music and book and green tea therapy

I just pilfered the Half Japanese record Charmed Life from the hubs' itunes this week. I'm completely obsessed with this album right now! The first song is a particular jump-starter for me lately:

• Said And Done by Half Japanese

 

More Half Japanese music on iLike

I don't really know why. I mean, I know that the groovy, rockin' beat and crazy-sounding horns are really "this moment" for me. I'm officially back to work--grappling with traffic on my commute, planning classes and helping my students figure out their blog posts and readings, helping them grow as writers. Trying to dodge a lot of the grumbling and now-naked politics that's been stripped open because of the construction on campus: two major buildings getting renovated. Which is fantastic. But, we're all at "camp" in our make-shift offices and classrooms, and no one is very happy about it.

So, I try to listen carefully to my colleagues, try to smile a bit more and hang out just being there with them. All of us displaced academics who are trying not to freak out, while simultaneously helping our students not-freak-out and maybe, just maybe, teaching them stuff, too.

Which is why reading this book again has been amazingly calming. Parker Palmer's book, The Courage to Teach, is one of those C.S. Lewis-type books for wisdom written down in a surprisingly elegant way. Like when he says:

"As good teachers weave the fabric that joins them with students and subjects, the heart is the loom on which the threads are tied, the tension is held, the shuttle flies, and the fabric is stretched tight. Small wonder, then, that teaching tugs at the heart, opens the heart, even breaks the heart--and the more one loves teaching, the more heartbreaking it can be."

Sigh. So true. In honor of that knowledge, and the fact that as a willing member of this heart-broken society, I need to find healthy, non-grumbling ways to manage stress, I've composed a short stress-busting list.

I could...

• appreciate clouds more, especially since their so beautiful this time of year.
• ...get excited about scarf-season!
• drink more green tea~I've been savoring this kind lately...
• talk to my mom more...I always feel better after I talk to her.
• or, I could run away and become a diver in Japan. 

What about you? When things are spinning crazily and you feel the need to beat the stress, what do you do?

summer is a balloon

Wow, how did it get to be SEPTEMBER? Already???

This summer has existed with all the joy and rarity of a hot-air-balloon sighting. So many things going on, so many changes, so much color and...life! Well, let's see...to recap:

My little sister got married (*so* SO happy for her and broseph!)

                                                  

The weekend after her beautiful wedding, Jake and I drove to Philadelphia for a quick getaway...that was cloaked in the disguise of the Council for Writing Program Administrators conference, which I presented at. My first ever national conference--it was nerve-wracking, but exciting! My presentation went well and then we went to museums. But, you already know about that...

The weekend after that, I took the Megabus to Chicago to help my dear friend and glom pack all of her belongings into a truck, and then we drove it all back to Michigan. Two. Days. Later. Talk about exhausted! But man, my quads and lower back got a workout...

It was the hubs' and my 2nd anniversary! The official gift of the 2nd anniversary is "cotton". My mom got us matching v-neck t-shirts. Aw. 

My summer of teaching in the SIP program came to a close...and just like that, summer seems to be over, drifting away like that hot-air balloon we spotted behind our apartment, into the sunset...