Blogging on the Powwow

Dear Murray: You left this world four years ago tomorrow. I miss you. I think of you every day. Each year since your departure, I have chronicled another year without you (your initial departure in 2016 , and then in years 2017 , 2018 , and 2019 ) and this year is no exception. I have noted many times that I adored you, that you shaped my career in ways that were unimaginable for me when I met you, that you were, and still are, my foundation for social science research, my role model for collaborating with others, and that every day I aspire to your optimism, warm spirit, dedication, curiosity, and generous nature. And, every day I am reminded of you, in small ways, in big ways, and in all ways, in between. Recently, my administrative assistant didn’t have quite enough tasks to keep her busy. She asked me for more work several times. Just this week, I decided to give her some tasks -- for when she has down time -- that would help me with some analyses I’m about to underta...

For fourteen years, I adored Murray Straus more than I can imagine adoring anyone. I met Murray in the summer of 2002 when I attended the biannual International Family Violence/Child Victimization Research Conference . His research center, the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire  in Durham, NH, had an opening for a new PhD to assume a research position. A "post-doc" position is primarily for newly-minted PhDs, to gain additional, intense training in a specific field of study. In this instance, it was family violence. Having obtained my PhD only one month before, I attended the "Straus Breakfast" one morning and then seized the opportunity to ask about the position. I didn't really know how famous Murray was in the world of family violence, just that he was an important figure. I interviewed on the spot. I started work as his post-doc on October 7, 2002. I was 29 and at the very beginning of a career that felt like it was going nowher...

Can you believe it? I wrote this post on Thanksgiving weekend and before I knew it, Christmas was here and over. But, since I wrote it, I'd like to post it, even if it is late...and it's all still true! -------------------------------------- It has taken me a while to get around to writing a blog post about being thankful. I am thankful. Of course, I am thankful, is my most common response. I am thankful for all the things that I should  be thankful. I love and I am loved in return, by humans and my canine. I have a home, and even better, a home that I like and cherish. I am warm. I have a job and an income to cover my basic needs, and then some. I am healthy and no one in my life has a chronic or life-threatening health condition. I can go about my business without interference from law enforcement or government. This is the condensed version. The expanded version addresses the aspects of my life for which I am most thankful weekly, if not, daily. I am most thankful f...

I'm not sure if other people use this phrase, but I definitely use it and I like it. The phrase just like magic  is reserved for events and happenings which yank me away from my present state of mine, which take all of my troubles and cast them aside, and grab me by the collar and hurl me into the present...to observe, enjoy, and breathe easy. Community band; our home when the wind is blowing the leaves on the maple trees over the Powwow; miles of corn crops in Nebraska; an abandoned home in North Dakota, ducks soaring down the Powwow -- these are the experiences that take my breath away and cause me to declare, Wow. It's just like magic. I ask you, is this not magic or what?  

My 40th birthday turned out to be great. I planned what I hoped would be a wonderful day for myself and indeed, it was! When I was 29 and about to turn 30, I attended a conference in San Diego. I spotted a colleague, who I had only briefly met back at the research center at UNH, at one of the conference sessions. I wasn't as practiced at making friends back then, but I pushed through whatever hesitation I had about approaching this colleague and was greatly rewarded! I discovered that Wendy and I had so much in common: we loved rural areas, mountain hiking, similar foods, exercise, and were both partnered with men much older than ourselves.  Wendy and I had both, independently, planned to leave San Diego on the same day at similar times; in fact, we shared a taxi to the airport very early on what was my 30th birthday. Wendy and I have remained good friends, hiking together in the White Mountains, sharing marathon strategies, and having dinners together with our husbands. Thus, it s...

There are lots of fancy ways to organize one's spices and I have tried many of them: shelves, uniform glass bottles with little labels, swiveling racks, etc. But, I always come back to the wooden soap box that came out of my grandfather's childhood barn in Gardner, Maine.  For a long while, probably more than 10 years, every time I would grab for a spice, I would grumble to myself that "this arrangement just isn't working!" - spices stacked on top of each other, unable to see the labels, etc. It can take several tries before one finds the desired spice. During one of these grumbles, I remarked to Neil that I needed a different system. He remarked that it would be a tragedy to put this old box out-of-use.  I gave it some thought and I couldn't agree more. This old, wooden soap box traveled from the barn of the Perkins' family farm to join our family and deserves to be put to good use. Now, it is. Well, it always was,  but now it is appreciated as we...

I love thermometers. In truth, I am interested in many thing weather-related. As a social scientist, I know that many things are related to our experiences in childhood. So, I'll go with that on this one, too. My mother has always loved to watch the weather, especially on WCSH6, and especially if Joe Cupo was forecasting. My sister and I tease our mother that family dinner needed to be over in time to watch Joe giving the forecast - which was at approximately 6:17pm. I also love a good weather map, especially if a snowstorm is coming and the map predicts projected snowfall totals. But, that is the subject for another blog post, really. Back to thermometers. We have many thermometers around our house. I'm not sure why we need so many, but take it from me - we just do. I'd like to know the temperature in all rooms of our house, in addition to our enclosed front and back porches, as well as the temperature outside. In truth, we don't have enough to cover all of thes...

I once read that if you're going to be a dedicated runner and especially if you are going to do distance running, it's all a matter of time before you get injured. There is no way to avoid it. I wish it wasn't true, but it has been for me. I started running in 2004 and that spring suffered many, many running injuries. I fell in love with the sport so much that I just couldn't hold myself back. Being a novice at all things sport and exercise-related, I thought, "What's the worst that could happen?" I was really ignorant, to say the least. Me - 4 days before the Turkey Trot. Never a good sign, under any conditions. I've had at least one--if not three-- stress fractures , inflamed knees, chronic   shin splits ,  Plantar fasciitis ,   vamp's disease , and numb toes or   Morton's neuroma . The latter is what put me in my infamous surgical shoe that was the subject of many comical Facebook postings (if I do say so myself). The neuroma app...