just saw this. and thought it was neat.
Your first child is due the night before the Grammys. Are you going to the show? And do you plan on performing?
We’re planning a home birth, but it might be a Grammy birth! Eating a hot curry could make me go into labor, so imagine what getting on stage with Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and T.I. would do. Everyone’s been very understanding.
and paper planes just happens to be the favorite song of a certain 2 year old i know…
and the music made me think of how much i want to see this:
i’ve heard such good things…
we really love you. a lot.
but, we just stopped by today and bought a bunch of records.
and we would have bought more.
if.
you had a vinyl listening station.
like this. at bop street records in seattle.
it doesn’t look too hard. a knock-off recliner from goodwill. a little corner. an old record player.
it’s these little touches that make us want to go and have a local record store experience instead of just bidding on ebay. or downloading tracks off itunes.
just a humble hint.
i stopped by your store a few weeks ago.
eager to have a look around.
i have a healthy addiction to used bookstores. and i like this store. a lot.
but.
that day, i stopped in at shank’s bakery for a coffee right before coming over to your place. (they are so nicely placed next door. and many of us believe they make the best coffee in town.)
thinking that hot coffee. used books. rainy day.
+ 
+ 
all go together to make a perfect afternoon.
but i wasn’t allowed come in with my coffee.
which quickly diffused my excitement. so i looked around for a couple of minutes, feeling miffed.
and then walked out.
with my coffee.
and i didn’t buy anything.
if i spilled, i would have to buy something. you would make money.
you could have the cozy atmosphere i crave.
something barnes & nobel or books-a-million can never have.
so go with it. make your customers happy. form a cool deal with the coffee shop next door.
so.
next time, can i bring my coffee?
please?
we are having a state dinner soon.
to discuss a state sponsored movie night.
with the help of our friends from clementine.
any ideas, lovely readers?
yes, folks.
according to the slog,
ted haggard will be on oprah this afternoon.
+ 
can’t wait to see what this fine upstanding example of christian good will has to say.
maybe he’s going to speak out against this pepsi ad:
the possibilities are endless.
i’m not too optimistic.
he’ll probably say this:
Q: So do you think of yourself as homosexual or bisexual? How do you identify yourself?A: What my therapist says is that I am a heterosexual with issues, and I think that’s accurate.
ummm. no really. that’s what he told the LA times…
if you want to check out more, this is a good documentary about the american evangelical scene and “what their influence may mean for the future of our country.” gulp.
haha
Jill said on Facebook that you two are married. We need you to confirm that you are, in fact, married to Jill.
To confirm this relationship request, follow the link below:
Thanks,
The Facebook Team
good question, facebook team. we’re new to this, but do many people actually receive false marriage claims?
she’s showing a piece (that started out at pittsburgh’s mattress factory, now moving to the brooklyn museum) that deals w/ daily-internet-news-image content, hand-drawing, digital transmission, ¡even twitter-tweeting!
check it out here, where among other things you can sign up for daily portraits of mary temple’s muses/the leaders of world.
(a fun fact, a lighting expert the IT guy at the mattress factory is none other than one of the state’s favorite musical performers, ¡slim cessna! that old, seminal professional:
)
Filed under: -of eats, -of jgrimsrud, -of localism, -of townie-to-townie
the other night we were scrambling to bring something to a dinner party. after circling around the god-forsaken-behind-the-mall-city-unplanning-suburban-morass of harrisonburg for too long, we finally found the peruvian chicken spot we saught. and in so doing found, may i say, ¡damn good chicken!
so we plan to go back w/ a camera and get the lowdown on this place, but suffice it to say the beautifully seasoned rotisserie chicken was accompanied by addictive yucca fries (they didn’t survive the drive to the dinner party) and some great jalapeño-relish & mustard-cream condiments. and the folks working were so, so very nice.
now, the importance of a good, local chicken place cannot be understated. our recent home in seattle’s central district was flanked by two chicken spots: the classic fried chicken takeout of ezell’s, and the euro-cum-hipster pub of café presse. the former served spicy chicken parts, biscuits, etc. and taunted me everyday at my bus stop from across the street.
the latter served up whole roast chickens w/ fries, various pattes, steak tartar, to be munched between swills of relatively cheap european wines.
we’ve been part of some conversations about sushi jako, and we remember discovering phó back in the day at thai cafe, but we’d never had the pleasure of dining in, or taking out from, a & t’s chicken. ¡but now the secret’s out!
so we’ll head back over, & you should too. bring cash, and have a taste for yourself.
preacher is heading down to staunton next saturday, the 31st, to play w/ mild winter and american tourist at the darjeeling cafe. details are a bit fuzzy as of yet, but the lineup is great.
check out the facebook & myspace pages to keep up-to-date.
and, by the way, the blue nile was splendid last wednesday. we thought the wolfgang and the wading girl both sounded better than ever, and we, well, the spirit moved in mysterious ways…
what a place–makes me a bit jealous, but at least i had mainstreet bar and grill when i was a student in the ‘burg.
ha.
Filed under: -of bios, -of civil rights, -of jgrimsrud, -of politik, -of style, -of the new year
the new york times ran a piece today about sharon diane crawford smith, who in 1967 killed two coworkers at the high’s ice cream store in staunton, and herself died last week. the times got a (horrible) quote from a local cop about the cold case that ms. smith’s deathbed confession seems to have solved:
Ms. Smith, 61, died Monday, more than a month after her arrest in the deaths of the victims, Constance Smootz Hevener, 19, and her 20-year-old sister-in-law, Carolyn Hevener Perry, on April 11, 1967. Ms. Smith told investigators she shot both women in the head in the back room of the ice cream shop because they teased her about being homosexual, Mr. Robertson and the police chief, Jim Williams, said.
“That was different in 1967 than it is today, extremely different,” [commonwealth attorney] Mr. Robertson said. “It would have been a matter that it would have had different ramifications that it would today if it had been made public.”
so i guess attitudes about “it” are a little different than they were in 1967…maybe by 2020 or so virginia’s public officials will even be able to choke out the words “lesbian” or “homosexual.”
an interesting piece of this is that, according to the times and the waynesboro news virignian, smith said then staunton police investigator davie bocock “buried the gun in a metal box,” and protected smith during the subsequent investigation.
sounds like the public will probably never learn the details of the ‘67 tragedy. but the whole affair reminds me a bit of the story behind the 1999 film boys don’t cry, in which chloe sevigny played brandon teena played the girlfriend of brandon teena, a transgendered teen murdered by his girlfriend’s family in 1993 in nebraska.
which reminds me of chloe sevigny’s great role in hbo’s big love, set to begin its 3rd season, the first season for this mormon-themed love-polygon since the church of jesus christ of latter day saints’ role in promoting california’s anti-gay proposition 8.
all very sobering topics, but ¡we’re looking forward to see what chloe has in store for us this year!
after all this posting about presidents, and birth and gardens and all things new, i found this, here:
and i liked it.
and illustrates a good point about home gardens.
and makes me think about my back yard.
and being patriotic.
like michael pollan says in the ny times:
“The White House should appoint, in addition to a White House chef, a White House farmer. This new post would be charged with implementing what could turn out to be your most symbolically resonant step in building a new American food culture. And that is this: tear out five prime south-facing acres of the White House lawn and plant in their place an organic fruit and vegetable garden. When Eleanor Roosevelt did something similar in 1943, she helped start a Victory Garden movement that ended up making a substantial contribution to feeding the nation in wartime. (Less well known is the fact that Roosevelt planted this garden over the objections of the U.S.D.A., which feared home gardening would hurt the American food industry.) By the end of the war, more than 20 million home gardens were supplying 40 percent of the produce consumed in America. The president should throw his support behind a new Victory Garden movement, this one seeking “victory” over three critical challenges we face today: high food prices, poor diets and a sedentary population. … Just as important, Victory Gardens offer a way to enlist Americans, in body as well as mind, in the work of feeding themselves and changing the food system — something more ennobling, surely, than merely asking them to shop a little differently.”
the whole world is watching. and waiting. and expecting.
Pakistani Christian children hold portraits of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama during a prayers ceremony for global peace in Islamabad, Pakistan on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo) #
Residents of Kibera, one of the poorest quarters in Nairobi gather to watch the inauguration ceremony of US President Barack Obama in Nairobi on January 20, 2009. (YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images) #
Iraqis gather to watch televised coverage of the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama at a cafe in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim) #
Afghan men watch a television broadcast showing the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States, at a restaurant in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Jan 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Ahmad Masoud) #
Mujo Bota and Alamasa Bota, Bosnian Muslims, watch a TV broadcast of the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama with their grandson Ajdin Bota, 10, in the village of Dejicici, near Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina on Tuesday Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Amel Emric) #
i won’t try to publish an unbiased review–
let me just say, great sets from the wolfgang & the wading girl, and much clean, humble fun to play w/ preacher–
we had a grand ol time at the blue nile wed. night.
well. hey now. so far, so good.
In the first hours of his presidency, President Obama directed an immediate halt to the Bush administration’s military commissions system for prosecuting detainees at the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
check.
The new Obama administration is willing to talk to Iran “without preconditions” and will work towards the abolition of nuclear weapons, the White House said today.
check. (does that mean you’ll be talking to these folks:
without preconditions too?)
Barack Obama, the US president, has contacted four Middle Eastern leaders on his first full day in office.
Among the first leaders he contacted on Wednesday was Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, who has been under intense political pressure since Israel launched its 22-day war on the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
…
“There is nothing about his understanding and sympathy to the suffering of those people who were under shelling and bombardment for more than three weeks, and hence no true approach that reflects a sincerity and change in the American approach to Israel-Palestine.”
However, Bishara said that Obama’s speedy contact with the Middle Eastern leaders is positive and showed a responsiveness and a responsibility for the events in the region.
ummm. check. kind of.
Obama freezes salaries of top White House Aides. The pay freeze, first reported by The Associated Press, would hold salaries at their current levels for the roughly 100 White House employees who make over $100,000 a year. “Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington,” said the new president, taking office amid startlingly bad economic times that many fear will grow worse.
check. plus.
there is some fascinating discussion over on hburg news regarding “Delegate Matt Lohr [introducing] two bills to the House of Delegates that may limit the practices of Certified Professional Midwives.”
it has to do with the fact that a lot of antagonism between local health care providers may be creating an unsafe environment for the age-old practice of giving birth.
it has to do with the fact that local health care providers are spending an awful lot of time lobbying lawmakers instead of lobbying each other.
i don’t know much about matt lohr,
but i do know that he is not a women’s health care professional. what’s up with the nurse-midwives and the licensed midwives and the certified practical midwives and the lay midwives firmly aligning themselves against one another with the help of folks who really don’t know much about birth? here is where i’m coming from…
not that the seattle system for childbirth is perfect by any means…but i know i felt completely safe and supported in a well-honed network of inter-connected health care professionals when i had my out-of-hospital birth in 2006.
my licensed midwives at seattle home maternity (hi marge, suzy, and heather!)
either helped to found or were professionally trained at seattle midwifery school.
they were (and are) part of a fairly supportive network (30-years in the making) making homebirth and birth center birth very safe for the healthy pregnant woman and her baby (like myself and eli). i felt confident in their ability to provide a seamless and supported transfer to a local hospital if necessary.
i knew and trusted the nurses, nurse-midwives, and doctors whose care i would have received had i required a transfer. i knew they would have accepted me and provided excellent care without question or judgement because they had a good relationship with my homebirth midwives.
the OB/GYNs and hospital nurse-midwives in the area trusted the professional practice and judgement of most (there were exceptions, as with any group of providers) of the licensed midwives. i believe this had to do with a conservative attitude towards risk factors on the part of the respected homebirth midwives in the area. they had developed and gained the trust of the medical community due to their repeated good decision making regarding who are and are not appropriate homebirth candidates.
at this point in time, i’m sad and slightly ashamed to say, living in harrisonburg, if i have a second baby, i don’t know where that baby would be born. i so desperately want to say “homebirth all the way!” but, i’m scared. i’m scared that a broken system is not a safe system. i’m scared of having to find my own Rhogam. i’m scared that if i had to transfer, the experience might not be so great. i’m scared that my nurse-midwife friends might think me reckless. i’m scared my homebirth midwife friends don’t have the support they need to provide safe care. i feel so torn.
most healthcare professionals will resent efforts to limit their practice through law. this undermines a necessary trust that healthcare professionals will follow guidelines put in place by their various professional organizations. (ACNM, ACOG, MANA) if they fail to do so, they are and should be held accountable.
so, i ask the harrisonburg community of women’s healthcare providers: why can’t you talk to each other? here are my suggestions. humble as they may be. i want discussion. i acknowledge that i know much less than some regarding the topic, but that said:
maybe the hospital nurses, nurse-midwives, and OB/GYNs could ask “how can we make homebirth transfers better, safer?” i understand on a visceral level (i’m a labor & delivery nurse, remember?) the need to protect your practice and the intense fear of being thrown into a scary situation with a patient you do not know and to whom you have not provided care. but the fact is that ignoring or turning away or attempting to supress the reality of homebirth in the area isn’t going to make your job easier or birth safer.
maybe the homebirth midwives could acknowledge that a little conservatism is needed in this political climate. homebirth is safe for healthy moms and babes. but not all women should be having homebirths. you and your practice will gain much needed support if you choose wisely and practice with exceptional care regarding your patient population. this may mean disappointing some people. this may mean that you turn away some women who desperately desire homebirth. but maybe it’s worth it in the long run?
i truly believe that most everyone involved (OBs, CNMs, LMs, CPMs, women) has a similar goal of providing excellent maternity care for women.
but women are telling you that they want options. they want options in the hospital. they want options at home. these options can be very safe. what is not safe is a fragmented system. so let’s fix it, already…
