My Indian name is Ohalasc

…at least in the outdoor drama titled “1607:  First Landing”.  My family and I were presented an opportunity for the summer to play Algonquins and English Colonists.  I play an Algonquin cheif’s wife named Ohalasc and ironically in the play my ten year old son also plays as my mischievous  son and the youngest native boy in the tribe  his character name is Macanoe.  As if it couldn’t get any better, my husband  was casted to play as an English soldier named Archer and my oldest son, fourteen, plays a sailor named Morton.  Yeah Team Jones!

This is our very first experience ever in drama, live theater, or acting of any sorts and we are surrounded by diverse participants whose been doing the play for many years.  There are The Governor School for the Arts students.  Some are at their tail end of high school and some at the beginning of honing their theater skills.  They are all so full of promise.  The more experienced actors, the Colonists, less my husband and oldest son, are well versed in theater and have done other works outside 1607:  First Landing.

I have gained much appreciation for the organizations stewardship.  History and heritage has to compete in a time where technology, 3D movies, and apps provide instant gratification.
As my favorite line in the play goes, “All things come together like a rim of the drum…”  We must remember past, present and future we are all connected and brothers and sisters if not by blood by dust.

   

http://www.firstlandingfoundation.com/aboutflf.html

If Crossfit was a dream, this would be the W.O.D (workout of the day)

“The Runway”

AMRAP

Rx’d 6in stiletto heels

40m catwalk

Duck lips

Whip your hair back and forth

Sexy gaze

Wink and Blow kisses to the crowd

 

        

It would never matter if her form is not right.  What matters is that she’s HAWT!

Goodbye year of the Ox…Roll in Year of the Tiger 2010

Ox, mighty and strong yet timid and slow at times.  During the months of 2009, the Ox  symbolically represented the stagnant stage of our economy and the weight of recession.  As we, the people, headstrong perservered and accomplished our daily task and plowed through life’s challenges and collected rewards not without sacrifices.  Another year has closed again and not only we begin the new year but also count to an end of a decade.  Hoping that 2010 will bring much needed turning points in all four corners of the earth.   What I wish for others is really what I wish for myself.

1.  Exercise – I am not merely referring to physical attributes but more to the heart.  Find the real ‘you’ exercise compassion. Cultivate kindness.

2.  Legacy – What we leave behind is much more significant than what we take with us.

3.  Bondage- We must have the courage to change and challenge old traditions resulting to convergence of universe  instead of collision.  Free ourselves from the comfort of ignorance.

4.  Justice -How we treat others is paradoxically different than how we care for them.

5.  Spirituallity – is not  a system nor a foundation but a tool for navigating our lives properly.    It is the hidden path to God.

Network for hope.  Network for peace.  Network for love. Network for kindness.  Only through pure processes we will cultivate our inner gem and begin healing the ailments within and throughout the world.

“Let your vision be world-embracing, rather than confined to your own self.” (Tablets of Bahá’u'lláh, p. 87)

Simple Steps in Implementing Success In School

Provide an environment at home conducive to homework.

Stay aware of what children are learning in school.

Be your child’s best advocate by communicating with teachers and administrator.

Encourage you’re child to get to know the teacher as this comes handy for referrals for Enrichment Programs.

Keep your child busy by joining in school clubs or in school or after school sports.

Most of all accept shortcomings and know that even a grade that is short of failing is something that can still be work out through the value of hard work and perseverance!

Section 3 Row 67 Site 29

Pass the cotton fields,   pass the magnolia groves, pass the estuary, you can smell Wisterias in bloom when the south wind blows in the spring.  If you stand long enough in reverence, a mosquito buzzing in your ear might just interrupt your moment of reflection in the summer time heat but above all, a feeling of longing of ‘just one more time” here on section 3 row 67 site 29.  Pass the shopping centers; pass the neighborhoods, off the interstate:  the American flag wave over plot 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 …

I remember holding my father’s hand when he was gravely ill.  His hands were full of calluses and fingernails embedded with motor grease.  Wear and tear from years of putting food on the table for the family. I read the lines on his hand like a fortune teller looking for stories about his life. If he held a rifle during the post World War II, I couldn’t find a sign of it on his palm. The lines intersected and I read nothing.  He was dying and I barely knew him.  He couldn’t speak anymore.  Stroke got the best of him.  So I held his hand against my cheek rough like a sandpaper, I thought “Just one more time” for a story like when he was  a boy and his best friend was a water buffalo, or how about that story when he was stationed  in Guam looking for the ‘enemy’.  I wasn’t paying attention when he told me the first time.

So there in section 3 row 67 site 29.  He is amongst company:  A 21 year old from Operation Desert Storm, an 80 year old from the Korean War, “Stew” who fought in Afghanistan, John from the Vietnam War, a lieutenant from World War I and his wife, an ‘unknown’ from Iraq war.  My father lies amongst soldiers surrounded by freshly cut carnations and teddy bears.  Plastic pumpkins in the fall and evergreens in the winter, miniature American flag on Independence Day and pillow hearts on Valentine’s Day.  Gone but not forgotten.  Forever love and perpetually miss these soldiers and my father.

On my last visit, I saw a mother and her toddler.  She brushed the headstone while her toddler adorns it with acorns.  The act was so intimate I felt like I didn’t belong and  as I was leaving the grounds, Taps softly played.  Tears were shed for another soldier coming home.