February 21

b"h

Hi Friends!

I've been having a dense February--some days feeling downright April-y, and others feeling like four Februaries in one afternoon.  So that's nonlinear and fun!

If you've been watching the Winter Olympics, today's February Project share might be old news already, but since the moment I saw Adam Rippon skate in the team event last week, I kind of knew this belonged on the blog.  I've just never seen anything like it; it's so beautiful, so emotional, so full.  I tried to isolate just Rippon's program from this clip, but I couldn't reconfigure it and this isn't on YouTube, so you'll need to skip to the 29-minute mark (the third grey vertical line on the bottom bar showing your video progress). I hope the extra step won't dissuade you from jumping in to this.  It's making my month in a big way.

Also, today is my and my partner's anniversary (random date assignment gone right, Ruthie!). I'm extremely grateful for him.  I won't gush, but the funny thing I wanted to share with this knowing and wise crew is that when he and I started dating and I had a feeling we'd stick with it, I regretted that we had kicked things off in February. It feels cursed, and yeah, we did start dating last February, but I don't even think I was all that into it until mid-March, so I have been tempted to suggest that, even though it's all rather silly, we bump up the date and steer clear of this awful month. I have felt that even though I have something special to celebrate in February, it nonetheless wouldn't be able to bear the weight of the month's general awfulness. Somewhere along the way, I became resigned to February being shitty, and adopted some kind of containment policy. But of course, the whole point of sharing together every day on this blog is to reclaim our time together, and run toward the joy when it presents itself, and when we feel empowered to make more of it.  So, in that spirit, happy anniversary to me!

Selah,

Jana

February 20: Of death and hedgehogs

Hi friends -

What a treat to be part of this community of Februarians again.

Two things to share:

1. I loved this chapter by Bradley Artson on G-d as a Process, particularly this take on death:

2. Here are a few shots of a hedgehog going camping with tiny Coleman product placement goodies. I don't know why this tickled my funny bone so much, but it did. There are more where these came from if you need.

<3 from Jerusalem,
Gene

The cracks let in the light

I am thinking today about brokenness. 

Storyteller Kevin Kling's Story of the Pots,

And a 17th century haiku by Mizuta Masahide, poet and samurai:

Barn's burnt down.

Now

I can see the moon.

I want to offer us the idea that we are both broken beyond repair and that we are so beautiful and better for it. That we don't need any fixing. That the cracks let in the light.

February Grips NYC by the throat...

So living in DC now, I can't help but think back to living in NYC (with our girl Ru)and compare the two cities. There's a million ways NYC kicks DC's butt, but one is how much better the subway is than the metro. Not because of speed, access, reliability or anything like that. To me the main difference is the the people norms inside these weird people-moving-steel-capsules. I found that people on the subway are generally warm to each other, and people on the metro try their darndest (I gave up cursing for Lent) to not interact at all with anyone else. Somehow the norm DC landed on is to be cold to each other on the metro. So I've was thinking about this, and how this genius februaryproject recognizes it's a cold dark and tough month, and while I'm debating with Josh whether or not we should get a sun lamp (feel free to way in? worth it? do you just squint the whole time?!) this poem pops up! And dang if it aint this old friend, who's an especially warm person, just perfectly capturing what it is to get in a warm tube during a cold winter:

https://vimeo.com/241096895

"The Gift" - Sarah Kay from Grace Cathedral on Vimeo.

May your Februaries be full of people who warm you up!

Feb 14th: Love

Why is it so hard to remember this?:

"Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy." --Thomas Merton

And this?:

All is One.

<3

February 13th

Hi Loves! Pretend I'm Caroline :] The internet tried to keep her from posting, but we won't let the internet win, WILL WE?

"I basically just want to share this vampire parody song I wrote." - Caroline

Gnaw it Off

Caroline Landau

VAMPIRE 1 - 1 lead singer, a sassy vampire (preferably female)

VAMPIRE 2+ - 1 or more back up singers, also sassy vampires (any gender) - indicated by brackets [ ]

To the tune of Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off”

I come out real late
Got nothing in my veins
Incisors lead the way, mmm mmm
Incisors lead the way, mmm mmm
I stalk into your room
Avoid the kitchen fumes
Because garlic is my doom, mmm mmm
Yeah, garlic is my doom, mmm mmm

When I smell that iron
Nothing brings me higher
It brings me such a good rush
A cheaper substitute for blush

Cause tonight I’m gonna bite, bite, bite, bite
When the moon comes out at night, night, night, night
I’m just gonna gnaw, gnaw, gnaw, gnaw, gnaw
I gnaw it off, gnaw it off
They chase me with a stake, stake, stake, stake, stake
Or shine sunlight in my face, face, face, face, face
But I’m just gonna gnaw, gnaw, gnaw, gnaw, gnaw
I gnaw it off, gnaw it off

They tell me that I’m gaunt
But I can stand the taunts
It’s only jealous talk, mmm mmm
Yeah it’s only jealous talk, mmm mmm
I can take ‘em in a fight [take ‘em in a fight]
I’ll call my back-up wights [call my back-up wights]

The haters gon’ go, mmm mmm
Those haters gon’ go, mmm mmm

When I smell that iron
Nothing brings me higher
It brings me such a good rush
A cheaper substitute for blush

Cause tonight I’m gonna bite, bite, bite, bite
When the moon comes out at night, night, night, night
Baby, I’m just gonna gnaw, gnaw, gnaw, gnaw, gnaw
I gnaw it off, gnaw it off
They chase me with a stake, stake, stake, stake, stake
Or shine sunlight in my face, face, face, face, face
I’m just gonna gnaw, gnaw, gnaw, gnaw, gnaw
I gnaw it off, gnaw it off

I gnaw it off, gnaw it off [yeah, yeah]

I gnaw it off, gnaw it off [yeah, yeah]

I gnaw it off, gnaw it off [yeah, yeah]

I gnaw it off, gnaw it off [yeah, yeah]

I gnaw it off, gnaw it off

[Interlude]
[Hey, hey, hey
Just when you thought you had
us buried and shrouded
And covered with crosses you could’ve been getting down to this dead tune]

[Bridge]
[My best friend brought her new best friend
She’s like, “oh my god, she is so undead”
To the vamp on the bed with his lips stained red
Just come over baby, we can gnaw, gnaw, gnaw, gnaw
Yeah, oh, oh, oh]

Cause tonight I’m gonna bite, bite, bite, bite
When the moon comes out at night, night, night, night
I’m just gonna gnaw, gnaw, gnaw, gnaw, gnaw
I gnaw it off, gnaw it off
They chase me with a stake, stake, stake, stake, stake
Or shine sunlight in my face, face, face, face, face
But I’m just gonna gnaw, gnaw, gnaw, gnaw, gnaw
I gnaw it off, gnaw it off

Gnaw it off, I gnaw it off
I, I, I gnaw it off, I gnaw it off
x 10

P.S. Caro, how many points to the first to follow up with a recording?

Monday, February 12 (for Tuesday, February 6)

Hello all,

I am sharing a preschool-authored poem (from a class I taught last year).

The background is that we all have an invisible third eye, with which we can see everything we don't see with our other two eyes. When you close your regular eyes, you'll start to see with your Third Eye. The first line is mine and the rest is theirs.

Third Eye Poem

My Third Eye sees what my other eyes don't. 

With my Third Eye I see...

The roots underneath the trees.

I see pineapple trees, apricot trees,

An elephant -- underground,

A dinosaur eating.

With my Third Eye I see that my head is a T-Rex's fossil and my knees are my hands. 

I see an elephant at the Bronx Zoo,

I see the things inside my nose,

My heart beating.

My whole bones.

Apples growing. 

Secondly, I share a quote from my nephew that Ruthie and I really liked and seems to come in handy at times. He asked about the family dog Fenway, 

"Mama...Fenway does have his fur on to keep him cozy?"

With love,

Anna SF