Wheat Field With Ravens

My dad just found out he won second place in a poetry contest hosted by the South Carolina Writers Workshop. Congratulations, Dad!

Here it is:


Wheat Field With Ravens

The path from left,
brown and green, is his,
Vincent's path, dipping forward,
then back, up the middle, a field
of yellow wheat cut in two.
The storm about to fall
dark above the bright wheat,
lit, not by sun,
but by Vincent, a year
before the end. Vincent's
light, with ravens suddenly
starting, as if hearing
the single pistol shot followed
in six months by another,
younger brother Theo's,
leaving canvases scattered,
all but one unsold,
and us as heirs.


JC Raff
6-6-08/6-21-08

Sleep deprivation

I read this last night studying in my psychology textbook:

"Evidence suggests that sleep deprivation contributes to a large proportion of transportation accidents and mishaps in the workplace... In recent years, a number of major ecological disasters, such as the nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl and the running aground of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker, have been blamed in part of lapses in judgment and attention resulting from sleep deprivation."

This BBC article lists the Challenger Space Shuttle among the disasters.

I got about 3 hours of sleep last night... :(

On a happier note, we also read about the macaque monkeys in my psychology book--unbelievable!

10 minutes

I just opened a dark chocolate almond Dove Promise with a little "fortune" inside. It said: "Steal 5 minutes for yourself today."

"The first thing I'll do with my five minutes," I thought to myself, "is eat another dark chocolate almond Dove Promise."

And guess what this fortune said:

"Steal 5 minutes for yourself today."

So now I have a nice 10 minutes stolen all for myself.

I'm going to go read some Confucius. :)

Wedding at Gramma's House

This weekend the whole family, brothers-in-laws included, caravaned up to Maryland for our cousin Sarah's east coast wedding reception. Sarah's always dreamed of getting married at our gramma's house--an early 19th century big, white farmhouse with as much character as one of Dorothea Lange's migrants' faces. We drove in the dark to get there--honked our horn along the windy road named after my ancestors--more out of respect for the past than the fear of oncoming traffic. Stepping out of the car I smelled, really for the first time, the outside of Gramma's house. It was a combination of fresh, green leaves and the musky house--only Gramma's yard. My aunt Leila's done a beautiful job restoring the house--but it still retains its muskiness, and immediately floods my family's minds with memories. Sarah made sure to fill the top drawer of the dining room bureau with York peppermint patties and assorted Hershey's bars--she knew we'd have to check at some point.

What we all mostly remember about Gramma's house is rummaging--hours and hours spent trying out the old typewriter upstairs, inspecting 1940s LIFE magazines, discovering photos of Dad growing up, or Granddad in his army days, my sisters and I admiring ourselves in oversized flapper dresses, sometimes finding real treasures and asking Gramma if we could keep them. I didn't realize till we visited her gravestone than Gramma died 10 years ago. I think time is catching up with me, now that I'm a 24-year-old. Most people want to live longer but don't mind that they weren't born a few years earlier, but I'm a little dissappointed I don't have as many memories with my Gramma as some of my sisters and cousins do.

I'm reading "The Wisdom of Confucius" these days :) (that's so trendy, I know). Listen to this:

"The superior man, while his parents are alive, reverently nourishes them; and, when they are dead, reverently sacrifices to them. His thought to the end of his life is how not to disgrace them. The saying that a superior man mourns all his life for his parents has reference to the day of their death. That he does not do his ordinary work on that day does not mean that it would be unpropitious to do so; it means that on that day his thoughts are occupied with them, and he does not dare to occupy himself, as on other days, with his private and personal affairs."

It seems very human to revere the dead--to still respect them. Your ancestors you never knew--to listen to their stories and stand amazed that their genes still live in you. To carefully place new flowers on their grave and bless them still.

Home/school

I thought I should update to say I'm HOME! It's so nice getting to hang out with my parents, Alice, Leah, Jessica, sometimes Anna, Seth, Ellen, and Rebekah whenever I want to! Well, the honeymoon stage ended quickly, though: Alice and I have already had a few little tiffs about sharing the car again. I miss public transportation! I do miss Madrid and, gosh, I think it was pretty unreal I lived there for a year. What a cool city. I miss my friends there and Sunday afternoons in parks. I miss not having homework hanging over my head on weekends: I've just started classes (some PA school pre-reqs) at Greenville Tech. I need to work, too--maybe at a hospital to get some medical experience. We'll see.

The farm in Italy with Hannah was really fun, even though it was maybe a little cult-y? The people were some of the nicest ever. And, gosh, I miss Hannah! I can't even begin to describe how much fun we have together, talking about everything under the sun while baking under the sun.

More later. Maybe some pictures? No promises soon, though.

I hqte foreign keyboqrds11

"Moments to cherish" from the last 3 weeks of traveling with my amazing sisters:

-Hiking in the heart of the Swiss Alps (the most beautiful place I've been, I think). We hiked from Gimmewald (a remote town full of Rick Steves disciples) to the top of Mt. Stilthorn, a mile in elevation change, in 3.5 hours, Alice and me IN OUR CROCS! We are so proud of ourselves, accomplishing the impossible, to the shock of our naysayers. We're still sore.

-Arriving in Venice--the whole city really does look just like the pictures, with canals and old, colorful buildings! I couldn't take enough pictures!

-The Sistine Chapel. Mama mia. St. Peter's Basilica, too. Oh, and David.

-Seeing THE GERARD SISTERS (from our high school!) randomly in the Munich train station! That made our trip.

-Riding bikes all over the Netherlands with our unbelievable hostess Marleen; touring a cheese farm with her; eating a Dutch dinner with her and Mirjam from my church in Madrid.

-Alice and me embarrassing Jessica by breaking out in song, dancing to street music, just being our silly selves all over the continent.

-Reading Crime and Punishment on the train. Dostoevsky's a genius!

-Hanging out with JS in Paris today. Eating ham and cheese crepes for lunch!

-Meeting really great people everywhere we go. We probably won't stay in touch with most of them, even, but they've been influential in some way.

-Telling the people in our Mountain Hostel hot tub we hadn't showered in 3 days... oops.

-Oh, goodness! Gelato!

-Just being with my family--I LOVE them!

(written a couple days ago)

School's been out for about a week and, after a short trip to England to visit dear friends Simeon and Karin, Mom and Dad are here in Spain! We stayed in San Sebastian (in the heart of Basque country) in Northern Spain, day-tripping across the French border once. Now we're in Barcelona, gawking over Gaudi's architecture all over the city. Highlights of the trip thus far: the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (get an audioguide for modern art museums--you'll be thankful later!); bad googlemaps directions leading us up a narrow mountain road in pitch dark to our hotel in San Sebastian; a great Vietnamese restaurant along the river in S. Sebastian; being overwhelmed with beauty driving into Barcelona--the most artistic city I've ever seen; Spain winning EUROCUP last night!!! the streets were full of rowdy young Spaniards singing "Ole, ole, ole, ole," and touting their country's flag; walking down Ramblas today by myself--as much as I love being around my parents 24/7, I do need a little alone time, sometimes. :)


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Since I wrote this Alice and Jessica have arrived! We're in Salamanca right now, staying up late chatting, breakfasting, shopping, and planning the next leg of our trip together. I think Mom and Dad are enjoying having their ears chatted off by us :). We wish they could join us on the rest of our Euro adventures together.