An Ode to LA - no, not Los Angeles - Language Arts

(Post by Tracy)

“When are we ever gonna use this?”

That’s one of my favorite questions. When are you not gonna use this? When are you going to say, “You know what? I don’t need to be able to communicate with my peers today or try to learn more about and understand my community. I don’t need to treat people with kindness today. And I certainly won’t be diagramming any sentences.”

Ok, so I don’t tell them. That last part is true.

As far as I can tell, it is not essential to your successful adult life to be able to diagram sentences. And I should know. I am a teacher of language arts. Then again, my students don’t know how to diagram a sentence anyway. I don’t teach it. Why? Because. It’s confusing. And when are they gonna use it?

But it is an art. Language Arts. The art of knowing how a subject and verb can work together, alone or in a larger group, to form a bond larger than themselves – the bond that is a sentence.

The art of being able to take a simple noun and mold it, modify it, into any number of meanings under our big, bold sun. Red hat. Ugly hat. Spectacular hat. Iridescent hat. Invisible hat.

The art of blending all of these small, tedious elements into a beautiful, larger whole, bigger than oneself. A solitary speech, work of fiction, or essay, that could change a nation or shape history.

That’s when you’re gonna use this.

Don't go grocery shopping (or reading this post) hungry.

(Post by Tracy)

In case you were wondering (were you?),

here are some of the winner meals we've been having around the Blair household!

[I'm gonna ignore the recent losers, like the pumpkin soup that was suspiciously similar to pumpkin baby food.]

Baked potatoes topped with broccolini, spinach, asparagus, feta, kalamata olives and pico de gallo.

Homemade breakfast yogurt parfaits: Greek yogurt, banana slices, granola, honey, pomegranate seeds.

Homemade pizza: store-bought crust and sauce (sauce on half, "white" other half), basil, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes.

Vegetarian chili: "Sam's Vegetarian Bean Chili" from October Everyday Foods with zucchini instead of pinto beans, and with the addition of black beans.

No-noodle lasagna: made with eggplant and zucchini in the place of noodles - sounds suspicious, but it was very, very tasty. (No link but I can email the recipe if you'd like.)

Chopped Cabbage Salad, Asian Style (Mark Bittman cookbook - could email this one too...)

Zucchini, banana, carrot, and flax seed muffins: from September Everyday Food, but with the addition of carrot.

Tom's half-birthday dinner: chocolate-chip pancakes with syrup, whipped cream, and cherries

First brownie batch made with my "all corner brownies" pan! Yum yum yum!

Making myself hungry remembering all the good food! Bon appetit!

All Saints Day

She came to school in tears

and I caught her in the hallway.

Through her red and half-shut eyes

I can see her pain as she says,

"My friend killed himself yesterday."

Then it's that thing that happens

once the body knows the truth of your words

has escaped your lips -

the body gives in, and she gasps between tears,

and her body shakes.

I hug her, wishing I could remove her pain.

She's 16.

This will be all she can think of today.

She walks on to her locker.

I call the school counselor in shock.

The counselor wonders aloud, on the phone,

if this "friend" is the same "friend"

another mourning student told her about yesterday,

a "friend," gone from drugs, no, not the same.

My girls carry around their grief,

so often in silence.

And the secret hurting is what causes my pain.

How many people will know today -

at school, at sports, at her after-school job -

the hurt that will be preoccupying her thoughts,

the pain, absence, and loss that won't go away?