That’s My Girl

 The Real Live Girl  No Responses »
Jul 282011
 

The director of our school told me the most heart-melting story about Josie yesterday. And since at home, Josie is going through the threevil limit-testing-from-hell, independence-establishing phase, it was excellent timing.

Self-Dressed with "Too Many" Ponytails

Yesterday, one of Josie’s classmates had been naughty, and gotten in trouble. After the fact, he was crying in the hallway, as the other children were lining up to go outside.

Josie stepped out of line, and took the crying child’s hand. Then she asked him if he was ok. And told the teacher that he had hurt someone, but he was very, very sorry.

Josie helped the crying child get up, and held his hand while she led him down the hall, out the door, down the wheelchair ramp, and to the playground.

What a kind, caring, kid. I am so proud of her. :)

 Posted by Liza at 4:59 am

I was in Istanbul

 Personal, Travel  1 Response »
Jul 222011
 

I was lucky enough to spend last week in Istanbul. (Not Constantinople.)

It is an amazing city. If you ever have the opportunity to go, jump on it. (I took some pictures of Istanbul while I was there.)

Things that make Istanbul fascinating:

  • History, history, history. Istanbul is home to an enormous 4th Century church, turned 15th Century mosque, turned 20th century museum, the Aya Sophia (also called the Hagia Sophia). We couldn’t find it, but there is allegedly 9th Century Viking graffiti defacing the church. Facing the Aya Sophia, there is an enormous, much better maintained 17th Century mosque, the Sultanahmet Mosque, which is still actively in use. On the other side of the Aya Sophia, is Topkapi Palace, originally constructed in the 15th Century, but expanded and modified heavily in the 16th. Today it holds a number of Ottoman Empire treasures, as well as relics associated with the Prophet Mohammed (footprints, a tooth, beard, and other personal items).
  • Location. I’m not sure there is anything cooler than an ancient city straddling 2 continents. My friend Sue, who traveled with me, and I got on a public transit ferry, crossed the Bosphorus Strait, and ate dinner in Asia. Which was so un-touristy that we could not find anyone who spoke English, and we ordered dinner by pointing at things. Which resulted in way too much food, and my unexpected consumption of a baked rice ball with lamb liver. And the best artichokes I’ve ever eaten. IN ASIA! (I have now been to 4 continents. Can you tell I was excited about that?)
  • Architecture. Even if you don’t love mosques, you have to admit, they look really interesting. Especially when they are 400+ years old, which most of them seem to be. Minarets are cool! Domes are cool. Incredibly elaborate carving and tile is cool.
  • People Watching. There are a LOT of tourists in Istanbul. But most of them are not Americans or Europeans. My best guess is that most of them are Turkish, Middle Eastern, or Central Asian. In the touristy areas, we saw an enormous number of women in full abaya and niqab; the overwhelming majority of women were modestly dressed and in headscarves. Most tourists seemed to be in family groups, although we often saw what appeared to be heterosexual couples without children. I wondered if Istanbul is a honeymoon destination in some parts of the world. Local restauranteurs and shopkeepers in the tourist areas were amazingly aggressive, trying anything to get our attention. “Beautiful lady! Beautiful lady! You dropped something. Let me guess where you are from? Texas? Australia?” Although we were not fans of the aggressive entrepreneurs, we both had at least a few friendly, entertaining conversations as we ate and bought souvenirs.
  • Food. Last but NOT least, I left Istanbul as a big fan of Turkish food. From kebabs of minced lamb mixed with pistachios, to artichokes braised in olive oil, to yogurt soup, to spinach, to watermelon dusted with pistachios, to baklava, to chicken stuffed with vegetables, to rice balls with lamb liver…I would happily repeat almost every meal I ate in Istanbul. Especially the kebab above, from Hamdi Restaurant. Sue and I loved it so much we went back to eat it again.

I also had a great time at the IAMCR Conference, where I presented a paper and heard a few papers that helped me clarify what it is I’m doing in grad school, and what my academic passion really is. But that’s a separate post!

 Posted by Liza at 12:24 pm

Big Pumpkins and Tiny Beans

 House!  2 Responses »
Jun 292011
 

Wanna see something cool?
Pumpkins!!!
The pumpkin plants are growing like crazy. They would take over completely if I let them — and they may take the rest of the yard now that I’m encouraging them out of the fence.
And so are the beans, especially the “Royal Burgundy” variety:
Baby Royal Purple Beans
I also have a mystery for you. What kind of squash is this?
Mystery Squash

 Posted by Liza at 8:57 pm

Whirling

 The Real Live Boy, The Real Live Girl, The Rest of the Fam, Training and Development  2 Responses »
Jun 272011
 

Whirling: Josie has discovered a love of dresses in which she can whirl around, although I can’t say she does it with much grace. Cuteness, yes. But as much as whirling in a pretty dress sounds elegant and graceful, it is more like clutching the front of the dress and lifting it up and out while turning without looking and crashing into furniture or walls. With tremendous enthusiasm.

Whirling: The summer is whirling along at a frenetic pace. Since the end of May, I’ve been to Berkeley, California, and camping with Noah, and to New Orleans. In less than two weeks, I leave for a week for Istanbul, Turkey. In August, we had a weekend trip to Chicago planned for Jill’s birthday, and had just decided that she and Noah should do a long weekend visiting her parents in Washington, DC, when it became clear that my mom *really* wanted to take the whole family on a big trip to Disney World at the end of the summer. We’ll be celebrating my parents’ anniversary, and Josie’s birthday, and the kids will get to spend an incredibly excited 5 days with their cousins. It’s going to be a fabulous trip — thank you That Grandma & That Grandpa!  For me, that will be 7 trips in 3 months. And we suspect that Jill will probably be sent on detail for her job, in September.

Whirling: Noah wants a bug book. And a worm book. His mind is so eager and engaged — he is completely hooked on this reading business. And he is equally excited to dig in the dirt, looking for bugs and worms. Noah is maturing, emotionally, too. He announced last Thursday that he no longer wants me to walk him in to the classroom and say goodbye with our ritual of a hug, a kiss, and him giving me a push out the door. He wants a hug and a kiss, and then to go in by himself.

Whirling: Josie is growing, intellectually and developmentally. She tests and tests and tests each thing I tell her to do or not do. If I say she must stay in the bathroom while brushing her teeth, she has her feet in the doorway, inching and watching me. If I say she has to eat more of her vegetables before she can have a treat, she delicately nibbles the edge of a fresh pea pod, then announces, “I ate more! Now can I have a treat?” She gleefully spots the letter J in books, and announces that’s her letter, and loves to tell us the letters for her classmates, to count things in her counting books, and to match things together.

Whirling: The school the kids attend has outgrown the space available. It will either move late in the summer, or during the semester. Noah will have the same teacher, but in an entirely new setting. Josie will start “big kid school” (3k, 4k, and 5k together) with a new teacher, likely a teacher who is new to the school, perhaps even someone new to the profession.

Whirling: My mind, trying to sort through the possibilities for this degree, to distinguish between the many things I’m interested in and those I’m passionate about.

Whirling: Is that how all those toys got all over the floor? I can’t imagine any other answer.

 Posted by Liza at 8:44 pm

Gardening Obsessed

 House!, Mmm yummy  1 Response »
Jun 132011
 

I have my first real garden this year.

Last year, we dipped a toe into the gardening world, with a handful of peas and about 10 tiny, stringy carrots. The peas were fabulous!

Then we bought our new house, with the crazy overgrown garden and yard. We razed 95% of the crazy front yard, then added some tulips to the remaining 5%. In the back, we razed and sodded over the larger of the two enormous raised beds, but we left our 25′ of raspberries, and an approximately 10′x12′ bed. I put in some large, flat rocks so that the bed was reduced to 2 2×12 and 1 2×10 growing areas. I also dug up 2 enormous rhubarb plants (leaving the biggest one), converting the space to another 3×12 bed, and dug up several unkillable hostas (now thriving where I tossed them).

The results are pretty good!

There are a lot of strawberries (3 varieties in the middle of the big bed, plus one of those topsy-turvies): Strawberries - 6/10/2011

I’ve also got about 8 productive peas, with another 8 that are about 2″ tall. And 10 bush beans — 4 “Royal Burgundy” (purple!), 3 yellow, and 3 green. I’ve just planted another 3 green and 2 purple. (The yellow just didn’t sprout.) Only 1 spinach plant has actually come up, but I’ve just planted a bunch more. There are a dozen or so beets and carrots growing, with more seeds hopefully growing. I also have a corner for pumpkin and one for watermelon, and 8 tomato plants (4 varieties), a sweet pepper, an eggplant, a summer squash, and a mystery winter squash. Plus 2 kohlrabi, and 4 broccoli and cauliflower.

Carrots & Peas - 6/10/2011 NW Corner of the Garden - 6/10/2011 4 Tomatoes and a Sweet Pepper - 6/10/2011 Peas (and Eggplant and Squash) - 6/10/2011

Oh! And 5 blueberry bushes — unlikely to produce this year, but maybe next year:

Blueberry Tilblue - 6/13/2011 Blueberry Legacy - 6/13/2011 Blueberry Top Hat - 6/13/2011 Blueberry Patriot - 6/13/2011 Blueberry Climax - 6/13/2011

Just to see what happens, I’ve planted cantaloupe seeds behind the pots of blueberries.

 Posted by Liza at 9:12 pm

Excited Announcement

 Books, Current Affairs  5 Responses »
May 042011
 

I am very excited to tell you that a book project, to which I am a contributor, finally has a real publication date — JUNE 1, 2011!

The awesome, intelligent, funny, and delightful Joanne Bamberger, AKA PunditMom’s book, Mothers of Intention: How Women & Social Media Are Revolutionizing Politics in America, is finally coming out!!!

You can buy it through that link, which will, in theory, pay me a few cents sometime this century, or ask your local bookstore for a copy.

I am in amazing company in this book. Some of my favorite bloggers, writers, activists, and social media leaders contributed chapters. I can’t WAIT to read what they said. (I know I should link to them. But if I started, I’d be here for 2 hours, and I’d have to link to at least a dozen people in the book, maybe more. There are at least that many people I admire and consider role models in the book, maybe even that many I consider friends.)

 

 Posted by Liza at 8:49 pm

September 11, Osama Bin Laden, Patriotism, Politics, and Life

 Current Affairs, Opinion, Personal  No Responses »
May 022011
 

It has been a very sober last not-quite-24 hours. I’d dozed off with the light on and my book open when Jill came into the room last night and said, “Wake up! The President is about to come on TV and announce that they caught and killed Osama bin Laden!”

I woke up, and listened to talking heads tell that story for about 15 minutes, before having to crawl back into bed and to sleep. It didn’t hit me until this morning.

My feelings today are complicated. On the one hand, I am relieved. I think he was a dangerous man, and I believe the US was rightly at war with him and with his followers. I wish that I felt his death would make us safer. I wish that his death would help end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I cynically doubt either of those outcomes, although hope springs eternal.

I admire the brave Navy Seals who directly took this action. I once had a boss who had been a Navy Seal. The calm, efficient, get-it-done quality they have turns out to have been the right tool for the job. And I admire the President, for making sure that we had good intelligence, and authorizing the action.

I am uncomfortable with hearing about people celebrating the death. The idea of celebrating any death makes me feel queasy.

I am proud of how many of my Facebook friends have put up this quotation from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.

UPDATED to note that apparently the first sentence of the quotation is not actually from Dr. King. However, Google Books confirms that the language beginning with “Returning hate for hate…” is correctly attributed to Dr. King, from A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, p. 594, edited by James M. Washington.

I have been thinking about my own September 11, 2001. About how I can still barely say the phrase, “I just want to go home,” out loud, without my voice breaking. I felt so alone. So horribly alone, stuck out in California, worried about what was then still my city, DC.

I didn’t know anyone who was injured or killed at the Pentagon. But I lived 12 blocks from the US Capitol building. And I worked about 8 blocks from the White House. I knew that my city was changed forever, but I couldn’t walk around and see it. I couldn’t be there.

For everyone who lived in or near one of the impacted locations, or who lost someone in the attack, it was different. Normally, I am a person who reacts to news with a political lens, almost immediately. But I couldn’t be with that viewpoint right away, not when it was personal. It took a long time for me to get objective enough to think analytically.

That does not mean I supported the excessive response of the US government. I don’t think I am safer because I can no longer take a full tube of toothpaste on an airplane. Or because secret federal FISA courts can authorize the FBI to see what I check out from the library or look at online, without my even being under “reasonable suspicion” of criminal activity. In the old days, law enforcement agencies needed “probable cause” to believe that such intrusion would give them evidence about a crime before they could get records like that.

I continue to believe that our invasion of Iraq was completely pretextual, and that the loss of American, British, and Iraqi lives will be a blot on US history that future generations will find cringeworthy and baffling.

I don’t know exactly what I think about the war in Afghanistan. It didn’t seem like a completely unjustifiable idea at the time…but that isn’t even where they caught Bin Laden, in the end. No one with a democratic sense of values, no one who opposes poverty, or supports freedom of religion, or the rights of women, or free speech, could fail to oppose the Taliban. But we don’t go to war against all dictators. And in a budget crisis, in an economic crisis, can we justify continuing to spend billions of dollars per year fighting a land war against them, in their homeland? Is there still a them there? How would we even know? I do know that still being at war there almost 10 years later seems insane to me. Are we going to stay at war there forever?

My September 11 story has a silver lining.

I finally quit waiting for a seat on an airplane to take me home, and instead decided to rescue myself and drive from Irvine, California, back to Washington, DC. When my cell phone came back into network range in Flagstaff, Arizona, it rang. A woman I barely knew was calling. She was stuck in Denver, and asked if I would detour 6 hours to pick her up. I thought about it for 10 minutes, then agreed. It was through her that I met Jill.

If I had not said yes, if I had not detoured 6 hours to pick up a near stranger, I would never have met my wife.

 Posted by Liza at 8:23 pm
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