Last weekend pre-classes...

It's been eventful...

Yesterday I talked to Sarah for a while, and she was incredibly helpful. She invited me into the city, and I thought, yes, I'll go. We hung out with Lee & Heather at a coffee/wine bar, got tacos in the Mission, and saw Heather's beautiful new apartment. Hayes St., wood floors, afternoon sun in the kitchen... perfect place.

Today I had laundry duty, and then headed onto campus... saw the remains of the brunch feast for the incoming first years, and sat in the terrace rooms with books and outlining materials. I've now got a timeline to help me conceptualize events with publishing dates, and an idea map to think about connections. Tomorrow will keep working on it.

This past evening I went with James and his roommate to see Little Miss Sunshine, which was HILARIOUS. I haven't laughed so hard since Josh Blue.

The only sad part of the day, was realizing that I didn't get to go on the hiking trip. Reminded me of last year, and realizing that a group was going hiking. The funny thing was, James had told me about going (possibly on Sunday), and I had been completely excited. But then, I didn't hear anything else, and wasn't sure if there was interest or not. So I finally have signed up for the outing club's mailing list. Maybe I can tag along at some point.

The Meatrix

This is awesome.

"The Meatrix" is what we tell ourselves about the meat/dairy products we buy...

It's the cows, stupid.

So when I first heard about this spinach e coli thing, I thought: "Huh. How ridiculous. E coli comes from cow sh*t which not so mysteriously ends up in cow meat that people then eat. How funny that people are going to continue feeling safe eating (US) beef (I'll just quote Fast Food Nation: "There's sh*t in the meat"), but are now going to AVOID eating one of the healthiest things we could possibly consume: spinach." I didn't think much more about it, until I came across this article:

Indeed, this epidemic, which has infected more than 100 people and resulted in at least one death, probably has little do with the folks who grow and package your greens. The detective trail ultimately leads back to a seemingly unrelated food industry — beef and dairy cattle.

...

Where does this particularly virulent strain come from? It’s not found in the intestinal tracts of cattle raised on their natural diet of grass, hay and other fibrous forage. No, O157 thrives in a new — that is, recent in the history of animal diets — biological niche: the unnaturally acidic stomachs of beef and dairy cattle fed on grain, the typical ration on most industrial farms. It’s the infected manure from these grain-fed cattle that contaminates the groundwater and spreads the bacteria to produce, like spinach, growing on neighboring farms.

...When cows were switched from a grain diet to hay for only five days, O157 declined 1,000-fold.

This is good news. In a week, we could choke O157 from its favorite home — even if beef cattle were switched to a forage diet just seven days before slaughter, it would greatly reduce cross-contamination by manure of, say, hamburger in meat-packing plants. Such a measure might have prevented the E. coli outbreak that plagued the Jack in the Box fast food chain in 1993.

Unfortunately, it would take more than a week to reduce the contamination of ground water, flood water and rivers — all irrigation sources on spinach farms — by the E-coli-infected manure from cattle farms.

...There remains only one long-term remedy, and it’s still the simplest one: stop feeding grain to cattle.

California’s spinach industry is now the financial victim of an outbreak it probably did not cause, and meanwhile, thousands of acres of other produce are still downstream from these lakes of E. coli-ridden cattle manure. So give the spinach growers a break, and direct your attention to the people in our agricultural community who just might be able to solve this deadly problem: the beef and dairy farmers.

Nina Planck is the author of “Real Food: What to Eat and Why.’’

Almost done. And another year begins.

This afternoon I had my quals exam. Unfortunately, I didn't think very well on my feet. I got over my nervousness, but in the process I lost sight of the "big picture." Missed the opportunity to think about and answer some good questions... afterwards, of course, I came up with all sorts of answers. Of course. But, I'm going to have something of a second chance, as I "pass conditionally," on having a talk with one of the profs. in my area, and asking myself questions. I was upset -- it's been a hell of a long summer, and I knew all sorts of facts and pieces of info and quotes, but hadn't really processed and distilled everything. So I think I'm going to make an "idea diagram," and get to the point of feeling like I've taken a step back from the micro- to the macroscopic. Jill, who is incredibly rational and helpful, gave me a pep talk. About my trying to work on speaking confidently all last year, and the benefits of getting some one-on-one help with that. She's right, of course, and I'm trying to internalize that. But I still feel rather dumb. I wanted more of what I DID know to come across, and I wasn't aggressive enough to interrupt and redirect questions. And I should have had more pre-thought ideas on hand.

So after wandering blindly (rather like the fallen angels in Paradise Lost, post-climbing-out-of-the-burning-lake) and thinking (which can make a hell of heaven, and a heaven of hell), I found myself waiting at the bus stop. I went food shopping. Two trips. Carried back yogurt, wheat crisps, feta cheese, ice cream, soap, dried mango, feta cheese, 100% cocoa powder, plastic wrap, italian plums, etc. It was soothing. Reminded me of White Noise -- looking at labels, smelling soaps, considering the sodium contents.

And then I came home and had my not-so-good TJ's sushi, while watching Grey's Anatomy & that new show on after it (which is the title I am giving it).

What I did this summer

So today I turned in my quals list -- the list of poems, plays, essays, novels, etc. that I can be examined on (my test is the 21st).

Here's what I read this summer:

Beowulf (ca. 700-1000)

Geoffrey Chaucer
Canterbury Tales (ca. 1386-1395)
“The General Prologue”
“The Miller”
“The Reeve”
“The Wife of Bath”
“The Clerk”
“The Pardoner”
“The Nun’s Priest”
“The Retraction”

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (ca. 1350-1400)

Sir Philip Sidney
The Defense of Poesy (ca. 1579)

Francis Bacon
“Of Negotiating” (1597)
“Of Marriage and Single Life” (1612)
“Of Superstition” (1612)
“Of Truth” (1625)
“Of Studies” (1625)

John Milton
Areopagitica (1644)

Christopher Marlowe
The Jew of Malta (ca. 1592)

John Webster
The Duchess of Malfi (1613/1623)


William Shakespeare:
Merchant of Venice (Q 1600)
Hamlet (Q2 1604-5; F 1623)
Twelfth Night (F 1623)
Othello (F 1623)
King Lear (Q 1608; F 1623)
Tempest (F 1623)

Sir Thomas Wyatt
“The long love that in my thought doth harbor” (1557)
“Whoso list to hunt” (1557)
“Farewell, Love” (1557)
“My Galley” (1557)
“Divers doth use” (1557)

Sir Philip Sidney (From Astrophil and Stella, 1591, 1598)
#1: “Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show”
#7: “When Nature made her chief work, Stella’s eyes”
#31: “With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb’st the skies”
#49: “I on my horse, and Love on me doth try”

William Shakespeare
#1: “From fairest creatures we desire increase” (1609)
# 18: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (1609)
#55: “Not marble, nor the gilded monuments” (1609)
#116: “Let me not to the marriage of true minds” (1609)
#130: “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” (1609)
#138: “When my love swears that she is made of truth” (1599)


John Milton
Paradise Lost (1674)
Books I, II, III, IV, IX

John Donne
From Songs and Sonnets (1633)
“The Sun Rising”
“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”
“The Flea”
“Song: Go and catch a falling star”
“Song: Sweetest love, I do not go”
“Elegy 19. To His Mistress Going to Bed”
“The Relic
From Holy Sonnets (1633)
#14: “Batter my heart, three-personed God”

Andrew Marvell
“Bermudas” (1681)
“To His Coy Mistress” (1681)

Queen Elizabeth
“The doubt of future foes” (1568, 1589)
“On Monsieur’s Departure” (1582)
“To Sir Amyas Paulet” (1586)
“To Henry III, King of France” (1587)
“Speech to the Troops at Tilbury” (1588)
“The ‘Golden Speech’” (1601)


John Locke
“An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” (1690, 1700) (Norton excerpts)

Jonathan Swift
“An Essay on Modern Education” (1728)
“A Modest Proposal” (1729)

Samuel Johnson
Preface to Shakespeare (1765)

William Wycherley
The Country Wife (1672)

William Congreve
The Way of the World (1700)

Alexander Pope
“Essay on Criticism” (1711)
“Rape of the Lock” (1717)
“Eloisa to Abelard” (1717)

Thomas Gray
“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” (1751)

William Blake
Songs of Innocence (1789)
“The Little Black Boy”
“The Chimney Sweeper”
“Little Lamb”
Songs of Experience (1794)
“Introduction”
“The Chimney Sweeper”
“The Tyger”


Daniel Defoe
Robinson Crusoe (1719)

Jonathan Swift
Gulliver’s Travels (1726, 1735)

Samuel Richardson
Pamela (1740)

Laurence Sterne
A Sentimental Journey (1768)

Aphra Behn
Oroonoko (1688)

Mary Wollstonecraft
Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)
(Excerpts in the Norton)


William Wordsworth
“Preface to Lyrical Ballads” (1802)

John Ruskin
Modern Painters and The Stones of Venice
(Excerpts in the Norton)

Matthew Arnold
Culture and Anarchy (1868, 1869)
(Excerpts in the Norton)

George Eliot
“Margaret Fuller and Mary Wollstonecraft” (1855)
“Silly Novels by Lady Novelists”



William Wordsworth
“Strange fits of passion have I known” (1800)
“Lucy Gray” (1800)
“I wandered lonely as a cloud” (1807)
“My heart leaps up” (1807)
“The world is too much with us” (1807)
“Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” (1807)
John Keats
“On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” (1816)
“On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” (1817)
“On Sitting Down to Read King Lear Once Again” (1838)
“Ode on a Grecian Urn” (1820)
“Ode on Melancholy” (1820)

Alfred, Lord Tennyson
“Mariana” (1830)
“The Lady of Shalott” (1832, 1842)
“Ulysses” (1842)
In Memoriam (1850)
Prologue
54: “O, yet we trust that somehow good”
55: “The wish, that of the living whole”
56: “ ‘So careful of the type?’ but no”
57: “Peace; come away; the song of woe”
“The Charge of the Light Brigade” (1854)

Robert Browning
“Porphyria’s Lover” (1836, 1842)
“My Last Duchess” (1842)
“Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister” (1842)
“Fra Lippo Lippi” (1855)
“Caliban upon Setebos” (1864)

Christina Rossetti
“After Death” (1862)
“An Apple-Gathering” (1862)
“Winter: My Secret” (1862)
“Goblin Market” (1862)
“In an Artist’s Studio” (1896)

Gerard Manley Hopkins
“God’s Grandeur” (1918)
“As Kingfishers Catch Fire” (1918)
“The Windhover” (1918)
“Pied Beauty” (1918)
“Spring” (1918)

Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility (1811)

Mary Shelley
Frankenstein (1818)

Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre (1847)

Emily Bronte
Wuthering Heights (1848)

Elizabeth Gaskell
North and South (1855)

Charles Dickens
Our Mutual Friend (1864-5)



D. H. Lawrence
Studies in Classic American Literature (1923)
T.S. Eliot
“Tradition and the Individual Talent” (1919)
“The Metaphysical Poets” (1921)


Oscar Wilde
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895/1899)

Tom Stoppard
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966, 1967)


T.S. Eliot
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1915)
“The Waste Land” (1922)
“Journey of the Magi” (1927)

William Butler Yeats
“The Lake Isle of Innisfree” (1890)
“Easter 1916” (1916)
“The Second Coming” (1920)
“Leda and the Swan” (1924)
“Sailing to Byzantium” (1927)
“Byzantium” (1930)

W.H. Auden
“Musée des Beaux Arts” (1940)
“Lullaby” (1940)
“In Memory of W.B. Yeats” (1940)
“The Unknown Citizen” (1940)
“The Shield of Achilles” (1955)


Philip Larkin
“Church Going” (1955)
“Talking in Bed” (1964)
“Sad Steps” (1974)
“High Windows” (1974)
“Aubade” (1977)

Seamus Heaney
“Digging” (1966)
“Death of a Naturalist” (1966)
“Blackberry Picking” (1966)
“Punishment” (1975)
“The Skunk” (1979)


Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness (1902)

James Joyce
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)

D.H. Lawrence
Women in Love (1920)

Virginia Woolf
Mrs. Dalloway (1925)



J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur
Letters from an American Farmer (1782) Excerpts from the Norton:
Letter III: “What Is an American”
Letter IV: “Description of the Island of Nantucket, with the Manners, Customs, Policy, and Trade of the Inhabitants”
Letter IX: “Description of Charles-Town; Thoughts on Slavery; on Physical Evil; A Melancholy Scene”
Letter X: “On Snakes; and on the Hummingbird”
Letter XII: “Distresses of a Frontier Man”

Washington Irving
“Rip Van Winkle” (1819)
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1820)

Edgar Allen Poe
“The Imp of the Perverse” (1842)
“The Philosophy of Composition” (1846)
“The Poetic Principle” (1850) (Excerpts from the Norton)

Henry David Thoreau
Walden, or Life in the Woods (1846, 1850) Selections:
“Economy”
“Where I Lived, and What I Lived For”

Herman Melville
Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866)
“The Portent”
“Misgivings”
“The March Into Virginia”
“A Utilitarian View of the Monitor’s Flight”
“The House-top”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“A Psalm of Life” (1838)
“The Slave’s Dream” (1842)
“The Fire of Driftwood” (1849)
“The Jewish Cemetery at Newport” (1854)
“My Lost Youth” (1855)

Charles Brockden Brown
Wieland (1798)

Edgar Allen Poe
“The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)
“The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843)
“The Purloined Letter” (1844)

Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter (1850)

Herman Melville
Moby Dick (1851)

Walt Whitman
“Preface to Leaves of Grass” (1855)

Henry James
“The Art of Fiction” (1884)

Mark Twain
“How to Tell a Story” (1897)


Emily Dickinson
#324: “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church⎯” (1864)
#448: “This was a Poet⎯It is That” (1929)
#465: “I heard a Fly buzz⎯when I died⎯” (1896)
#709: “Publication⎯is the Auction” (1929)
#712: “Because I could not stop for Death⎯” (1890)
#754: “My Life had stood⎯a Loaded Gun⎯” (1929)
#1129: “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant⎯” (1945)

Robert Frost
“Mending Wall” (1914)
“Home Burial” (1914)
“After Apple-Picking” (1914)
“The Wood-Pile” (1914)
“Birches” (1916)

Wallace Stevens
“The Emperor of Ice Cream” (1923)
“Disillusionment of 10 o’clock” (1931)
“Sunday Morning” (1915, 1923)
“Anecdote of the Jar” (1923)
“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” (1931)

William Carlos Williams
“Portrait of a Lady” (1920, 1934)
“Queen-Anne’s-Lace” (1921)
“Spring and All” (1923)
“The Red Wheelbarrow” (1923)
“This is Just to Say” (1934)
“Lear” (1948)
“Landscape of the Fall of Icarus” (1962)



Stephen Crane
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893)

Kate Chopin
The Awakening (1899)

William Faulkner
As I Lay Dying (1930)

Zora Neale Hurston
Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)



Ralph Ellison
“Twentieth-Century Fiction and the Black Mask of Humanity” (1953)
“Change the Joke and Slip the Yoke” (1958)
“Stephen Crane and the Mainstream of American Fiction” (1960)

Tom Wolfe
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968)


Elizabeth Bishop
“The Map” (1935, 1946)
“The Fish” (1940, 1946)
“The Armadillo” (1957, 1965)
“Crusoe in England” (1971, 1976)
“One Art” (1976)

Sylvia Plath
“Metaphors” (1960)
“Mirror” (1961, 1971)
“Blackberrying” (1962, 1965)
“Daddy” (1963)
“Lady Lazarus” (1965)
“Morning Song” (1965)

Sandra Cisneros
“Preface” to My Wicked, Wicked Ways (1987)
“My Wicked Wicked Ways” (1987)
“Love Poem for a Non-Believer” (1994)
“I am So Depressed I Feel Like Jumping in the River Behind My House But Won’t Because I’m 38 and Not 18”
“You Bring Out the Mexican in Me” (1994)
“Loose Woman” (1994)


Ken Kesey
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962)

Sandra Cisneros
House on Mango Street (1984)

Don DeLillo
White Noise (1985)

Eudora Welty
“Death of a Traveling Salesman” (1936)
“A Piece of News” (1941)
“Why I Live at the P.O.” (1941)
“A Worn Path” (1941)

Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)

Wendy Wasserstein
Uncommon Women and Others (1977)


J.M. Coetzee
Boyhood: Scenes from Provincial Life (1997)

Derek Walcott
In a Green Night (1962)
“A Far Cry from Africa”
“Ruins of a Great House”
The Castaway and Other Poems (1965)
“The Castaway”
“Crusoe’s Island”
“Crusoe’s Journal”
Sea Grapes (1976)
“Sea Grapes”
“New World”
“Adam’s Song”


Chinua Achebe
Things Fall Apart (1958)

J. M. Coetze
Foe (1987)

Ahh, Mt. Hood!

Mer already posted the photo of us looking at the mountain, so here we are, looking back at the camera.

Bush: Bad for the Land

I'm so glad Tennessee Guerilla Women posted this. 1) Because it sums up all the ways in which Bush has screwed over wilderness areas & 2) because the author clearly is familiar with the West's beauty: hiking the Pacific Crest Trail & spending time on Mt. Hood.

People like Bush have been born into so much money, they can't seem to comprehend that most Americans don't own huge tracts of land (a condition which his policies seem to delight in, as agribusiness kills the family farm). So wilderness areas and national parks seem increasingly important. Especially since, as studies have shown, kids who don't spend time in nature/big backyards grow up to be adults who don't give a damn about protecting it. But the concept of land that isn't used for private use or big business, is, apparently, incomprehensible for people like Bush.

Which is why Bush's dream wilderness policy involves, well, not having wilderness. Just more logging and oil fields. Because God knows, we don't have enough developed land yet! Manifest Destiny of Big Business & Suburbs hits the forests.

My comments are in the bold brackets.

Stained Land
By Nicholas D. Kristof

A highlight of my summers is the annual backpacking trips with my children. This year I took my youngest, who is 8, through 65 miles of the Oregon Cascades, giving her the chance to suffer mosquito bites, slip on snowfields, cross raging streams on rickety logs and enjoy other wilderness thrills.

She is now a confirmed backpacker, and we’ve decided that we’re going to hike together from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail — when we’re both grown up.

This wilderness and trail system is a legacy of past presidents, beginning with Teddy Roosevelt. There aren’t many ways in which our lives today are shaped by a president who governed more than a century ago — or in which President Bush will affect our grandchildren’s grandchildren in the 22nd century — but wilderness policy is one.

Until now, the pattern has been for presidents of both parties to expand protections of natural areas, with a bipartisan record of adding to national forests and other protected areas.

... [But Bush is changing that]...

“There have been systematic efforts to weaken protections for wilderness-quality lands across the public lands estate, and to make it harder to protect these places in the future,” notes Peter Rafle of the Wilderness Society. Last month, a federal judge blocked an administration scheme to harvest timber in California’s Giant Sequoia National Monument, criticizing it as “incomprehensible.” ...

[Um, yeah, it is incomprehensible.]

A few examples:

¶Last year, Mr. Bush formally repealed President Clinton’s “Roadless Area Conservation Rule,” which had provided broad protections for 58 million acres of national forest lands without roads.

[Because we need snow mobiles EVERYWHERE! No where shall you enjoy quiet! Must use as much gasoline as possible! Drive off road vehicles, shun hiking!]

¶Mr. Bush has also used his “healthy forest” initiative as a way to promote logging over wilderness. He is right that forests are too vulnerable to fires today, but dispatching commercial logging crews is not the solution for most areas.

[This is brilliant. Let's protect the trees from fire... by CUTTING DOWN THE TREES. Whaaa...? I agree, there are better ways around this. I can see it now, a bill to promote Smokey the Bear protection policies, and realize that sometimes wildfires happen, naturally.]

¶In some parts of the country, Mr. Bush in effect has adopted a “no more wilderness” policy. In 2003, the administration announced that millions of acres of land in Utah and elsewhere in the West would never again be considered for designation as wilderness.

¶The administration has offered oil and gas leases on 70,000 acres of proposed wilderness in Colorado and 190,000 acres in Utah. Once oil or gas development occurs, the land is lost — no longer eligible to be included in the wilderness system.

¶Mr. Bush is trying to turn vast, pristine parts of Alaska into oil wells; some oil and mineral development is essential, but the past bipartisan sense of balance is lost. Mr. Bush is pushing to drill in many Alaskan lands that had been protected by past Republican presidents.

[What if we lessened our dependence on Middle Eastern oil by not just drilling up a temporary reserve of our own (which, let's face it, couldn't meet our energy needs for even a few years, let alone for the forseeable future), but by actually investing seriously in new technology?]

One of my greatest outdoor memories is of spotting a herd of caribou in the Alaskan Arctic, and then creeping up on them. Finally, they spotted me — and then they rushed up for a closer look at a genuine human. Drilling would change this land forever.

Many of these efforts took shape under Gale Norton when she was interior secretary. Now that Ms. Norton has been replaced by Dirk Kempthorne, we have a chance to pause and take a deep breath. Mr. Kempthorne seems more measured than Ms. Norton, and let’s hope he’ll take as his model Gifford Pinchot, the legendary Republican politician who founded our system of national forests and coined the word “conservation” as it applies to wilderness.

A week ago, I took my 12-year-old son out on his third trip around Mount Hood this summer. The weather was glorious as we started, but by nightfall a cold rain was pounding down on our tarp shelter. The next morning, we found ourselves stumbling through driving snow — and wishing we were on a couch watching TV instead. But that’s the wonder of the wilderness, an essential part of America’s greatness: time in the wild is the best way to tame our arrogance, to remind ourselves that we are temporary intruders upon a larger canvas. It puts us in our place, at times by freezing our toes.

So that’s why I mourn for our wild lands. In 100 years, Mr. Bush’s mistakes in Iraq may not matter anymore, but our wilderness heritage lost on his watch can never be restored.

The Post-UP Update

I never did write much about the last couple weeks in Madison, so I'm going to do so now...

Friday after we got back, we saw a Talking Heads cover band. Surprisingly good. I'd definitely see them again.

Tuesday a group of us went to see Through a Scanner Darkly. Which was excellent. And we were all rather boggled by the end, I think.

Weds: One last Devil's Lake trip... We finally did some hiking there, had only seen two trails, and those the previous summer. Went throug the Devil's Gateway (Very Paradise Lost, right?) and saw Balance Rock (not that impressive). Beautiful views though of the lake and surrounding hills and countryside.

Then we went out for dinner, at this vegetarian place called The Cheese Factory. Very '50's-cutesy. Amazing to see a menu of ONLY vegetarian food. In fact, I don't think I've seen such a thing before, ever. So they had various meat-flavored tofus/seitans, etc., and a surprising range of ethnic plates. I had "El paso al cielo" (the path to heaven), which was cornbread with creamy corn salsa and cheese and peppers, a fried banana & pineapple & salsa on the side. Andrew had veggie goulash. And since this place is all about the desserts, we had the most decadent chocolate layer cake I've ever tasted for dessert (which we saved for the drive-in). Fluffy & light and moist cake and whipped chocolate centers... ahh.

The drive-in was awesome. We saw Talladega Nights w/ Will Ferrell & Snakes on a Plane. Hilarious combination. Stuffed myself with popcorn & cake. And an apple to make me feel better.

I ended up staying in Madison 3 extra days since the airlines didn't charge... Living on borrowed time. Monday we made a brief appearance at friends' bbq, ran some errands, and had pizza... Watched Weeds, the newest show I'm addicted to.

Tues... sadness, last day in Madison. Did some errands on State St., read A Streetcar Named Desire, and had dinner at The Weary Traveler. Packing took a while... brownie & ice cream for dessert... sleep. Melancholy, with the combination of the end of summer, leaving Andrew, and coming back to CA for the quals test. Kills me.

On the bright side, I'm staying at Adam & Amanda's place... which gives me some time to not live out of boxes (after those boxes somehow get from storage to my apartment on campus). It's an adorable, sunny place, with wood floors. I love how they've decorated. But then of course, that would make me sad too, because my dream apt. for living a while in Madison w/ Andrew is on similar lines... floor of a Victorian house, w/ wood floors, a bay window w/ window seat, and, of course, a west-facing porch.

I forgot that the clouds burn off here... I woke up this morning to overcast skies, and was reading in bed since it has the best morning light, and gradually the sun came out and the sky darkened to blue.

And I bought a pound of organic figs at Trader Joe's for 3$. The only cheap thing in CA.

A Sunset

Andrew with the sunset over Lake Superior

Lake of the Clouds

At the lookout point over the Lake of the Clouds (in the UP)

Intrepid Travelers in the UP

So I'm finally posting about our trip to the UP (that's the Upper Penninsula, in Michigan, on Lake Superior). It was lovely. Here's how it went:

Friday: Left around 9 am, with a stuffed car. Stopped in Merrill at the Council Grounds and a dammed up river for lunch. We made "roadside" guacamole & sandwiches. On the way out, got some corn & a watermelon off the back of a farm truck parked at a gas station. Freshest ever.

Along the 6 hour drive (yes, 6 hours), we stopped at Bond Falls to stretch our legs. Lucky accident that we happened to choose that freeway exit. Beautiful rounded waterfall, with a boardwalk to get views from either side.

Back on the road, we stopped to look at a dead porcupine (Tim would be proud!) We saw a bald eagle flying over the road, and later a mysterious bird of prey flying out from a tree. Andrew saw a deer.

Finally arrived at our destination: Peterson's Chalet Cottages. Cute, rustic little cottages close to their Lake Superior beach. The sand, waves, and driftwood made me feel like we were at the beach. I moved us in, and Andrew grilled dinner -- tofu dogs & roasted corn. Read on our screened in porch for awhile, and made it down to the beach. Also roasted marshmallows over the grill (we could probably have done it over the gas rangetop, but for some reason Andrew finds it more authentic to do it over charcoals).

Saturday: Pancakes for breakfast. Because even when pseudo-camping, you need pancakes. We set off for the Porcupine Mountains park, and sat puzzling over the trail map at the Ranger's Station. Had some trouble deciding what hike to do. Eventually we decided to check out the Lake of the Clouds (beautiful, quite a view from the bluff of the lake and sky) and then hike into Mirror Lake. It was a looong hike. 4 miles in, with a pitstop for lunch (tuna sandwiches again). Mirror Lake was lovely... very quiet and tranquil since you can only get to it by hiking. I waded a bit.

Back at the cabin... We went swimming in Lake Superior, much warmer than you'd expect. We had our inflatable creatures: My "magic dragon" Nessie (or Puff), and Andrew's beluga whale (ok, it's a killer whale, but whatev). We ended up staying out on the water till late... And then Andrew unsuccessfully wrassled with the grill until he decided to finish cooking on the stove inside (at which point the charcoals lit up -- apparently they just wanted time and oxygen). Finally, around 10 pm, we had our shish-kabobs & more roasted corn. And it was good.

After dinner, I wanted to take a drive. Both to look out for wild creatures, and to explore country roads. We went down one a ways, without seeing much... Got out to listen to the crickets and look at the stars. Very beautiful. I love being out in the quiet at night.

We then went to the beach, as Andrew had hopes of seeing northern lights. We sat there for about 30 minutes without seeing more than a faint light blue glow over the lake. Around I think 12:30 to 1 am, the lights started to... change. This light blue/green pattern would fluctuate, sometimes spreading a rainbow arc, then moving in columns from right to left. It was hard to leave, but it was getting quite late.

Sunday: Cereal for breakfast, as the pancakes put a cramp in our plans to get out early. We went back to the Porkies to see the various waterfalls along the Presque Isle River. This turned into an impromptu hike, as we went up the east and west sides of the river to make a loop, ending at the "island" of layers of I think shale. Saw a view of Lake Superior, went over a suspension bridge (over yet another great view of the river), and headed home.

Back at the cabin, we had lunch, and then went kayaking. Definitely had trouble getting in at first. But then it was lovely -- bright, clear, sunny day. I leaned back and was ready to go to sleep on the water. Then we decided to go swimming, with Nessie/Puff.

For dinner we again imitated our camping fare, with rice & beans & string beans.

For dessert, we headed over to this fried-food & ice cream only sort of place. Amazing ice cream. And, our real motive: to see them feed the bears. Yes, Merrie is probably groaning and planning a lecture on why-not-to-feed-wild-bears. But we wanted to see some, and as it turns out, our hiking didn't lead us into any bears' path. Unfortunately, this restaurant isn't very picky about what they feed these animals. We watched one young woman feed Fred, an old man bear, a Little Debi oatmeal pie. In other words, corn syrup & trans fat. Sorry, Fred. Also saw a couple of younger, leaner looking bears. Terrific red sunset.

After the bear adventure, we made a campfire down on the beach. Roasted marshmallows and drank beer. No northern lights, as it was a bit cloudy.

Monday: Decided to add an extra night.

So we had the chance to linger over breakfast, eat pancakes, and then head out to the Summit Mt. viewpoint in the Porkies. Short hike in, and then up a watchtower... view of the whole national park, Lake Superior, and the surrounding area. Gorgeous. And sunny. Watched a hawk dive.

On the way back, we had to search for food. Backtracked a bit, as it was hard to remember where things were along this long and nearly deserted road. Finally put together a taco meal. I had a fit over the little bit of lard added to the refried beans. I of course didn't suspect anything, as who the hell would add lard to beans? Why contaminate a vegetarian's source of protein with pig fat? Why make it not kosher just for like a teaspoon of lard? F*#@ you, Old El Paso brand.

Anyways. We also made it to the gift store. It was ridiculous. The crazy woman was obsessed with bears. She was playing a children's CD of corny songs about bears sung by a cartoonish voice. "When a little bear loses his teddy bear, he gives you a bear hug..." OVER AND OVER. Needless to say, we just bought a couple of postcards and got the hell out of there.

After dinner, we took a walk along the beach... And went back to the bear restaurant. More ice cream (my only regret is not getting their cherry flavor), more bears eating sunflowers & "food scraps." Watched the sunset at a pretty beach with driftwood and tons of perfect stones for skipping.

Tuesday: We packed up, talked with Chuck (one of the hosts), and headed to Black River Harbor. This was quite the round about way to go home, but provided us with one more adventure. Went along the river, stopping at a series of waterfalls... we ended up visiting 3 out of the 5. Nearly deserted. And very pretty. Reminded me of Oregon. On our way up the steps from one falls (which was highly reminiscent of Wahtum Lake's steps), we spotted a deer with two fawns. We froze, and watched. The doe approached us, circularly, and stopped at a little mound about 10 feet away. She was watching us VERY closely. She'd stamp her foot, and then duck, watching us. Stamp, repeat. Stamp, repeat. I started laughing. It was amazing how clearly you could read her... She was approaching us alone, checking us out, testing us to see if we'd move, if we'd try to go after her, etc., doing all this at a distance from the fawns. Eventually she decided we were harmless, and headed back. Then the little family trooped across the parking lot and toward the neighboring park areas. Saw another deer in the next parking lot. The place is crawling with them.

The harbor itself was pretty, we climbed on the rocks and tried to see where we'd been hiking, as we could see the ski jump on one of the local hills from our Summit Mt. hike.

Andrew got lunch along the way at a "pasty" place. Pasties are basically potpies in the shape of a hot pocket. It was like walking into a bakery from 1950. Cafeteria tables and chairs, women in flowery dresses, men sitting around with coffee and pastries... the town was rustic, with an old Sprite sign (truly old, like '50s style), and a dead downtown. Unfortunately they didn't have any veggie pasties warmed up. I later ate at Subway.

Stopped at a few places on the way back... Rib Mt., pretty closed up off-season... and then Devil's Lake for a swim with Nessie.

At home, we had a quick dinner of ordering pizza.

It was a wonderful trip!

I was reading the end of Women in Love, Ros & Guil are Dead, and starting the American section...mainly Wieland. While driving, we finished The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test on CD... Intrepid Travelers!

Reading & Madison

Haven't updated on our Madison activities -- but suffice to say, I've been doing a lot of reading. Since getting back from Oregon, I've (re)read Sense & Sensibility, Jane Eyre, Heart of Darkness, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Mrs. Dalloway, some T.S. Eliot essays, modernist poetry (Yeats, Heaney, Eliot, Larkin, Auden), The Importance of Being Earnest (woo hoo, 4th reading), and, basically, Women in Love (50 pages to go). What rather bothers me, is that I've read all this stuff before. The experience of re-reading has been intriguing (what I missed before, what it's like to read knowing the ending, so I'm reading for the pleasure of the text rather than the plot, seeing my old notes on the texts, etc.). I'm about to hit the American portion, so I guess this will soon cease to be a problem. Although I'll still be rereading Moby Dick, The Scarlet Letter, etc. Hmm. Quals reading isn't quite what I expected it to be, but it's also exceeded my expectations a bit. I didn't really expect to get as much as I did out of re-reading.

Anyway. As for real world activity... We had dinner with Katie & John the night we returned from Oregon, and stayed late. We've done the farmer's market thing (yay for early apples!). Last week we took a trip to Devil's Lake (where we read, waded, and played frisbee) & then revisited Pedro's for dinner. The veggie tamales were excellent (and I love their corn cakes), but I was a bit disgusted the next day when Andrew ate the remains of his 3 lb. burrito. Someone in the kitchen had (inadvertently, I assume) gotten some plastic wrap mixed into the burrito's insides. Yuck.

Last week we also took a drive to Blue Mound State Park. There's a nice loop through meadows (butterflies, and ever so many wildflowers), down by a creek bed (buggy -- could hear a strange vibrating hum of bees), and back out by an apple tree. Also climbed their look-out towers, which have a magnificent view of Wisconsin (since these mounds are like the highest point).

Well -- should go now. We're going to watch the finale of America's Got Talent. I hope Bianca wins...

I get terribly addicted to summer reality tv.

Reason may prevail (with compromises)

It looks like reason might finally prevail in the FDA's decision on Plan B -- with a compromise. If things go as planned, women 18 and over will be able to buy Plan B over the counter, and when they need it, rather than after a doctor has been able to fit them into his/her schedule (and has charged said women a hefty fee for those 5 minutes). Yes, the morning after pill might actually become something women (who've had a birth control failure or have been raped) can take the morning after. And, look at that! The intended use is built right into the name: it's Plan B (ie, not one's primary birth control method). And come on, who would really take Plan B every time she had sex, rather than taking the pill? Or using a condom?

Anyway, here's from Ellen Goodman's aptly titled article "Reproductive Rights Victory -- In the Bush Era?!" (Via Feministe)

Emergency contraception is the one swath of common ground in the abortion wars. Plan B can prevent pregnancy and, therefore, abortion. It tells you how bad things are when wrenching approval for contraception out of the Bush administration counts as a smashing victory.

Nevertheless, my champagne flute is still going to be half full. This is a victory with a big asterisk. The price of getting women 18 and older easy access to Plan B has been to exclude those under 18. It's hard to celebrate policies and politics that subject girls to bigger hurdles and solidify the message that motherhood is their punishment for sex.

Let's go back over this torturous history. In 2003, the FDA's scientific advisers overwhelmingly recommended Plan B as safe and effective enough to be sold over the counter without any age restriction. It was described as "safer than aspirin.'' The right wing promptly went ballistic and tried to cast Plan B as an abortion pill. When that failed scientific muster--emergency contraception does nothing if you're pregnant--the same groups got behind the push for escalating age restrictions.

First, a cowed and politicized FDA told the manufacturer to reapply, restricting the pills to 16 and over. Then, more than a year later, one acting FDA commissioner upped the age up to 17. Now the newest acting FDA commissioner, Andrew von Eschenbach, has pushed the age up to 18.

While I suppose we should be grateful that he didn't push it to menopause, why exactly did the would-be commissioner pick 18? Was there some new data? A new study perhaps? The most that any senator could get out of him at the confirmation hearings on his appointment was pretty cryptic: "I believe 18 is appropriate.'' With that, von Eschenbach won the title of "The Believer'' to match his friend and president, "The Decider.''

The arguments in favor of the age restriction are indeed matters of unscientific belief. The morning-after pill does not change the night-before behavior, a favorite argument of those who equate E.C. with promiscuity. Nor does it replace ordinary contraceptives.

Oregonian-ness

The visit to Oregon was wonderful, busy, yet relaxing.

Getting to OR, however, was not so relaxing.

We left on the 25th via the Milwaukee airport. This involved driving there, dropping the car at a remote parking location, & taking a shuttle. All was well, the plane boarded on time, etc. Only complaint was crowdedness. The next leg of the journey was wretched. We boarded the plane in the midsummer heat, and, clever monkeys, they didn't/couldn't put on the air conditioning.

And then... (wait for it)

We didn't leave on time.

Shocking! (And yet not.)

Andrew & I found ourselves in the very back of the plane, positioned in the seating area between two (yes, two) sets of stinking box-toilets. Everything smelled like pee. When I bent to get stuff out of my bag, I could have sworn someone had peed on the wall at some point. Oh, and it was about 100 degrees, and there were about what, 200 people on the plane? And we sat there for an hour and a half. Oh yes, it smelled delightful.

The cause of the delay? One of the infamous "mechanical problems." You know, the type that mysteriously sets in after the previous problem-free flight, after everyone is already freaking boarded. The kind that equally mysteriously clears up after an hour or two of some supposed professionals staggering about somewhere out of view. Heaven forbid the plane be cleared of problems BEFORE loading hundreds of people on it. F*#% you, NW Airlines.

So. We did make it to Oregon. Found Mum & Mer waiting, hugs & stories relating the trip. Almost crying with laughing so hard. Ate on the way home.

Weds: Much activity. Scorching weather. Mer, Andrew, & I took a very long float down the canal -- walked to Aubert's bridge & floated to the end of Miller Road. Andrew wanted to try our smaller green floatie (easier to paddle about in), and we traded him for the larger River Rat tube. Andrew sat down in the green floatie, and immediately flipped over. One moment he was sitting down & getting settled, the next, somehow, his feet contrived to go up, as his head went under, and then the entire Andrew was lost into the canal -- rather like an accidental backwards somersault. Luckily, he came up laughing and with only one abrasion on his arm. I'm afraid I have no pictures.

Anyway, after our peaceful float, we had dinner, and then the fair. We waited in line forever (the Hood River fair of Odell was unexpectedly busy). Eventually, got in and saw the wild animals -- rather sadly caged. Amazing cats, including a rather playful bobcat. Awesome African porcupine. Large tortoise. Many unappealing snakes and spiders.

We had our share of fair fare. We split an elephant ear. Unlike other people, who walk while eating, we shuffled off to a corner and stuffed ourselves, getting greasy and sugary. Needed napkins -- so we got water & a snowcone, and the vendors gave me a single paper towel. Then Merrie bought cotton candy, and kindly shared. It was yummy.

We had a quick spin through the barns -- the sheep were baa-ing back and forth, and we got many a picture of one that had an old-man-goat voice.

Late night shopping trip to Rosauer's.

Thurs.: Busy day! Andrew made pesto from the basil bushes in Mom's garden. Then Mum, Mer, Andrew & I went up to Kingsley for a swim. We went the wrong way, so we had a scenic and bumpy detour. Almost stopped at the lower reservoir... perhaps should have stayed, but I rather wanted the real lake. Kind of windy, but I still wanted to swim. I ended up getting in, and once you do that, you're warmer in the water than out. So I paddled about, and eventually we all swam (even Merrie!) After, we went down the hill, and we took Mer's car to the wildlife rescue clinic in Mosier. I syringe-fed a baby bat, Andrew bottle-fed a fawn, and Mer fed a flicker (which died -- flighty little things). The young screech owl was my favorite. It bobbed about and dilated its pupils and I was rather worried it was going to attack me. I'll try to post a photo, because it was that cute. The eagles were hopping about, and the fawn frolicked a bit in the meadow.

Home -- pesto for dinner (ate outside w/ the mountain view), watched some America's Got Talent, and Scrabbled. Slept outside on the porch: many stars, some shooting.

Friday: Also super busy day. We made it up to Lost Lake, and took the trail around the lake. I waded a bit, and grazed on blueberries and huckleberries. Then we took the road to Wahtum Lake; along the way, we saw a mountain beaver on the side of the road. We stopped, and the mt. beaver went about its business as if there were no large jeep with five people idling next to him. He chomped off some brush, and proceeded to carry it under the jeep, and across the road. Somehow he managed to drop said brush, which Tim took as a memento. Very strange little rodent-fellow. The lake was windy and chilly. What is it, 254 stairs down to the lake? We took them, and ate our reward (cookies) by the lake. Explored around the shores -- salamanders and crawdads. After going back up the stairs, I was quite warmed up. For dinner: Feta/pasta/kale concoction. Slept out on the porch again.

Saturday: Family picnic! We took Tim's '56 Chevy, and arrived fashionably late. First time I'd seen so many cousins gathered in one place since Christmases of a decade ago or more. Very cool to see Janel (she's been in Turner's Fall, MA and doing poetry at Umass) & Mark (who's living in Santa Cruz). And I finally saw Debi's young children -- we ended up playing frisbee with Timmy for quite a while. Luckily, Andrew, who has camp counselor experience, tossed it back and forth with him -- and with Tim joining the game, I think Timmy was quite happy. Andrew became Timmy's favorite, although Delina favored me with a cup of "coffee." After sandwiches and wonderful cake (it had all the cousins' names on it -- I didn't eat my name, however, as I preferred a side piece with lots of frosting), we kids headed to Hood River. Went to Artifacts, and Andrew's Pizza for dinner. Dog River for coffee -- I had a nice Mexican chocolate frappe. And it was good.

Some errands after -- Wal-mart for sweatpants, etc...

Sunday: Portland day. We went to American Eagle (Mer was in need of staples, and the sales rack was as fruitful as I expected), Powell's books (got a stack of quals books, including the ever-elusive "Studies in Classic American Lit." by Lawrence), Everyday Music (my one selection was to share a Zombies hits CD w/ Mer), and Thai Orchid for dinner (sweet and sour stirfry w/ pineapple was OK but overly sweet; pad thai was pleasing as usual; Massaman curry which was my choice and, in my opinion, the yummiest). Quite a nice trip to the city.

Monday: Read in the morning (Wuthering Heights), and then went with Mum, Mer, & Andrew on a hike to Elk Meadows. Many legs to the journey: First a jaunt through the mild mountain forest -- quite level. Then crossing the river on a precarious bridge made up of various logs haphazardly thrown between the banks. This leads into the switch backs straight up a hill, which eventually get you to the levelness at the top. Then about a mile around the meadow (which was devoid of elk, and unfortunately clouds obscured what would have been a lovely view of the mountain). We stopped along this final loop to snack on potato chips, cookies, and apples... and were munching, when our snack-site was ransacked by camp robbers. Of the avian variety. Apparently they're also known by the slightly more dignified (but infinitely less accurate) description of grays jays. It was clear that these little beggars wanted food, and would do about anything to get it. So I had the bright idea of putting potato chip crumbles on my sweatshirted arm. They took the bait. I was quite nervous, God only knows what birds will do for food. Mer & Mum joined me, and we got some awesome photos & video. Voracious birds. Never had seen such things before. Right out of the Hitchcock movie. And since that soundtrack in entirely composed of bird noises/flapping of wings, the noises were reminiscent of the film as well. The birds were a highlight, and the chipmunks which seemed to perch in blueberry bushes and eat the litte unripe berries.

In the evening, we took a trip to Rosauer's & prepared for our camping trip. Tuesday morning we left -- it was awfully cold and windy at Lost Lake. Andrew set up the tent while me and Mer went to the general store for our camping pass, and then we set up camp a bit. I was cold, and went in the tent to read a bit. Shortly, I decided to nap. The others followed. We got up around 4 pm, snacked, and I urged everyone to at least do a bit of exploring before dinner. Went on what we assumed was the huckleberry trail. Ran into a scuzzy pond (but it did have redeeming water lilies). Mysterious combination of stand up grill, precariously leaning next to a tree, empty beer bottle, and discarded underwear. On the other side of the scuzzy pond, a condom wrapper. Andrew wisely observed: "I hope nothing bad happened here."

Ended up toward a trailhead into the Pacific Crest trail. Found a gravel road. Made Merrie and Andrew agree to take a drive out here after dinner in return for not hiking further. Had tofurkey dogs for dinner w/ canned corn. It was delicious. Everything made on a campfire is strangely good. Took our evening drive on Sentinel Rd... gravel road, leading to nothing. We got out, picked some huckleberries, and I killed many a mosquito (had to hit Andrew rather hard to kill some of them, but, what can you do?). We passed another mysteriously blocked off road, and I asked that we also explore that at some point when I had proper shoes on. Back at camp: S'MORES! We had a nice campfire, and warmed water for washing hands/ faces (it feels so luxurious when everything else is cold). S'mores are excellent. Slept quite well, and decided to sleep in.

Andrew made breakfast -- pancakes w/ huckleberries & chocolate chips. So good. We got ready pretty quickly, and made our way to the Lost Lake Butte trail. Switchbacked about 2.5 miles to the top, where we could see Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood intimately, and Mt. Jefferson hanging behind. Other hikers greeted us at the top. We made, I kid you not, tuna fish sandwiches w/ cans of tuna, a jar of relish, and the condiment packets we took from the store. And they were relished. Hung out for probably 30 minutes, listening to pikas beeping on rocks below the cliff, watching the little bits of clouds clear away from the mt., and taking pictures. Going down was much faster and easier.

I wanted to go swimming right away -- to feel clean and to make up for the hot hiking. Took our chairs and floaties to the lake, and claimed a little wooden dock. We read a bit, and then paddled about in the water: I alternately swam and clung to floaties. Mum arrived, and we had jambalaya (w/ leftover tofurky dogs, canned green beans, and squash), grilled squash, and salad Mum brought. Only problem: no forks! Andrew improvised with two spoons, and we washed old plastic forks. Then, as it was getting dusky, Mum headed home, and we headed up to Turner Rd. for a little exploring. This didn't go too far: We heard some sort of snoring/exhaling noise, definitely from a large animal. Mer and I predicted bear (Mer's prediction, however, was much more convincing). I quietly picked some berries, and eventually Andrew & I went to a nearby meadow-like area while Mer patiently listened. There, we had a view of the mountain against twilight, and the moon rising. Bats flitted. We heard their calls, but then we also heard one of the snorting sounds, frighteningly close (or so it seemed). I got rather freaked out, and we went back to find Mer. She came back with us, and we kept hearing the noises. Later, we got Tim's confirmation that we'd had a real bear experience! Probably two or three were ranging about, eating huckleberries and locating one another. We decided to come back in the morning, as Mer was shivering with cold and it was getting late. Back at the campsite, we had a roaring fire (Mum had brought more firewood), and we roasted many marshmallows and ate s'mores. Finally got to bed.

Thurs. we got up earlier, had more yummy pancakes thanks to Andrew, and set off to the Turner Rd. area again. We hiked along it quite a while, mainly due to my curiosity. It seemed we were in forested area -- saw an anthill -- but we eventually heard water & found that the road was emerging over a valley. Quite steep sides down, too. I kept urging us onwards, but Mer at some point turned back. I knew we'd get a view of the mountain soon, as we were rounding the bend... and we definitely got the payoff viewpoint. Picture perfect view of Mt. Hood, the sides of hills, and the valley beneath. Andrew & I took pictures. Headed back then, and caught up with Mer. Andrew & I took another exploring trip up a gravel road, stopped when it got overgrown and didn't seem to be going anywhere. I picked some more berries, and then we rounded up Mer and headed back to camp. We got out of our site right before 2 pm, as directed. And lucky, as another van-load of campers wanted to claim our place. So we took our tuna fish sandwich makings (round 2) over to the day use area, and claimed the lovely site with Mt. Hood over the lake, and flat rocks and a bench to sit on. Ended up floating a bit, and I swam. Deliciously cold. A pine squirrel tried to steal our cookies. Mer and I yelled from the water for Andrew to defend our baked goods. Andrew packed up the edibles, but the squirrel came foraging back. Incorrigible rodent.

Drove back home... We took turns taking showers. I sat on a blanket by the garden reading a bit, Andrew joined me. Then, we went to Crazy Pepper for dinner... Mer and I were quite strong against the chicken fajita burrito, and had the vegetarian version. Andrew alerted us to the yumminess of his chicken, and we were like, "we know." But I will relent and have a free range turkey when I come home for Thanksgiving. Somehow we all finished our dinners, and then staggered about Hood River trying (pretending) to work it off. Then another shopping trip, and home to watch V for Vendetta (which was awesome).

Friday we packed, and kept busy, as we were also leaving. Took a drive with Mum & Tim up to Umbrella Falls & Teacup Lake (Andrew was none too impressed with our scummy lake, but it was fun to visit the old berry picking grounds). Then Andrew, Mer & I went floating, from Hess Rd. down to our house. Quite cold! Showered, and dressed, we headed down to Hood River for First Friday. I purchased some lotion, soap, & face mask (pumpkin and apple, it smells so good I want to eat it). We went to Dog River once more, and I quickly finished my chai. Visited the new bookstore -- which had no Norton anthologies I could see. Listened to the homeschoolers' marimba band. Got a great view from the library park of the river w/ windsurfers. Ahh, Hood River.

Back home, we ate Santacroces pizza on the deck with the mountain view, and then listened to our Zombies CD while finishing up with packing.

Very sad to leave! And I didn't remember to properly say goodbye to the Prissy cat, who will undoubtedly remember and act even more haughty when I see her next.

Driving to the airport we had Strawberry Shortcake memories, and Andrew thought we were crazy.

The flights back were rather exhausting. Red eyes -- the first about 3.5 hours, with a break at what, to us, was 3:30 in the morning, followed by another short 1.5 hour or so flight. Very interrupted sleep. Who on earth books a red eye flight with a freaking BABY? Airlines should have a warning when you book a flight between the hours of 11 pm and 6 am: "WARNING: Children 3 and under not welcome on these flights. Consider other options if possible."

Southern WI is indeed the flatlands, after the mountainous NW.

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

Andrew & I are off to the airport -- it's been a long time since I've updated though. I'll sum up:

- County fair: Lots o' bunnies, bengal tigers, stuffing myself with an "awesome blossom," snow cones, hypnosis show (I think it's all a sham), & a spin on the ferris wheel.

- Going to Andrew's office to read. Because I require supervision to stay on task.

- Annie's house for dinner & an amazing chocolate tart. Sitting around in the dark (but it was light when we came in...!)

- Mallards game. We won! But it went into two extra innings, and there were about 4 innings in which no runs were made. I was getting bored, and started to read my Samuel Johnson. The fireworks, however, were amazing -- put on by Thundercats. It was probably the best show I've seen (not counting Boston's).

- Devil's lake and frisbee. I covered this, I hope... If not: it was perfect.

- Reading. I'm done with the 18th century novel finally. Read Gulliver's Travels, Robinson Crusoe, A Sentimental Journey, & Pamela. Now after a bit more poetry, I'm onto Victorian novels. Familiar territory.

And I'll leave you with an Andrewism:
Yesterday morning Andrew said: “I had a weird dream about cows playing football.”

1st Veto: Anti-Existing Life

So. Bush vetoed a bill for the first time today. Guess what it was? A bill supported by Democrats, many Republicans, and most of America, which would go toward saving lives (you might even say, it was a pro-life bill). It would have allowed further stem cell research. But, as usual, political pandering to the far right won the day. Sorry scientists of America, it looks like we’ll be watching other countries surpass us by leaps and bounds in the pursuit of finding cures for fatal and debilitating diseases.

I’m beyond frustrated.

“But Democrats, citing opinion polls showing that most Americans support the research that could lead to new treatments for conditions ranging from diabetes to paralysis, said that Bush's stance may alienate centrist voters.

Iowa Democrat Sen. Tom Harkin called the veto a "shameful display of cruelty, hypocrisy, and ignorance" that crushed the hopes of millions of suffering people. He vowed to reintroduce the legislation next year.

Even conservative Republicans who generally oppose abortion are split. Some prominent anti-abortion Republicans including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah championed the legislation but most of Bush's fellow conservatives shared the president's view.”

Ignorance, yes. Pretending that fertilized eggs deserve personhood is ridiculous. Equating said egg in a Petri dish with a seven year old child is disingenuous at best, and disrespectful to women’s role in reproduction at worst. Said fertilized egg will NEVER develop into a person without a woman volunteering to develop it. And that’s the fate of most embryos frozen at fertility clinics. What, less than 130 such embryos have been “adopted” by couples for implantation, out of 400,000? So what do we do: learn from these abandoned embryos that no woman wants to implant, or do we let them get freezer burn and then throw them out? Let me be bold: If I were such a frozen embryo, and somehow magically could learn the cultural apparatuses (e.g., language) and social contexts to weigh in on the debate, I would far rather go toward helping someone in a wheelchair walk again, than languish in storage until I was beyond use.

My favorite Bush comment:

"It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect, so I vetoed it," Bush said of the research that involves tiny human embryos.

I can’t help but laugh at this. Bush is trying to instruct us on morals? Seriously? After Katrina, the Iraq war, all the blunders? After feeding into the hate and discrimination against gays? While trying to take a woman’s right to choose away, and pretending that he knows best what individual women should do with their bodies? And while it’s perfectly acceptable to sacrifice the innocent lives of many Iraqi women and children for the “greater good” of the war, it’s totally morally reprehensible to use unwanted and doomed embryos for medical breakthroughs. So, embryos = human life we must respect, but already living people (especially women) = expendable. The doublespeak is mind boggling.

Now I’m going to end with some points that I was thinking of while debating this recently…

1. I’m confused as to why conservatives point to the fertilized egg as the definitive make-or-break moment in a very long and complicated process. You can claim that life begins at conception, but you’re already treading theological ground. Why? Because the medical community and our government agree that pregnancy (ie, the beginning of the development of life) begins at implantation — not the meeting of sperm and egg. Next thing you know, the extreme right will say that life begins with the egg, which is simply a person without a complete genetic code yet. This would feed in wonderfully with the Washington Post’s coverage of the CDC’s “pre-pregnant” status for ALL women between puberty and menopause.

2. Some conservatives see the embryo-in-utero as equivalent to that in a Petri dish. This stance overlooks the fact that in order for a fertilized egg to mean something, to have the potential to gain personhood, it *requires* a woman’s womb. This isn’t just a simple change of place, this is asking a fully realized human being to use her physical, emotional, and financial resources to grow an develop a human being. Embryos don’t become people outside of the womb, period. Until they’re in a womb, I don’t see how we can possibly grant them anything that even resembles rights. And even once it’s implanted in the womb, I would argue that a woman still retains the right to her own body, and can act in self-defense against the fetus. (Believe it or not, there are people who want to outlaw abortion who are against even the health exception of the woman’s life.)

3. Another huge moral quandary: If you think it’s A-OK to keep intelligent, conscious, sentient beings in cages (i.e., primates), while giving them diseases and testing out experimental meds on them, for the human good, then you should really re-consider your stance on using frozen, destined-not-to-be-used embryos for scientific study.

4. Our technology is bringing us closer everyday to allowing even infertile couples to produce their biological offspring (in a few years, even same sex female couples may be able to use this technology). So why, exactly, would anyone think that these thousands of frozen embryos are going to be desired by, well, anyone? Right now, there’s not enough demand for said embryos, and that demand is only going to lessen over time with advances in technology. Most people who go to fertility clinics want their biological children (otherwise, why not adopt?). Given the much more compelling case of living, breathing, homeless children, I think that most couples who want to do something good will adopt those children, rather than implant someone else’s frozen embryo.

5. Back to that whole embryos-have-personhood thing. If no woman wants to develop that embryo (which is quite common right now, as fertility clinics struggle with an “acceptable” way to dispose of unwanted fertilized eggs), how exactly does that embryo have any rights? It doesn’t. We can’t confer rights to an embryo by taking away the rights of a woman. The idea of “right to life” doesn’t make sense to me: we owe a tremendous debt to our mothers (and the men who act as fathers). I’m lucky and thankful that my mother chose to have me (maybe you’re reading this, Mum!), but I don’t see how I could possibly fault her if she chose not to have children. I think it’s bizarre to act as though a fertilized egg has some compelling rights over the living. Most of these embryos exist because a couple was trying to give life to their children; these are unfortunately what is left after such processes. I think it’s better to use these embryos to help the living, than to pretend that they’re actually going to be adopted through an embryo adoption program. A few will, but we’ll still have many left over, so why not let scientists do what they can to advance our ability to save already existing lives? And while many want to adopt children, these embryos clearly need a woman to volunteer to carry them first (not a lot of women, understandably, want to do this). Further, last I checked, we aren’t exactly suffering for want of people on this planet. Overpopulation is one of our most pressing problems as a species. We’ve added what, 4 billion people to the world population since WW2? Imagine, 2 billion to 6 billion in about 50 years. And that growth isn’t expected to stop anytime soon. So logistically, no, not every would-be combination of DNA has a “right to life,” and I don’t see why we should be worrying about finding ways to develop unwanted embryos when we have people dying of disease that we hope to learn how to treat.

And that’s all I have to say.

Except, again:

Bush, THIS is what you veto? This is seriously the only thing you’ve vetoed since coming into office? (Well, not counting line-vetoes…)

Wait, and they say liberals have no sense of humor?

In case you've been hiding under a rock for the past couple of days, here's one of the funnier moments brought to us by the wonder of the internet: Pete, who thought the Onion article "I'm totally psyched about this abortion!" was for real. Yep, he thinks "Miss Weber" is a real person, who is indeed psyched about her abortion. He somehow took these passages literally, and then blogged about the article:

So, to all of you pro-lifers who are trying to rain on my parade, keep it to yourself, because I don't have the time for that kind of negativity. I've got an abortion to plan, and I just know it's going to be the best non-anesthetized invasive uterine surgery ever!

...I wouldn't be looking forward to induced dilation of my cervical opening and suctioning of my uterus, either. And I sure as heck wouldn't get the chance to have a doctor insert a metal instrument into my womb to dislodge tissue from my uterine wall!

...I seriously cannot wait for all the hemorrhaging and the uterine contractions. This abortion is going to be so amazing. I'm definitely taking lots of pictures so I can remember every last detail of the whole experience for years to come and share my great memories with all of my friends, family and co-workers. What an easy decision this was!

I realize there are people who will criticize me, calling me selfish and immature because I took "the easy way out." I realize there are those who will condemn me to hell for what I'm about to do. Well, I don't care what they say: It's worth it for all the fun and laughs I'm going to have at the clinic. So listen up, world: I'm pro-abortion... and I love it! See you at my post-abortion party, everybody!

Wow, right? The stupidity boggles the mind. How could you think this was real? Although it's hilarious, it also points to a real problem within such extreme pro-life groups as that which Pete apparently belongs to: they're totally out of touch with the real world. Not getting such obvious satire suggests one is working with an intellect a few steps below your average bear. And to think that any woman is this flippant about getting an abortion,http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif would seek out an unintended pregnancy (wait, that wouldn't be unintentional), and would then have a party... well, it speaks volumes about his stereotypes of women and particularly of women who choose abortions. He's all about saving babies, but doesn't seem to distinguish between a zygote and a 6 year old child, nor can he fathom that women might want to have a say over how they use their bodies and resources. And despite all the rhetoric about doing something, I don't see Petey pushing for better healthcare for impoverished women, or advocating for better access to birth control, or adopting the babies of these women that he's trying to convince to carry to term.

I checked out some of his other posts, including a particularly disturbing one on Plan B. I've got to quote, because :

This is what we are talking about. 100 million dollars and counting. Planned Parenthood is in it for the money & doesn't care about the health of women in America. The American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists said "the FDA is wrong, motivated by politics" & added a comment about "the despicable treatment of women at the hands of the FDA over this issue".

Um, so, Pete doesn't seem to understand this very simple news story that he saw on TV. See, first he goes after PP for wanting money (which is ridiculous here, as their aim is to offer family planning services, including making sure that poor women have access to birth control). But then he says they don't care about the health of American women, despite then quoting experts and doctors who say that the FDA's politically motivated decision was wrong. So... what?? PP is in it for the money, but they also are carrying through the wishes of those who care about women's health. By stringing these sentences together into a single paragraph, Pete seems to suggest that PP and the FDA are in league on this decision (they're not). Someone has missed the boat.

Accident? She was referring to "accidents" like broken condoms & forgotten birth control pills. The last time I checked, sex wasn't an "accident". I think it falls into the category of "on purpose".

In Pete's imaginary world, people only have sex when they want to reproduce. And he can't seem to empathize with a situation in which one might want to prevent pregnancy (a mistake of impaired judgment, a rape, a simple "equipment failure" with a condom, etc.). Nope, if you have sex, you're clearly a slut (because he's really talking to women here, right? Despite the fact that he can't get pregnant and clearly can't imagine being in that situation), and you should therefore be "punished" with an unwanted pregnancy.

The problem is that people just don't get what sex is for. Okay, so millions of people are calling me an old fuddy duddy right now! In my opinion, the contraceptive mentality is damaging & is what causes our inability to deal with sex and procreation. Everyone is constantly trying to figure out how to have sex without having babies...until they're "ready" for them.

Whoa, not a fuddy-duddy, an authoritarian lunatic. If contraception is messing up how you deal with sex, then fine, good luck finding a woman with similar views. But don't go trying to fix how I deal with it (don't fix what ain't broken).

My favorite part, is that Pete seems to be advocating that people not want till they're "ready" for babies. Either that, or he's suggesting that people should have sex like, twice in their lifetimes (when they want to have children. Oh, and never mind the LGBT community, or those who don't want children, ever). Great idea! I can't wait to see what happens when society cranks out children that belong to unready parents. (Oh, Pete, that's sarcasm.)

Some say it causes abortions, others say it doesn't.

Oh, Pete. The only people who say it causes abortions are those who don't agree with the medical community and the government that pregnancy begins at implantation. Do you mourn for the 50% of fertilized eggs that fail to implant? Are you against douches because who knows, maybe those interfere with implantation? Stop obsessing over women's uteruses and use a little common sense. Your personal ramblings are not what good FDA policy should look like.

Who's right? Simple point for us to consider. People say it will guarantee the reduction of pregnancies. Okay, so why doesn't it eliminate them? So they mean that some women will still become pregnant?

Uh, I think that they mean it will reduce the number of unintended pregnancies OVERALL. They're not saying it doesn't always work. When it's possible to prevent the pregnancy, Plan B works quite effectively, by suppressing ovulation.

Can they guarantee that Plan B will not cause an abortion like the birth control pill? I doubt it. They say "scientifically" but offer no scientific fact that no child will ever be killed by Plan B.

OK, Pete, if you're this obsessed with uteruses, shouldn't you know how difficult it would be to figure out if Plan B might ever, ever, in .0001% of cases, cause a fertilized egg not to implant? It's rather difficult to figure this out, since, um, uteruses are inside of women and all, and 50% of fertilized eggs fail to implant even under normal circumstances. Next thing you know, Petey will be advocating that women avoid walking after sex, because wait, that might prevent implantation, and then you're a baby killer!!

Sheesh.

And let's not even try to equate Plan B with the abortion pill -- these are two COMPLETELY different medications, that do COMPLETELY different things.

But my favorite part, which is so good it bears repeating:

They say "scientifically" but offer no scientific fact that no child will ever be killed by Plan B.

Isn't this perfect? How unhinged is this guy? So he admits that scientists say "scientifically" that it won't disturb an existing pregnancy. And then he says they "offer no scientific fact." What the hell do you want, Pete? A stone tablet from God assuring you that "Plan B does not harm existing pregnancies. Thou shalt relax, Pete, and let women make their own decisions!"? Scientists also don't go around saying that never, ever, in a million years, will any fetus be harmed by eating such and such, or taking such and such a medication. We deduce what we can "scientifically," and for those of us who believe that medical science is pretty reliable, we'll let that guide our decision making process over a too-thick-to-recognize-satire-or-construct-a-logical-argument blogger's ramblings.

You'd think that for someone so worried about preventing abortions, Pete would be MORE in favor of Plan B (even if in .0001% of cases it interfered with implantation -- although the science right now points to it not interfering at all), rather than in sitting back and watching as far more women became pregnant unintentionally and resorted to abortions. Overall, however you cut it, Plan B means fewer abortions. And even if you think that life begins when sperm gets into egg, regardless of whether or not it's viable to implant onto the uterus, I'd imagine you'd still be more in favor of a woman ending a pregnancy before implantation, rather than two months into fetal development.

But, as Pete demonstrates, such pro-lifers are more interested in debating the rare "what-if's?" than in actually supporting policies that reduce the number of abortions.

Post July 4th

Where does the time go?

I've been immersed in books -- mostly British Renaissance, Restoration, and now 18th century. Was steeped in Shakespeare for quite a while -- I still have one more non-Shakes play to read at some point. I discovered a love for Milton's Paradise Lost: oh the drama! The horrid bristling spears of the fallen angels, the incestuous love child of Sin and Satan, and the hairy sides of the hills of Eden. I insist that Eve was onto something with her division of labor, and wanting to go her own way in the garden... leading her right to the snake. But it's so appropriate considering the Tree of Knowledge and humankind relying upon making their own discoveries, losing the supervised crib that was Eden. Then there was Pope -- particularly loved "Eloisa to Abelard." Congreve's The Way of the World is hilarious, and I love those happy endings (and wow, Millamant & Mirabell actually made a prenup together). Wycherley's The Counry Wife was the most enjoyable experience so far: will never assume that shopping for china is an innocent activity again. Now I'm well into Gulliver's Travels. And yes I get the fuss, but I'm looking forward to moving into the 19th century.

As to real life: today it rained. All day. But tonight promises some amusement: sushi making & a new Last Comic Standing. Josh Blue is my hero. I've never laughed so hard in my life, and at freaking advertisements for the show!

Not too much to report... this quals reading definitely gets in the way of my becoming completely lazy during the summer:

Did I mention having people over for dinner? Best idea ever. Makes me feel like I really am a 20-something. We had the group over for a sushi instruction night about a week and a half ago. Everyone was quite good at it, too -- yummy stuff. I also tried saki for the first time. Good saki is good, and bad saki is very bad. We ended the evening with watermelon up on the roof, watching the sunset.

Unfortunately, our 4th of July plans didn't go, well, as planned. Fate seems to be saying I'm never to watch Madison's Rhythm and Booms. Last year my flight plans meant missing both Hood River's fireworks (which were on July 4th, and I left earlier), and Madison's fireworks (which were early in order to be over the weekend). This year, the fireworks were supposed to be on Saturday. So everyone came over, bearing beer & snacks & desserts, and we went up to the roof to wait for the fireworks to start. It was a bit cloudy, and it seemed it might rain. But the city isn't supposed to cancel unless in the case of extreme storms, so we thought all would be well. Not so: Andrew heard that they were canceled due to some thunder, and then it sprinkled a bit so we had to cram into Andrew's apartment. Now Andrew's apartment is a fairly spacious and well laid out studio, but it was definitely not intended for 14 people to sit around there at once. It was interesting -- awkward silence as we suddenly had to make new plans for the evening, eventually dissolving into many conversations, spills, and DJ-plays. Naturally, it stopped raining within an hour and a half (Come on, Madison, get some courage! You totally could have done the fireworks as planned). So back out on the roof, where we ended up getting into a back-and-forth Liza Minelli trivia match with the (very flaboyent) neighbor on the roof across the street. Turns out, Annie has a secret store of knowledge of these things, and she kicked ass. The only stuff I knew had to do with Gone with the Wind, since I had that movie poster forever and daily saw the names of the actors/actresses. Eventually, the group across the way (including the flamboyent gentleman) came over to our roof. Complete with their wine glasses, advice on hair styling, and "darlings." I kid you not. Final jeopardy ensued. I think they were pretty much equally matched. And Annie's like 20 years younger, so just imagine.

Anyway, the next night we missed out on the actual Rhythm and Booms display, as we had tickets to see Dave Matthew's Band. Yes, I still love DMB. Not so much the new stuff, but after loving them devotedly throughout high school, and periodically rediscovering their early material ever since, and never having been to a concert, I wanted to see them before they get any further away from their best songs. So we drove to Alpine Valley, which is a beautiful place for concerts. The lawn is a huge hill that turns into a party scene. Unfortunately, the DMB fans are horrible, horrible people. Phish fans are much more chill, and actually care about listening to the music. DMB fans these days are mostly under the age of 16, and are at the concern strictly for the chance of getting the occasional beer or ("oh my God!") smirnoff. Basically, they go to concerts because their parents won't let them party at home. Every girl in attendance, by some unspoken rule, was wearing at least 3 layering shirts, or a halter top (the tighter the better). Even better, of course, were those who couldn't be bothered with tops, and only got so far as putting on a bikini. These pinnacles of teenage intelligence primarily wore skimpy shorts or skirts (preferably paired with a halter top long enough to cover said shorts, making the girl appear pregnant and/or only partially clothed). This strategy seemed to backfire, as the evening concert meant standing around in the chill evening air with half a million mosquitoes. But I guess insect bites are sexy these days. But by the time it got chilly, most of our teenagers were far, far beyond feeling any pain. No, many of them were lying on the ground passed out, or blindly stumbling (or falling) into others. Others were drunk enough off their one or two smirnoffs to scream loudly upon every encounter (or re-encounter) with their high school friends. It became clear, quickly, that no one was really there to listen to Dave. Except, of course, for sentimental me. I had one drunk girl run straight into my back, a guy crash into me (no pun intended) from behind as he ran drunkenly down the hill and I sat on a beach towel, and another zombie head straight toward us as his friend led him through the crowd. And, whether because I'm allergic, or simply have enough intact brain cells to know that smoking cigarettes (and esp. getting the smoke second-hand, filter-less) is not good for human health, I had a raging headache from all the smoke. Apparently, 80% of teenagers in WI are chainsmokers. DISGUSTING. Concert venues need to get a clue and do what restaurants were doing for decades: create a non-smoking section for those of us who don't want to breathe carcinogens simply because someone else got addicted and can't bear to stop smoking for two hours. Or better yet, do what most progressive cities have done, and ban it in these areas where people are forced into close spaces. It seems so damn obvious and SIMPLE.

The music, however --at least what I could hear of it -- was great. Lots of old stuff that I like: Satellite, Rapunzel, Don't Drink the Water (great opener for WI, since the water is so hard you get mineral deposits from just boiling water for tea), Proudest Monkey, The Song that Jane Likes, Everyday, etc. We missed the encore (they were off stage for nearly 10 minutes, and with my headache, I couldn't take it anymore), which included Stay.

We did get some fireworks on the Fourth of July though: We went out to Sherwood Hills for the fireworks at their country club, and they were wonderful. We were in basically the front row, right under them. The highlights were their contraptions for the kids (a low to the ground setup with spinning dolphins on fire over a lit "stream" of fireworks, and a flag with appropriately colored sparks), a bombardment of high white sparkly fireworks (it went on and on, catching us off guard), and a grand finale. So exciting to be right under the explosions. And better than Rhythm and Booms, in that we arrived twenty minutes before show time, and were free from the slow moving traffic in under 10 minutes. And fireflies at dusk after a bright pink sunset. Back home: Andrew's homemade applie pie w/ vanilla ice cream.

Lately, basically reading, going to parks to read, and buying books. Looking forward to the weather improving so we can go to Devil's lake!

Wisconsin time

So... lots to update.

Getting out of CA was complicated. I got less sleep than during any finals period, ever. But unfortunately, planes and move-out days wait for no woman. I think I got about 13 hours of sleep over 3 nights. Packing was horrible -- you have to take all your stuff, which was perfectly organized and placed just as you liked it, and cram it into boxes, forcing you to realize just how much crap it really takes to make life "comfortable." Turns out, it takes a 5x5x5 cube of material to keep me going. During the wretchedness that is moving out, I kept somehow having these wonderful moments. Dropping by Jill's, dinner with Lupe & Marissa after a day of storage trips, a late night visit with Jessika.

Friday morning was particularly crazy. I slept on the couch with my beach towel and hoodie (everything else was packed), and got up after about 4 hours of sleep. Finished packing, ran to Jill's apartment to give Jesse one last part I forgot for the espresso machine, negotiated with the cleaning crew to make sure I could leave my luggage in my room for another hour past my official move out day (turns out there was no problem), went on one last trip to the storage unit with Lupe and Marissa, got back just before my super shuttle to the airport was supposed to arrive, dropped off my keys at the office (after propping the apt. door open with frozen tamales, which I had to clear out of my freezer), was late for the shuttle... The driver gave me a hard time at first, with the "your pick up time was 9:30," but finally calmed down when he saw how flurried I was. We even made up on the drive -- he offered me gum.

The flight.was.ridiculous. The plane out of SF was packed -- they had like a hundred stand-bys vying for spots. And, since I used a free ticket voucher, guess what seat they gave me? You got it: a middle seat toward the back. I hate sitting in the middle for a number of reasons. First: Since I'm small, people seem to think it's OK to invade my seat space. Come on folks, give a girl an armrest! Second: Because when you're as sleep deprived as I was, you really want to sleep. But guess what?? You can't lean your head to the right or left, and the seat backs were designed for tall people, so the head rest is just NOT comfortable. And thirdly, because if you want to use the restroom-as-coffin, you still have to bother someone. In Chicago, I had to take the usual 5 mile walk from terminal B to C, involving the under-ground trippy light show. I was pretty hungry: Eating mainly leftover stuff from my cupboards (rye bread, an apple, trail mix, you know). But I figured instead of eating crappy fast food (and heaven forbid a single restaurant carry a single vegetarian meal besides a salad featuring iceberg lettuce), I'd have a nice Starbucks drink (because heaven forbid a coffee place that's not a national chain get a spot in an airport). Merrie recommended the blackberry green tea frappaccino (which was pretty good), and so I figured I'd make it to Madison without collapsing from hunger.

Well. Of course, the flight was late. We saw our boarding time come and go, much as every other flight from Chicago to Madison was delayed. Something about an "aircraft arriving late." So we finally got on board. And guess where our friends at United had me seated this time? In the LAST row, RIGHT BY THE BATHROOM. Which stinks even when no one's in it. And not even in the middle: in the aisle, even closer to the stink pot. Oh, and our like 30 minute flight time? We didn't get started on that for another hour after finally boarding. We sat, on the f*&#ing plane, in a line of like ten aircrafts, for a freaking runway, for an hour. That's TWICE OUR FLIGHT TIME!! Seriously. The goal of airlines should be to take less time to get you from one place to another than driving. (And in this, they completely failed me. Andrew could have driven to Chicago for me and home again in LESS than the total time that I was there.)

Anyway. Very happy to be in Madison with the Andrew! Eating real food again -- pad thai and mango fried rice and home-made chili and veggie lasagne and stuffed zucchini and portabellas and tilapia w/ mashed sweet potato and challah french toast... Catching up on sleep. Going to the farmer's market every Saturday. Eating ice cream. The first couple of days were spent in grading -- one afternoon at the terrace, one evening during Andrew's ultimate frisbee game... then finally sat down and finished them. Then I took another day or two off... Visiting used bookstores, shopping for new clothes and flip flops, journeying through the mega-supermarket that is Woodman's...

Then I started the quals studying.

So here are my general concerns:
1. Middle English. Especially in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Our list SAYS "to be prepared in Middle English," but it's written in a northern dialect... not in Chaucer's London Middle English (which became the predominant form, and fed into our modern form), but a form that is difficult enough to warrant translation in the Norton anthology. So... yeah, I don't know what I'm supposed to do there.

2. When the list says "selections," does it really mean I only have to read 5 pages from the Norton's excerpt? Especially when the actual work is like 100 pages? Confusing. And further, when it DOESN'T say "selections," but the Norton has basically all of it, can't I just read that??

3. Early American Lit. Not a fan. Maybe I'll like it once I get to it?

4. 18th century, in general. Never took classes in it, never really studied those early novels, never read Restoration plays. Oops.

That's about it. So far, I've re-read Beowulf (it never gets old! Grendel eating men in the Mead Hall, Beowful diving into the swampy pit haunted by reptilian monsters, the dragon guarding the treasure hoard), and read through my Chaucer Canterbury Tales. Next I'm onto Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (woohoo). The experience of re-reading is intriguing... the bits I remember from Mrs. Jackson's class in high school, and Prof. Brownlow's survey course at MHC, and studying for the Literature GRE last year...

Other big news: Finally saw Brokeback Mountain. I get the fuss, but it wasn't my favorite movie. Dropped in on Annie's study group, and got some sense of where I should be in a month with my reading. Went with Andrew, Annie, Greg, & Emily to see Rogue Wave and The Stills (so good! And Rogue Wave played the song Lindsey gave me on a mix CD!). And last night we had Andrew's friends John & Katie over for dinner -- we had dinner out on the rooftop for the view of the Capitol.

Impeccable timing

So last night -- as I was packing, grading, and finishing my final seminar paper -- I thought, hey, maybe I should stay up late as I feel alert, and get as much done as possible before tomorrow. As a result, I stayed up till 4 am. But the night's the best sometimes, completely silent, easy to concentrate... OK. So it's finals period, right? And everyone in the studios has to move out by 8 am on Friday. Many of us are TA's, meaning that we have to not only do our own research, but also grade (seniors' grades are due tomorrow at noon), and pack. So what do the geniuses at the grounds maintenance office decide to do before 10 am this morning? You guessed it! YARD WORK! Because if you're going to run trimming machines that rival chain-saws in their incessant and ear-assaulting din, you OF COURSE DO IT IN THE EARLY MORNING DURING FINALS!

Jeeezus.

Value of women's lives in Ohio: very low

Before I settle down for an evening of paper-writing, I've just got to pass this along...

From the Beacon Journal (via Feministing):

Tuesday has been on Roberta Aber's calendar for some time now.

What she terms ``an extreme piece of legislation'' -- another hot button issue popping up in the middle of this election year -- is scheduled for a Tuesday hearing in the Ohio House, and it has the full attention of the executive director of Planned Parenthood of Summit, Portage and Medina Counties.

House Bill 228, as proposed by State Rep. Tom Brinkman, R-Cincinnati, would criminalize all abortion -- whether to save the life of the woman or to end pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

OK. So I get that they're trying to mobilize the Repub base with this ridiculous posturing over social issues (see: gay marriage amendment failure, abortion bills cropping up in every red state). But this has gotten out of hand. When Ohio lawmakers have decided that the life of a fetus -- and mind you, they're calling even a fertilized egg pre-implantation a "baby" -- is more important than the life of an adult woman, we have MAJOR problems. This is the most draconian abortion ban attempted -- they've outdown SD (people seem to be wondering if that's the goal). That's fine if some women want to risk life and limb in order to have a baby: I'm not one of them. If I had a life-threatening pregnancy, I'm going to act in self-defense, just as the law allows for any other member of society (read: men). What sort of society are we living in where, by reason of having a uterus, you are expected to sacrifice your life for the chance that a zygote MIGHT develop into a person within your body? Can you imagine if this bill was actually law, and you were faced with the realization that even a fetus likely not to survive the pregnancy is more important in lawmakers' eyes than your own life?


This is a "pro-life" policy? I beg to differ. Only if you've decided that women's lives down count.

AHHH

OhmygodIneedtobedonewiththispaper.It's not due till Weds but... my back hurts from shlepping books and my laptop back and forth between my apartment and study spaces... and my attention span has decreased to about all of five minutes... and I'd rather be grading papers and packing than writing... and it's freaking JUNE and I shouldn't be in school... and I want to just magically be transported to WI.

That is all.