AliThinks

This Has Nothing To Do With Anything

After reading the closing of Chris's blog post today, I thought of my first boyfriend, John.

John and I met at church camp one summer. I liked him a lot, and I was pretty sure he liked me, so I pursued him. I was 14. He was 13.

John lived about 30-40 minutes from me, so calling him was kind of long distance at the time. Or so my parents informed me. We weren't able to see one another regularly, sο we wrote a lot of letters (how quaint, how very 1980s) back and forth. A LOT.

Remember how we met at church camp? (Or, church-based camp, I should say. That particular week was called "Creative Arts Thing.") Yeah, well, I was a preacher's kid, and I was about as interested in being a Christian as I was, oh, I don't know. Think of something not very interesting and you'll have found a decent comparison.

John always signed his letters to me "In Christ, John".  I reciprocated for a while, but it never felt right.

Teh Screaming Slingshot Monkey Is Up To No Good

Teh Screaming Slingshot Monkey Is Up To No Good, originally uploaded by Alison.

Farewell

For the past week I've been thinking about my college classmate Brad Will. We weren't really friends, but we attended many of the same parties. My eternal memory of Brad will be of him grinning; he was often stoned. The college was small enough that we all knew each other in some way.

Brad was murdered in Mexico about 15 months ago. I'd heard about this in early 2007, but the echos I got were that he was a photographer in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It turns out that the story is a lot deeper than that. If you have read the current issue of Rolling Stone (Johnny Depp is on the cover), then you will have read about Brad. Unfortunately, the article about him is not available on Rolling Stone's website.

I feel humbled. As I said, I wasn't friends with Brad, but we were often at the same parties, and we had mutual friends. On the other hand, given the size of our college campus, I could rightly claim that we were friends, for numerous reasons.

Brad took a different path than I did after college. I'm not surprised that he did so, and I admire him for what he did. When I first heard about it, his death didn't shock me. It's only in learning more about Brad's life after college, and the things he did, that I feel sad. Well, and the first news I had of his death made it an accident and not a murder.

Brad ended up filming his own death. It's all out there, on the intertubes. But I'd prefer to leave you with the memory I have of Brad: He was tall and skinny, and his glasses were big. His smile was bigger, though, and that's what he left you with. He was always happy — yeah, maybe he was always stoned back then — but you never left his company feeling down. Rest in peace, Brad.

BradWilldotOrg

Photos of Brad

Holy Carp!

Has it really been six days since I last posted?

I guess my life really is that boring.

However, on an exciting note, we saw Three Girls and Their Buddy tonight. That's Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin performing with Buddy Miller. It was a great show, but I'm not going to do a review of it right now. (See? BORING.)

I will say that Emmylou Harris is amazing. And Patty Griffin? LOVE.

Time For A New Banner

My banner up there is starting to bug me. Anybody have any brilliant ideas or suggestions? I don't know when I'll get around to making a new one, but if you throw me a bone, it might motivate me.

Kitchen Things

Kitchen Things, originally uploaded by Alison.

[This is the text that accompanies my photo on Flickr.]

Our excursion the other afternoon to buy a birthday gift for my son, who turns ten in eight days, became a bit of retail therapy. We got my son a compass (he's that kind of boy), then went to Target for a birthday card.

Well. I can't go to Target without meandering through the entire store.

We ended up with this electric kettle. I spotted it a few weeks ago, but didn't buy it. See, we've coveted the kettle that Amber and Len have since we visited them back in October of 2006. (I thought Allan had a photo of said kettle in his Scotland set, but no.)

We also FINALLY picked up a French press, which was surprisingly less expensive than a similar model in France.

I have a blog friend who's doing a Slow Year. She's not buying anything that's not food (and even so, she does a lot of foraging, dare I say). I admire her for that. I felt a little guilty posting this sign of our consumer society, and the evidence that I contribute to it. But to me, this is just one more sign that Allan and I are creating a home together.

Point Of Privilege

It's been ages since I've done a meme, because I mostly can't be bothered anymore. Oh, stop with the eye rolling! You know you feel the same way! Memes are so 2004!

However, the one I saw tonight on Calista's blog intrigued me. I think it could spark an interesting discussion, perhaps on this blog, perhaps on another blog.

The premise is that I bold all the statements that are true. My personal commentary will be in italics next to the statements I want to comment on. I'll probably have something to say once I've finished bolding statements and italicizing comments. Look for it at the bottom of this post.

There's some legal stuff I need to mention before I do the meme. 

Original source: The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate in this blog game, you acknowledge their copyright.

If you want to participate, please do the same. And here we go!

Father went to college
Father finished college - and he went on to get an M. Div.
Mother went to college
Mother finished college - and she got an M.A. in Journalism
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor - my brother has been an adjunct professor at my alma mater, as well as other places.
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers - I never sensed a class difference.
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home - if you counted my parents' books, and those of me and my siblings, yeah. More than 500.
Were read children’s books by a parent - Yes, yes, yes.
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18 - Piano
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18 - My parents paid the talented daughter of a parishioner $2 an hour to teach me some flute basics.
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively - generally, yes.
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18 -no!
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs - My parents took out loans, I took out loans, I got some grants. No trusts involved [insert chuckle], and I paid off my student loans in May 2007, fifteen years after graduating from college, but only because my ex and I sold our house in France.
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs - see above
Went to a private high school - No, but I did go to a private school for first grade, since the public schools wouldn't accept me until I was six.
Went to summer camp - Yes, a weeklong camp for two summers.
Had a private tutor before you turned 18 - I had no problem making grades until I went to college.
Family vacations involved staying at hotels - Bwahahaha. No.
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18 - No, but when I hit middle school, I did get some new clothes.
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them - Hell no!
There was original art in your house when you were a child - It was from artists that were friends of my parents or grandparents.
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18 - I had to take the kitchen phone down to the basement if I wanted to have a private conversation.

You and your family lived in a single family house - My family and I lived in parsonages. You know, houses provided by the church. I'm a preacher's kid. We had nice homes, the sizes of which spoiled me, perhaps.
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home - They owned our summer house, which is a cottage in a clearing in the woods of rural Pennsylvania. As I've gotten older, the house has become more modern.
You had your own room as a child - yes, because the four kids were girl-boy-boy-girl. My brothers shared a room.
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course - Yes, at my high school, not a private service.
Had your own TV in your room in High School - um, no.
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College - What? What is this language that you speak?
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16 - yes, I went to Dallas with my mom. She had a business trip, and I had a best friend who'd moved there.
Went on a cruise with your family -never!
Went on more than one cruise with your family -see above
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up -yes, and I also went on some cool field trips. My parents took me to the symphony, too. I was bored, and so was my brother, so we pretended the music we were hearing was from a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family - Totally unaware. The church paid the heating bills.

_________________________________

While I haven't looked at the Illinois State University study mentioned above, I would like to say that this study makes me look privileged.

Maybe I was.

We weren't rich. My father was a preacher in the United Methodist Church, and my mom worked part-time on and off from the time my sister was born in 1962 until she went to college in 1980. My mom went to work full-time then.

We were actually pretty poor. We weren't starving, but I couldn't have the jeans or tennis shoes my classmates had.

In doing this meme, I realized that we were rich. Wait, that's a lie. I've known for years that my family was rich. We have no money, but we are rich. My parents instilled so much in us. Most of that didn't cost a cent.

So while it looks like I was a child of privilege, I can say that I truly wasn't. I was blessed with parents who made the effort to open their children's minds.

What Day Is It?

That's right! Spearheaded by the Rude Cactus himself, today is the day we delurk and post comments on the blogs we silently (or not-so-silently) read. So let's have a show of hands. Who's out there? Say hello in the comments!

Graphic courtesy of Aimee Greeblemonkey. Thanks!

My Apologies

I'm way behind on answering comments and e-mails. While my kids were here I just put a lot of that stuff off. So if I haven't answered a comment here personally, please don't be upset. I'm at the point where I need to make a clean break and tackle only my work-related e-mails (which have been piling up, as well).

So, um, hi! Hope your week and your year are going well.

To Tide You Over

M, originally uploaded by Alison.

...until I get my mojo back. The kids have gone back to France and the house is quiet. I'm feeling a little shell-shocked, to be honest.