Word on the Streets

bookclub blog. . .

for those of you who are always asking what i am reading with my bookclub. . .
here is our blog:
needagoodbook.blogspot.com
feel free to go and check out our list of books read. also. feel free to comment on any of the posts. in your comments we would love to have other book titles suggested to us for consideration. read a good book lately? let us know!
thanks.

footbinding: snap, crackle & pop

anyone read snowflower and the secret fan lately? i am reading the chapter entitiled "footbinding" as i sit with my foot propped up on a pillow after walking most of the day in uncomfortable shoes and cringing with every word i read! my own foot is throbbing from being shoved in a shoe that was not well suited for it for one day. then i read about lily's feet being bound and her bones breaking with an audible snap as her mother (who inflicts the binding) demands she walk paces around the women's chambers to encourage the "progress"!

i will say one thing: what craziness women have suffered in the name of beauty and HOLY MENUDO i am glad i live now!
the book reads well and i am enjoying it outside of the described mutilation.

p.s. tomorrow i think i'll let my feet feel their free-est in my reef flip-flops!

Feeling more refined for just having read this. . .

re·fine:  /rɪˈfaɪn/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ri-fahyn]

–verb (used with object)

1.	to bring to a fine or a pure state; free from impurities: to refine metal, sugar, or petroleum.

2.	to purify from what is coarse, vulgar, or debasing; make elegant or cultured.

3.	to bring to a finer state or form by purifying.

4.	to make more fine, subtle, or precise: to refine one's writing style.

–verb (used without object) 

5.	to become pure.

6.	to become more fine, elegant, or polished.

7.	to make fine distinctions in thought or language. If you are looking for inspiration to be your best self--this is the article to read:

BYU Magazine Winter 2007 Devotional: Our Refined Heavenly Home

Forget self-help books or searching the popular magazines to find the hippest trends to which you ought to conform to be "updated & upgraded."
My mother just sent this to me and my siblings and it is such a worthy read. I thought of the many friends I know with whom this subject matter would resonate.
Here is to refining ourselves. . .