Yesterday I watched Half Nelson, a very good movie about the unlikely friendship between a drug addict history teacher and one of his female students living on the edge of the drug culture. Her mother is a hard working single mother, and her brother is in prison on drug-related charges. Drey wonders out loud if she will be dragged down by the world around her.

There are two father figures in her life - Frank, the local drug dealer, who escaped arrest in the net that caught her brother, and Dan, her history teacher and basketball coach whom he stumbles upon, smoking cocaine in the school locker room. His drug use becomes a secret they share. Dan believes in Hegelian dialectics, in the notion that opposing forces pushing against each other are the essence of history, and essential for change, a theory that finds strong expression in his own life. What is refreshing about this film is that Dan is neither a good guy with a bad habit, nor a bad guy with some positive traits, and the internal contradictions are tearing him apart. Ryan Gosling, who plays Dan, was rightly nominated for an Academy Award for his work in this movie.

While I haven't been able to golf, I have been able to knit. (I've learned that the middle finger of the left hand plays little part in knitting). This is the beginnings of the baby blanket for baby Ella. I saw this blanket in a magazine, and loved the colors. The shower is mid-May, so I have a bit of a time crunch to get it done in time.

I'm also very happy to report that the swelling in my hand from the bee sting is down today . . .