Practicing Domesticity: CA vs. WA

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

CA vs. WA

So, apparently today was a debate over the merits of living in California and Washington. Having spent approximately 96 hours in the state of Washington, I do not feel qualified to weigh in on this debate, other than to say that I live in California, so I don't understand why anyone would choose to live elsewhere.

April 12. Ok. This has been a long time coming. Here it is. My heart is torn in two directions. Pulled by opposite loves. What shall I choose? Only you can help me decide. Washingtonian or Californian?
Ahhh....the intricacies of the decision. Here, I am wearing a Seahawks jersey (as Brad so astutely observed when I walked in. He should be a scientist). I love the Seahawks. None of the California teams are worth anything. WA:1; CA:0. However, I'm also eating real tacos at a restaurant, sitting at a table with a bunch of people who have actually been to Mexico. Washington borders Canada. Now that the exchange rate is nada, it's pretty much got nothing. WA:1; CA:0. (That's a lie; I like BC). Ok. So it's a tie. Go figure, with my life, right? Additionally, California has streets lined with palm trees. Proof of intelligent design. CA:2; WA:1. However, Washington has roads that don't flood every time there's a drop of water in the air. And people who know how to drive in the rain. WA:2; CA:2. Speaking of driving: in Washington, when people honk they do it to say hello. They know how to count at five way stops. They know how to use roundabouts, even in hicktowns like Carnation. They are not jerks. California has none of the above. CA:2; WA:3. However, Katy Perry does say some pretty complimentary things about California girls. CA:3; WA:3. Washington has the Space Needle WA:4; CA:3. California has beaches. With sand. CA:4; WA:4. Washington has Microsoft WA:5; CA:4. California has Apple CA:5; WA:5 (ooo...that'll start something). Washington has Steve Pool on KOMO 4. WA:6; CA:5. California has the Governator. CA:6; WA: 6. Washington has pretty license plates and drivers' licenses. WA: 7; CA:6. California has Fresno. WA:7; CA:5 (ha ha just seeing who's paying attention). California has electoral relevance. CA: 7; WA: 7. Washington has a rain forest. WA: 8; CA:7. California has a desert. WA:8; CA:8. California has multi-weekly farmers' markets. CA: 9; WA: 8. Washington has Pike Place (not Pike's Place to all y'all Californians). WA: 9; CA: 9. Washington has real islands (not like four of them). WA: 10; CA: 9. California has avocado festivals. CA: 10; WA: 9. Both states care about the environment. Both states have cool mountains. Both states have incredible family and friends. Both states have wineries. Is there room for a dialectical view of statehood? I need some opinions. To whom do I belong?

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What I Learned From My Mother

by Julia Kasdorf

I learned from my mother how to love

the living, to have plenty of vases on hand

in case you have to rush to the hospital

with peonies cut from the lawn, black ants

still stuck to the buds. I learned to save jars

large enough to hold fruit salad for a whole

grieving household, to cube home-canned pears

and peaches, to slice through maroon grape skins

and flick out the sexual seeds with a knife point.

I learned to attend viewing even if I didn’t know

the deceased, to press the moist hands

of the living, to look in their eyes and offer

sympathy, as though I understood loss even then.

I learned that whatever we say means nothing,

what anyone will remember is that we came.

I learned to believe I had the power to ease

awful pains materially like an angel.

Like a doctor, I learned to create

from another’s suffering my own usefulness, and once

you know how to do this, you can never refuse.

To every house you enter, you must offer

healing: a chocolate cake you baked yourself,

the blessing of your voice, your chaste touch.

Source: Sleeping Preacher (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1992)

Alone

by Maya Angelou

Lying, thinking
Last night
How to find my soul a home
Where water is not thirsty
And bread loaf is not stone
I came up with one thing
And I don't believe I'm wrong
That nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

There are some millionaires
With money they can't use
Their wives run round like banshees
Their children sing the blues
They've got expensive doctors
To cure their hearts of stone.
But nobody
No, nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Now if you listen closely
I'll tell you what I know
Storm clouds are gathering
The wind is gonna blow
The race of man is suffering
And I can hear the moan,
'Cause nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

The Silence

by Wendell Berry

Though the air is full of singing
my head is loud
with the labor of words.

Though the season is rich
with fruit, my tongue
hungers for the sweet of speech.

Though the beech is golden
I cannot stand beside it
mute, but must say

"It is golden," while the leaves
stir and fall with a sound
that is not a name.

It is in the silence
that my hope is, and my aim.
A song whose lines

I cannot make or sing
sounds men's silence
like a root. Let me say

and not mourn: the world
lives in the death of speech
and sings there.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

CA vs. WA

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