an interesting fact

I dropped by the library earlier today...which I haven't done for awhile (you may notice my booklist is considerably short this year...not that I've really been keeping up with it either...but all in all, my reading is down. In part because I had $30 in library fines and in part because my work takes alot of my brain/mental energies!) The library is so glorious. Libraries in general are - but the Main LA Library is particularly glorious. When I'm in a library I don't think about anything going on in my world - but rather let my mind wander into many interesting nooks and crannies...it's both mental vacation and exercise :)

Anyhow - today I stumbled across a book entitled "Heroes, Rogues, and Lovers: Testosterone and Behavior." Ever researching about anything having to do with sexuality and also interested into a look at the hormone which is said to govern much of males behaviors...I picked it up. It's both a biological and social study and should be quite interesting.
In the Introduction the author (James Dabbs) was going over some general hormone-related topics and I came across this interesting tidbit...

"Alfalfa and clover produce estrogen. The estrogen helps the plants by acting as a birth-control substance, holding down the population of grazing animals. Alfalfa and clover produce enough estrogen to make sheep and cattle sterile. In Australia, a million sheep each year fail to have lambs because they eat too much clover."(p.18)

Isn't that brilliant! It is just so amazing to me. Our world is so mysterious and interesting - one could never know enough to cease being amazed.

I would've written many things...

Hi all! Internet's down at my house for some reason...haven't figured out why. Life has been full though and there's much to say!

This Sunday was the art show - which was a success. There were a couple of bands playing, so it almost seemed more like their event, but that's cool. On Saturday me and a few of the other art group members hung out at the cafe all day and actually painted IT. It's pretty cool...the owner wants the concrete floor painted, so we've all done blocks of it. I spray painted in the back parking lot and did some stuff on the back entrance. Will's doing a large mural in the back. Pretty fun. It was cool to hear comments on my paintings. I've gotten alot of compliments on Blue Boy for the week that he's been up. We decided to keep him up for this show too.

Saturday evening was spectacular. After being at the cafe painting all day (and sweaty since there's no air flow in that place and this weekend was the first Hot one!) - I decided I'd go for a jog since I was already so sweaty. When I came home all the neighbors were out - using the closed-off street as our own personal park (which goes to show the starvation for open space there is in my neighborhood.) Two girls were riding bikes, who I've never seen riding bikes - mostly becuase their parents don't allow them to because of the dangerous street. It ended up that I took the girls out with me on my jog, while they rode their bikes. We went down to the park and it was just so fantastic. Although the park is only a 10-minute walk away, my neighbors rarely go there. The girls and I had a blast. There was a carnival with music going on. We saw some people catching fish, which completely enthralled the girls. And they were both so excited to tell their parents how well they'd rode when we returned home.

It's times like this that make it evident to me why I chose to live where I do. As I've been thinking alot of where to live come September when I lose my roomate Kim, I've been very much considering moving out of the neighborhood. But now I'm not so sure. Not to say that one magic night warrents a complete change of mind...but it has prompted a re-evaluation.

On other fronts - I got my car, the pup (or pinkie...and on) out to the DMV today and inspected and everything. However, she did break down on the way back. It seems like once she really warms up the motor doesn't like it so much. So, I don't know where I am with that. I need to consider alot of things.

It's felt like summer, both because it's getting hot, and because I don't have to be at work so early! Weee! It's so great driving to work at 9!!! I'm a much happier person with this schedule...if only all the schools would change - because I do love and miss my students too!

The weekend before last I went on a lil' trip. First to Bass Lake to go camping with my friends. We had a great time hanging out around the lake and taking it easy. The kids who had never been camping (3 and 5 years old) loved it (although they had some trouble sleeping with our noisy neighbors!)

After that I drove over to San Fran since I was close, and spent Monday and Tuesday there. It was super great! I got to hang out with most of my special people and it was terriffic. Not really home anymore, but I'm very glad to have it as a part-home. I realized as I was there that my roots are being made with people - not in places. As I've felt quite uprooted this year and still questioning how one makes roots in LA...it was a good thing to realize that its all about relationships! (those of you who know Bart can appreciate that even more!)

preview of coming attractions...

I've been working all week on a set of paintings for LA Street Productions upcoming 'Liberation'-themed show. I'm not completely done, but I thought I'd post up a picture, open for critique :) It will make me feel more prepared to share them with the world in person.
(I know the colors aren't captured quite right) The background is spray paint with some drips of oil, gold leaf, and one-shot...then the hearts are oil on acrylic. I'm trying to decide whether to leave the wings white/black/grey or to make them more feather-ishy.

Today myself and a couple other art-group memebers hung a "pre-show" at the cafe which our opening will be at a week from Sunday. I had to squeeze it in very quicky in the morning, but I think it turned out quite nice. It's mostly just peices that hung at our last show, however, I did decide to show blue-boy there which is pretty exciting since he's always been a favorite painting of mine.

Tomorrow morning I'm taking off to Bass Lake for the weekend. My good friends from Sacramento are meeting me there - so we'll have some good family camping time! This will be my official first use of my tent! From camping, I'm heading to SF for a couple of days. I haven't been up there since January and could use a little of my homey San Fran.

wuuuuhuuuu!

So evidently nothing is wrong with 'the pup.' My mechanic said she started right up and ran just fine. He's going to drive her some more tomorrow. I'll stop by Wednesday and take her for a drive too. Then I'm going to be gone for a few days - so hopefully she can play at the shop for awhile longer!

I've felt too unsure to get super excited during this whole process. But, it is a practice of my patience and flexibility. Which this just goes along with my life in general right now...if my life were a book, this chapter would be called "Limbo."

Today I threw a pizza party for some of my 7th grade students...it was great. I also added up my attendance numbers...and I surpassed my goals by far...I've taught over 600 students since January! It feels like a good accomplishment. Now when I walk around school, lots of students say hi Ms. ___!

I also got some painting done this evening. I hadn't used oils for a long time and decided to pull them out, it was very enjoyable. I didn't feel the rushed pressure of using acrylics. And I tried/discovered some new tricks.

A long string of a lot

I’ve been quite busy and my mind has been so full I’ve failed to keep up on my blog...my apologies.

TAADAAAAA...I've now cruised the streets of LA in my Stude.

A couple of weeks ago it got here to So Cal. This past Thursday was my first ever driving of it. And yesterday I picked it up. Quite a bit was done to it in the shop to get it drivable…new transmission, water pump, electric fuel pump, tune up, starter, battery stuff. And the shop people have been so great, it’s a shop that only works on Studebakers.
When I first left the shop I had a little problem which was resolved by adjusting the throttle a bit. And then I had a glorious time driving it about halfway to my destination...it was running fantastic on both street and freeway.
And then something happened. I was able to get it parked in a safe place, and it did start up after a wait – but something is wrong with it. So it was towed back to the shop. Hmmmm…these problems are expected in ironing out kinks of a car that’s been sitting for 25+ years. I hope for hope that this is just a kink…but in my gut I think it might be something more serious. If that’s the case I’m going to have to sell her (which I had begun to rest on the nickname of “the pup”…which for those of you don’t know, is also one of my many nicknames too)
Selling the pup will be such a shame. I can’t tell you how fun it was driving the pup – and there wasn’t anything about it that I didn’t like. The noise, the shifting, the starting it up…it doesn’t bother me…and in fact I quite like it! And I also like that I’m willing to work for it, I’ve never had a possession that I’ve been willing to do much work for…seeing as I don’t live by quite the same material rules as middle america. But perhaps I’ll have to do some more work in advance before I can have an old car– I don’t know…we’ll see. But I know one thing, I’m attached to Studebakers – they’re great cars.

Other then car business I’ve been up to a lot. School is out for the summer, which means no more teaching. I will still go to work as normal (albeit not so early in the morning – yay!) It was really fun the past 2 weeks wrapping up the 3 different classes I’ve been doing for the past few months. I did a pizza party in 2 of the classes – for the winning teams of our last-day Jeopardy-style quiz game. That’s really fun.
I love that job so much. I’ve been thinking a lot about the possibility of moving down there (work is 22 miles from home.) Part of me really wants to, but when I think about it, all the connections I have made while here in LA are up near me, downtown, Hollywood, Silverlake/Echo Park. It’s quite a dilemma and a huge thing that’s been on my mind lately.

There’s been some exciting rumblings of things happenings in regards to the prostitution/human trafficking work I want to do also. There’s a crew of people forming here in LA that will begin to tackle the issue by answering the question “What does trafficking look like here in LA?” In order to do this you need to take to the streets with open eyes for what is going on as well as building networks in communities (such as ethnic communities.)
I’ve also been in contact with an organization that may be a great place for me to hook up with and be guided in doing some other work I want to do that’s related to these issues. We’ll see where it leads – but it’s exciting to see some things coming together. I still really yearn for a community of people to gather with around these issues which I’m passionate about.

On other fronts – stuff is still happening with the art group. We opened a student show a couple of weeks ago, which was cool…we’re giving a couple of scholarships to students at the local high school. And we have a show opening in a couple weeks. Which…I need to sign off so I can go work on my pieces. I was daunted…but after doing some painting a couple nights ago – I’m getting excited about my pieces!

Ending with a line I heard today from my all-time favorite radio show, A Prairie Home Companion…
“Live what you love and love what you live.”