By Elizabeth Powell
Republic, your cool hands
On my schoolgirl shoulders.
Not sure what allegiances meant
Until the vows were held by heart,
By memory, by rote, by benign betrothal.
Republic, you were mine, I knew
Because of Mother's religious pamphlets:
Lindsay for Mayor.
McGovern for President.
How to Register Voters.
I didn't ever want to go to school
On Saturdays. The baby-sitter said
If Nixon won, I'd have to go. Me,
Your most cherished child bride.
I wanted a white communion dress
Like the ones the Catholic girls wore.
Republic, you know I wanted to play
Cards with Mother. Mother smoking
Marlboros, watching Watergate all week.
Citizen Mother all consumed at that confessional.
I liked the name Betsy Ross.
I liked the idea of sewing flags.
I liked the tattered textbook about the colonies.
So tender, so tender. My Republic,
I am pledged by my childish troth
So strangely to you.
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The Year of the Horse began very well here as Adam was admitted to the University of Michigan, which is currently his first choice! Whether he ends up going there depends on a bunch of things -- they haven't invited students yet into the business school or the honors program, and it's more expensive than most private colleges for out-of-state students -- but it's always great to get admitted to such an excellent school. He hasn't heard yet from Syracuse or visited Wisconsin, and he has really nice offers from Indiana and Maryland, so he has lots to think about.
I spent my day working on more cleaning/organizing and writing a review of Deep Space Nine's "Blaze of Glory", the last Eddington episode (sadly not one with lots of discussions about Jean Valjean and Javert). We picked up Daniel and celebrated the Chinese New Year with my parents by eating Chinese food (my mother found orange tofu which was yummy), then we came home and watched Alexander, which is still much too long and the acting is vastly better than the script, but it's still entertaining historical crack! A couple of photos of chocolate-making at Mount Vernon over the holidays:
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