family

team siena

last saturday, july 11th, our daughter siena malia was born. both the baby and the mama are healthy and beautiful.

now, so much is happening - so much to learn, so much to do, so much to take in - and all my instincts point forward. but for a moment i want to look backwards, briefly and humbly, and thank team siena, a collection of people, nearly all women, who helped us get to where we are now.

before siena's birth, sarah and i gained both knowledge and confidence by workshops sponsored by UCSF's women's health resource center and UCSF's osher center for integrative medicine. we learned a lot about labor - and life - from nancy bardacke's mindful birthing program and a lot about breastfeeding from sabrina rascon's breastfeeding workshop.

siena was born at UCSF's children hospital, where she - and we - received constant care and attention from nurses, midwives, and lactation consultants like aislinn bishop, karen "fabulous" cullen, sabrina miller, therese moran, sarah norse, dawn reidy, and melanie vose.


jini washburn, sarah's mom and my mother-in-law, was a huge part of team siena. jini was there throughout the delivery, offering encouragement, massages, support, and love. thanks jini.


kathy woo was our doula. kathy is a force of nature. at every twist and turn, kathy offered superhuman support. a week after the delivery, i'm still trying to figure out how kathy did the things she did. thank you kathy.

sharon wiener was our midwife. sharon was there during the first trimester, the second trimester, and the third trimester, and, miraculously, was at the hospital during the delivery. when sharon spoke, sarah listened. when sharon said push, sarah pushed. and when sharon said "let's have your baby," we had our baby. thank you sharon, again and again.

thank you team siena.

08-08-08

yesterday afternoon, sarah and i converged in arcata, and by late last night she was here in the octagon at stonelake farm. in the morning, i explained to her how the eight-sided tenure narrative writing machine works and she suggested a few excellent configurations. later, sarah surveyed stonelake's garden and created one of her signature salads.


happy great eights day!

a family reunion in colorado

when it comes to states, my heart and history belong to california. but colorado sure is purty.


last week, sarah and i travelled to colorado for a mcgrew family reunion (sarah's mom's side). but before the reunion, we headed to leadville, to see sarah's sister jewlee, her partner sam, and their five dogs.


i like elevation and leadville, which reaches 10,152 feet (3094 m), is the highest town or city in the US. it's also one of the most breath-taking, surrounded by mount massive, mount elbert, and other fourteeners.


after a few days in leadville, we headed south, to wetmore, to visit with nan davenport, director of the wetmore community library, part of the mighty davenport family, and one of those humans who upon meeting you stop and say to yourself, "wow, what a unique person!" wetmore community library is a one-room treasure chest of knowledge and serves as the heart of wetmore. it also organizes the community square dances, which occur about twice a year and bring out the whole community, from teens to old-timers. meeting nan and her family and square dancing with the folks of wetmore (and nearby florence) were trip highlights.





then we jumped back in the car and drove north of denver and west of fort collins and landed in estes park to reunion with the mcgrew crew. we were nineteen, ranging from a newly minted one-year old to a few who got senior discounts to the nearby rocky mountain national park. three generations of mcgrews shuttled to bear lake and ate delicious sammies, played miniature golf under a big hot sun, told stories and shared histories on the deck late into the night, and gathered for a photograph or two.






thanks mcgrews. thanks colorado. i look forward to seeing both of you again real soon.

the magic bus

on monday, sarah, shinjoung yeo, and james jacobs leave for a two week road-trip across northern california. their schedule includes visits with ten public libraries. their mode of transportation is a magical bookmobile - one that downloads books from the public domain, prints them, binds them, and then gives them away for free.


here, i think, is how it works. first, they roll up in the bookmobile, park in front of a library, and unpack their gear.


second, through various means, including the satellite dish on the top of the bus, books and other goodies are downloaded from the public domain to the bookmobile.


the books are stored digitally on the printer. a book is selected and the printer prints.


then you bind the book. this machine takes the printed pages, applies wax, and binds.


next, the sides are cropped and the book's cover is added. having kids help out makes this stage easier and more fun.


finally, you give the book away for free.


the arms giving the book above belong to brewster kahle - the wizard behind the internet archive and the owner of the bookmobile. today at the mission branch of the san francisco library, brewster joined sarah, shinjoung, and james to test the gear and give out free books.

it resembled a circus - a free and public circus taking place on the sidewalk of one the busier streets in san francisco. free books, free bookmaking workshops, and free lessons about the public domain.




after the free festivities, there was much celebration.


sarah works at techsoup on the maintainIT project, gathering stories from librarians about how they maintain their public computers, and then distributing the tips and techniques on their web site, on their blog, and in free print guides or cookbooks. there's amazing things going on in libraries everyday, so when they can help a library in geneva, alabama find a great solution from a library in hearne, texas, they're pretty happy.

and because the cookbook is in the public domain, they can download the cookbook, make a book out of it, and distribute it for free to the librarians they visit. brilliant.

most bookmobiles carry books. this one makes them. sounds like a magic bus to me.

celebration

last night sarah and i returned from a mini-family reunion in minneapolis. today we finished packing our belongings. tomorrow we move.

the trip to minnesota was wonderful. sarah's whole family including her uncle jack and aunt liz were there. we celebrated sarah's sister jewlee's birthday. we celebrated don and jini's, sarah's parents, forty-fourth anniversary. and we celebrated our announcement that we're getting married.

nebraska

this weekend, sarah and i flew to omaha, nebraska to see sarah's auntie lee who lives in lincoln. auntie lee, a real gem of a person and a lifelong influence on sarah, recently turned 94 and it's unclear how many birthdays she has remaining. it was a beautiful visit.