T is for Tortuga

Tortuga deserves to be the word of the day not only because it is fun to say (try it) and not only because I hear Johnny Depp in his pirate voice saying "tortuga" (where will we find a bunch of pirates to crew this ship?) and not only because it rhymes with Joe's favorite word in spanish "lechuga" but also because a little foamy brown tortuga (turtle) saved us on the trip back from iowa this week. The girl woke up and we still had 1 1/2 hours to drive. That little tortuga took a beating but we had minimal crying. She is an unbelievably good baby. Much better than we deserve.
What else?
I'm going to be in Wichita 3 days next week. This means two things (three really.)

1. The girl is starting on some formula. I don't actually have mommy guilt about this exactly. Except that I see the need for it as springing directly from the fact that i'm still working. If I weren't working I'd have no need to travel without her (unless I chose to) and it wouldn't even be a question. So I'm not worried about the formula. I do fret endlessly about how much/little time i get to spend with her.




2. I will get a pretty good perdiem. I'll try to take food & save my money. I won't be taking my own car or anything, so the per diem is my only opportunity to save some cash.




3. I will have an opportunity to sit in my hotel room with the tv on constantly and hopefully read some books. The drive down I was thinking about books I read when I thought I got them (like reading 1984 in high school) and how I love revisiting books/poems/movies like that because I clearly see all the ways that I have changed. So, in the name of a list within a list, here are some top picks I'd like to revisit next week. You're welcome to vote for your favorite but I'll also assume that there are silent masses of you who are reading but not posting. 1984 --though this will be a most creepy, creepy time to read it. not that i expect that to improve any when hillary wins the dem nomination and loses the presidential election to the republican nominee, Beelzebub.
   
   Nervous Conditions--Actually I read this for a women & imperialism class in college. again, i thought i was so grown. it was a great book but i only read it thinking of my dad. i hope i still see him in it but i hope i see more too (maybe me?)
   Wide Sargasso Sea--if I reread this one, our dear friend Sally will probably force me to reread Jane Eyre (which I should)
   Woman Hating--Andrea Dworkin radicalized me with this book. I will love her forever for it. I don't really feel smart enough to disagree with Dworkin, except that I do disagree with her. She's someone I can disagree with but love her. i love her because i feel like i got to myself more because of her. (okay, so I'm apparently leaning towards woman hating, but i was kind of hoping for a fiction book. Let's continue)

Stone Butch Blues--When I was on the student board of the YW (as the Arab rep no less. . . guess how many arabs there were as my compitetion??) there was a group from a YW in Minneapolis including a trans woman. There was a big to-do about whether she was a woman, whether she got to participate, whether she got to have a position of leadership etc. I offered to the current leadership that anyone who self-identified as a woman was a woman and we supported the leadership of women. (that's a kind way of me putting all of this. In truth i also said that if someone identifies as 'man' or 'other than woman' they could participate but have no leadership.) I now see "train go sorry" or how I missed the boat. Really, my statement was "we just need to make sure we still support the idea that there can only be two sexes, two genders and there are a set number of ways to coordinate genitals, people and social expectations." Ah, thinking about all that makes me feel old. And like I was too focused on 1970s white feminist writings when it was actually the '90s. I mean, even Mo on DTWOF was ahead of me and she IS a 1970s white feminist. I'm now belaboring the point. I should definitely read Stone Butch Blues.

Well, go ahead & cast your votes if you like.

It's bad form to have a post go on & on like this so a few quick additional points

The child is sick (did I give her something?) and napping off some baby benadryl. In her crib. For the second time today. (the sleeping in the crib part, not the benadryl part.) I am totally proud of myself. I was able to get her alseep in her crib without S. or her strange sleeping powers. Yea me!

S. is in Florida and I was in Iowa this weekend. Can't wait for her to get back.

Khubz had some amazing poops which I'm sure I'll tell you all about when the alphabet gets back around to " I" as in "Khubz had a chunk of impacted poop that I couldn't wipe away" or "S" as in "It was just swinging there" or "H" as in "Because it was attached to a hair I had to pull out of her ass!" or "E" as in "It was endless!" Stick around. Good times ahead.