for those who are so inclined:

Support shelter for homeless kids and their families by running a 5K this June!
See the ForKids website for more info.

This week my tie-dyed pair of Toms arrived. Clearly I immediately put them on, laid on the floor and did the bicycle to show them off to Tommy. After happily wearing them around our condo all night, I inspected them a little further and discovered a tiny "made in China" stamp on their interior. SAY WHAT?

Maybe I am confused, but this goes against everything I thought the company (which I had convinced myself was a non-profit) stood for. I mean, I love their AT&T commercial! I am so over hating things because they become popular!

But, this does lead me to wonder, is "One to One" a true mission or just a VERY CLEVER marketing ploy? Are they doing a "shoe drop" to the Chinese sweat shops? Either way, it's working.

iPoetry

I am too impatient to use my iPod, which is a sweet little first generation Nano. Actually, I associate using an iPod only with traveling. And loneliness. Like looking at huge and important things and trying to remember every detail of how seeing it made you feel special so that when you got home you could share it with someone you care about. And how the song that was playing on your iPod at that moment will forever been linked to that scene. My personal Red Riding Hat. Blah blah blah.


Honestly, I probably stopped using my iPod because I wanted to eliminate that cheeseball thought process that is now embarrassing to remember.

I also remember studying abroad in Italy and being flustered when my friends would only take out one earbud when talking to me. With that in mind, imagine how bizarre the iPod generation must be to an old man poet? Except he does something truly beautiful with his observations, check it out:


Earbud, by Bill Holm

Earbud--a tiny marble sheathed in foam
to wear like an interior earring so you
can enjoy private noises wherever you go,
protected from any sudden silence.
Only check your batteries, then copy
a thousand secret songs and stories
on the tiny pod you carry in your pocket.
You are safe now from other noises made
by other people, other machines, by chance,
noises you have not chosen as your own.
To get your attention, I touch your arm
to show you the tornado or the polar bear.
Sometimes I catch you humming or talking to the air
as if to a shrunken lover waiting in your ear.

May 10th is Mother's Day

Support the kids in Nicaragua in honor of your mom this Mother's Day! Buy meals for the orphanage, feed the kids in Nueva Vida or help pay the staff's salaries with your gift. What better way to show your mom that you appreciate everything she does for you by offering some of the same care to children without parents?

Check out OrphaNetwork's site for more info.

aye dios dame valor

Do you ever get emails that look like this?


Twitter to me

show details 9:55 AM (8 minutes ago)


Hi, Ruthie Weiglein (ruthieweiglein).

Aretha Braunt (ArethaBraunt) is now following your updates on Twitter.

Check out Aretha Braunt's profile here:
http://twitter.com/ArethaBraunt

You may follow Aretha Braunt as well by clicking on the "follow" button.
Best,
Twitter

.....

I immediately think, "Geez, 1) why I am on this stupid site, 2) who is this freak who wants to "follow" me and 3) why does Twitter allow strangers to follow strangers without asking permission?"

Then I immediately click the link that takes me to the stranger's page to try find if they do perhaps know me. This time I found that, no, I have no clue who Aretha Braunt is. Typical. BUT! upon further inspection I discover that she is following 386 people- ALL NAMED RUTHIE. Yikes!

And then I see a link to this site: http://ruthietalk.ning.com/

What is this bizarro Ruthie culture I have been missing out on?

I got antsy waiting for the sun to come out:

(listen)

this a dog barks and
how crazily houses
eyes people smiles
faces streets
steeples are eagerly

tumbl

ing through wonder
ful sunlight
---look---
selves,stir:writhe
o-p-e-n-i-n-g

are(leaves;flowers)dreams

,come quickly come
run run
with me now
jump shout(laugh
dance cry

sing)for it's Spring

--irrevocably;
and in
earth sky trees
:every
where a miracle arrives

(yes)

you and i may not
hurry it with
a thousand poems
my darling
but nobody will stop it

With All The Policemen In The World

(e.e. cummings)

And Donatello was a party animal

Daniel, Lindsey and Addy were in VB this weekend for Easter. Addy thrilled everyone with her endless flirting and designer styles. They also brought with them Tyrone, who met Bobito for the first time:





Daniel decided that Juan Bobo looks like Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.






What do you think?

my deliverer is coming!

The Jewish Seder Meal is a beautiful feast that I have treasured celebrating with friends in my home. Tommy and I hosted our second Seder Meal this past Friday. Tommy went all out this year and made brisket and matzoh ball soup!

With themes of freedom, remembrance and reaching out to the oppressed, the liturgy of the Passover Haggadah is lovely and convicting at the same time:


"Even today, oppression remains in the world, and we are meant to taste its bitterness recalling these words: "You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in Egypt. When strangers reside with you in your land, you shall not wrong them... You shall love them as yourself, for you were strangers in Egypt. You shall rejoice before God with your son and daughter...and the stranger, the orphan, and the widow in your midst. Always remember that you were slaves in Egypt."
------

While I am but a mere 1/2 Puerto Rican wandering through the North American diaspora and cannot claim any sort of Jewish heritage, I cannot help but be moved by the above challenge.

Love the stranger for we were all strangers in Egypt.

Happy Easter!

april comes like an idiot

One of my favorite indoor ways to celebrate spring is to Google search lines I love from spring poems and then copy and paste them onto whatever medium I am currently using to communicate online. This ritual began in the 9th grade (by way of the AIM profile).

I share this information and the following poem not because I think you care, but because I am always searching for two things: 1) something to keep myself entertained and 2) attention.

With that in mind, I am convinced that Edna St. Vincent Millay was always entertained and drawing attention to herself because clearly, she was a nut.

S p r i n g

TO what purpose, April, do you return again?

Beauty is not enough.

You can no longer quiet me with the redness

Of little leaves opening stickily.

I know what I know.

The sun is hot on my neck as I observe

The spikes of the crocus.

The smell of the earth is good.

It is apparent that there is no death.

But what does that signify?

Not only under ground are the brains of men

Eaten by maggots.

Life in itself

Is nothing,

An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.

It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,

April

Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.




Edna St. Vincent Millay

Hellz yeah. Later, when the weather is warmer and the timing is just right I will post my orginal and most favorite spring poem. Get EXCITEDDD!!!!

for the kids

or "Why I wasn't at the Mountain Goats"


ForKids, inc. serves homeless children by placing their families in shelter and working with them and their parents until they are stable enough to maintain their own housing. We receive funding by way of government support, private grants and personal giving. Every year we hold a Children's Art Auction where art created by the children of ForKids is auctioned off alongside professional art and whatever the hell people will donate to us. Last year one of the large children's paintings went for $11,500. I am still in shock.

Every year the event has a big cheesy theme and we are all encouraged to dress up. Last year it was "My Home My Castle" and this year it was "Fighting Homelessness: The Final Frontier" (inter-galatic). All you have to say is "theme" and you know I am amped. You want me to dress in costume? Awesome.

I might have gone a bit overboard though... I didn't think twice about it until all the pictures started circulating on the office Server on Monday...

Check out the new Polaroid camera due to come out in June 2009! I am a fan of the original and have mourned its sad passing with the masses, but I hope this will be a nice replacement. I keep reminding myself that 30+ years of technology can only improve the product.

the future is bright

The other night I had a dream that the whole nation was blaming the current economic and immoral "climate" on the fact that I voted for Obama. To be specific, there were about 8 op-eds published in the paper blaming me for the various fiascoes. Rachel Palmer appeared to read each one to me in person. I believe a number of unborn babies were also accounted for. I was shaking with guilt when I looked beside me and saw Barrack himself shaking his head. "Thanks Ruthie for screwing up my life," he said with his eyes. Shit, talk about a some sort of subconscious guilt trip.

In other news, I am starting grad school full time come May 11th. After an emotion tug-o-war week last week, I decided not to take a grad assistantship at the ODU's Women's Center and to stay on at ForKids for 2o hours a week. I also decided that I wanted to be an actress when I grow up. I had a very demoralizing first meeting with my academic advisor which made me want to scream "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM???" and a quasi-inspiring talk with my employers where they told me that I am "worth more to them at PT than hiring a new EE at FT". I could only get partially flattered by those words bc they have already cut my hours. But hey, come May I will have all Friday to work on my pre-cancerous glow.

Thanks to my impending graduate work and 50% cut in hours I have been exploring the Great American Retail Giant: Walmart. Gee wiz, there was a reason I avoided that place like the plague. For a person prone to panic attacks that place is Danger City. The prices do rule though. I got poor Bobito a trial run litter box for $1.50. I also got him this dog toy shaped like a big fishing lure. The brand it was made for was called "American Dog". Clearly. The thing that pissed me off those most was that even WITH my new glasses I couldn't see the signs at the end of the aisle. All I can think of is WALL-E.