Through Pen and Lens

I have been a horrible blogger. Yes! It’s true. You don’t have to fain surprise with me. I can handle the truth. (A nod to my man Jack.) No excuses. Even with all the papers and projects, all the class prep and grading, all the trips up and down I-45, I could have found the time to check-in now and again. I’ve been taking the lazy way out and posting on Facebook, and not even a lot of that. (That was for you, Laurie.) So, what’s been up? My blood pressure, probably. But it’s starting to return to normal. You do realize I haven’t actually checked it. I just feel less stressed today, so naturally one can fill in the blank. Decided to put on the Ritz. I have a couple things to share: First, I am starting a campaign to save the United States Postal Service. In my youth (That was only a couple months ago, right?), I was an avid letter writer and sender of humor cards. Back when I had free time (Who knows what that is, anymore?), I would peruse the card shops and shops that ju...

I was on my way to my friend Laurie’s home where, among other things (preparing Halloween decorations), we were to stage documentary photographs, when I saw Bryan hitching south on SH 146. A woman alone, I drove past him, but as I studied him in my rearview mirror, I wondered if photos of a hitchhiker would be better than anything staged. I made the two u-turns and went back to inquire if he would oblige. Bryan and I talked about five minutes, as I explained the project from the safety of my truck, and he told me a small bit of his journey. His talkative cat, Princess RD (Road Dog), who I did not see until Bryan walked to the truck, decided she would enjoy the cool air inside with me. Bryan and I agreed on the photograph as document. Unlike diCorcia’s “carefully contrived photographic tableaux” (Lowry), I attempted to remove signage from the frame to reduce the possibility of a commentary I was not trying to make. Winogrand “aggressively rejects any responsibility for his images...

Tell me, was I too harsh with my ENGL 1301 online class today? "The Profile essays have been graded. You will find your grade in one of the comment bubbles in your paper. Please review all the comments in your paper, as I will look for these issues in your other assignments. Overall, there has been improvement in your writing. (Yea!) But there are some problems that continue to appear: First: (And yes, I am going to fuss here. You have been warned.) I should not have to remind you to use proper MLA format. Following this simple requirement is not difficult. You have explanations and examples in your textbook and online. You can also email me - that's one of the reasons why I'm here. So, FROM THIS POINT ON, IF YOU HAVE NOT PROPERLY FORMATTED YOUR PAPER, IT WILL BE RETURNED TO YOU, UNGRADED. If you can't bother to follow this simple instruction, why should I bother to grade your paper? If I review it after the due date (I generally wait until everyone has s...

I blame Dan. My wonderful husband was so worried about me worrying about him that he had the kids neglect to inform me that he was in the hospital. He finally told me yesterday afternoon, much too late for me to be driving to Crosby from Dallas when I have to be back for class Monday morning. But I knew that the longer I brooded about not being there, the more likely it would be that I would drive home anyway. He joked about the liquid diet that they’re going to start him on, so I added that I would start my own liquid diet: wine, beer, whatever the hell was in the apartment as long as it was in a liquid state to make sure that I didn’t get behind the wheel of Big Bertha. She’s a good girl, but unforgiving. He says he’s fine. But that’s what he always says. He told me to wait to come home just in case I have to come home later. The fewer classes missed and all that. So, I put up the readings I had to do for the week, put in Sense and Sensibility , again, and preceded to put dow...

I don’t know if it’s good or sad that I am dreaming of French translation exams. Taking them, passing one section but not the other. Retaking a section and as I hold it up to read it, almost instantly knowing how to translate it into anglais , a mystical light shining around the edges of the page but oddly enough, not through. Or how about the next bit of the dream: Looking through a live-action French catalogue named Talbot. Not the women’s clothing catalogue that is already out, but an antiques catalogue named after the seven-hundred plus year old vampire on True Blood . Why Talbot? He loves his antiques and talking about them. And I’m watching the DVDs of the show with French subtitles turned on. Actually, everything I watch for the next few days has to have français subtitles, or I can’t watch. That’s my rule. I get breaks from my studying (and reading for my actual courses), but I continue to study by reading the subtitles – two birds with one stone. I know there is no way I’m...

I am so very far behind. I have all kinds of things to get done including but not limited to creating a Comp I syllabus; creating a website for my art; posting photos of: Wesley's graduation, Daddy's birthday, my haircut (yeah, I got scalped, and I'm loving it); work on my numerous photo projects; save the Jim West Mansion; work on other art and writing... Classes begin Wednesday, and I haven't learned French yet (gonna take the test anyway). I'll think about it all tomorrow. I'm going to bed. Quote for the day: One of the greatest labor saving inventions of today is tomorrow. Vincent T. Foss

Photo by Morry Gash So, Wesley, Ashley and I (along with Ditto, Louis, and Oz) watched NASA TV (and CBS when NASA was too quiet) this morning as Atlantis left on its final mission. A little piece of history shared with the kiddies who are no longer kids. It's hard to believe 135 missions have been flown in the shuttle program. And in the 50 years of the space program, we've only had two major tragedies. Go USA! I feel for the people who will lose jobs because of the end of the shuttle program, but it is time for space "advancement." Perhaps now, forced to do so, we will come up with something even better. Here's to a prosperous journey and safe return. Quote for the day:  Are you still using fossil fuels, or have you discovered crystallic fusion? Buzz Lightyear

If this makes sense, congratulate me. I have been medicated since Friday, 27 May, when Dr. Brown did an arthroscopy on my left knee, the same knee I screwed up over 25 years ago. Damn, I’m getting old. Well, my body is, anyway. This time, I tore my meniscus, so nothing like the last time. Good drugs, though. I was trying to be a big girl today and not take anything. Fuck that. Pain started shooting through like somebody was stabbing me with one of those hand-held knife sharpeners; you know, the long, round, metal thing with a handle, bigger than an ice pick. So, another day of haze. Unfortunately, not quite purple. I was planning to write something profound here. Damned if I can remember what the hell it was. Wes is playing some game on the ps triple, and I lost focus. But here is a quote. Nothing to do with this post, though. Quote for the day: Some people cling to their prejudices like old, comfortable clothes that should have been thrown out long ago. Patricia Dixon

I have entirely too much work to do to be here. Yet, here I am. The semester is almost over. One new paper and two rewrites to do. That's it. So why can't I wrap my head around them, and get 'er done? Too much drama in my life? Always. Too many things on my plate? If you'd seen me lately, you wouldn't have to ask that question. Happy Cinco de Mayo! Maybe a beer or five... Quote for the day: Congress seems to favor a stable government, judging from the amount of stalling it does.

Infinity 146 and Toby Toby passed Tuesday morning. He is missed. So, last night, I’m working on my mac, trying to get rid of some of the junk files and send those that might be needed some day to an external drive for safe keeping (lol), when I notice the rain is getting louder, and the neighbor’s wind chime is ringing non-stop in my ears. Since I’m not hooked up for tele and I only check the weather online when I am going to be out in it, I had no idea a storm was coming. Excuse me, was here. So, I ignored it. It wasn’t long, maybe a few minutes (maybe an hour – I get lost in time on the mac) when I notice the sound of pea gravel being thrown by the handful at my patio door. Okay, so now I have to check it out. Ta-the-f-ing-la-de-da. It’s 2230 (that’s 10:30pm), and we have hail. Again. This is Texas? This is frakking April? We just had hail ten days ago! Neighbor's front door. So, I stand at the patio door and watch as the hail pounds the carport and the uncovered cars a...

We have hail! Pea-size hail. It didn’t actually wake me. Thunder woke me about 0230. Then the rainstorm started. Now hail at 0500. Wonder if this will hold over until time for class. I could use a day off after yesterday… Best Ensem! I was in desperate need of inspiration, and I thought I’d get a jump on my new project (in addition to all of the coursework I really need to be working on!), so I went to the Deep Ellum Arts Festival yesterday. Great art, music, food and lots of dogs, partly because of the dog parade. I’m posting some of the pics on Facebook. This is the dog that gave me the biggest smile.  They were working it! So, what’s my new project? I mentioned back in March that I applied for the UTD artist residency at CentralTrak. I am looking at the past and present artists living/working in Deep Ellum. There were several artists presenting at the festival that are from the area. Yeah! That gives me a start. I met several and told them what I’m planning. All that I...

It appears I have been neglectful in my duties. Instead of writing I have been internalizing – quite a bit. Perhaps part of that is all the solitary time here in Dallas. Another reason: I have a tendency to go into my head; always have. So, when I see my kids do the same thing, I try to draw them out. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with focusing in; balance is key. And sometimes my scales can get a little wonky. So what’s been up? The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition – the Chicago World’s Fair. I’m in a humanities course centered on “the Fair that changed America.” At first, I thought, what the hell? But this fair shows up in literature, everywhere. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , Devil in the White City , Against the Day , Sister Carrie , The Conjure Woman and Sweet Clover , just to name a miniscule few. Everybody was there except Samuel Clemens; he made it to Chicago but spent the time in his hotel room because he became ill. What a spin he would have put on the experience of the fair...

I just applied to the UT Dallas graduate student artists residency program. It would be up to two years in a live-in studio space at the CentralTrak gallery in Deep Ellum (an historic and artistic area of Dallas), rent and utility free. I will be able to focus on my work and studies sans all the worry of having to spend family funds on housing. If I get in I would move in this fall semester. If not, I will be applying again, with an updated statement of purpose for those who were able to send comments on the original statement after I sent off the packet. Whether I get in or not, I will be researching the history of Deep Ellum, the artists and writers from the area (particularly female artists and writers), and I will be working on a photographic study of the area and those artists. It would just be easier if I was actually living down there. Quote for the day: We make our own luck, but having someone with us enriches the composition.

I get to go home in the morning!  I am bouncing around this apartment like a fucking Bumble Ball. Remember me? What can I say? I have been cooped up like a chicken for days on end. Then I get a break, can go out, but the only place to go is to school (or WalMart or Ikea), carefully.  But wait! Only one day of school, because damnitalltohell, it frackin snows (or ices) over the whole area. Again! And the city shuts down. Again! So, no school. Fuck!!! (You'd think these North Texans would have snow plows to handle this shit! Or would at least have them in town since the Super Bowl was here in frackin February!) But who cares, cause  I get to go home in the morning!  (That was a song, for those who missed it the first time.) Back to the coast, like a sane person. So, I just wanted to get that off my chest, cause I get to see my peeps for a few days (Valentine's Day included, kinda). I have to be back here for class at 0930 Monday morning, but who cares!?!...

Oooh. Pudee. I used to love the snow. I used to love it so much I’d go to visit, just because. I’d bring it muscles to strain, extremities to freeze, asses to bust. Snow would remind me that I was flexible and quick on my feet and that I had a fabulous sense of humor. We’d frolic and kiss and hug for hours. I don’t know how it happened, but that’s all changed. Snow and I are no longer on speaking terms. Well, not friendly speaking terms, anyway. Here it is Friday afternoon, and I’ve been stuck in my apartment in Dallas since Monday night. All alone. With my hair in plats, me looking like Snoop about the head. You can almost hear the viola, can’t you? Not my door. Next day. I think they're stuck. Well, not completely alone. My trueblue friend MacBook has been here keeping me company. But MacBook’s been hyperemotional lately. We’ve shared a few laughs with Wanda Sykes and some tears on the beaches of the Atlantic and Pacific. We’ve even done the Cupid Shuffle a couple of ...

Well, I'm already on overload, but apparently, that's how I like it! I'm teaching two online classes for Alvin Community College: Survey of Lit I and II. The first few weeks of coursework are in place. I'll finish the rest of the semester probably this weekend since I'm staying in Dallas - all alone, by my big ole lonesome self (whaah!). I'm working for the Office of Diversity and Community Engagement at UTD. Editing, mostly. Remind me never to apply for a grant or at the very least, hire a grant writer. That's some hoops, let me tell ya. Oh, wait. I have applied before. Three times. Didn't get it. See. Hire a grant writer. I'm taking 12 hours of graduate coursework at UTD - gotta get finished! Lordy, the reading I have to do this semester... I should probably be doing that instead of this. (Yeah, I giggled.) I'm working on my artist's website - gotta get the exposure - and working on new art and writing - keeps me balanced. That sounds like ...

Well, here it is, my first full day back in Dallas, Texas, and it decides to snow. I am not built for this people! I am a coastal girl. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy snow - when I don't have to actually go anywhere in it. I try really hard to avoid driving in this kind of stuff. I've gotten stuck out in it one too may times (never my fault). I mean, I used to ski back in the days of good knees and death wishes. Now, I intend to grow old (older) so that I can sit in my rocker and be a crotchety but wise grey-haired diva. (I've decided to let my hair go as grey as it wants at 50.) Driving in the snow does not appear to be conducive to that plan. Thank goodness I remembered yesterday that there was supposed to be a front moving through Texas today. (I actually watch television at home. I don't even have the TV plugged in here in Dallas.) Otherwise I'd be sitting here with no fresh veggies or dairy (or a variety of libations) in my apartment. Did I follow? Who ar...