Past and presents and futures

Tea and NPR in the pre-dawn still - how many times have I been here, at how many desks ?

I got a postal letter from my sister yesterday. She included a photo, scanned and cropped here:

Yeah, that's yours truly with my mother, Vera. I remember those duds - I have a dim recollection of their being associated with Easter, but I don't know for sure that's when this picture was taken; I may have worn them for some time afterwards as well. I must say that the pork-pie hat is pretty stylin', although I'm not so sure about the striped jacket anymore.

Vera looks pretty cool, too. I recall that she had a lot of those feathery, shell hats. Her coat is fairly plain, but dig those shoes - little strappy heels, very cool. I must admit that I have no idea what's going on with that strange handbag (although she never used that word, but called it a "pocketbook"). What is that? A quiver? An ammo case for one artillery shell? A bread carrier?

The odd sensation in response to this picture is the realization that I am older than my mother is in the photo, and when this photo was taken she had been married for thirty years and had five kids . What a different life.

By the way, she wasn't visiting me at juvenile hall; I believe that's Our Lady of Perpetual Help church behind us.

We celebrate MaryBee on her departure for Niceville, Florida; she is either in transit to the airport or actually getting on the plane even as I type these words. Here she is at her Thursday night farewell dinner, looking mock-distraught at her impending departure:

Mary is actually heading off to a great new job as the number two administrator in the Okaloosa County Public Library Cooperative (look for her name on this website soon). This is a great opportunity for her, and it allows her to move from direct library service to marketing/PR, which is her primary interest. Her parents are not too far away down the panhandle, but this is still a brave and big step for her to take: she'll be trying to integrate herself into a whole new environment, and somehow I think the Venn diagram comparing Seattle and Niceville doesn't have too much overlap to it. She has promised us a blog presence documenting her acculturation sometime soon, and we, of course, wish her all the best in her new job and her new life. Brava, Marybee!

I attended an English program meeting at Cascadia yesterday, and I actually have good feelings about the teaching part of this being a teacher business. It was great to spend a couple of hours in the company of folks who are all trying to accomplish the same goals, sharing ideas and observations. I'm excited about next quarter: in addition to a composition class with the graphic book theme, I'll be teaching a research writing class that I am looking forward to. It will be nice to have some new themes to play with; I think I'll be focusing on social class issues for the research course. For the comics-savvy, here's the reading list for the comp course:

Give Our Regards to the Atomsmashers (a collection of essays)
Showcase Presents: Superman, Vol 1 (the forties and fifties)
Watchmen
Why I Hate Saturn
True Story, Swear to God: Chances Are
Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer: The Beauty Supply District
A Contract with God
Maus
Palestine
Action Philosophers

Of course, all this excitement about the future doesn't assess papers by itself. I had best get busy.