Questioningly.

This is a little something from a Facebook meme. I don't know about how one tags other bloggers, but if you're reading this and you're a blogger, maybe you could tell me how? And maybe you would consider yourself tagged?


1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Paige was the name of the heroine in a movie called Parrish. I believe my mother saw it when she was pregnant with me. Somehow I think it may have also been a book.My birth middle name (Michele) is, of course, thanks to the Beatles. It was 1967, afterall.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? A few tears yesterday, and weeping two days ago after the mail came. But real crying? Sometime last week. Secreted away from my child. The crescendo in hurt, disappointment and garden variety tension.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Sometimes.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Turkey.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? No. I have kid. Singular.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes, I would. I think I'm funny, loyal and make other people feel better about their own humanity because mine is so very evident. But maybe not the latter one so much, because my passion and outspokeness are sometimes mistaken for haughtiness much in the same way that shyness can be mistaken for unfriendliness and arrogance.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM? Rarely. Only when really being mean (to my husband or siblings or parents) which shames me terribly. Or when being very silly and obvious in my sarcasm.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? I am way past a yes answer on that one. Today's choices are far more risk averse than yesteryear's.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Oatmeal if everyday. If I'm going wacky, then I'd have to say Golden Grahams or those Peanut Butter Panda Crunch things or something. Cheerios and raisin bran are good, too. Oh! And granola.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Generally not. Most of my shoes are not lace closures.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Jenny Piper's Some Like It Hot or The Professor or Brach's Yes We Candy. Or Breyer's chocolate. Or Ben & Jerry's Super Fudge Chunk or Chunky Monkey, neither of which I've had in years.... Blue Moon when in Michigan.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their demeanor -- aura, vibe, body language. Eyes and eye contact.

15. RED OR PINK? Both!

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Lack of softness or give in some situations, which comes across as strident, judgemental, impatient and harsh. Oh, I really don't like that about me.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My grandmothers. And my Aunt Temple Mae. My Aunt Sarah. My grandfathers. And friends with whom I've parted as yet unbridged ways -- you know who you are.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST? Yes!

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Charcoal Grey leggings and brown and black mocs.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? A backyard full of birds, my child's prattle, an airplane flying over the house and the low hum of my computer.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Brown? Or purple.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS? Newborn baby scent. Freshly brewed coffee. Burt's Bees baby wash. Lava soaped husband. My son's breath.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My husband.

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes, I do!

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? World Series baseball. Soccer in person when kids are playing. Football and basketball when it is particularly exciting and dramatic.

27. HAIR COLOR? A good solid medium brown with streaks of grey in front. I'm liking the grey. A LOT.

28. EYE COLOR? green-grey.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No.

30 FAVORITE FOOD? A sandwich. The kind you have to pull over for. Or hot chicken.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? The latter.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Enchanted.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Black.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Each has its own pleasantness. I enjoy the ritual of change.

35. HUGS OR KISSES? Both.

36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Ice cream.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Jolie and Will.

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Angel, Sara and Gaye (though I wish they would)

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? The Spirited Child.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? A feminist icon "swearing" on a book that "Smart women back up their words" -- my friend Leslie (who I see far too little) gave me.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? Weather.

42. FAVORITE SOUND(S) My child's voice. Speaking, singing, laughing. My husband talking to me or reading to me, or from my radio speakers.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Scotland, I think.

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Writing, singing, community organizing. I'm an expert on Pippi Longstocking, hot chicken, parental activism and can speak in public and sit on panels. I also give good phone, massage, know my way around a kitchen, can bark like a seal and turn a cartwheel.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Rochester, NY.

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Those aforementioned. Plus everyone else!

48. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER? I called him up on the phone to ask him to send me a record he'd put out. I was a music writer. He'd never heard of me and wasn't very nice to me.