tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72136242011-04-21T12:38:43.718-07:00A sense of the wonder and pain which lurk behind lifeMichelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.comBlogger791100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1106800203026613272005-01-26T20:18:00.000-08:002005-01-26T20:31:03.173-08:00

Well, I've decided to start a new blog that's a tad bit more thought out and focused. From now on you can read my random ramblings at http://behindthesurface.blogspot.com

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1105685132450280282005-01-13T22:45:00.000-08:002005-01-13T22:45:32.450-08:00

A few pics from our trip to Vancouver this last weekend. None of the pics of the city turned out well, but did get a few nice ones from Lynn Canyon and Blaine, Washington. We stayed at the Sandman Suites on Davie Street. It's an absolutely delightful neighborhood with a couple of bakeries, an organic grocery, a 24 hour supermarket and drugstore. And the odd adult bookstore and Gay Mart. Yes,

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1105684423206378132005-01-13T22:33:00.000-08:002005-01-13T22:33:43.206-08:00

Blaine, Washington from the Canadian border 

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1105684170663134702005-01-13T22:29:00.000-08:002005-01-13T22:29:30.663-08:00

Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge 

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1105684015560891302005-01-13T22:26:00.000-08:002005-01-13T22:26:55.560-08:00

Cave in the snow 

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1105683925354852672005-01-13T22:25:00.000-08:002005-01-13T22:25:25.353-08:00

Lynn Canyon  

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1105683848855406462005-01-13T22:24:00.000-08:002005-01-13T22:24:08.856-08:00

Lynn Canyon 

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1105670351753269172005-01-13T18:32:00.000-08:002005-01-13T18:39:11.753-08:00

I meant to post this earlier this week, but for those interested in info about the Palestinian elections, I would recommend the electronic intifada's election coverage. You might also visit the International Solidarity Movement's website. Both give a little different perspective than CNN or The Newshour with Jim Leher.

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1105439053056610242005-01-11T02:24:00.000-08:002005-01-13T18:32:32.493-08:00

On American Experience tonight they had an interesting documentary on Martin Luther King Jr. At one point they show reporters asking him to comment on the Watts riots, which occurred just a few days after King was at the White House while Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. While he reaffirms his commitment to non-violence, he also in very frank terms points out that when people have

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1105091191671179752005-01-07T02:21:00.000-08:002005-01-07T02:21:49.173-08:00

For the, like, five of you who might actually read this blog, sorry to be so quiet of late. The holidays, illness, and spending time with my boyfriend has taken up all my blogging time. :) We took the Christmas tree down today, it being the twelfth day of Christmas (also known as Theophany). Needless to say, it wasn't looking quite as green as the picture below. I think we'll be picking pine

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1103326503595623662004-12-17T14:46:00.000-08:002004-12-17T15:46:46.126-08:00

My boyfriend and I just returned from a trip to the Grand Canyon the other day. It truly is amazing. The more you look, the more breath-taking it becomes. We couldn't have asked for better weather. During the day it was quite mild -- 50 degrees or so -- and cold at night so that the snow from the week before was still on the ground but the streets were clear. While some places, like Mather and

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1103323270082397792004-12-17T14:41:00.000-08:002004-12-17T14:41:10.083-08:00

Mather Point 

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1103323124708347382004-12-17T14:38:00.000-08:002004-12-17T14:38:44.706-08:00

Snow and the Canyon at Yavapai Point 

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1103323061969901762004-12-17T14:37:00.000-08:002004-12-17T14:37:41.970-08:00

Bench at Mather Point 

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1103323014278780512004-12-17T14:36:00.000-08:002004-12-17T14:36:54.276-08:00

Tourists at Yavapai Point 

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1103322943393761792004-12-17T14:35:00.000-08:002004-12-17T14:35:43.393-08:00

Sunset at Lipan Point 

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1103322894414553032004-12-17T14:34:00.000-08:002004-12-17T14:34:54.413-08:00

Lipan Point at Sunset 

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1103322839084063212004-12-17T14:33:00.000-08:002004-12-17T14:33:59.083-08:00

Desert View just after sunset 

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1101934620476129262004-12-01T13:56:00.000-08:002004-12-17T14:44:34.923-08:00

One of these days my godfather is going to have to start his own blog but until then, I'll just lift stuff from his emails to me and post them here. The following is in reference to the Washington Post article about Alberto Gonzales. "Do you remember when Clinton hired Jocelyn Elders to be the Surgeon General? At the time, I was floored. I said, if he wants a rainbow coalition, fine, swell! But

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1101373187058780612004-11-24T13:59:00.000-08:002005-12-01T01:09:18.720-08:00

A little announcement before we head off to dysfunctional family bliss for Thanksgiving.It's now official. I am can confirm with complete certainty my white trash heritage.It's not just the three different fathers (and three different mothers on my father's side). Or growing up on food stamps and government cheese and Section 8. Or that one of my brothers is a truck driving registered sex

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1101284253381971182004-11-24T00:17:00.000-08:002004-11-24T00:17:33.380-08:00

I've never been all that patriotic, and tonight Eric Hobsbawm (via Rashid Khalidi, who's book, Palestinian Identity I'm rereading for my dissertation proposal) articulated for me why that is: "No serious historian of nations and nationalism can be a committed political nationalist...Nationalism requires too much belief in what is patently not true." Yeah.

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1101198488251726452004-11-23T01:28:00.000-08:002004-11-23T00:28:54.503-08:00

Thinking about poetry and what happened today made me think of some poetry by Floyd Skloot, another Oregon writer with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Particularly the last line in "Channel." AUTUMN EQUINOX I feel my body letting go of light drawn to the wisdom of a harvest moon. I feel it welcome the lengthening night like a lover in early afternoon. My dreams are windfall in a field gone wild. I

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1101196132121549532004-11-22T23:49:00.000-08:002004-11-24T23:55:49.963-08:00

I started out in a good mood today. It was a gorgeous autumn day. I got my 250 words done (348 actually). Rebooked our car rental for next month in Las Vegas with Alamo and cancelled with Dollar, who wanted a $350 deposit and would be doing a credit check since I'm using my debit card. Now I don't have to pinch pennies for the next three weeks to make sure there's all that extra money in my

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1101022942834417132004-11-20T23:28:00.000-08:002004-11-20T23:43:43.480-08:00

From the New York Times today: " A decade after Tennessee inaugurated a health care plan for the state's most vulnerable residents that was hailed as a model for the nation, the program is once more being held up as a model - of failure in an era of soaring medical costs and voters' aversion to higher taxes... 'In this country, rich as it is, people shouldn't have to choose whether their child

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1100834656694212402004-11-18T19:24:00.000-08:002004-11-21T22:19:51.803-08:00

A few cartoons from Steve Bell, the cartoonist at The Guardian to give ya a laugh. I mean, gotta laugh at some point, no? Bush's regard for Arab sensibilities  US Troops enter Falluja 

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1100749444295914812004-11-17T19:11:00.000-08:002004-11-20T23:46:57.856-08:00

I got my World Vision magazine (it's a pdf document) in the mail today. What perfect timing. Everytime I read it, I end up blubbering like a baby as it always has stories of profound suffering met with profound mercy. This issue focused on the Beatitudes and featured people around the world who are living them out. People doing amazing things to show the love of God despite enormous hardship and

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1100682731455400412004-11-17T01:00:00.000-08:002005-12-01T00:59:58.600-08:00

I started writing again today for the first time in a couple of months. It's funny how life feels less chaotic when I get my 25o words done (today it was actually 407 words). Makes me feel stronger. That sense of accomplishment is a great tonic.I've been meaning to write about stuff from the Middle East, yet I've also needed time away from it all. Most of this last week I haven't even bothered to

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1100124387120412482004-11-10T13:56:00.000-08:002004-11-17T21:10:15.900-08:00

I see trees of green, red roses too I see them bloom, for me and you And I think to myself, what a wonderful world... Ah, well, the sky isn't exactly blue here in Portland today, but I feel so good! This latest round of antibiotics seems to be finally killing whatever has been left of the urinary tract/kidney infection I've had. My kidneys hardly hurt at all. I can actually twirl my hips around

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1099999724971537392004-11-09T03:17:00.000-08:002004-11-09T03:28:44.973-08:00

Today has been a good day. Little pain. A decent amount of energy that allowed me to clean the bathroom (and I mean clean, scrubbing the floor as well as the tub, sink, toilet, and walls with its awkward woodwork), walk to the post office (five blocks away), go downtown to pick up medication and do a bit of shopping. Even cracked open some of my old Arabic books to write a note in Arabic to my

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1099984138588146312004-11-08T23:02:00.000-08:002004-11-08T23:08:58.586-08:00

Ah, somebody else finally mentioned William Jennings Bryan in a positive way. In her column yesterday, Maureen Dowd explained how past Democrats mixed faith and progressive politics and came up with this gem of a paragraph. "When William Jennings Bryan took up combating the theory of evolution, he did it because he despised the social Darwinists who used the theory to justify the "survival of

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1099825474402306192004-11-07T03:00:00.000-08:002004-11-09T19:05:18.950-08:00

Went to see a play about Dietrich Bonhoffer tonight and have a lot of stuff rumbling around in my head. But as it's late, I think I'll post more about that later. But did want to make two quick notes that follow up on the post from a couple of days ago. I usually think David Brooks is a pompous idiot, but his op/ed in The New York Times today was actually fairly spot on. "...It's ridiculous to

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1099728913991573722004-11-06T01:05:00.000-08:002004-11-07T03:13:27.060-08:00

I've been humming this song for the last few days, especially yesterday with the reference to the movie Inherit the Wind about the Scopes trial. It's one of those songs that when I sit down and think about the lyrics, I get that achy feeling inside that is profoundly introspective but also makes me think of the chorus of another Mark Heard song - "knock the scales from my eyes/ knock the words

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1099640091974596732004-11-04T23:33:00.000-08:002004-11-07T03:24:07.856-08:00

The area that is supposed to be a dining nook in the kitchen of my studio apartment is where I have my desk, printer, and file cabinet. I figured since I usually eat at my desk while web-surfing (a bad habit, I know), why bother wasting the space with a table that will just become a de facto desk. Yesterday I spent hours organizing my kitchen-office. Today there is more clear space on my desk

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1099450471475340122004-11-02T17:37:00.000-08:002004-11-02T19:19:10.226-08:00

During the last presidential election, my sister and I were in New York visiting colleges to which she was thinking of applying. We stood bemused at Rockefeller Plaza watching Tom Brokaw and company struggle to discern who the winner was going to be that night. The next night we sat at a pizza joint in Pennsylvania Station watching the news, baffled with the rest of the country that the day

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1099294790569897272004-10-31T23:27:00.000-08:002004-11-21T20:01:06.746-08:00

Managed to make it out for a bit of a walk today. Not too much, just up the street a few blocks and then back down. I'm still recuperating from last month's kidney infection, which apparently I was never really rid of as it turned out it was caused by a different bacteria than what they thought. In fact, it may have never gone away since the infection I had in June. Now that I'm on a new

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1099131391654433072004-10-30T02:23:00.000-07:002004-10-30T03:16:31.656-07:00

My sister and I chatted briefly online a few hours ago. As she was saying goodbye, she said she would call me later this weekend and that she missed me a lot. It reminded me of when I went off to Los Angeles for my freshman year of college. She was eight and always sent me letters and pictures saying how much she missed me. In fact, I happen to have one of those old letters on my desk at the

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1098606095510804252004-10-24T01:11:00.000-07:002004-10-24T01:24:13.753-07:00

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041108&s=facts My boyfriend sent me the above article which makes a pretty damn good case for not sending Bush back to the White House(or rather 100 good cases). I would also encourage you to check out last Sunday's extended article by Ron Suskind in the New York Times. In one of the creepiest paragraphs I've read, a senior advisor to Bush talks about the

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1098601892072336972004-10-23T23:52:00.000-07:002004-10-24T00:11:32.073-07:00

So, I turn to head down the cereal aisle tonight, which also happens to have the almond milk which was actually on my grocery list. Right at the head of the aisle is a display for a new cereal. Organic Maple Raisin. With a picture of raisins and oat clusters and corn flakes with maple syrup. Calling out to me. "Buy me. Buy me. Buy me." Oat clusters. Mmmmm. Maple corn flakes. Mmmmm. Raisins.

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1098352913296973662004-10-21T02:50:00.000-07:002004-10-21T03:06:21.763-07:00

Philosophy (For Larry) I believe in the rule of opposites that the two sides of the coin are loss and greater loss, that grief dribbles out of the bottle as effortlessly as joy and if you scoop up everything sad, your hands will discover the texture of hope. By Jane Bailey (from The Fine Art of Postponement) On the public buses here in Portland they have a program called "Poetry in Motion"

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1098318878633398582004-10-20T16:27:00.000-07:002004-10-20T18:21:49.333-07:00

Several years ago some Saudi friends and I were hanging out and chatting about all kinds of crap -- American girls (who were not as easy as they thought), Portland (watch out for those gay bars), and politics (inevitably American-Middle East relations). At one point my friend, Khaled, exclaimed, "you know, America rules the world but Americans don't know anything about the world. Yet, they end up

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1098258796947290002004-10-20T01:46:00.000-07:002004-10-20T01:06:05.260-07:00

This morning upon waking (okay, this afternoon) , I staggered to my desk in my pajamas, turned on my laptop and read through my email. Mostly Yahoo group messages, sales announcements, and newspaper headline bulletins. Skimmed the poll stories, latest dead in Iraq, campaign highlights, the Red Sox coming back from the brink yet again, etc. Read a story in the Washington Post about how the Russian

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1098176240408683132004-10-19T01:49:00.000-07:002004-10-19T01:57:20.406-07:00

Finally made it to church on Saturday night after two months. It felt so good. Lighting a candle at the icon of the Theotokos and praying. Chanting the familiar liturgy. Smelling the incense billowing out of the censer as Father F swung it at each pew. Receiving communion. “The handmaid of the Lord, Michelle, receives the Body and Blood of Christ.” Chewing the squishy wine-soaked bread dropped

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1098169433381795002004-10-18T23:49:00.000-07:002004-10-19T00:14:59.893-07:00

Last week The Guardian began an ill-advised campaign to persuade Americans to vote for John Kerry by having Britons write to residents in Clark County, Ohio, one of the swing counties in one of the most fought over swing states. Needless to say, such a well-intentioned though bad idea was met with a bit of...er...heated disagreement. "'Have you not noticed that Americans don't give two shits

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1097911841635968202004-10-16T01:16:00.000-07:002004-10-16T00:32:57.830-07:00

I was just watching “Now” with Bill Moyers. They interviewed a woman in Nevada working for minimum wage at a diner and raising her three kids on her own. She wakes up at 3 am, takes her sleepy youngest daughter to a neighbor’s for her to catch the schoolbus a few hours later, and opens the diner for the breakfast crowd. Her income is around $13,000 a year – below the poverty level. When a ballot

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1097830254396780642004-10-15T01:34:00.000-07:002004-10-20T17:42:12.256-07:00

There was a excellent tribute to Jacque Derrida in the New York Times today. It was a highly readable explaination of Derrida's contribution to our intellectual world. It also gave a little glimpse of who Derrida, the normal human being, was. I particularly appreciated the discussion about Derrida's work on religion. "During the last decade of his life, Mr. Derrida became preoccupied with

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1097829288235269492004-10-15T01:27:00.000-07:002004-10-15T01:34:48.236-07:00

Today has been the first time since August that I've felt sorta normal. After doing a bit of shopping this evening, I was tired, but didn't have that icky, flu-like, feel-like-I'm-gonna-pass-out exhaustion. Just normal tired. But still strong enough to finally tackle the three loads of laundry (mostly pajamas and sweatshirts) that have piled up in the last several weeks. And just in time too. Ran

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1097732170699135842004-10-13T22:30:00.000-07:002004-10-13T22:36:10.700-07:00

Got to do a lot of people watching today. I had to go into my clinic to be tested AGAIN for a urinary tract infection (it was more alkaline than normal so they have to send it out to be cultured). When I stepped out of the elevator onto the 5th floor of the Westside clinic of the Multnomah County Health Department, there was a long line at both check-in counters. Behind me was a couple from

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1097559886313504172004-10-11T22:10:00.000-07:002004-10-13T17:32:18.196-07:00

Last week after the Canadians picked up their order of four used submarines from the British Royal Navy, one of them burst into flames on the trek back to Canada. Today, the Canadian defence minister, Bill Graham, suggested that it may sue the Brits for selling them the lemon subs. Now, the first thought that came to my mind is that scene in the South Park movie where Canada complains to the

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1097391357979648872004-10-09T23:21:00.000-07:002004-10-10T00:09:55.946-07:00

My godfather was giving me a bit of advice last night about focusing on my M.A. thesis. And as he has such a way with words, I feel guilty about keeping it all to myself. "...The imagination is a whore. It promises everything and delivers nothing. Feel free to be a misogynist when it comes to the muse. A good whack across the jaw now and then is just what she needs to stop tormenting us. The

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1097389258528207892004-10-09T22:25:00.000-07:002004-10-10T00:06:12.576-07:00

Okay, I have to credit my boyfriend with that witty title as he told me the speculation about whether Bush was wired during the first debate had reached his side of the Pond in The Guardian. Must say, that shot of the back of Bush at 22:59 on my Real player via C-Span does look a bit suspicious. I thought Tom Tomorrow's idea of the Democrats breaking into the signal with Beat poetry while Bush is

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1097217264375176392004-10-07T23:19:00.000-07:002004-10-07T23:34:24.376-07:00

Four posts in one day. Feast or famine as they say. But Maureen Dowd cracked me up with her op/ed piece in the New York Times. She's been exploring the the Oedipal dimensions of George W. Bush for some time now and did so in today's piece regarding the debate last week. How Kerry played the Oedipal card when he pointed out that the president's father did not go to Baghdad in 1991 because, as

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1097216279493660272004-10-07T23:11:00.000-07:002004-10-07T23:18:26.876-07:00

Just in case there was any doubt, Ariel Sharon's advisor, Dov Weisglass, made it abundantly clear the "peace process" is over. "The significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process...And when you freeze that process..you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem." Bad news for Israelis and

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1097215320943852052004-10-07T21:23:00.000-07:002004-11-02T21:33:59.833-08:00

Well, it's official. Again. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. A New York Times editorial today proclaimed that the sanctions worked. "...The power of nonviolent international sanctions looks more muscular every day." Yet, I have a hard time viewing sanctions as "nonviolent." For the parents of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children who died as a result of the sanctions, I

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1097207969247617002004-10-07T20:00:00.000-07:002004-10-07T21:23:37.366-07:00

When I was a kid, one of my favorite foods was Chef Boyardee ravioli. You know, slurpy beef ravioli swimming in bland tomato sauce. Mmmm... But, you know, my gut just can't handle the MSG and other preservatives and additives. And besides, I'm supposed to be a grown up now and eat real pasta. With wine and a nice salad. Unfortunately, I have a hard time digesting salad too. Raw vegetables in

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1096975792665831052004-10-05T03:09:00.000-07:002004-10-05T04:29:52.666-07:00

So, Piers Morgan, the former editor of the Daily Mirror, was doing a bit of shameless self-promotion yesterday in an interview for the Independent to plug his soon-to-be-published memoir. For the most part, he leaves you curious to see what delicious gossip he'll be dishing up on Tony Blair and Princess Diana. He also staunchly defends his leading the Mirror in it's anti-war stand regarding Iraq.

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1096970715482603402004-10-05T02:39:00.000-07:002004-10-05T03:05:15.483-07:00

Kudos to The New York Times today for publishing an op/ed piece by Michael Tarazi which acknowledges what a lot of us having been saying and thinking for a number of years now: the reality "that Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories already function as a single state," and that it may be time for Palestinians to put aside the struggle for a Palestinian state in favor of a single,

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1096874441321179752004-10-03T23:45:00.000-07:002004-10-04T00:40:15.280-07:00

So, all that back pain was another kidney infection. (The MRI was normal aside from some minor arthritis in my spine.) I’m on antibiotics again and within a day of starting the Cipro, my pain level dropped considerably. Now I just feel like I’ve just been hit by a truck or beaten up. It’s funny how the emotion of three weeks of severe, unrelenting pain catches up with you at the weirdest times.

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1095305836102399572004-09-15T16:07:00.000-07:002004-09-15T20:41:41.576-07:00

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=561782 Great story from the Indy about the football team from Sakhnin (a small, mostly Arab village in the Galilee), who won the National Cup in Israel this spring and will play Newcastle, the English Premiership team, in the third round of the UEFA cup tomorrow night. On an unrelated topic, (though my boyfriend makes a fairly

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1095137865080299262004-09-13T20:22:00.000-07:002004-09-13T21:57:45.080-07:00

Turn to me, In your good favor, all praise‑worthy Theotokos; Look upon my grave illnesses, Which painfully sting my flesh and heal the cause of my soul's pain and suffering... Most Holy Theotokos, save us. The streams of my many tears, Reject not, Holy Virgin; For you gave birth to the One who dried all the tears, From all the faces of people; The Christ was born of you. Most holy Theotokos,

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1094886989461081462004-09-10T23:47:00.000-07:002004-10-04T00:44:23.466-07:00

No news yet about the MRI results. I called my clinic and the nurse said that unless it's life threatening, it takes about a week before they get the report. In talking with her, I've decided to add condescending nurses to my list of annoying people. I said something about how I've been having severe back pain that makes it difficult to walk for a week now, despite home treatment like ice/heat,

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1094801151652130022004-09-10T01:18:00.000-07:002004-09-10T00:25:51.653-07:00

Another bit of disappointing news for Palestine: the Palestinian football team lost its qualifying match for the World Cup to Uzbekistan 0-3. :( "After a great initial campaign by the Palestinian national in the World Cup qualifiers, its chances to make history reaching Germany in 2006 ended with the referee's whistle at the Al Rayyan stadium in Doha, Qatar. This result leaves Uzbekistan and

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1094793604091000032004-09-09T21:26:00.000-07:002004-09-15T20:47:40.253-07:00

Wandered over to the electronic intifada this afternoon. It's an absolutely brilliant site about the Israel/Palestine conflict from the Palestinian perspective (which, needless to say, is sorely lacking in the mainstream media). I was pleased to see that blogger veteran Nigel Perry, who's online diary (back before they were called blogs) I first read when he was the webmaster for Birzet

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1094798611679870952004-09-08T23:20:00.000-07:002004-10-04T00:47:16.196-07:00

Got in to see my nurse practioner/primary care provider, K, this afternoon. It was a follow up appointment regarding my last appointment with the rheumatologist a week and a half ago as Dr. V wants me to start taking a higher level narcotic for pain. K prescribed a higher dosage tablet of hydrocodone (Vicodin) for now and will have me follow up with her in two weeks to see how that's working.

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1094634623643476672004-09-08T01:51:00.000-07:002004-10-04T00:51:01.710-07:00

Okay, so my sister was showing me her blog (which is very fun and at times poignant) and it has motivated me a bit more to keep up my blog. Though I don't think anyone is reading it...Ah well, whatever. It feels like all I write about has been how much pain I'm in. But, admittedly this summer certainly has been a bad one pain-wise. The only silver lining I have at the moment is that tomorrow I'm

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1094633448037066112004-09-07T01:49:00.000-07:002004-10-04T00:55:24.090-07:00

At the grocery store today the Muzak was playing that song that goes “whew-eww chiiild, things are going to get easier...” God, I hope so. I’ve been in so much pain this month, and this last two weeks especially. At first, it seemed to be getting better once I got my foot into the cast boot. But then the week before last I managed to kink out my C7 vertebrae. I figured it would find its way back

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1092642971560064062004-08-11T00:53:00.000-07:002004-08-16T01:04:45.396-07:00

Well, I think my brain is finally starting to turn back on. That my Natty/Allie mood is slowly subsiding. Most of the time I’m sorta 70% the adult Michelle and about 30% the 10-year-old Natty-me. This last week it’s been about 60% Natty and 40% Michelle. I haven’t had much desire to work on my thesis, or read the theology books I just got, or write. I’ve just been trying to sort out all my

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1092642694158503972004-08-06T02:48:00.000-07:002004-09-10T00:02:45.656-07:00

Well, finally got my cast boot today. Ugh. Walking in it is a real pain in the ass. Literally. My piriformis muscle in my right buttock tenses up, not to mention the pressure it puts on my calf. But, my foot doesn’t hurt. Oh that’s right, I need to do the hot/cold soak… When I was picking up my package (Voices from the Margins! Wooo hoo! Finally!) I saw this 19/20 year old guy, as there are

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1092642425059793212004-08-05T03:55:00.000-07:002004-08-16T00:47:05.060-07:00

My mind just feels so muggy and heavy. So much emotionally dense crap crashing about. A lot about my illness and feeling shitty all the time and what I’m going to do with my life. A lot about my faith and how ephemeral it feels. A lot about being in love and how frightening that is. And of course, there’s all the Strausbaugh stuff that I should be writing about right now and haven’t lately

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1092642307713848952004-08-04T00:42:00.000-07:002004-08-16T00:59:43.613-07:00

I keep feeling like I want to cry today. Mostly, I suppose, because I’m in pain and I’ve been in pain for several days. My back is hurting badly again, as are my ankles and right foot as I won’t get the cast boot until Thursday. There’s nothing like days and days of pain to put you in a really bad mood. I just so want to be better. I don’t have to be completely healthy. If I could just be what I

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1092641995780600492004-07-19T22:38:00.000-07:002004-09-10T00:31:02.700-07:00

Well, my trip to the podiatrist appears to have been helpful. No, he didn’t say the surgery was botched like I was afraid he was going to say. Or that I just need to lose weight and it will all magically go away. He said that I had soft tissue damage in the metatarsal region, more so lately because of spraining my ankle when I was in England, but also because of my ankle not working properly,

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1092641862941354722004-07-18T01:36:00.000-07:002004-10-04T01:03:42.616-07:00

As it was my rest day, I laid in bed and watched movies all day. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Dogma, Cable Guy, and Amilie; The first one made me think of all the funny stories Dad has told me about his drug days, which have unfortunately returned the last several months. Though, when I talked to him today, he sounded a lot better than he has in a while. He even said he was thinking about my

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1092641703100776452004-07-17T00:34:00.000-07:002004-08-16T00:35:03.100-07:00

This evening I went to Shul with Michael. It’s a Reconstructionist congregation and it felt sort of like a cross between an Evangelical bible study and a Byzantine liturgy. Yet, what felt so nice was to be with people who are intensely spiritual but also unorthodox. The leader was gay. There were people of various backgrounds. It was like I didn’t have to watch myself the whole time to make sure

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1092641629629566492004-07-14T00:32:00.000-07:002004-08-16T01:03:09.390-07:00

Does grieving somehow come in phases? I’ve been so weepy lately, but not in a depressed way like I might have in the past. Just sadness. Lots of the past just reminding me that it still lives in my memories. So much of it that I still try to make sense of. A and I were talking about bipolar disorders today. He had a past girlfriend who was manic depressive, and I have an uncle and brother with

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1092641419052837912004-07-09T00:29:00.000-07:002004-08-16T00:30:19.053-07:00

Damn have I been tired today. Tuesday I so overdid it. Way over did it. And now it’s so caught up with me. I had to cancel having Michael over tonight, which really sucks cause he’s leaving for Israel in a week and a half. But I needed to be alone tonight. At therapy I talked about Pop. Remember the wonderful stuff about him. We talked about other stuff. About Dad. My biological father and why

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1092641257448484612004-07-04T22:27:00.000-07:002004-08-16T00:27:37.446-07:00

Trying to write my review of Normal Finkelstein’s book, The Holocaust Industry. I was an idiot to volunteer to review this book. It’s such a tricky book. He offers a much needed critique. Raises some important issues with regard to the Holocaust and the way Americans and Israelis use it to deflect criticism of Israel, as well as have created an “industry” that produces “schlock” and blackmails

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1092640569940370192004-06-25T00:14:00.000-07:002004-08-16T00:21:29.146-07:00

I love feeling healthy. Not that I really feel totally healthy, but after the last three weeks, it’s a hell of a lot better. Last week at this time I was in agony from the urinary tract infection that had backed up into my kidneys and the fever that went with it. That was what was making my back hurt so much the week before. Once the fever came, it was absolutely unbearable pain. It was as if

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1092640445807527962004-06-12T01:09:00.000-07:002004-09-10T00:45:16.123-07:00

It’s been a bad pain week. My low back has been tense and the base of my spine has felt as though there are nails being driven into it. Thursday night, after acupuncture and a tuina massage, I had to take six Vicodin and three Flexeril just to sleep. Today I went to the private practice of a professor at the Chinese medicine school where he did a number of modalities – infra-red light,

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1086496201248133542004-06-05T21:30:00.000-07:002004-06-05T21:30:01.246-07:00

Tonight my brother Ryan had a party celebrating his graduation from high school. His dad and my mom rented the Milwaukie Grange hall, hired some music, bought a couple of three-foot Subway sandwiches. His buddies and girlfriend were there, along with my grandparents, his aunt, and assorted family and friends. Pretty normal graduation party, you say. Yes, indeed. Wonderfully normal. Ryan has

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213624.post-1086410047449948442004-06-04T21:23:00.000-07:002004-06-04T21:34:07.450-07:00

It had to happen. I had to start my own blog. Everybody else is. Though, I doubt I'd jump off the proverbial cliff if everybody else did. Then again, who knows. ;) As a writer, I guess I'm as vain as the next at the chance to share my thoughts about how the world is in a forum where others might read it. So, here begins my foray into blogging....

Michelle Strausbaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06622479694535043721noreply@blogger.com0