Wrap your head with this material...

Its a five star day. I don't know what my horoscope has to say about it, but I'll tell you. FIVE. Stars. I'm in Taos with a friend for a really quick trip. The idea was to spend the day in town milling about today and then ski tomorrow. Skiing's generally the highlight of any trip for me. I go to bed early for skiing. I forgo drinking in favor of skiing. I hump skiing. Ok, maybe not the humping part. But the rest. But this trip... it might be today that was the best part of the trip. I usually only have the time of my life and the strange encounters and quirky wonderful people experiences when I'm by myself. But this time, oy. Such good stuff. I feel like packing my shit and moving here after just a few hours of being here. It just fits. Some places have the exact imprint of your hand in a glove as you slip it in. And its orgasmic- that fit. We rolled up and found the earthships. A community of sustainable housing. I showed a video on these h...

When I was a kid, my parents had this policy that you could ask anything and get an honest answer. It went hand in hand with another policy of theirs, which was you could use any word as long as you knew what it meant. They'd quiz you occasionally too, just to make sure you were paying attention. "What's 'pissed off' mean, Karin?" "It means perturbed." I was a bit precocious. My parents rarely used the parental copout/freakout/I-don't-want-to-talk-about-this card of "I'll tell you when you're older." So I probably would have learned about sex pretty early no matter what. But as it turned out, I learned about sex from the movie Porky's. I was 4 or 5. In 1984, movies were a big treat. You couldn't just watch pop one in the DVD player at any time. You had to see it at the theater, or you had to wait for it to come out on network television. Most mommies reading this were probably born after 1984 so I'm giving a r...

So I wrote this book and I think it's pretty decent. That's the feedback I'm getting anyway, which is bitchin' really since I have a degree in Education, NOT writing. Plus, this is my first try, so really I should be happy, right? But, turns out writing the book is maybe the easy part. The publishing is another story. You have to find a Literary Agent. To do this, you have to write a 1-3 page letter to many literary agents to convince them to read a sample chapter. Send it with a Self addressed stamped envelope (SASE) and wait. there's more but I'm already experiencing a high level anxiety just writing about this part. In my letter, I'm supposed to explain who I am, what my book's about, why I'm qualified to write it, why its sicky illy good, who'll read it, and on and on. AHHHHHhhhhh! This shit scares me. Also, I'm supposed to be witty, clever, literary, and junk. Oh and explain a 300 page book in a sales pitch. I'm not a frea...

Their sentiments traveled far away to the girl and her babies who grew still more. The girl brought her mother to the riverbed to see the illustration and to ask to hear the story again. The mother finally woke from her catatonic state. She held her daughter’s head in her lap and caressed her face as she told her the story again and again and again. The babies were growing so fast now, it wouldn’t be long before they would have to find their way out. But could they be born into a world without light? The girl and her mother slept in the company of the riverbed for a long time, until finally the animals roused them. The menagerie grew too impatient from the excitement of the infants’ growth. Finally the animals gave the girl their last item, the one seemingly with the least value: the piece of gold. Both women were shocked to see this scrap from their past. It had become so familiar over the years, they recognized it immediately. The gold planted in the g...

That night, the silence was thick with the tragedy of the day. So thick, that it was felt even in the tribe. The medicine man, who’d sent his shadow to visit, was particularly lost in the sadness that seeped through to him. No one was helped by him for a month. The tribes people worried that their gift would be lost with the family. How could the girl find her way in the dark? The animals worried; the whole menagerie was askew with talk of hopelessness. “How could a hopeless girl be their key?” When the month of moping and sadness ended, the sun came out and caste a beautiful rainbow for all the tribe to see. The sun refracted their worries, changed the light. The worries melted and faith came through in three broad, colorful bands. Beneath, the animals too grew tired of their mopishness and began to stew. As their discontent grew, ideas came forth. They thought of getting the girl to taste currants again, or maybe if they gave her milk to replenish h...

In the hole, the sun and the moon were both hidden. The girl could hear them whisper and sing to her children in their sleep yet they remained hidden behind the clouds of her father’s self-absorption. But she knew they were there, could taste currants in her mouth as the children danced and played to dusk and dawn songs in her womb. The family’s new world was eerily like that of the village, but here when the girl rose to gather water, there was none. The rocks that had formed the slick ribbons before, now stood porous and dry. The snakes she’d been accustomed to hearing on her trips did not slither, they simply weren’t. The colors of the nearby jungle began to fade from lack of attention from the sun. They apologized to the girl, as she gave them all the attention she could, but it simply was not enough. The father meanwhile, had his way in all things. His will be done. The mother and the girl thought surely the father would be happy this way, but still he was...

I just realized I haven't posted an installment in a while. Granted, probably no one cares, but on the off chance, here's part three. You have to go back to March or so for Parts I, and II. She went on about her water fetching, day after day, trip after trip. But each time she went she snuck to the sun dial and whispered a truth “you are always free, you belong to the world.” Her words assured the sun he’d made the right choice in folding his golden rays into her sides. The sun dial relaxed knowing she spoke the truth, filled with heat and meaning. The father in the mean time, his usual self, had failed to notice anything of his daughter. He had a new project planned to teach the villagers civility. He would cultivate their small plot. He tried to force plants the way he had the sun, but the sun watched all around and helped the plants escape calling on the rains and birds to interfere. The birds stole the seeds and took them in their bellies far, far away. Similarly, th...

When the girl entered her hut she realized she must tell her parents of this important news. But through the loudness of her father’s anger, no one could hear her meaning. Also, she knew this was moon news, which is only learned through whispers and listening. So she went to bed and slept, ignoring the noises of the house in favor of the comfort of her lesson. She wrapped it around herself and slept. The medicine man could not sleep, however, as he too had learned something. He suddenly knew the girl would not brown as his people did. They were sun people and she was not; she was a moon person. Moon people worked by tides and waters, they were both lighter and darker, they were people with a different shadow. The next day the father, furious at the impropriety of a daughter coming home so late, banned her from stopping at the river for any longer than it took to fetch the water. He had built a strange device in the open space next to their hut which grabbed a slither of sun and k...

The Currant of the River: A Fable There once was a fat, loud missionary who traveled to Africa to “civilize” the tribes. He encountered a very holy tribe, long established in the region. He did not know the skill of listening and so talked and talked all day and all night. Worse still, he did not put meaning into his words, so they fell empty and with strange resonance on the ears of the tribes people. He did not share his wealth with the families of the village. He did not listen to the wisdom of the people. For these indiscretions the leaders of the tribe deemed him unworthy tribal wisdom. “Maybe he was not given color because he did not give anything of himself in order to receive this gift from the sun?” They wondered. So they decided to watch him and see if he would not give and therefore color and change over time. The tribe watched from afar as the words continued to pour from his mouth without meaning or value, without input or god. His wife and daughter watc...