Where should we eat tonight?

By kate on May 12th, 2009

As a Blackberry user, I’ve long been jealous of Urbanspoon‘s excellent iPhone application, which includes a slot-machine randomizer to help you decide upon a restaurant. While it’s still not available on the Blackberry (despite my pleas), anyone with a Flash-enabled browser can now use the slot machine!

Seattle restaurants on Urbanspoon

You can use it right here on this page, on the Urbanspoon site, or you can embed it in your own website.

Filed under: technology, work | 1 Comment »

Goodbye Seattle P-I

By kate on March 17th, 2009

It’s a sad day in Seattle as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer stops its presses for the last time. I wanted to write a post today about what our society is losing as newspapers close down, but I re-read my 2005 post, “Why Newspapers are Still Relevant,” and realized it’s all pretty much there (except the new sense of urgency and despair I now feel).

We won’t entirely lose the editorial voice and professional journalism from the P-I as it continues online, although from what I can tell, these will be provided by a skeleton crew of less-experienced employees. And you know what? I’m the kind of dinosaur that still prefers a newspaper,Â so I’ll be resignedly reading the Seattle Times. I’m sure I’ll see relevant and important P-I articles online as they pass through the blogging echo chamber, but that’ll only be supplementary.

I’d like to explore a fantasy for a minute, if you’ll bear with me. Those of us who specifically appreciate what a paper paper can offer (e.g., large format, skimmability, article curatorship) are certainly a shrinking group, but there are still hundreds of thousands of us out there (if not millions). I accept that the old-school printing press/delivery approach is becoming expensive and obsolete, but maybe there’s another solution that technology can offer us. What about a home printer that works as usual, but with the addition of a spool of newsprint? Imagine a software back-end that allows an editor to do his or her editorial work to digitally create a newspaper (or even several variants), and then “publishing” it online to any subscribers with such a printer. This could be an editor at a single paper, or someone syndicating content from multiple sources. Those with a printer could even do some small-scale distribution if they found it worth their while.

As our numbers shrink and we become less attractive to advertisers, the onus falls more heavily on paper readers to pay for our preference, and this is one way it could work.

Filed under: current events, media | Comment now »

Simple Gifts

By kate on January 20th, 2009

‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be
And when we find ourselves in a place just right
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

‘Tis the gift to be gentle, ’tis the gift to be fair
‘Tis the gift to wake and breathe the morning air
And everyday to walk in the path we choose
‘Tis the gift that we pray we may ne’er come to lose

‘Tis the gift to be loving, ’tis the best gift of all
Like a quiet rain, it blesses where it falls
And if we have the gift we will truly believe
‘Tis better to give than it is to receive

CHORUS:
When true simplicity is gained
To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed
To turn, turn will be our delight
Till by turning, turning we come round right.

Today, at the inauguration ceremony of President Obama, a quartet of musical greats played a song specially arranged for the occasion (by John Williams) called Air and Simple Gifts.

As moved as I was by the swearing in and Obama’s speech, hearing this music moved me the most. Simple Gifts is a traditional Shaker song that my dad used to sing to me. He learned it during his childhood in Pennsylvania. I’m not much of a singer, but I chose that song to be the one I’d sing to Ruby as a lullaby. Not only is it a traditional family song, but the plain, simple lyrics perfectly illustrate the values I want to pass on to my child.

When the first notes of Simple Gifts rang out from Anthony McGill’s clarinet, I was overwhelmed with joy. Joy that our new president’s team had selected this humble American folk tune to share before assuming a mantle of such power and prestige. With the whole world watching, the quartet could have played any of the hundreds (thousands?) of songs celebrating pomp, greatness, victory, or heroism. Instead, we were offered a beautiful tune that reminds us what is really important in life: the simple gifts of gratitude, fairness, gentleness, love, and humility.

Filed under: about, current events, family, life | Comment now »

Grade school flashback

By kate on January 7th, 2009

Outgoing Vice-President Dick Cheney
congratulates Vice-President-Elect Joe Biden

(I couldn’t resist)

Filed under: current events, humor | 1 Comment »

Suspended art fascinates me

By kate on January 4th, 2009

Nightmoves

This week, I finally had a chance to visit Lawrimore Project, a great contemporary art gallery here in Seattle. I was contemplating Nightmoves, by Michael Simi, which is a large circle of suspended figures that plays eerie vocal music. It reminded me of a piece of art I saw in 2004, Cosmos by Boris Achour (image to follow). I realized then that a lot of the art that has struck me most over the years has been things suspended near the ground. I’m trying to figure out what’s so compelling about something next to me hanging from the ceiling.

I think it’s the implied movement; that even though the pieces often hang still, they hold the potential for movement. They are “still” like a person standing still, rather than still like an inanimate object. Most art never moves (or moves intentionally), but suspended art is subject to chance.

Suspended art also offers its weight as a subject. You can see the air underneath it, and its weight pulling down on the string(s). These are objects that, left alone, would lie on the ground, but are hovering among us instead. If they’re light, our movements make them tremble. If they’re heavy, they defy both gravity and our proximity.

I’d love to read some art criticism / analysis on this subject, but the keywords are too common for me to find anything useful. (I’m familiar with Calder’s mobiles, but I put them in a different category because they’re typically hung high above the viewer and interact with their audience differently.) If anyone can point me in the right direction, I’d appreciate it.

Below are a few more of my favorites (ones I’ve seen in person). Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: about, art | 1 Comment »

Just trying to get through the next 30 hours or so…

By kate on November 3rd, 2008

Until now, I would have described my mental outlook on the election as “uneasy” verging on “cautiously optimistic”. Then I read this wrenching post on the Stranger Blog that dug up all the shock and mourning I went through in 2004, and my state descended more into “terror”. I don’t agree with every detail of the post (such as blaming racism for everything, when plain old fundamentalist social conservatism is also to blame), but the emotion is pitch-perfect.

I went through a lot of anguish four years ago. (If you want to dig through my archives and find the pure bile that resulted, you can; I’m not going to link it.) I bitterly clung to the Urban Archipelago idea. Thinking of that misery now still makes me emotional.

Please, America. Don’t crush me again tomorrow.

Filed under: current events | Comment now »

Freedom IS free

By kate on October 21st, 2008

This thoughtful guest editorial in today’s P-I gave me a new perspective. I hadn’t thought to challenge the right-wing mantra that “freedom isn’t free,” but this Iraq war veteran counters that “everybody is free… at the simple price of being born as a human.” Here’s a short excerpt. I recommend reading the whole thing.

The nature of freedom apparently is too abstract for some people to grasp; at its dialectical core is a built-in paradigm that holds life as fundamentally sacred, and liberty as a God-granted right. Rights do not cost, only politics do. By charging for something that is free, politics has created a new form of “freedom capital,” to be measured in blood and body counts and to be spent at the polls.

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Open Letter to my Twitter Friends

By kate on October 4th, 2008

Dear Twitter Friend,

I follow you because I know you and want to keep up with what’s going on in your life. I’m glad you’re on Twitter (especially if you joined in response to my arm-twisting). I have a problem, though. My friends’ tweets are getting to be too much for me to keep up with, and I need your help.
Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: relationships, technology | 4 Comments »

Babysitter info sheet

By kate on September 10th, 2008

We love having a babysitter. I think it’s important to our relationship and our lives to get out of the house without Ruby from time to time, and it’s good for Ruby to be able to thrive without us (and know she can). Plus, a babysitter offers a kind of active, engaged play that us busy parents can’t always provide. I can’t stress enough to new parents that you should get a babysitter at least semi-regularly.

Several different people babysit Ruby (from old friends to people in our parents group to a teenage babysitter). To make things easy for them and us, I created a little information sheet that I fill out and leave on the table (next to the phone and a pen) whenever we go out. It has important info like our address and contact details, plus things like Ruby’s bedtime routine. It has empty spaces for where we’re going, when we’ll be back, and additional info.

I keep a few of these sheets in a drawer so they’re ready to go at a moment’s notice. It frees the babysitter from having to scrupulously remember everything we quickly chatter on the way out the door.

It occurred to me that the sheet might be useful for others, so I created a template in Microsoft Word that you can download and use. Just replace everything in brackets with your information (e.g., changing [Child] to Ruby), and customize for your child’s needs.

(click to open or save)

Filed under: parenting | 1 Comment »

What he said

By kate on August 29th, 2008

MetroDad is my favorite parent blogger, and I’m fully in agreement with his most recent entry:

Last week, I was at daycare with the Peanut when an older boy came over and grabbed a toy out of the Peanut’s hand. When she kindly asked for it back, the boy pushed her. The Peanut then turned to the boy and said, “Please don’t push me. I don’t like being pushed.”

The boy’s mother witnessed the whole thing and gently admonished her son, saying that it wasn’t nice to push one’s friends. What does the kid do? He hits the Peanut and pushes her again!Â Before the boy’s mother can do anything, I calmly turn to my daughter and say, “You know what to do, kiddo…”

I don’t want Ruby to be a bully or aggressor, but you bet I’m planning to teach her to stand up for herself when necessary.

Today at the playground, Ruby was playing with a large wheelbarrow toy in the sandbox when a boy her age decided he wanted it. He tried to get it from her with a combination of pulling and angry grunty noises. Ruby quietly stood her ground, gripping the toy, until the boy’s mother swooped in and redirected him. Two things about this made me proud:

1. Ruby didn’t look to me to mediate. It’s an important life lesson that you need to take control of your own situation, and that your parents won’t always be there to save you. I observe so many parents hastily and constantly interceding for their children (with other children, not adults). I really think that, rather than helping, this causes weakness and dependence.

2. She didn’t react violently. Maybe it’s because both her hands were engaged in holding onto the toy for dear life, but she didn’t hit the boy or yell at him, just quietly defended her ground.

I haven’t had any explicit conversations with Ruby about this subject, but it’s probably time. I’d like her to operate from the same position of power as MetroDad’s Peanut (calm and polite, but able to back it up with force if required).

Filed under: parenting | 3 Comments »

New use for old boots

By kate on August 25th, 2008

Ruby has a pair of rain boots that were getting too small, so I bought her some new ones today. Ordinarily, I’d give away the old pair, but they had developed some tears because we had to pull so hard to put them on. I just hated to throw them in the trash, so I came up with a great idea to get a little more life out of them: turn them into garden clogs!

With kitchen scissors, I cut off the tops of the boots, then the heels. I put a little contact cement around the new top edge to stick the boot’s fabric lining firmly onto the rubber.

As boots, they were almost too small to wear, but with empty space around the heel, Ruby can fit her foot in easily. Now she has clogs to keep on the back porch to quickly slip on when needed.

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Parenting and semantics

By kate on August 5th, 2008

Sometimes you can bang your head against the wall to get an idea across to your child, and in the end getting just the right turn of phrase makes all the difference. My brilliant husband has a real knack for coming up with small ideas that really get through to Ruby and make our parenting easier. Here are a few recent examples:

Read the rest of this entry »

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Clearheaded parenting

By kate on July 30th, 2008

The week before last, I had a very hard week with Ruby. She was being a normal two-year-old and testing boundaries in new ways, and I handled it poorly at first. I simply reacted to her behavior, and found myself getting incredibly frustrated multiple times a day. By the end of each day, I needed a drink and was questioning my commitment to stay-at-home parenting.

Eventually I came to my senses and stepped back a bit. Steve and I thought over the behaviors that were bothering us and came up with a rational approach. After that, I had one difficult day of holding the line (I probably gave her 6 time-outs) before a weekend camping trip distracted us all. The next week, everything was magically back to normal, and Ruby largely respects the boundaries we set. We’re the adults here, and we just had to remember that and use our brains instead of our knee-jerk reactions.

Here are the issues we struggled with, and how we solved each one: Read the rest of this entry »

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Seven Songs

By kate on June 13th, 2008

Alan tagged me with the following meme:

â€œList seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if theyâ€™re not any good, but they must be songs youâ€™re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what theyâ€™re listening to.â€

This turned out to be challenging for me, because these days I tend to let more knowledgeable people (KEXP DJs) and robots (Pandora) select my music for me. But I racked my brain, twisted the rules a bit, and came up with these:

1. “Way Down in the Hole” by Tom Waits. This is the theme song for (the TV show) The Wire, which Steve and I have been devouring all spring. I’m sure that hearing this song will always remind me of this time, in the same way that the Arrested Development theme brings me back to Ruby’s newborn days.

2. “Guadalajara” performed by Mariachi Fiesta Mexcana. Last weekend, we attended the wedding of an old friend who had attended ours. He loved the mariachi band we had so much that it was the only wedding detail he insisted upon. We were thrilled to enjoy a large, live mariachi band in person again, and were their most enthusiastic fans, especially Ruby, who danced to every song. They played (at our request) “Guadalajara,” which we consider “our song” – we loved it in Mexico, and it played at our wedding the moment we kissed. It’s not a traditional love song (it’s about the Guadalajara area), but we like it because it’s robust and upbeat.

3. “Ray of Light” by Madonna. I heard this song at the same wedding, and it brought me right back to our Mongolia trip. We only had a handful of cassettes in our jeep ride around the country, and Ray of Light was one of them. It was replayed countless times, most memorably as I visited Mt. Otontenger, a pretty mountain, in blustery winds. For a few minutes on Saturday night, listening to the soaring joy of this song, I was back there.

4. “Great DJ” by the Ting Tings. After hearing this song on KEXP, I’d get it stuck in my head. One day, the same thing happened to Ruby and I heard her singing “the drums, the drums, the drums.” I was just making her a new mix CD for the car and gave this song the featured spot at track #1. That means we hear it a lot, and I’m still not tired of its frothy poppiness, which surprises me.

5. “De Bolon Pin Pon” by Flaco Jimenez. Ruby has the Latin Playground CD, and has been playing it a lot. All in all, it’s a good CD, but this particular track is the worst earworm I’ve encountered in a long time. I’ve gone so far as to run across the room screaming to skip the track (and keep myself from hearing it). I’m not “really enjoying” this song — the opposite — but it’s part of my spring nonetheless.

6. “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash. The final Ruby-influenced song. She heard it one morning on KEXP and just loved it. She mentioned it so much later that day, that I treated her to a video of Cash playing the song. At her insistence, we watched it six times in a row. Even now, weeks later, I sometimes have to fend off her requests for repeated viewing. Repetition aside, I like the song as well as the story behind it.

7. “A Letter from God to Man” by dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip. Every time this song comes on the radio, my ears perk up and I hear some new lyric I’ve never heard. I love the attitude and the cleverness. I think I’m going to buy some of their music. And how can I resist a guy who nicknamed himself after an Edward Lear poem?

So there you have it. I’ll just say that this list doesn’t showcase my actual taste in music, just what’s been on my mind lately. If you’re interested in what I really like, check out my carefully honed Pandora channel.

Now, I get to tag seven other people… Zach, Meredith, Molly, Andreas, Buzz, Ben, and Joe: you’re it!

Filed under: music | 3 Comments »

I’m not one of THOSE parents

By kate on June 7th, 2008

I just read this article in the Seattle P-I and was flabbergasted at the deliberately even-handed tone. The reporter gives equal time and weight to people who don’t want kids disturbing their businesses and parents who feel they have the right to impose their children on everyone. Excuse me? I didn’t realize that it is now supposedly OK to let your kids run rampant. Parents with this kind of entitled attitude infuriate me.

Even though I’m also a parent, and love my kid enough to think she walks on water, I would never presume that anyone else is happy to see her. If a business requests that children not be present, I’m happy to respect that. In other businesses, Ruby is kept on a very short (figurative) leash. She knows to stay right by me, doesn’t touch things without permission, and talks in a normal speaking voice. When she disobeys any of these rules, she gets a single quick warning, followed by a time-out if she still doesn’t listen. If her noise level rises (and she won’t be quickly hushed), I take her right outside so as not to disturb others. The only places I let Ruby run free are specifically for families: playgrounds, playcenters, parks, etc. (Then, I’m happy to sit back and let her run around exploring things for herself.) Because of our high expectations and this consistent discipline, we’re able to do things like take Ruby to restaurants and grown-up events.

Unlike the self-centered parents quoted in the article, I encourage you to tell me if my child is bothering you (or your patrons). I won’t get ridiculously offended that you dared to question my parenting practices. While “even the best-behaved child is going to have a bad day and throw themselves down on the ground and scream,” when that happens it’s the parent’s responsibility to remove the child immediately, rather than shrug it off as just the way it goes.

We all live in this world together, and the more courteous we all are, the better. Don’t you want your child to learn that lesson, too?

Filed under: media, parenting | 3 Comments »

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