omg omg omg happy halloween soon!

Cross Your Fingers Ladies...and Man.

So I returned from a GREAT weekend in Amherst to have an almost equally great interview with the ACLU office in Sioux Falls...the newest and smallest ACLU office in the country. It's actually just one guy and hopefully me! (knock on wood) And now I have a second, in-person interview on Friday, and I'm trying (and failing) to not get too excited...but it sounds like such a perfect, awesome job! Almost like a cross between legal aid and community organizing work. Also the dude who runs it seems to not like SD very much (understandably) so it would totally fulfill my like-hate relationship with SD! Ahhh I need to stop before I psych myself out for this interview. But anyways...cross your fingers for me, I havent been unemployed for this long of period since I was literally 11 years old and it's starting to mess with my head.

In other news, since I have no photographic evidence of the fun that was had this weekend...here is a picture of me about to carve my first pumpkin. And the other picture is me starting my first ever almost fire in a microwave! This is what tuperware looks like after it stops smoking...notice the hole in the bottom. Life lessons from auntie sam lol. Love!

I'll be seeing you sooo sooon!

I'll be seeing you guys in 36 hours!!! !!!!

Since a lot of us will be going to hamp halloween and/or zu party, i had a costume idea...

Rose is going to be






Megan is going to be






Carmella might be





Jenny found this and I love it and am going to do my best to replicate. Anyone have access to a football helmet?









If you're still looking for a costume, there are plent of Mario props to be!

love and light

hi lovies! this past weekend was so great, a little preview of the loveliness that will begin again on friday, when selena arrives from the SW, megan from the NH, jenny from the NYC, and rosie from the BOS. this weekend, having a revolving door of beauties in my room and in my bed and around this house reminded me of my good fortune to have such fantastic friends. oh, aren't we just the luckiest? it was great to have sammyjo back in new england, and always a great time when megs and rose bless us with their light and laughter. speaking of light....

isn't that an incredible scene? the pic was taken on my walk to school from the zu yesterday morning, right in front of the football field.
also, this picture amazes me -

i think they must have been running with candles or something to get that effect... i dont know! anyway, it was taken in Sydney on October 24th as a symbol of climate change action. check out more pictures of the big day here. (amherst is featured on the front page, in a collage of all the western mass events)

biglove, carms

puto !

oh hannah ! q tristeza that you won't be around.. we can certainly skype chapman. email me your schedule for friday afternoon thru sunday morning ...

megan, here's the puto recipe i used:

2 C rice flour
1 T baking powder
¾ C sugar
a pinch of salt
2 C coconut milk
2 T water

mix dry ingredients first, then pour in wet ingredients. spoon into mini-cupcake baking pan, drop of rose water on top of each one. sit large pan of water in oven (425 degrees F). wait til steamy, pop in cupcake pan, pull out five minutes later... yum. [there are also slightly more complicated recipes, see http://putopinoy.blogspot.com/2007/05/puto-rice-cake-or-steamed-muffin.html]

i'll make them again for friday dinner in chapman! so excited !! we are definitely doing friday dinner in chaps ? carms, do we have permission from current chapmen ?

love love, r.

Darlings,

I've been off the radar as usual. You're all meeting for homecoming and I won't be there! I'm so sad.  I wish I could be there with you all. Maybe we could orchestrate a skype session? So I can see all your lovely faces? that might be a bit difficult to coordinate, I guess.

In the meantime, will you all do me a favor and watch this beautiful video that I've been hypnotized by for the past quarter of an hour:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOZ6KnVPvIU

It's Pilobolus, a dance company. Incredible. 

Other news: teaching is getting slightly easier. It's crazy what your students tell you...family drama, personal stuff that they just spout out in the middle of class or write in their homework assignments...I'm still figuring out how to deal with that. Then my teens who try to FLIRT with me--come on! I got pretty mad at one kid. Most importantly, I'm starting to find a dance community: I"m doing Angolan dance and this kind of strange "Brazilian Dance mix" class and I have two "company" rehearsals on Saturdays...still not really sure what that means...and, if all works out, I might get to do a sabar class, as well. I'm pulling all the strings I can.

Other than that, it's been so fun living with Nina and Lyncoln, my Brazilian roommates. I hadn't realized how much Portuguese I've been speaking until I had to take a placement test today. My grammar isn't great, but I realize that I can actually hold a conversation in Portuguese now and I understand almost everything. It's a really good feeling. I've started reading in Portuguese, too. ...

ugh, I don't actually want to write this to you guys, I want to TALK to you and SEE you...who's in California over Christmas? Megan, can't you fly your dad's plane? Come out for a while? Bring the Chapman crew along? I wish.

I do get homesick for our Chapman days, the dinners, the crowds in the bathroom, all the late-night hallway conversations and the bike trips to Northampton...oh man, I can't think about it I'll get too sad. Have fun for me at homecoming! I'll be thinking of you!

Love,

Hannah

man, am i stressed out. but i'm either going to get it all out of the way for this weekend, or totally ignore it this weekend. either way, i'm in in in on the halloween bonanza. wishing right now that i felt like i knew more about how to get all this proposal bs squared away. i may go to bed right now, and just wake up mad early tomorrow and attack the day like a rabid dog.

and for those of you stressed out about school, here's something to cheer you up...


what are you going to be for halloween?
i'm going to be the super mario mushroom!

PS

tomorrow i am drawing cait naked!!! aren't you all jealous!

big plans

hey ladies and Julian,

so as usual i am in the midst of academic crisis, so i need to know exactly when chapman events will be taking place next weekend, so i can plan to ready for them, and not in some hole hopped up on ADD meds, crying about a paper. everyone but Hannah should be in town right? (don't worry, Hannah. we won't have any fun without you. promise). i heard something about a dinner in chapman, possibly with professors? a brunch? what's really happening and when? who's orchestrating this shit? remember hampshire halloween is friday night, and there's a zu party on saturday night. can't wait to see you!

Love,
Becky

homecoming = in the middle of midterms :/

hi all! i'm super looking forward to all the funness that's gunna be going down around here in the coming days/weeks. meanwhile, i'm furiously studying for a stats exam in the morning and i have more spanish homework that i'd like to admit.
we're thinking of hosting a mini community of women dinner (in chapman!) friday oct 30th in commemoration of all the chapmanites who will be descending upon us (rosie selenaa jenny hopefully megs too?) before heading over to hampshire halloween, just so you know (let me know if you want me to hook you up with a hamp halloween ticket!).
here's an excerpt from a gchat rosie and i had about c.o.w., prof gewertz, and rachey's thesis... enjoy!

Rose: you kno i don't like that lady anywayz

what's her name

...curly hair

me: gewertz?

Rose: YEAH

she think she all that

whateva!

i also showed my officemates bonquiqui

points!

me: HAHHA yayyy

oh and rach could totally use some mooching points

they had a terse thesis mtg today

Rose:

she'll be okay

me: in which her closing remarks were - no more socializing, not even for a minute. and you better not fall in love.

tikes

hahahah

*yikes

SHE KNOWS

she must know~1

Rose: that is so funny

not even for a minute?

me: yeah, who is she kidding!

Rose: dude gw needs to understand some humanity

"humanities"

social science

rachel should have been like

me: riiiight

Rose: "I AM LIVING ANHTROPOLOGY"

me: anthro is all about the study of HUMANS

righto!

i will tell her

psh

gw...

Rose: or just be like

i am conducting a case study

on dan kamen

me: HAHAHHAHAHHAHA

Rose: wha wha whaaaaat

Sent at 9:15 PM on Monday

My dearests...

I am missing you!!!! I just is.

I am coming to homecoming! Well, not the football game part but i will be there at night, and want to see you (all I can think about is Selena and Rose plotting to make hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps), because I have my LAST day of saturday clinical this week... speaking of which, clinical makes me really really sad sometimes. I want to tell all of you about what's happened generally while i'm there, but want to in person. I am sleepy. all i can say is: don't do too many drugs. never shoot up anything (and if you must, GET CLEAN NEEDLES. if you need your drugs, i will get you clean needles AND DON'T SHARE NEEDLES). wash your fucking hands. but give love love and more love to people who are sick because they need some love. and wear condoms!!!! seriously. unless you are sure sure sure about your partners STD status. seriously, diseases can get ugly ugly ugly and it is so sad. really so sad. And Hannah I want to skype -- you emailed and I haven't replied yet! selena i got your message and left you one too but i want to talk... and I want to talk to ALL of you and see what is happening. destry do you want your table? i imagine now that you are starting real life you might like a piece of furniture? missiing missing missing missing missing my pretties... (julian, you are also a pretty.) im getting on the telly tomorrow...

kisses
megan

New Project!

I have a new project. So Bill asked if I was going to homecoming. I said no, that I was coming over Halloween. And then I told him to give the Chapman tribe something that they could give to me when I come visit over Halloween. So, Bill is going to bring an object from Sante Fe, and it is going to stay in Amherst until someone (like... me over Halloween) else visits and takes it. And then I'll keep it until someone comes and visits me (like... Rose over Thanksgiving). And we'll just pass it around, marking reunions and visits. Sound fun?!

as usual, procrastinating by posting chapman. got home an hour ago from utah, via boston. my only cousin got married. nuclear families are fucked up. indeed, destry, traumatized is the word. but, i love the feel of travel and always reflect well in planes. plus hotel beds are super comfy. and i hiked in the rockies, which are so colorful right now! will post pictures if my mom sends 'em to me. lots of love, and hoping to see you ALL asap. now to work. rach.

work balance play balance

i'm finally starting to be pummeled with work, but it'll be okay. destry and carmz came to visit, we walked around boston, passed by the 'head of the charles' regatta where we ran into some 'hersters. followed by cooking up some sweet potato fries, emily's birthday dinner, and dive bars.

going to try to go to homecoming next week, as long as i can bring my work and hole up for part of the time,

and now back to the carbon cycle,

cheers and all, rose

p.s. so was that boy-in-balloon thing a hoax, or what?

Wild things

I want to be one! I'm so excited for the movie. "A movie about childhood." What could be better?


Sorry for being a grump last post. Everything is okay now.

On Monday, by all accounts I officially become an adult. I move into a new apartment with my boyfriend and start my job. Woow. Until then, debauchery (and hopefully movie-going!) or just plain good old fun times in Boston with Carms and Rosie.

God, don't the wild things look amazing? I can't get over it. Maybe I miss my childhood imaginary friends, like Punky, who had pink hair and was in a wheelchair. (It's just what happens when you're a middle child.)

this is terrifying... (just in time for halloween)

The Arctic Ocean could be largely ice-free and open to shipping during the summer in as little as ten years' time, a top polar specialist has said.

"It's like man is taking the lid off the northern part of the planet," said Professor Peter Wadhams, from the University of Cambridge.

Professor Wadhams has been studying the Arctic ice since the 1960s.

He was speaking in central London at the launch of the findings of the Catlin Arctic Survey.

The expedition trekked across 435km of ice earlier this year.

Led by explorer Pen Hadow, the team's measurements found that the ice-floes were on average 1.8m thick - typical of so-called "first year" ice formed during the past winter and most vulnerable to melting.
The survey route - to the north of Canada - had been expected to cross areas of older "multi-year" ice which is thicker and more resilient.

When the ridges of ice between floes are included, the expedition found an average thickness of 4.8m.

Professor Wadhams said: "The Catlin Arctic Survey data supports the new consensus view - based on seasonal variation of ice extent and thickness, changes in temperatures, winds and especially ice composition - that the Arctic will be ice-free in summer within about 20 years, and that much of the decrease will be happening within 10 years.

"That means you'll be able to treat the Arctic as if it were essentially an open sea in the summer and have transport across the Arctic Ocean."

According to Professor Wadhams, faster shipping and easier access to oil and gas reserves were among short-term benefits of the melting.

But in the longer-term, losing a permanent feature of the planet risked accelerated warming, changing patterns of circulation in the oceans and atmosphere, and having unknown effects on ecosystems through the acidification of waters.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8307272.stm

PS i miss all my single ladies! all of the chapman girls round here have lovers. uncool. i mean, yay love, all the way. but, well, you know what i mean..

white pond lily?

I just got back from my first herbalism class. At the end of the 3 hour lecture, the teacher gave us a 1oz bottle of our choice of herbal tincture. I chose the white pond lily, mostly because he described the plant as having "really strong female energy" and that it is ruled by this magical mystical underwater spirit who is the goddess of mist and fog or something. Anyway, I was doing some background reading and apparently it is used to decrease sexual activity? whomp whomp. how it get any more nonexistent?
In other news, my mom was visiting for the long weekend (in case you haven't heard me complain at any point in the last 4 days). We went to Vermont. We peeped some leaves. yeahhhhhh. anyway.
I feel blah! I think my kidney yin is all out of wack.
ahhah, I really need to stop hanging out with all these noho weirdos.
peace OUT homies

i just took a nap

at my desk (no one saw! or at least as far as i know, no one saw!).

my parents visited this weekend. it was great!

i've been making interesting life choices!

i wish i wasn't at work and instead was pumping iron like arnold

courtesy of emily

changes in my life, call me for full disclosure.

otherwise, good weekend at the honk! music festival w/ rachel, sarah dz, and chris.
...i think rachie can do a decent recap of the nutso street wear and fun times.

always lots of love, rosie

Oatmeal

...it's what for breakfast at 2:45 on a Saturday afternoon. That is, it's accompanying me as I post.

My exuberance of last week has faded into something of a malaise. Ennui? The cause is a series of small disappointments and hindrances. Apartment hunting, after being fun for a while, has turned into a hassle, especially because we didn't get the one we loved. It also means that, rather than do fun things together, Monty and I have spent all our time running between apartments, weighing real estate pros and cons, and asking about utilities. My part-time job helping out the artist-woman is a real downer, and my other waitressing job didn't work out. The homeless lifestyle -- living out of a backpack and bumping people out of their beds or sleeping in a tent -- has started to get old. I'm ready to have my own space again. There's a strangeness associated with being back at the Zu as a graduate. I don't know how to articulate it, except to say that it feels oddly isolating.

Enough whining! Here are good things that have happened this week:
- I got my cello. Monty found one cheap and bought it for me, which means that after an eight-year hiatus, I'm going to pick it up again. I love the cello because it's an instrument you actually have to hug. And, when you play it right you, can feel its vibrations through your whole body. That said, it will be a while before I play it right again.
- After another long hiatus, I am rejoining the Quaker community in Northampton, starting tomorrow. So happy to have Quakerism become an active part of my life again.
- I found out that I get to start my full time job on a part time basis this month. I'm meeting with my boss next week and moving forward from there. A big relief.
- It's always glorious to see so many Chapman friends in Amherst. They (you) are the best of the best. Plus others, like Scott and Sara last night.
- Obama = Nobel Peace Prize winner. Happiest news of the week.
- If you are in New England, have you seen the trees? I mean, my god.

the (blog-)post-modern relationship

Dear Ladies and Lad,

As many of you know, I am now officially dating Dan Kamen. And it's wonderful. If awkward sometimes and anxiety-provoking. My impression is that we're really right for each other, really really right, he makes me feel like I can be the best me. And it's been kinda a long time coming. Yay! I think the anxiety is mostly about balancing my feelings for him and school work and also the fact that I haven't had a relationship that's lasted more than six weeks (usually just three weeks) in a while, and this one I'd really like to go on and on.... Seems like that's what he wants too. So hopefully between the two of us, we'll work it out.

Oh, damn, except I was in my Film Noir class at UMass today and the prof wouldn't stop talking about objects of desire and how they're just fantasies, and how we love living in fantasies, but the problem with fantasies is that they're not reality ! And that the deepest loves (in all Western fiction) must end in tragedy because they're based on fantasy and therefore can never be fully realized! OMG! Post-Modernity !!!!!!!! (Guess we'll have to write our book in traditions from the Global South..)

OK, Love, Rach.

Hilarious -- and for all of you, especially Rose :)

You will have to sit thru a 30 sec ad, but SO WORTH IT. It's Lonely Island/SNL, and very funny. :)

http://www.hulu.com/watch/99944/saturday-night-live-digital-short-on-the-ground

Kisses,
M

bare feet and sunshiiine

it's a good thing my blogging day is tuesday because that's when i have my sustainable agriculture class. today i spent much of the afternoon barefoot and knee deep in some of the most luscious soil i've ever seen, digging for beautiful white potatoes. what a thrilling and satisfying task! all these adorable little gold nuggets of deliciousness - hidden in the soil for you to find them - and eat them! ! after the potatoes, we attacked the carrots. also adorable, especially the ones that look like little aliens with feet and arms. we turned some of them in veritable works of art. good times. i love that class. and therefore, tuesday's are great. unfortunately i have an entire book to read for my 1 o'clock class tomorrow, but let's be serious. that is not getting done.
in other news, i'm getting used to the idea of my future without a check for $27,000, and i've actually been having a good time dreaming up some pretty great life plans. of course i won't even go there because you know they'll all change by tomorrow... hahah.
hope your weeks are going swimmingly so far. all my love!
carmella

Ever wonder what it's like to actually try to receive gov't benefits?

Today, I received my food stamp allocation - $16 dollars a month. Not even worth a trip to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) half an hour away to get fingerprinted and actually get the card! From trying to find out about my benefits to actually getting them has been a sordid nightmare of bureaucracy and waiting.

Let me tell you about the DHHS in Texas. Right now, it has a class action lawsuit being filed against it because their food stamp program has had so many complaints and they've fallen so far behind on their casework. I got to experience this firsthand. A caseworker has a time limit of 30 days to get back to the client. My caseworker was supposed to get back to me last week and didn't. I called her today multiple times and she didn't pick up. I called 211 (health and human services hotline) and talked to someone who asked me to spell "stipend". I finally found out that I was approved for $16, but all the other Americorps had been approved for the full amount, $200. I went to the DHHS in person to sort it all out. First of all, the DHHS is ridiculously disorganized. It's unclear where you should go when you enter. It's impossible to ask anyone a question unless you wait in a half hour line. I waited in three lines totaling 2 and a half hours of waiting. I finally talked to my caseworker and she outright lied to me about food stamps and my eligibility. After being shuffled around and waiting in my third line, the person helping me said, "okay your caseworker's supervisor has sorted it out. You'll get your $200 by this afternoon." I guess we'll see!

In other news, Austin City Limits (Austin's famous three day music festival) was a great time :)! I saw Chapman favorites like Bon Iver, Girltalk, Andrew Bird, Broken Social Scene, and the B-52's performing Loveshack.

My friend Alese and myself gearing up for the day:

Pretty much what the festival looks like:

End of day 1:

Waiting for Bon Iver in the pouring rain (yes I'm wearing a poncho I fashioned out of two trash bags):

Bon Iver in the pouring rain:

Girltalk:

At Girltalk!:

places i'd rather be

....so on a pc desktop
or with you!

watson

rejected in the first round. better now then later, right?

with hugs, and with my "wild case of wanderlust" still intact -

zu feels like chapman

last night i saw becky, carmella, cait, destry, julian, and jess, all in the zu. ok, i'll stop bragging.

as usual, my posting is kindof like procrastination. (from my thesis, obvi)

so happy to see hannah's post ! we want to hear more !

nothing else to update, sadly! i should get back to work.

lots of love..

Recent life changes

1. I'm out of Maine. The time to leave came. I knew I had to go when I was sleeping until noon every day and watching three hours of TV a night. (Except I am going back to visit this weekend, yay!) Thus...
2. I came to Amherst! The obvious choice. Somehow being surrounded by productive college students has inspired me to move forward with my life. So I ...
3. Got a part time job! I will be working in a diner two days a week, serving up pancakes and home fries, and wearing a little black apron. (No hairnet, yes!) (My interview: "Do you have your own apron?" "Uh, no, is that a requisite for the job?") I am told by people like Ian David that I have to refer to my clients as "hon" and ask if they'd like the "regular". We'll see if it comes to that.
4. I might also work as a woman artist's personal assistant. She can't move her arms, or something. So I might help her, you know, feed her cats, or whatever it is that personal assistants (aka servants) do for other people.
5. All of this is just until my full time work rolls around.
6. In the meantime, I'm also apartment shopping, which is super fun. I like thinking, Is this where my future life will be? (Future, as in, beginning in the next two weeks.)
7. Life is good and the trees are beautiful in New England!

Life in Northampton is proving pretty awesome. Things are getting more exciting as I get settled in. Recent highlights:
-Played banjo with some hippies that live right near me.
-Really cool old graves in the cemetery next to my house.
-It's fall and I'm in the Valley, so I am automatically happy. Best commute ever.
-Hanging out in the Zü is still cool.
-I can drive to pretty places like this:



Sadly, I am not going to be here on Halloween weekend, which just proves that my schedule and the schedule of anybody else in Chapman are always the opposite.