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

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!

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)

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!

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.

Arizona, you scare me. Shrouds of uncertainty of visiting you in the future fills my mind. I feel like I should possess in my hand Pantone’s color chart if ever I drive into your town for reason that my skin tone in the summer time is two shades darker than brown and in between seasons I’m high-yellow. You make me want to stockpile on bleach cream and consider rhinoplasty and even though I am a bonafide American citizen at times I do sound ‘illegal’ by your definition. Such example, my accent has a penchant for the letter “S” regardless if the noun is plural or singular. Arizona, it’s not that I think your ‘racist’ it’s just that your law is ambiguous. It applies to everyone who looks foreign and non-white. If I were blond and Russian would you stop me for sounding foreign, or would you just wink at me like a horny construction male worker as I walk by? Our view of “reasonable suspicion” is a complete polar opposite. Next time I renew my license I would have to make a stop at Glamour Shots to avoid looking like a terrorist on my driver’s license hence dodging your ‘ethnocentric’ rule OR if I run a red light by accident..it just mean that I was more than likely not paying attention and you can’t penalized me for DWO (Driving While Oriental). I know why your doing this Arizona. You don’t want to be burned like your best-friend California. However, you’ve gone over the deep end on your decision. I hope someday we reconnect. I would like to visit your canyons and caverns preferably on the American soil side and free of barb wires. I’m gonna miss everything about you: you’re Arizona Iced Tea, your clothing apparel and perhaps your cattle but that can be negotiated.

Sincerely,

Just because some of us are brown doesn’t mean we’re illegal

During the election of 2008, I heard the Republican Party in a frenzy screaming “Drill Baby Drill!!!.”  This was the mantra that echoed in Sarah Palin’s VP’s speech and her and the Republican party’s words left me broken.

     I am oppose to off-shore drilling for simple reasons:

1.     Off-shore drilling will not significantly affect me financially. 

2.     The environmental risk by far out weighs the benefits the State would receive.

3.     Off shore drilling will only postpone the inevitable solution, which is alternative energy.

As I raise my concern, offshore drilling in the Virginia coast is moving forward with the push of the current Bush Administration.  I can’t say democrat Tim Kaine had no role on this issue he supported the bill back in 2006.  Currently, 50 miles offshore in Virginia is being considered for offshore oil and natural gas exploration. In North Carolina ocean waters, they are pushing for 100 miles offshore but Virginia will set the standard.    

     In closing, I want to say that I love the ocean.  I love the gifts the ocean bestows to families, my friends and me.  When the day comes that my husband and children cannot surf or swim or I can’t jog on the beach because of environmental issues caused by offshore drilling, yes I will be angry.  The vision of black slick oil accompanied by lifeless sea creature washing on shore isn’t appealing at all to me.  I have strong reservations with regards to nature.  Remember oil is a global commodity the price is set according the entire world demands.  Don’t be fooled.

      Free from the shackles of monthly cable TV  fee!!!!  

      My family covet media transportability.  If you can’t put it in your pocket forget it.  So our viewing habit  is definitely unconventional.  We watch video through our iTouch  connected to our 50 inch flat screen.   At times we update our Facebook status through our Wii connection and any show we missed we’ll catch it on-line (on a rainy day).  We have 3 macs and 1 regular pc.  I have a filtering program for my kids.  I don’t want myself  or my kids tethered in front of the TV for hours nor staying up late night watching nothing or time spent channel surfing.  Commercials are nothing but spam on TV.     My kids did not suffer from entertainment withdrawals or bore doom.  The transition was easy and they don’t miss it at all and neither do I.