 6 year old picked my name, and to act like me she pretended to be sitting at the computer?  If I did tell you already, it's because I felt incredibly guilty after that.  I want to be present to my kids, to my family and friends, not the screen.

I keep resisting it though.  It is such an easy outlet for that thing I wrote about last, procrastination.  But maybe so can a book.  Or cleaning my apartment.  Or being productive in some other way than surfing the web, doing "research" and seeing if any blog readers have popped up from Saudi Arabia this week.  Those stats are so cool, though.  Thanks for reading, whoever you are in Jiddah, Makkah, Saudi Arabia!

So, here it is, another challenge...besides blogging, only 1 hour of screen time per day for the next week.  It may still seem like a lot to some of you, but that is cutting it considerably for me.  I hate to even admit that, but it is true.  I want to create a new habit, and I know that it is possible.  Perhaps difficult, but possible.

My last challenge I gave myself was during January's Healthival festival.  During Healthival, I followed through completely on almost half of the 18 things on my list.  That was pretty good for me, considering the list, and my unintentional aversion to some of the things on it.  This challenge is more simple in some ways, but so pervasive.  And as much as I can look procrastination in the face with a refreshing and nonjudgmental perspective, I can't hide from my inner voice any longer.

(Crap.  I am already thinking.  I do not want to do this.  But I have to.  Must summon English bulldog determination.  Thanks, Bikram!)

And now onto another pressing issue, what book to read next?  Do I stick with the theme I have going of reading Books nominated for Best Picture this year?  Or do I just grab something off my shelf at random?

-Melissa

PS...If you join me on the screen diet, reading Good Luck With That! doesn't count.  It's free screen time. Everything has it's exceptions, right?