The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I just finished my second novel this month.  Not anything to brag about for you voracious readers out there, but for me it is a minor victory.  A completely different type of book from Freedom, The Help is another great example of the kind of story telling that pulls me so deeply into the world of its creation that the characters themselves seem to travel in the back seat of my car.  Stockett's use of the first person voice for multiple characters is incredibly well done.  She moves from chapter to chapter with an adeptness that is enviable.   The relationships between black maids, "the help," and their "white women" are fascinatingly complicated.   Despite being raised in a much bigger Southern city a generation later, I found I identified with Stockett's insights into living in the South.  She writes with a deep love of the South as she brings to life real characters who you will grow to love and to hate.  There is no South bashing or South praising, but rather there is a good story that will keep you up late at night to find out just what will be on that last page.
Read a more thorough review at
The Washington Post

Or check out the cast for the upcoming movie

Central School Halloween Parade

 There is a chill in the air today.  T-shirts have given way to fleece jackets, down coats, and scarves.  The front of Central Elementary School this morning could have been Anywhere, U.S.A.  Mothers twittered  about their little fairies, trains, and ghosts, pulling out the last minute costume touches from used Nordstrom and Lululemon bags.  Children tugged at itchy hats and tights while giggling at a passing M&M, a lampshade, or my favorite...a life-sized IPhone.

 Eleanor's teachers as the Bride of Frankenstein and Frankenstein himself...complete with the tin cans dangling behind her "Just Married" sign.

 My own little pumpkin in a six year old costume that has an "18-24 month" label in the back.  Gotta love it when they pull the costumes out of the dress up bin.

 And my little kitty cat smiling in the all school parade.

and for a trip down memory lane, check out some of our Halloweens from years gone by...
2007
2008
2009

The Second City

Bill Murray?  Tina Fay?  Stephen Colbert?  Heard of ‘em?  Sure, you have, but what you might not have known is that they launched their careers right here in Chicago at The Second City.  Called “Improv’s Harvard” by Vanity Fair, The Second City is a venue for comedy and improvisational theater.  


With Terry and Cathy in town this week we decided to take advantage of catching a show.  I’ve been thinking about Improv lately, partly because I am taking a class in Theater & Improvisation at the Piven Theater in Evanston, but also because I am interested in why people find things funny and what is the attraction of live theater.  Why do we laugh so hard when we see comedians reflecting normal life? Why do we enjoy wandering through art museums and gazing at famous paintings?  The day after we laughed at a Second City Improv show,  I sat in front of a well known Monet painting at the Chicago Art Institute thinking, “I know exactly what that mist feels like.  I’ve seen that.  I’ve lived that moment by a river- in Oregon instead of France- but I’ve experienced that too.”  The “I’ve been there too” experience that overwhelms us in the theater, in comedy, or in a quiet moment with a painting or sculpture is the deeper emotion of connecting with other human beings and feeling that we are not alone in the created world.  The “Ah Ha! somebody else gets it and feels what I feel” moment solidifies our humanity, confirming to us that somehow there is a deeper significance and connection to our lives than the mundane feeling of living it.

I signed up for an acting class with Bernard Beck (Al Capone’s lawyer in the TV series The Untouchables!) partly for some creative stimulation, partly because taking an acting class was on my ‘do before I die’ list, and partly because I wanted to embrace something uniquely special about living in Chicago.  What I didn’t imagine is that it would be much more than an acting class.  After years of teaching Sociology at Northwestern and being involved in the theater in both Chicago and New York, Beck is a seasoned observer of people.  So, it was a bit unnerving last night when he critiqued an improv skit I performed with two other students and gave a more accurate description of my personality (faults and all) than months of counseling could have discerned.  I won’t divulge all that he said in fear that blogging is already an indulgent emotional catharsis for me, but some of his insights are applicable to all of us.  He challenged me to the following:

-stop trying so hard to ‘do it right’ and live and respond more to the moment

-stop planning ahead so much for the future because you are missing what your other actors are doing that might lead you down a completely different improvisational path

-you will be lighter and more in the moment with the freedom to explore, ramble, and fail if you give yourself permission to let life tell your story

-life throws things at us all the time just like improvisational theater.  will you adapt and discover that in adapting to what you did not expect lies the secret to great creative invention?

In acting, writing, painting, preaching, etc... there is great personal vulnerability. How did Beck see into all my struggles of the past year in a moment of an improvisational exercise?  Perhaps we are not as mysterious as we think we are!  Let your life tell its story.  Stop judging it or reacting so hard to the bumps it brings.  These very bumps, trials, and new paths might be an opportunity for your story to take a direction you never would have imagined...

A Walk to the Park with Grammy & Pops

Grammy and Pops are Here!

Even Roscoe is excited.

Gettin' some Air.

a walk in Wilmette

Cathy knit this adorable skirt for Eleanor.  According to Eleanor it "has a great twirl." 

Ten Years Together

Ten years ago today, at the Devil's Thumb Ranch in Tabernash, CO,  two individuals standing in an open field made some really big promises.

They rode off into the sunset in a horse drawn carriage...

 to begin a life with adventures yet unknown.

Four cities.

Two Daughters.

One Life Together.

So, today, we give thanks to God and to our friends and family who have loved us along the way.  You can't go at this marriage thing alone.  In ten more years we will, by God's grace, be graduating Rynn from high school, teaching Eleanor to drive, and loving each other even more than we do today.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

I finished Freedom last night.  It is the kind of book whose characters linger in the mind even after the last sentence has been read.  The book is not an easy one to read.  It is not difficult in terms of language or readability.  Quite the opposite, actually.  A page turner with humor, insight, and painfully realistic characters, the novel manages to take you on an intense roller coaster ride.  At times I felt depressed with the characters as I became lost in their own devouring of one another.  There is no glorifying of the brokenness of mankind in this book.  In contrast, the stark realistic portrayal of the destruction of ourselves, others, and our world if left to our own devices is devastating.

If you are interested in this book or in a good interview, take 20 minutes to listen to the BBC's interview with the author, Jonathan Franzen.   Click here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00b3lh9

Sunday Afternoon Fun

Fall is in full glory here in Chicago.  With unseasonably warm temperatures, bright orange trees, and a gentle shower of falling leaves it was a weekend to rejoice...

...celebrate

...and hang out with old college friends from Carolina!  

For the first time in six years, all five of the girls who called North Greensboro St. our home during our senior year in Chapel Hill gathered in sunny Chicago for a quick 24 hour reunion.  You guys are awesome!!! Kimberly, thanks for your hospitality.  Lisa Marie, Sue, and Susan, thanks for coming all this way.  What a wonderful two days.

Kimberly, Me, Lisa Marie, Sue, Susan in front of Grace Presbyterian 

And even my girls got to enjoy the generosity and hospitality of others.  Thank you Shay for sweeping them up and entertaining them all afternoon so I could spend time with friends.  You are such a blessing.

I can't imagine anything my two would rather do than hunt for critters outside on a sunny afternoon.
The following photos are courtesy of Shay's IPhone.

 Frogs!

A Bike Ride to the City

Friday is Jason's day off.  It has become an unofficial Date Day.  With temperatures climbing to the upper seventies,  crisp fall color, and bright blue skies, the day seemed full of possibility.  We decided to make that possibility become a reality in a 26 mile (roundtrip) bike ride down to the city and back home again in time to pick up the girls at school.  

Bike Trails snake down the shoreline of Lake Michigan all the way from Rogers Park (just south of Evanston) to Downtown

Mama on the Move

A homeless woman enjoying the day by communing with the pigeons.

A view from Navy Pier

Mac & Cheese Anyone?

A View from the Art Museum

After riding 13 miles we needed a little treat.  We stopped at a place to make a homesick-for-Portland girl smile...Intelligentsia Coffee.  Ahhhh...coffee the way it was meant to be.  I guess Starbucks hasn't taken over the entire city.  Thank God.

 "The Pour Over"  

Each cup of coffee is individually brewed by literally pouring over each serving of freshly ground bean.

A Happy Girl.

Next stop. Lunch at a local place recommended by the folks at Intelligentsia.  

Hey, why not be Cheese Savvy?

Jason wearing the smile of a man about to bite into...

 THIS.

The 'El' rumbled by while we enjoyed our sandwich and people watched.  This train is the brown line which winds in a narrow circle on elevated tracks through the heart of downtown.  I've heard it is fun just to ride it to peer into office windows and see the skyscrapers up close and personal.  

Jason thought another title for this post could be WHEN A DAY OFF FEELS LIKE A VACATION.  Amen.