[Englecturers] The Sleeper has Awaken

[Matthew Snyder]

Hello English Department People and Other Sadistes de le Mot,

It comes with much joy and little personal cost that I announce the birth of 
my first child, Sakura Charlene Snyder.  Since the Globalized Age of hybrid 
cars that are made both in Japan and the US are wholly upon us, we have 
struck a middle ground of sorts with Japanese-y first name (Sakura 
translates in Japanese to mean cherry blossom) and a last name that is 
firmly entrusted in the vocabulary of Americana (i.e. Snyder Bread).  Unlike 
my wife, I had the fortunate opportunity to watch the violence ensue with 
little or no personal discomfort.  At some point I expected a flying saucer 
to come down through the roof and transport us to an alien rave-party with 
plastic punch cups and a slip'n'slide machine spouting soap bubbles.  So 
much changed in one moment.  Like a nearby piece of used furniture, I 
watched my wife blankly reduced to tears and a slack jaw as Tomoko spent 9 
hours ejecting 10 percent of her body weight.  The birth was neither 
beautiful (Magical!) or ugly (Oy!), but it was somewhere above and beyond 
those common descriptions of the birthing process.  It was beyond all codes, 
symbols and vernaculars.  I thought to myself that humans are nothing more 
than a series of Russian Dolls connected by the cosmic length of one endless 
umbilical cord.  Each navel promises the potential for another life 
underneath.  Echoes under milky shadows.

Weighing in at fiesty and small, toothless and tenacious 6 pounds and 2 
ounces, my daughter was born on the immaculately well-timed date of Father's 
Day (6-17-2007).  She is on the national narcotic known as breast milk and 
spends most of her time in a heavy spin rotation of poop, sleep, suck, poop, 
sleep and so on and so forth.

Because both of our families live thousands of miles away, we have all of 
your support to thank in providing us with your warmth, humor and advice.  
Several friends went out of their way to feed us and visit Sakura as she 
copes with the miracle and horror of a newfangled world.

The Japanese Burrito has been unwrapped!

With Transpacific Warmth,


Matthew Snyder                                                               
Tomoko Inoue Snyder

Ph.D. Candidate (A.B.D.-All But Destroyed)                            
Stressed-out Mother
Department of English                                                        
      with Pick Axe
University of California-Riverside
(951) 276-0846

Additional Photos Can Be Found on the Following Website:

http://www.myspace.com/closingknives

_________________________________________________________________
Picture this – share your photos and you could win big!  
http://www.GETREALPhotoContest.com?ocid=TXT_TAGHM&loc=us
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