Halloween

Call me a Halloween grinch. I'm no great lover of holidays. And Halloween? Bah! Humbug! I don't actually answer the door. When I taught school, some of my junior high girl students knocked. And whispered. "Miss Lucia, Miss Lucia, it's us. We know you're in there. We've come to give you candy." And they did.

I Wish to Inform You

"I wish to inform you that I will receive you at the airport. I just want to caution you that Monsoon has become vigorous and we are experiencing heavy rains, which are likely to continue during your visit."

So now. I'm seeing myself. Sloshing through the streets of Chennai. By the end of the week. The bottom of my skirt is soaked. But only in my mind. Vigorous. Monsoon.

Counting Down to India

I'm in the less than 2 weeks zone. When I start to think about everything that needs to be done before I travel. India. With a few days. Too few! In Kathmandu for a training. I'm looking forward. To being out of the office. And with batik artisans and block printers. With friends and colleagues. On a Darjeeling tea plantation that I've heard called. The most beautiful spot in the world. In the meantime. I'll spin. And work. And fret a bit. But there's always that point. Of leaving. When no more can be done.

What You Gonna Spend Your Free Life On?

In certain frames. I'm a sap. Like right now. When I'm listening to singer-songwriter Dan Wilson's new CD Free Life. Dan's voice. Has the effect. Of wrapping me. It has felt familiar. Since I was young. Well, younger. Trip Shakespeare. Semisonic. Sometimes I put my arms out. And up. And let it roll from my fingertips into my soul. And, yeah. I know a lot of the words. From other CDs. And Dan's myspace site. More pathos. I read the liner notes. Where he thanks "the Semisonic message board, you know who you are, for hanging in there." Yes. I'm part of a message board for a long defunct band. Now you know. That's the thanks we get. The CD ends with Easy Silence, a tune co-written with the Dixie Chicks. A CD that brought a grammy home. For them. And him. "Sweet, sweet sugar to me." There are only two other singer-songwriters that make me put my arms out to embrace the music. Mike Doughty. And John Mayer.

Moving Through Space

I move through space. But don’t always know where I am. I do know that I’m tucked into a big puffy bed in a brownstone in Manhattan. (That one there on the left.) I think I’m in Gramercy. Or is it Stuyvesant? And that New York gets much better when I walk, winding through delis and grocery stores, past cleaners and restaurants.

In a strange turn. Sometimes when I travel in the U.S. I get a little clench of anxiety. Will I figure out where to go? Will I get a seat on the train? I can tell myself this is completely nonsensical. That if landing in Addis Ababa where I cannot speak the language or in Calcutta does not phase me, why worry about getting anywhere in a country where I speak the language and have the currency? But there it is. Like an Achilles heel. That little clench. Of anxiety.

The Two Cecilias

I had dinner with two Cecilias. Both members of the Kuapa Kokoo cocoa grower cooperative. Kuapa Kokoo. Good Cocoa Farmers Company. In Ghana. Their fair trade cocoa goes into Divine Chocolate.

It's so refreshing. To be with women who dance. And sing. And say to the world, "We're empowered women!" They sing about the cooperative. And apply the cooperative's motto - "Pa Pa Paa" which means "the best of the best of the best" - to everything. To the cocoa beans. To the chocolate bars. To wherever they are. To whomever they are with. To all of us. Pa Pa Paa. We are the best of the best of the best.

They say you can be Pa Pa Paa if you buy Divine Chocolate. Sound good? Want to buy some for yourself? For your friends? Buy it here.

My Last Nerve

Does everyone. Have in their life. Someone who gets on their last nerve?

Someone they wish would move far, far away. To another state. Or country. Or planet.

Someone they no longer want in their orbit?

Does everyone have someone in their life whose purpose seems to be. To. Drive. Them. Nuts?