tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-131828832024-03-13T12:30:05.910-07:00Wandering Piethe peripatetic ponderings of one wondering womanKristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.comBlogger130125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-13032516215339985312021-03-08T15:50:00.002-08:002021-04-25T19:24:31.846-07:00Because We're Not Still Embryos!<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6fHTyVmYp4" target="_blank"><i>Here's the original....</i></a> </p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">PLAY & dance along with </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpHhM_WFuXo" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0099cc; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: none;">THE ORIGINAL Zumba Choreograpy by KRS10</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">!</span></p><h4 style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.25; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">Rewritten Lyrics to</h4><h4 style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.25; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">I Am Woman</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">by Helen Reddy</em></h4><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="ct62n-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ct62n-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="ct62n-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="91neg-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="91neg-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: center;"><span data-offset-key="91neg-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">We are women, hear us roar,</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="5uqbe-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5uqbe-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="5uqbe-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">With power greater than before,</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="32ibh-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="32ibh-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="32ibh-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">And the knowledge that is time to come to light.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="5gkg-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5gkg-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="5gkg-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">We’re not waiting anymore,</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="15vk2-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="15vk2-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="15vk2-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">We know there’s no need for a war–</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="nb38-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="nb38-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="nb38-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">When we heal in harmony we get it right!</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="3blsk-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3blsk-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="3blsk-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="1j1s6-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1j1s6-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="1j1s6-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">[CHORUS]</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="8rmhd-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8rmhd-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="8rmhd-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Oh yes we are wise</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="dhoh8-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="dhoh8-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="dhoh8-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">It’s the wisdom of the sane</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="1rmsm-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1rmsm-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="1rmsm-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">And it’s time to make the choice</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="bqtrq-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bqtrq-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="bqtrq-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">To let go of all shame.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="cjaqa-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cjaqa-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="cjaqa-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Now we have to, and must do everything</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="6rnjc-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6rnjc-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="6rnjc-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">To be strong (strong)</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="7oemp-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7oemp-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="7oemp-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">To be invincible (invincible)</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="5lajm-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5lajm-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="5lajm-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">To be women</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="2ii0a-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2ii0a-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="2ii0a-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="evdv5-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="evdv5-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="evdv5-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">We can bend instead of break we</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="d82bu-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="d82bu-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="d82bu-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">All have what it takes to make the</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="491g6-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="491g6-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="491g6-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Changes we all need to make us truly whole</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="3l2t1-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3l2t1-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="3l2t1-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">We will make a world that’s stronger</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="91e2l-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="91e2l-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="91e2l-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Because women are no longer</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="eq3aq-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="eq3aq-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="eq3aq-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Without confidence in reaching every goal</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="7ehg0-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7ehg0-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="7ehg0-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="7oa1l-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7oa1l-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="7oa1l-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">[CHORUS]</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="aqrpp-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="aqrpp-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="aqrpp-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="eqefa-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="eqefa-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="eqefa-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">We are woman watch us grow</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="4kke0-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4kke0-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="4kke0-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">We’re expanding as we flow</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="agsse-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="agsse-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="agsse-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">In a tide of inspiration</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="cslo6-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cslo6-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="cslo6-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">For the land</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="ogqc-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ogqc-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="ogqc-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Because only women know</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="9n3d-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9n3d-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="9n3d-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">That to grow an embryo</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="7ik0s-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7ik0s-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="7ik0s-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Means a flourishing</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="5ih8u-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5ih8u-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="5ih8u-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">All humans understand</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="41ejk-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="41ejk-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="41ejk-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="4gi46-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4gi46-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="4gi46-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Oh yes we are wise</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="19dp2-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="19dp2-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="19dp2-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">It’s the wisdom of the sane</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="597d2-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="597d2-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="597d2-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">And it’s time to make the choice</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="149t2-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="149t2-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="149t2-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">To put an end to shame.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="op66-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="op66-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="op66-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Now we have to, and must do everything</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="6b7qg-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6b7qg-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="6b7qg-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">To be strong (strong)</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="br65n-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="br65n-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="br65n-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">To be invincible (invincible)</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="bfpf-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bfpf-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="bfpf-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">To be women</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="9ed2g-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9ed2g-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="9ed2g-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="3sdpd-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3sdpd-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="3sdpd-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">FADE</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="52hr1-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="52hr1-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="52hr1-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">We are woman</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="97si5-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="97si5-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="97si5-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">We are invincible</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="9sft6-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9sft6-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span data-offset-key="9sft6-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">We are strong</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="acjv3" data-offset-key="fgjt-0-0" style="background-color: #ffff99; box-sizing: border-box; color: #495057; font-family: Signika, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fgjt-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: center;"><span data-offset-key="fgjt-0-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">We are woman</span></div></div>Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-17574094397351978942019-12-05T14:20:00.001-08:002019-12-05T14:36:33.954-08:00Crossing the Finish Line....I have never been so bad at writing! The sentences that flowed from my fingers on the last day of NaNoWriMo (a long day on a train with the goal of almost 10,000 words) were full of [put something in here later] and mespellngs and Forgetting Where The Story WAs set. But that's kind of the goal of NaNo. To put the editor's mind away for a while (98% impossible when you are, say, ME) and just get the story OUT.<br />
<br />
I had planned ahead, literally taking Plan Your Novel at the <a href="https://school.bethbarany.com/?affcode=849_el-ccba_" target="_blank">Barany School of Fiction</a>. So I knew when I got stuck what questions to ask my characters, what details to look for, and I had mapped out the plot so I knew what had to happen in each chapter. But I felt like I was abusing the muse... who always knows just what to day, but takes her time. That's okay, me and my muses get into it a lot.<br />
<br />
I got all the way through the last chapter with about 6,000 words to go and sat, stumped, staring out the window, until I thought to go through and look at the musical again. That juiced up another few scenes, and I got to 46,000 words. Then I remembered that the goal is to write 50,000 words in November and I realized how much writing I'd done AROUND the novel. I put my blog posts in, my wild hairs, my Christmas letter... so okay I cheated a little. So when I finished I felt a bit dirty and tired.<br />
<br />
But then something magical happened. I was sitting in the Observation Car next to a John Grisham book without a cover, watching the late afternoon scenery go by, when someone came and picked the book up and sat next to me. A reader! A real reader, who takes 20 hour train trips and reads books that are on their last legs and literally lets the signatures fall away, putting this paperback to rest. We started chatting, and when I told him what I'd done, and pulled The Souls of Her Feet out of my backpack, his face lit up and he said he'd HEARD of me, and he'd SEEN this book before! He told me exactly what shelf he'd seen it on (in his mother's retirement home), and complimented the cover. He burst out, "I just met a REAL WRITER!"<br />
<br />
*blush*<br />
<br />
<br />
Did you hear that? He called me a REAL WRITER! To further enhance my Velveteen Rabbit moment, the two women on my other side both snapped up copies of my book, funding my NaNoWriMo Victory T-Shirt! I read them all some fresh new writing inspired by the golden light on the leaves. We all hardly minded that train was stuck waiting while the tracks cleared for about four hours...!<br />
<br />
And when the technical writer who had "discovered" me confessed his longing to write more poetically. I whipped out my pen and drew a "Poetic License" on the back of a handout for my book.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B5emWBmhDbb/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Thanks to a FOUR HOUR DELAY, I made it across the #nanowrimo finish line tonight! Thanks for all the encouragement and support @bethbarany @chrisbaty @nanowrimo @kauaiwritersconference and especially @theuniverse for sending me last-minute readers/cheerleaders on the train! #spontaneous #literaryreadings #magichour #trainbow #inspiration #leftovers #legroom #workspace #railroadlife #legroom #crashposition #ladieslounge #inmyelement #myglamorouswritinglife #writingslog #hatedit #didit #shittyfirstdraft #marathon #nanowrimo2019 #inthepipeline</a></div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/generous_muse/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Kristen Caven</a> (@generous_muse) on <time datetime="2019-11-30T05:37:59+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Nov 29, 2019 at 9:37pm PST</time></div>
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<br />
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A few days later, I took my teachers, Ezra and Beth, to a NaNoWriMo wrap party in Berkeley. The host wore the celebratory horns, symbol of what I don't know, but pretty triumphant.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjYjM5bw4n5c_FPsWtJkyWTw4m4JsPRu0Zx0xFN-g4KlCGHtlAKpL7TOoj7kKrFzvk4QFqluRFeIjgfUxirREt-RuMpc-Y8W9At3HRvd4-PPEaCDjSDjhWGrdJBApGStCm5dts/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-12-05+at+2.34.18+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="487" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjYjM5bw4n5c_FPsWtJkyWTw4m4JsPRu0Zx0xFN-g4KlCGHtlAKpL7TOoj7kKrFzvk4QFqluRFeIjgfUxirREt-RuMpc-Y8W9At3HRvd4-PPEaCDjSDjhWGrdJBApGStCm5dts/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-12-05+at+2.34.18+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
It was rather awe-inspiring to be in a room full of people who had also been through what I had. I couldn't believe some had done this sprint for eight years in a row. I don't know if I ever will, again. We all brainstormed titles for each others' novels and ate pizza.<br />
<br />
When I got home I told Dave, "thats it, I'm done, I'm all out of words."<br />
<br />
Until it was time to post another blog, at least!Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-16891903653484130162018-06-02T16:25:00.000-07:002018-06-02T16:25:11.009-07:00Brains and Bones<br />
Three years ago last February I planned a trip to Italy with my friend Jenny. Our trip theme was <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/p/what-happened.html"><em>Ten Days, Ten Pounds,</em></a> and I started a blog about it. But she couldn't go because she had to have brain surgery instead.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://krs10bc.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/img_6251-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://krs10bc.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/img_6251-2.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NOT a hip fracture... technically.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I am turning that blog into a book, reliving the drama and the trauma... and just as I was just putting the finishing touches on it, I got a call from my mom, crying out in pain with what turned out to be a broken leg. Less than a month before we leave for Italy to celebrate her 80<sup>th</sup> birthday!<br />
<br />
Clearly, I'm cursed. Do NOT plan a trip to Italy with me! I felt the double whammy of superstition on top of bad luck, and as I sat with her in the hospital, talked to her doctors, and set about the task of "travel repair," I tried and tried in the back of my mind to convince myself mom’s accident had nothing to do with me, and Italy is <em>not</em> actually out to get me and my loved ones.<br />
<br />
But here’s the thing: In <em>The Vesuvian Affair</em>, the supernatural romance I wrote that was inspired by my trip, something happens to the traveling companion of the main character: <em>she breaks her leg</em>!<br />
<br />
So I’m creeped out and wondering: <em>am I a good writer, or what?</em><br />
<em><br /></em>
The metaphysician in me, the one who knows <em>The Secret</em> and the dark side of <em>The Secret</em>, (and <em>The Twilight Zone</em> of course) wonders: <em>am I inventing reality somehow, or are these just eerie coincidences?</em> Life is so full of eerie coincidences, isn’t it? I got in touch with a certain flow of big magic on that trip I took alone, aware of how we weave the universe with our thoughts and feelings, a synchronicity that comes more clearly into focus during travel and times of distress.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="cover2" class=" wp-image-5238 alignright" height="265" src="https://krs10bc.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/cover2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="171" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><i>Art imitates life imitates art<br /></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And here, while planning this trip to Italy in the past months, I've also been editing editing editing a book that involves many trips to a hospital, and the anxiety of seeing a loved one in danger. I have poured this story into so many publishing formats, and wrestled to place these photographs so many times that I can’t help but wonder: <em>is my obsession on this story manifesting itself somehow?</em><br />
<em><br /></em>
I mean, I just wrote <a href="http://kristencaven.com/books/the-bullying-antidote/">a book on bullying</a>, and now <a href="https://www.forbes.com/pictures/flji45elmm/donald-trumps-10-most-of/">we're all victims.</a><br />
<br />
It’s magical thinking, I know! That we can make things happen with our thoughts. But there is something to the way thoughts manifest. I have watched the world change, in the past few decades, from a world in which children see gun violence in clearer and clearer detail through movies and video games, into a world where children use guns in real life. All the time. Even I, who used to flinch at the sound of gunshots on TV, now feel like blood and guts are normal to see splattered all over prime time drama.<br />
<br />
But how can we make art exploring evil without calling forth evil?<br />
<br />
Clearly, I'm over thinking this. I'm a bit stressed out at the moment.<br />
<br />
But just in case it <em>is</em> true that the universe is <em>that</em> responsive to our thoughts, my next book after this is definitely going to be about something <em>awesome</em> happening in the world.<br />
<br />
Okay enough. I can't go thinking it's all about <em>me</em> when there's someone I love who needs help learning to walk again. Italy's magic is powerful, and so many people have consoled me, reminded me, over the past few weeks, that "life is just like that," and "things like this happen more often than you think."<br />
<br />
Sophia Loren said, <em>“Se non hai mai pianto, i tuoi occhi non possono essere belli.”</em> If you haven’t cried, your eyes can’t be beautiful. So I must be getting more and more beautiful every day!<br />
<hr />
<h3>
Upcoming Readings:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Saturday, June 16, Laurel Bookstore - <strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/242007289683966/">CWC Author Book Launch</a></strong> featuring <em>The Vesuvian Affair</em></li>
<li>Saturday, July 7, Villa Il Palmerino, Florence - <em><strong>Saturation</strong> </em>featuring <em>Ten Days, Ten Pounds</em></li>
</ul>
<br />
Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-73883091657717068262018-04-05T18:28:00.000-07:002018-05-08T17:20:06.548-07:00Why did John Malkovich Cross the Road?I am actually asking.<br />
<br />
I saw him enter the crosswalk in front of me on Sunday. I said, "Hello John Malkovich" and waved and smiled. He looked up, waved and smiled. Went on his way.<br />
<br />
And I thought, wow—<br />
<h3>
I wonder what's going through <a href="https://www.filmcomment.com/article/head-wide-open-being-john-malkovich/" target="_blank">his head</a> right now?</h3>
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<a href="http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-john-malkovich-and-nicoletta-peyran-john-malkovich-and-wife-nicoletta-161168780.html" target="_blank">He looked like this</a>. But with a smile.Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com0N Fairfax Ave & Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046, USA34.0838172 -118.361378899999988.5617826999999984 -159.66997289999998 59.6058517 -77.052784899999978tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-82777405838327439112017-03-30T15:53:00.000-07:002017-03-30T15:53:03.355-07:00Our New Electron Farm<h3>
• <a href="https://share.solarcity.com/ranchodeluxe">share.solarcity.com/ranchodeluxe</a> • </h3>
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I have been aching to go solar since we bought our charming old Victorian two decades ago. We closed on our purchase on Earth Day—(what better way to celebrate the earth than owning a piece of it?)—and started right in on the process of bringing it into the 21st century.<br />
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I searched for and found a solar energy company to work with. They were excited: we have THE PERFECT roof for solar... south-facing, tons of sun, big enough etc. We were excited: we could finance the loan for the exact price of our monthly electricity bill. But it was not to happen; the roof was TOO OLD! </div>
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This house, built in 1895, has had 5 roofs. And they are all on top of each other. The bolts that hold the panels on could not hold it securely through the thickness of the asphalt layers. </div>
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So we sat around and waited until the roof got too old. It was a daunting process. We had some roof inspectors tell us it could cost $40,000 because of all the angles and gables, not to mention lack of access for demolition. We had others tell us the roof would be good for another 15-30 years. Meanwhile electric cars hit the market...and we could not access the dream. </div>
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On a lark I started talking to a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/solarcity/?hc_location=ufi">SolarCity</a> guy at a Home Depot a few years back. When I explained our sad situation, he said "let us take a look." Their program looked great...they guarantee the roof and will do maintenance on it 4-ever. We went through all the steps again, only for them to tell us the pitch of the roof was 1° steeper than they could handle. Bahhh. </div>
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But one night <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sungevity/?hc_location=ufi">Sungevity</a> cold-called my husband and said "41°? No problem!" They also had the brilliant idea of a partial re-roof. <i>Brilliant</i>! We could just replace the section of the roof under the solar panels! (Why hadn't we thought of that before?) But Sungevity works as a broker for local contractors, and we lost momentum on the part where we needed to hire an engineer ourselves. (Or shall I say, <i>our$elve$.</i>)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSNCh5VWe13_0IJ1Pl_jOcC2yzz0gdtP1dd95ExNSB-4uUYUt6ENrQsD-jG0_taFYKpaalP3QXpoWkJQMVqZN9n426LN8wmBsjCLEXEV5jF0Vao8_RfxLD6vmn7foqiwcxWAxT/s1600/IMG_1677.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSNCh5VWe13_0IJ1Pl_jOcC2yzz0gdtP1dd95ExNSB-4uUYUt6ENrQsD-jG0_taFYKpaalP3QXpoWkJQMVqZN9n426LN8wmBsjCLEXEV5jF0Vao8_RfxLD6vmn7foqiwcxWAxT/s400/IMG_1677.JPG" /></a></div>
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Then one day this wonderful person showed up on our doorstep, talking a mile a minute and putting us at ease, and we came to realize he was the Solar City FIXER. Rob said, "Well, if they can do pitched roofs back East, we can figure out how to do them here!" Solar City used their own contractors for the partial re-roof, AND they paid for half of it! Rob saw us through every twist and turn, from the financing through the dozens of inspections to the roof removal and rebuild to the installation. The demolition was no problem at all. Their staff was strong, professional, and careful. </div>
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We couldn't turn on the system for three months... there were issues with some old wiring and permits not being closed. But Rob and the team kept at it, working with PG&E and city inspectors until all obstacles were removed.</div>
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After 19 years, three companies, and months and months of red tape... WE FLIPPED THE SWITCH! Thank you Rob! Thank you Solar City!<br />
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Scenes from Solar-izing:</h2>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3qmB6QBt-p1788_P8tGA3sEdpm971uOLiXdtQmh4xZjksYNK06PgaVw1b9RqhAhBK5C_Bfso2AZ6K5tZuBYARaHzEASKkZsBgeJ-kl6WVxqAT2rXXFv-NICirWWOv9cJa12Lw/s1600/roof+off.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3qmB6QBt-p1788_P8tGA3sEdpm971uOLiXdtQmh4xZjksYNK06PgaVw1b9RqhAhBK5C_Bfso2AZ6K5tZuBYARaHzEASKkZsBgeJ-kl6WVxqAT2rXXFv-NICirWWOv9cJa12Lw/s400/roof+off.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Having your roof scraped off feels kind of apocalyptic. But in a cathartic way.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmGTr9BXmC-hgBYN4VXmEuPkg6OSSPiIWnL8tgxTNdVJWeynzGXOV7JhfGE1YBdbvBPjdnqU6NaUSSKEbNdr5mdaVfMIogTxMLtLLU7JTeGqY28IqIoV0dEiCxWijU0oTiX5ge/s1600/roof+bundles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmGTr9BXmC-hgBYN4VXmEuPkg6OSSPiIWnL8tgxTNdVJWeynzGXOV7JhfGE1YBdbvBPjdnqU6NaUSSKEbNdr5mdaVfMIogTxMLtLLU7JTeGqY28IqIoV0dEiCxWijU0oTiX5ge/s400/roof+bundles.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They carried the old roof away a cubic yard at a time, leaving no mess.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Setting up the new NEST smart thermostat</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg57zjZGOhGp6kvbeX5E5boQpnwZqUGRoJoTxhp0O1NqT_2sWzQ8GQca22C8XPBIvW3Az3g6MbA-cVlJYtfJ9wMTGBev3R1pqz8WWb5dclWlEpZ-3BWZ75MGA9HJPiGce5GOymo/s1600/IMG_0627.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg57zjZGOhGp6kvbeX5E5boQpnwZqUGRoJoTxhp0O1NqT_2sWzQ8GQca22C8XPBIvW3Az3g6MbA-cVlJYtfJ9wMTGBev3R1pqz8WWb5dclWlEpZ-3BWZ75MGA9HJPiGce5GOymo/s400/IMG_0627.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Santa's elves bringing us some shiny new SOLAR PANELS for Christmas!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKarsDWYBtGdoU3FlB_NrdPDTNo-uM5zhLgQ6SLSX_41s2SXeJON5c2-612JuP9p4uoEEoXezlAIr8YuZYJ3nh8pvW8mXNRo6OhE2cTgxDpCJyFeugmBSQvEUKu8y2Qk5gMURA/s1600/IMG_0639.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKarsDWYBtGdoU3FlB_NrdPDTNo-uM5zhLgQ6SLSX_41s2SXeJON5c2-612JuP9p4uoEEoXezlAIr8YuZYJ3nh8pvW8mXNRo6OhE2cTgxDpCJyFeugmBSQvEUKu8y2Qk5gMURA/s640/IMG_0639.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What a beautiful scene! Thank you Solar City!</td></tr>
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We are now eager "Solar City Ambassadors!!" With this referral you'll get your first month of electricity for FREE: <a href="https://share.solarcity.com/ranchodeluxe">share.solarcity.com/ranchodeluxe</a>.</h3>
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Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-24481457426455480162016-11-09T20:14:00.001-08:002017-01-15T20:27:28.115-08:00I Am Woman, Hear Me...Cry?<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<img alt="hillary-clinton-pantsuit-rainbow" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4154" data-mce-src="https://krs10bc.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/hillary-clinton-pantsuit-rainbow.png?w=680" data-wpmedia-src="https://krs10bc.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/hillary-clinton-pantsuit-rainbow.png" height="315" src="https://krs10bc.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/hillary-clinton-pantsuit-rainbow.png?w=680" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%;" width="851" /></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
In preparation for Hillary Clinton's landslide win on election day, I <a data-mce-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpHhM_WFuXo" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpHhM_WFuXo" style="color: #00aadc;">choreographed</a><strong> "<a data-mce-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu4xpDuf84A" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu4xpDuf84A" style="color: #00aadc;">I Am Woman</a>"</strong> by Helen Reddy for my Zumba class. In searching for this feminist anthem on iTunes, I flashed back to my first rock concert (with my divorced-and-discovering-her-power mom), and then stumbled on <a data-mce-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In-fvpubTrg" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In-fvpubTrg" style="color: #00aadc;">this generation's version</a>.</div>
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When you compare the lyrics to Jordin Sparks' (yes, highly dance-able) "<a data-mce-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu4xpDuf84A" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu4xpDuf84A" style="color: #00aadc;">empowering female anthem</a>" from 2011 to those from the song that hit #1 on the Billboard pop charts in 1972, it's easy to see how today's women could have voted for an unapologetic misogynist.</div>
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<img alt="97d4fec718348d76f1ba5e05b10b49e8" class=" size-medium wp-image-4151 alignleft" data-mce-src="https://krs10bc.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/97d4fec718348d76f1ba5e05b10b49e8.jpg?w=222" height="300" src="https://krs10bc.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/97d4fec718348d76f1ba5e05b10b49e8.jpg?w=222" style="float: left; height: auto; margin: 16px 16px 16px 0px; max-width: 100%;" width="222" />Her <a data-mce-href="http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jordinsparks/iamwoman.html" href="http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jordinsparks/iamwoman.html" style="color: #00aadc;">lyrics</a>, <em>It ain't easy walkin' in stilettos/But somebody gotta do it; It's so rigorous</em><br />
<em>Doing what I do / Always on point / Always on cue; Don't need to talk / I speak with actions / I've perfected the laws of attraction / I'm the whole package plus satisfaction</em>, bespeak the traps of perfection that today's young women find themselves in, always under someone's gaze, someone's judgment, with no deep self-connection. Trump's women—wives, daughters, hangers-on—are to a one shaped like Barbie, with hair-commercial locks, dresses over smooth bellies and teetering high heels. You get the feeling they'd better look like that or <em>they're fired</em>.</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/helenreddy/iamwoman.html" href="http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/helenreddy/iamwoman.html" style="color: #00aadc;"><img alt="helen-reddy-jan-1978-home-2" class=" size-medium wp-image-4153 alignright" data-mce-src="https://krs10bc.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/helen-reddy-jan-1978-home-2.jpg?w=211" height="300" src="https://krs10bc.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/helen-reddy-jan-1978-home-2.jpg?w=211" style="border: 0px; float: right; height: auto; margin: 16px 0px 16px 16px; max-width: 100%;" width="211" />Reddy's lyrics</a> "from the olden days" spoke of connection ("standing toe-to-toe") with other women, of wisdom, pain, and strength, and the incredible, generous heart of mothers and lovers, ready to "<em>spread my loving arms across the land</em>." Also, it politely acknowledged the impossible struggle women have with politics and with men, "<em>With a long, long way to go/Until I make my brother understand.</em>" It is women seeing women from the inside.</div>
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Today, many women are crying. Our hardworking but unfuckable heroine was smeared by <a data-mce-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OauLuWXD_RI" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OauLuWXD_RI">lying Russian trolls </a>and a candidate who made bullying cool (for some), tapping into the vast community of voters who are suspicious of women (and anyone different from themselves).<br />
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There will be another cry, coming very soon. And it will not be one of sadness. It will be a roar. </div>
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<img alt="ln13sb" class=" size-full wp-image-4137 aligncenter" data-mce-src="https://krs10bc.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/ln13sb.jpg" height="370" src="https://krs10bc.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/ln13sb.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 100%;" width="512" /></div>
Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-66297481327572680432016-08-11T15:30:00.003-07:002016-08-11T21:45:44.064-07:00Muse Madness!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I am usually crazy confident about titling my works, but coming up with a title for my winning work in the 2016 Lake Merritt Flash Mob Play Festival was harder than writing the play itself!<br />
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The original title was "Disgruntled Muse." I didn't want an adjective-Muse title, since I just re-named my <a href="http://kristencaven.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=fcca8c0a013db0c0986178197&id=99110cb3f6" target="_blank">newsletter (muse-letter?) "Generous Muse."</a> And I have worked hard to have a positive relationship with my muses... want to keep it that way!<br />
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I came up with over 50 potential titles, based on the contents and theme of the play... with help from a rhyming dictionary and thesaurus, of course!<br />
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<ol>
<li>A Goose Waits in Oakland</li>
<li>A Kick From a Muse</li>
<li>A Muse and a Goose</li>
<li>A Muse Crosses the Street</li>
<li>A Muse Grows in Oakland</li>
<li>A Plague of Muses</li>
<li>A Push from the Muse</li>
<li>Abused by the Muse</li>
<li>Bossy Muse Blues</li>
<li>Can't Stop the Muses</li>
<li>Choose the Muse</li>
<li>Choosing the Muse</li>
<li>Confused by the Muse</li>
<li>Control your muses</li>
<li>Cuddle the Muse</li>
<li>Dances with Muses</li>
<li>Demands of the Muse</li>
<li>Distressing the Muse</li>
<li>Don't Mess With the Muse</li>
<li>Embracing the Muse</li>
<li>Goose from a Muse</li>
<li>Goosed by the Muse</li>
<li>Juice of the Muse</li>
<li>Kill my muses</li>
<li>Mad at the Muse</li>
<li>Make Way for Muses!</li>
<li>Muse Calling</li>
<li>Muse Madness</li>
<li>Muse Sings the Blues</li>
<li>Muse Trouble</li>
<li>Muse-a-palooza</li>
<li>Muse, Don’t Abuse</li>
<li>Museday Afternoon</li>
<li>Muses Made Me Do It</li>
<li>Not A-mused.</li>
<li>Perfectionist Muse</li>
<li>Persnickety Muse</li>
<li>Plagued by Muses</li>
<li>Provoking the Muses</li>
<li>Refusing the Muse</li>
<li>Seduced by the Muse</li>
<li>Seize the Muse</li>
<li>Shaking the Muse</li>
<li>Sing with the Muse</li>
<li>Slave to the Muse</li>
<li>The Madness of the Muse</li>
<li>The Muse Moves </li>
<li>The Trouble With Muses</li>
<li>Tighten the Muse</li>
<li>Turn of the Muse</li>
<li>View from the Muse</li>
<li>Voice of the Muse</li>
<li>Wealth of the Muse</li>
</ol>
Sifting out the negative ones (wanting a more neutral tone for the title), I selected the top six that I thought were memorable, evocative (of a feeling or another cultural reference), and carried the right sort of exciting energy:</div>
<ul>
<li>Be Mused</li>
<li>Bossy Muse Blues</li>
<li>Choose the Muse</li>
<li>Muse Madness</li>
<li>Museday Afternoon</li>
<li>The Trouble with Muses</li>
</ul>
And then I set about pestering friends and family. I asked a few dozen writers and other creatives to vote for their favorites. Of course, most of them were <a href="http://lyricabella.com/" target="_blank">much more clever than me</a>, suggesting even more truly wonderful ideas, such as:</div>
<ul>
<li>If you Give a Muse a Muffin </li>
<li>Win Some, Muse Some</li>
<li>Muse En Scéne</li>
<li>Blue Suede Muse</li>
<li>The M-Spot</li>
<li>Afternoon with the Muse</li>
<li>BeMuse</li>
<li>Beggars can't be Musers (however, in my play, they can...)</li>
<li>Dark Side of the Muse (my personal fave)</li>
</ul>
Ultimately, the poll results were clear. <b>Be Mused</b> (which my <a href="http://entropicalparadise.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">aMUSEing husband</a> shouted out a week before I thought of it), won definitively. An equal number of votes were split between The Trouble with Muses and Bossy Muse Blues, with a few clear votes for Muse Madness.
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<h3>
<i>"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore."</i> —Paul Simon, <i>Graceland</i></h3>
</blockquote>
<br />Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com1Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA, USA37.8012389 -122.2582989999999737.7886929 -122.27846899999996 37.8137849 -122.23812899999997tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-44712348629121987972016-04-01T15:28:00.000-07:002016-04-01T15:28:54.253-07:00Fool's ErrandYou fooled me once<br />
Thinking we could fool around;<br />
‘Cause you don’t suffer fools<br />
And I’m nobody’s fool.<br />
<br />
But you rushed in<br />
To act the fool<br />
To part with money<br />
To fool away your life<br />
With me.<br />
<br />
I took you for a fool<br />
Made a fool of myself<br />
Played the fool<br />
For you.<br />
With you.<br />
<br />
You could've fooled me<br />
But you weren’t fooling.<br />
You were no fool.<br />
You stepped off that cliff<br />
And caught me before I fell.<br />
<br />
So tee-hee, I declare:<br />
<br />
Fooling around<br />
With you<br />
Is a certain kind<br />
Of paradise.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Happy Today.<br />
<br />
KBC to DCC<br />
4/1/16<br />
<br />
(Originally hack-posted to <a href="http://entropicalparadise.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Entropical Paradise</a>...)Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-39753940472202847212016-02-07T12:07:00.000-08:002016-02-07T12:07:36.985-08:00A Nifty Superbowl Craft!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg45ujnC63cmAmDLwO59ULjqks-V-P7RrXUIs-InpD7GgbQZFHV2TA0EMVsIH8dPK1Xiyfw3ze8JgyobeodskPQRZtpkFc798gLdeQQtk0i2GhgvNBkvquCmw5PucRRHOJH8mq/s1600/fiveheads.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg45ujnC63cmAmDLwO59ULjqks-V-P7RrXUIs-InpD7GgbQZFHV2TA0EMVsIH8dPK1Xiyfw3ze8JgyobeodskPQRZtpkFc798gLdeQQtk0i2GhgvNBkvquCmw5PucRRHOJH8mq/s200/fiveheads.png" width="181" /></a></div>
We try to keep our football parties fun for everyone... and now we're sharing our favorite Superbowl craft for you to share with your guests!<br />
<br />
As seen on <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Peyton-Manning-Forehead-Mask/">Instructables</a> & <a href="https://medium.com/@kristencaven/peyton-manning-s-fivehead-935d33c2324a#.tyxspntct">Medium</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5MQV-VhHPsj8hsdCoUGQBo4zlYF_3VQ-zAyMy1rt9oD8G6sUnUy_Y4-s9LVu1ciK0pe7VhJRAhVTN9DSsWQF_X9q9Z_jI958-GQkZxa39q0WcgtIQ3AXi031QAbYlU4BOAubS/s1600/fivehead+template.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5MQV-VhHPsj8hsdCoUGQBo4zlYF_3VQ-zAyMy1rt9oD8G6sUnUy_Y4-s9LVu1ciK0pe7VhJRAhVTN9DSsWQF_X9q9Z_jI958-GQkZxa39q0WcgtIQ3AXi031QAbYlU4BOAubS/s400/fivehead+template.jpg" width="305" /></a></div>
<br />
Download the template <a href="http://www.instructables.com/files/orig/FD7/PPR8/IK7C0XA1/FD7PPR8IK7C0XA1.pdf">here</a>.Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-75721529793520182012015-12-30T18:20:00.003-08:002016-01-05T07:40:40.091-08:00How to make Pornocello™<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Q28PTUPSZJwuh4UlK4Z7VBNSEyssJVzOWSra3mt1MGtKaXQOqGBv1kGgArW6sUNaGPSU6t3yOL2LHZB10pIgvDmsu8Tl0eTN2EZpQqWnsQlAetPfzhub7UrcBkvxNFiiX7Iy/s1600/2015-08-02+15.29.08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Q28PTUPSZJwuh4UlK4Z7VBNSEyssJVzOWSra3mt1MGtKaXQOqGBv1kGgArW6sUNaGPSU6t3yOL2LHZB10pIgvDmsu8Tl0eTN2EZpQqWnsQlAetPfzhub7UrcBkvxNFiiX7Iy/s400/2015-08-02+15.29.08.jpg" width="225" /></a>This is a highly toxic and not-good-for you cocktail invented <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/03/in-thin-air.html">somewhere over Greenland</a> by punch-drunk strangers on a plane.<br />
<br />
(It is much worse than Limoncello, but less creepy than actual porn.)<br />
<ol>
<li>Start with a package of Lemon Candy. </li>
<li>Put it in a jar. </li>
<li>Cover it with "Really Good Vodka." (Whatever's cheap.)</li>
<li>Shake it every few days.</li>
<li>When the candy has dissolved as much as it will, pour off the sticky yellow liquid into a bottle.</li>
<li>(The bottle should probably be clean.)</li>
<li>Keep it in the freezer.</li>
<li>After dinner, unzip your pants.</li>
<li>Drink straight from the bottle.</li>
</ol>
Actually, the resulting sticky sweet alcoholic syrup tastes pretty good over ice cream, or mixed in a cocktail. And you can make it with any kind of candy (Jolly Rancher Vodka is a <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Jolly-Rancher-Vodka">Thing</a>) ... but if it's lemon, call it by the proper Italo-American adult beverage name: <i>Pornocello!</i><br />
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Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-17764536206895748922015-11-30T20:59:00.000-08:002015-12-31T10:31:28.039-08:00Every Bathroom Tells a StoryI'm thankful for this:<br />
<br />
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<br />
Once, many years ago, I got a phone call from a friend in Florida, asking what size toilet we had. I was wondering whether to be offended, but a few weeks later a toilet seat that looked like a piece of art showed up. It was translucent, with shells and seahorses and coral embedded in the most beautiful blue liquid acrylic. Our toilet became a must-see. (Sorry, no photos... I've had data loss...)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnWFEHr445cHd8sCiJ2CzX1z2Vk2Ra5poA3TGx6mpS1sKFq3AqMRRjPiJmjKkV4DpE7RLbJTF-YTWpLk3mN_hnzgbACa-qd8eGnr-_nav_AdBXz-KadGo9d6nuUZNp5likEhhj/s1600/2015-08-01+15.54.57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnWFEHr445cHd8sCiJ2CzX1z2Vk2Ra5poA3TGx6mpS1sKFq3AqMRRjPiJmjKkV4DpE7RLbJTF-YTWpLk3mN_hnzgbACa-qd8eGnr-_nav_AdBXz-KadGo9d6nuUZNp5likEhhj/s400/2015-08-01+15.54.57.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="225" /></a>Somewhere around that time I was visiting a friend who had the most amazing, iconic 1970s sink in his bathroom. I joked: "Can I have it?" An incredibly sweet Indian man, Hussein said yes. Twelve years later, we ran into his family at the food court. "I still have your sink," he said. We had been talking about a bathroom remodel since we moved in to this house 18 years ago. We bought him a replacement sink, and one day this beauty showed up on our doorstep.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7z4XBxUCaNwTaijBLfr0TEyPOVh_nTk6sBVLbTLBPjfpC-tA_4JZ0fAsRGS33xpj2yKOF1ICRZ13Fly5xCxvnTsDlHktL0LYX-AHKy2FwZ4rldAb5c54VfJJ9SemmLb7oFu0i/s1600/sink+detail.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7z4XBxUCaNwTaijBLfr0TEyPOVh_nTk6sBVLbTLBPjfpC-tA_4JZ0fAsRGS33xpj2yKOF1ICRZ13Fly5xCxvnTsDlHktL0LYX-AHKy2FwZ4rldAb5c54VfJJ9SemmLb7oFu0i/s320/sink+detail.png" width="193" /></a>It's a true treasure, carved straight from of a bar of Irish Spring. Actually, there is a label still stuck on it, under the sink, that reads "Monolav" and a date, 2/72. There is a thread of gold sand that runs through the marbling, that looks magical in the right light.<br />
<br />
By now the blue toilet seat, unfortunately, was long gone... the hinges had rusted through, and it had even lived through an incarnation as a Dan Caven illuminated art piece. Pictures of that are, sadly, gone, but imagine this gorgeous toilet seat hanging on the wall against a translucent white sheet of glass, glowing with light. Lift up the toilet seat and you will find a ten-inch silver ball hanging inside, made from the thousands of rubber bands brought home to me daily each time my husband thought of me, a memento of the four years he worked in a book warehouse.<br />
<br />
Sadly, this beautiful artwork leapt off the wall in an earthquake. And the toilet seat you see in this picture is but a memento of the one that would match the sink. But it still looks great! I also love the sandy floor and the brushed nickel fixtures and the plants.<br />
<br />
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I went shopping for the perfect color for the walls, and I found it. It was called "Tsunami," which is a worrisome name for a paint you put in the bathroom, but gravity intervened and there was a small tsunami of blue paint in the Home Depot parking lot. In the end, I painted a dark shade of blue called "Deep Breath" over a beautiful teal called "Carribean Currents."<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk9boALusNXFzj1SCxte4MsGRxmBzfXQ9w98e8FUWJe39Ik2_vUjyZlrNiLxVNM82zVNkk-DKgm_vKbSMLCySaI-9DOXNJOMxbiKtNSH_77ekZmiLL_ooNeFQV5YbIfhldN0Ix/s1600/2015-12-31+10.25.29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk9boALusNXFzj1SCxte4MsGRxmBzfXQ9w98e8FUWJe39Ik2_vUjyZlrNiLxVNM82zVNkk-DKgm_vKbSMLCySaI-9DOXNJOMxbiKtNSH_77ekZmiLL_ooNeFQV5YbIfhldN0Ix/s320/2015-12-31+10.25.29.jpg" width="320" /></a>Now every trip to the loo is like a tropical vacation.<br />
<br />Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-83438597427521674132015-11-04T20:33:00.002-08:002015-11-04T20:33:38.870-08:00Catch-up Cobbler 2015<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiETACpgbkY1qcXawSNJbxnzvw1eyUdwYU0ss2Mb3cyCr1tA8wejsjpixN6MoOP1X4C2BadHp2d-MZdY-zXEQZQBHxww9sPmEHVMtp0naCgHENBrrbXV3TkoQ04sQSacNH7-upG/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-11-04+at+8.26.59+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiETACpgbkY1qcXawSNJbxnzvw1eyUdwYU0ss2Mb3cyCr1tA8wejsjpixN6MoOP1X4C2BadHp2d-MZdY-zXEQZQBHxww9sPmEHVMtp0naCgHENBrrbXV3TkoQ04sQSacNH7-upG/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-11-04+at+8.26.59+PM.png" width="320" /></a>It's been 18 months since my last CobBLer... for those of you just tuning in, here's the summary:<br />
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">
<ul style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;">
<li>I was <a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?KristenCaven/204d97a381/3015b43929/17d3d531ef">interviewed by clowns</a>.</li>
<li>I've been presenting on and doing<a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?KristenCaven/204d97a381/3015b43929/9effee7c22">interviews</a> about<br /><a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?KristenCaven/204d97a381/3015b43929/38c52b379a/ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=1616494174&linkCode=xm2&tag=thelittlepig"><em>The Bullying Antidote</em></a>.</li>
<li>I was <a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?KristenCaven/204d97a381/3015b43929/1a651d8a2b">PTSA president</a> during <span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Oakland Tech's</span>centennial year... which meant lots of events and (my favorite thing) costumes! (Then my son graduated...and went to <em>college</em>!)</li>
<li>I wrote lyrics to Franz Liszt's amazing <a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?KristenCaven/204d97a381/3015b43929/fd8dcb279c"><em>Invocation</em></a>.</li>
<li>I broke the bounds of gravity and went to<a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?KristenCaven/204d97a381/3015b43929/91fd017240">Italy</a>!</li>
<li>Cranked out dozens of <a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?KristenCaven/204d97a381/3015b43929/6e4103c912"><em>Life in the Fast Brain</em></a> blogs at <a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?KristenCaven/204d97a381/3015b43929/1a6719599c">ADDitude Magazine</a>.</li>
<li>Wrote another few installments of <em><a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?KristenCaven/204d97a381/3015b43929/1e9145e4d8">Dance Like a DecoBelle</a>.</em></li>
<li><a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?KristenCaven/204d97a381/3015b43929/94eacda430">Child-Friendly Initiative</a> has come back to life!</li>
<li><a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?KristenCaven/204d97a381/3015b43929/58a132b77d"><em>The Souls of Her Feet</em></a> is finally out in paperback.</li>
<li>I'm publishing a book via <a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?KristenCaven/204d97a381/3015b43929/45839bc4cc">Uplift Press</a> <span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">about ALS.</span></li>
<li>I'm co-producing a reading series called <a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?KristenCaven/204d97a381/3015b43929/a63bb40732">Heart of the Muse</a>, AND...</li>
<li>I am still working on music for <a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?KristenCaven/204d97a381/3015b43929/052110c65b">the musical</a>...(journey of 1,000,000 steps!)</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixEJyozEEuWB5MjytHuRXWN4-Uw1fR8AF9cv5FKwW6ZPTnptUcAXm2F4aorvVgx2RIvd2keoEXK0PXL7TZPav6xXdQVufYjYFUgtSUAb31kv2uSBoxkzqSmG2Ko221Ospck1El/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-11-04+at+8.27.14+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixEJyozEEuWB5MjytHuRXWN4-Uw1fR8AF9cv5FKwW6ZPTnptUcAXm2F4aorvVgx2RIvd2keoEXK0PXL7TZPav6xXdQVufYjYFUgtSUAb31kv2uSBoxkzqSmG2Ko221Ospck1El/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-11-04+at+8.27.14+PM.png" width="320" /></a><br />
<a href="http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/154317/204d97a381/308061/3015b43929/">Read more here...</a><br />
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<br />Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-27338038092892064122015-09-16T12:49:00.001-07:002015-09-16T12:49:51.958-07:00A Peek at: A Parliament of Poets<i>I very nearly judged this book by the cover... but I'm glad I didn't!</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkFGt9tce5LiYNyBF12eLamrgRusgOc6Zg0NeubBfx5IR0Q9TocnsO6Pmv819SZ6nFBJSZJUsOZ94JNSdSHqXGeq0nVO8pG_TPnRxPaCgzFpL3-wSKYVxZcIhlE1k8HhSXWmfX/s1600/51ENUnz%252B7-L._SX346_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkFGt9tce5LiYNyBF12eLamrgRusgOc6Zg0NeubBfx5IR0Q9TocnsO6Pmv819SZ6nFBJSZJUsOZ94JNSdSHqXGeq0nVO8pG_TPnRxPaCgzFpL3-wSKYVxZcIhlE1k8HhSXWmfX/s320/51ENUnz%252B7-L._SX346_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
It is possible you are already well-read and know the names of history’s great poets from every continent.<br />
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Homer, Virgil, Spenser, Milton, Austen, Keats, Wordsworth, Melville, Robert Burns and Tagore; Rumi, Attar and Havez; Du Fu and Li Po, Basho and Sagyo; Job, from Africa; shamans from Indonesia and Australia; Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Jane Austen.<br />
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Do these names make your head spin? Do they thrill you to the core?<br />
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If so, you will greet them with delight on page after page, and meet new ones you’ve never heard of. All of these great minds appear in this book, their names like the tips of icebergs referring to bodies of work, times in history, and the place where their stories unfold. Imagine these folks in a room together! Such a room could only be as big and imaginary and inspiring as the moon itself. This is where the narrator, a contemporary poet who has come through the requisite sufferings that prepare a soul for such a quest, comes to find help in writing a poem for his generation, lost in the moment, lost in materialsim, lost in violence. He flies to each continent and culture, each with its own era and personality, guided by these poets to meet the gods themselves, the gods that the poets have pointed us to since forever. The gods and/or God.<br />
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As a discipline, to a class or a family, or in your quiet moments alone, read this book out loud. It’s written in the prose of Homer, Virgil, Dante, Milton (Walt Whitman and Melville take him to task for it), with a well-crafted rhythm for speaking, more commas than periods. If you really want to have an ancientmodern experience, you could memorize it and tell your kids and grandkids, starting the oral tradition once again in an age when machines do all the remembering for us. It would be worth it to do so; they would listen to you, because this book is a rollicking story, a grand adventure, un-putdownable.<br />
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"Imagine the nerves of a no-name aspirant he brings his question to the assembled great ones: How can poetry help humanity in these modern times? Each historic figure once lived in their own modernity, and at first it seems they cannot grasp the great evils enfolding the world today. But the persona’s tour to the seven continents through fluid time and space shows us it has always been the poet’s job to go through darkness—even his own death—to bring the light."<br />
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Do not judge this book by the amateur cover; it deserves design as masterful as the verse inside. And do not bother with the distracting nod-to-Homer summaries that preface of each chapter.; lose yourself, instead, in the soaring story. Do not be tempted to hurtle through this book, which is easy to do; but take your time (or your lifetime) to understand the people and works and places it brings to your mind. A proper reading of this should earn you not only a Ph.D. in History, Literature, or for heaven’s sake, Poetry, but you will be a sage, a superior being, ready to join your voice with the narrator’s in saving humanity.<br />
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Like the United Nations or other uplifting councils, the writer organizes characters both real and imaginary, from every continent. (Cervantes, Quixote, and Rocinante , for example, appear fluidly.) Book I makes your head spin as Apollo and the Muses convoke the masses of minds. In Book II, Black Elk guides you to the Lascaux caves. In Book III, an aboriginal poet and Robert Hayden fly with Queen Mab and the birds of imagination, and meet Merlin. Tagore takes us, in Book IV, to watch the gods battle in India. Hanuman takes us to Angkor Wat for visions of infinity in Book V, then the Chinese Monkey King unfolds the mysteries of the Mogao Caves and we meet the sages of the Orient in Book VI. All history is leveled in Glaysher’s postmodern gaze, who lets us travel with Job in Book VII to where Yaweh emerged from bloody times. Dante, in Book VIII, takes us to Chartres and flies with the Valkyries and gods to meet Tolstoy, and in Book IX, Hadji Murad flies us to meet Rumi and all the birds of nature en route to mystic sites in Asia. Walt Whitman flies us to South America where Octavio Paz becomes a jaguar and the narrator is beheaded by Aztec priests. Rattled by shamanism, we find ourselves in ancient Africa in Book XI, rewarded by a new vision of the future and a ride back to the moon by a flying turtle god.<br />
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In the end, the un-named narrator does not seem to feel in his heart the poet-as-superhero rush of god within, the pleasure of which buoys even the least among us to proclaim our wisdom, as he is still fearful of his mentors and gods, not a peer. But he does act the part, bringing life itself to the cold, dry, moon. And then, presumably, writing this epic and magnificent story for us mere mortals to ride, finding ourselves in touch with the pulse of creation.<br />
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Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-90396197869724008842015-03-28T15:51:00.005-07:002015-03-28T15:51:56.126-07:00Ten Pounds in Ten Days - My Trippy Italian Trip<div class="widget Text" id="Text1" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 30px; min-height: 0px; position: relative;">
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<i><b>Spoiler Alert: </b>Ten pounds were not gained. Ten days were not spent. Something went wrong with my trip to Italy. But a lot of things, eventually, went right.</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipnjbEjWKrc1hWLOqCevIpk-4C5tD8s4Rxg41ynV17_HMpnP2ibW2V_-QOVqa7qUUv0los4Ed9zcOnBORGymxhQWUO09AfrudYPTiNz6wcGXHVcQ36cJDHxA16xzZaq6ePM4k4/s1600/story+starts+here.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Click to begin..." border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipnjbEjWKrc1hWLOqCevIpk-4C5tD8s4Rxg41ynV17_HMpnP2ibW2V_-QOVqa7qUUv0los4Ed9zcOnBORGymxhQWUO09AfrudYPTiNz6wcGXHVcQ36cJDHxA16xzZaq6ePM4k4/s1600/story+starts+here.jpg" height="159" id="Image1_img" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; position: relative; visibility: visible;" width="165" /></a>Nearly two months after it began, I have finally finished the blog about my "mindblowing" trip to Italy, in which my friend Jenny and I went to alternate universes instead of on a frivolous birthday trip to have fun and eat.<br />
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In the <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Ten Days...Ten Pounds</a> blog (or as my mother calls it, 10x10), it only took 33 posts to do justice to 8 short and mostly uneventful days. If you would like to see why, you can <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/01/a-longtime-dream.html" target="_blank">start from the beginning</a>, get the overview of <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/p/what-happened.html" target="_blank">what happened</a>, <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/p/where-i-went.html" target="_blank">my travels</a>, or<a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/p/what-jenny-did.html" target="_blank"> Jenny's travails</a>... or just jump in anywhere:<br />
<ol>
<li>The back story: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/01/a-longtime-dream.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">A Longtime Dream</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">The right companion: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/traveling-sister.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Traveling Sister</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Planning a trip: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/imagine-italia.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Imagine Italia!</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Extricating myself from my life: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/mambo-italiano.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Mambo Italiano</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">The day before we left: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/italy-vs-jennys-brain.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Italy vs. Jenny's Brain</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Derailed but moving forward: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/10-things.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">10 things</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Sorting out the crises: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/my-vacation-vs-mercury.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">My Vacation vs. Mercury</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">In a strange place: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/rome-if-you-want-to.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Rome if You Want To</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">It's like a different country: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/postcards-from-italy.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Postcards from Italy</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">I'm home before I know it: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/torna-california.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Torna California</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Memories of Friendship: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/sunday-in-suburbs.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Sunday in the Suburbs</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Sending prayers: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/candles-for-jenny.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Candles for Jenny</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">What happened inside her brain: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-tangled-mess.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">A Tangled Mess</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Healing on the outside: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/frankenbeauty.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Frankenbeauty</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">It's all about the shoes: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/take-walk-in-my-scarpa.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Take A Walk in My Scarpa</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">My adventure begins: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-call-of-vesuvius.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">The Call of Vesuvius</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Best Day Ever: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/cavaliere-della-neve.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Cavaliere Della Neve</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">I have it out with Italy: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/veni-vidi-vici-vesuvius.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Veni, Vidi, Vici Vesuvius</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Different ways to get there: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/driving-while-italian.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Driving While Italian</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Adventure never ends; neither does work: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/02/hub-away-from-home.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">HUB Away from Home</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">My religious infrastructure: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/03/hail-mary.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Hail Mary</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">My dream date: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/03/eternal-city-ramble.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Eternal City Ramble</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">European living: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-ikea-lifestyle.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">The IKEA Lifestyle</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Eye candy: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/03/italian-shop-windows.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Italian Shop Windows</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Last night in Rome: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/03/birthday-for-bunny.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Birthday for The Bunny</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Back home and healing: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/03/in-jennys-eyes.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">In Jenny's Eyes</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Mind blown by Venice: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/03/grokking-carnevale.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Grokking Carnevale</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Pictures: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-floating-city-city-of-small-canyons.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">The Floating City. City of Small Canyons. City of Glass.</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Finding myself: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/03/being-vesuviette.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Being Vesuviette</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Out of this world: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/03/in-my-element.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">In My Element</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">All's well that ends well: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/03/commedia-dellarte.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Commedia Dell’Arte</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">Going home again: <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/03/in-thin-air.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">In Thin Air</a></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 0.25em; padding-left: 1.3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.25em; text-indent: -15px;">But can you go home again? <a href="http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.blogspot.com/2015/03/an-acceptable-level-of-ecstasy.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">An Acceptable Level of Ecstasy</a></li>
</ol>
<i>Buon Viaggio!</i>
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-vBJ1GsT7I3Y%2FVPJu6rGxlyI%2FAAAAAAAAEoM%2FYgV5BCP6Cko%2Fs1600%2Fstory%252Bstarts%252Bhere.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipnjbEjWKrc1hWLOqCevIpk-4C5tD8s4Rxg41ynV17_HMpnP2ibW2V_-QOVqa7qUUv0los4Ed9zcOnBORGymxhQWUO09AfrudYPTiNz6wcGXHVcQ36cJDHxA16xzZaq6ePM4k4/s1600/story+starts+here.jpg" -->Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-78648117983720955342014-10-05T09:52:00.000-07:002014-10-05T09:52:14.429-07:00Awareness Month<br />
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<img alt="_R_qGv_mp-4cfKq25by-D-ounEQaLtIJ8.jpg" class="alignleft" data-mce-src="http://www.adhdawarenessmonth.org/wp-content/themes/thesis_185/custom/rotator/_R_qGv_mp-4cfKq25by-D-ounEQaLtIJ8.jpg" data-mce-style="margin-right: 10px;" height="300" src="http://www.adhdawarenessmonth.org/wp-content/themes/thesis_185/custom/rotator/_R_qGv_mp-4cfKq25by-D-ounEQaLtIJ8.jpg" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px;" width="222" /><br />
So. In addition to Bullying Prevention, Breast Cancer, Caffiene Additction, and Kale Awareness Month, October is also <a data-mce-href="http://www.adhdawarenessmonth.org/" href="http://www.adhdawarenessmonth.org/">ADHD Awareness Month</a>.<br />
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Adopt A Shelter Dog Month | AIDS Awareness Month (President Reagan) | American Cheese Month | Antidepressant Death Awareness Month | Apple Month | Bat Appreciation Month | Breast Cancer Awareness Month | Bullying Prevention Month | (World) Blindness Awareness Month | Caffeine Addiction Recovery Month | Celiac Disease Awareness Month | Celebrating The Bilingual Child Month | Children’s Magazine Month | Church Library Month | Church Safety and Security Month | Class Reunion Month | Co-op Awareness Month | Cut Out Dissection Month | Domestic Violence Awareness Month | Down Syndrome Awareness Month | Dyslexia Awareness Month | Eat Better, Eat Together Month | Emotional Intelligence Awareness Month | Emotional Wellness Month | Employee Ownership Month | Energy Management is a Family Affair-Improve Your Home Month (10/1-3/31/13) | Fair Trade Month | Financial Planning Month | Feral Hog Month or Hog Out Month | Kale ...... via <a data-mce-href="http://nationaldaycalendar.com/calendar-at-a-glance/october/" href="http://nationaldaycalendar.com/calendar-at-a-glance/october/">October</a>.<br />
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And that's not even the first half of the alphabet! Just not enough days to be aware.</div>
Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-38467365833992946692014-09-01T21:40:00.000-07:002014-09-01T21:40:35.493-07:00This Is Not Photoshopped.As football season begins, I would like to salute my fantasy football league (The 69ers, The Nutcrackers, Team Nice Dynamite, XXL Cheerleaders, Slaughtermelons and more...) with the one of the best things I ever saw on TV...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2tVxjZg11ntnwHPZsQ9xFWemH_2N4xk71jAetCT6if_27CwiFwcld0T2oT7ZlNMILwPMJVi-EPLxpu_T_s0irISkebErQfM_mROgTZeNx_tY_ogA8Jdftuv6VtJTmzR9X57Hz/s1600/berry+dingle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2tVxjZg11ntnwHPZsQ9xFWemH_2N4xk71jAetCT6if_27CwiFwcld0T2oT7ZlNMILwPMJVi-EPLxpu_T_s0irISkebErQfM_mROgTZeNx_tY_ogA8Jdftuv6VtJTmzR9X57Hz/s1600/berry+dingle.jpg" height="297" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Do not doubt my commitment (yet) to Sparkle Motion!</i>Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-64175008819712648682014-05-24T17:57:00.003-07:002014-05-24T18:07:31.505-07:00So, This Blog.<b><i>What is Wandering Pie?</i></b><br />
<i>(note: it's not just a food truck in Nashville.)</i><br />
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I started this blog almost ten years ago when I had <a href="http://wanderingpie.blogspot.com/2005/06/super-orphans_20.html" target="_blank">something to say about the movies</a> and didn't have anywhere to put it. Since then, I've built an <a href="http://www.kristencaven.com/" target="_blank">official website</a>, a <a href="http://www.littlepig.com/" target="_blank">store</a>, and quite the online empire... but this space has been the place where I can share non-specific thoughts that take more than two sentences of stuff to say.<br />
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I don't know who reads it. (Oh! Yes I do: My dad does; he's a subscriber. So's my husband.) (Hi Dad! Hi Dave!)<br />
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But I'm notoriously bad at sending stuff out to be properly published, so although blogging scratches half an itch about having a thought "out there" where people can read it, the other half itch so often remains unscratched.<br />
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I've gotten better at getting the full feel-good experience of writing, in which it feels good both to write and be read, both with my <a href="http://kristencaven.com/offerings/books/" target="_blank">books</a> and my <a href="http://kristencaven.com/cartoons/" target="_blank">whatnots</a>. Which...to my relief and delight, people seem to like! My friends send me emails and tell me! And the first time a stranger wrote me it was aMAZING—though I can still count those comments on two hands, and I still itch for more actual <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kristen-Caven/e/B003SVRCC2/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_2" target="_blank">reviews</a>. But who reads a blog? And I've got <a href="http://kristencaven.com/blogs/" target="_blank">so many</a>. I do promote some of my more topical blogs like <a href="http://www.zorgos.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"><i>The Zorgos Reader</i></a>. One time <a href="http://www.additudemag.com/adhdblogs/21/10648.html" target="_blank">I wrote a post about attention</a> on <i>Life in the Fast Brain </i>that was shared/recommended like, 1000 times! Woot! <br />
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But with <b>Wandering Pie</b>, I can't really expect a loyal readership, since I blog so very, very occasionally. The counter says it's had two million hits, but the lack of comments tells me they are probably from spiders, and those machines that quote part of a paragraph to make it sound like there is an interesting thought in the "content" of their site that secretly wants to steal your good life.<br />
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Anywho, enough about me. I know this guy who blogs regularly, daily in fact, with no need for recognition or payment, but just to journal, to ponder and think things through, and to entertain! There's always an interesting insight on some current event, or his own life (in which I am proud to say I am featured often). He has a readership of about nine, and he's happy with that. Just before mother's day, half of us took him to dinner to celebrate his tenth year of pushing into our lives and telling us his thoughts, ranging from boring (when they are about his sports team for the tenth time that month) to fascinating (when they are about us).<br />
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But I am bursting with excitement. The author of <a href="http://entropicalparadise.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><i>Entropical Paradise</i></a>, who is indeed the aforementioned husband of mine, was identified by researchers as being what they call a megablogger. He too, has written for nine years... but he, unlike me, writes consistently. Which, to me, queen of every-which-way, is incredible.<br />
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Here's what else is incredible. He is a person who loves loves loves movies, and has always secretly (and not so secretly) wanted to work in the biz, either as a critic looking in, or better yet, a creator writing movies. (There are several in a drawer, fyi...) And now something astonishing has happened. He is featured in a movie that is about people like him! Just by doing what he does—head down, noticing the little things, nose, effectively, to the grindstone—he's been "discovered." <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='500' height='416' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/F2GPuoNMBPQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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You'd think I'd be jealous, since I am constantly promoting myself and feel I have to work my butt off for every $5 book sale, beg my friends for every review and comment, and spend more time marketing myself/building my platform more than actually writing (though it's never quite enough). But I'm not jealous. Dave works hard, and has always been clear that he writes for the joy of it. I am thrilled he gets to share that joy with more friends now.<br />
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Read about <b><a href="http://entropicalparadise.blogspot.com/2014/05/coming-soon.html" target="_blank">Friends You Haven't Met Yet</a>.</b> When you meet Dave, you'll love and admire and marvel at him. I sure do.Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-83538948278346804982014-05-10T19:50:00.000-07:002014-07-14T09:16:26.720-07:00MAY I serve you some fun-filled COBBLER?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/154317/c6add46d46/308061/3015b43929/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7cfap0wYactoXimhT5lh0vHJq48k4SDeaxPjLDQRB0Nk0BrhnSFQSXYtK8ANKFYaivY0QKo3wRYUGMLxEV4kuvadnJGOAH3yexe_vXiPx1PQS57RromUFz6eX8oe9thKsBXJ5/s1600/Screen+shot+2014-07-13+at+7.38.34+PM.png" /></a></div>
<a href="http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/154317/c6add46d46/308061/3015b43929/" target="_blank"><br /></a>
In this fun-filled spring issue, the news was:<br />
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<li>A <a href="http://kristencaven.com/2014/07/06/the-uniquest-author-reading-ever/" target="_blank">book event with clowns</a> at the Literary Foolery Cabaret</li>
<li>Writing a new book! <i><a href="http://littlepig.com/decobelle.html" target="_blank">Dance Like a DecoBelle</a></i></li>
<li>A new collaborator: <a href="http://www.carolinealtman.com/" target="_blank">Caroline Altman</a></li>
<li>I'm a <i><a href="http://www.zorgos.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Zorgos</a></i> Evangelist</li>
<li>I'm an <a href="http://www.additudemag.com/adhdblogs/21/10648.html" target="_blank">ADHD Guru</a></li>
</ul>
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<br />
And more!<br />
<br />Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-88029839985757090992014-02-05T13:09:00.001-08:002014-02-05T13:09:55.154-08:00Cure Yourself of Sciatica Right Now!This morning a neighbor called and asked for a ride to the clinic for her sciatica. "Oh, let me try to cure it, first," I said.<br />
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When I showed up on her doorstep with some scarves in my hand, she was skeptical. But this afternoon, she called me from the clinic talking about the MIRACLE I had performed! <br />
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I learned this trick from an <a href="http://64.90.53.2/about/" target="_blank">architect-turned-yogi</a> when I was pregnant and hobbling around. Sciatica is a PAIN IN THE BUTT from a pinched nerve situation in a place you really can't stretch.<br />
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Unless you know the secret!<br />
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Here's a picture of my mom demonstrating the practice:<br />
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You make a loop out of a scarf or necktie, and place it around your hip on the sore side. Then you pull it out straight while your leg is up, held by the other scarf, and effectively put that hip into traction.</div>
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Do this for a few minutes. Just once might do the trick. If not, try it a few times a day. Let me know if it worked!</div>
<br />Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-75048625001366823052013-12-30T19:44:00.000-08:002014-01-19T20:01:20.604-08:00End-of-Year COBBLER Cheer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Special highlights of the SUPER-newsy end-of-year issue included an update on our bullying workshops, fun with sports and pastry, some quotes about me by my husband, and some quotes BY me in an article ABOUT me.<br />
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Then there was another great link to a <a href="http://overdressedforlife.com/2013/09/25/the-souls-of-her-feet-a-novel-cinderella-by-kristen-caven/" target="_blank">Moya Stone article</a> about <i>The Souls of Her Feet.</i><br />
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And some sad and silly goodbyes to my dear friend and dog-daughter, the lovely, elegant goofball Maddie Moose Maddyson Maddog von Caven. Or however she spelled it.<br />
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A.k.a. Mad-tilda, Madison Square Garden, Madagascar, Madeline Albright Caven.<br />
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<a href="http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/154317/302cad26b1/308061/3015b43929/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBVJM_iopskxc7BMccemivXrzQ0eODYg61DJatxItPfdQ4ZRoAPFjBNTiXdvQXi9KqVVQvOtKmXpVSNWI9r-21F9CY1C3bb61Ng1egcyz0dVg22qsUxG1ukzcXyoXjNmhYTaNA/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-01-19+at+7.37.15+PM.png" /></a></div>
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<br />Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-78089637107718331252013-12-21T12:27:00.000-08:002015-09-04T16:29:21.988-07:00They Can't Take Maddaway From Me<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<i>Love song for Maddy Caven, 1997-2013 ~ apologies/gratitude to George & Ira Gershwin</i><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;">There are many, many crazy things</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">That we’ll always love about you,<br />And with your permission<br />May I list a few?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;">The way you’d get the cat.<br />The way you’d run so free.<br />The memory of all that -<br />No, no - they can't take that away from me.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">The way you’d fill the bed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">The way we fixed your knee.<br />The way you’d shake and shed.<br />No, no - they can't take that away from me.</span></span></div>
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We may never, never meet again<br />
On that bumpy road of life<br />
Still I'll always,<br />
Always keep the memory of...</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">The way you filled my lap (do-do-do-do do-do).<br />
The way you’d lick your pee.<br />
The way you changed our life.<br />
No, no - they can't take that away from me.</span><br />
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No, they can't take that away from me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-44565599390388826602013-09-24T20:50:00.000-07:002013-09-24T20:50:00.462-07:00Coco Crisps + Reddick Whip = Victory Pie!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNxSb4rDamjlG5yew9qGJNv7RLj6j4rR8R7WTviaoL4jh1aqfSlyycovJw18yTt5lEMnKQig4_UpEpDB2EtmPmZwJLwtP_Uso8rJoLraUPGTlPTrnwJ9dzApyxcUeEoGXApMbJ/s1600/IMG_2612.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNxSb4rDamjlG5yew9qGJNv7RLj6j4rR8R7WTviaoL4jh1aqfSlyycovJw18yTt5lEMnKQig4_UpEpDB2EtmPmZwJLwtP_Uso8rJoLraUPGTlPTrnwJ9dzApyxcUeEoGXApMbJ/s320/IMG_2612.JPG" width="320" /></a>Happy #museday!<br />
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I was raised to raise my nose at spectator sports. Our family would DO things while others were sitting on couches, drinking beer, drooling, screaming in unison like an idiot choir. We'd garden, draw, hike, read, or go visit grandma. But I married a sports fan, and in loving him, I have learned to love the ball seasons in my own way.<br />
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This weekend, I made a video based on my <a href="http://wanderingpie.blogspot.com/2012/10/walk-off-pie.html">Walk-off Pie</a> recipe from last year's streaky baseball season. My son, the aspiring filmmaker, was a very useful Techie. He helped me figure out how to turn the kitchen into a studio, held the camera on the tricky shots, and did a great a walk-on at the end.<br />
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The most annoying thing was not the way batteries ran out on the second-to-last shot, but the clicking noise the expensive fancy HD video camera I borrowed made a clicking noise when it zoomed. It was a tough call but in the end I took my own advice not to be a perfectionist but to get it out there. Life is short.<br />
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There were a few best things... the magic of editing (thank you, Adobe Premiere), being creative with my kid (his favorite scene was the table-clearing...), and the best surprise of all: THE PIE WAS DELICIOUS! We left it in the freezer and ate it the next night as the Broncos whipped up and up on the Raiders.<br />
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My crazy cook friends and I have always dreamed of doing a variety show. Maybe this is my opening salvo. (Mmm, salvo.)<br />
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Oh, and here's one more factoid. The shirt I'm wearing is homemade, too. It's a relic from our early days of parenthood, when I couldn't afford the licensed variety for a father's day gift. To avoid complete licensing failures, the child-sized one said "A-Ok-land" on the back. This one, which my husband has kept, says "Auckland A's" on the back, since Oakland doesn't start with an A....<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/UmkMDdUqpTo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-59679779114273661802013-09-01T19:24:00.000-07:002014-01-19T19:32:03.739-08:00The Bullying Antidote COBBLER<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/154317/1861588cf5/162001859/3015b43929/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaJBuTuCfFGaPmVBRKtfbCaDbOALOXPfM6WvEnOuQKNzozjVSEjdb3lNXS9EY9-kEpa4n4eq2oq_ElmKk3paM3r80foJNQQoTXGUK4_Cb5YZfxI4T5khJfIQ72Lw791ucXHl0i/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-01-17+at+5.52.10+PM.png" /></a></div>
In SUMMER, 2013, Hazelden published <i><a href="http://kristencaven.com/offerings/books/the-bullying-antidote/">The Bullying Antidote</a></i>, culminating a 2-year writing adventure with my mother, and kicking off another one: publicity.<br />
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Writing and publicity require two opposite states of mind. One is introverted and quiet; the other is extroverted and chatty.<br />
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<a href="http://www.zorgos.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Here's a link</a> to the <i>Zorgos</i> blog, where I'm chatty about bullying a few times a month.Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-916414680037626472013-08-13T16:10:00.001-07:002013-08-15T17:52:21.519-07:0098 Degrees and No Lemonade Left (a story about ‘membering by the Membership Chair) | California Writers Club — Berkeley Branch<i><a href="http://cwc-berkeley.org/2013/06/02/98-degrees-and-no-lemonade-left-a-story-about-membering-by-the-membership-chair/">A creative writing piece enticing members of my writers club to renew their membership</a>:</i><br />
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It was a sultry July afternoon, and I sat reading the New Yorker, fanning myself with the California Literary Review. No, it was definitely the other way around. I’d been so busy after a year of unexpected, life-changing crises and opportunities that to sit, just to sit and read, was a delicious pleasure. Flies circled lazily in the middle of the room, having found a cooler place to do their romancing with all the windows and doors to my house open wide. My lemonade was long gone, and the ice clicked as it shifted, melting, in the glass. A puddle formed on the coffee table and I thought about putting a coaster under the glass. There was something I was forgetting though, something really important from my list of a thousand things. Now, what was it?<br />
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My eyes wandered over the cartoons, but I didn’t laugh. It was just too hot. I should have submitted come cartoons. My first New Yorker rejection was such a trophy; every writer should earn one for their “at least I tried” file. I didn’t even get a rejection letter from the Literary Review for the essay I sent in. Did I actually remember to submit? Yes, it was before all the trouble. I’m sure I did.<br />
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Was it a meeting? A trip to the vet? Something in the back of my mind was distracting me, keeping me reading the same paragraph over and over again. I should have done something last month. Things were so busy, and now it’s just too hot. “Typically, cars whoosh past asworkers…” Did I really just read that? Oh, it’s a typo.<br />
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I remember the first time my work was published in a CWC publication. I felt so understood, so welcomed. I’ve become more accustomed to that honor. I flip through the pages and notice how many stories are in first person. The sign of an immature writer. We’re all immature until we mature. My essay was in first person. Was that my mistake?<br />
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The dog paces into the room from the open door, her long nails clicking on the hardwood floor, her tongue dripping mouth-sweat, and falls on her bed with an elderly thump. What did I forget, darnit? Dog day afternoon goes through my head. My dog looks like a bull terrier from this angle. Bull terriers, the only good kind of bully. Bullies… oh yeah, my book is in bookstores now and I should be working on my newsletter. But that’s on my list. There’s something else I’ve forgotten…<br />
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An hour later, I’ve been through joyous births and tragic deaths. I’ve felt wonder, grief, anger, and everything in between, as I’ve walked through a Japanese classroom, danced at a prom, gone to war and hung with a Mob boss. I’ve been treated to the fiction, poetry, essays and drawings of dozens of my peers—those creative and inspiring and hard-working writers, members of the California Writers Club.<br />
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Members of the California Writers Club? That’s what I’ve forgotten! I have to remind members to pay their dues! I care about this club, and I want it to be strong. There is an exciting year coming up, starting with our Annual Picnic just a few weeks away, and we need everyone to come back and get involved making our club the Premiere Writing Society in the East Bay!<br />
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I swirl my ice, suck down the watery remains of the lemonade, wipe the the cool condensation from my palms, and think. It’s been a hard year for me, and for most of the board members. But back when I first dove in to the cool, fresh waters of the membership chair job, I got a fresh new system going. All I really need to do is send out a link (<a href="http://cwc-berkeley.org/about/join-us/" style="color: #644527; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">http://cwc-berkeley.org/about/join-us/</a>) and remind members it’s $45 a year (plus $2 if they use PayPal). That’s it! All I have to do is tell them they can renew online or send in a check by the end of July. (I must not forget to tell people they can also choose the auto-renewal option – so each year they’ll renew automatically – but can also cancel at any time.)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMtnhRxM58Y7oanH0x7h3QeEKXZINpWB4HwdAOPUVfmMlVhI2ULnkHE51Alj-RJdF81Q9n32rajTcp3FgPwE3Xi1OTXJnkzEUfhyrMgzGerExee3mr-j-6a23s6WdA1oDNtTkR/s1600/CWCLogowithR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMtnhRxM58Y7oanH0x7h3QeEKXZINpWB4HwdAOPUVfmMlVhI2ULnkHE51Alj-RJdF81Q9n32rajTcp3FgPwE3Xi1OTXJnkzEUfhyrMgzGerExee3mr-j-6a23s6WdA1oDNtTkR/s200/CWCLogowithR.jpg" width="189" /></a></div>
But now I want to go back to reading my magazine. And maybe let my eyes close, and listen to the fan beat the air. And maybe, as I drowse off a bit, say a little prayer that my letter will inspire someone out there to contact me and say they’ll take on some membership chores, since I don’t have a successor yet. I can relax now, for a little while. I’m glad I remembered, and hope all our members re-member, too!<br />
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zzzzz...<br />
<br />
Kristen Caven<br />
Membership Chair Emerita (almost)<br />
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<a href="http://www.kristencaven.com/" style="color: #644527; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">www.kristencaven.com</a>Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13182883.post-70896334298997214162013-06-01T20:46:00.000-07:002013-08-20T20:46:41.749-07:00A Flurry of Spring Cobblers<a href="http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/154317/01419ccec7/1469564145/df875dba02/" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX8s0j5aw0vhQchO9MaO8M7IFkM0eerzKnm2X58GwLed1boi3E9OgDjkej2xBdfS16XFImqPkN8yRA1wSpA8TYs-vCVsTksHOSOG6W3YA4bEB1rKPozg6K4zzeFjTil4UNE4Q_/s400/Screen+shot+2013-08-20+at+8.11.23+PM.png" width="252" /></a>
<a href="http://hosted-p0.vresp.com/154317/45cde3f5c2/ARCHIVE" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQifGWKml3krg3DqP4e8Ju-h1uJPwz5UeKy158lA3yq99LB1z8qkjP6dukdQfiyv_2rycRGRJ2ZH3m_aLxqWsKR-bbXkKkrh9ySFjzDrojXEvtuiFIOUVVKlxN9c7igWmxlmAp/s400/Screen+shot+2013-08-20+at+8.12.03+PM.png" width="278" /></a>
<a href="http://hosted-p0.vresp.com/154317/4b3da8b8c3/ARCHIVE" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirSN9hgFmSDmiXI7F0UQm6cdsoSNi2hcvac8FXEmY2CWn-y3DFZMbrp0DuVqXEdvAER7mF83mvn_KETbYpLL-jEsLDRnRH14J59Hde-VQfrpqnOGfBpSilHGfGA5YPACcwIWlF/s400/Screen+shot+2013-08-20+at+8.12.21+PM.png" width="277" /></a>
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In <a href="http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/154317/01419ccec7/1469564145/df875dba02/" target="_blank">February 2013</a>, I launched an <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-souls-of-her-feet" target="_blank">Indiegogo campaign</a> (it'll be easy, right?) with a crazy, wraparound story about my musical, The Souls of Her Feet.<br />
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In <a href="http://hosted-p0.vresp.com/154317/45cde3f5c2/ARCHIVE" target="_blank">March</a>, with a small side-track into a movie cameo by Renaissance Woman that wasn't, the novella, <i><b>The Souls of Her Feet</b></i>, was born. It had gestated as a <a href="http://shoesmirrorrose-blook.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blook</a> for nearly a year.<br />
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In April, <a href="http://www.thesoulsofherfeet.com/ebook.htm" target="_blank">three versions of the book</a> were launched, and in <a href="http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/154317/4b3da8b8c3/308061/51d6ce6cdb/" target="_blank">May</a>, there was a huge and successful <a href="http://shoesmirrorrose.blogspot.com/2013/06/2013-spring-scrapbook.html" target="_blank">writing retreat </a>with my partner Michael, funded by our friends and supporters!<br />
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Thank you to everyone who donated... <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-souls-of-her-feet?c=pledges" target="_blank">you know who you are!</a><br />
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<b><br /></b>Kristen Cavenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999837105204056577noreply@blogger.com0