Eventful

The blog has been quiet the last couple of weeks, but not for lack of activity. Last week I had a colonoscopy, which wasn't fun, but necessary. I hesitate to even say anything about it, but decided that medical tests shouldn't be embarrassing, despite where things take place. The results of the test were once again evil bacteria, and even more evil medication to kill said bacteria. So this week has been mostly focusing on not vomiting or becoming so nauseated I believe I will vomit. I should say that peppermint gum works wonders, as does anti-nausea medication, though the pills are more expensive than gum at nearly $600 a bottle (thank you, insurance!).

I also went and heard/saw Kathleen Norris speak. I was super excited about the event, the culmination of a college's day of learning in community. Though she wasn't as inspiring a speaker as I had hoped, I appreciated her speech about stability and change, and I'm now particularly interested in reading her new book about acedia. I'd never heard of acedia before, but it's apparently one of a group of ancient "bad thoughts," if I have it correct. I'm sorry I missed her morning talk, because as the girls behind me described she read a lot of poetry and talked about Brokeback Mountain. What I was not impressed with was the girl sitting near me who snapped her gum throughout the whole talk.

More inspiring, in a different way, was the opening of Obama headquarters here in Sioux Falls. It was an interesting event because as we stood listening to the SD campaign leader speak, everyone was looking around, seemingly surprised to see so many Democrats gathered in one room in South Dakota. From the looks of it, I was not the only one who hadn't seen anything like this before. Barack wasn't there, but the leader guy asked if some people wanted to share why they were at the opening, and why they were voting for Barack. One gentleman in particular was moving, talking about how the Native American people look toward the future, and that he was voting for Barack for his granddaughter whom he was holding.

Equally uninspiring was a few people spouting the usual jokes about how evil the Republicans are, and how graced we were to be Democrats, along with a high school student who went on and on about how Obama is his savior, his saving grace. But still, flawed and all, I'm hoping to volunteer for the campaign here, to get involved for once. Not that SD will probably really matter, but it's nice to feel like it might.