Monthly Archives: December 2011

(Community Matters) The Christies are in Fredricksburg; Weisz/Brooks near Fredricksburg; Berman/Johannsens, Hughes and Ghertner/Barbour are somewhere on I-10; Cramers, Corns & Laanstras touring Carlsbad Caverns then here. Today’s batch of Marfa arrivees should be here 6ish. It’s like tracking Santa Claus – &  I’m about as excited as when I did as a little kid

(Community Matters) Busy day – Marfa Public Radio Corp board meeting. Our board president unexpectedly needed to resign as he’ll be spending most of next year in Mexico. I agreed to step up as our next President. Ginger Reeder has agreed to serve as VP, Kay Burnett as Secretary and John Wotowicz our Treasurer/Finance Chair. We’re in the middle of exceptionally busy times, just having closed on the purchase of the Midland/Odessa public radio channel. Our GM, Tom Michael, Rachel Osier Lindley & Anne Adkins are strong, and we’re like the dog which has caught the milk truck – holy shit & this is exciting!

Dinner with Steven at the MiniRooster – really, really good. Fire roasted acorn squash w/ lime & Hawaiian black sea salt; beets with a rocket salad; sweet potato fries and we shared a pulled pork entree (served on blackeyed peas and greens with corn bread). In town and at the restaurant: Dick & Janie DeGuerin, also Rachel & Chase Lindley w/ Rhett (who’s just turning 2 months).

Back home reading – yeah, Steven caught me

(Community Matters) This report has been fascinating Steven since he read about it in The Economist. You know, it really is exceptionalism to be married to my husband – we have so much fun exploring and learning so many esoteric and pragmatic things.

The Economist  -Seven Seconds of Fire: How a short burst of drumming changed the face of music

Vodpod videos no longer available.

(Community Matters) One of my objectives over the holidays has been to think about American exceptionalism and arrive at conclusions on my opinions of whether this is true ( . . . was true or is true).

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(Community Matters) flew back in late Xmas eve, morning at the office, then expertly loading the car since packing for 2 weeks and a Marfa new years party for 70+. Christmas day to my parent’s farm where we hung with them (Gloria & Eloy), my brother (Eli), sister-in-law (Luci), niece (Paulina), nephew (Eli), sister (Bridget Lewis) and brother-in-law (Eric Lewis). Except for our older nephew/godson (Shaun Holifield) we were all together – a too rare occurence.

Paulina’s xmas gifts included a Wii and Wii Dance 3 was the hit of the evening.

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and we played Story Cubes – highly recommend them, huge hit with all the family. Great way to embed a capacity and competence for story telling in children, and to refresh as an adult

Boxing Day – early breakfast, then on the road for Marfa

(Community Matters) hormones bringing on middle childhood (beginning at 5 or 6)

Subsidizing the deft frenzy of brain maturation is a distinctive endocrinological event called adrenarche (a-DREN-ar-kee), when the adrenal glands that sit like tricornered hats atop the kidneys begin pumping out powerful hormones known to affect the brain, most notably the androgen dihydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA. Researchers have only begun to understand adrenarche in any detail, but they see it as a signature feature of middle childhood every bit as important as the more familiar gonadal reveille that follows a few years later. Middle childhood is when the parts of the brain most closely associated with being human finally come online: our ability to control our impulses, to reason, to focus, to plan for the future . . . when children emerge from the shadows of dependency and start taking their place in the wider world. “This is the period when kids move out of the family context and into the neighborhood context.”

(Community Matters) historic

sorry this offended some but it’s historic, makes so many of us finally feel included

sparking controversy

(Community Matters) I’m partial to May (Huntsman) over September (Rick Perry) – full calendar here

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(Community Matters) Merry Christmas from the whole family

w/ godchildren: Shawn Holifield, Luke Hayes, Melissa Henderson, Steven, Nico Selby, Eugene, Cameron Lockley, Ben Knaplund & Austin Knaplund (not shown: Lauren Mayes)

(Community Matters) Hard to imagine any better. This trip has been about Celebrating Steven’s 50th. He most wanted to see Tasmania, Tasmanian Devils & other wildlife, and to get to know my Aussie friends better. We’ve definitely done all three and more so. Lots of devils, wallabies, pademelons, quolls, and wombats.

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(Community Matters) Big frigging deal Pres Obama stood up against 1) Keystone Pipeline, 2) further tax cuts for rich, 3) cuts to social programs for Americans in most need . . . in order to extend this tax cut for the middle class. Kudos to Ds and Senate Rs for standing for America’s middle class.

Boehner: “Why not do the right thing for the American people even if it’s not exactly what we want.” Ponder that! #WhatAnAdmission

Posted from my blackberry from Melbourne