the McCANE/Palin ticket

My grammer grandma was hospitalized after an unexpected back injury this fall. Fortunately she is up and walking, but with the use of her walker...which she detests because she is determined to be independent and walking on her own. With all this hype and drama around the Elections, she just couldn't help but joke: "I'm sick of ma cane!" Hey who knows, maybe he could borrow the walker when she's done with it.

Go figure....

You know the 2008 Presidential Election is historic and unlike any other when it stirs up a sense of interest in youngsters like my fourteen and fifteen year old sister and her friends, who are choosing to dress up as Sarah Palin and her secret service agents on Halloween....so what happened to the Witch, the Monster, the Devil costumes....oh, wait a minute...I guess it is appropriate for the occasion after all...

Six word biographies

I was inspired by the biographies in Smith Magazine so I wrote my own....

I built my future on love.



Inspired by the biographies on www.smithmag.net:

Living in dreamworld. Waking up sucks.

Luise

You, a bruise. Me, a scar.

by William Lauth

I photoshopped out your worst features

by Melissa Appleby

Always the salad. Never the steak.

by Melissa Appleby

Pee'd on White House floor. Really.

by Phil Jacobsen

I only did it for him.

by Colleen Scheider

Inertia should be my middle name.

by Leesa Bequette

Ian Tim Greg Jon Fernando Eric

by Rose Hutchinson

spending money like i've got it

by oneHOTblonde

I could live on tater tots

by Andy Glaze

thank you to writers and www.smithmag.net

[5:14:23 PM] LILL says: she almost has as many houses as McCain
[5:14:28 PM] LILL says: by the way
[5:14:38 PM] LILL says: the anticipation for the election is killing me
[5:14:43 PM] LILL says: i just want to find out the results already
[5:14:45 PM] LILL says: and move on
[5:14:52 PM] LILL says: my Obama facebook profile picture is going to go back to normal
[5:14:58 PM] Q says: ah i know
[5:15:02 PM] LILL says: and im going to stop harassing people on facebook with articles about OBAMA
[5:15:03 PM] Q says: its coming so soon!
[5:15:06 PM] LILL says: i just want to know!
[5:15:11 PM] LILL says: I have a feeling we've got our hopes up
[5:15:17 PM] LILL says: our country is far behind
[5:15:22 PM] LILL says: unintelligent for the most part
[5:15:32 PM] LILL says: certainly uninformed and uninterested in most areas
[5:15:43 PM] LILL says: and we are so unwilling to change
[5:15:52 PM] LILL says: so my hopes aren't up
[5:15:55 PM] LILL says: why should they be
[5:16:00 PM] Q says: mine aren't either
[5:16:10 PM] LILL says: i really had them up for Gore
[5:16:14 PM] LILL says: I really had them up more for 2004
[5:16:18 PM] Q says: we live in the most liberal part of the country
[5:16:19 PM] LILL says: then there was bush then bush
[5:16:21 PM] LILL says: and i was like
[5:16:23 PM] LILL says: HOW?
[5:16:50 PM] Q says: and theres a whole HUGE mass of people that live a completely different lifestyle than we do...
[5:16:54 PM] LILL says: i know!
[5:17:05 PM] LILL says: they just can't see anything good about Obama
[5:17:16 PM] LILL says: there are actually ppl who are convinced he's a muslim terrorist
[5:17:18 PM] Q says: because he's not white too
[5:17:20 PM] LILL says: are you kidding me?
[5:17:25 PM] Q says: I KNOW!
[5:17:32 PM] LILL says: then it scares me coz im like well maybe they know something we don't know
[5:17:40 PM] LILL says: sometimes i think that im just as easily fooled by what i hear as they are
[5:17:47 PM] LILL says: how DOES anyone know what to believe
[5:17:55 PM] Q says: and the fact that people around here that we know are going to vote for mccain scares me
[5:17:56 PM] LILL says: when is it the media and when is it your real instinct
[5:18:03 PM] LILL says: we know McCain ppl
[5:18:07 PM] LILL says: it's ridiculous
[5:18:09 PM] Q says: T*
[5:18:11 PM] LILL says: i dont know why im even friends with them
[5:18:15 PM] LILL says: and R!!!
[5:18:15 PM] Q says: R*
[5:18:17 PM] LILL says: yeah
[5:18:22 PM] LILL says: coz his parents have a business
[5:18:25 PM] LILL says: and they dont want taxes
[5:18:29 PM] LILL says: is that all ppl care about?
[5:18:33 PM] Q says: your dad has a business
[5:18:35 PM] LILL says: losing some money that will be used for the good
[5:18:40 PM] Q says: my parents both do
[5:18:45 PM] LILL says: yeah thats true
[5:19:05 PM] Q says: and if people would realize that taxes are only going up for people that make over 250,000 a year!
[5:19:15 PM] Q says: well those people should pay higher taxes!
[5:19:15 PM] LILL says: i know!
[5:19:22 PM] LILL says: its the people who just dont read
[5:19:23 PM] LILL says: they don't read
[5:19:29 PM] LILL says: and therefore they dont know
[5:19:32 PM] LILL says: they just keep saying
[5:19:33 PM] Q says: improve the school systems
[5:19:36 PM] LILL says: "obama doesnt have experience"
[5:19:42 PM] LILL says: oh come on!
[5:19:50 PM] Q says: i know!
[5:20:40 PM] LILL says: grr
[5:20:42 PM] LILL says: it scares me
[5:21:01 PM] Q says: can you imagine palin and mccain
[5:21:13 PM] Q says: running this country!?!?!
[5:21:27 PM] Q says: even republicans are publicly endorsing obama!
[5:21:35 PM] Q says: what does that tell you???
[5:22:55 PM] LILL says: omg
[5:22:56 PM] LILL says: scary
[5:22:59 PM] LILL says: my sister has had nightmares about Palin as President
[5:23:03 PM] LILL says: haha i know
[5:23:05 PM] LILL says: seriously
[5:23:08 PM] LILL says: their campaign is a joke
[5:23:09 PM] LILL says: thats why
[5:23:20 PM] LILL says: it would be disgusting to have a white president
[5:23:39 PM] LILL says: white white fake blond wife who has no credibility unlike Michelle Obama
[5:23:47 PM] LILL says: and then there is Sarah Palin
[5:23:50 PM] Q says: ew i know!
[5:24:09 PM] LILL says: whose husband, if he becomes the first man, would only make a contribution to our country as a SNOWMOBILER
[5:24:11 PM] LILL says: for real?
[5:24:20 PM] LILL says: Americans think this is the kind of family that runs the White House
[5:24:21 PM] Q says: I KNOW
[5:24:25 PM] LILL says: that's an insult to my intelligence

No, it's not incorrect, it's simply a ColloquiaLILism

I can't help but love word play, especially after having grown up with my grammar, manner and vocabulary conscious grandma, who has earned the fitting moniker of Grammer (which is of course pronounced like "Gramma" since Bostonians have the idear that the " r" fell off the moving cah.) So she lectured me the differences between I & me, so I would know that "she make a Sunshine cake with my sister and me", but only if "Julia and I ate dinner first". And recently I thought that after four years of a private college education taught me everything, I realized that she could still teach me that you can't call something "really unique" because if it's unique, then it's completely singular and there's no need for an superlative or comparative adjective in front of another adjective.

My argument was that it was a colloquialism, since our everyday teenagers and adults alike use this kind of exaggerated, over-adjectified phrase. (I did not win the argument, because there was no stretching or bending the rules of grammar.)

However, I continued to think about the definition of a colloquialism. I feel like our language is so exemplary (maybe embarrassingly so) of colloquialisms all over the country. We've got "y'all" in the south and "that's wicked awesome" up by me. Can you really argue that there's anything wrong with that kind of talk? I'll be the first one to take after my grammar-grandma and defend the use of I not me or "I goes before E except after C", but there's no way you can take away those really unique ways of talking in each part of the country.

And don't even get me started about Italy...I'd love to start writing down all the ways in which they have warped and bent and changed the rules of their language. Each region has it's own!! (well, what do you expect? you know how the Italians love to bend the rules....)

I'll have to think about those words they have when I'm not so tired...then I'll write them down (for all you Grammar and Grandpa's out there!) In the meanwhile, if you'd like to argue that "really unique" isn't a colloquialism, then I'll at least argue that it's a colloquiaLILLism.





PS and if you're curious, here's my defense for a colloquialism, as written in Webster dictionary:
Colloquialisms or colloquial language are considered to be characteristic of or only appropriate for ordinary, familiar or informal conversation rather than formal speech or writing. Some examples of informal colloquialisms can include words (such as "y'all" or "gonna" or "wanna"), phrases (such as "ain't nothin'", "dressed for bear"

Long live Coldplay!!

There is nothing better than watching a 3 year old start on a "why" and "why?", "but why" tirade about my favorite band of all time. What's even better is not knowing how to answer her questions.

bambina: "Why does he sleep alone", she asks.
me: "I don't know..."
bambina:"but you're a grown-up. You're supposed to know."
me:"Grown-up's don't know everything."
bambina:"Why?".....
(and it continues with about six-hundred more "why"s.)

COLDPLAY:
Viva la Vida

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemies eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing:
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt, and pillars of sand

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword, and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
Once you'd gone it was never, never an honest word
That was when I ruled the world

It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in.
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn't believe what I'd become

Revolutionaries Wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever want to be king?

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword, and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

Hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword, and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

Deep breaths

As we played outside today, I watched how a child picks up the little white round cotton-ball flowers out of the grass. A Dandelion. It's ironic that such an airy, fairy-like cottony sprout would refer to a fierce grounded predator.

I watched how in one breath, an exhale, could disconnect the small seeds, along with its white cotton parachute...In one breath, it lifted up and made it fly up and away. The seeds float off, in search of a place to settle down. It might be under the next tree, but it risks the chance of being caught in an unexpected gust of wind that might blow through at that exact moment, causing the seed to be carried to a place faraway from home. There's no foreseeing where a seed could land. Its destination is completely random for each of the seeds that release from the original dandelion. One thing is determinable: this seedling is looking for a place and not just any place. A place where it will be protected. A place where it will be grounded, where it can put its roots into the earth. What are the chances it will be grounded? What are the chances it will sprout roots and grow? Only time can tell.

Let it grow!

So, Lil is here...time to get blogging!

The hardest part is getting something started (for example: I've wanted to start a blog for more than a year now) but now this is like having a plant, because I have to tend to it often and keep adding to it (no water in this blog). I've planted the seed, now I'm going to tend to it and hope it blooms.

In fact, I've been very busy watching things develop and grow lately. I'm absolutely consumed by how the US presidential election has developed into a full-fledged media frenzy! But who can resist all the Obama/Biden vs. McCain/Palin drama!!?!? I've got my hands on articles, videos, NPR analyses, and even the SNL skits, such as the most recent one between Biden/Palin. It's sooo hilarious!! I love how Tina Fey makes a comeback on SNL just to ridicule Palin (and she does it seamlessly and brilliantly.) I've always admired comedians...how on earth do you keep a straight face when you are imitating a politician WINKING on public television!!!?!? (I still can't believe Palin did that...).

I was itching to get involved with the campaign, so I donated by purchasing some souvenir-ish stuff like Obama pins. Then I've used facebook and gmail to share his message to all my friends...but i still feel like I haven't done enough. Now I'm getting in contact with the Democrats Abroad in Italy. Apparently they are doing a debate-watching party at one of the local universities. That's great! Most importantly I have to start figuring out my absentee ballot because I want to make sure I get it in on time. If you ever have any questions about voting abroad, the best website is this one!!!

Now let's just hope this flower blooms on November 4th. GOBAMA!

Stick together

Ciao....wow I finally did it! hello, YOU! Hello, me! my blog! i finally made a blog. i put it off for so long because of a few reasons: I was lazy...I was busy, I had my excuses such as homework...but really it was for all these insecurities and fear of being vulnerable. I mean now that I've written this, it's out there! It's published on the web...I already feel like I'm known! I also have a fear of being judged by friends and strangers alike.

This needs to change.

Oh, this blog is about change too! GOBAMA! The change we need! That's a big inspiration to make a change in my life now: to do something instead of putting it off. To speak my mind and to let other's know it...instead of hiding my opinions in fear of criticism. I've always admired those that speak their mind, whether to defend someone passionately or to make a risky comment that could result them humiliation. I love that courage. I mean why do I really care if my entry is perfect? ("perfect" doesn't exist) If they laugh or don't laugh at my jokes (I admit my future is not in television)? If my spelling is wrong (that's Microsoft's fault) or my stories are meaningful to me, yet meaningless to everyone else? (I'm not an author and who is this "everyone" anyway!!?) Maybe no one will read my blog.

And that' s fine with me because this blog will be my space to write cazzate about my life. To analyze and over-analyze things as boring as "why did I chose the pink scarf today?") and of course to express my not-very-exotic identity as a broke college grad white girl trying to find my destiny in a crystal ball (or on the horoscope websites) while building my future on a foundation as solid as jello, because i am building my future on love. This blog will be about my hybridity as an American, Italophile and ex-Pat...which will be extremely evident in my obsessive referencing to Italy, and through my hybrid lexicon of Italian and English.

This is my space to record the inner monologue that gets tossed around in my brain all day like dice in the dice popper of the 1990's "Frustration" board game. It's going to reveal a lot of frustration in fact....all my curiosity and confusion about the future. That's why my story starts with my open ended dot-dot-dot sentence:

So, Lil e' Qui...now what?


........................................................................................................................................................................

Welcome to my soliloquy.