Lagniappe – Page 6 – A Little Extra

Kingcake Baby

Before I saw this on the news, a friend sent me a link to this article, New Orleans Pelicans Reveal Stunning ‘King Cake Baby’ Mascot.

It’s creepy and all I can think is someone or someones had waaaaayyyyy too much to drink when this idea was hatched. Now those who know me know how proud I am to be from New Orleans. I think growing up in New Orleans in a large, Catholic, Italian family gave me a perspective on life that probably can’t be learned any other place, really. It has also made me the person I am today. I find that my childhood, adolescent, and very young adult experiences are very different than my partner’s and close group of friends and really almost anyone not from New Orleans. That being said, towns and cities all over the US and the world have their own uniqueness and traditions, and I am lovin’ learning about areas of the countries through friends that I have had very little exposure. I find it hysterical, also, that I married someone from the midwest (Indiana), and the friend I have known the longest in my life just moved to Michigan during one of the coldest winters to date.

I have just about lived outside (Lafayette, LA; summers in Mentone, AL; Atlanta, GA; and Greenville, NC) of New Orleans for as long as I lived in New Orleans. Perhaps I’m becoming a bit of an outsider cause seeing that life-size king cake baby doesn’t scream New Orleans fun and eccentricity to me, it yells a type of desperation on the part of the pelicans, and don’t get me started with that name or logo. But perhaps I am misreading it. Perhaps I am developing an outsider perspective.

But I do love thinking about how growing up in New Orleans gives me a unique perspective on food, fun, alcohol, friends, family, ethnicity, education, race, religion, culture, social class, weather, risk, gender, politics, and PARTIES! The time spent living outside New Orleans has afforded me the opportunity to reflect on these experiences and issues and also be open to other perspectives that are not my own.

If you haven’t seen the following, it’s a good one especially for the food references.

25 Ways You Know You’re From New Orleans

A Real Favorite

I love this quote because it shows how language perpetuates thoughts, assumptions, and systematic beliefs. There’s always more we can do to draw attention to deeply imbedded assumptions.

The Present

Yesterday I got caught up in thinking too much about the future, and one of my dear friends basically called me out by posting this to my facebook wall. I’m just gonna leave it right here for us all to ponder.

Passion

Two things I think about on almost a daily basis.

The passion one is hard because people don’t always understand it. But my passion for family, friends, students, and life is who I am at the core. The times in my life where I have tried to repress my passion have been some of the hardest, most painful times.

And then there’s this, which I have to practice and remind myself very, very often. Getting this and internalizing it has been one of the greatest gifts of the past year although it’s a constant process.

“We cannot selectively numb emotions, when we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions.” –Brene Brown

Hospira’s Commitment

Hospira’s Commitment. So this is Shane’s company. It shows the important work he does to make sure safe, quality products leave the plant everyday. If you’re in the hospital and getting an IV of something, chances are it’s probably made in Rocky Mount, NC.

Juggling

So a couple of weeks ago, I used the metaphor treading water to describe that particular week. I’m quite familiar with treading water, so that made sense. This week I felt like I was constantly juggling lots of different balls. To focus my full attention on one ball meant they would all fall down around me and knock me out. At least that’s always the fear. I mean, I don’t juggle for realz, so I’m not sure.

This week, I decided that the juggling took too much energy, and I just needed to let them fall around me. Once they all fell, I could spend my energy dealing with each one rather than trying to keep them all in the air.

Once I decided to write about this metaphor, I went in search of the perfect image, and what I found really surprised me. In hindsight, it probably shouldn’t have surprised me. Based on my findings, it turns out that according to the google images, women are doing most of the metaphorical juggling of life.

My first search term was juggling, and I was greeted with several categories the images were telling in each category: Juggling life, juggling work, and juggling chainsaws.

These are the images that come up when searching for juggling life. Based on the small sample of images, it seems the majority of people juggling life are white women with curves and coiffed hair.

This next series of images comes up when selecting juggling work. And while the majority are still women, there are a bit more men in this series.

But perhaps funny and disturbing was the category: juggling chainsaws. And of course, if these categories and images are to be believed, while women are out juggling life and work, men are juggling chainsaws.

An interesting quick study about how much visuals influence our beliefs and communicate values. This is why it’s so important to question what images are being used to represent and communicate these set of values and question why.

Treadmill vs. Outside

It’s warming here in Eastern North Carolina, which makes me happy so I can get off the treadmill and outside to run. I don’t mind running in the cold; it’s just easier to do the treadmill. I need to increase my mileage a bit and my speed. It’s a very different experience for me to go outside, and I have missed it. So this remains a priority for the weekend.

Lessons

It’s one thing to know things intellectually about ourselves, and as an academic, I am really good about intellectualizing feelings and rationalizing things. I can persuade myself and provide analysis about my thoughts, feelings, actions. And almost everything I’ve ever put my whole mind and heart and sheer will into, I have achieved.

But, there is still a huge difference in knowing “intellectually” certain things about myself and others and enacting and internalizing n my day to day life. Remembering and knowing our happiness is our own responsibility is different than enacting it and living it.

Realizing this power is one of the things I take with me into my 40s. I like thinking about the shine and my place in the world. How exciting.

I am quite fortunate to have some amazing friends who also enact this power and shine. 🙂

Hot Water

I saw an image today, and it really made me laugh and think. I don’t drink lots of tea, but I have several friends who are tea connoisseurs. (For me, I’m more a Long Island Tea drinker.) They have tea parties, and I actually really enjoy drinking tea, eating scones, and other goodies. It’s quite soothing, but I just don’t know all that much about the different types of teas.

Then I saw this image and remembered my post about treading water. And truth be told, I spend hours, days, weeks, and months in hot water because I’m not afraid to say what I’m thinking or others are thinking. So this reminded that even when I’m up to my neck in hot water or treading water or juggling lots of things (pick your metaphor), you can’t stop life and you still gotta be who are and act!