Spring Break is almost here! I'm am looking forward to some sort of break. I'm going to stay in Austin for the most part this spring break because I am going to work and attend SXSW.   I have been really busy lately with school, work, etc. Work is awesome.  I taught my first class this January and I LOVED it...its feels great when you see your students improve and progress.  I plan on working in the non-profit sector for a very, very long time. . I also had to hire a new intern and I finally realized how hard it is to hire someone.  I had two very qualified candidates who were pretty much equal.  In the end, I'm glad with who I hired.  

         Valentines Day just passed and it was full of surprises.  I got a knock on my door and opened it to find a FedEx man there with a big box for me. All in all, I got the Complete 7 Seasons of Gilmore Girls, a badass gift card, some candy, etc. from Juan for Valentines Day.   It was the most perfect gift ever! It was also a pretty awesome surprise since I hadn't spoken to Juan some time. It was a really sweet/heartfelt gift. I have been watching Gilmore Girls now whenever I have free-time.  Yep, I cant wait for Easter, though. It's going to be awesome this year.  Lots games and stuff are planned--my family practically has a field day with games and prizes, etc. 

        I just started reading Purgatorio by Dante and I think I might like it better than Inferno, I'm not sure yet but its a great read. I think I'll read something by Proust next.  Anyway, I gotta go.

 

C.Bermudez

                                                 

         

   

Dear Romanticists,

Ok, so I haven't updated in a long time.  So here I am, once again.   I haven't been this happy in such a long time. Wooh! Life is great. I'm great. Where do I start?  Let's see: I'm doing great in school which is always a plus.  I crossed into Theta Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority, Inc.. What else?...oh yeah, my MOM came to visit me and she saw my mariachi performance (the concert was the best by the way, as usual!).  

Ok, here are the new things in my life:

1. Theta Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority, Inc.
I'm super excited and proud to be apart of this organization that does so much for the community.  Also, my sisters are a hoot and BADASS to hang out with.  Say 'Hello' to the Beautiful Sisters of Beleza Real, Gamma Class 2007!


This is us without makeup but beautiful nonetheless. From left to right: Melissa (our Dean of Intake), Me, Illiana, Thuan and Gaby! 


Looking HOT as usual this is us getting ready to Pop Lock and Drop it! Left to right: Gaby, Thuan, Illian and Me!  Holla at ur girl!   I'm looking forward to working with my line sisters and the rest of my sisters next year!  I was also voted Secretary AND Webmistress for Theta Nu Xi--so yay me!


***"I like my beat down low and my top laid back..."***


2. My friends and family
So, as time goes by your true friends stay and the fake ones fade away.  Im just going to make a little paragraph for the people who have been there for me especially this semester...
Vicky: You have been a great friend to me from the beginning! I'm really blessed to have someone like you in my life, you epitomize a true friend!  Things haven't been easy but struggle makes you stronger!  I LOVE that I can call you and I KNOW that you will answer, in other words, you are always there for me.  Theres are times when you grow up when we are surrounded by a plethora of people who call themselves our friends and we take them to be so but then there are times when the days get a little darker for us and the plethora of people thins and the only ones left are the real friends.  I take pride in knowing that you are a real friend to me and I take pride in knowing that I can give that back to you.  ok, i didnt mean for that paragraph to be that serious...lol. Anyway, CONGRATS on finishing your project, bitch, I know you worked hard on it! Also, Congrats on finishing your first year at Notre Dame! WoOwOot!
My Beautiful Line Sisters: In the beginning I never thought that we would get this close but damn, we did. I know it hard for some people to beleive that when I call you my sister that I really mean it but I do and that know it goes the other way around.  Thuan you are a crazy super freak! Illiana you have the best advice! Gaby you are psychotic but awesome!  I love my beautiful line sisters.
My Family:  I have gotten closer to my family than ever before! Have you guys seen my God Daughter, Alexandra? Shes freaking BEAUTIFUL! 

Future Super Model!!

Here she is chillin' on Easter Sunday!
Anyway, going on...my mom visited me about two weeks ago and saw my mariachi performance.  It was cool; we hung out and we ate at the Hula Hut..man, thats a GOOD restaurant.  Maritza and Elicia are crazy as usual but I love them still and my little sister Evita always has a joke to tell. You should see Juan and Evita when they are together, they tell each other the cheesiest jokes and laugh like they're the funniest things in the world.    

So yeah, thats about it...I'm sure theres more but I can remember right now.  I think I overused the exclamation marks in this entry but I dont care.  Deal with it!!!!!!!! lol...ha. 

-Candy.Kalliope

ps. I didnt proofread and i usually eat my words...so yeah--just a warning...*which is kinda late lol
pss. Lord Byron and Jane Austen are awesome! *im a Romanticist at heart...(ok well maybe not hardcore lol)

“Same ol’, same ol’” as her mother used to say when people would ask her how her day went. Kathy never thought she would one day say the same thing.  As a matter of fact she said it about twice a day.  Once in the morning when she walked outside her house to wait for the school bus to pick up her four boys and once in the evening when her husband got home from working down at the mill all day. 

The bus would stop with a great squeaking of its engine, the door would fold open and as her children sleepily climbed in, Alice, the bus driver, always gave Kathy an inquiring shake of her head and Kathy would reply, “Same ol’, same ol.”   Kathy was now forty years old and spent the majority of her life as a loving and caring mother and wife.  Falling in love and getting married at an early age wasn’t part of her plans but neither was getting pregnant and there was no reversing that or anything else for that matter.

Wiping her hands on her red apron, Kathy walked to the sink and hesitated at the mess that awaited her. The sink was piled high with dirty dishes from that morning’s breakfast. With a sigh, she turned the knob of the faucet and looked out her kitchen window directly above the sink and frowned at what met her eyes. Her window was only eight feet from her neighbor’s house.  She could see the blue paint flaking off of the wood and wished the whole wall would crumble and flake off with the wind just like the paint. Her eyes followed the flaking chips and cracks that seemed to her to have appeared there overnight. With the sound of the water hitting the dishes, Kathy’s wandering eye steadied and the glaze in her eyes took her somewhere else.

Listening to the decorative fountain outside of the boutique, Kathy stood sideways in front of a full-length mirror at a ritzy store in Paris and examined the red elegant dress that she was thinking about buying.  She was 20 years old again and she never looked better or happier.  Swirling once in front of the mirror, with a big smile she yelled to the saleswoman, “I’ll take it!” Looking once again at her slim body unspoiled by childbirth, she yelled again, “In every color!” Walking out of the boutique she was followed by her three assistants dressed in red and who carried with them bag upon bag of clothes, jewels and shoes.  As she got into her private limo that had been waiting for her in front of the boutique, Kathy’s cell phone began to ring and with a flash of the diamond rings on her fingers she drew it out of her purse and answered with an airy, “’ello?”.  “Agent Katherine Starr, you know who this is and I have got an important mission for you.” The voice was one she had heard before. “The World Secret Service needs you to…” 

The bubbling in the pot caught Kathy’s attention; it was beginning to splash out of the sides of the pot and sizzled when it hit the orange glowing burners.  Snapping out of her daydream, she scurried to the stove, hastily turned the knob to medium and began to stir the pot.  The stew was beginning to burn and Kathy scraped the parts that were beginning to stick of the bottom of the pot to keep if from burning more. The stew done, Kathy turned off the stove and hastily finished the dishes that she had neglected earlier.  “Damn it,” she said to no one but the wind, “if I don’t pay attention I’ll never get anything done.”   And with that, she went about tidying up the rest of the old kitchen as best as she could but with years of wear and tear there wasn’t much she could do but move on with her day.

The sheets had taken a particularly long time to clean.  It wasn’t the yellow stains that were so hard to get out but the smell.  It lingered no matter how long she scrubbed them.  Her youngest son was the one with the problem but she was afraid that his problem would turn into a habit.  Sitting on the old toilet, Kathy was hunched over the tub scrubbing the sheets together with powdered soap in an effort to make them look new again.  With a steady rhythm, Kathy rubbed the sheets against one another and soon forgot what she was doing.

The orchestra was in the middle of a rousing waltz when Kathy made her grand entrance into the ballroom.  Her hair pulled up in an elegant knot behind her head and with a single curl furled down both sides of her face, Kathy gracefully glided down the long staircase where a handsome man in a tuxedo awaited her.  Taking her hand, he gently kissed it and then led her out into the waltzing crowd.  The orchestra struck up a new song with an upbeat tempo.  Swirling round and round, Kathy danced.  The orchestra’s tempo began to quicken and Kathy danced on her tippy-toes to keep up with the pace.  One-two-three. One-two-three.  The beat got faster and faster and the violinists’ bows began losing their hair as the notes flew off the pages.  Kathy could barely keep up. She could feel the beads of sweat dripping down her forehead and her breath grew shorter.  Finally with a flourish the song finished and…

With a sharp intake of air Kathy look down at her cramped hand; her knuckles were rubbed raw and her skin looked like an avocado left out in the sun.  The sheets were no longer dirty and no longer smelled as bad but Kathy’s hands hurt.  “Damn it,” she said to herself, “I’m going to end up driving myself crazy.”  Finished with the sheets, Kathy wrung them out, threw them into her basket and with a heavy sigh went into the backyard.  The clothesline was stretched between two metal poles a good way apart with another clothesline right next to it. Dropping the brown wicker basket at her feet Kathy reached up and started pulling the clothespins off the line and into front pocket of her red apron.   The un-kept grass scratched at her ankles and lower calves and she bent down to pull up her brown socks.  The clothespins that she had just stashed away tumbled out onto the ground and with a groan she kneeled down to picked them up.  Dusting off her plain grey and white dress and red apron she grabbed a sheet out of the basket and hung it on the line.  The wind began to pick up and Kathy quickened her pace so that the sheet didn’t get blown to the ground before she could finish pinning it up.  The wind made her dress swirl about her legs and the trees to sing with the breeze. 

Kathy blew out the last candle of her white frosting cake to the sound of applause.  Looking up from the cake she was surrounded by familiar faces.  Her mother was there with graying hair and red rimmed glasses and her father whom she had never met was even there.  “Congratulations, Kathy!  You have finally graduated, what’re you gonna do now?” asked her Mother.  “I’m going to travel the world and see new things and help different people”, Kathy replied with smile that almost broke her jaw. “Well, I’ll be damned,” said her father, “my daughter’s smart.” 

The wind came down with a whoosh and the basket was blown half across the yard.  Kathy saw it fly by and chased it before it got into the neighbors yard and before they decided since it was on their property that it was their property.  Scowling at the wind, Kathy caught the basket and went back into the house.  After putting the basket away, Kathy took out a bucket and a mop.  Filling the bucket with water, she added some powdered soap and then dipped the mop into the bucket.  Water rushed out of the sides and spread onto the floor.  Using her shoulder and back to push the mop along, Kathy tried to wash away the years of feet that tread on the floor. 

            The spotlight was on Kathy and she couldn’t see anyone at all but she could hear them clapping and hollering for her to sing again. The hair on the back of her neck stood on one end and she couldn’t believe that she was here at last.  “Encore! One more!” the crowd chanted.  With a smile of her deep red lips and a bat of her long lashes Kathy inhaled deeply and let loose the velvety rich voice that was her own. The chanting died down. With nothing but her voice Kathy entranced the crowd.  “I found a dream that I could speak to. A dream that I can call my own…” She sang and as the last note died the crowd erupted into a thunderous applause.  “Thank you,” she said to her fans, “I love you, too!”   With those last words, the curtain closed and the lights turned on.

She heard the bus before she actually saw it.  The engine was loud enough to wake the dead. With a quick glance at the clock she saw that it was already time for her sons to get home.  She quickly tried to mop up what she missed and then went out to the porch to wait for the bus to come around the corner. 

With a loud squeaking of its tires, the dirty yellow school bus stopped in front of Kathy’s house.  The boys came out of the bus running and pushing each other as usual.  Kathy smiled at the sight of them showing their brotherly love.   She followed them inside the house, “Don’t make a mess,” she called after them.  “There’s food on the stove but change before you eat. I don’t want you messing up your good clothes.”  She went into the kitchen and turned the knob on the stove to reheat the stew she had made in the morning. By the time the boys changed the stew was hot.  Opening the cabinet, Kathy took out four brown bowls and four spoons and served the boys their supper.  

Later on that evening while in bed, Kathy heard a knock at the door.  She slowly got up to unlock the bolt to let her husband in.  As he walked in the house he flung off his muddy work boots onto the floor that was mopped earlier and disrobed on his way to the bedroom.  Kathy followed him slowly picking up his boots and trail of clothing that he tossed on the floor.   “How was your day?” he called from the bedroom. “Same ol’, same ol’”, she replied.  She dumped the discarded clothes and boots into a pile at the foot of the bed.   Her husband was already in bed half asleep. “Turn off the light, honey, I’m dead tired”, he mumbled.

Kathy climbed into the bed next to her husband and reached over to turn off the lamp on the small black nightstand.  It took her a while for her eyes to get used to the darkness.  The objects in the bedroom cast curious shadows against the walls.

Kathy found herself walking a in a quiet shade.  The forest trees were tall and proud.  They didn’t let the light hit the forest floor.  Kathy was dressed in a red gown with a small crown on her head; she was waiting for someone to come for her.  Whoever it was, they were late and the forest floor grew darker and darker. Looking nervously around, Kathy jumped at the sounds of the forest night.  Finally, in the distance Kathy saw a light among the trees and ran towards it…
.