More of E.E.'s thoughts on humanity

I love this poem and I've only been able to find it in one place online (another blog), and I wanted to share it with you all (and anyone else looking for it). E.E. Cummings is quite talented at creating allegories that really make you think.

. . . 

now two old ladies sit peacefully knitting,

and their names are sometimes and always

"i can't understand what life could have seen in him" stitch

-counting always severely remarks;and her sister(suppress-

ing a yawn)counters "o i don't know;death's rather attractive"

—"attractive!why how can you say such a thing?when i think

of my poor dear husband"—"now don't be absurd:what i said was

'rather attractive',my dear;and you know very well that

never was very much more than attractive,never was

stunning"(a crash. Both jump)"good

heavens!" always exclaims "what

was that?"—"well here comes your daughter"

soothes sometimes;at which

death's pretty young wife enters;wringing her hands,and wailing

"that terrible child!"—"what"(sometimes and always together

cry)"now?"—"my doll:my beautiful doll;the very

first doll you gave me, mother(when i could scarcely

walk)with the eyes that opened and shut(you remember:

don't you,auntie;we called her love)and i've treasured

her all these years,and today i went through a closet

looking for something;and opened a box, and there she

lay:and when he saw her, he begged me to let him

hold her;just once:and i told him "mankind,be careful;

she's terribly fragile:don't break her,or mother'll be angry'"

and then(except for

the clicking of needles)there was silence

"Dude. These waves are heavy."

So....a couple of my friends here are into surfing (none very advanced, but still) and, over the course of hanging out with them and hearing them talk about it....I've heard this phrase a lot. I went surfing for the first time today (it was SO GREAT - more in a second) but I still have no idea what it means. Ideal? Rough? Intense? I could look it up but I'm really just fine not knowing. but anyway, I went surfing today and it was awesome. Both of the friends who surf have long boards, which makes them easier, and they were really patient in teaching another of my friends and me. I rode several waves in all the way kneeling several times and even STANDING a couple of times! I've never been a huge adrenaline junkie - partly because I err on the side of caution, and partly because I've never had the opportunity - but this was fantastic. It really is almost intoxicating once you stand up, and you can't get enough of it....even if you are heartlessly battered by the waves the other 60% of the time. Maybe there's a life lesson about ambition in there somewhere......

. . .

We're halfway into our second week of classes, and things are wonderful. I LOVE my internship at the planning office here...everyone is laid back and fun - it's almost like The Office with Steve Carrell except no one is as excruciatingly awkward as Dwight or Michael. Everyone seems genuinely happy that I'm working there with them. It's so great to feel welcomed & included. Erin (the town planner, who's only a few years older than me which is so cool - gives me hope for finding a job!!) - anyway, Erin and I talked about some possibilities for a project and decided on something that was mentioned in a land use plan from a few years ago... the need for a 'development evaluation tool' to review proposed developments based on criteria established as priorities by the town. Beyond that, though, I'm learning a lot about the inner workings of municipal government, which is a huge amount of what most planners do. Erin is terrific - she takes the time to explain projects, decisions, conflicts, legal processes...basically anything she's doing that I don't understand. I went to the planning and zoning board meeting this evening, which was really interesting. They (at the Town Hall, where I work) all give me a hard time about giving up hope on the field of planning now that I'm seeing how slowly local government really works, but really it's great to get a 'real life' perspective - to see it in process. To see real people (i.e. people I know, more or less) making decisions that will affect the town for a while to come. THIS is where change happens! Cool! ......or, more realistically, where change can happen. [Thankfully Manteo has done remarkably well in terms of planning for the long term....as opposed to, say, Nags Head, which is over-developed and quite unpleasant to drive through.]

. . .

Our classes are going to be a lot of work, but I can tell already that I'm going to learn a lot. We get credit for 6 classes, but only three of them are in the classroom - Coastal Law & Policy, Coastal & Estuarine Ecology, and Resilient Coastal Communities. [The other three are the internship, a one hour workshop/community speaker series, and a group capstone research project.] More on all those later......mainly because I should be doing reading for all of them and instead I'm doing this.......but it's such a worthy object of my attention!

. . .

Now for some pictures:

A cute little snake I found while sweeping my porch after the hurricane.

beginning of a truly incredible sunset...

cool huh?! on our way to the beach

our beach of choice at Nags Head. this is where I was surfing today!

wow.

My ideal house turns out to be this bungalow c.1880 right on the sound in Old Nags Head. I've always known I'd know it when I saw it, and this was it. Sweet, old, very full of character...with a big wrap around porch and lots of windows.

View from the porch out over the sound. The weather on the evening we were there was also ideal.

The group, minus Robb and plus a few.... from L to R, Colleen (it was her house), Robert (our very dear program director), Jamie, Betty, Josh, me, Sasha, Alex, Nathalie, and Ann.

. . .

As Robert often says, "Ah! wonderful! hooray!" 

I couldn't agree more.

(not where not here but neither’s blue most both)

I have to finish some readings for class tomorrow (our first day!!) so I can't write a long post, but I just added pictures to my album on Facebook and wanted to share them with you! Here's just one for now...(click on it to get the full effect!)

(Sunday night we went to Nags Head to hang out, swim, and watch this incredible sunset.)

. . .

also - I just wanted to say that I don't think I have ever felt more positive in my life. I'm not entirely sure what all that means....all I know is that is very much what I feel. I'm so happy here...not just happy in a passive, contented way but really, truly happy. At peace. but more than just that! because that sounds passive too. I love it here - the area, the atmosphere, the people, what I'm doing. Isn't incredible that you can be enjoying life and then something happens, you meet someone, you go somewhere, you do something - whatever it is - and you realize that you just love life even more? And suddenly you realize you're even happier -- you radiate joy and love because you can't possibly keep it all inside....