Hello, luvs,

We have been very, very busy here. Troy and I began school at the end of August. Which meant that Rowan began day care (half days) as well. Lon's job was related to being a student, so he has been unemployed and looking. Tina is still working at Sears.

Let's see, I am taking the usually three graduate classes. This time they are: Anthropological Data Analysis (statistics), Anth. Field Methods, and Reading and Writing Ethnography. The usual 500 pages of reading a week. Of course, since I read with books on tape (because of my dyslexia), I am suppose to get the reading lists at least a month in advance. Well, two of the professors were out of the country until school started. That means that I am way behind in my reading because they can only record this stuff so fast. To make matters worse, the prison where they do a lot of the recording at had a stabbing last week. That means they went into "lock down" with no one, not even employees, able to leave or call out. That meant I didn't get my readings for this week on Friday like I am suppose to -- but on Tuesday -- after they were due. Now I play catch up.

Troy is taking...

Lon has been frantically looking for work. Yesterday he was hired for a temp job doing data entry in an office. It is reasonable pay and will supposedly last until Jan. He is really bitching about the clothes he has to wear though. Lon doesn't like clothes to "fit in." He usually dresses in radical t-shirts or in poet shirts.

Rowan is so beautiful he makes me cry. So far, he has Troy's sweet disposition. Very friendly and smiles a lot. He also weighs more than 13 pounds now. The last couple weeks have been rough on him though. He has an ear infection and it makes him fussy. It has been rough on us too, because hours of crying in the middle of the night means no one sleeps. We had a family portrait and one of Rowan made. They are really nice. We have some wallets. Let us know if you want a set. We went overboard on the cute by dressing Rowan in a Winnie the Pooh outfit and posing him with Tigger, Piglet and Eore.

The first week of school I also went to Houston for a talk show. I use to talk for the Body Image Task Force on a lot of them. But when they got really nasty, I quit. This time I accepted because the show is a new one called "The Bradshaw Difference" where the aim is to talk, not yet at each other. The episode was on children in beauty pageants. I was able to make some good points and was treated well. But it did make me sick to my stomach to see this kind of abuse of children. And as usual, flying makes me sick too. I will let you know when they set an air date for the show.

We are finally feeling pretty settled into the house. I still want to make some curtains for some windows before winter sets in. We got the hot tub set up again and did a lot of remodeling. The landlord paid for the materials and we did the work. Also, Tina's mom gave her their family's upright piano. No one has played it since Tina's left home many years ago. It was badly out of tune, but we got it tuned, cleaned it up and it is beautiful. Tina's is working on brushing up on her playing. Romantic that I am, I am hoping she will play Yule carols for us this winter.

In August we had company from Ireland. Janet and Stewart Farrar and Gavin Bone. We greatly enjoyed their visit. We found we had a lot in common and feel we now have more friends in far away places. The presentations they gave here were quite lively. I wouldn't say that I agree with them on everything, but it was an amazing experience to hear their stories and to do ritual with them.

More travel is in our future. A friend is planning to give Tina an airline ticket to Calif. for next week. An old friend of hers is getting married. If it works out, she and Rowan will be staying with my mom Sept. 19-24. So if you live in the Santa Cruz area and want to meet Tina and Rowan, let us know.

Meanwhile, I will be going to Washington DC Sept. 26-29 for a conference called "Lavender Languages" where I will be presenting a paper on strategies in retelling coming out stories among bisexuals. Then Nov. 21-Dec. 1, I will be in San Francisco and Santa Cruz. I am going to be presenting my thesis at the American Anthropological Association Conference. It is exciting to be a graduate student presenting at the top venue for my profession -- and on the best day, Sat., no less. I will then stay on to visit friends and family in the area.

Well, things are quite hectic. I have so much to do right now that friends keep making jokes like "and then she will clean out the Olympian stables." In the next two weeks I have the usual 500 pages a week or so of readings for classes, organize a reception for Women's Studies, the IPAN issue to edit, about 8 flyers to create, forms to fill out for bureaucrats, a paper to rewrite and give at a conference in Washington DC, a wedding dress to finish for Sherry, and more...

Well, the next two weeks will be so hectic for me that friends have been making jokes like, "and then she will clean out the stables at Mt. Olympus." It will take herculean effort to complete it all. I have to catch up in school, fill out too many forms and applications for funding and other bureaucratic paper work, organize a reception for Women's Studies, create about 8 flyers for different events, edit the IPAN newsletter, revise the paper for the conference, finish a wedding dress for a friend, and help host several events for both Pagan and school related groups. Whew!

I hope to hear from all of you. Love,

Dawn