31 March, 2009
28 March, 2009
Guest Blogger #6 A very flexible person!
Today's writer is Gina. She's a Ph.D. candidate in my department and one whose work and attitude foster a spirit of collegiality in our sometimes polarized world. We are often asked if we are "Linguistics or Literature?" as if the twain never shall meet. In our work they might not always, but at the interpersonal level, linguists and literary mix quite well. And Gina's one who makes everyone welcome! She's also recently started a blog of her own (with a red background!) and you'll find a link to it off to the side.
Gina, thanks so much for being providing today’s post. String of Lights is honored to have you here. So that our reader might get to know a bit about who’s writing today, I hope you won’t mind answering a few questions.
1. Let’s start with the obvious. What’s your dissertation about?
It centers on taking a multi-disciplinary approach to analyzing the syntactical structures of early medieval notarial documents from the Monastery of Sahagún, León, Spain. Specifically, my project aims to contribute to the philological debate on the issue of diglossia concerning the spoken language in early medieval Spain, by considering factors such as orality, the written word, and medieval literacy when applied to evidence such as notarial documents. Notarial documents, a neglected genre of linguistic analysis, provide a rich source of syntactic variation in the evolving language of Late Latin to Romance to Old Spanish, a potential mirror of the spoken language of the day.
2. What kind of linguistics is that? Structural? Social?
More than anything I would say it is philology, but since I stress the need for an interdisciplinary approach, I would say my thesis is “historiculturalphilologicalinguistic.”
3. Cool! That's so YOU! In addition to being a “linguini” you’re also an artist (and quite a good one). How has doing art helped you achieve that work-life balance we always hear about in grad school?
(You are kind, thank you) I always heard of the lack thereof in grad school, and I am no exception in experiencing that lack. I just know that when I do my art, I experience a kind of satisfaction that greatly differs from anything academic.
4. OK, linguistics and art are important parts of your life. But let’s move on to your current passion. Can you write a brief reflection on yoga?
Yoga is my life. It provides the base of my existence and feeds into all areas of my life. The body is the portal to the soul is the portal to the Divine.
5. Anything else you'd like our reader to know?
Yes, you are an awesome blogger/writer, Val, not to mention an all-around neat person!
Aw, shucks, ma'am...I meant about you- not about me! But since it's my policy to not edit my guests' posts...
And speaking of my guest's post, here it is. [umm...it's a little bit about me, but it's a cool story, and well-told by Gina]
Bag-O-Cash
Gina, thanks so much for being providing today’s post. String of Lights is honored to have you here. So that our reader might get to know a bit about who’s writing today, I hope you won’t mind answering a few questions.
1. Let’s start with the obvious. What’s your dissertation about?
It centers on taking a multi-disciplinary approach to analyzing the syntactical structures of early medieval notarial documents from the Monastery of Sahagún, León, Spain. Specifically, my project aims to contribute to the philological debate on the issue of diglossia concerning the spoken language in early medieval Spain, by considering factors such as orality, the written word, and medieval literacy when applied to evidence such as notarial documents. Notarial documents, a neglected genre of linguistic analysis, provide a rich source of syntactic variation in the evolving language of Late Latin to Romance to Old Spanish, a potential mirror of the spoken language of the day.
2. What kind of linguistics is that? Structural? Social?
More than anything I would say it is philology, but since I stress the need for an interdisciplinary approach, I would say my thesis is “historiculturalphilologicalinguistic.”
3. Cool! That's so YOU! In addition to being a “linguini” you’re also an artist (and quite a good one). How has doing art helped you achieve that work-life balance we always hear about in grad school?
(You are kind, thank you) I always heard of the lack thereof in grad school, and I am no exception in experiencing that lack. I just know that when I do my art, I experience a kind of satisfaction that greatly differs from anything academic.
4. OK, linguistics and art are important parts of your life. But let’s move on to your current passion. Can you write a brief reflection on yoga?
Yoga is my life. It provides the base of my existence and feeds into all areas of my life. The body is the portal to the soul is the portal to the Divine.
5. Anything else you'd like our reader to know?
Yes, you are an awesome blogger/writer, Val, not to mention an all-around neat person!
Aw, shucks, ma'am...I meant about you- not about me! But since it's my policy to not edit my guests' posts...
And speaking of my guest's post, here it is. [umm...it's a little bit about me, but it's a cool story, and well-told by Gina]
Bag-O-Cash
Valerie's delivery of the humungous (omg, Facebook "spell-check" red-underliner, get a clue--"humungous" IS spelled correctly) bag of recyclables to my truck today merit the telling of this story. Valerie was driving from campus to my house when she started thinking, "gosh I sure wish I had a bigger bag of recyclables to give Gina for her worthy cause of becoming a life-changing Bikram Yoga instructor..."---okay, this is paraphrased a bit---, when ALL OF A SUDDEN, she had to screech her car to a halt because out of the blue appeared a HUMUNGOUS bag of recyclables. She saw the gentleman with the rolled-up blue jeans continue on his bicycle pedaled journey, as she used her "teacher voice" (her words, meant, I assume, to imply the raising of the volume and broadening of the range) to call out to the man, "hey, I will pick up the bag for you, hey, your bag, heyyyyyy......" The man just kept pedaling, so she picked up the bag and stuffed it into her car, with the line of traffic waiting behind her, and immediately began the search for the man who disappeared. However, even after her most valiant attempt, Valerie did not reach this recycling cycler. So, as fate would have it, she went on to deliver her little shopping bag full, along with the new addition of the humungous bag-o-cash. This was Serendipity at its best.
27 March, 2009
I gazed out the window, lustfully, at my neighbor's gardener.
He'd given me his number the week before and I'd been tempted to call. But I soon realized I'd rather spend what little extra money I have going out to lunch with friends than on lawn care.
26 March, 2009
I didn't really need a card to tell me that change was in the cards.
The first website I visited said this:| JACK OF SPADES | CHANGE |
But since the website also seemed to take playing card reading awfully seriously and since it had the word "arcana" in it, it gave me the Catholic heebie-jeebies so I decided to check another source. Besides, there have been enough changes and indications thereof in recent times that I can't say it surprised me. It was nice to have it so serendipitously confirmed, though. And he is pretty good-looking in a rogue-ish, roue-ish, cad-ish sort of way...
I picked up the Jack of Spades on today's run (no surprise there) about 3 minutes in (no surprise there, either, that's usually when I find them). It was a run I wasn't even going to do; my right eye had been irritated all day, which made it water, which produced a headache, which prompted a nap in the heat, which meant I woke up, addled, after 5:00. And the run was a sonuvabitch to finish. I let myself go slow. Really slow.
The website that usually comes up first when I google whatever card I've picked up on run is cafeastrology.com and it said this:
You dealt the Jack of Spades!
A Jack describes a person—either the person you are thinking about, a person very involved with the situation, or someone new entering your life in the near future. The Jack of Spades indicates a young person who may be negative or jealous. He/she may also be quite intelligent and articulate.
Well, that narrows it down!
25 March, 2009
Random acts of kindness
She didn't know at the time that she was "paying it forward". And I don't know that I've ever expressed this to her, but I've always been almost tearfully appreciative of Nora's wonderful display of solidarity that good morning bon soir in the faculty room. Today I was finally able to pass along that warm fuzzy as I replicated her patented behind-the-back, double flip-off of the pseudo authority figure who was haranguing my friend.
23 March, 2009
"I think this subscription's wasted on me,"
I thought, leafing through the most current issue this morning during a breakfast of leftover vegetable tikka masala over brown rice followed up by leftover birthday cake just before my run.
22 March, 2009
Post-write
In my field we emphasize the importance of pre-writing strategies and activities as part of the writing process, but we often completely overlook the activity that goes on post-writing. Here are some of the strategies and activities I put into place after I've turned in a paper.
1. Remember valid arguments I was going to make.
2. Read brilliant cite from Foucault and/or other theorists that would have backed up said argument thoroughly and convincingly.
3. Wonder if it's too long.
4. Wonder if it's too short.
5. Wonder if I put it in correct mailbox in faculty mailroom.
6. Regret not including visual images and/or soundtrack in paper.
7. Hope professor reads my paper closely and comments on it extensively.
8. Hope professor loses my paper and is too embarrassed to ask me to print it out and turn it in again.
9. Decide to hold on to library books another week, just in case.
10. Return cabinet's worth of coffee mugs and wineglasses to kitchen.
1. Remember valid arguments I was going to make.
2. Read brilliant cite from Foucault and/or other theorists that would have backed up said argument thoroughly and convincingly.
3. Wonder if it's too long.
4. Wonder if it's too short.
5. Wonder if I put it in correct mailbox in faculty mailroom.
6. Regret not including visual images and/or soundtrack in paper.
7. Hope professor reads my paper closely and comments on it extensively.
8. Hope professor loses my paper and is too embarrassed to ask me to print it out and turn it in again.
9. Decide to hold on to library books another week, just in case.
10. Return cabinet's worth of coffee mugs and wineglasses to kitchen.
19 March, 2009
They said they liked them...
So I thought maybe I'd keep a collection of my Facebook status updates somewhere other than Facebook in case my addiction gets so bad that I have to delete my account. At least I'll have them somewhere when I do write my crónica. One of the sections will be a categorization in list form, a la monsiváisiana of what people use the status space for. And as I will most likely be tempted to channel the inner Dorothy Parker and be a bit sharp (léase/read: bitchy) in my analysis, evaluation or definitions (léase/read: judgement) of some of the purposes the status updates serve for people, I'd better not exempt myself from the cut.
One would think that the first bitchy thing I'd say is that people who update their status in a language other than English are just showing off. But I can't accuse anyone of that because that's not what I'm doing when I write one in Spanish (I am showing off, however, when I put one in Portuguese). And I am aware that it certainly might look that way to some of my Facebook friends, but the majority of my contacts do it...for us, it's quite often not even conscious. It may seem sort of an exclusionary thing, but I would argue that many others post status updates in English that are way more exclusive or cryptic, either because they are really a message for some select contact(s) or they fall under the "Ask me what I mean" category (véase, por ejemplo/see for example, "Bill is getting impatient.") Sometimes they're just not-so-cryptic ways of declaring something like, "I got ripped and laid!" (esp. with younger users). More categories to be announced in a future post. For now just a general explanation. They all start with the person's name and a verb usually follows. My updates from August/Sept. 2008 appear below and probably contain examples of the above categories, though I'd probably deny it if anyone called me on it.
One would think that the first bitchy thing I'd say is that people who update their status in a language other than English are just showing off. But I can't accuse anyone of that because that's not what I'm doing when I write one in Spanish (I am showing off, however, when I put one in Portuguese). And I am aware that it certainly might look that way to some of my Facebook friends, but the majority of my contacts do it...for us, it's quite often not even conscious. It may seem sort of an exclusionary thing, but I would argue that many others post status updates in English that are way more exclusive or cryptic, either because they are really a message for some select contact(s) or they fall under the "Ask me what I mean" category (véase, por ejemplo/see for example, "Bill is getting impatient.") Sometimes they're just not-so-cryptic ways of declaring something like, "I got ripped and laid!" (esp. with younger users). More categories to be announced in a future post. For now just a general explanation. They all start with the person's name and a verb usually follows. My updates from August/Sept. 2008 appear below and probably contain examples of the above categories, though I'd probably deny it if anyone called me on it.
Valerie Hecht...
is trying to figure out why she'd need a facebook.
is feeling quite Siglo XXI
is afraid that FaceBook is making me its bitch.
is strongly tempted to investigate whether singer Wayne Newton may have been a woman in drag.
is trying to delude herself that decaf still has some calidades despertativas.
should know better by now.
aparece, sin ganas, en las telenovelas que son las vidas ajenas - ¡y sin protagonizar! (and still wants to know what you're reading)
aparece, sin ganas, en las telenovelas que son las vidas ajenas - ¡y sin protagonizar! (and still wants to know what you're reading)
is trying to come down off a shopping high.is no longer allowed to count a medical appointment as a workout.
is ridiculously happy that the dogs are lying on the same rug.
realized a bit late that today was not Thursday.
is experiencing seasonal confusion through the unexpected mixing of unreasonably warm temperatures, congestion and the taste of cough drops...
espera que los sabores de la cena lleguen al alma de los que la comieron.
is cleaning the house, inspired by Milagros and an impending visita de los suegros.
is aware that it's 5:00 somewhere.
is happy to be back in the kitchen, despite the challenge of an ingredient list limited to things that won't poison her multi-allergenic guest.
is fine with the no phone/no TV cabin in the mountains but is praying for wireless.
is no longer wireless-less. I'm in a HoJo in Humboldt county. Can breathe again...and probably should breathe deeply as I am in the county of the good herb...
saw a small fire on her way back to Vallejo and wondered first about the school...then came home to news that her nieces' school in MT burned this AM.
is more intrigued than alarmed that the clock on her cell phone is running backwards.
is reclaiming her house (which is also your house whenever you next visit).
escucha boleros mexicanos y bebe un buen chardonnay mientras prepara mole poblano.
used the search function for the second time and felt stalker-ish until she realized that she's thrilled to get friend requests out of the blue.
accidentally deleted some comments. Would like to put them back.
is very excited that UC Davis has an Olive Center!
is preparing for her 34th first day of school.
hearts facebook, but has hearted seeing actual faces these past 2 días.
is drinking coffee and gaping stupidly at a blank calendar form, trying to set some kind of structure to the strange chronology of this quarter.
has had a 10-day week.
I can't believe I'm resorting to self-bribery: "If I do 5 days of lessons, I can go exchange that curtain rod that's been propped up by the door for 4 weeks."
cocina.
is very excited that UC Davis has an Olive Center!
18 March, 2009
Bulb out...by popular demand.
I really had no idea anyone could tell.
Café ayer con OVM
OVM:"Estás muy estresada, ¿verdad?"
VH:"¿Tanto se me nota?"
OVM:"Pues, hija, la verdad...sí."
Encuentro en el tocador de señoras con CMC
CMC: ¡Hombre! ¿Sigues aquí?
VH: Pues, sí...tú también.
CMC: Somos la funeraria. Siempre estamos.
VH: Mañana, sin falta, imprimo los artículos de The New Yorker
CMC: Esto puede esperar. No te agobies...(y fijándose en mis ojos) es decir, no te agobies aun más.
En el chat de Facebook con VZ
VH: Creo que debo ya desconectarme...
VZ: Pues yo también podría ser más productiva
VH: Eso y...ya tengo headache otra vez
VZ: Descansa, que parece que te hace falta...
Café ayer con OVM
OVM:"Estás muy estresada, ¿verdad?"
VH:"¿Tanto se me nota?"
OVM:"Pues, hija, la verdad...sí."
Encuentro en el tocador de señoras con CMC
CMC: ¡Hombre! ¿Sigues aquí?
VH: Pues, sí...tú también.
CMC: Somos la funeraria. Siempre estamos.
VH: Mañana, sin falta, imprimo los artículos de The New Yorker
CMC: Esto puede esperar. No te agobies...(y fijándose en mis ojos) es decir, no te agobies aun más.
En el chat de Facebook con VZ
VH: Creo que debo ya desconectarme...
VZ: Pues yo también podría ser más productiva
VH: Eso y...ya tengo headache otra vez
VZ: Descansa, que parece que te hace falta...
17 March, 2009
15 March, 2009
Voting...
El Salvador elects first leftist president
El Salvador elects first leftist president
Jose Cabezas / AFP/Getty Images
Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front candidate Mauricio Funes, center, with wife Vanda, and running mate Salvador Sanchez Ceren, claimed victory for the leftist party. Experts called his lead insurmountable. He has compared himself to Obama.
A party led by former guerrillas unseats the conservative party that's governed for two decades. 'Thank you for choosing the path of hope and for overcoming fear,' says victorious Mauricio Funes.
Reporting from San Salvador -- Salvadorans on Sunday elected a former TV reporter as the country's first leftist president, unseating a conservative party that ruled for two decades and choosing a government that will be dominated by former guerrillas.
Mauricio Funes, an affable political moderate running on behalf of the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN, claimed victory after nearly complete returns gave him a lead that experts said was insurmountable.
Mauricio Funes, an affable political moderate running on behalf of the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN, claimed victory after nearly complete returns gave him a lead that experts said was insurmountable.
"This is the happiest night of my life, and I also want it to be the night of greatest hope for El Salvador," an emotional Funes said in a crowded hotel conference room, as cameras flashed and supporters cheered. "Thank you for choosing the path of hope and for overcoming fear."
He called for a spirit of reconciliation and collaboration similar to that which helped end El Salvador's bloody civil war 17 years ago.
With this victory, the FMLN completed its evolution from a coalition of Marxist rebels fighting U.S.-backed regimes in El Salvador's rugged hills to a broad-based party.
He called for a spirit of reconciliation and collaboration similar to that which helped end El Salvador's bloody civil war 17 years ago.
With this victory, the FMLN completed its evolution from a coalition of Marxist rebels fighting U.S.-backed regimes in El Salvador's rugged hills to a broad-based party.
Funes, 49, who helped give the FMLN a following beyond its traditional militant base, frequently compared himself to President Obama as an agent of change and promised to maintain good relations with Washington. Instead of the FMLN red, he wore white guayabera shirts and dark business suits as he traversed the nation and pressed his message of national unity.
The Arena party's candidate, Rodrigo Avila, acknowledged defeat Sunday night. Armando Calderon Sol, an Arena leader and former president, told The Times: "It is irreversible. History is written."
FMLN supporters took to the streets in celebration. They filled downtown plazas here in the capital, waving red flags and posters of their candidate and chanting "Mauricio! Mauricio!" -- as well as the old standard, "The left, united, will never be defeated."
Analysts said a leftist win would indicate that voters were more concerned with poverty, unemployment and raging crime than the fear, fanned by the right, that Funes and the FMLN would push El Salvador down a radical communist path.
"The campaign of fear did not work 100% because the desire for change, even among conservatives, was so strong," said Raymundo Calderon, dean of the social studies institute of the University of El Salvador. "We were in such a difficult situation but always supporting the same politics. There's a limit. People decided they had put up with it 20 years and said, 'Enough.' "
U.N.-brokered peace accords ended El Salvador's civil war in 1992. About 75,000 people were killed in 12 years of fighting and atrocities by death squads, some of which were associated with founders of the ruling Arena party. During the war years and since, around a quarter of El Salvador's population -- about 2.5 million people -- fled or was driven to the U.S., with many ending up in Southern California.
Despite widespread disenchantment with the Arena-led government, the party enjoys the backing of major media and big business, and in its closing days the race was too close to call. Avila, Arena's candidate, is a former police commander who repeatedly invoked his Catholic beliefs and warned that a leftist victory would align El Salvador perilously with Cuba and Venezuela.
About 60% of the electorate cast ballots. Walking, riding in dark-windowed SUVs or piled in the backs of pickup trucks, Salvadorans surged to polling stations. Buses festooned with the flags of one party or another clogged streets.
Thousands of Salvadorans returned to their homeland from the United States to vote, including Tere Torres and her two adult sons, who flew into town Saturday from Los Angeles and were up at dawn to head to the fairgrounds to vote.
"It was worth making the trip so that we don't forget why people like us left in the first place," said William Torres, 24, a graphic designer in Los Angeles. "The economic situation is really bad and people need to know they have opportunity based not just on privilege and what party you belong to."
His mother, who left El Salvador while the war raged and now cleans houses in Culver City, said the election was too important to skip. "It could be that the change we wanted for so long is possible this time," she said.
El Salvador remains divided by great social and economic inequity, with a vast underclass struggling to afford food and medicine.
But the idea of dramatic change is exactly what scared some voters.
"What do we need a revolution for?" asked Alex Aviles, 18, a first-time voter and law student, dressed in a red, white and blue Arena T-shirt. "People don't have money because they don't work."
Arena conjured up images of the war to paint the FMLN as violent radicals and plastered San Salvador with posters linking Funes with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro. El Salvador has been a staunch U.S. ally. Washington backed repressive Salvadoran governments in the 1970s and 1980s, and equipped and trained its army against the guerrillas. El Salvador sent troops to Iraq at President Bush's request, and under Arena made the U.S. dollar its currency.
The Arena party's candidate, Rodrigo Avila, acknowledged defeat Sunday night. Armando Calderon Sol, an Arena leader and former president, told The Times: "It is irreversible. History is written."
FMLN supporters took to the streets in celebration. They filled downtown plazas here in the capital, waving red flags and posters of their candidate and chanting "Mauricio! Mauricio!" -- as well as the old standard, "The left, united, will never be defeated."
Analysts said a leftist win would indicate that voters were more concerned with poverty, unemployment and raging crime than the fear, fanned by the right, that Funes and the FMLN would push El Salvador down a radical communist path.
"The campaign of fear did not work 100% because the desire for change, even among conservatives, was so strong," said Raymundo Calderon, dean of the social studies institute of the University of El Salvador. "We were in such a difficult situation but always supporting the same politics. There's a limit. People decided they had put up with it 20 years and said, 'Enough.' "
U.N.-brokered peace accords ended El Salvador's civil war in 1992. About 75,000 people were killed in 12 years of fighting and atrocities by death squads, some of which were associated with founders of the ruling Arena party. During the war years and since, around a quarter of El Salvador's population -- about 2.5 million people -- fled or was driven to the U.S., with many ending up in Southern California.
Despite widespread disenchantment with the Arena-led government, the party enjoys the backing of major media and big business, and in its closing days the race was too close to call. Avila, Arena's candidate, is a former police commander who repeatedly invoked his Catholic beliefs and warned that a leftist victory would align El Salvador perilously with Cuba and Venezuela.
About 60% of the electorate cast ballots. Walking, riding in dark-windowed SUVs or piled in the backs of pickup trucks, Salvadorans surged to polling stations. Buses festooned with the flags of one party or another clogged streets.
Thousands of Salvadorans returned to their homeland from the United States to vote, including Tere Torres and her two adult sons, who flew into town Saturday from Los Angeles and were up at dawn to head to the fairgrounds to vote.
"It was worth making the trip so that we don't forget why people like us left in the first place," said William Torres, 24, a graphic designer in Los Angeles. "The economic situation is really bad and people need to know they have opportunity based not just on privilege and what party you belong to."
His mother, who left El Salvador while the war raged and now cleans houses in Culver City, said the election was too important to skip. "It could be that the change we wanted for so long is possible this time," she said.
El Salvador remains divided by great social and economic inequity, with a vast underclass struggling to afford food and medicine.
But the idea of dramatic change is exactly what scared some voters.
"What do we need a revolution for?" asked Alex Aviles, 18, a first-time voter and law student, dressed in a red, white and blue Arena T-shirt. "People don't have money because they don't work."
Arena conjured up images of the war to paint the FMLN as violent radicals and plastered San Salvador with posters linking Funes with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro. El Salvador has been a staunch U.S. ally. Washington backed repressive Salvadoran governments in the 1970s and 1980s, and equipped and trained its army against the guerrillas. El Salvador sent troops to Iraq at President Bush's request, and under Arena made the U.S. dollar its currency.
14 March, 2009
Defending my thesis at the St. Patrick's Day party
Clinking green beer mug to lowball glass of Bushmill's
Him: Cheers and Erin Go Bragh! So, what kind of literature is your dissertation about?
Me: Writings and visual images produced in Mexico from about 1876 to 1910, an era characterized by a governmental attempts at social control. I'm interested in the contrasting representations of women who transgress established gender roles or who express a "dangerous" sexuality that poses a threat to-
Him: That's hot.
Me: It is not!
Him: Cheers and Erin Go Bragh! So, what kind of literature is your dissertation about?
Me: Writings and visual images produced in Mexico from about 1876 to 1910, an era characterized by a governmental attempts at social control. I'm interested in the contrasting representations of women who transgress established gender roles or who express a "dangerous" sexuality that poses a threat to-
Him: That's hot.
Me: It is not!
13 March, 2009
He wanted money. I didn't have time for a fishing lesson. Maybe the attempt at re-redoubling of the multiplying of the fishes was OK for today.
The poster in the window of the Tennessee St. Jack-in-the-Box was advertising Fish Filet sandwiches, 2 for $3.00. Heh. Friday in Lent. Two fishes. "A fish filet sandwich sounds good," I thought. So I drove past it and stopped at the Jack-in-the-Box on Admiral Callahan. I ordered. "Can I get a fish filet sandwich?" The cashier beamed, "Yes, they're 2 for $3.00!" "I know," I replied. "But I just want one." "But it's buy-one-get-one-free." She looked sad that I would even consider passing up that deal. "OK, I guess I could give one of them to someone..." Maybe one of my students wouldn't have eaten by the time I got to class. She put my order in, I paid, then said, "I'll be right back." and headed for the Ladies' room.
I opened the door and gasped, "Oops, sorry!" to the likely homeless man shaving in there. I closed the door slightly and checked the sign. It was a triangle with a head on it! I re-opened the door. "The men's room doesn't have a mirror in it," he explained. I was a little too taken aback to react logically so I entered into a discussion. "Well, otherwise, is it clean in the men's room? I really have to go." He stopped shaving and turned to look at me. "No, not really. You should use this one. I'll hurry it up." "OK, but I can wait until you're done," I said. And some surreal chit-chat ensued as I watched him finish shaving, my foot propping open the door. He did hurry. And when I'd finished, come out and went back the counter, I noticed that he went back in to rinse off the shaving cream he'd missed in his haste.
After I'd picked up my order and was starting to exit the restaurant I looked for him. He was still outside. "Did you eat?" I asked. "I was just trying to get $2.00 together," he replied. "I don't have any cash, but were you going to buy a fish sandwich, by any chance?" "Uh...why?" "I have an extra one. They were 2-fer." He wasn't going to buy any sort of sandwich, I don't think, but I asked if he wanted it. "I know I'll want it later," he said. "Cool!" I pulled it out of the bag and handed it to him. He thanked me and then said "Good luck." I guess it is Friday the 13th...I feel bad that I didn't give him any of my fries.
I opened the door and gasped, "Oops, sorry!" to the likely homeless man shaving in there. I closed the door slightly and checked the sign. It was a triangle with a head on it! I re-opened the door. "The men's room doesn't have a mirror in it," he explained. I was a little too taken aback to react logically so I entered into a discussion. "Well, otherwise, is it clean in the men's room? I really have to go." He stopped shaving and turned to look at me. "No, not really. You should use this one. I'll hurry it up." "OK, but I can wait until you're done," I said. And some surreal chit-chat ensued as I watched him finish shaving, my foot propping open the door. He did hurry. And when I'd finished, come out and went back the counter, I noticed that he went back in to rinse off the shaving cream he'd missed in his haste.
After I'd picked up my order and was starting to exit the restaurant I looked for him. He was still outside. "Did you eat?" I asked. "I was just trying to get $2.00 together," he replied. "I don't have any cash, but were you going to buy a fish sandwich, by any chance?" "Uh...why?" "I have an extra one. They were 2-fer." He wasn't going to buy any sort of sandwich, I don't think, but I asked if he wanted it. "I know I'll want it later," he said. "Cool!" I pulled it out of the bag and handed it to him. He thanked me and then said "Good luck." I guess it is Friday the 13th...I feel bad that I didn't give him any of my fries.
12 March, 2009
"So what exactly is it that you do?"
Well, this, basically. But I do it in Spanish.
"...During this time, especially in other areas of the world, an early feminism was beginning to assert itself. However, as Jean Franco observes, in Mexico, this was not the case. 'Traditionally strong in times of war and civil strife,' she writes in Plotting Women: Gender and Representation in Mexico, 'Mexican women were slow to challenge the domestication of women and often fearful of taking a step into areas where their decency would be put into question' (93). It is precisely the representation of the Mexican women who step into these dubious areas that interests me in this study.
The image of the sexually transgressive woman does not exactly abound in the porfiriato, but she is far from absent in both visual images and written discourse produced during the era..."
Image from http://centrodelaimagen.conaculta.gob.mx/lunacornea/numero4/livianos_diletantes.html
"...During this time, especially in other areas of the world, an early feminism was beginning to assert itself. However, as Jean Franco observes, in Mexico, this was not the case. 'Traditionally strong in times of war and civil strife,' she writes in Plotting Women: Gender and Representation in Mexico, 'Mexican women were slow to challenge the domestication of women and often fearful of taking a step into areas where their decency would be put into question' (93). It is precisely the representation of the Mexican women who step into these dubious areas that interests me in this study.
The image of the sexually transgressive woman does not exactly abound in the porfiriato, but she is far from absent in both visual images and written discourse produced during the era..."
Image from http://centrodelaimagen.conaculta.gob.mx/lunacornea/numero4/livianos_diletantes.html11 March, 2009
"If you love it so much, why don't you marry it?"
Maybe I wouldn't marry it, but I'm considering making a serious commitment to Nugget Market. Since discovering it, I'm starting to wonder what I ever saw in Trader Joe's in the first place. But enough with the romantic/relationship metaphors. I think.I don't really want this blog to turn into an ad, but I can't stop gushing. I love going to the regular supermarket but a Nugget elevates the trip to something almost spa-like. Every time I leave I start looking forward to the next time I can go. I know that most of this comes from the fact that grocery shopping has taken the place of having coffee with friends as a free time activity now that my free time and my contact with friends are waning. It and other semi-responsible behaviors, like actually taking the clean laundry out of the basket and folding it rather than leaving it there until I'm ready to wear it are also replacing other traditional escapist activities. But the Nugget is also just a little bit of an oasis with its low, museum-quality lighting, the mediterranean style tiles and lavender soap products in the bathrooms and the excellent customer service by the better-than-average-looking employees.
09 March, 2009
Now that's my kind of protest song...
Sunday, 8 March
I bought "Sweet Cherry Wine" by Tommy James and the Shondells yesterday and can't stop listening to it. When I first heard it, probably sometime as a kid in the 70s I didn't like it. In fact, I didn't like much of the pop music that was made around the time I was born. But now I do like it, understand it and appreciate it - as much for the message as for the music.
But this winter I heard the song late at night, in the car. It was on the drive into Billings in -3 degree weather, but I felt insulated by the snow swirling around the highway and the windows and by the rich complex sounds coming out of the speakers when it cued up. It was one of those "transported by the music" moments.
It transported me again yesterday as I was baking birthday cake with the sun streaming into the kitchen window and again today, this time up the steepest part of my run. The sun was shining, it was warm and the song was perfect. And this time I didn't just hear the lyrics, they registered in a different way. The anti-war message is clear from the outset and I always knew it was there. But today what struck me was its gentleness.
Protest songs that evoke anger are necessary because they could spur us to take action against injustices. They are effective and logical and make sense in their graphic approach, explicit warnings and harsher tones, notes, rhythms. (hear "War (What Is It Good For?"). This one with its loving cup message more eases the listener into a feeling good groove with a more subtle approach. I wish I were satisfied with the live versions that are the only ones I could find on Youtube, I'd post the link for you to hear it. But then, if you'd like to hear it, you know what to do. Asa's "Jailer" (below) does the same thing...a gorgeous voice and its message against repression is lifted up to our ears by means of a groove. It may or may not be your kind of protest song...And so, it is good that there are so many different types of these songs that advocate an end to what we all know is wrong. The message, if it is echoed in enough types of medium might just be heard sometime.
I find subtlety so beautiful and I am so much more effectively convinced by it than by overt descriptions, explanations, images. And it works on me so well (when I'm able to grasp it, that is) that I over-apply it in what becomes my own soft and blurry discourse. And any subtle message can so easily and so often go unperceived. Indeed, if I have one now, it is probably obscured by the jangle of these words that lack the musicality that can make the medium a more beautiful message.
I bought "Sweet Cherry Wine" by Tommy James and the Shondells yesterday and can't stop listening to it. When I first heard it, probably sometime as a kid in the 70s I didn't like it. In fact, I didn't like much of the pop music that was made around the time I was born. But now I do like it, understand it and appreciate it - as much for the message as for the music.
But this winter I heard the song late at night, in the car. It was on the drive into Billings in -3 degree weather, but I felt insulated by the snow swirling around the highway and the windows and by the rich complex sounds coming out of the speakers when it cued up. It was one of those "transported by the music" moments.
It transported me again yesterday as I was baking birthday cake with the sun streaming into the kitchen window and again today, this time up the steepest part of my run. The sun was shining, it was warm and the song was perfect. And this time I didn't just hear the lyrics, they registered in a different way. The anti-war message is clear from the outset and I always knew it was there. But today what struck me was its gentleness.
Protest songs that evoke anger are necessary because they could spur us to take action against injustices. They are effective and logical and make sense in their graphic approach, explicit warnings and harsher tones, notes, rhythms. (hear "War (What Is It Good For?"). This one with its loving cup message more eases the listener into a feeling good groove with a more subtle approach. I wish I were satisfied with the live versions that are the only ones I could find on Youtube, I'd post the link for you to hear it. But then, if you'd like to hear it, you know what to do. Asa's "Jailer" (below) does the same thing...a gorgeous voice and its message against repression is lifted up to our ears by means of a groove. It may or may not be your kind of protest song...And so, it is good that there are so many different types of these songs that advocate an end to what we all know is wrong. The message, if it is echoed in enough types of medium might just be heard sometime.
I find subtlety so beautiful and I am so much more effectively convinced by it than by overt descriptions, explanations, images. And it works on me so well (when I'm able to grasp it, that is) that I over-apply it in what becomes my own soft and blurry discourse. And any subtle message can so easily and so often go unperceived. Indeed, if I have one now, it is probably obscured by the jangle of these words that lack the musicality that can make the medium a more beautiful message.
07 March, 2009
Bulb Out, or Intermission
String of Lights is pleased to present a joyous and brief musical interlude for your listening pleasure during this pause.
Agustín Lara's "Tirana"
Agustín Lara's "Tirana"
03 March, 2009
Default Setting #11
Escribo desde/ I write from: el lugar de siempre, mi oficina/the usual, my office
El tiempo/Weather: lluvioso, en la mañana, relámpago y trueno/rainy, thunder and lightning this morning
Estoy luciendo/I am wearing: I can't believe I left the house like this
Conmigo/With me: the usual suspects
Estado de animo/State of mind: So calm (a pesar de todo el trabajo finished and not); so so so good this morning, running in the rain; so appreciative
Libro(s):2666 and work
Música: "Free to Stay", "Os argonautas" y "Arde el cielo" passing through my head all day
Hablé con/I talked to: Amigos surtidos muy queridos; familiares; colegas; profes; alumnos presentes y pasados, conocidos y por conocer. Comuniqué por todos los medios posibles.
Vi a/I saw: More people than I usually do; 724 a FullHouse; casi todos de mi cohort
Antojo/Craving: status quo
Personas/animales que se destacaron/People/animales who stood out: Sleepwalking Dogs on Youtube
New "don't-ask" arrangement: "How's your thesis...oh sorry! I won't ask about yours if you don't ask about mine."
Fuerzas salvíficas: voz, música, lluvia, relámpago, trueno, literatura, color, ojos, comida de mi propia cocina, palabras honestas, expresiones de apoyo y de amor
El tiempo/Weather: lluvioso, en la mañana, relámpago y trueno/rainy, thunder and lightning this morning
Estoy luciendo/I am wearing: I can't believe I left the house like this
Conmigo/With me: the usual suspects
Estado de animo/State of mind: So calm (a pesar de todo el trabajo finished and not); so so so good this morning, running in the rain; so appreciative
Libro(s):2666 and work
Música: "Free to Stay", "Os argonautas" y "Arde el cielo" passing through my head all day
Hablé con/I talked to: Amigos surtidos muy queridos; familiares; colegas; profes; alumnos presentes y pasados, conocidos y por conocer. Comuniqué por todos los medios posibles.
Vi a/I saw: More people than I usually do; 724 a FullHouse; casi todos de mi cohort
Antojo/Craving: status quo
Personas/animales que se destacaron/People/animales who stood out: Sleepwalking Dogs on Youtube
New "don't-ask" arrangement: "How's your thesis...oh sorry! I won't ask about yours if you don't ask about mine."
Fuerzas salvíficas: voz, música, lluvia, relámpago, trueno, literatura, color, ojos, comida de mi propia cocina, palabras honestas, expresiones de apoyo y de amor
We reached the elevator at the same time. He sort of looked like I felt.
So I opened my hand and offered, "You want a candy heart?" He took the one that was message-side down.
He read it silently so I have no idea what it said. The one he left for me said "sweet love".
"Are these leftover from Valentine's Day?" he asked. "Yeah..." I answered. Even though he'd have no reason to believe otherwise, I thought I should reassure him...I hastened to clarify, "but they're the ones from this year."
He read it silently so I have no idea what it said. The one he left for me said "sweet love".
"Are these leftover from Valentine's Day?" he asked. "Yeah..." I answered. Even though he'd have no reason to believe otherwise, I thought I should reassure him...I hastened to clarify, "but they're the ones from this year."
01 March, 2009
...and other risky behaviors
Yes, I'm outside. Yes, it's raining. And yes, my table just barely, barely lines up with the protective overhang.Since 2004, those who know me have counted among my quirks the good responsible thorough excessive obsessive care I take of my little white computers. The first one (Q.E.P.D.) was so pristine and delicate. It hadn't downloaded any songs with "explicit" lyrics or ever seen any pornographic erotic imagery. Maybe that was the problem...
This one has lived a little, and (knocking much wood) seems to be of hearty peasant stock. There's a slightly disturbing scratch on the "s" key and a nail polish streak in Vamp knock-off on the bottom left side of the frame and I haven't given it the Q-tip cleaning for about 2 weeks. But I'm not worried about it ... not too much anyway. I know it's well cared-for and perhaps my more relaxed attitude has done me some good as well. There are even other areas where I've relaxed enough to take other ridiculous little risks...Such as?
Employing skimming skipping and scanning strategies in order to get to end of an epic reading assignment or - Just. Not. Finished.
Talking to strangers...in mass.
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