You Are the Blood

I just downloaded this beautiful song from the Castanets (Sufjan has a much longer version that's also good). Hope you like it.



You are the blood
Flowing through my fingers
All through the soil
Up in those trees

You are electricity
And you are light
You are sound itself
And you are flight

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Just thinking about this Frost poem--thought I'd share it:

Nature's first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold

Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

My Dad

I've thought about starting a series of posts on people who have had a tremendous influence in my life (and/or people who I just plain adore) for a while now. What better time to start than (a few hours after) Father's Day, and with my dear daddy?



This will soon turn into a brag fest. Sorry!

Here are a few things I appreciate about my dad:
1) He's one of the wisest, godliest, kindest people I know.
2) I can talk to him about everything under the sun: theology, music history, linguistics, philosophy, travel, faith crises, psychology, art, medical stuff, literature, and boys--haha. I think he's the most learned person I know, and just easy to talk to. Good combo.
3) He might be the most generous person I know, but doesn't let his left hand know what his right hand is giving.
4) He adores my mom. They have weekly date nights, which is pretty sweet.
5) All my friends say they come to parties at my house to see me, but I know they're actually coming to talk to my dad, because he's so cool. I'm ok with that. I would probably do the same thing in their situation.
6) He's really hard-working: he spends time studying/writing/practicing an instrument every night after work. It's inspiring.
7) He can be hammy--like in big groups of people, just act silly, cracking corny jokes, etc. ;)
8) He makes a killer scavenger hunt, and always has--rhyming riddles and everything.
9) He's a lifelong learner--right now he's listening to a course on the French Revolution from the "Great Courses" series and reading a book on modern art, and taking piano lessons. A true Renaissance man.
10) He knows what's really important: the heart.

Fun facts about my dad:
1) So far, his descendants are 2 sons, 6 daughters and 1 grandson, 2 granddaughters, and 2 granddogs.
2) He's lived on a hippie farm.
3) He's a P.P. (published poet) :)
4) He played lute in the wedding of the owner of Best Buy's daughter, back in the 70s.
5) He brews beer for fun, with George Koontz.

Three things

I ran into my old RUF intern last week at the Greek Festival--Catherine, I forget her last name. We stopped each other to say hi but didn't really get the chance to catch up on each others lives. The last time I'd seen her she was engaged and getting married in the next few months. I was coming out of my first real breakup when we had lunch together a couple times my junior year at Clemson. I'll never forget afternoon at Moe's when she revealed to me the three things Steven Speaks, our campus minister, had told her were necessary to make a relationship work: repentance, forgiveness, and love of other people. Three years later, I'm pretty sure that wisdom is true. Maybe you could condense the three into two: humility and love. But the repentance/forgiveness aspect of a relationship is so beautiful--the constant change and growth, the perpetual emergence of something good, the graciousness it takes both to accept criticism and forgive your debtor, even when it is your best friend.

Boa Sorte/Good Luck

VANESSA DA MATA & BEN HARPER "Boa Sorte (Good Luck)"
Uploaded by Discograph

I heard this song driving through Portugal last year and fell in love with it. Singing are Vanessa da Mata, from Brazil, and our own Ben Harper. Hope you like it!

Cate the Hobo

My "home away from home"

spring is here!

my favorites

Today I decided I wanted to study for my two tests tomorrow OUTSIDE, because, for the first time in five days, it wasn't raining in Greenville, SC! The only problem was that it was too cold and windy to lie on my belly in the sun. So, partly inspired by watching others' outdoorsiness in the Banff Mountain Film Festival over the weekend, I decided to set up my little tent I got for my 17th dream-come-true surprise campout birthday party, and study outside. And, I immediately became the hobo of the Raff household, with my parents coming by saying "knock, knock." I think I'm ok with the fact that I'm still a fifth grader at heart!

I might sleep outside in it tonight!

Isn't it ironic

This article just amazes me. Mick Jagger's ex-wife is being sued for not rewarding the Austrian man who found and returned her platinum ring, worth $254,000, last year. Irony #1) Bianca Jagger is a human rights activist but too stingy to give the guy a tip. Irony #2) She's a human rights activist but owns a ring that costs more than the it would to feed Ethiopia, or for America to fund Doctors Without Borders in Honduras. Irony #3) As a compromise to not giving the Austrian his fair share, she offered to donate the majority of the five percent expected of her to Amnesty International. But she'll keep the ring for herself. And #4) She makes me feel really good about myself. :)

The Confession

I just read an article in the Washington Post about a woman's deathbed murder confession. She killed two girls she worked with at an ice cream shop in Virginia in 1967, when she was 19, because they teased her about her sexuality. There's a picture of one victim's mother now, probably about 85 years old, with a scrapbook of news clippings and pictures dealing with her daughter's case. A lifetime of grieving.

William Thomas was a 24-year-old teacher at the time and the main suspect for the murder. After 42 years of beatings and ostracism, he's been given a new life.

This part made me cry:

"A jury would find him not guilty, but the indictment would not go away until two months ago. Before then, it would show up during job interviews and on loan applications. It also meant he couldn't leave the country.

"He said his daughter called him at a motel in Pennsylvania while he was away on business to tell him about the confession.

"'I shook so hard and cried so hard,' said Thomas, now 65. 'I've never had something weaken me like that. I prayed. Then I just started making a list of things I could do. I can now go to Canada. I can now go to Mexico. I can now go to Europe.'"

Can you imagine?

CNAs are where it's at

I just finished up a CNA (certified nurse's assistant) class this week, so now I can work at a nursing home or hospital doing the really dirty work no one else wants to do! I don't mind it so much. Two weeks of clinicals have made me dispassionate about... doing some of the things we have to do. Which I won't go into right now.

But, Tuesday night we had graduation for my class of four. My parents came, which was really cute--bringing sugar cookies, nonetheless. Before graduation we had to take a final exam. We've had little quizzes all semester with similar multiple-choice questions as the final, and I often find myself giggling as I pencil in my answers--because some of the answer choices are so darn audacious! Here are a couple of the questions that I thought I'd share with you (pretend you're me and you have to choose correctly for your final exam!):

1. The single most important thing a nursing assistant can do to prevent the spread of disease is to:
a)carry dirty linen close to his uniform
b)never change his gloves
c)remove his gloves before cleaning spills
d) wash his hands

2. Which of the following is NOT an example of abuse or neglect?
a) assisting a resident to make a complaint
b) not answering a resident's call light
c) leaving the resident in a soiled bed
d) threatening to hit a resident

3. Residents have all of the following rights except:
a) the right to refuse treatment
b) the right to voice complaints
c) the right to make personal choices such as what to wear and how to spend their time
d) the right to be abused by nursing assistants if they're being combative

4. A nursing assistant can show she is listening carefully to a resident by:
a) looking away when a resident talks
b) changing the subject often
c) rolling her eyes when a resident says something she doesn't agree with
d) responding to the resident when it's appropriate

5. What is the proper way for a nursing assistant to help care for a diabetic resident?
a) the nursing assistant should clip the resident's toenails
b) the nursing assistant should make sure that the resident eats all he is served
c) the nursing assistant should encourage the resident not to exercise or have any activity
d) the nursing assistant should make sure the resident goes barefoot

My parents and I had a good laugh over all of these. :)

In other news: I got to have a little Spain reunion with Biz, Tim and Ginny last weekend in Birmingham, AL! My only regret was that the 26 hours I was there went by too quickly. But I did deeply appreciate the time spent with dear friends.

Freeganism and Straw Bale Houses

This interview with a freegan, someone who dumpster-dives for his subsistence, is fascinating! This line was especially interesting: "The Whole Foods dumpster in La Jolla is a good example of this [dumpsters being locked up]—its trash is securely locked tight. I think it's ironic that a green company perpetuates this green façade in the front of the store and a different stance in its back alley." (Thanks, Richard.)

my straw bale dream home :)

I've also been thinking a lot about the possibility of someday building a straw bale house. I got the idea from Hannah's organic farming sister and brother-in-law a couple years ago. They're supposed to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Maybe I'll just end up in a grass hut in Africa, where it'd be warm in the summer and warm in the non-existent winter--close enough. :)