bird by bird

The other night I went for a walk in the dark around Vermillion. I love that it's safe to do that here. I passed houses where I've partied and houses where I've lived, where I drank my first (college) beer and where I had my first (college) kiss. I swear there was a brief moment when I could taste freshman year. It was delicious. I realized that this is my sixth spring here, and it will be the last I'll spend in Vermillion. Thinking of this made me a little nostalgic. Spring is maybe my favorite season to spend in this town.. mostly because winter is so ultra-depressing and makes me question why the H I'm still living in South Dakota.. but then Spring rolls around and people come out from hiding the way they do in apocalyptic movies once the asteroid/flood/natural disaster has passed. The town comes alive again with frisbee golf and yard games and walking dogs, and Carey's bar doubles in size because the back patio is finally open. You'd swear ...

1. I always love when MR comes to town. I'm mostly excited to see her, but that fact that she brought an ice cream bucket of chicken salad to my house this weekend didn't hurt. I'm fairly confident that I ate at least a third of it. Soooooo good! 2. I made it to page 17 in my seminar paper yesterday! I rewarded myself by buying the new Kate Nash album. So far I hate "I love Seagulls" or wait, I love "I hate Seagulls." That's confusing. 3. Today I am showing a movie in my class. Then I'm letting them go early. I love having the power.

I got the best card in the mail today. The front said, "Bad Ass Motherfucker." I don't think I've ever said those three words aloud. Not consecutively, anyway. It was from my friend GG who is like my little postal angel. She seems to have a 6th sense about when I need a pick-me-up, and on those days, I come home and find a funny card or cute magnet or new CD. Her message today told me to write a book so she can brag to her librarian friends that she knows a real writer. While I don't think GG should hold her breath (grad school may be the end of me), I promised her that if I ever publish a book (apparently facebook posts don't count) I will dedicate it to her. My dedication will say: "To Georgie Ann [married name if you change it]. For calling me a bad-ass-motherfucker, for telling me I can be an artist, and for imagining a scenario in which I have something for sale at a bookstore. And for all the magnets. You kept me going. I love you." I...

EH is an individual: part hippy, part grunge, part Broadway, part artist, and a tiny part Midwest. I have a love/hate relationship with her adventurous spirit, though. I love this quality in her when it comes to dancing without inhibitions with me at street dances or raiding her mom's fridge for the homeless man walking around the lake or participating in the legendary "operation: black triangle". I am not so fond of her adventurous spirit, however, when it takes her away from me like 6 years ago to NYC and now, Paris. I say, "What's so great about seeing the world, anyway?" The thing I love most about my friendship with EH is that months can go by without talking yet one phone call puts us back where we left off. She doesn't shower regularly and this may be another reason we get along so well. Yesterday was her birthday in all the hustle and bustle of Easter egg hunts and explaining to my family for the fourteenth time what ESL stands for, I didn...

One year ago today, I had a bad day. A very, very bad day. But I came back from class and found these beautiful tulips from my friend GG, and I was reminded of Spring and the goodness that still exists in the human heart. GG has been such an understanding, reliable, and comforting friend these past couple of years. On this day last year and still today. Thank you, GG, for being here (or there) always.

I hate Alaska.  Alaska sucks so much it has to pay people to live there. Alaska is manic depressive. Alaska breeds people like Sarah Palin.  Alaska is cold. Alaska doesn't fit in with all the other states.  Alaska is the kid at the lunch table sitting by itself because no one wants to be associated with Alaska.  Alaska is like a pimple on the forehead of Canada. Most of all, Alaska sucks because it took my friend SG away. It said, "I'm keeping her for three years. You can't see her anymore." Well... Alaska didn't know about this little thing called Skype. Skype lets us see and talk whenever we want!! Like tonight when I came home from an English potluck and SG came back from racing outhouses on ice (weird, i know). We went behind Alaska's back and we Skyped. Alaska= 0 Skype= 1

One time last semester ST was sitting in my cubicle and I was drinking coffee. Something funny happened that I can't remember, and I burst out laughing. Coffee came out my nose. It was hot. The coffee, not the situation. The other day I had dinner with some fellow English TA's. I said that we needed to eat early because I had "a thing" at 7:30. That "thing" was my bible study. ST called me out on it. He said, "Why didn't you just say that you had bible study at 7:30?!" I don't know why. I asked him why he doesn't call his girlfriend his girlfriend. That shut him up. These stories are unrelated.  ST('s dog) has a blog now. You should follow it: http://lhotsi.blogspot.com/

This morning I gchatted with my old friend JN. He is in Law School in Omaha and was gchatting during class. I told him that if my students did that, I would "cut them". It's funny because it's not true.  We talked about airborne's effects on being drunk/hungover. He told me that people who wear more than 3 pieces of hemp or own a Che Guevara shirt shouldn't be allowed to go to college. Based on my experience last semester, I tend to agree. I told him that I was going to Kansas City this weekend to get "buck", and he said, "You better. and that doesn't mean 4 or five colored drinks. I know how girls get after college." At first I was offended, but then I realized that it's sort of true. I asked JN for a good bonus question to ask my students and he said:   "Arguably the only good United States president in the 20th Century, which President restored the American Values of limited government, traditional values, strong defense, ...

I don't know about a book of love.. but I do love books. And this song. The book of love is long and boring No one can lift the damn thing It's full of charts and facts and figures and instructions for dancing But I I love it when you read to me And you You can read me anything The book of love has music in it In fact that's where music comes from Some of it is just transcendental Some of it is just really dumb But I I love it when you sing to me And you You can sing me anything The book of love is long and boring And written very long ago It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes And things we're all too young to know ...

Whoa baby, what a weekend... It was intense and I'm sorting it all out by way of blogging. Friday started out at 7:30 am on a three hour car ride with 5 sleepy coffee drinkers and very little leg room. We sat knee to knee and occasionally had to pull over to scrape the insides of the windows with our USD student ID's. When we arrived, I had the same taste in my mouth and tightness in my chest. I wore the same black dress. I thought, "I'm too young to have a dress for occasions like this". When I stood, I had friends standing by, and that felt familiar too. I was glad. It was what it was, and after a few tears, several hugs and a buffet of reception food, we crammed back into the two-door car and headed back to Verm. The windows were less foggy and so was I. TB met us at Pros, and we toasted Pop-a Wheela and got the party started. The Strollers show was "balla" and I was so so proud of my little legacy. It reminded me of that scene from Dirty Dancing at t...

Let's say I had to make a list of 10 people in this world that I think really "get me".. I mean really get me.. not that they're just like me.. not that they always know what I'm thinking or agree with me.. but they just seem to understand who I am and where I'm coming from.  The way that art or words or music affects me, affects them. A look or a facial expression between us prompts a burst of laughter or a silent understanding.. I've found this "get me" factor is both rare and random. Some of these connections have been severed by death and some by oceans. Some I see every night as  I say to her "See you in the effing morning" and some I haven't seen since July during the fireworks when he walked past me and I tried to catch him to say "hello, my how things have changed." Some of these people keep in touch and some whose touch I miss. Some will notice my messed up pronouns. Some won't. Some will read this and know...

Here is the Co-MOH (co-Maid of Honor) speech that TB and I whipped up. It's cheesy and sentimental but heartfelt. Congrats Mr. and Mrs. SG! A: When I went through recruitment at USD, I met a skinny high-pitched west river girl and I didn’t know what to think of her. Little did I know that 5 years later I would be giving a Maid of Honor speech at her wedding. Tanya and I are so grateful for Theta for bringing us all together as we grew in faith, hope, and love. And now we are here today to celebrate Scott and Sena’s journey in faith, hope, and love. T: First, Faith. Throughout the years that Sena and Scott have been together, they have had to have a lot of faith in each other. They have had faith in each other and faith in God, which has brought them here today. Scott has faith that Sena can whip up a delicious feast out of the nothingness in their fridge. Sena has had faith that Scott will get her out of sticky situations... such as driving her car into their apa...

Miss SA became Mrs. SG this weekend!!! The wedding and reception was held at Fountains Ballroom in Glenwood, IA, which was absolutely enchanting. The pictures don't begin to do it justice. Click here for their website and gallery.

The other night I ran into my good friend Jane at Carey's. She is awesome. She's moving to Australia in February which means I won't be able to run into her at Carey's again for a while. That makes me sad. This picture, on the other hand, makes me very happy. Me Like Jane

Kate Nash says it better than I ever could. I love my girlfriends. You know you are. They don't love you like I love you. The End.

Halloween has always been a very big deal in the Lightfield household comprised of homemade costumes, make-shift haunted houses, and tricky traditions. All of us get into the spirit of spirits, but none as much as my dad. He was notorious for his Halloween enthusiasm and also for a particular pair of Halloween feet. My mom bought them for him after they were first married (27 years ago), and every October 31st, he slipped them on and walked out the door to freak the world out. Last year was the first year that he wasn't able to model the gruesome feet, so in order to carry on his tradition, I slipped them on and walked out the door to freak the world out. The clincher: I worked at a monastery. And it..was.. awesome. The sistas loved the feet and had me model them all day long. This October 31st, I'm back in Vermillion grading papers in bed and every so often, startling myself by looking at the over sized feet dangling over the edge of my bed. Halloween traditions live on!

DDays 2007... It's like when a unknown film gets nominated for an Academy Award. Hilarious.