Excerpted interview with author Sherman Alexie, from 1/5/97 issue of the New York Times Magazine:

Q: True, but you’re clearly angry, especially at whites who try to “connect” by immersing themselves in Indian culture. How would you have whites treat modern Indians?

A: No. 1, recognize that we are sovereign entities, with absolute political, social and economic rights on our land. No. 2, that’s all I care about. Other than that, leave our culture alone.

“I opened the drawer of my little desk and a single letter fell out, a letter from my mother, written in pencil, one of her last, with unfinished words and an implicit sense of her departure. It’s so curious: one can resist tears and ‘behave’ very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window… or one notices that a flower that was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed… or a letter slips from a drawer… and everything collapses.”

— Letters From Colette

“There are three things in life that are fun to watch: a rippling stream, a fire in the fireplace and a Zamboni going around and around.'”

— Charlie Brown

Dear Thursday Thirteeners and all the Usual Suspects,

Do you remember being 7 years old? I do. It was fun. I learned to ride my bike — my Dad taught me. I played Red Rover, Red Rover and hide and seek with all the neighbor kids. I loved going to ballet class, and to the lake and river. I loved my second-grade teacher because she thought everything I did was perfect. I had fun playing beauty shop with my 4-year-old sister. We had a Halloween carnival, just the two of us.

For my daughter, however, 7 has not been that fun. She’s the guest poster this week. Presenting… Wacky Girl, in living color:

A lot of people of people think it’s fun being 7. Sometimes it is, but sometimes it’s not.

1. You’re in the middle, right in the middle, of all the kid ages, up to 10.

2. There’s no good movies cuz they’re all either baby movies or grown-up movies.

3. It seems like all the people are older than you.

4. If they’re not, then it’s good.

5. When they’re babies I like to play with them.

6. If you have a younger sibling then they get, like… Well. If you do something, like it’s the first time, and then the sibling feels jealous of you. And then they get to do the same thing for the first time, even though they’re younger, which is not fair. Like seeing PG movies.

7. Also, if you have a younger person in your family, they usually get to go first.

8. Sometimes when you’re the oldest it’s fun. Sometimes your brother or sister don’t get jealous, and you get to take the first turn.

9. You’re almost 8, and you’re almost 9, when you’re 7.

10. Seven is a lucky number.

11. You get to eat hard candy.

12. You can swim better. I’m in Seals in swim lessons.

13. You get to stay up later and watch more grown-up TV!

I love everyone!

Wacky Girl

Internet,

What’s going on?

xxox

WM

Dear Reader,

I love MomsRising for many, many reasons, but mainly I love them because they make it so easy for me to do some political work while I’m still in my pajamas. Here’s an e-mail I got from them today. I highly recommend signing up on their e-mail list, and sending them a few bucks when you can spare it.

Yours in female power,

WM

Dear MomsRising Member,

Last Saturday we alerted you to the Fisher Price recall of preschool toys due to toxic lead in the paint (Check the end of this email for specific info on what’s being recalled.). (more…)

“Women might be able to fake orgasms. But men can fake a whole relationship.”

— Sharon Stone

One of my girlfriends e-ed this to me, when I was having a cruddy day. It’s a good one to re-read from time to time.

WM

“Someone will always be prettier.
They will always be smarter.
Their house will be bigger.
They will drive a better car.
Their children will do better in school.
And their husband will fix more things around the house.
So let it go, and love you and your circumstances.
Think about it.
The prettiest woman in the world can have hell in her heart.
And the most highly favored woman on your job may be unable to have
children.
And the richest woman you know,
she’s got the car, the house, the clothes….might be really, really lonely.
So, again, love you.
Love who you are.
Look in the mirror in the morning and smile and say
‘This right here is what I got, and it ain’t half bad.'”

You realize, don’t you, that it’s hard for me to enjoy my morning dose of java without some yummy blogs to read. So why aren’t you posting???

What’s going on, honey? Have you heard it all before?

“When angry, count four; when very angry, swear.”

— Mark Twain, “Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar”