December 27, 2009
As I wind down the last day of surfing in Baja Norte, I think of one of my heroines, Martha Gellhorn, who, in her travels as a war correspondent for over 50 years, swam as around the world. Not in a circumnagivating sense, but in a “I’m here, where I can swim?” kind of way.
For this and many other reasons, I chose to celebrate the life of Martha Gellhorn in the best way I know how.
Surfing and road trip pix to follow. Promise.
December 15, 2009
The Denver Museum of Nature and Science has more than just dioramas of cavemen of the pre-GEICO era. Its special exhibits are world class.
From October 16, 2009 to February 7, 2010, Genghis Khan invades the museum, and like everything else he ever invaded (except for Afghanistan), he conquered well.
For me it brought up the question of what it’s like to be married to the most famous barbarian, the most successful conqueror of all of Asia and beyond. I gleaned much about Borte, the famous first lady, from the exhibit.
December 3, 2009
The 80s television show The Wonder Years and a mob of ancient, angry Christians?
November 8, 2009
Grad school did me some good. Sure, it gave me more than a few grey hairs and an identity crisis that forced me to reinvent myself, but it gave me the gift of critical thinking. Maybe I would have become this critical thinker regardless of the thousands I handed over in tuition, but I’ll take the catalyst.
When I tell people I studied English literature on the graduate level, they are surprised that I’m not a social moron only interested in explicating the infamous Molly Bloom chapter at the end of Joyce’s Ulysses. I didn’t go to grad school to wrap myself in a critical theory cocoon; I went to enjoy literature on a deeper level and to get smarter. Definitely accomplished #1. The jury is still out on #2.
The best part of having this kind of knowledge is sharing it with those who would otherwise be more interested in watching NASCAR or riding bicycles or clipping their toenails. And the other best part is making literature from centuries past relevant, fun, and cool. Again.
I tried to do that with my personal favorite crazy lady in attic, Emily Dickinson. The pudding is over at Great History.
October 30, 2009
Even though the 1892 all-white male jury found otherwise, the circumstantial evidence against this taciturn young woman means that we find her guilty in the court of public opinion, even without the murder weapon.
Who needs a murder weapon when you’ve got erratic behavior and a massive inheritance at stake? The American legal system, apparently.
But THE trial of the 19th century, where a young woman is acquitted of hacking her parents to death, is worth revisiting. Especially on Halloween Eve.
October 23, 2009
Readers-
I know you’re a playful bunch and are busy right now planning, nay, scheming for Halloween. The females tend to flock to the sexy – sexy librarian, sexy cocktail waitress, sexy gorilla – anything that allows you to dress more revealing than you usually do and not risk being called names.
Femme fatales are hot, too. One of the hottest and most famous femme fatales is Lady MacBeth, the dark, determined woman who would see her husband king, morals be damned.
This week, in the spirit of Halloween, I wrote a tribute to the iron-willed heroine turned crazy lady of the Scottish Play.
October 19, 2009
People find out I sandboard and ask me a ton of questions, like I know what I’m doing or something. Let’s get one thing straight: I only sandboard every couple of years and only do when when my legs refuse to go on another mountain bike trip or I can’t afford to fly to some coast somewhere to go surfing.
Same thing with golf. When I tell folks I’m going golfing they always respond, “I didn’t know you golfed.” That’s because I don’t. Except on that particular day.
I’m no expert on the sand with a board. I use a cheapo plastic promotional board from Dannon and wear my Salomon snowboard boots, sweatpants, and some kind of warm windbreaker. Lucky for me the Great Sand Dunes National Park is only four (Annie leadfoot) hours from Denver and there’s some amazing hot springs on the way home.
So, I go. Last week I had the good fortune of 36 hours (pretty much) off, so I packed up Subi II with camping and sand/snowboard stuff.
I hiked up for about two hours, then sandboarded down the steepest lips of sand I could find. At one point I miscalculated, and the angle was too acute to gain momentum, and there I am, jumping up and down, pathetically trying to push myself forward. I unclipped my bindings and walked to a steeper, albeit shorter, lip.
Pictorial highlights below:
The road in from the south, near Alamosa
Nature's optical illusion
Optical illusion 2
First time in my life I've been tall and thin
The Sangre de Cristos in the background
Tall and thin twice in one day
Grasses in the wind
Brilliant color at sunset
No, I don't own Photoshop
Walked up that
Dannon and Sky
SheSpoke poses and readies
Dannon's ready
Steep, short, and safe
Boarding this lip was the day's highlight!
October 19, 2009
Or, they may have just enjoyed sitting by the river, enjoying sunny New Mexico days and dry nights within the comfort of a local’s home.
That local was Edith Warner, and once again, as a woman of history, she did not lead armies into battle or change public policy. She became a part of history by doing what women in the 1940s did everyday: making a comfortable home, homemade and to-die for chocolate cake.
Dudes like Oppenheimer, Bohrs, and Fermi would spend many hours at Warner’s cozy adobe home, trying to forget the days’ research. They were thankful for her undemanding company and her abilities in the kitchen.
Check out the article at GreatHistory.com.
October 12, 2009
Readers-
I am so behind in posting pix and words of my recent trips within the fair state of Colorado. The most recent, seen below, was a body-dirtying but soul cleansing long weekend near Colorado National Monument. Three days of hiking and biking. These photos are from the Monument itself. I was too exhausted and focused on the bike ride in Palisade to snap photos.
Familiar sandstone formation
Look boss, see trail!
Colors of the desert: ashen grey, soft sand, juniper green, and blue-blue sky
Yellow Alive!
Independence Monument
Book Cliffs in the Background
Looking up in awe at Colorado National Monument
Do these sandstone monoliths make me look fat?
Coke Ovens Sandstone
Solitary, rugged beauty
October 11, 2009
Ever since I was twelve and owned my first bicycle (a girly blue thing with flowers on it), I have known that life on two wheels = freedom. Even as my taste in bicycles has morphed over the years, I still feel, when I take my street bike out (an early 1990s steel Univega), that pedaling can take you farther than a feet can, and that there is no substitute for wind whooshing through one’s hair.
I have long been cognizant of how the bicycle sped along the epic, 76-year-long journey for women to get the right to vote.
And one woman, a Polish mother of three in Massachusetts, took to the streets of the world with her bicycle. Not for any political reason, mind you, but just to see if she could do it.
And she could. And she did. And eventually, they did too.
SheSpoke. Find out what she said