Week Twelve

February 15-21, 2009

So, let's just cut to the chase since it's been so long, shall we? I made a new recipe this week. With our large book purchase several weeks ago, I bought a cookbook by Bob Green (Oprah's foodie guy) and so I decided I would try a recipe. I picked his turkey chili recipe which actually wasn't too bad. It was a little more watery than I anticipated and a little bland but on the whole not bad. Even Kevin ate it. Oh, and it was supposed to make 4 servings and it made more like 10. I was eating that stuff for a week! But I was proud of myself for trying something new.

I was a winner again this week! I *love* Amy Sumrall and her generosity. She had another drawing for her This Little Piggy kit and she drew my name. I *love* it! And this kit is the one I used for the weather report this week. Isn't it so cute?

I had several migraines again this week but that's nothing new.



Went to a workshop on Saturday about being familiar with black culture, black sayings and how to be a better [caucasion] interpreter when interpreting for our customers. The workshop was okay. It didn't really teach me anything I hadn't already learned by growing up in St. Louis and working in a high school for 10 years. There was a funny story that the presenter shared with us but I don't know how much you all will appreciate it but I'll share anyway:

The presenter said he had been working with another [caucasion] intepreter who was captioning a video that was being signed by a black signer. After she was done captioning the video, she asked him to look over her work. He recalled one particular part of the video in which she captioned part of a conversation between a little girl and her mother.

White interpretation (paraphrased):

"My mother told me to go outside and get a branch off the tree so she could beat me with it."

Holy cow, woman! Really? This mother threatened to BEAT her kid with a TREE BRANCH??? This is why we need to integrate ourselves more with other cultures. Anyone who has had any experience with black culture (or really even southern culture in this instance) knows the translation should have sounded more like this:

"My mama hollered at me to go on outside and get myself a switch 'cause she was gonna whup me."

I was rather shocked once I heard the white woman's interpretation of the story. I just couldn't believe no one ever heard of a switch and the fact that someone was gonna get whupped with it.

After the workshop I was supposed to go to dinner and a show with some of the girls from work but none of them were at the workshop and I didn't have any contact information for any of them so I just went home. Had a bit of a migraine so that was okay, I guess.

Also, I finished reading The Kite Runner this week. I don't know how much any of you know about this book but I had a really hard time reading it due to its content. The book itself was excellent, very well written which made it very easy to read and hard to put down. I just had issues with some of the events that took place in the book mostly because it reminded me of some bad things that happened in my life. Again, I recommend reading this book but not if you are depressed or recently experienced a death of a family member or friend. The story will stay with you and if you are already sensitive, it will haunt you even longer.

Until next time...