Copper Queen's Journal

The spanish feels like it's spilling out of my ears; my head is swimming in a Spanish alphabet soup.

Walked the 2.5 miles from the office to Trader Joe's and back. I haven't been walking much the last two weeks, and it felt so good. The evenings are warm these days and I felt unencumbered. No hurries. No activity puts me in a better state of mind than walking. I thought about Miguel de Unamuno and his daily walks in Salamanca. He was a predictable sight out there on the same path, day after day. If people wanted to talk with him during the time he reserved for this practice, they had to meet him there on the road and walk alongside him.

For homework tonight I have to write an anthropomorphic poem about my favorite fruta o legumbra. This is so exciting to me because I love poetry and I love learning the spanish through literature. Today in class we read a poem by Neruda about tomatoes running through the streets, and another poem by a chicano about tomatoes being the happiest of all vegetales, growing round and smiling, looking like christmas trees.

I thought about how I can spend less time at work without quitting this job. There's a possibility that I might be able to pay off my heinous, old credit card bill in the next few months. If that happens then I will have no debt at all except my house. And then perhaps by this time next year I could switch to part-time and increase my schooling. It would be nice if I could work just 4 days a week, 6 hours a day. I would even be willing to work full-time during the busy season and then switch to part-time when the work slows.

I thought about this and many other things when I was walking. No matter what is passing through my mind, I cannot worry and walk simultaneously. Maybe anxiety doesn't like the outdoors or fresh air or exercise. Estuve feliz. Estoy feliz todavía.

Many years ago I participated often in online message boards, and I recall a conversation I had with a black man about Islam. He was vehemently anti-Islam and anti-Christian and I perceived him as wacked and "afro-centric." He told me that I and all the other black Muslims were suckers. Surprised, I asked him why he would say that? And he stated that the same people who would reject Christianity as the religion of the white slaveholders turn around and accept Islam, which is the religion of the Arab slaveholders. I told him that Islam was about liberty and there was no racism in it and Islam helped to abolish slavery, etc. He said, "Oh yeah? Then what about ..." and named off some African people that Arab Muslims had destroyed or forcibly converted. I told him that he was clearly ill-informed because when Islam spread through Africa it was willingly accepted and it was a very peaceable transition. I remember that he scoffed at me and emoted something along the lines of, *So-and-So leaps up and flees, leaving [me] to her ignorance and stupid religion.* I was taken aback and a little disturbed - that someone could make such untruths.

It's so strange to look back on my life then. ( Read more... )