The rap

I went to the Green California business conference this week (they had a curriculum session), an event that was notable for several reasons:

1.  The radio stations in the northern central valley are pretty much either:

• Spanish language (awesome, as I like to believe I am 10% fluent and therefore listen attentively until the concentration required to translate a few scattered words makes me tired).
• Soft contemporary with a strong love of Jesus (I heard you can cure depression through prayer!  This was an actual testimonial that I heard on the radio which killed a few of my brain cells) 
• “Today’s hits without the rap”, which immediately made me think, “Oh, this is the big ‘ole racist radio station”.  I couldn’t quite understand how this was an actual corporate catch phrase. There are so many problems with it:
  1. It’s just rap.  Not “the rap”.  
  2. Couldn’t they just play hits without “the rap”?  I mean, without announcing it?  Wouldn’t people figure it out?  The marketing of it seems insidious.  
  3. What is wrong with rap?  They played Katy Perry heavily, which means that there were plenty of (bubblegum) sex metaphors and innuendo, so it can’t be the perceived “content” of rap.  Is it the style?  Again, I will point to the rap-influenced bridges in Katy Perry’s new dark horse song, which seem to rule that out. 

2.  There was not one vegetarian option for lunch, which is perhaps the pinnacle of irony (given the water required to raise meat.  In CA, a drought  state.  At a green CA conference.)  Meatless Mondays, ya’ll!

Exciting news:  Today is the 38^th anniversary of the birth of one of my favorite people, Natan.  He requested a smoked turkey.  This is going to be a great year for him, I can already tell.  He won an NEH grant to go to Oaxaca for the month of July, thereby making us a “family of scholars”, as I like to joke.  Our summer plans aren’t completely ironed out, but it’s looking like a pretty good one right now (albeit with a large carbon footprint).  We’re definitely going to the east coast for a wedding in early June, and then down to NYC for some touristing.  Other than that, I could be going on anywhere from 1-3 additional summer jaunts, and Natan will be living in Oaxaca and eating street corn for a whole month!  It’s going to be a rad one.

In honor of his 38^th, I made a gif.

My baby finally walks (a little bit)!  He is super wobbly, and can only take a few independent steps, but, by golly, he’s getting there!  Hypotonic babies are the cutest (and their parents get to carry them for years more than most!  Extra exercise!).

He loves the wooden blocks he got for his birthday and he builds something for his trains every day (usually a boring road).  Also, House Lannister?! (I bought that shirt at the thrift store thinking that it was House Baratheon.  I am an amateur.).