I don't use blogger anymore. I like making posts on a blog because it is fun for me to go back and read my own posts. Seeing what mattered to me at a specific point in time. I like tumblr better.

coltend.tumblr.com

This was my fifth time down to Oklahoma for the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma's annual Pow Wow. The food was great, as usual. The only time I ever eat fry bread or Navajo tacos is when I am in Miami, so the sounds, smells, and tastes all made me feel like I was back in a familiar place.

Two women a few years older than me started the project in an effort to create a real and meaningful bond between the tribe and the university. Considering the history the university has with the tribe, this was the first real movement towards creating a truly positive relationship. We had about seven oral history interviews which is our yearly average.

We drove through Picher, OK and Treece, KS again. They are two towns which were completely stripped mined and are surrounded by enormous mountains of toxic mine waste, chat. Lead blood levels are twice the state average here. The EPA finally agreed to buyout Picher, providing citizens a pittance of their homes value. Treece has failed to receive a government offer.

Defining the weekend:

Dear Companion by Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore on their album "Dear Companion"

My Friend with the Ink by Shout Out Louds

The Spooklight

This has been on my work computer for over a year. I don't know who put it there, but I look at it almost every day.

I had a really great time with my friends last night.

Shout Out Louds - Spöken from Ted Malmros on Vimeo.

I really enjoy Band of Horses and the Shout Out Louds. So, this is pretty great.

Ashley, Austin and I went out for my birthday Tuesday night and Ashley said, "Urban Outfitters had tons of lesbian clothes at the sidewalk sale."

Frampton Comes Alive!

I feel real sick today. I'm just going to sit around listening to music and not doing things I am supposed to be doing.

I rented "A Single Man" last night. It was better to see in theaters, but still. That movie is amazing. Since the book is so short, chronicling only one day in Falconer's life, the movie is able to capture everything Isherwood creates in his novel. I love the book and I love the movie. Both equally good in their own way.

I started running everyday.

I am getting a head start on the semester by reading my Public Health text now, instead of later.

I'm moving into this two bedroom house for a year. One year. This means a lot. One more year of Ottawa. One more year at the Elizabeth Layton Center. One more year of a simple life. Oh, and one more year of really cheap rent.

I'm excited that there is a porch for me to read on.

"Tired and wired we ruin too easy."

So far this is fantastic. I have been tearing through books lately. Almost a book every two days. I'm going to take this one slow, two chapters a day.

I like the way he writes. It's casual.

I'm in love.

During the course of my ten hours of babysitting I sent my sister the following texts while she was at work.

6:50 am: It's really rainy.

7:43 am: She has the hiccups ha ha

8:37 am: Oh my god she pooped so much. It's up her back.

8:42 am: Yea she's happy again. I had to use like 10 wipes.

8:47 am: No. She just started getting fussy so I smelled her ass and it was sssssttttaaaaannnnn-kay.

10:44 am: Sleeping!!

10:45 am: Yep.

10:52 am: Yes she is sawing logs.

11:05 am: I have terrible B.O.

12:02 pm: Do you have fingernail clippers?

12:08 pm: Margs peed and threw up all in the same pile.

1:08 pm: As I was taking this she peed out of her diaper all over my shirt and leg. No Joke. (Picture message.)

1:09 pm: 6 is fine. I don't need anything.

1:22 pm: Sitting on the couch playing with her fake fruit. We are worried about margs. She has K9 depression.

3:18 pm: Tatum just threw up in her mouth and ate it.

4:00 pm: Margaret just threw up some kind of hard green jelly.

4:07 pm: Yea she was rubbing her eyes and getting cranky.

Spending most of today at my sisters watching my niece. She is so good, besides that enormous shit she took. Took ten baby wipes. Got to watch a lot of LOGO. This documentary was on and reminded me of my third grade teacher, Mrs. Cooper. She lived in Nepal for two years before she started teaching. Like the teachers in the documentary, she sat us down one day and talked about diversity. I probably won't ever forget it.

"The elevator in the hotel lobby has a lazy door."

I'm at my sisters watching my niece bounce up and down in her chair. She's so adorable and makes me want to never move away. My research was coming to a close but another agency agreed to participate, so my sample just quadrupled. Again. This is a good thing, but increases my workload like crazy. This may never be done. 16 months and counting.

I only finished half of this book. Ashley and I are going to read it together, like a mini book club. I am excited.

Magical Realism

Paradigm shift

Identity politics. Woah.

Obviously not my picture of North Ronaldsay since I don't know how to fly. I spent the night here and I hope I never forget what we talked about.

I wrote a narrative personifying St Magnus Cathedral and it was total trash.