food for thought: October 2007

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Mama at the Movies: Manny and Lo

Manny & Lo is an old favorite of mine, a film I used to teach in my Women's Studies classes and the occasional film class, too. I listed it in my original column pitch to Literary Mama, and it took me a year and a half to get around to it. And then of course, by the time I sat down to write about it, all the stuff I used to focus on when I taught the film -- in my prior life, before I had kids -- flew out of my head and I saw it a completely new way. So here's what it makes me think about now:

When I was first pregnant, I dreamt my baby was a girl. She was beautiful in my dreams, with my husband's blonde hair and blue eyes. But, nightmarishly, she was also a teenager, one of the popular ones. I woke in a cold sweat at the thought of producing a "mean girl," like those that had so intimidated me in high school. I ended up having a boy, but I still think sometimes about what a daughter of mine might be like, about how I'd mother her. And I think about that particularly when I watch a movie like Manny & Lo (Lisa Krueger, 1996), about two tough girls who could use some mothering.

Click on over to Literary Mama to read the rest.

Labels: mama at the movies, manny and lo

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Happy Birthday, Irma!

My sister reminded me that today is Irma Rombauer's birthday. For those of you who don't refer to your Joy of Cooking by her name, she is the author of Joy of Cooking, my kitchen dictionary. Irma is also my kitchen diary; following in my mother's footsteps, I use the back, blank pages to record my annual Christmas baking. It's not such an impressive list as my mom's, yet; she used to host enormous open houses throughout the holiday season, and her cookie baking would extend into dozens of batches. But I'm getting there, and we'll be home for Christmas this year (with my parents visiting!) so there'll be ample opportunity to add to the list.

Here's what I've baked in the past:

Christmas '98 (dissertation-writing)
bourbon balls
speculatius
chocolate/almond biscotti
pfeffernusse
lemon butter stars
coconut palm trees
gingerbread men
almond crescents
chocolate crinkle cookies
chocolate/chocolate mint chip cookies
raspberry thumbprints

no record of 1999 (job market) or 2000 (my first married Christmas)

Christmas 2001 (pregnant)
bourbon balls
speculatius
pfeffernusse
lemon cornmeal stars
coconut palm trees
gingersnaps
chocolate crinkle cookies
chocolate glazed toffee bars
raspberry thumbprints

no record of 2002, because we were hospitalized with a very sick baby

Christmas 2003 (21-month old baby)
pneumonia, strep throat, bronchitis and truffles

no record of 2004, as we were packing up the house to renovate

Christmas 2005 (7-month old baby; our house under renovations)
gingerbread men
lemon polenta stars

Christmas 2006 (Ben helping with the baking!)
speculatius
gingerbread men
chocolate crinkle cookies
pistachio-cranberry cookies
chocolate-dipped candied orange peel

Tomorrow, I'll post the batter-stained recipe to which my Joy of Cooking falls open when I pull the book off the shelf.

Labels: baking, reading

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Movie Minutes

Violeta's comment on my Gone Baby Gone post reminds me that it's time for a movie round-up:

Into the Wild: This movie is haunting me. The actors are wonderful and the script is first-rate. The cinematography is gorgeous (Sean Penn's taken some heat for loving the scenery too much, but for me, the depiction of the landscape served as another way to understand the main character and also, frankly, as a bit of an antidote to the narrative). But this is not an easy movie for a mother to watch; it's harder, even, than Gone Baby Gone. I sat in the theater wondering how I could guarantee that one of my children won't someday break my heart, and coming up with no good answer.

Michael Clayton: This is a totally compelling mystery thriller. The details of the plot escape me now--a big bad pharmaceutical company and the law firm in its pocket--but they hardly matter. It's a character-driven film about various forms of addiction (to drugs, to gambling, to power); bad choices; and fatherhood.

Across the Universe: Director Julie Taymor created this musical based on the Beatles songbook. She's a genius. This is the most visually inventive film I've seen all year; it's gorgeous and surprising. The actors are terrific, the song choices make you think, the story is timely, and yes, that is Bono making an appearance as a school bus evangelist.

Mad Hot Ballroom: A documentary about a dance program in the New York City public schools. I love that the school district has set aside time and money to teach their middle schoolers ballroom dancing; it seems like a brilliant way to address the terrible awkwardness of early adolescence and help kids through it. There's a huge cast of characters here, from the various teachers to the kids, and I didn't feel like we really got to know many of them very well until the end, when we're told (but not shown well enough) how dancing helped the kids. But my biggest gripe about this very sweet, very inspiring movie is that while we see a lot of dancing, we see it from the waist up, without nearly enough long shots or views of these dancers' feet!

Becoming Jane: A costume drama about Jane Austen -- what's not to like? It's all very pretty and way too modern and mostly implausible, but set all that aside: it's a pleasant place to spend a couple hours.

Labels: movies

Thursday, October 25, 2007

The Daring Book for Girls

I've been dying to see my copy ever since Elrena posted about hers (sometimes living on the west coast really tries my patience!) and it has finally arrived, and it is gorgeous. But I didn't get much time to flip through it before Ben grabbed it out of my hands. "Hey!" he said, delighted. "Now we have the boy version and the girl version! I wonder what there is in here for me?"

"Take a look," I said, "and see what interests you."

He found the basketball section, right up front, and studied that a while, then flipped ahead to softball, and looked at how that differs from what he knows about baseball.

Flip, flip... Double Dutch Jump Rope: "Wow, look at that! that's a cool long rope; I want to try that..."

Flip, flip, flip... Every Girl's Toolbox, with a pause to look at which of those tools he and Eli have toy versions of, and which Tony has downstairs in his workshop (I do not currently have a toolbox, having deferred household improvement tasks to my more skilled husband. But, I should note that it was my mom who wired my dollhouse with electric lights and continues to wield a screwdriver as easily as a rolling pin, so I was raised properly...)

And finally, flip flip flip... pause, and then in a voice of quiet reverence, "Oh, Mama, look: Volcano Project." Ben started to read it on his own, then we read it together. We talked about vinegar and baking soda a bit (a combination he's watched work its magic in the kitchen, when we make soda bread), and then Ben said, "Hey, they should write that this is an activity for outside only." Indeed, people, let's keep those volcanoes outside!

Check back next month for my official MotherTalk review; in the meantime, Ben and I will be flip-flip-flipping through the book and embarking on daring projects.

Labels: reading

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Gone Baby Gone

It's not been the easiest couple days, so tonight Tony offered to take the boys/kicked me out of the house, and after a happy hour browsing some downtown stores, I found myself buying a ticket for Gone Baby Gone, the new film directed by Ben Affleck.

Now, I was frankly too scared to see Mystic River, the last movie based on a Dennis Lehane novel, so it's not like I thought this latest, about a child's abduction, would make for a fun evening. But the reviews had intrigued me, and I thought it might be column fodder.

Well, the problem is, I can't really write about it until every last one of you goes to see the movie. So go, now, watch the movie. It's dark (of course), and subtle, and thought-provoking, and offers two of the best performances, by Casey Affleck, as an investigator, and Amy Ryan, as the child's mother, I've seen in a while. It's not going to give me nightmares, like I'd feared, but it is keeping me thinking.

So go, see the movie, and then let me know so that we can talk.

Labels: mama at the movies

Monday, October 22, 2007

Currently Reading Meme

I am still behind on the memes I've been tagged for, but this one was easy, ie, requiring little of me in terms of reflection or writing ability. (My apologies, but if you'd seen my email inbox this weekend, you'd understand. Elrena, who tagged me for this one, certainly understands, as she sent me half that email as we were copyediting our book!) Anyway, all that work's starting to ease up, my brain is starting to re-engage, and I'm reading the most fabulous . I don't think I'll be able to part with it anytime soon, so don't hold your breath that it'll turn up in a Pay It Forward Book Exchange; I'm only half-way through, and I know this is one I'm going to start re-reading as soon as I finish.

Here are the rules:
"Open the book you’re currently reading to page 161, and post the fifth sentence on the page, then think of 5 bloggers to tag."

And here is the sentence, a bit of dialogue between two of the novel's main characters, Prue Winship, a gin distiller, and her younger sister, Tem; the setting is Brooklyn, late 18th century, just after their father's death:

"The fires have been cold almost three weeks," she told Tem, before her sister went off for her evening's drinking, "Will you help?"

But that's not the kind of sentence, fine as it is, that makes you run off and buy a book, so here's another. It would probably be useful to know that Prue Winship, gin distiller, is hoping to build a bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan:

"Prue thought if she could bridge the distance between here and the Other Side; if she could build a monument to expiate her sin and her folly, and to embody the love she had borne her parents, who'd crossed over too soon, before she was ripe to understand them; if she might take this wealth of money and skill her father had bequeathed her, and do something with it, for the public good and perhaps to the general wonderment--if all, if any, of these circumstances might come to pass, Will Severn could keep to himself, and Ben could remain in the wilderness, and she could never move a hair's breadth closer to knowing where the dead resided, yet she would be happy the rest of her days."

That's a good sentence.

And now I tag Feed Your Loves, Midlife Mama, Marmee's Musings, Fertile Ground, and LoveBug and RolleyPolley.

Labels: memes, reading

Sunday, October 21, 2007

The View From My Shower This Morning

We spent the weekend with old friends up in Stinson Beach, an October tradition for the past three years, so that we can take the kids to the Bolinas pumpkin patch. I was distracted all weekend by various kinds of work, but it didn't stop me from indulging in one of my favorite beach activities: the outdoor shower. Our friends' house has a very simple one, just a shower head behind a wooden half-wall, but with a view like this--see where the sky meets the sea?--you sure don't need more.

Labels: family life, vacations

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Another winner

This month's Pay It Forward Book Exchange winner is Stacey! Thanks to those who entered, and tune in next month for another book.

Labels: pay it forward book exchange, reading

Friday, October 19, 2007

And now for a break from our regular programming...

I've been all about reading and editing lately, no new writing at all. But Tony's been productive, launching a new website, James Grant. So go check that out, enjoy the gorgeous artwork, and have a great weekend!

Labels: family life, James Grant

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Pay It Forward Book Exchange

It's time again for the Pay It Forward Book Exchange, as started by Overwhelmed with Joy. Here's how it goes:

1) Once a month I'll pick a book to give away to one lucky reader (you don’t have to have a blog to enter). It may be a book that I’ve purchased new or used, or it may be a book that someone has shared with me that I really like. It’ll probably be a paperback, just to make things easier, but no guarantees.

2) Details on how you can enter to win will be listed below.

3) If you’re the lucky winner of the book giveaway I ask that you, in turn, host a drawing to give that book away for free to one of your readers, after you’ve had a chance to read it (let’s say, within a month after you’ve received the book). If you mail the book out using the media/book rate that the post office offers it’s pretty inexpensive.

4) If you’re really motivated and want to host your own “Pay It Forward” giveaway at any time, feel free to grab the button above to use on your own blog. Just let her know so she can publish a post plugging your giveaway and directing readers your way!

So there you have it, the Pay It Forward Book Exchange, designed to encourage people to read, to share good books, to possibly get you out of your reading comfort zone, and to get fun stuff in the mail instead of just bills!"

So here's how to enter: leave a comment saying, "I want to enter." That's it. No muss, no fuss. I'll randomly choose one lucky commenter on October 20th and mail the book out; you agree to give the book away when you're done with it, via your own Pay It Forward Book Exchange or, if you don't blog, by donating it to a local library or shelter.

This month's book: by J. M. Coetzee.

Labels: memes, pay it forward book exchange, reading

Monday, October 15, 2007

Conscious Consumer Meme

Elrena tagged me for this on a day that I had gone to the grocery store for celery and seaweed, and that just didn't seem like quite enough to blog about! (We used the celery for Tony's puttanesca recipe, by the way, and the seaweed for sushi).

Now it's been over a week and it took till today to get back to the grocery store which demonstrates a) how successful I've been in getting Tony to take over the grocery shopping; b) how little in-person shopping of any kind that I do. I do as much shopping as possible on-line, even though that has tended to limit me to big chain stores; I'm trying to search out more places like this fabulous site, , which lets you buy handmade objects from individual people (nothing here I particularly need right now, but it's all awfully pretty).

In the meantime, things have been purchased, of course; the weekly produce delivery has come a couple times, and I ordered Ben a tux for his Halloween magician's costume (yeah, a tux is probably overkill, but for $15 on e-bay, who can resist?) But no shopping trip worth a blog post, which does makes me think that, much as I like a pretty new lipstick like the next girl, maybe I could consider joining The Compact and go without anything new for a year (yes, they make certain exceptions for kids needs, and for food and medicines); I mean, if I could still go to Crossroads occasionally for a new-to-me shirt, I think I'd be good. And given how infrequently I remember to wear lipstick, I could probably make it through the year without a new one...

Anyway, I did finally go to a store today, with Eli, and even though we didn't buy very much, it is perhaps a blog-worthy experience. You be the judge.

Here are the rules for the meme:
Pick a recent shopping trip -- for clothes, shoes, groceries, doesn't matter. The only guideline is that it will be easier to play if you purchased at least a few things.

Now tell us, about your purchases:

1. What are you proud of?
2. What are you embarrassed by?
3. What do think you couldn't live without?
4. What did you most enjoy purchasing?
5. What were you most tempted by? (This last one may or may not be an actual purchase!)

So, we went to the grocery store, a small, family-owned chain in the neighborhood, and bought a gallon of 2% milk (for the boys), a half gallon of skim milk (for me), a bottle of soy sauce, a big container of non-fat plain yogurt, and two bottles of dishwasher rinse aid.

1. I am, oddly, proudest of the rinse-aid. I have hated to buy the stuff, it seems like a ploy concocted by the dishwasher manufacturers and chemical companies to make you buy more junk that just goes down the drain, and it has seemed fairly poisonous. But the dishwasher works a lot better when we use it, so what to do? Today, I finally found a "greener," biodegradable version of the stuff. And it's cheaper than the regular kind. So, yay.

2. I'm not embarrassed by anything I bought, but I am annoyed that I forgot to bring canvas shopping bags. We have half a dozen, and I need to start keeping them in the car, especially now that San Francisco is, in an effort to reduce the use of plastic grocery bags, charging for their use. I used paper today, and got the canvas bags out of the closet -- one step closer to the car.

3. We couldn't live without the milk. The boys and I eat cereal every morning for breakfast, Eli drinks 2 glasses of milk a day, Tony makes a cappuccino or two every day, I put milk in my tea. We have become the kind of family that always needs a gallon of milk. We've got several brands of organic milk to choose from, all of it local, too.

4. Nothing terribly exciting on this grocery list, but I think I most enjoyed purchasing the rinse-aid (I know, I know), partly because of #1, partly because it was the one thing light and durable enough that Eli could take it off the shelf and fling it into the cart. Watching him enjoy that so much made me buy two bottles.

5. Well, we were tempted by a few things. Eli, oddly, was most tempted by the Silicone-Zone Bar Board Set, four colorful anti-skid cutting boards for your cocktail set-up. We don't really drink cocktails around here, though maybe Eli's trying to tell me we should! On the other hand, I was most tempted, as I always am, by the pretty, robins egg blue Nigella Lawson mixing bowls. But I have three sets of mixing bowls, including a really lovely ceramic set Tony gave me, so I just admired these and moved on. We were both tempted by ice cream: "Mama, look! ah-keem! and more ah-keem! lot ah-keem!" said Eli. Mmmm, ice-cream. But I know we have a gallon in the freezer, so we moved on.

And now for the tagging: Libby, Violeta, Momifesto, LoveBug and RolleyPolley, Fertile Ground, and anyone else who needs a kickstart to a blog post!

Labels: family life, memes

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Early Morning Applesauce Muffins

5:30 AM: I hear one of the kids get up and use the bathroom. I give thanks for independent children and roll back over to sleep.

5:40 AM: Whispering. Groaning. Louder whispering. I haul myself out of bed and head down the hall to find Ben's buddy standing at the foot of his bed. "Ben? Ben! Ben? Are you awake?" Ben answers with a groan and rolls over.

5:43 AM: I take M's hand and lead him downstairs, where he proceeds to tidy up. "Hey?! What's this train doing here? It doesn't go here! Hey, that's silly! There's a book on the floor!" I watch him, stunned. My children ease into the day slowly, like ovens warming to temperature. This one's ready to party. Also, my children don't clean. I wonder what will happen if I leave; will he just clean my whole house?

5:45 AM: M tires of tidying, and rejects my offers of books and TV. Clearly, it's time to make muffins:

1 c. old fashioned oatmeal
1 c. applesauce
1 lg. egg, beaten
2 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. vegetable oil
1 tbsp. double acting baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. milk, orange or apple juice
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 sugar (optional, depending on whether your applesauce is sweetened)
1/2 c. cranberries, dried cranberries or raisins (optional)
Butter 12 (3 inch) muffin cups or use muffin liners.

Preheat oven to 375°F degrees.

Stir together the oatmeal, applesauce, juice or milk, egg, and oil. Set aside.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, soda and cinnamon. Make a well in the center, and add the applesauce mixture. Stir until well combined, but do not over beat.

Add raisins or cranberries if desired. Pour into the muffin tin. Each cup should be 2/3 full.

Bake 15-20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing muffins.

Makes 12 muffins.

Variation: Substitute 1/4 teaspoon ginger and 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg for the cinnamon.

By the time the muffins were out of the oven, the rest of the kids were up and ready to eat. Not a bad way to start the day.

Labels: family life, recipes

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Overheard

We've got extra children this weekend as old friends are involved in a no-kids wedding. One of the extras is Ben's oldest friend, M, a boy born just 10 days before Ben; the other is his three year-old sister. They're all like siblings, really, since we see each other all the time, and it's not much extra work for us. But there are moments.

This is what I overheard an hour ago:

Tony: Hey Ben, what's your plan?
Ben: It's a secret plan.
Tony: I figured, since I saw you whispering to M. Want to tell me what's going on?
Ben: Well, we're planning to go scare the little kids.
Tony: Oh--
Ben: Sometimes my plans put...pressure on the little kids.

Uh-huh.

We've got them redirected now.

Labels: family life

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Ben's Chocolate Honey Cake

Eli and Ben were both very busy in the play kitchen today before dinner. Eli was making "salad," tossing the wooden vegetables into the salad spinner, and then sitting on the plunger to make the thing spin with his butt (I use a different salad spinner).

Ben was making cake, which he presented to me with a flourish, and then offered to write the recipe out for me. I don't have a picture of the cake, because I was given an empty loaf pan from which to taste, but here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Labels: cooking, family life, recipes

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Writing Meme

Libby tagged me with this weeks ago, and while I've been mulling it over, I've been tagged with two other memes, so I'd better catch up! But I've got to say (and this is not because I'm feeling behind, or being lazy), my responses truly don't differ much from Libby's. Big surprise there; on paper--and in real life--we are probably more alike than different.

To recap what Libby wrote: I like to write; I don't have a great memory, which leads to lots of re-reading, which leads to new ideas; I had teachers in high school and college who required lots of in-class writing; I come from a family of writers, and living within a family that values the written word provides support that I do not take for granted. I spent those same years in Japan that she did, though since I was five when we left, that time was formative for me in different ways; I was bilingual from birth, and although I'm not any longer, I like to think that turning on that language button in my brain so early has given me an ear for language that I might not otherwise have.

The one thing Libby didn't mention that I think of as a strength is that I truly like revising. I might even prefer it to drafting the original. I was struggling with an essay recently, truly having the hardest time sitting still at my desk and pushing the words out, and the only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that as soon as the draft had a passable beginning, middle, and end, I could pass it on to my writing group for their feedback. I was watching the holes develop in the essay as I wrote, but knew that my fellow writers would suggest ways to patch them, knew they would point out places to expand and develop. I'm generally not so attached to my own words that I can't trim or recast them, and I like to fuss and tinker and try to find just the right word.

In fact, this post could use a little revising itself, but I will let it go--another writing strength! being able to identify when something is good enough for the purpose--and move on to another writing project for now.

Oh, and I should tag some people: Kathy, Violeta, and Elrena -- you're it!

Labels: memes, writing

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Summer Reading

I know it's October, but I've got a new essay, "Summer Reading," in the issue of MotherVerse available today. The Ben I write about in this essay seems so much younger to me now, I'm glad I captured this moment when I did!

Here's a little blurb:

I don't see Ben working to read, although he's been interested in books and letters since he was a baby. We used to leave a couple boardbooks along with the stuffed otter and doggie in his crib, waking some mornings to the sound of him chattering and turning the thick pages. We called it his morning book group. When he was two, he got interested in what Tony and I did at our laptops hour after hour, and he'd asked to type words, too; I still have some of these files, long lists of his favorite words in giant blue font: "Mama! Dada! Ben! Cookie!"

Click on over to MotherVerse to read the rest; a one-year digital subscription is only $9 and supports the work of wonderful writers and artists.

Labels: writing

Monday, October 08, 2007

Mama at the Movies: Shut Up and Sing

My Literary Mama column this month is about Barbara Kopple's documentary, Shut Up and Sing. Here's a blurb:

Four years ago, I nursed my first son with over one thousand other nursing mothers at a world-record breaking Berkeley "nurse-in."

This year, my boy hops down the sidewalk into kindergarten.

Four years ago, the war in Iraq was in its infancy and President Bush's approval ratings were sky-high.

This year, a growing and non-partisan chorus criticizes our involvement in Iraq, while the president stubbornly limps toward the end of his misguided term.

Four years ago, the Dixie Chicks began a world tour with a number one hit single, "Travelin' Soldier," about a girl who longs for her beau to return from Vietnam. The single dropped off the charts when lead singer Natalie Maines remarked in concert, "Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas."

This year -- just days ago as I write this column -- Sally Field accepts an Emmy award saying (in a line bleeped from the American telecast, but heard on Canadian television), "... if the mothers ruled the world there would be no goddamn wars in the first place."

I am a mother who hates war and violence, and loves movies and music. Shut Up and Sing (Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck, 2006) gives me a lot of what I care about in a film. It's no date-night romance, true, but this documentary, which details the impact of Natalie Maines' remark on the Dixie Chicks' music, their families, and our culture, has me singing its praises.

Read the rest at Literary Mama. And while you're there, check out the new Literary Reflections essay, Little Finch, as well as the beautiful new column, Me and My House, by my Mama, PhD co-editor, Elrena Evans.

Labels: literary mama, mama at the movies

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Breakfast, or Art Project?

Now that weekday breakfasts are a rush job, I'm savoring our lazy weekend mornings and looking forward, throughout the week, to making special breakfasts. Yesterday, we made pancake faces, inspired by a picture in a magazine my parents gave to Ben. Both boys took turns measuring ingredients and of course were fascinated by seeing what happened to the egg whites after a few minutes in the KitchenAid (No, you don't normally separate the eggs for pancakes. Yes, the pancakes turned out to be particularly light and delicious for the extra effort. No, I won't be doing it this way again!) We made the faces with banana chunks, shredded coconut, dried blueberries, grapes, orange slices and apple slices. It made a big mess, but everyone left the table happy.

Labels: cooking, family life

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Soccer Mom

I have never been particularly cutting-edge, but now, just as Brain, Child puts this icon's demise on its cover, it looks like I'm becoming a soccer mom.

Ben is on a soccer team.

Now every Wednesday after school, and every Saturday morning, we gather the cleats, the shin guards, the special socks, the soccer shirt and the shorts. We gather extra water and snacks. And we gather with the other parents to watch our boys run back and forth, poking at the ball with their feet.

A few of them have clearly watched soccer before, some have even played, but most of them have no idea what they're doing. This is a good thing, as far as I'm concerned, and the coach doesn't a whole lot care, either. They're here to learn how to be on a team, he keeps saying; there's no keeping score, no keeping track of who runs up and down the field the fastest. He teaches them some moves, encourages their efforts, and generally makes it fun.

At Ben's first game, we stood on the sidelines watching our boy, who stood on the field, watching the game. At one point he called over to us, "Excuse me?! Do you see the other team's blue shirts? That's because they're called the Blue Devils!" "That's great, sweetie!" I called back, "Don't forget you're playing now, too!" We joked about his multi-tasking: playing and color commentary! When the coach told Ben to "guard the line," Ben did, not moving for several minutes, until the coach explained that he hadn't meant Ben had to stand there indefinitely. And when the play moved further away from him, Ben stood in the center of the field, quietly practicing his pitching motion.

So maybe soccer's not his sport, but it's the only game in town right now. And when the forty minute match was over, Ben ran over to us and happily jostled with the other boys for his water and his slice of watermelon.

Labels: family life

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Sick Day

I spent most of 6th grade working out ways to avoid going to school. There was nothing particularly terrible about school that year, just your basic pre-adolescent social anxiety, that who-will-I-sit-next-to-in-the-cafeteria, who-will-let-me-stand-around-and-talk-with-them-at-recess kind of thing. I would start my planning the night before an anticipated bad day, weighing the pros and cons of feigning cold, flu, or fever. I knew better than to try heating a thermometer with the light bulb, because I'd read a book in which the girl narrator tries it, and the thing explodes, sending little mercury droplets around the room. Somehow I was successful often enough that I kept doing it, although (unbeknownst to me at the time) I would have been quite a bit more successful if my sister hadn't done the same thing, seven years earlier. My mother was working full-time by the time I went on my school strike, and so aside from just recognizing the signs, simply couldn't afford to indulge me.

Today, Ben stayed home from school, and I swear if he were my daughter, if he were older, I'd think he was trying to tell me something. He woke up complaining of a sore throat, threw up his breakfast and then, after I'd made the calls to say he wouldn't be at school, or at soccer practice, was fine. Skipping around playing a concert fine.

I know he loves school right now. And he certainly didn't fake throwing up (something I was neither brave nor stupid enough to attempt). So we'll chalk this up to one off day. But I've got my eye on him...

Labels: family life, mothering

Monday, October 01, 2007

A Little Writing Gem

I went with a couple of my writing group buddies to a reading last night from . It was a great hour devoted to the craft of writing nonfiction, from journalism to creative pieces, and I left all charged up and ready to write. Perhaps because I'm such an avid movie watcher, I particularly liked this bit from the editor, Mark Kramer's, own essay on "Setting the Scene:"

Purposefully or not, the author sets out the camera and the microphone--might as well put them where they help most. They are often set in one spot, but they can move--say, to the shoulder of a main character. The author may reset the range but must do it with care and intention, as filmmakers do.

I just love that first sentence. For starters, it's a terrifically helpful metaphor; I like thinking of my essay's point of view that way, as something that I can subtly shift depending on where I put the equipment. And then that casual "might as well," generously assuming that of course we're always in control, when in fact we're often scrambling to remember just where we might have left our cameras and microphones.

It's not that we don't know all this stuff, right? It's just good to get a fresh way of thinking about it every once in a while.