the worms crawl in, the worms crawl out

I saw a pigeon this morning and I felt like we were related.
There wasn't any deep sorrow about this, like a reincarnated relative,
it was more like a feeling of origin (oranges)
I think Darwin was into pigeons

Well, this last week has been a frazzler.
I've been dealing with my children being hosts to creepy crawlies.
I swear it would be great if I wouldn't get so damn crazed
when it comes to keeping clean and parasites.
I'm yelling at my kids when I see them in their pjs on my couch,
freaking out about invisible eggs, they're everywhere!
Last night my daughter got up in the middle of the night with complaints that her butt hurt
My son had the same complaint as he was writhing around before I made the unholy discovery by flashlight.
I'm thinking now, it was just her eczema due to too many daily showers.
We still have to clean more and we still have to take one last dose of the chalky banana medicine.

I don't think christian people need to get hung up on evolution being true or real or not.
Genesis is a creation story.  Of course anthropocentric man is going to place himself as close to god as possible.  The bible was written by man, take it easy on yourself.  We all know man is fallible.
Plus, the idea of god looking like us doesn't jibe with my vision.
God came to me as a cloud.
Letters were drawn in the space between the clouds
First it looked like dog and then it was plainly god
I stared and stared, was this what I was seeing?
It remained until, as clouds often do, it morphed in the wind
The "g" and "d" started looking more like eyes and the "o" created a different shape
My view panned out and above me was bulging muscled chest and spread out wings with the head of an owl.
So, in my personal view, god is a super owl cloud that only shows itself during an egg moon.


Also, the last few days I have witnessed three different red-tailed hawk couples' mating ritual.
Tis the season!

Bones of a Red Runt pigeon from Darwin's study
Robert Clark/Institute

Fascism

from Wikipedia: Fascist movements promote violence between nations, political factions, and races as part of a social Darwinist and militarist stance that views violence between these groups as a natural and positive part of evolution.

What makes these movements think that they are the catalyst to evolution and destruction?

Just in case I forget.

Coaching Biology

My high school biology teacher, Mr. Aldridge, wanted us to call him "Coach," even though he was no longer a coach.

I don't remember how I came across this, but I found out he had a phone line with recorded Christian-themed stories. I called it church chat after Dana Carvey's SNL Church Lady show. The recording always began with his breath-held, nasal greeting, "He-llo, this is Coach." I used to call it all the time to abuse call-waiting so the phone wouldn't ring and clue my parents in on my late night conversations.

For a couple of classes he brought a puppet, whom also starred in his recorded church chat messages, to show off his ventriliquist skills. I don't remember if it was school or god related; I think I was in shock that a bunch of sophmores and juniors were being treated to a freaky puppet show. I took a basketball camp with him when I was in eighth grade, a venue where he would aptly go by Coach Aldridge, I think he found a way to haul out the dummy on that occasion--after I won the free-throw contest. Yes, I'm invoking my inner Al Bundy.

Sometimes he would stand up in front of the class with a yard stick and mindlessly pretend to strum it like a guitar while he coached biology. Inevitably, he would do a quick double strum and finish it off with a wide circular arm thrust that left his hand floating over his head.

Students could choose or were assigned different animals (snakes, a cayman, a chinchilla, fish, rats, a tarantula to name a few) to basically clean up after. Everyone but Ollie Stevens had a partner. Ollie had the tarantula--he had to wear a special glove to handle the arachnid. My partner, Darl, and I were in charge of the goldfish. We cleaned the tank. Coach told Darl and I how to siphon the water, but we weren't listening. I knew how to siphon another way from watching my neighbors empty their water bed with a garden hose. I sucked on the clear plastic tube and watched the nasty fish water go into my mouth. Everyone at my table and Coach witnessed this. One student squealed, Darl laughed and Ollie just shook his head. Coach was beside himself and asked me why I didn't use the other technique. I just stood over the sink spitting. I didn't really care, it got the job done.

One time a rat was missing from its cage. While I wasn't listening in class, I gazed at our fish tank that sat on our table. All of the sudden, I noticed a weird looking, pink, long thing was bobbing up and down. And then I noticed pink feet. I blurted out, "There's the rat!"

When we got to the evolution section of the biology book, he informed us that he wouldn't be teaching us that because he didn't believe in it. Everyone else in class was relieved to skip a chapter, but Ollie Stevens and I were bummed. We plucked off some beetles stuck on needles from Coach's insect collection and threw them in the trash to get back at him.