Digitally Enhanced

I have been blogging here since 2006 and, as was the case when the project began,  I write for myself.  My blog is something of an on-line diary because I share (and have shared) some pretty personal details about my life.  I write about things that matter to me.  In that respect, this space is deeply personal.  I think that sometimes I overshare and I'm okay with that.  Sassafras Mama is my blog, it's about me.  I am the authority about those things.  I don't use this blog to make money and the value that I derive from the project is deeply personal.  Though it may not always be clear, there are some distinct boundaries to what I write here.

Some of those boundaries are matters of personal preference.  For example, I try not to attack people who aren't public personalities.  The careful reader will know that for at least a few years, that boundary was blurred on matters relating to my ex.  I've made occasional unkind references to my fellow New Jersey drivers, though never by name.  I rarely reference movie stars, because I don't really care about them.  Book characters are far more real to me and sometimes I've been critical of them or the author who created them.  And I pull no punches when it comes to elected officials, whose statements and actions are fair game for criticism because they are public officials.

Other boundaries are matters of decency.  I have posted pictures of people in my life, but never without the confidence that it's okay with them.  Children are never identified by anything other than their initials, as are most people I write about.    I do write about my job, and the sentiments I express in those posts are genuine and true.  But I am typically vague about specific school identity issues and I never post unkind comments about either the kids I teach or my  colleagues at work.  If I have any doubts about how a post related to my job will be received, I err on the side of caution and I don't post.

I regard my Twitter account as an extension of blogging me and mostly use it as a device for making smart-mouth comments.  There are some useful professionally-oriented Twitter communities out there and I sometimes follow their exchanges.  However, I almost never add my comment to those "conversations" because I don't typically consider Twitter a professional place for the real me, just a place where the digital me hangs out to be amused.

I post as myself on some of the political blogs that I read because I consider them to be professionally-oriented and I am a trained political scientist who is willing to own her ideas.  At blogs that I read for personal reasons, I post as Sassafras Mama.  I don't see anything contradictory or even confusing about this policy.  I see the lines as rather starkly drawn and I almost never have confusion about who I should be when I am in the digital world.

Even so, I've thought about these matters a great deal of late, because it seems like there is increasing pressure to merge our personal digital identify with our public digital identity.  I find the pressure distinctly uncomfortable because of its implication that a private identity is no longer an option in a 24/7 digital world.  I don't agree and not because I have any nefarious goals.  If a current or former student read my blog, it wouldn't matter to me.  My boss is welcome to wander over and read what I write.  I don't go out of my way to avoid such events, but neither do I encourage it.  I think there is room for a boundary between the digitally professional and the digitally personal.  I want one in my life.  But I sometimes wonder if I'm the only person who feels this way.

Programming Delay: Your Weekly Dogwood

This morning, I ventured out in the damp morning to faithfully snap pictures of my dogwood tree.  The fall leaves are lovely, I promise.  For now, you'll have to trust me on this as my laptop, the place where I download  my photos, has been sent to Apple for a little repair action.  I've got a loaner computer (rather like a rental car, that, as things aren't quite where I expect them to be) but no photo downloading ability.  This translates to no photo uploading ability.  Sigh.

I've every reason to believe that the problem will be fixed soon, at which point you'll get the dogwood you deserve.

Carry on.

Freshly Painted, chapter 4: Scraping and Priming

In the aftermath of the powerwash, the house looked pretty shabby.  But that was nothing compared to the scraping, which exposed a whole lot of bare siding.  Happily, scraping was so quickly followed by primer paint that I didn't have to worry much about the naked house.  Here are some views of the house, all primed up and ready for paint.

For the section off the back deck, I didn't even get to see the scraping and priming.  The work started early and by the time I came home after school, the first coat of paint and some of the trim had already been applied.

At some point last Saturday, the front and sides were changing over to the Baltic Grey color and the window trim work was in progress.  This picture of the front of the house shows a bit of a split personality as the work progressed.

It's been fun to track the progress of the changes unfolding at Sassafras House and we've enjoyed the process.  Well, everyone but Tiger and Lucy.  But that's a story for a another day.  

Real Life Conversations with T: Call me Abuela edition

The backstory:  Thursday night, in preparation for the arrival of Baby Think-it-Over at Sassafras House, JT gave some real thought to what he would name his baby.  He announced that he likes Spanish names because of the way they sound and feel when you say them.  He made a rather extensive list of his favorites: Jose, Juan, Carlos, Luis, Miguel, Roberto, Santiago, and Francisco all made the list.  Then told me that some combination of them will be his baby's name.  I repeated the story to T, and she had a response.

T:  Is he running around with some Latino girl that we didn't know about?

Me:  Si.  Call me Abuela.

My grandson Luis Miguel is really quite charming, though I wish he'd sleep through the night like a decent baby.  

Real Life Conversations with JT: Single Parenting edition

The backstory: In his Values & Choices class, JT is required to look after a baby (Baby Think it Over) for a few days, including bringing it home for the weekend.   The baby is computerized and he cries, needs to be fed and diapered, and otherwise interrupts your life like a real baby might do.  When the class first began, JT feared this was a joint project and he was worried about his co-parenting options.

JT:  If I don't choose the right partner for the baby project, I'll have to do it all the work on my own.

To my eternal credit, I didn't make the obvious caustic observation that I know damn well how he feels, having chosen unwisely and therefore ending up a single parent who does all the work on her own.  By golly, I wanted to say it, oh how I longed to be sassy.  But I'm an adult and I refrained.  Instead, I stuck to another script.

Mama:  I'll help you out son, and I wouldn't worry about it quite yet.

As it turns out, single parenting is the law when you take possession of Baby Think it Over.  He moved in to Sassafras House yesterday afternoon.  After some negotiation, JT did not name the baby Salmonella, as he originally proposed.  I think that's the start of some quality parenting.

Herding Cats

Some weeks just cry out for cute cat photos.  This is one of them.  Have a good weekend, Internet.  You've earned it.

Debate 1: The Expectations Game

Though it's painful to acknowledge, Mitt did just fine in last night's debate.  I don't think he hit it out of the ballpark, mind you, but he was competent.  The mainstream media conclusion is of the dramatic, "this changes everything" pronouncement, which I just didn't see.  However, President Obama was not at his finest.  He certainly should have gone on the attack more boldly and I have no idea why the president didn't push the 47% accusation.

The format was a flippin' mess.  Without a forceful moderator, both candidates could pull a dodge and weave.  In his conclusions, Romney bobbed up and down while making his points.  It was peculiar.  I don't think that Romney's facial expressions when Obama spoke did him any favors.  He continued to show his ability to rhetorically wander, though Obama wasn't able to take advantage of that.  I am also at a loss to understand why Obama didn't go after the Republican do-nothings in Congress, especially the House.  When Romney blathered on about his ability to compromise and work deals with the other party, why didn't Obama point out that GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell bragged that he wouldn't work with the president?  The president wasn't that inspirational and I think that he's got some serious prep work ahead if he wants to take command of the next debate.

We may see the race tighten from here.  The Obama folks certainly need to re-group and take care, especially as Crossroads GPS and other GOP Super Pacs gin up their efforts.  I don't think that the fundamentals have changed but this race isn't quite in the bag.  Yet.

Live Blogging the Debate

I've no idea how long I will be willing to live blog the debate since I expect most of this exchange to cause my head to spin and blow up.  For your added pleasure, I highly recommend that you organize the supplies to play Presidential Debate Bingo, provided for your edification over at Mother Jones.

Live Blogging starts when the debate begins.  I'd say may the best debater win, but frankly, I don't give a damn how good Mitt Romney sounds, I'm with Barack Obama. So let's be clear: may Barack Obama wipe the arena floor with Mittens.

10:10 pm
Time limits for presentations are gone, clearly.  And now Mittens is invoking Reagan. Platitudes and nonsense, that.  Mittens is all over the place.  I'm taking this operation upstairs and I'll drift off to sleep watching the disorganized mess that is debate number 1.  I'd better not have nightmares, you two.

10:06 pm
Would someone please ask Willard how he will pay for pre-existing coverage healthcare requirements? Or covering kids until they are 25?  And here comes the President to skewer Mitt on this question.

10:02 pm
Note to Mittens: No Republicans support healthcare reform, which is why none of them voted for it.

9:58 pm
Healthcare.  Willard just invoked the Massachusetts healthcare plan.....Tea Partiers are gonna be cranky.  And now Obama is citing the Obamacare advantages. Nicely done.

9:56 pm
In the smile contest, Obama kills it.  Mittens has a thin, mean smile.

9:50 pm
Will Willard get specific about what regulation is excessive?  Yes...Dodd Frank. Seriously, Dodd Frank didn't do nearly enough to regulate, pal.

9:48 pm
Romney's getting in the weeds on healthcare.  And that silly smile after he speaks doesn't help his cause.  Obama was a bit weak at the outset, but he seems to have hit his pace.

9:25 pm
Jim Lehrer has lost control. That ain't good.

9:17 pm
Mittens is getting worked up about whether or not he will reduce taxes for the rich.  He says that he won't.....and he will lower taxes for the middle class. I don't buy it.

9:15 pm
That split screen ain't helping Mittens.

9:04 pm
Shouldn't Jim Lehrer ask Congress if they will do anything to create jobs? Because that's who needs to do something.  I guess that tonight we can pretend otherwise, but that ain't gonna light a fire under Congress.  Obama did fine with his usual list of specifics.  Mittens is also offering specifics, which is a change.....started off strong but lost the trail of thought at the end.

9:00 pm
Look here, Mittens, let's get this started on time.  It's not like I don't have some laundry to fold.

Your Weekly Dogwood: Week 5

October has started and it seems clear that cooler nights are inclined to stick around, though cool nights  for at least a few days this week may just mean temps in the 60s.  Even so, that's good news for trees in the business of shedding their summer coat.

The dogwood is now fully invested in impressing me with its color changes, determined even to outshine the evolving paint job on my house in its bid for my admiration.  

Back to School Workout

No matter how much I prepare in advance, the month of September is exhausting.  Though I'm excited to be back in school, the return to our regularly scheduled programming makes me weary.  Gone are relaxed wake-ups, morning workouts, hours to read, afternoons to cook, and endless time for laundry and gardening.   They are replaced by scheduled mornings, busy days with lessons to teach and papers to grade, athletic practices, supper to get on the table, and laundry, laundry, laundry.  By the time I settle into bed with a book, I'm lucky to read five pages before my eyes close and I drop the book on my face.

Nowhere do I feel the transition as much as in my daily workout.  In the summer, I head to the gym in the morning, usually after a leisurely breakfast and enough coffee to face the day.  I run on the elliptical for as long as I want and then come home for a relaxing shower.  The workout leaves me feeling pleasantly tired but still energized for the rest of the day.  Once I return to work, the schedule is dramatically altered.  Workouts happen after school and nearly always with an eye on the clock because there are still a host of chores to complete before bedtime.  Plus, instead of climbing on a machine with fresh legs, I'm climbing on after being on my feet for most of the last 8 hours.  By the second week of school, I'm so tired by 9 pm that I'm convinced that something is dreadfully wrong.  I head to Dr. Google, prepared to diagnose myself with some immediately terminal condition.

Then I realize I just have Back-to-School-itus, a condition that will start to cure itself by mid-October, when I hit my pace.  Workouts are both a help and a hindrance during this time.  They help by serving as daily stress relief and relaxation and by keeping me strong for the long run.  But my tendency to overdo it (of course I can teach all day and then run five miles this afternoon) can overload my circuits and then the workout is exhausting instead of exhilarating.  This fall, I was determined to set reasonable expectations and a responsible pace for my back-to-school adjustment.  I didn't work out three afternoons in a row and I went easier on myself when exhaustion rolled over me.  I took Friday afternoons off no mater what.  As a consequence, I face the fourth week of school without the need to self-diagnose my exhaustion.

I think this sort of self-awareness is called being a grown-up.