New Web Log

I am starting a new blog and you can find it here. I will not be blogging here anymore.

I’m cold…

and it’s snowing and the wind, oh the wind…

Sweet Resource for Green Unschoolers

So here is yet another really cool resource for Unschoolers and the like…Green Hour

There are ideas for Nature related Journals and Activities. The site even has a community forum and you can read Green Hour’s blog about children and Nature.

the obligatory update post

because time is of an essence or something, I am not able to ‘blog’ like I think I’d like to. So, here is a review of things and such.

* I have a myspace account, complete with a blog Myspace.
* we moved .9 miles north into my in-laws former house and they moved to Virginia Beach.
* I am still on my midwifery sabbatical and enjoying the time well spent with family/friends and on the new house.
* William has been at his job (Trader Joe’s) for over a year, but still lacks the respect that he deserves.
* I am finding my monthly cycles harder to cope with, because I am having them and not having babies…I have renamed them from menstrual cycles to depression cycles…there is truth to the talk about an internal clock ticking away, because mine is screaming at me with all its might to just have a fucking baby already. It has been this way for a good two years.
* Elijah’s godfather and his fiance and her daughter, or as I like to call them, my ‘almost relatives’, are coming to stay with us and visit in late January for a good week…we are all excited about this. Hopefully, this visit will be the final nudge to getting them to move out here, so we can be all one happy family.
* I have a ton of things to make for Solstice gifts and I still haven’t unpacked my sewing machine or serger!
* I am feeling Winter creep in through the Autumn leaves and while it’s nice, because I like Winter best, I still wanted to have an Autumn…
* Elijah opted to not be something scary for Halloween and that is wonderful…I like simple and creative expressions.
* I have managed to avoid laundry and other jobs to upload tons of new pictures to the flickr…so go and enjoy: Flickr
* I am hungry and going to go cook and eat…you should probably do the same. If you asked nicely, I would cook for you and we could do my laundry together!

Cheers and have a meaningful Thanksgiving — it’s not about Pilgrims and Indians…it’s about being thankful for what we have and who we have, which we should practice every day.

Peace and Love,
Michele

Seeing Colors

I’ve always thrown this thought out there. Each of us (just about) were taught our colors at an early age at home or at preschool/daycare. We were taught what Red, Blue and Yellow were and then onto the others.

My question was always: is the Blue I’m seeing the same Blue that you are seeing? Now there are other issues with this one, for me in particular. Though I am not ‘color-blind’, I do have an issue with Red and Green. Things which are Red, especially things written with a Red pigment appear fuzzy or blurry to me, the farther away or smaller the subject. If something is Red and in my peripheral field of vision, I might not even ’see’ it at all — and I have excellent peripheral vision. With the color Green, on the other hand, I see it too sharply…anything within my field of vision that is Green will stand out more, almost in a 3-D kind of way. I also can pick up even the slightest tinge of Green in another color and it seems to appear more vividly for me than for those who are around me. I have also found myself saying things were Green when those around me swore that they were not.

Now obviously, these are specific vision perceptions that maybe only myself or a few others experience; but this begs the question above: is the Blue I’m seeing the same Blue that you are seeing? How can we know that we are all seeing the same thing called Blue or Red or Green, etc.?

You might argue that light is a prism of colors and when we look at something, we are actually seeing the color that it is not — à la ‘why is the sky blue?’. But is it possible for some of us to have our brains and eyes to see colors differently than the masses; to see more colors at once (or rather, not see more colors at once)? Is it possible that I might be seeing things that are (or are not) both Blue and Yellow…this can explain my eyesight’s affinity for seeing Green, when others only see Blue or Yellow.

Do you have a thought on the matter? Do you share something similar with me? Let me know.

strike is over

not that I ever intended for there to be a strike and I never really made it ‘official’, but my 5 month long (approx. length of time) strike against the internet has ended. So for those of you who were wondering whether or not I was still alive, yes…alive and well.

However:
…now I have over 18K emails to sift through
…a hard drive with my life and life’s work on it that I can’t access
…I long to be out in the middle of nowhere — where I can be free to turn janky cartwheels in native grasses, not worry that my neighbor’s yard fertilizer is going to compromise all my efforts in the garden, watch chickens (that I won’t eat) scatter as someone comes up the drive and where I can watch my boy puddle jump until he’s bathed in mud and I don’t have carpet to worry about.
…I want less consumption and alternatives to that consumption
…I’m still chasing my shadow and trying to find where I hid myself…
…I’m still longing to be free from awkward social/societal obligations
…my husband just informed me that I am an elitist — however I am still in denial

What has this time from the computer and internet taught me? That if you leave your computer off for too long, everything you’ve put your heart into will dissapear, people don’t change and those that really care still fucking call you.

I guess you want updates now and less bitching…

Elijah will be 4 years old (yes really!) on September 18th. He’s phenomenal. The reason that I breathe everyday, besides the involuntary aspects of breathing. He signs, screams, hums, talks with a British accent a lot, and whispers. There are hugs, kisses, flips and lots of dancing. He is an Ocean of Wisdom in a Sea of Never Ending Questions. Elijah is Perfect.

I am still on Sabbatical and feel the relief of not being responsible to those that are not related in spirit or blood. I am not completely separated from the birthing world and have dabbled a little here and a little there. I must say though that it feels really good to not have to take my cell phone to the bathroom with me at 4 AM because someone might be in labor and might call. I’m regrouping, searching, seeking, thinking and living. I hear something screaming at me, but I can’t really make out the words…the Universe has been testing me and trying to make sure that I am still Awake and that I know my place.

I’ll let William speak for hisself (vernacular form of himself). Oh, we just celebrated six years together…isn’t that radical or something?

On Monday (Labor Day), we are leaving Pittsburgh for Virginia Beach to visit William’s parent’s — oh, yeah, they moved to Virginia Beach a couple of months ago and we moved into their house in PIttsburgh and are now selling our former house in PIttsburgh. If you would like our new address or to purchase our old house, please send me your request. It will be nice to see the beach again and to bathe in the Ocean.

I have lots of new pictures, but I can’t get to them, because they are on my hard drive and it hates me right now.

Life is fantastic — “today is the greatest day of my life” – Avocado

You can also read my blog over at MySpace

Cheers to you all
MIchele

Like Oh My Gosh…Look at This

This was all done by the lovely and talented woman behind Colorfool

new pictures for the masses

I have been hassled recently by several peoples to upload some new photos of myself onto my myspace page…so, I did just that. YOU should go and see them and if you haven’t been to my myspace page yet, then you should just go and see it — who knows, I might let you ‘friend’ me.

My G-d, I just said I’d let you ‘friend’ me…

Pittsburgh Midwife

Sweet & Bitter Part II

Our friends Courtney, Nathan and their son Sonadore (Dore) welcomed another family member into their lives on Monday, March 12th, 2007 at 9:18 AM. Banyan Midnite Apple Ouldage entered this world into her fathers loving hands while friends surrounded in support. She weighted in at 9lbs 9oz and approx 21 inches long. Hip Hip Hooray for another crusty punk and feminist on this planet!!

This was another awesome unhindered homebirth that I have been privileged to be present for. Courtney was so awesome and powerful — she’s a mama who can do anything! Everybody in the family is doing well and our community of friends are making sure that they are fed well and have everything that they need.

On another note, this will probably be the last birth that I attend for awhile — outside of sporadic attendance of births for friends. I mentioned in my last post the reason behind my sabbatical from midwifery, you can refer back to it for more information. It’s odd though…I had thought that I would be depressed and unsure of what the next step would be, but I actually feel as though some weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.

Whats next for me? I don’t have plans other than gaining experience points in Domestic Goddess-ness! I am really looking forward to having nothing more to shunt all my attention on other than family and life in general. I enjoy the surge of energy and newfound respect for Mother Nature with every birth that I attend, but I also get those same feelings when my son smiles at me — and getting him to smile is easy work!

For those of you who are close and know me well, don’t worry…I am really satisfied with my decisions. Besides, I need more long nights of “you, me and five bucks” than anything right now. Cheers and Namaste!

Sweet & Bitter

So, another wonderful and beautiful baby journeyed here back on February 22nd, 2007. He was born at 12:35 AM, weighed all of 5lbs 12 oz, 18 inches long and will live up to his name — Rowan Shalom Giuliano Tassone! You can read the birth story here.

I was delighted to be this single mother’s midwife and to be there in support during her 19 hour labor and birth. She was strong, capable and beautiful. Both are doing well and have safely made it back home to Maryland to start their new lives together.

On another note: I have decided to take a ‘radical Sabbatical’ from midwifery once my friend, who is due any day, has her second baby. “Why!?”, you ask…well, I need to have more time and energy for my family, home and educating/supporting/advocating unassisted childbirth. Does this mean that I will never attend another birth — no, it’s in my blood; I can’t just walk away and never attend another birth. However, with the increasing number of Witch Hunt tactics from Pennsylvanian right wing zealots, such as a certain ‘famous forensic pathologist’ against non-nurse midwives and homebirthing parents, I have to reevaluate actions and whether or not to take an active role in birthing while here in Pittsburgh.

Part of me is even more ready and able to continue on and fight for what so many parents spend their money and time to get, when it’s their G-d given right to birth when, where, why, how and with whom they damn well please, but the other parts of me are screaming that my 3 1/2 year old son needs me at home and not in a court room or jail cell. So, from the side lines, I’ll continue to help families who want things done their way in accordance with the natural order of things and not be forced into the medical industry’s technologically and inherently flawed baby machine.

Peace in Birth and Birth in Peace — in one piece.