Big surprise, bottled water isn't doing the planet any favors. There are a bazillion reasons why not to buy bottled water. Here a few reasons off the top of my head:

1. It's WATER. As in, you can get it out of your tap for pennies.

2. Most bottled water comes from the tap. (So why the hell are you paying $1 or $2 for it? Get a real water bottle, and refill it at your own tap, where it probably won't come already tasting of plastic.)

3. Those plastic bottles end up in landfills.

4. Again, it's water, people.



"Clean, healthy and pure? Hardly. Bottled water is killing the planet
And our thirst grows, with 154 billion litres drunk in one year."
By Jon Neale and Jonathan Thompson
Published: 12 February 2006

Here's a snippet of what we can read without subscribing:
"A major new study has concluded that [bottled water's] production is seriously damaging the environment.

It costs 10,000 times more to create the bottled version than it does to produce tap water, say scientists. Huge resources are needed to draw it from the ground, add largely irrelevant minerals, and package and distribute it - sometimes half-way around the world."

So, again, why not just buy a Nalgene? (Although I'd recommend stainless steel -- Nalgene's new bottles are made out of #7 plastic (polycarbonate), which can leech bisphenol A, a chemical that interferes with hormones such as estrogen. Although it doesn't seem to pose a huge health risk, you definitely don't want to put your Nalgene in the dishwasher!)

Apologies for all my posts that are actually links to other posts. Just can't help it -- my life isn't very interesting lately. Basically, I get up, I eat my Wheatabix with whatever fruit I have on hand, I read, I eat whatever I can find for lunch, I read, then I either go to class, or I read some more. Then I have dinner, and I listen to music. And then I read. Sometimes I watch a tv show. More likely I end up checking on all my favorite blogs. Then I shower. And then I read some more, till around 2 am. Then I get up in the morning and do it all over again.

Luckily, however, the weather has been damnably gorgeous lately. The past couple of days I've spent my afternoons on a beach blanket out on the grass (definitely not working on the tan, though -- I'm beginning to face the truth, that being this white, I need to use sunless tanners if I want a tan without the cancer). It's been about 70 degrees, sunny, and blooming. Supposedly it's going to cool down again, but I just have to bask in the fact that it's freaking FEBRUARY and I've been reading, outside, in the sun, without a parka on. This hasn't happened since... Ok this has never happened. I remember Feb. 14 two years ago, Andrew & I drove out to Quabbin Reservoir and took pictures of the snow and ice... and then we went to dinner... ahh.

But yeah, the weather makes me happy.

Anyway, the only notable things today:

1. I did my presentation in Alex's class. I think it went OK, I was actually glad to go in the last few minutes, so I could naturalize the fact that I talk too fast. But I was way less nervous than usual!! I had gotten some tips: breathing deeply, and using happy dots. Yes, red happy dots. It's supposed to act like a "stop, why the hell are you nervous?" sign. And I love it when people interject comments while I'm speaking. I realize that this has the potential to sound sarcastic, but I'm being completely serious. It makes me feel like it's a discussion rather than a test, and that there's some commraderie between everyone. Needless to say, I love the people in that class. And I love that we're reading these theories and these novels, but I just wish it weren't quite so much at a time. 500 pages a week is pretty hefty. According to my calculations, if each prof assigned that much (3 classes), then I'd have 1500 pages a week. And as I read at, optimally, a page every 2 minutes, that means 50 hours of reading each week. And I've decided, that that is simply unhealthy.

2. I got a card from Mum & Tim -- adorable!

3. This didn't happen today, but it's still exciting. Andrew sent a card that I wanted to carry around everywhere, and a part birthday part Valentine's gift: a lovely leather bag that fits my laptop! I have some guilt about the leather (and I can't write it off to Andrew's choice, as I did point out this bag)... but my rationalization runs thus: Since I've basically sworn off red meat and pork, and have very much limited my intake of poultry, I'm still in some sense "sparing" animals' lives and not supporting the agribusiness that treats animals inhumanely and all too often feels no responsibility for the environment. Hmm. I still feel kind of guilty.

OK, now for my shameless link posting. And yes, it's to yet another of my favorite feminist blogs. Are you ready for Twisty?:

"So, if a fully-realized human can’t compel another fully-realized human to give out kidneys, how can a microscopic bit of tissue compel a fully-realized human to cede over her uterus? Even if one defines the zygote as a fully-realized human (which it isn’t, but that’s another sordid tale), how in the name of Cool Whip are its rights to be construed as greater than the rights of the woman whose body must be appropriated as its incubator? I say again, even if the clot of undeveloped cell tissue is human, it cannot be more human than an adult woman, nor can it have the right to force any woman to acquiesce to an invasive parasitization against her will."

Ahh, Twisty, how I love thee... A must read if you're interested in the organ donor analogy (kidney: kidney patient:: uterus: embryo).

Eek. Selling off over 300,000 acres of public land? Including 85,000 acres of California'a National Forest property? Does anyone else find this completely ridiculous, short-sighted, and politically suspect? Can we please NOT diminish public lands any further, giving way inevitably to yet more strip malls, more housing developments, and more land cordoned off with "no trespassing" signs? Why are public lands important? Because we all don't have millions of dollars to buy ourselves ranches with enough land to never see a neighbor. Some of us, believe it or not, actually enjoy seeing and experiencing unspoiled and undeveloped land (rather than seeing dollar signs for every tree).

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2006/02/america-for-saleliterally.html

Ahh, an article for all of us who combine OCD with a healthy aversion to germs:

"For this project, Jasmine visited five fast food restaurants near the University of South Florida. She collected ice samples from self-service dispensers inside the restaurants, as well as ice from drinks served through drive-through windows. She also collected samples of toilet water from those restaurants.

She placed the samples into sterile containers and tested them at a lab at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, where she volunteers with a USF professor.

Jasmine found that in four of the five restaurants, the ice that came from the self-serve machines had more bacteria than the toilet water. Three of the five cups of ice from the drive-through windows had more bacteria than the toilet water.

Of the bacteria found in the ice, three out of the five restaurants tested positive for fecal coliform or E. coli, organisms that come from the feces of warm-blooded animals."

Whoa, how the hell are the "feces of warm-blooded animals" getting into restaurant ice?! Ick.

http://news.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBQOZP9MJE.html

So this would be... Reason #4309 why NOT to support the fast food business. Or, at least, to avoid the ice machines.

(Thanks to Andrew for the link)

OK, so I was taking a shower, and this quote kept going through my head, and I just had to post it while we're still thinking of Doug Anglin. Here's Anglin at the height of his eloquency:

"But he said: 'I'm not here to try to lower the rights of women or interfere with the rights of minorities. We just want to fix this one problem that we think is a big deal.' "

OK. I just have to say: We'll get to your "big deal" after we fix the following much more pressing learning inequities in this country (what would Doug call them? "Really big deals"?):

1. The fact that African American, Latino, and Native American children face performance gaps in school (check out this link: http://www.fwps.org/info/press/0001/010529gap.html)

2. The rising costs of college for those of us who DON'T come from solidly middle class families (and the budget cuts in federal aid programs). Oh, and while we're at it, the lost ground that many children of lower class families have to make up for once they reach school (because not everyone has parents who can help them with every school assignment).

3. The fact that female students, around the age of puberty, mysteriously start falling behind in math.

4. The consistent societal barriers that women face in getting equal treatment at work (promotions, salaries). The fact that women seem to be the new

5. The challenges faced by those with physical disabilities and actual learning disabilities.

I could go on. But suffice to say, I'd rather see these problems addressed, before dealing with Doug's desire to get grades for his ability to play sports.

Some really interesting blog posts highlighting the new "victimization sweepstakes."

http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/2006/02/04/boys-achievement-crisis/

http://pandagon.net/2006/01/26/daring-white-boy-rebels-strike-for-stupidity/

And, if you want to see the article that sparked the blogging, here you go:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/01/26/schoolboys_bias_suit/?page=1

Ironically enough, white men are claiming that schools have become so "feminized" as to devalue "male characteristics." Suddenly, sitting at a desk is a "female" task. Funny, I wonder if those complaining have looked into the history of schooling, because, call me crazy, but I believe our modern day education system springs directly out of what was designed by, and for, well-off Western white men.

Somehow, the idea of discrimination against middle class white men doesn't hold much water with me. Maybe because I had a high school teacher joke to my face that I was "getting my MRS degree" at MHC because of a major and minor in English/ Spanish. Yeah, Bob Level didn't QUITE catch on to the fact that I attended a freaking WOMEN'S COLLEGE. Not exactly going to college looking to capture a husband. [Mr. Level also overlooked the fact that I had worked my ass off to get into a good college, and that I planned on going to graduate school. Mr. Level seemed to be behind the times, not remembering that in my graduation year, there were 8 valedictorians -- all of us women. We weren't particularly "favored" by the system. We all did the work to get to that point, taking risks with our GPAs to take the AP courses.]

Anyway, back to the news story that's linked above.

Basically, a white, middle-class male high school student is claiming he's been discriminated against in school. What's the solution? As you might have guessed, it doesn't involve Mr. Doug Anglin putting in more hours at studying a foreign language or calculus. No, Anglin astutely proposes that standards be lowered. And luckily, coming from a fairly privileged family, he can run to daddy:

"Anglin -- whose complaint was written by his father, who is a lawyer in Boston -- is looking for broader changes. He says that teachers must change their attitudes toward boys and look past boys' poor work habits or rule-breaking to find ways to encourage them academically."

OK, so we should get over "poor work habits." Yes, they must be "intrinsically male qualities," which males simply can't help. I'm confused -- we should ignore bad behavior (that often bullies other students)? Do we really want to propose that there are unalterable, essential qualities that break down by sex? With all the attention and theorizing on how gender is constructed, essentializing (and stereotyping) male/female traits is dangerous and unscientific (not to mention anachronistic).

As appalling as all this might sound, Anglin's father goes a step further:

"Gerry Anglin, Doug Anglin's father, said the school system should compensate boys for the discrimination by boosting their grades retroactively.

''If you are a victim of discrimination in the workplace, what do they do? They give you more money or they give you a promotion," Gerry Anglin said. ''Most of these kids want to go to college, so these records are important to them." "

Does anyone else find this downright offensive? Boosting grades retroactively?? I'm sorry, but if you want the grades, then work for them. As the other bloggers point out, when female students underperform in math and science, the solution is never "let's think about how we're favoring male students," it's always "let's get females up to the standard we've set." But here, somehow, we should lower the standards? Anglin the younger even proposes dropping community service requirements that are currently in place to graduate, simply because "it's another burden that will just set off resistance from boys, who may skip it and fail to graduate as a result." WHAT? Are you KIDDING me? Get off your ass and do something for the community you're a part of, and then go home and do your G*# d*#%ed homework!

Why should society lower its standards (sure, don't worry about being a productive member of your community; and actually, who cares about study habits?) because the most privileged people in it are falling behind when the playing field is more level? This high school student sees, everyday, that the people in the most powerful positions in society are white men (government -- hell, look at our freaking Supreme Court, CEOs, etc.). And the well documented "glass ceiling" means that many women don't rise up in the ranks of businesses as men do. Oh, AND women STILL earn 70% of what men earn. So please, spare me the victimization crap. Instead of filing a lawsuit, why don't you find some studying skills that work for you?

File under: Another blatant attempt to avoid taking responsibility for one's own actions.

Ok, so, I was taking yet another break in reading The Tempest, and I found in the Feministe archives the most hilarious thing: The BEAST 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2005.

Link:
http://www.buffalobeast.com/91/50.htm

Here's my favorite:

"1. Pat Robertson

Charges: If Pat Robertson’s local Starbucks caught fire, he would claim that God was punishing them for giving him a caramel latte when he ordered vanilla. Robertson has always been a demonic charlatan with the credibility of Miss Cleo and a lust for Armageddon in his vile, rat-toad heart, but this was really his year to shine. In 2005, Robertson called on God to vacate seats in the Supreme Court (the almighty obliged, killing Rehnquist), advocated assassinating Hugo Chavez, said ‘judicial activists’ were a more serious threat to America than terrorists, called criticism of the war treason, said John Roberts should be thankful for Hurricane Katrina, which he implied was “connected” to Roe v. Wade, attributed Ariel Sharon’s stroke to divine retribution for the Gaza pullout, said “the Antichrist is probably a Jew alive in Israel today,” and implied that God would wipe the residents of Dover, PA off the map for rejecting Creationism. Not to mention raising huge sums of cash from his zombie army, much of which is diverted from his charity operations to his business interests, including African diamond mines. Has long advocated that America simply ignore the Supreme Court. Robertson’s God is an insecure, misogynistic, homicidal fanatic—just like Pat.

Exhibit A: Vehemently opposed to voluntary abortion in America, but okay with forced abortion in China, where his cable investments depend on the good graces of the government.

Sentence: Repeatedly struck by lightning."

So I'm reading The Pickwick Papers in Prof. Woloch's class (Realisms & Anti-Realisms), and I keep coming upon these magnificent moments. These two have some strangely similar elements...

The Pickwickians visit a town during a spirited election campaign:

"'Who is Slumkey?' whispered Mr Tupman.

'I don't know,' replied Mr Pickwick in the same tone. 'Hush. Don't ask any questions. It's always best on these occasions to do what the mob do.'

'But suppose there are two mobs?' suggested Mr Snodgrass.

'Shout with the largest,' replied Mr Pickwick." (167)


The Pickwickians go bird shooting:

"'What's the matter with the dogs' legs?' whispered Mr Winkle. 'How queer they're standing.'

'Hush, can't you? replied Wardle, softly. 'Don't you see, they're making a point?'

'Making a point!' said Mr Winkle, staring about him, as if he expected to discover some particular beauty in the landscape, which the sagacious animals were calling special attention to. 'Making a point! What are they pointing at?'" (248)

Ahh I love it.

(The page numbers are to the Penguin edition. Note to Penguin: It would be wise to print in larger than 9 point font.)

There's a great op-ed piece in the NYT today, "Jurassic Pork." I just had to paste an excerpt because it's written by a fellow at the Hoover Institution (yes, as in, Stanford's right-wing think tank), Kori Schake (a prof. at West Point). Her bio. also credits her as the director of "defense strategy and requirements at the National Security Council" 2002-5.

"THE military budget for the 2007 fiscal year clocks in at $439.3 billion. And that doesn't include the $120 billion that reflects the real cost of the war. We have a behemoth defense budget that inadequately addresses the top national security threats."

Schake goes on to say that she's convinced increasing the military budget so drastically was a mistake. As suggested by the title, she finds the priorities not in line with reality (not a huge surprise):

"Mr. Rumsfeld disparages his opponents as industrial age dinosaurs. Yet this is precisely the approach of this latest defense budget: it continues programs and practices that have been made obsolete by technology, innovation and field experience."

Basically, the administration that runs on fear (remember all the claims of "protecting Americans"?) is actually not even doing a very good job of addressing the threats to the US. This fits right in line with the Center for American Progress's giving the Bush administration a failing grade (D+) in homeland security.

So as billions of dollars go toward a defense budget that experts call "pork," everyday Americans are going without healthcare and seeing slashes in education spending. I think it's time to reprioritize, both in how the military spends its money, and in how we allocate funds.

[Thanks to Ken for the gender correction -- I'm afraid that after having a male roommate named Kory, I'm doomed to always picture a very, very tall blonde man when I hear that name.)

An interesting look at the tragedies caused by Poland's strict abortion laws, which have become even more strict in practice than in the books. Women are being forced to carry on pregnancies despite prenatal testing that reveals severe disabilities, or risks to the woman's health. There's also a sad story about a woman who died during an illegal abortion, because her doctor was afraid of the legal ramifications for bringing his patient to the nearby emergency room. Luckily, more women seem to be speaking up about this problem. Also, with the recent case of a woman who is now basically blind from a pregnancy that she was forced to carry out, despite her eye doctor's recommendation for an abortion, it seems that the rest of Europe is starting to take notice. Very sobering considering our now mostly white male Catholic Supreme court.

http://www.federa.org.pl/english/news/tribunal/shana_penn.htm

So I just got back from Jing Jing's (followed by gelato!) w/ a group from the studio, and Andrew, who seems now to be pursuing a career in special effects, sent me a lovely picture of his culinary creation:


Andrew: i made fresh spring rolls!!
Me: wow
Me: beautiful
Andrew: hehe, well i staged that a little to hide the fact that one sorta burst and another was losing some of its innards
Andrew: i wonder if romero used rice vermicelli for intestines...
Andrew: but i made the sauce and even sprinkled chopped peanuts on top
Me: hahaha

Email the president about the budget bill that includes a $12 billion cut to student loans, and which just squeaked through a House vote:

http://www.studentaidaction.com/aid.asp?id=1157

It's that horrible in-between time in my room -- the sun is just setting outside, but it's too dark to read without turning on a light indoors. I've been doing laundry, and keep getting these bouts of mhc(home)-sickness. I think it was a combination of seeing a silver car parked out in front of the building (reminded me of Monday mornings in front of the Delles, watching Andrew drive off to work) and then noticing the slanting sunlight coming into the hallway from the entryway (ahh, so much like the golden color in my old dorm room facing west). And then it didn't help that I had a mix CD on from Jaime, which reminded me of junior year... ahh!

Anyway, I have been pretty horrible about writing things down here. I never updated on the last week of adventures while Andrew was here (lots of eating out -- Darbar, Pizza My Heart, Coldstone (dear LORD the cake batter is SO GOOD)), or on weekend activities (like last week's trip to a pizza place in Menlo Park for Megan's birthday). Hmm.

The big ventures off campus seem to correspond with activities planned by our CA's. About a week and a half ago, I went to the SF symphony and met some interesting chemistry folks (we listened to Michael Bolton on the way back in the car -- ironically, of course). I decided that I have no ear for music. Which might explain why I didn't have the self discipline to continue taking piano lessons back in the day. We caught performances of Stravinsky's Petrushka (apparently there's a storyline; might have helped to have known that prior, because I had no idea what to picture) and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor (for those of you who know what this is). Anyway, it did almost nothing for me. I was more interested in the architecture of the space. I kept expecting images to pop into my head, but I had nothing. I was thinking of Fantasia, but the little dancing mushrooms really only belong in that context. Oh well.

Anyway, the more appropriate-to-Becky excursion was this last Sunday. I went to Ano Nuevo w/ Jessica's event, which is this hang out on the coast for lots and lots of elephant seals. They're huge. They don't exactly excel at getting around on land -- they basically throw their bulk forward and then pull. Luckily for them, it seems they don't need to move much in the first place. Most of them were dozing in the sand, periodically flipping little flipperfuls of sand over their backs. Bizarre noises -- the males seem capable of only one noise: gutteral burp-like expressions. Crazy. Anyway, on the way back our group stopped off at a lighthouse for lunch, sat on the porch overlooking the ocean.

This weekend is going to be ridiculous. About 600 pages of reading (which is actually less than last week). Argh.

Interesting article... You'd think that a vaccine against HPV, which can lead to certical cancer in women and can be transmitted even with the use of a condom, would be a VERY GOOD THING. So why are some conservatives reluctant about the vaccines being used? Because, naturally, once you're vaccinated against something, you of course just can't wait to expose yourself to it! As pointed out on the Feministe blog (Zuzu points out that children don't exactly go rolling in rusty nails just because they've had a tetanus shot), the logic doesn't really hold.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17950773-36398,00.html

I just have to pass along this great posting from the Feministe blog:

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2006/01/25/your-priorities-are-showing/

A new blogger to the site, going by Zuzu, highlights the ideology which permeates the FDA's decisions in approving certain medications for over-the-counter use. Apparently this diet drug (which would be called Alli) is used to block the absorption of fat. It doesn't have a very good track record, and produces rather disgusting and embarrassing side effects (no big surprise: the body wasn't meant to pass fat out through the digestive tract). And, it can be dangerous when taken with certain other medications. Also, as we can all imagine, it has a VERY high potential to be abused by teen girls (wait, where have we heard that one before?) Despite this, the FDA is approving it.

This might not seem like that big a deal, until you compare it with the FDA's much more publicized denial of Plan B's petition to be sold over the counter. As Zuzu points out (but I'll sum up in case you don't feel like reading the posting), Plan B has a very good track record, is very effective with few if any side effects, and has the approval of most everyone in the scientific community (even the FDA advisory board). (As a side note, I remember my gynecologist getting quite worked up over the FDA's denial of Plan B.) However, a higher up in the FDA, on pure ideology, blocked Plan B's path to being sold over the counter. Why? Because it could be abused by teen girls. (I think this is interesting, I mean, wouldn't we rather a teen use Plan B than later end up having an abortion?!)

Anyway, it's interesting that we're willing for teens to hurt themselves in the pursuit of becoming skinny, but we won't give them a safe way to prevent an unwanted pregnancy (or an abortion later down the line).

A condensed version of a conversation w/ Andrew:

Andrew: I think I'm going to watch tv now.

Me: Don't you have any homework?

Andrew: Well...I did some reading before on the couch. I have like 50 pages to read by Tues.

Me: 50 pages?...

Andrew: laughs

Me: I hope you have horrible midterms!

Andrew: I don't have any midterms.

Ahh, how did I end up taking 3 classes that assign around 700 pages of reading per week??

So, so far behind. Here's a journal like update, before I forget what I've been doing over my (oh too short) break.

Going way back in time, to Friday the 23rd...

Fri: Andrew arrived! I'd been sprucing up the apartment for the occasion, and walked to the transit center to meet his train from the airport. His hair has grown out, and one forgets the little details of a person, so at first it was funny, like meeting for the first time all over again. We ended up taking a cab back to my place -- enjoyed showing off the newly cleaned studio. Had a quick dinner involving cornbread, and I think we watched Land of the Dead, director's cut. Lots of added eating scenes.

Sat: Beautiful sunny day. Last sunny day for about two weeks, so it was lucky that we were outside for most of it. Biked all over for groceries, and Andrew helped us find a sane way to get to Safeway (ie, not going on El Camino Real). Dinner: Sushi feast.

Sun: Christmas! We went to James's for a very nice dinner, and it began to rain. Upon our return, it was time to start Hanukkah. Unfortunately, we had no menorah, so we ended up actually making two out of baker's clay. Believe it or not. I biked over to the department for paperclips which Andrew bent and molded and embedded in the clay in order to hold the candles above. Hilarious. Worked well, until the candles began to burn down... then it smelled like burnt bread.

Mon: Cloudy day -- walked the dish, and did not see the mountain lion mentioned on all the signs. Lake Lagunita was not a lake, but a muddy puddle with a few disillusioned ducks. Festive dinner of salmon & latkes. Amazing latkes. Took some good pictures of Andrew attending to the festival of frying. Then, went out to a bar to meet up with Andrew's friends. Fun fun -- and finally put faces to names.

Tues: Wandering around in SF day. We started out in the Mission, explored used clothing stores, and had coffee at Muddy Waters (not recommended: they have a buzzer system for the restrooms, which they use rather absent mindedly. For example, they buzzed in someone else while I was in there already -- luckily I was just attempting to wash my hands. Part II of why it's not recommended: NO SOAP). Next stop, walking toward the Castro district. Called Andrew's friend for directions to No Name Sushi, and realized we were like half a block away. This place is incredible, and IS recommended. It's in a residential area, and you'd never know it was a restaurant... The inside: tile, old tables and school chairs, a bathroom that's really an unfinished hallway, and the most amazing sushi ever. Huge portions, and the bestest yet... We basically gorged ourselves. I went from feeling damp and sickly to warm and well fed in about five minutes. Wandered back toward Caltrain, home late.

Weds: All I wrote down for this day was that we made pasta. Real descriptive, right? I think the weather started out bad, but improved. Strangely better than Tues's SF drizzle, despite conflicting weather reports. I think we biked onto campus and rented a movie -- Drop Dead Gorgeous on Andrew's friend's recommendation. Hilarious. Thought it would be pure mindless entertainment, but lots of interesting stuff going on with class & the American dream...

Thurs: Another city day! We headed in around noon, and did some of the more touristy stuff... visiting the ferry building, walking along the wharf and seeing sea lions from afar, visiting Ghiradelli (ridiculously overpriced, but free samples), getting Belgian fries, walking up the steep hills & down Lombard St., taking the bus toward the museum... The SFMoma is awesome, btw. We went for the half price evening -- visited the special exhibits: Chuck Close, art banned by the Nazis, & some trippy videos (one involving naked people in a box, the other capturing the view from a barrel rolling down a busy NYC street). Got back to Palo Alto late, and hungry. Did the Cheesecake Factory thing: ate half our dinners, got cheesecake to go. Yums.

Fri: Picked up the rental car! Yay, mobility! Ran some errands (ahh I love Ikea), and got back in time for Jill's pizza party. Best pizza.

Sat: Weather had been bad -- food shopped, and then had a beautiful drive to Half Moon Bay. Foggy, drizzly, with lovely forest smells. Got back in time for Andrew to treat me to his homemade green curry, and then prepared for our mojito preparty. Took longer to make them than expected, but Andrew made a good bartender. Then we headed off to Gavin's New Year's Eve bash. Great night: tequila shots w/ our professor (Andrew was the only one to go back for a second round), Krispy Kreams at midnight, the champagne countdown, etc... Bowed out around 1 am -- the kids running about had more energy than I did...

Sun: New Year's day brunch in Berkeley w/ Andrew's cousins. Lots and lots of rain and wind. Got home & I made chili. Last day of Hanukkah -- I was finally starting to remember bits of the prayers. I loved that we did the entire 8 days of gifts, such fun.

Mon: Horrid weather, again. In case you didn't hear about our wretched weather, it rained for about a week straight. Thought we were going in for the whole 40 days and 40 nights. The news stations had many a field day, warning us of the dangers of standing water, and reporting live from mudslides and floods. Ridiculous. Interrupted every TV show we watched, including one special featuring washed up figure skating stars doing their thing to Kenny Rogers. Anyway, so we had trouble finding stuff to do that didn't involve enjoying the out of doors at all.

So we found ourselves again in Berkeley... did some used clothes shopping, made a Scharffenberger chocolate factory tour, and explored the downtown areas. This chocolate is freaking amazing. It's not candy-chocolate like Hershey's, but real, straight up cacao w/ coco butter & sugar and vanilla and some emulsifier. Even their milk chocolate technically is dark chocolate due to cacao percentages. They let us try their various types -- bittersweet was my favorite, then semi sweet, and milk chocolate. After the explanations & tastings, we saw the resting machinery. Then they let us try the 99% cacao: whoa. And the mocha. Apparently you should always go from highest cacao percentage to least when sampling. Andrew bought a great t-shirt that says "extra bitter."

After, took Andrew's cousins' dinner recommendation: a Thai place (great building: includes a greenhouse turned seating area) in the Gourment Ghetto. Good curry... Then digested while exploring a huge bookstore.

Tues: Another crappy weather day. Solution: more factory tours. Headed up toward Fairfield. Did the Budweiser tour first. Ridiculous propaganda disguised as informative videos. Lots of patriotic imagery -- eagles, stars and stripes, etc. Let's just put it this way: the TVs were embedded in larger-than-people plastic beer cans. Did give lots of free samples: two full beers. I tried their more experimental types, involving fruit flavorings like grapefruit, lime/cactus, and raspberry. They can fill 2000 bottles a minute in this factory, and we learned that their aging area (monstrous barrels of beer, I think we figured they hold like 70 million bottles of beer? Try using those figures in the 99 bottles song...) is actually the safest place during an earthquake. Gotta protect that yicky beer.

The highlight, though, was going to the Jelly Belly factory. Had a tour guide who was clearly channeling Johnny Depp. Didn't really answer questions, and ended every sentence with a squeaky "OK?" But, we did get to wear cool Jelly Belly hats. We could smell the Juicy Pear flavoring as soon as we hit the walkway (they have walkways conveniently located above the factory -- bird's eye view of bean making). The tour guide, who has clearly never lived near a pear orchard, squeaked: "Just like a pear orchard!" Bizarre place, with portraits of Ronald Reagan & Elvis made out of jelly bellies, dancing machines, and a jelly belly "bar" where you can order a banana split or even garlic bread. Bought "Belly Flops" (beans not quite perfect or fused together) for reduced price, had samples, took pictures... Couldn't eat any jelly beans for about 3 days, due to inhaling so many flavoring fumes.

After, bought some real food at the Berkeley Bowl.

Weds: Big day. Drove out to Muir Woods, along many twisty but pretty roads. Went across the Golden Gate Bridge. Took a damp but beautiful hike among the redwoods. Kept driving along roads with a view, until we finally got toward Point Reyes. Didn't know where to go from there, ended up at a lookout point (after driving through some truly stinky dairy farms) at a lighthouse. Above the ocean waves, watched the sun set behind a hill with deer grazing on it, made into silhouettes. Took some funny pictures. On the way back, saw the entire herd of deer grazing. Some stepped out in front of us. We caught another on film while engaged in the act of peeing (the deer, not us). On the way back, saw a buck set against the sunset. Got back really late -- luckily Andrew had made pesto that morning.

Thurs: Last big trip with the car. We drove out to Santa Cruz, visited Natural Bridges Park, followed the monarch's migration to the Lighthouse Beach Park, and saw an estimated 17,000 monarchs fluttering about the eucalyptus trees. Gorgeous. Lots of pictures taken. Then we crossed the street and watched the huge waves and surfers. Explored the downtown, splashed about on the beach, and walked along the wharf to watch the perfect sunset. Tried to take pictures of the alternatingly napping and barking sea lions that hang out on the wooden beams under the wharf. Walked back after the best of the sunset colors had begun to fade, and hurried to dinner (and warmth! I already think it's cold here, even though it's like a pleasant springtime according to New England standards). Went to a natural and largely organic place for dinner, Dharma's. Pretty good, though I don't think we got their specialties.

Fri: Early morning errands, dropped the car off, and joined half my cohort in a bike ride that ended at the veggie stand that's (unfortunately) closed for the winter. Went back home for a nap, War of the Worlds, pad thai, and, later, cake making.

Sat: Another day in SF: We ment up with Andrew's cousins for Dim Sum at Yank Sing (hope I'm getting the name right) down at Rincon Plaza... delicious. Then explored Hayes Valley (shops were too hip for me -- and too pricey), and a furniture place in the Mission that Andrew & I previously walked right by (remembered because Andrew commented on a lamp). So this furniture place was ridiculous. All 70's feeling furniture. Some of it rather ugly. Like stuff that's hopelessly tasteless in your great aunt's house, but somehow is cool if paired with hip things in your own place. Some of it was clearly beyond help -- like this orange lamp. Ok. The base was almost as tall as me, and seemed to have been shaped out of clay by a five year old. Then, the five year old's younger sibling finger painted it bright orange and brown, and the monstrosity was born. Most of the stuff cost about 10 times what it originally went for. And much of it could be found for under $50 at a local yardsale. Despite this, some cool finds, if you know how to decorate.

After, we just missed our train (damn huge hills in that city), so we took a later one. Biked to Jessica's for a lovely dinner, and then finally fell exhausted into bed.

Sun: Ahh wow, we're up to today! We woke up at a decent hour, and biked to Hobee's for brunch with the studio gang. Amazing smoothies & coffeecake. Then back here for a nap, a visit to the bookstore & the English dept, and some renegade citrus picking. Romantic candlelit dinner (pizza and salad w/ my splurge item, organic red wine). Took a shower early -- watched DH -- recaps of Grey's Anatomy -- original 50's Invasion of the Body Snatchers -- and now... time for bed.

But before that: The best quote of the evening:
I was peeling a very ripe mango while sitting on the couch, and I wanted Andrew to throw out the inedible stem part for me. So I thought it would be a bright idea to toss it to him, as he was standing at the sink (remember, I live in a studio, so the sink and the couch, not so far away from one another). Anyway, I threw it, and it ended up going about a foot and a half, landing squarely on my tote bag (which was sitting at the foot of the couch). Andrew said: "You have like negative athletic ability." So true, so true.

And now, for bed!

Very overdue for an update.

So last Friday, Sat., and Sunday, I was working away in the library, finishing up my last long paper… Discovered the joys of working in the library, surprisingly, since at MHC I avoided it during finals period due to germ issues. Jill & I actually arrived about an hour before the lib. opened on Sunday morning. Get this: during finals week, Stanford’s library didn’t open until NOON on Sunday. This seemed bizarre after MHC’s 24 hour policy, and then even the reduced early morning to 2 am compromise. I definitely took for granted the better access to the administrative powers…

Anyways, so Monday I finished up & packed… Tuesday morning I headed out early for my flight (way early, I had 3 hours to kill at the San Jose airport)… and learned the ropes of using mass transit in my new area. Still prefer my bike to the Marguerite, but… it’s helpful when you’ve got a huge suitcase.

Met up with Mer & Mum at the escalators in PDX (after some confusion), and headed into Portland for shopping. We found a very cool store (Presents of Mind), outside of which I got into a conversation with a gay rights activist & made a donation to the cause. Then Mer & I tried on gobs of clothes at Buffalo Exchange. After going through our painfully slow decision making process, we grocery shopped at Trader Joe’s (and I almost lost a mitten), drove through an unlit Peacock Lane, & had dinner at Skipper’s w/ much laughter over “hush puppies.” Great homecoming, w/ Tim at the door and Prissy expectantly looking at me (first time EVER that this cat has shown an interest in my being home again).

Select quotes:

Mom at Buffalo Exchange: “Those sweaters match really well. Too bad you can’t wear them both at once!”

On Mer’s stomach growling: “No digestion without representation!”

Gosh. So… what have I done since then. Weds. Mer & I headed down to Hood River and I got some more of my Hanukkah shopping done (aka, Andrew’s presents). We realized at some point that we were starving, so rather than grabbing coffee we walked over to the Crazy Pepper for some (as always) amazing Mexican food.

Thurs. we headed back into town – I hung out at the library ostensibly working on my intro to grad final while Mer shopped for me. Actually, I caught up on NYT articles, political blogs, and www.gofugyourself.com. I did finish writing the first paragraph, however, which seemed like a huge victory at the time.

So afterwards, we got some pretty amazing mochas at Dog River Coffee, and I got some more work done on my paper. I usually hate working in cafes due to noise issues, but (much like the library discovery) I’m finding it’s actually rather enjoyable when you’re in the right sort of café. Luckily, Hood River is not a university town, so one can still sit and drink coffee and work without being surrounded by other people doing the same. Refreshing to be the only one working on a paper in a given establishment.

Helped Mum w/ dinner – rice & bean mixture w/ kale & Mum’s amazing home grown & home canned tomatoes.

Thurs. we again headed into town – I again worked in the library, and got a first draft out. Dinner involved elk meat and spaghetti. I tried the elk (since it was wild & hunted), but found after one meatball that I just couldn’t do it. Hadn’t had red meat since the summer – wasn’t ready to really restart. Plus, elk meat has that gamey taste… The OC was excellent. Looking forward to Chrismakkuh w/ Andrew!

Anyway, Friday is difficult to remember now. At some point we watched The Bear though: a trippy movie in which bears are shamelessly personified and take drugs (otherwise known as psychedelic mushrooms).

Speaking of difficult to pinpoint events, we attempted to do something Chrismas-y each day. First was positioning & decorating the tree… I made some Christmas playlists for our soundtrack, and we got all the old favorites up on the branches. A couple days later I had a wrapping session, and got all the gifts under the tree. Mum’s been in a baking frenzy (partly due to events yet to be narrated), and has made like 7 or 8 pies in the last couple of days, plum pudding, and a walnut pie (which is amazing). We also made fudge soon after I arrived. Calculated the calories in a batch : 5800. Per square, about 200, depending upon how large your cuts are (we got about 30).

Saturday is the big crazy day. We had our self-scheduled Christmas, w/ Mer & I opening stockings and opening one another’s gifts. Surprised Mum w/ perfume & hiking boot money. I’m particularly excited about the coasters Mer got me. Must try out this mint julep recipe. Also found a perfume scent for Mer that seemed appropriate: beleaf. Mum & Tim surprised me w/ pink poodle figurines, which will stay under glass till I’m more settled geographically.

All was going well, until someone (probably me) had the bright idea of heading up to Laurence Lake to see the snowy sights. Well, as Mer was being nice and pulled aside for a small car to speed down the road, we got stuck on the none-too-plowed road up to the lake. At first it wasn’t so bad… just a bit nosed into the snow. Backing up proved fatal, as we started going into the ditch. Called up Scott, who w/ a neighbor and a handful of passersby directed our rescue operation. People shoveled snow out from under the wheels, pushed the jeep, and gave advice. The truck w/ chain attached to the jeep couldn’t pull it out, so at one point we had a truck & an SUV hooked up via winch to a tree and somehow… they finally got us out. Wheels spun without catching, the brakeline busted, and then Mom (keep in mind, no brakes) rear ended Scott’s truck (but we were the only ones damaged, luckily the fog light was the only casualty). Eek. Inched down the hill in first gear, watched one of our helpers get stuck in the snow as everyone tried to prevent him from backing into the same ditch that got us (Scott got him out, too, though his gears were messed up, something about a transmission box breaking).

Anyway, we got down the hill using emergency breaks, and turned into Scott & Linda’s, where we were greeted w/ tea & woodstoves burning. After figuring out our plan of attack in car repairs, we headed home in Tim’s truck. I made chili & compiled the blue cornbread mix from TJ’s. Yums. Kind of made up for our misadventure, and our frozen toes.

Mom started baking “thank you” pies that night – which we had to deliver the next day. SNL was freaking hilarious. The digital short about Narnia & cupcakes was our favorite. Debbie Downer’s Christmas was a close second. However, couldn’t figure out Neil Young.

Sunday was ridiculous. As Mer says, we visited half the people that we know in this valley. Scott & Linda’s for a pie drop off, Catherine & Marcus’s for an alpaca holiday event (not kidding), one of our helper’s for another pie drop off (where a pack of barking dogs attempting to get themselves run over as they “escorted” us down the driveway), Grammy’s for a visit, the café for chai & the grand electronic send off of my last final paper, Arlene’s for a visit, Rosauer’s for dinner ingredients… we were hungry, exhausted, and relieved of pies by the time we got home. Dinner was snappy, as we’d gotten a frozen concoction. Later, toward midnight, Mer & I decided to have a snowy adventure. Walked to the pipes, sat in the quiet imagining elk, and then went home for a late night of hilarious dating shows.

Ripped from Mer’s blog, here are some quotes w/ my parenthetical comments:

"He really does like, consume people."
-Becky, about a guy making out with women on Elimidate (it was truly zombie like).

"Will Mike choose Tracy, or the egg donor?"
-Host of Elimidate

"Oh, someone's gonna get elimidated. Oh, no, someone's gonna have to watch the "Bod" commercial for the 50th time."
-Becky, concerning false dramatic pause and subsequent commercial break (they seriously played the commercial up to four times during EACH break. Sometimes even back to back alternate versions of the same d&#* ad).

"He's groovin' to that windchime"
-Becky, concerning "Third Eye" commercial (in which an unshaven guy in baggy clothes strums a wind chime and starts kinda dancing).

"She just craves that fresh water like a hippie craves a windchime."
-Me (i.e., Merrie, since this is from her blog), concerning Prissy and her faucet habit

So, for today:

Mum woke me up early (that is, before 9 am) as they’d spotted a herd of elk in the orchard. Right outside our front window, really, a whole herd grazing on the fallen apples. As they moved about, we caught sight of one spike or just a few pointed bull, which was way exciting, until we realized that an even larger bull was out there. He had probably about five points, and he was just a huge animal, as Mer says, “judging from how huge the rack was,” he must have had a decent amount of points. Mer tells me that bulls take “harems” during the mating season. So guess that’s what we were seeing. We’re not really sure what was up with the younger bull, but he must not have seemed a threat. Something spooked the herd, and they headed back up to the ditch & the hills.

Mer & I later decided to track them… which wasn’t too difficult in the snow, and with all the broken saplings, droppings, and shed fur. Mer spotted a number of small trees stripped bare by antlers. Got some cool photos in macro mode to document the trip. The highlight, though, was when Mer recognized these shrill bleats as elk communicating with one another (and probably warning of our presence, as we were none too quiet with our puffy coats catching on every limb and our boots crunching through the snow). These noises went on for about five minutes, with us crouching in the snow that was quickly melting through even my three layers of pants. After the bleating had stopped, I was ready to head homewards and take in the snowy views, so I ended up leaving Mer and tried to make as much noise as possible on the return trip to (we hoped) calm the elk into thinking we had left. Had some moments looking at the views of the valley hillsides in snow, and this ancient sign on a tree…

Helped with dinner – we had tilapia w/ garlic, onions, and tomatoes, and my new favorite veggie side, involving kale.

After, as Medium was a repeat, Mer & I watched Lady and the Tramp. Realized upon rewatching (it had been years), that there are huge issues being worked out in that film… all the different representations of immigration & ethnicity, class (the “kennel club”), not to mention gender roles. EEK. I used to love those old Disney films, and now I can’t imagine showing them to kids without a whole lecture attached.

Anyway, must go now. Will leave w/ a link to an awesome article from the NYT on health care reform for this country.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/18/business/yourmoney/18view.html?th&emc=th&oref=login

Apparently, the average college graduate's debt amounts to $17,600. The NYT ran an interesting proposal for making student loans work for students rather than lenders... which seems vital right now, as the Pell Grant program is woefully behind inflation. For most of us, the Pell Grant is really just a tiny drop in the bucket, not the empowering force necessary to help working class students feel that they can afford a college education.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/12/opinion/12kamenetz.html?th&emc=th

"It's thus no surprise that lawmakers are apt to protect lenders and not students. On Oct. 26, Mr. Boehner's committee approved more than $14 billion in cuts over the next six years, which would be the largest reduction in the history of the federal student aid program. Mr. Boehner defended the cuts by saying they mostly came from corporate subsidies to Sallie Mae, Bank One, Citibank and the rest. But that gets to the heart of what is wrong with this program - and the way to fix it. The best way to reverse the shocking trends in debt and educational attainment would be to switch from loans back to grants. Given ballooning deficits, though, that's a nonstarter. Instead, why not cut off subsidies to banks and give that money to needy students?"

My blog has become a digital commonplace book.

So here's some of my life:

This past Friday: Surprise birthday party for Justin -- SUCH fun. He was about 20 minutes late for the concocted movie watching date, so we all hid in the hallway whispering and waiting for a knock on the door. Unfortunately (or should I say fortunately?) none of us had matches for the candles since no one smokes... Marissa put up a good fight with the electric range top, and even got some sparks, but no outright flame. Anyway, luckily Justin didn't catch on and become overly suspicious of the multiple movie invites, or the bizarre silences whenever he entered a room where we were discussing plans. After our wine and cheese pre-party, we caught the Marguerite and walked to the Nut House. Which was a nut house. People were actually throwing peanuts at us. Seems like the place for English & Comp Lit kids (not necessarily because of the peanut throwing). We ran into older grad students, comp lit students... our table kept expanding. Talked about the OC w/ Harris, planned a slumber party with Elda Maria and Jill, unsuccessfully plotted with Elda to get unadulterated water, got scared silly by the life size gorilla man in the bathroom stall (I could have sworn he moved between my first and second trips) and felt waaaay drunk looking in the fun house mirrors by the sink, wondered over the music (blister in the sun AND tom petty), and stumbled home with everyone after we missed the last bus. Showered, and promptly fell asleep with the towel still on my wet hair. Woke up around 1 the next afternoon with a sore stomach, but luckily no headaches.

Anyway, the rest of my weekend consisted of working. Missed out on Binta's tour of the Chuck Close exhibit at the SF MOMA, but instead searched for Punch cartoons from the late 1800's for my final paper in 19th Cent. Visual Culture. OK, time for a little divergence.

So I remembered, back in the day, when I was writing my papers for the Joan of Arc/ King Arthur course at MHC, being able to search (electronically, no less) for the merest mentions of Lord Lytton in issues of Notes & Queries from the 1800's. And it was totally easy -- I was a sophomore, for Christ's sake. Also: At MHC, all the periodicals, even those dating from the 1800's, were in ONE PLACE. Easy to find and all that. So adjusting to Stanford's library system has been huge for me. From just figuring out where all the books are (they have like, 12 libraries, and auxiliary libraries where you have to specially call stuff up, and not to mention special collections for the really old awesome stuff), to how to search their online catalogue, to what databases to use, to how long I can have things out for, to how I can check out DVDs... so much. And always the little things you took for granted. So anyway, I had this breakthrough after some kind soul named Mary (this quest takes on Biblical proportions) at the library replied to my pleading email about not being able to find Punch. Basically, I had to search through periodicals specifically. Oops. But she also copied and pasted the info for where to find it (NOT where the special collections librarian had pointed me, so it wasn't entirely my fault for missing it...), which included, lo and behold, the database I remembered using back in the day at MHC! So, not only did I spend Monday morning flipping through 100+ year old magazines, I also was able to find every mention in a headline of "advertisements"! Only problem, of course, is that I just have all this stuff I love, but not exactly a thesis yet. Gonna work on that.

Anyway, today was our last Memoria class... we went like, an hour and a half over time. Eek. But it was OK because everyone had their final papers to talk about, and Prof. L. had ordered us Indian food. Ahhhh. The way to my heart. And by the time dessert roled around... I was in a pumpkin-dip-and-nilla-wafer-with-Philip-Glass-in-the-background induced swoon.

So now I've finished my reading response for my (gasp) last intro class on Thurs... and was reading some Wilde for Friday's class...

Here's a highlight for my idealistic soul:

"It will, of course, be said that such a scheme as is set forth here is quite unpractical, and goes against human nature. This is perfectly true. It is unpractical, and it goes against human nature. This is why it is worth carrying out, and that is why one proposes it. For what is a practical scheme? A practical scheme is either a scheme that is already in existence, or a scheme that could be carried out under existing conditions. But it is exactly the existing conditions that one objects to; and any scheme that could acept these conditions is wrong and foolish. The conditions will be done away with, and human nature will change." (1100) - Wilde in "the Soul of Man Under Socialism"

And here's a highlight for everyone with a Wildean sense of humor:

"Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less. For a town or country labourer to practise thrift would be absolutely immoral. Man should not be ready to show that he can live like a badly fed animal." (1081)

OK I'm going to prep this next one by noting that William Morris and Wilde are both proposing socialism at least in part because they have decided that art in its best form -- or a democratization of art -- is not possible under capitalism. So Morris started a crafts movement, believing that everyone should work to produce beautiful objects/ art. And Wilde is responding to that in part here. But anyway, it's really funny, so here we go:

"They try to solve the problem of poverty, for instance, by keeping the poor alive; or, in the case of a very advanced school, by amusing the poor." (1079)

Well, that's it for today... time to shower and actually do some work!!

A great reminder about why, exactly, tax cuts for the wealthy should seem ethically WRONG right now. Congress is chipping away at safety net programs such as Food Stamps (200,000 people are basically going to lose $140 each month with which to buy food) and Medicaid. Unfortunately, trickle down doesn't work, and hasn't been working for these people:

"Poverty has risen across the past four years to 37 million and counting, by the government's own measure, while the number of homeless children in public schools is at 600,000 and up. In 2004, some 38 million Americans - including nearly one in five children - lived in households that found it difficult to afford food, 6 million more than in 1999. These are the numbers that should be driving the nation's lawmakers, not the cynical desire to carry rebellion only to the brink of victory, followed by still another last-minute cave-in by the misnamed moderates." - NYT Editorial, "Profiles in Pusillanimity"

http://twistyfaster.typepad.com/i_blame_the_patriarchy/2005/12/rapers_delight.html#comments

What's this, you ask?

Only my new favorite website -- check out this disturbing case of "sexsomnia" in Canada. Apparently, some guy (with a HISTORY of this, mind you) got drunk, passed out next to some woman, and proceeded to rape her while supposedly asleep. The kicker? He had enough foresight to put on a condom. Awfully fishy. As someone on the above blog points out, condoms are hard enough to use even when you're CONSCIOUS. So basically, it's OK to rape women so long as you claim to have a disorder. And unlike female rape victims, you won't even be accused of negligence in protecting you/ the women around you because you exacerbated your "illness" w/ alcohol. Any judge with half a brain would at LEAST give the guy some sentence -- if you've done this four times, you're guilty by way of drinking and passing out next to a woman that you MUST KNOW you could end up "sleep raping."

As someone also points out in the above blog, if this guy had "accidentally" raped a man instead of a woman, you can bet that he wouldn't have been found not guilty.

OK. I do realize that it's after 2 am, but I still have to post these quotes because I've been having some "a-ha!" moments (not like the 80's band) while reading a chapter of Fredric Jameson from a book that he co-authored (The Cultures of Globalization). My first impression of Jameson a few weeks ago in Intro to Grad Studies was not good (overwrought prose style, the sort that takes you 5 minutes to read one page). So my excitement tonight seems miraculous (maybe that bad writing award went to his head, because the prose in this piece is amazing).

Anyway, so here are my favorite quotes, so far, in this week's reading:

After discussing the syllogism that goes: lack of democracy interferes with development of a free enterprise system, so therefore development of democracy "is dependent on development of the free market itself" (68). Ok so here's where it gets good:

"Suppose, however, that what are here identified as so many levels of the same thing were in reality in contradiction with each other; for example, suppose that consumerism were inconsistent with democracy, that the habits and addictions of postmodern consumption block or repress possibilities of political and collective action as such?" p. 69 Ah-ha!

Ok, and the second:

"But in the Anglo-American first world, I'm tempted to say, the state can still be a positive space: its powers are what must be protected against the right-wing attempts to dissolve it back into private businesses and operations of all kinds. The state is the place of welfare and social legislation, the source of the safety net of a whole range of crucial legislative powers (over employment, health, education, and the like), which must not be surrendered to the fragmenting and disintegrating effects of American business" (72).

I love this, I think in part because I've recently realized/decided that a laissez-faire model of capitalism doesn't work in the real world of post-industrialization. And why? Because big business doesn't care about worker safety or welfare until they're FORCED to. Example: I'm reading through anthologies of Victorian mags (such as Punch), and I ran across some details of the state of factory workers ... a group that included 13 year olds with phosphorous poisoning from working in match factories, which caused the destruction of vocal cords and the loss of teeth... and women and children working in cotton factories who "gained" a ten-hour work day after, get this, FORTY years of protests.

OK. So surely we've moved on now (as in, now workers can sue), but there are other areas in which we're still woefully like the Victorians. Their Smoke Acts are our "Clean Air Acts," which these days don't really do anything substantial. And the protests in Punch against train tracks in the Lake District seem eerily familiar to the administration's attack on National Parks -- their rewriting that makes "preservation" a secondary aim to certain high-up cronies' desires to go snow mobiling in Yellowstone. Not just eery, actually...

So, in my late-night Jameson-induced epiphany, I've decided that government intervention is necessary and vital for a responsible and sustainable brand of capitalism. Because people making millions/ billions of dollars don't consistently give a s*#$ about the environment (they can always buy a private island, right?) Now if only the government could extract itself from the pockets of big business, we'd actually get some real protection for the environment...

With Mum's approval and even by her suggestion, I'm posing this snippet:

Pinkpoodledog: well, I don't know, I might watch SNL so it might not be that clear cut, but I'll at least get a chance to skim some reading tonight

Mom: i like to think of that what is it ?
Mom: the 8th chakra....message coming in from above...divine so to speak ?

Pink: mom, I honestly don't think that ayurvedic intervention is going to help me write about political cartoons from 19th century britain

So I feel that I should document my Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving: Yet another sunny day, high 60's (actually cooler than it had been the rest of the week). Justin, James, & I headed over to our Stanford-sponsored Thanksgiving dinner around 4. I perhaps unwisely had us sit outside (the novelty factor, you know), since it did get chilly once the sun set. It was hilarious. James signed up to work -- his job? Taking pictures of everyone eating. (And he's from New Zealand so this was his first Thanksgiving.) Highlights: hearing about Justin's camping trip ("I was trying to fall asleep, and I thought 'that d--ed M!' "), the quickly-melted whipped cream on pumpkin pie that looked rather unhealthy, and my ill-timed comment of "I keep eating this, and it's not even that good" as people were walking past to get in the food line. Oopsy.

Friday: Lots of sitting about and working.

Sat: More sitting about, until the afternoon when I decided to be proactive. Borrowed The Piano from the lib. for mainly academic reasons. James came over to watch with me. Painful movie at times.

Sun.: Eek break coming to an end! But, I did get my paper done, the three novels read, and much of the intro reading done... Anyway, in the morning was my usual farmer's market expedition. And Desperate Housewives was excellent.

Mon: Double eek. Last day of break for me! Went to discussion on curiousity, Adam, and the fall of appetite... Awkward moment as one of the profs. said that it was the only lecture he'd followed, while someone who'd lectured earlier was in the room. Strange, because while I think the talk was brilliant, the prof was like me with talking too fast... but with the level of complexity of her ideas, well... difficult for a first year grad student to follow. And the prof who had spoken earlier in the quarter I thought was much better at conveying her ideas.

Anyway, watched Medium. Excellent!

Tuesday: Meeting about intro presentation... drugstore.com delivery (thank God, was running out of toilet paper. (Have you ever tried transporting toilet paper via bike? Yeah, that's why I resorted to online.)

Weds: Awesome pedagogy class. Prof. J gave us a litany of things that can go wrong, and Prof. L gave us readings that recommend listening to "rousing music" before teaching.

Today: I'm also done with my Intro presentation. I was rather nervous starting out... usually it takes me like at least 30 minutes to settle into a class and feel like talking, so basically talking first thing was uncomfortable. I stumbed at the beginning... I can always picture how horribly things could go, and then get worried, and then nervous, and that's not good. I think I recovered a bit as I kept going. I much more enjoyed talking during the discussion though! Must get over this nervous tendency... something about the Intro class is intimidating though... Perhaps because the room has no windows. Or because there are only 9 of us along that thin narrow table. I guess it's something I'll just gradually learn to work with. I am much better than I was back in middle and high school though!! So that seems to speak to the capacity for progress... right??

Rained tons today. Dumped. So after our Mantis meeting, Jill & I hung out over at the TA lounge. I read some Wilde. Definitely want to do something with socialism for my final project...

The OC... excellent.

"If I were a woman, I imagine it would be quite annoying to have a man trailing after me like a lost dog."
--Professor Frank Brownlow, English 211: Shakespeare

Oh my God I miss Brownlow!

There's an owl outside somewhere -- he keeps hooting. Something like this: " ho hoo hoo...hooo ho." And yes, Merrie, I did go outside and try to spot him. But I think he's in a larger fir tree not in our immediate yard area -- yet he sounds really close... hard telling.

Well may as well do a quick update: I'm on campus for Thanksgiving break, luckily we have the full week off. So I've read 2 and a half novels, and I've got about 13 and a half pages so far toward my first final paper... eeks. I keep wavering back and forth as to whether I like this paper or not. I think now that I've got a clearer outline for the last few pages, I'll be happy. Hopefully when I reread it to edit things, I'll find ways to make the beginning clearer.

Each day I've been doing little things... Saturday I went to the shopping center, got some pretty paper to decorate my room with. Some real papyrus paper (I love thinking that Sappho wrote on such a surface); some handpainted paper with orange, gold, and brown blazes and swirls; and a sheet of red flowers for my bathroom. Also went to Andronico's. Stocked up on Haagen Dazs Creme Brulee. Got an eggplant. Very exciting, cooking with eggplant. I made my own marinara sauce, w/ mushrooms from the farmer's market. And fresh parmesan cheese.

Sunday I biked to the farmer's market & Trader Joe's. Splurged on dairy items: the parmesan cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, and ice cream. The couple in line behind me got a pint of Perfectly Pumpkin after seeing mine in my basket. Told them they'll love it.

Monday: Biked to campus to mail important items.

Tues: Shopping at the Gap. Best trip ever. Perfect fit corduroy pants (apparently the "curvy" ankle pants actually fit me properly) for $13. Cute longer skirt I can probably manage to bike in, $10. And some more little belts, 99 cents each. Plus I had my $10 off coupon from using my gap card... Ahh I love shopping for clothes.

Today: Decided to read on the lawn in the afternoon. Experimented with making falafel. I think it was fairly successful, despite the dough wanting to simultaneously stick to the bottom of the skillet (hello, you're in half an inch of oil, what the hell are you doing?!) and crumble apart.

Well, guess i should shower, them read some more Silko...

Happy Thanksgiving! =)

OK and this is why I'm still watching tv and just attempting to type a few additional sentences to my memoria final during commercials: PETER FAULK ON CONAN!!!

Ok, did anyone else just see Jimmy Carter on Jay Leno? His new book sounds amazing. Because I'm lazy, here's what I told Andrew about it via IM:

Me: jimmy carter was just on jay leno. amazing. don't agree on his anti- roe v wade stance, but he's very acutely written a book about how most the values america supposedly espouses have been chipped away at over the last few years

Andrew (clearly distracted in his search for a tortoise-sitter): yeah i bet he's a pretty smart guy

Me: it was great, to hear a prominent politician just come out and say all the things I've been bitching about

Andrew (getting up to speed): i've been listening to NPR here whenever i'm in the car, and they're so liberal it's funny

Me: well carter is fairly moderate, doesn't take much to lean toward liberal these days, as the right is SO far right

Andrew: today they were talking about the media and how stupid it is that they hold back big stories if it's like right before election time (like some investigation about going to iraq)

Andrew: yeah you're right

Me: carter went ahead and said that he believes before "the supreme court said bush was president," high ups in the party had already decided to go to war against iraq

Me: that they were looking for an excuse, and that the evidence was at best false, and at worst concocted explicitly

Andrew (vaguely): wow

Me: that's pretty strong coming from an ex president

Andrew (he's totally done with listening to me on politics, as you can see): well i think i'm gonna have tea and read some hw reading

FIN

Just had to share -- now it's time for the Eurythmics (very old school tonight on Jay Leno)

I feel like I should do a brief update… of highlights.

Did I mention the first year party – in honor of our advanced grad students? Great fun, invited MTL students, MA students… everyone. Good turnout, too. Theme was mojitos, which will be my new drink of choice. Stayed out till after 2 am. Rather out of character for me, I guess. Slept till after 12, so didn’t make it to the farmer’s market. Very sad – but luckily good food was had Tues. night, as I won a seat in the lottery for a dinner out through housing (another getting-to-know-people event). Great Malaysian place, Spice Island I think? But the waiter recommended the green curry, so I had that. Which motivated me to get both yellow AND red curry at Trader Joe’s today.

Hmmm… so last night we had another cohort love event, pizza making at James’s place. Really fun, and we got experimental w/ olive oil, cranberry, and olive pizza (surprisingly good, and seasonal, right?) Talked politics, the dept., future plans, and almost started a game of “Never have I ever.” Luckily curtailed that.

So today was lots of reading… and pizza & a movie w/ my Memoria class (Daughters of the Dust). Now must write a response. But had to update as the farmer’s market today was … inspiring.

The thing is, we read “Goblin Market” this past week for 19th Visual Culture, and then walking through a farmer’s market… kind of puts a different spin on the experience. There’s something crazy about seeing strawberries and winter squash both local & ripe. Never going to skip the market again. Last week’s produce was nothing compared to the stuff I got today (although the tangerines from Sigona’s were yummy) – dates (seem crystallized & candy-like, nothing like what you get in cereal), some variety of tangerine-like oranges, apples, squash, potatoes, persimmons… the fruit is amazing. Ahh. And continuing this sweet tooth trend, I decided on some chocolate gelato at TJ’s, as well as seasonal pumpkin pie ice cream (both incredible. Still getting over the fact that the ice cream is made with pie base).

Well… guess I should get on the work again, and then reward myself with ice cream. Very food motivated.

Worrying.

From "Court Nominee Has Paper Trail Businesses Like," by Stephen Labaton, NYT 11/5/05:

" "We're concerned, based on his record, about what his appointment would mean for access to the courts by the people we represent," said Glenn Sugameli, senior litigation counsel at Earthjustice, a law firm that represents environmental groups and individuals seeking enforcement of environmental laws. "We're also concerned, based on his record, that his interpretation of the Commerce Clause threatens the enforcement of such laws as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act." ...

In environmental law, Judge Alito has generally also followed a narrow reading of the law. He cast a deciding vote in a 1997 case, Public Interest Research Group v. Magnesium Elektron, which dismissed a $2.6 million fine against the company for violating the Clean Water Act and found that the public interest group did not have the authority to bring a lawsuit. In other environmental cases, like W.R. Grace v. E.P.A., and United States v. Allegheny Ludlam, he has sided with large corporations seeking to overturn fines and remedial actions ordered by the Environmental Protection Agency. "

I think the case against Magnesium Elektron is an example of what I remember hearing about on NPR's Living on Earth program... the reading by some conservative judges that public interest groups don't have the authority to bring such cases up. This worries me... because I think we need these groups to act for the interest of public safety and health. If there are no "watch dogs" against big business pollutors, then who will bring cases like this to court? Many people wouldn't be aware of pollution's real dangers, even if they live in an area directly affected. And I'm just frankly confused: in cases like this where it's admitted from the outset that the company violated law, violated the Clean Water Act, then WHY isn't more being done to stop them?

Although this isn't the most extreme case of pollution (the company manufactures zirconium carbonate, and tried to argue that the waste actually helped the nutrient poor creek), it's quite the slippery slope... If you look at the file (http://lw.bna.com/lw/19970819/965049.htm), it's rather worrisome the leaps in logic that the court took in deciding that the waste wasn't harmful. I don't think that a court should be deciding how dangerous pollution is -- it seems that a more objective standard is necessary (ideally set up by non partisan SCIENTISTS, not judges or politicians). Also, some of the examples are mind boggling. Do citizens really need to wait until pollution causes a "visible" problem (examples of bad odors, brown water, oily layers, etc., as cited in the above article)? Wouldn't it make more sense to respond BEFORE the pollution damaged the ecosystem of the creek? Isn't there imminent danger of serious pollution from a company that addmitedly violated its discharge allowances over a dozen times? And how does the PIRG not have standing? Shouldn't local groups be able to respond to local issues? At what point is our legal system going to realize that pollution affects everyone? When pregnant women can't eat fish from our lakes for risks of mercury exposure to the fetus? Apparently not, because that's already a fact in at least New Hampshire. (Would NH women not have standing in trying to bring a case against the big midwest corporations that create the pollution that drifts to the NE?) When cancer rates skyrocket, which seems to be linked not only to genetic predisposition, diet, and exercise, but also to the chemicals we are exposed to in the environment? No, we already know that many of the synthetic chemicals we use in cosmetics, food production, and manufacturing are carcinogenic.

So to conclude this rant, I'm rather worried about Alito's nearly non-existent track record on the environment... Siding with big business may be good for the economy (and particularly the top 1% in this country), but what about the environment?

Ahh it’s been too long…

So about two weeks ago, on a Sunday, I had my great adventure: kayaking at Monterey Bay. I’d seen the advertisements through my weekly student housing newsletters, and since someone backed out, there was an open space for me. We grouped up according to who could drive, so the four of us (CS, philosophy, education, and myself – the only time you get an interdisciplinary group is when you go on trips through housing) banded together and rowed together. Beautiful day for it – we ended up staying in the wildlife refuge (Elk Slough, I think), rather than going on the open ocean, since the waves were too strong. But in the slough, it was calm and sunny. Seemed like it took forever to outfit us, instruct us, and then, finally, get into the water. It was amazing… seals, sea otters, and rows and rows of pelicans. The seals seemed curious about us, and would watch us, but the sea otters seemed to take offense when we got too close, and would stop playing. And pelicans do crazy things with their beaks – we kept watching them turn their bottom beak “flap” inside out (or something that LOOKED that way, rather startling). On the way home, I dozed again… I’d been out late at Jill’s (her German party) the night before.

Let’s see… so I remember that Thurs., going to Lupe & Elda Maria’s for The Motorcycle Diaries… biking to the farmer’s market on Sunday w/ Marissa… baking pumpkin muffins… baking acorn squash & the seeds (smelled & tasted like autumn)… making my own version of hummus… Finishing Cloud Atlas… Reading In Memoriam…

In more recent memory…

Last Friday, in celebrating Halloween, I dressed up as a very feminine version of the Cheshire cat. A group of us met up at Justin’s…Jill & I were the only ones who dressed up… Then briefly visited the party/ dance – some funny costumes. Got to bed very late… Saturday was a day of work, biking to Mollie Stone’s, etc. Sunday morning Jill & I biked over to the farmer’s market… we tried persimmons, decided they taste kind of cinnamony, bought acorn squashes, tomatoes, apples… The farmer’s market is the best part of my week, it seems… I get VERY excited about all the inexpensive, organic (or at least pesticide free), & fresh produce. This week we’re trying out these little rounded yellow squash – on the advice of other market-goers. And I gave in to the temptation to buy raspberries. In further food related news, I made sushi tonight… rolled mango, avocado, tofu, & zucchini. Kind of a “what I’ve got around the apt.” style sushi.

Anyway, so yesterday was also a day to buy plane tickets for a visit home before Christmas… laundry… reading in the lib… lots of reading… And today, in pursuing a possible presentation topic, I visited two new libraries on campus. Amazing collections. I ended up in this tiny corner of the Education library, which houses old editions of classics for children, language study guides, anthologies, etc… Some beautiful editions. And I ventured into the depths of the Art & Architecture library. Hard to tell from the first floor, but the basements are packed. Lovely smell of books. Glad to finally be finding these places – I’ve missed having that assurance of being able to find what I need.

OK, because SNL was, in selected parts, hilarious, here are some quotes:

Tina Fey on Weekend Update, 10/29/05: "Yesterday...Libby was indicted...for more on this story, ask Scooter, apparently that mo fo will tell you anything!"

Tina Fey on W.U., 10/29/05: "A new poll shows that 66% of Americans think President Bush is doing a poor job of handling the war in Iraq, and the remaining 34% think that Adam and Eve rode dinosuars to church."

Rachel Dratch playing Harriet Miers, addressing the issue of being/ thinking she was unqualified: "But then I thought, you know what... a man wouldn't second guess himself like this. I mean, Donald Rumsfeld never says "Hey, I can't be Secretary of Defense, I never even served in the army!" Right? Porter Goss doesn't say, "Hey, I can't run the CIA, I don't even have any intelligence experience." And Mike Brown didn't say, "I can't run FEMA, I'm the Head of the Arabian Horse Assocation, for Pete's Sake!" I mean, we're all unqualified, why am I the only one who has to admit it?"

PERFECT!

In further political news, I'm hoping for a good fight against Samuel Alito's nomination. Bush says Alito has "a deep understanding of the proper role of judges in our society. He understands that judges are to interpret the laws, not to impose their preferences or priorities on the people." That's funny, because in the early 90's, he was in favor of requiring women seeking abortions to inform their husbands (Planned Parenthood vs. Casey). It's not going to be a big secret that the man is not exactly pro-choice. And the last person I want sitting on the Supreme Court, is ANOTHER white man who thinks he knows better than everyone else when life begins & at what point a fetus's "potential life" is more important than the very REAL life of a woman. And if Roe v. Wade is overturned, and abortion is illegal in at least certain parts of the United States, it doesn't mean women won't still have abortions. It's just that the middle, upper middle, and upper class women will travel somewhere else to have one, whereas the poor and working class women will either resort to a "back alley" abortion or go through with the pregnancy. Which will be one more child on the welfare & medicaid lists, which, no surprise here, some Republicans in Congress are currently trying to cut even further (so that we can pour more money into fighting a war that most people in this country disagree with).

Something I'll never be able to figure out: the federal gov., following I believe the evangelical Republicans' qualms, refuses to put any tax money into counseling women about abortion options, or helping low income women obtain abortions. But those qualms are clearly not raised when it comes to entering wars on scanty -- misleading -- even, dare we say it, concocted -- evidence. So basically, tax dollars will continue to support sending young Americans off to a quagmire of a war in which they can kill other very much alive persons. It's a curious thing. If only the radical Republicans had been so worried about innocent lives being lost, back when the administration was trying to convince us to enter a war with Iraq. If half this flurry of activity and research -- this indignation against Miers in large part because she wasn't conservative enough -- had been used to research the charge of weapons of mass destruction & a link with Al Qaeda... well, maybe we wouldn't be at war right now.

-- Rant over (for now) --

For the sake of my reading... this is going to be a brief overview... because this is now the only way that I remember what I do on a day to day basis (otherwise, it really does all blur together).

Last, last Mon: First reading group meeting, where we learned the dreadful news that we might actually have to buy our own books. Update: we have to buy all but one. Boo.

Tues: I turned in my first bit of written work as a grad student -- a response for Memoria (all about Plato... yep, riveting stuff).

Weds: In the evening, I attempted to make sushi. This actually kind of worked, although the rolls weren't very tight, so I had difficulty keeping things together. At one point I was actually hand-fanning the rice as it cooled, with my little decorative paper fan (I followed Joyce Chen's instructions very closely).

Thurs: Enjoyable class, but I had come down with an odd like 3 day "cold" that consisted of a runny (and alternatively congested) nose. Isn't it strange that the nose cycles are the inverse of what you would want? It's runny during the day when you don't want to blow into a tissue in front of people, and then at night when you're not in public, it's too congested to do anything about. Urgh.

Fri: After class, at our Mantis journal meeting, we had a Yiddish composer speak about his projects in creating music for modern Yiddish poetry. Supposedly I was doing work in the afternoon, as I was out all night at the party welcoming first years & re-acquainting w/ 2nd & upper years. Crazy -- I don't know how everyone fit into Joe's apartment... we were packed, and the noise of everyone talking was incredible. Wondered if the neighbors would complain, as we didn't leave till 2 am. I kept the alcohol consumption to a minimum, after my over-the-top screwdriver the previous weekend!

Sat: As might be imagined, I slept till around noon. Then I got to work on finding a bike on Craig's List. I love CL -- I found a bike for $80, w/ bookrack (necessity), and within 4 hours of making my initial call, the seller dropped it off for me. Perfect!

Sunday: With newly acquired bike, met up with Jill for a bike ride to the Menlo Park farmer's market. Easier typed than done. The mythical bike path was no where to be found, and we got lost when we ventured off the campus map's limited representation of surrounding streets. But once I spotted Peet's, I knew we were in the general vicinity (from a random comment made on a website about going to the farmer's market). Great euphoria & sense of accomplishment when we saw the white tents. Be still my heart: local, organic pomegranates. Messy as all hell to eat, as I found out when I burst some seeds at the sink the other day & got red droplets all over a cream colored tank top. Anyway, we had such fun going through the stands... almost everything organic or no sprays... all the farmers into talking about the produce (we got a lesson on rare apple varieties from a 22 year old who claimed to have 20 years of selling experience --black twig, favorite). And, adding convenience to our lives, the farmer's market is in the Trader Joe's parking lot. So I spent under 35$ on over a week's worth of produce, and lots of nice TJ staples (like risotto & polenta... I'm expanding my carbohydrate repertoire. I now have 4 kinds of rice, about 4 or 5 types of pasta, couscous, quinoa, and the above mentioned risotto & polenta). Oh and my new thing: crumbled feta. You can put feta on ANYTHING.

Anyway, afterwards we went to the Hillel House for brunch and jazz... talked to non-English grad students (novel idea), and left in time to do some more reading.

Now this past week has sped by...

Mon: Endless, endless search for the stupid campus bike shop. Misguided directions did NOT help (who can't tell right from left? No, OTHER left). Finally got there, bought a u-lock and bike helmet, got the hell out. Took a zippy trip to Mollie Stone's for essentials (read: Ben and Jerry's that was on sale). Got back, rushed to the talk on taste (about Denise Gigante's new book, which, from what I've heard of it, is amazing). Ducked out early to get to the Review Club meeting -- stomach was growling. Strange to listen to talk about the idea of control over the body (taste, sex) while your stomach is growling. Esp. when you get to talking about essential and nonessential cannibalism. Commiserated with others on this point -- the talk did after all coincide with the dinner hour. Great fun to be with all the English grad students -- talked with Sarah -- planned lunch date.

Tues: Biked to Sarah's for lunch -- Jill had already arrived. Talked about how Sarah catalyzed this huge change in my food habits, which led to my make-up revolution, which influenced my switch to natural household products/ cleaners... Best part of the day, definitely! I then had to register my bike w/ Stanford... the exciting point was getting free bike lights! Yay, I'm visible at night! However, nearly got hit by a car on the way home from Memoria -- don't know if they even stopped at the all-way stop, but I was already halfway across the road, and they clearly were not paying attention. Was immensely disappointed that they didn't stop or yell an apology, or something. When you almost run a bicyclist over on what is, after all, a very bike-laden route, I expect some sort of acknowledgement of wrongdoing! Not the way the world works, I'm told. Anyway, got home, talked to Mom on phone (she sympathized -- whereas Andrew was very blunt: "Well, you've got to watch out. But I'm glad you didn't get killed." Thanks, honey. He didn't seem to grasp the extent of the other party's guilt).

Weds: Got excited about TA-ing in Pedagogy, as we got to hear from undergrads on their experiences. In the evening went on a studio sponsored dinner trip to the Olive Garden. Unfortunately, we didn't split the bill very fairly (at least, not fair in the eyes of those of us who ordered vegetarian dinners which were significantly cheaper than others). But, it was cool to get to know the neighbors. And I discovered I think Tues night, that Lauren, who's in two of my classes, lives next door! Crazy. We agreed as we walked to class together today (arrived late, as I was biking at her walking pace, eek) that we'd never know we live next to anyone.

Thurs: Awesome Intro to Grad class -- Prof. L was there, and I got to talk a little bit about my feminist slant on Burke's rhetoric -- hysteria, Humpty Dumpty, "Adam's fall," and "uterine beginnings." To his credit, Prof. L told us, he did end up switching HIS terministic screen (from "man" to "human"). Didn't know that when I was up in arms while reading... Anyway, we had lunch together, which is always fun, and then I had a brief meeting and reading...

Fri: Hmm. What DID I do today? Class this morning was wonderful, except for the arriving like 2 minutes late part (hate that -- esp. since I was up early and left in time, if only I'd decided to ride my bike... but it was more fun getting to know Lauren a bit more on the walk over). Hmm... great speaker at the Mantis meeting, all about translation. Was tempted to learn Italian and start translating obscure novels. Had an amazing eggplant/ dried tomato/ ricotta cheese sandwich. Met with Prof. R -- about presentation, and life so far here. Very helpful. Visited library, biked home in skirt (glad for a woman's bike -- the lowered bar does make it easier). Now... back to reading. I'm just getting into Cloud Atlas, which has improved considerably now that we're off the Chattham Islands.

Eek before I forget my first week as a graduate student…!

Last Sat.: Jess came over and we hung out, watched some SNL w/ Will Ferrell, & had a regular sleepover! It was cool to just kick back before the craziness started. Sunday the Studio was having a BBQ, so Jessika came over for lunch, and we actually met up with a number of people she knows. I met M.— from the housing office, her friend I think Pete, who seems like a total younger brother (I don’t even have a brother, and I know that’s what he seems like!), and Payula (not sure how to spell her name).

After, I had to completely change, because I smelled like the smoke off the grill… Around dinner time I headed over to the grove by the English dept. for our “Garden Party.” Not to be confused with the Mansfield story of the same name… Ahh I wish I had pictures from everything. I was able to re-meet everyone I met while I was visiting last spring, and get to know some older students as well. I was standing over by a table of food, when Jill & Sarah found me… which was exciting because Sarah was my host last spring, and I think she’s wonderful and brilliant – and I just enjoy listening to whatever she’s talking about. After the party broke up, I retreated to my room for Desperate Housewives, and (possibly) the last good night of sleep for the year…

Monday started off slowly, as the first class I wanted to check out wasn’t till 3:15: Bender’s Enlightenment & Public Sphere course. Everyone went, but I think a number of us decided against taking it because, frankly, the reading load looked out of control. And I’m simply NOT an 18th century person. In the evening, I ended up going to Justin’s w/ James & Jill (all the J’s!)… we had aspirations of watching a really… unique movie, but ended up just talking (along with the roommates). The time kind of flew by, because suddenly we realized that it was nearly 1 am… oops.

Luckily, I also didn’t have class till 3:15 on Tues. I met up with my advisor in the afternoon, which was pretty uneventful because I didn’t have much to ask about, just a general sense of uncertainty. The Memoria class was awesome, and I knew right away that I would stay in it.

Weds: We all had Pedagogy w/ Leher…and then I ended up sitting on a bench in the grove, reading. I walked home with Elda and Lupe, showed them my room, made dinner, and then headed off for the library. It was funny, because I actually was walking right behind Elda & Lupe, but didn’t realize it for a while due to the iPod… Anyway, I was relatively productive at the lib., and then headed home for sleep.

Thurs: First Intro to Grad Studies course… which is awesome, because Jones is a wonderful prof, and it’s just us 9 first year English students. We ended up making coffee, but I was really… up and running. We kind of did the icebreaker of introducing ourselves and saying something “surprising about Stanford” (mine: fall is just not happening). After a very successful class, we all headed over to the Thai place for lunch. I had some lunch stuff w/ me, so I just grabbed a Thai iced tea… odd moment: a bird peed on us, twice! Elda & Jill were hardest hit, but I definitely felt spray… ick. We thought after the first dumping, that we’d be safe, since the bird was probably done. But, we were wrong.

After, I hung out in the Bender room for a while, reading… beautiful view up there, of the foothills and the palm tree tops. Then a brief stay in the TA lounge… It was still incredibly hot out… And, of course, The OC!! The ending song (Alphaville’s Forever Young, as heard in Napoleon Dynamite) was incredibly sad… so I decided to buy it on iTunes (so easy).

Friday: I had one class, the Visual Culture in 19th Century Britain. It sounded really cool, and then we went to Special Collections… I LOVE special collections. Not only did I get to handle a 1st ed. of Rossetti’s Goblin Market (w/ drawings by Dante Rossetti), I also was able to hold and read Katherine Mansfield’s edition of Oscar Wilde’s maxims (including “Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attraction of others”), which was interesting because I remember reading that she attempted to formulate her own Wildean maxims in her journal. So crazy to hold something she read and carried with her… I felt like I had something of a fetish for the material book… rather like the idea of relics, I suppose…

In the evening, most of us met up at Lupe & Elda’s for a pre-party to the grad school community party. Elda poured me a massive screwdriver, so I was pretty done for the night… it was fun socializing though, and talking about things unrelated to the classroom… we waited in line for like half an hour, finally got in, got smooshed in the crowd, I had some water, and then we were herded out, where we talked for at least 40 minutes on the sidewalk. Cindy of the Comp Lit program gave me some plastic cups, since they repossessed mine (even though it was empty and had never contained alcohol). Finally got home… eek 2 am… and slept.

Sat. I headed to the lib. fairly early and met up with Jess for a study session. I visited the TA lounge again… and after seeing where Jess lived, we concluded that neither of us had food… so we went out! To this amazing Indian restaurant, where I ordered my usual chicken tikka masala (the most perfect food of this world), and tried to identify chutneys. We realized that we really don’t know what sauce is what – just that we’ll eat whatever is set before us! As we were putting leftovers into those Styrofoam containers, Jess was holding hers over the candle, and something smelled funny, and the guy at the table over said “what your box!”, and we realized that the whole top had basically melted. Horrible smell, but sooo funny. As Jess says, never a dull moment =)

Back home, I did some more reading, watched SNL, and finally got my laundry done! And Andrew & I have got our webcams working, which make being apart slightly less sad… because at least we can see each other.

This morning I woke up at a decent hour… went to the free Studio 1 brunch (and met up w/ Marissa at her door, strangely, as she was going out for laundry as I was walking by for brunch, so we went together)… walked to the Union for money…talked to Mom while waiting to hear about shopping plans… and luckily got a ride w/ Justin and Jill to Mollie Stone’s (a cute natural foods store). It took me for what seemed like forever to pick up some stuff, mainly produce, as that was what I was missing… Next week I’m going to get up early and walk to the Menlo Park farmer’s market, one way or another!! I need a bike though, at some point, I’m realizing…

Anyway, I got a bit of work done, and then made my usual skillet cornbread for our potluck. Which was soooo fun! We had a huge amount of food, and just gorged ourselves, and talked… and James timed our “silences” – every 7 minutes, till he told us, and we started altering our patterns a bit. Talked about the food dyed cupcakes, TV’s more complicated plots, chickens, cricket, etc.

Ahh... and I came home, and realized, I'm quite happy so far =) Our "cohort love 1" was great, classes are interesting (and challenging), and, well, the climate is a welcome change from MA... (although I miss the beautiful fall, and I'm sure I'll miss the nice pre-April snow).

Now… D.H.’s and more reading…