Sandy Beach, in Acadia National Park.

Maine, and especially Acadia Park, is as beautiful as I remember it. And cold! I was a bit scared to camp, in that little tent in the middle of the snowy forest on an island in the ocean in 20 degree weather... But my new sleeping bag worked just fine! We heard owls singing to each other, saw the crisp Maine stars, sang in the car, read a "green building 101" book out loud, went on a veggie (and fruit, hot chocolate, cheesecake and Red Hot Blues chips) cleanse, and spent earth hour (8-9 p.m. on Saturday) eating homemade cheesecake around a fire with some kind environmental education folks from Unity College. I'm feeling solid, again! Such a reminder of what I need to feel grounded in this world: time with good friends, real wilderness, some challenge and a little singing.

Somewhere along the drive on Rte. 1.

Here are some of my favorite places and spaces on campus.
This first one is the ceiling of my new favorite study room, in Widener Library.
It's a space that used to be exterior,
between two buildings, until someone added the glass ceiling, lighting fixtures, etc. When it's gorgeous outside but I have to study, this is the place to be.



Here's the law library, which is huge, tres nice and dependably quiet
(and there's always coffee and tea!).


The Sanders Theatre stage, at Memorial Hall. I heard Mark O'Connor do a fiddle lecture/concert here a few weeks ago that edified and inspired.


The Fine Arts library reading room, where I'm sitting now. This picture (taken with my MacBook, like the rest of them) doesn't do it justice. There are wide, long wooden tables with Shaker-style chairs, and the light is clean and soft from the wall of windows.

Love!

Oh, the job search...

Would be so much easier if I had a real clue where I wanted to go! But here are some great do-good artsy take-care-of-your-mama (as in mama earth) job search engines that I've been making good use of. Will keep you all posted. (And if you hear of any particularly fabulous positions opening up, pass them along!)

www.idealist.org
www.justmeans.com
www.grist.org
MERC (Museum Employment Resource Center)
HGSE's super joblist

I worry about the dumbest things. For instance, I was dreading an Easter weekend with my good friends gone from the city, and what turns up? A game of pool, some frisbee in the park down the street from my house, squash ratatouille and singing harmonies, a productive and fun afternoon at a cafe, plans for dinner in Chinatown tomorrow... all with folks with whom I usually don't get to hang out!! To top it all off, the blue sky and sun have just been gorgeous, I have a clean bathroom and kitchen, and my hair actually behaved like I wanted it to today. I mean, really.

Look who came to visit!



(Michelle and Vanessa, after brunch at the Neighborhood Cafe!)

Kelly, this amazingly kind and talented woman in my class, is taking photos of folks in our program. Her plan is to document each of us working on/in our art form. We took these yesterday on the Weeks Bridge, over the Charles River. It was chilly! Click the picture to see the rest. (Check out Harvard's 'skyline,' the crew rowers and the boathouse in the background. I love the shoes pictures, best!)

In thanks for:

1. new friends
2. discipline and follow-through
3. oatmeal in the morning
4. Jose Gonzalez singing Heartbeats
5. ice skating!
6. being able to say thanks
7. Maine next week
8. cutie-patootie piano students (Happy birthday, miss Carrie!)
9. prairie dogs
10. old friends

The Future of Energy (Science Center Lecture Hall C, One Oxford St., Cambridge, MA)

Wednesday, Mar 12, 2008
5:30p

Description: "Another Inconvenient Truth?" Speaker: Anne Lauvergeon, Chief Executive Officer of Areva, the world leader in the nuclear energy industry.

In 2006, Lauvergeon was ranked by the magazine Forbes as the eighth-most powerful woman in the world, second-most in Europe and most powerful in France.

Finding a secure, safe and reliable source of energy to power world economic growth will be one of the great challenges of this century. The Harvard University Center for the Environment invites the Harvard community to take up the challenge by participating in this ongoing series of discussions.
Web site: areva.com/servlet/home-en.html

To be thankful for today:

1. friends who bring the (dance) party with them
2. a truly fabulous roommate
3. the public library
4. finally getting a replacement toothbrush thingy for my fancy-schmancy toothbrush
5. super clean teeth from the afore-mentioned super toothbrush
6. impromptu singing on the T
7. serious considerations of a nose ring (just a little sparkly one...!)
8. asparagus and mushrooms
9. sisters and Jamie (who might as well be a sister)
10. getting to do meaningful work with passionate, smart people

Anna and Amy, shining with the light of who-knows-what.

Snowshoeing, last weekend. There were scary avalanche warnings,
so we only went half-way up Mt. Washington. But it was gorgeous!!

Hi, Beth, and everybody else! This is venerable old Widener Library, where I'm feverishly trying to finish a paper. And, umm, procrastinating by posting these pictures. Sigh... Back to work.

I love this picture! It's a pretty typical scene of Claire and me goofing off. (And that's Rory, probably cooking up something yummy.)

And now for a bit of shameless (though not without cringing) self promotion... If you get a chance, check out www.myspace.com/amylousings and let me know what you think! I'm going to try to add another song soon-- one I wrote a few weeks ago, called Love Song to the People in the City (which I really like!).

p.s. This is interesting! Click below to read more.

Dispatches From The Edge: Seth Kantner's Changing Alaska

From his vantage — both as a resident of the Alaskan coast and a man who grew up attuned to the land and its ways — Seth Kantner experiences climate change and globalization almost daily. Many of us read about these changes; Kantner and his neighbors are living them. Orion will post a new dispatch here twice a month as Kantner chronicles the story of change coming to his land, and his doorstep.

Things to be thankful for this weekend:

1. SNOW! Record amounts, in New Hampshire and the White Mountains. Lovely...
2. great friends to hang out with, and friends who call out of the blue
3. Girl Scout cookies
4. snowshoeing and comfy conversation
5. the piano at the AMC lodge
6. the view of Mt. Washington
7. "Bridget," the Mini Cooper's GPS system
8. singing in the car with the girls
9. coming home to sunny Cambridge
10. Wendy's good news!