I just returned from a school district budget meeting where folks were invited to speak about the proposed budget plans for our Eugene school district. We are looking at a 30 million dollar shortfall next school year- so reconfiguration of schools has been suggested as one cost saving measure. As you can imagine- people are really passionate about no one shutting their precious school, or really changing anything. It was a yay for my school night, but the folks who showed up and spoke were people whose children attend the wealthiest schools in Eugene. They spoke of all the wonderful classes their kids have (one school has choir and 2 bands), their sense of community, and the importance of their identity. All the time I was just fuming at the reality of the inequality that exists in our schools in Eugene. So I did what any parent with an overly developed sense of justice would do. I wrote a letter to the superintendent. Here it is- and yes, it’s politely snarky.
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Greetings Superintendent Russell;

I just returned from the meeting this evening, and wanted to represent an opinion which would not have been well received by tonight’s crowd. My children attend McCornack, and sometimes when I talk with parents of children at schools with a wealthier demographic- I find myself feeling downright indignant at the inequity that exists between schools in 4J. Why do children at some schools in the south have more music, art, electives, and project based learning opportunities than children at my neighborhood school? I think I know the answer to this question.

The reconfiguration of schools may provide wonderful opportunities for schools to offer more to students- but only if program based curriculum goes hand in hand with that reconfiguration. If everyone receives the same offerings- then we will be one step closer to being a district that truly provides educational opportunities to all. The folks in the South aren’t going to like this idea- but parents like myself look at other schools that have more music, science, and electives- and wonder why some schools, simply because they haven’t a population that requires Special Ed or ELL services- and they have an administrator who builds their curriculum to reflect the values of the demographic of that catchment area, can offer so much more to their students.

At least my kids go to McCornack- and not Chavez (technically our neighborhood school), which struggles even more than our school does- and has no music program at all. I know the board has looked at the equity issue, but it will become extremely pronounced as restructuring is discussed. It’s not a budget issue- per se, but parents of kids in schools that struggle wonder if maybe this new system- whatever it ends up being- will produce greater educational equity at last. Or maybe it will just be more of the same. Cesar Chavez and McCornack are nothing like Menlo Park schools, nor are they likely to be if 4J doesn’t take drastic measures to move toward a more just and equitable system.

I continue to hope.

Best Regards,

Kirstin Nusser
McCornack parent

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I’m tired of a system where kids don’t get art and music because they go to a “poor” school. I’m tired of hearing wealthy parents moan about how their school is being constantly picked on despite being outstanding- and how merging with poorer schools would bring down their performance. I’m tired of listening to parents express entitlement, and seeing them being listened to- while Latino parents, and parents at poor schools just take what is given them and don’t dare dream of,or ask for, more for their children.

Yes- we are in a budget crisis- but we are also in an equity crisis.
I hope we can find our way out of BOTH.

Thank you for asking about how you too can order copies of my anxiously awaited full length Christmas CD entitled Long Winter’s Walk. This project is my very first- and it was a great experience bringing it to reality. Long Winter’s Walk features jazz interpretations of ancient and forgotten carols, plus a few modern tunes to help you ring in the season. 100% of proceeds from this project will benefit charities that provide after-school opportunities in music, art, and culture for low income schools.

I will be running CDs this week- and would love to bring you as many copies as you would like when we come up to Portland for Thanksgiving. CDs are $10 each and make *fabulous gifts*! Let me know in the comments section below how many you would like me to bring for you. The CD is also available for digital download from CD Baby, iTunes, and Amazon MP3.
Thanks!
Kirstin
p.s. on the back I have hyphenated my name, so that the Parmeter family can have SOME bragging rights : )

After much consideration, it has been decided that our Thanksgiving get together will be held at Rick and Tuyen’s house. Details will be forthcoming- but for now- here’s the plan for what folks will bring:
Rick and Tuyen-
Tuyen’s famous spring rolls, a family Thanksgiving tradition! : )
(possibly mashed potatoes too- did I hear this from my mom? I can make these too, if you want to just do spring rolls. Let me know)

Doug and Joyce- Turkey and stuffing

Jim Parmeter- Green Salad (+ pie optional)

Stan and Nancy- Rolls and butter

Kirstin- Cranberry dish

Ingrid and Brad- Squash dish + pie

Kendall and Keith- Raw vegetable plate & Raw fruit plate

Anyone else want to bring items to fill this list out? Possibilities could include:
apple cider/ candied yams/ ice cream/ etc.

Please leave any notes about this list in the comments section.
Love to all!
Kirstin

Hi Family! My Mom asked me to post the email she sent out here for people to respond to- so here is the email most of you received. Updates for time, etc can also be found here.
We are looking forward to seeing you all!
-Kirstin

Email from Joyce:

Thanksgiving is coming….. the turkey is getting fat!!!

We’re looking forward to another wonderful Thanksgiving gathering out in Sheridan!!!

When? Thanksgiving Day at a time of day that suits Wilma….maybe noonish and continuing as long as you wish – I will get more specific info out to you after talking with Rick & Tuyen. In any event, our family should all be here ready to greet anyone who comes – we have church around 10:00 on Main Street and you’re all welcome to join us if you wish.
Where? Doug & Joyce’s out on Rock Creek Road
Who? All are welcome…. double check the addresses so that all are invited in the event that I missed someone.
What? Potluck….. Doug and girls and their families will basically take care of the core things like turkey, gravy, dressing, potatoes, punch, coffee, tea. The rest of you can sign up or surprise us with items from the following list (or your own ideas!).

Cranberry sauces _______________
Pickle/olive plate _______________
Rolls & butter ___________________
Salads _____________________________
Fruit plate ________________________
Fruit salad ________________________
Green vegetable __________________
Raw vegetable plate _____________
Fudge _____________________________
Pies, desserts ____________________
Squash dish _______________________
Other ideas ________________________

You can share your ideas if you wish . I’m sure we’ll do well as long as we have electricity and running water! We look forward to sharing a 44+ year old 8mm film which we had made into a dvd. We have a cute segment of Rick at about 3 or 4 painting a model, also a fun sequence from our wedding. We were pretty cute too!!!
We hope you can make it on the 25th . It should even be warm this year!

Greetings folks! I was recently asked what I have been up to, and perhaps because I hadn’t had enough coffee/sleep/brain processing time- I just sort of stood there with my mouth gaping, and a big silence filling up the space. My life is not as pathetic as that momentary impression though- I have so much going on that I need some time to get it all compressed into a response. Kind of like what we call “the beachball of doom” on our computer- sometimes if you wait long enough you get the answer you wanted, you just have to be patient.
So- here’s the answer to what I have been up to:

Personal~
I just had friends visit from the UK, and we spent an amazing week in Otis, Oregon outside of Lincoln City. While there, we hiked, canoed, saw a seal, saw a herd of elk, shopped at the outlets, and went to the aquarium in Newport. We also cooked some great food and had some fun evenings playing games and visiting. It was incredibly restful and our rental house was amazing. I hope to stay there again. It was located just a few hundred yards from the Sitka center for Art and Ecology at the base of Cascade Head.

I have also been obsessed with Juvenile Literature lately- especially the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. Good, but not as riveting was Feed- a cautionary tale of a future with internet tweeting installed into our brains to both satisfy our every need, and manipulate our desires and spending. Creepy stuff. No microchip in my brain, thank you very much.

Kids are getting ready to go back to school, and I am scheduling actvities for the Fall, including theatre (musical in a month with Rose Children’s Theatre), and a Tai Chi class for me. Also arranging walking buddies, and other opportunities to get together with all the adults in my life that I miss during summer break because we are all running around.

Artistically~
I am sitting in tomorrow evening at a friend’s gig, and doing some crazy stuff including a tune taken from Anton Dvorak’s New World Symphony. I will be doing some gigs this fall with 2 guys whom I enjoy playing with. These playlists will include new songs (for me) from folks whose recordings are hard to find, let alone their music. Ethel Waters, OLD Lena Horne from her early days in the “darkie” movies, and obscure blues tunes.

This year I will be teaching music to 1st and 2nd graders at our school. I recently had a meeting with the teacher to create a music curriculum that reflects the class curriculum. It has been a fun challenge to find music that the kids will enjoy and be challenged by. We are going to have a lot of fun! I get to cover subjects from soil to Africa and Conservation. Wow. I am going to have to work a lot to pull this together.

This is the year that I record a Christmas album! In October, I will head into the studio to record some of the tunes I did for my last Holiday concert. I will be posting the music online for purchase, and proceeds will go to a secret project that I am working on. I can only tell you that it involves creating an opportunity for a child who can use all the opportunities they can get, but thus far has had very few advantages in life. Please plan to buy my Christmas album! I would like to raise $2k with this project.

Civically~
I am working with the board of the Willamette Jazz Society to help secure our 501c3 funding so that we can begin applying for grants. The Jazz Station is moving to a new, larger venue- and will need to step up its fundraising efforts to begin to build a vibrant community performance and education space. I am already beginning planning for our Black History Month programming. It’s going to be amazing- and will include a retrospective of tunes made famous by singers who have recently passed away- including Abbey Lincoln, and Lena Horne. I also want to have a film series, maybe a performance of some of Max Roach’s Freedom Suite, and other programming that is exciting to local audiences. It’s going to take some coordination. whew!

My own non-profit, Orpheus Collective, is going to launch a fundraising effort in Spring of 2011. Please save your change, cause I’m going to hit you up… each and everyone of you! Orpheus Collective’s mission is to provide After-School Music Education in Non-Classical musics to Students in Title 1 Schools in Eugene that receive less than an hour of music education a week. That’s pretty much every Title School in our community. It is a HUGE undertaking, but our first project is to have a Guitar class for 15 kids. Right now though, I am in the paperwork stage- registering as a non-profit with the State of Oregon.

Well, that- in a nutshell- is what I have been up to. Life has been busy- but wonderful. I am so glad I got to see so many of you at David and Carmel’s party. I love it when we can connect and catch up! If you ever are in Eugene, please let me know so we can get together. We also still have a guest room available for weary travelers. Hope to see you soon.
~Kirstin

We did it! With copious thanks to my Dad who has crazy skills, and with some hard work hauling, tearing-out, and sanding- we managed to complete a mini-remodel on the kitchen.
It became clear that this was needed when our oven, original to the house- 1964- started operating only in Hades mode. We would turn it on and the temperature would climb to over 600′- turning everything we baked into charcoal. I am not crazy about wall ovens, and it turned out they were way expensive to replace, so I thought we should go with a range/cooktop combo and tear out the dirty old cooktop as well- also original to the house.
If we were going to tear out the cooktop, we would have to take out the countertop- a circa 1980s off-white laminate with stains and burns beyond removal. Wouldn’t you know it- the dishwasher started making noises too, just as I was preparing estimates for the countertops, range, and hood. I figured we ought to replace our 30 year old dishwasher, and if we were taking that out- we might as well, replace that countertop as well, and if we were taking out the countertop- the old cast iron sink might as well go away, and then we would need a new faucet.
After much work- and an unexpected need to hire an electrician- the job is completed. Here is a short photo trip through our petit kitchen remodel:

The icky old oven is GONE!

Cutting into the old countertops- hooray!

A familiar sight to many in this family…

New IKEA (Whirlpool) range and hood

Dishwasher, sink, and new countertop

Aaaaah- allow me to wax poetic about the new sink and faucet for a second. The sink was found at Bring Recycling for $25. The faucet though was my big splash-out on the project. I absolutely fell in love with the commercial styling of this faucet. The pre-rinse sprayer and the way it dangles so gracefully from its pole. Everytime I see it I just feel awed. It is so beautiful to behold.

So that’s it in a nutshell- my petit kitchen remodel. Thanks Dad, for volunteering your amazing craftsmanship, and construction know-how for this project! I am so pleased with the outcome!

Come on by sometime and stay for coffee, or better yet- let me cook for you, in our new, lovely kitchen. Please call ahead for reservations.

Because it is beautiful and amazing and full of red worms! Even I am astounded by its incredible quality when I shovel it. With each turn of the spade, I smile as I move the rich, black soil to nourish other plants. I am proud of my compost. That’s why it gets its own post!

I had to look online to see what it is called when a certain smell reminds you of a moment long gone. And- there doesn’t seem to be a term for it! Strange though- according to scientists, we shouldn’t even be able to recall smell. I can- if I think of a turkey dinner, or a Christmas tree, or the smell of a swimming pool or video arcade- I can recall all those smells.
Here is what I found on smells and memory:
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Scientists have long wondered how we manage to remember smells despite the fact that each olfactory neuron in the epithelium only survives for about 60 days, to be replaced by a new cell. In most of the body, neurons die without any successors. But as the olfactory neurons die, a layer of stem cells beneath them constantly generates new olfactory neurons to maintain a steady supply.

“The riddle was, how can we remember smells when these neurons are constantly turning over and the new crop has to form new synapses?” says Buck. “Now we know the answer: Memories survive because the axons of neurons that express the same receptor always go to the same place.”
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Whay am I writing about this?
I just found an amazing chair at St. Vinnie’s- and it’s beautiful and wonderful and made of teak. I brought it home and oiled it lovingly, then laid down on the couch to read a book. The smell of the oil and the teak soaking it up reminded me of the smell of my dad working on some of the beautiful teak creations he has crafted through the years. What an amazing smell- I find myself sniffing my chair and being transported to a time long past. Did I mention it’s a really pretty chair? Here’s a picture:

After sniffing my chair- I went outside to ponder rototilling- and was once again overtaken by another memory-smell. The motor oil/gas that dad used in the chainsaw. That brought up another memory- the molding smell of carpet in the horrible green hornet van. In my mind the smell is that of mold and wet firewood, with lichen and moss and chainsaw gas.

I have so many smells that are special to me; the smell of the fabric dust in my mom’s sewing room, or the smell of stuffing and an overworked sewing machine. I can summon the smell of warm hay in the chicken shed. I can smell my eldest daughter’s stinky shoes, and my youngest daughter’s fishtank- just by thinking about them. These last 2 are not fond smells…

Anyway- the point is that smell is a powerful thing. What are the smells that bring back memories for you?

My child is 10 years old. 10 years old! How did this happen?

10 years ago, I held this little person in my arms. I don’t remember it- but pictures suggest that this actually happened. I won’t go into details on this- but my fervent prayer was that if I had another child- I would actually remember their birth- and damn, I will never forget how awful it was. I digress.
10 years ago- upon become a mother, an actual mom to an actual other person- I was really anxious. I was convinced that I would forget her somewhere, put her baby seat on top of the car and drive off- the anxiety dreams were horrible. We very slowly learned to live with each other, and very few really bad things happened.
My philosophy of life is that we all show up with our gifts and challenges. Lauren is an interesting little person- and she has had the same struggles, basically, since she was small. I remember being a self-righteous Sociology student and having a discussion of Nature Vs. Nurture. None of the students in the discussion had children. Now I think I know why our professor was kind of smiling to herself in a laughing way. Here is what I imagine her internal dialogue was:
“Ha- they haven’t a clue what they are in for. Here they are- so young- believing that they are ultimately powerful and can control all outcomes. Boy, life has a shocker in store for them!”

One of the most fascinating and wonderful things about being someone’s mother- (even now this amazes me and sometimes disturbs me as well), is that you get to watch them become, overcome, and mold the gifts they have into something that will bring joy and fulfillment to them and those around them. This is the mysterious part of life- that some folks will struggle all their lives with recurring challenges and never be able to surmount them. Some folks will overcome their challenges with such grace and strength that those around them are awed by their journey. And some people will quietly struggle with demons that others know nothing about, but they put so much energy and concerted effort into facing their challenges, that people around them admire them for reasons they don’t understand.
Likewise- some people work to build up their gifts for the benefit of people around them. Some will keep their gifts hidden away from fear of facing themselves. Some will only let themselves feel the joy of expressing their gifts a little bit.

All of this brings me back to being a parent. As a mom or dad, you get front-row seats to your child’s early years of becoming what they are meant to be. You get to puzzle out the significance of their gifts and their struggles- but you can’t talk about them- or you end up affecting their expression. Instead you watch, and wait, and try to help create opportunities for building up skills that will help them go out into the World and make their way.

I know that life will find my dear child who turns 10 today. I know that in too few years she will be leaving our home to make her way. Every child must do this, I know. But today, as I remember what it felt like to hold her tiny warm little self in my arms- I know that she will ultimately be fine. Life WILL find her. But while I can- I will work to help her to have the skills to face its challenges- and rise above them.

Happy Birthday to the little girl who first made me a mother.

Here’s another voice-over for NextStep Recycling. The engineer called me a “One Take Wonder” again. I may have a chance to be the voice of The March of Dimes. I hope that works out- this is super fun!
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