mollylouhoo

Running in a river city.

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 17:56:50 -0500

Running in a river city.

I took this about a week ago while running. I enjoy a good...

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 18:59:22 -0500

I took this about a week ago while running. I enjoy a good sunset as much as the next person but this one was unbelievable!

New blanket=big yawn!

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 19:48:38 -0500

New blanket=big yawn!

Running in the Midwest in Jannuary.

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 19:03:03 -0500

Running in the Midwest in Jannuary.

I finished this book a few weeks ago. My dad recommended it to...

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 18:57:37 -0500

I finished this book a few weeks ago. My dad recommended it to me based on my love of Native American history and feminist theory. Susan Faludi makes the case that our country’s history of violence and concept of terrorism has established a cycle of oppressing women. She begins with the 9/11 attacks, unpacking media and political rhetoric to demonstrate how we revert to a pattern in which helpless women need to be rescued and protected by aggressive men. Women who step outside their role as damsels in distress are at best ignored and at worst openly attacked by society. She extends the theory to the Indian Wars extending from the Colonial Era to the late 1800s and the atomic age of the 1950s. At times the book seems a little heavy handed - partially because post-9/11 attitudes are still a little too fresh in my mind. It was aggravating to re-examine all that hostile rhetoric. But over all her argument is really well done and extremely compelling. It definitely got my ire up and made a fascinating connection across history.

http://www.susanfaludi.com/terror-dream.html

My friend Jeni posted these to Facebook, the hilarious work of...

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 19:51:17 -0500

My friend Jeni posted these to Facebook, the hilarious work of her friend Chad, and the nerdy girl’s answer to the ubiquitous Ryan Gosling meme. They crack my shit up!

Blanket for the Lucas family.

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 09:11:10 -0500

Blanket for the Lucas family.

Puppy Adventures

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 07:54:26 -0500

Puppy Adventures

Seen while running.

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 09:28:14 -0500

Seen while running.

Columbus Half-Marathon 2012

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:43:00 -0400

This past Sunday I got myself a bona fide hat-trick finishing my third half-marathon this year. I ran the Columbus Half in 2 hours 25 minutes. This one started much earlier than the other two. I was in corral E because I am slow.

I am not totally sure why I got the half-marathon bug. I am not sporty and I don’t get excited about team spirit. I played soccer in high school, hated games, loved practice. I did start running in high school because of soccer and that turned into the thing I loved the most. I loved that I could step out the door, stressed and confused and by mile three all the anxiety, frustration, and problems had dropped away. It was like I was sweating the bad mojo right out of my system and all that was left was me and the run.

I do enjoy the fact that when I am out there running a race with thousands of other people, all of us are shedding bad energy. It’s kind of amazing to look around at all the different shapes, sizes, and types of people and know that we are all doing this one big thing and we are doing it to better ourselves.

I took this picture while running. It illustrates the point - as we ran into Bexley I caught a glimpse of all the runners in front of me. This was just one highlight others included hearing Community Property by sex panther blaring through my headphones at mile 6.5 and Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangster by the Ghetto Boys at mile 7.83.

But the biggest highlight was finishing and getting my big-ass medal! This is a pretty big reason why I love running the half-marathons. You cannot beat a big, shiny, impressive finishers medal.

Damage caused by the Halifax Explosion by W.G. MacLaughlan,...

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 16:21:25 -0400

Damage caused by the Halifax Explosion by W.G. MacLaughlan, National Archives of Canada, C-017501

I just finished listening to Blizzard of Glass by Sally M. Walker about the Halifax explosion of 1917. It is a really quick listen or read and pretty fascinating for the sheer magnitude of the devastation. Until the atomic bomb was dropped it was the largest and most damaging explosion on record. The shock wave alone was strong enough to liquefy a person’s internal organs. The death toll is still debated but is estimated to be between 2,000 and 3,000 with 9,000 people injured. The explosion which was caused by the collision of the explosives laden SS Mont Blanc and the Imo, was followed by a blizzard that dumped over a foot of snow on the leveled city. It wasn’t the most exciting book, but the story is so bizarre and the science of the explosion is so fascinating that it helps carry some of the more tedious moments.

Enjoying the fall weather and keeping a vigilant eye out for...

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 16:20:17 -0400

Enjoying the fall weather and keeping a vigilant eye out for squirrels.

Salt Lake City

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 21:58:20 -0400

Salt Lake City

Practice trail run at Caesar Creek. This Whitetail Half Marathon...

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:28:53 -0400

Practice trail run at Caesar Creek. This Whitetail Half Marathon is going to be beautiful!

I finished this book a little while ago and forgot about...

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 20:17:21 -0400

I finished this book a little while ago and forgot about posting. It wasn’t what I expected. I hadn’t read any reviews about it or synopsis- I just downloaded it an started listening. Rather than an overview of the pilgrims and their journey to North America it is about their relationship with the Native Americans living there when they arrive. This is vastly more interesting to me given my interest in Native American history and issues. To be honest, I feel like I need to read it again. The relationships are so complicated and there are so many details and nuances that I want to go through it again and maybe even chart it! Definitely a fascinating read.

Ben Hill, early 1900s. Convicts labor in a rock quarry....

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 09:15:17 -0400

Ben Hill, early 1900s. Convicts labor in a rock quarry. Original Caption [Photograph of convicts laboring in rock quarry, Ben Hill, Fulton County, Georgia, ca. 1900-1939.], Vanishing Georgia Digital Collection, Georgia Archives

I finished this book a while ago but have been really reluctant to write about it. It even took me a while to finish reading it. It is a longer book but it is also difficult. Slavery by Another Name by Douglas A. Blackmon recounts the de jure slavery that took place in the south after the Civil War. Southern business and plantation owners, in cahoots with local law enforcement and courts, impressed African American men and women into abominable labor conditions using Jim Crow laws. Men would be sent into coal mines to work and die. They lived in barracks, chained together even while sleeping and were beaten for any infraction or attempt to escape. The system was unregulated and fueled by graft and hate. The system lasted well into the 1920s until the federal government finally decided to intercede.

You learn about Jim Crow laws and the KKK in history class - they are topics that are often treated in movies and on television. I got the sense as I was reading this book that this system of peonage was still too embarrassing, still too raw to discuss, even 140 years later. The reason is that the perpetrators were wealthy, “upstanding” citizens in the business community. Their descendants viewed them as exemplars of the American Dream because they didn’t know the true family history. I think it was these silences that I found the most distressing - that the voiceless continue to be voiceless and the story is swept away. This book brings the story into the full light of day and though it is difficult to read it is necessary.

Cincinnati —> Kentucky —> Cincinnati = 3...

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 09:51:32 -0400

Cincinnati —> Kentucky —> Cincinnati = 3 bridges

I have taken the next step in my “backyard...

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 22:37:46 -0400

I have taken the next step in my “backyard homesteading” adventures. I am dabbling in food preservation. I came home from Toledo last week and there were ten pounds of tomatoes in the fridge. Even I can’t eat that much caprese salad. So I pulled out the canning supplies I have been steadily collecting and put up four jars of tomato sauce. I came home from Cincinnati this Friday to seven pounds of tomatoes and two early butternut squashes. So I baked and froze the squash (we are planning to have Thanksgiving at our house this year) and oven-dried the tomatoes. The tomatoes are very tasty and, considering what a small jar of them costs at the grocery, represent no small amount of savings. There are also herb bundles around the house and I am beginning to develop very serious plans about gardening for major quantity next year.

I am really into running across bridges lately. Maumee River,...

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 20:34:00 -0400

I am really into running across bridges lately. Maumee River, Toledo.

River Raisin Battlefield National Historic Site

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 08:50:00 -0400

River Raisin Battlefield National Historic Site