The Prince

Anna sent this on october 23, 2003 :

"My stinky old mutt,
a prince among dogs.
His beautiful spirit outlived his ailing body.
Truly loved & truly loving.

found: April 26, 1994 Portland, OR
lost: October 20, 2003 South Salem, NY

my first love..."

I was always terrified of Puppa. Was it that if I went to hug Anna he would try to bite my butt off? Was it because if I made any movement that resembled dancing, he would try to rip my throat out? Or was it that strangely human look in his eye?

Maybe it was because Anna loved him so much that I knew that he must be a creature of superior quality.

....No, he was a little scary.

Anna Lo is a Right-On Mama

"Iraqi babies deserve to grow up too."
"Iraqi mommies deserve to see their babies grow up too."
...and I think Chiq had an 'Iraqi Daddies' shirt. Can't remember which march these shirts were for, I just remember them all freezing and proud. How many marches did Anna take Ruby to?

The other shirt is
"Save your soul and your country
Dump Bush
Vote Kerry"
I think that was just for every day wear.

What were the other anti- bush tees that she had? She had, ahem, Quite A Few.

Here is a blurrrrry pic of A Lo and B Lo- that's Ruby Avila at home in New Yawk a few years ago. It's storytelling with Ru- I believe she is hamming it up for the benefit of her Mama, Jody and Denk and me- we are on the sofa facing her. Oh Ma looks so proud of her little star... then, for her closing act, Ruby slammed the book shut, rolled back, kicked her legs in the air and flashed the audience... proving she's a real Lobianco with nothing to hide.

Anna is too loved

Here's a story that came to my mind. Anna taught Girls Self-Defense classes. The name of the class would mean nothing to Dariio but it can be explained as a class that taught girls how to feel comfortable and safe and happy. The class lasted for about an hour or an hour and a half after school, but very quickly the girls started thinking Anna was so awesome they would come to her with every issue they wanted to talk about (e.g. homework, friends, parental complaints, etc..). At first, it seemed great - we had a teacher who was loved and admired as she always was, but soon everything that would happen to these girls at home or in class they would say, "I'm going to tell Anna about this...". The school and the principal started getting calls from parents, "Who is this Anna?" and we ended up having a meeting to deal with the Anna is too loved situation.

XO, Liz (Victor Holub)

Swimming

Anna loves the the beach. Our first trip together was in Puerto Rico. When we arrived to Puerto Rico Anna was ready to hit the beach. Their were five of us, Lorraine, Ethis, Angelica, Anna and myself. Anna would be the first one to rise-up early in the morning to hit the beach. She will sit there reading her book or she will go for a swim. She's an excellent strong swimmer. I believe she can out swim a shark.

Love Always,
Ramona

AKA Colette Rabin

Here's another.. probably not for the kids:

In Portland circa '93 I belonged to a gym and one hot day brought Anna
+ Maudie as my guests to swim in the pool. I only had one guest pass so
Anna took the alias "Colette Rabin". Well, sure enough, the woman who
worked at the place came out to the pool and asked if we were members
and what our names were. When Anna said "Colette Rabin". the woman
said, "No you're not. I know Collette Rabin, she's in my spnning
class". Anna, non - plussed, just kind of quietly said, "well, that's
weird" and kept on swimming.

Awesome!

Story from James

Holding Krack's Hand

Hi guys. In Portland I was with Anna and Krack and a bunch of other people at a party at the Lucky House. These skaters that no one knew showed up and started to cause trouble. They ended up throwing a full beer can at Krack, which hit him in the face, giving him a big gash in his lip. Someone volunteered to drive Krack to the emergency room and Anna and I got in the car with him. Everyone who knows Krack knows he can be a bit hard to read under normal circumstances. As we rode in the car with him, he just didn't seem to be reacting at all. It was also hard to see how bad the gash was and I learned later that it was pretty deep. So I just assumed he was ok but Anna turned to him and said, "Krack, do you want me to hold your hand?" and I remember that Krack nodded vigorously. She held his hand until we got to the hospital.

Story from Neilson