sept 24th

so this has been an interesting week.

first off, i have been teaching an introduction to the use of examples or illustrations in writing in my classes. to make the point that they aren't al simply personal stories, i showed the film "common threads; stories from the quilt.' it's following five panels from the AIDS Quilt, telling the stories behind each panel. (on an interesting point, each panel is three foot by six foot = the size of a human grave... makes you think doesn't it?)
by showing the stories behind each panel, we see different facets of the disease, those who are afflicted by it, bigotry that they may or may not have faced. all of that. the film was made in 1989, so it is dated. the AIDS quilt began in 1987 and was displayed i think in 88 or 89 for the first time...
Each time i watch the film i cry. it is something dear to my heart. a personal cause or project so to speak. so i have watched the film four times this past week. it took all week to watch it, half on each day of class accordingly. as my students watched the film, i could see theyw ere also affected. they were thinking. they were silent. they talked about it afterwards in discussions. and for some of m students, that says alot. (It's an important and beautiful film. Watch it if you get the chance. it's available via amazon.)
but what one of them said caught me off guard a bit. i guess i just thought we were past bigotry, and being close minded and stupid. after the film was over, in my last class (one of my favorite classes too!) we weret laking abot our impressions, the examples we saw, just discussing how it affected us, if it made its point etc.. and one of my students in the back said, but not loudly, 'they should have thought about it before they engaged in their practices.' and i asked him to repeat it. i wasn't sure i had heard him correctly. he repeated and i asked him to elaborate on it.. he declined. and it just struck me. they should have thought about AIDS before they decided to be homosexual. my students put him in his place a bit. at the time of the film and the stories being told, it was 1981. the very beginning of AIDS. no one knew what it was, no one knew it existed. so in that time frame, that's not a very legitimate question. Perhaps today it might be? i dont know. i dont think people are thinking about long term STDS when they decide to engage in their sexual practices.. it was kind aon the same level as saying about the kid who had hemophelia and got AIDS that way, as saying, "well he should have thought about AIDS before he decided to be a hemopheliac.."

so the AIDS quilt, or a portion of it, is coming to Keystone College. I am encouraging all of my students to go. I am hoping to work a few shifts at the quilt. I did when i was in high school and the experience has stuck with me. check out the quilt here: www.aidsquilt.org

what else. my boy is going to utah for a conference for school. hoping also he'll find some great job leads out there. (pray for us.) and i told him that we're going to scotland then in the spring or summer. we've gone out to utah almost every year we've been married. and for as lovely as it is, i get tired of it to a point. we get to go to his home every year. and i haven't been back to mine in almost 6 years. i came back June first 2000. so we're going. i dont know when specifically when we're going, but we're going. so help me.. i'm homesick like no body's business. am looking forward to it.

have been operating on a level just being knackered and exhausted. i could almost sleep through my dad's chainsaw cutting just outside our bedroom window.

working on my first sweater: for our dog. :) she better like it. *chuckle.* stocked up on yarn as our yarn store closes tomorrow.

that and watching the world go by.