The Sock Effect

As I was walking to the coffee shop for my lunch hour, I basked in the warm sunshine and contemplated running. I hear a low voice murmur something, and it takes my brain a minute to catch it: "Your socks are bitchin'!" the girl had said softly as we crossed paths. I reacted with a cheerful smile and a "Thanks!"

Erin over at A Dress A Day posted yesterday about Michelle Obama's inauguration dress (the lovely yellow/green lace), and how our new First Lady wore that dress:

Michelle Obama does what I advocate everyone should do: she wears what makes her happy. Could she have worn some boring royal-blue, be-Spanx-ed sheath, by Oscar de la Renta (no offense, Oscar, but you know what I'm talking about) and gotten relieved and approving nods from the Fashion Commentariat? You know she could. But she obviously loves those gloves: they made her happy, so she wore them. WITH a yellow wool lace Isabel Toledo!

I like Erin's take on Michelle Obama's dress (it was a great outfit), and on wearing clothes in general. I wear clothes that make me happy. You might remember knee socks on my list from yesterday, and today I wore a pair of black/red/grey argyle knee socks. I love them; I think they're cute; not to mention that they match the rest of my outfit (black pencil skirt, bright red Mandarin collared shirt, acessorized with a grey pearl bracelet, necklace with a square black pendant, and red earrings). I love it when all the various bits of my outfit coordinate just so.

It was amazing how differently I carried myself after I got the compliment. I walked a little taller and was smiling because I was happy and it was sunny and I had bitchin' knee socks. I was wearing an outfit that pleased me. As I walked into the coffee shop, I noticed several people (okay, mostly guys*) looking in my direction. As I made eye contact, we smiled and nodded at one another. I don't know if it was my confident step or my fun knee socks, but whatever I had, I apparently wore it well. If only I could live every day with that that kind of happiness and confidence--who knows what I might accomplish!

*I'm aware knee socks also convey a bit of the naughty school girl thing, but I don't care. They are cute; they make me happy; and they keep my legs warm without me having to wrestle into a pair of tights if I feel like wearing a skirt.

The Archies, Jenn-style

I've been coaxed back into posting by reading Donna's blog, and I figured the Archies were due. Since there's nothing I like better than lists*, and all the other kids are doing it, I figured I'd join in. With out further ado, my list of the Best Things of 2008, in no particular order.

1. How I Met Your Mother, Seasons 1-3**
2. A Christmas stocking made especially for me
3. New shiny pots
4. Academic conferences/trip to DC
5. Elections
6. Friend's rotation in NWA
7. Cream of limoncello (made in LR!)
8. Winter market
9. Homemade apple butter (sans sugar)
10. Lost and Found
11. Chalice
12. Running tights
13. 30 Rock
14. Hulu
15. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
16. Christmas gift packages in the mail from the Secret Knitter
17. Pedicures
18. Ann Taylor suit separates
19. Knee socks
20. NPR: Fresh Air/This American Life
21. The Decemberists' Always the Bridesmaid: Vols 1-3
22. Camping
23. His and Hers Bikes
24. Trips to Spain (Two year Archie!)
25. Free Senso coffee maker
26. Etsy!
27. The Kitchn
28. Greens (kale, chard, turnip/beet/mustard greens)
29. Food processor (how did I live without one?)
30. Experiments with vanilla extracting
31. The return to NWA of a wonderful friend!
32. Another pal's new baby. He's a cutie.
33. Lance's family
34. How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
35. Petunias that bloom through the winter
36. Fingerless gloves
37. Yoga/cupcake buddy (and her engagement!)
38. Tiny spoons and pretty cups
39. Greek Gods Yogurt and Ice Cream
40. MA coursework finished

And I'm done. Mostly because 40 is a good number, and partly because I'm tired of hunting down links and I could think up things about 2008 that were awesome all day long...

*Okay, there is. Footnotes, for example.
**I haven't watched 4 yet.

And A Happy New Year!

Phew, now that I've gotten that out of my system. I've been carrying around excess loathing of the-books-that-shall-not-be-named that I needed to purge. And since it's the new year, it's time to cast off the excess baggage and move forward with a light heart and a clean slate. I'm sure 2009 will give me some new crappy fiction to loathe and to rip apart in future posts.

2008 was pretty awesome. I lived in my own apartment for the first time, and I loved it. I finished up my course work for my MA. I kicked off the year with a trip to Spain, and concluded it with a two week vacation from work, traveling the state and visiting family and friends. I had many new experiences, learned lots of interesting things, and met lots of neat people. I threw a bitchin' New Year's Eve party. It's been a good year.

Since I was up until 3am, entertaining and playing bartender, I stayed in bed until 11am, surrounded by my kitties. I woke up and leisurely got moving, finally shoving myself out the door for a three mile run. It was a terrible run (at first) because I drank last night, but it ended up being a great run because I did it and felt pretty good that I was starting the year off right. After more dilly-dallying (etc), Lance and I packed up and headed to stay with dear friends. And I hope to see even more dear friends tomorrow (that's you, EP and MD!).

I have a few New Year's Resolutions: I'm not letting myself buy new books until I read the unread material in my ever-growing library*. I'm going to try to do less and relax more**. I will finish my thesis. You know, that sort of thing.

Happy New Year to everyone!

*Of course, I can "cheat" by using the public library or borrowing from friends. But the point is to keep me from adding to my bookshelves until I actually read what I already own.
**Which means pedicures. Not often, but occasionally--I got one on Monday, and it was nice.

TWILIGHT Must Die

Yes, I read them. Yes, I watched the movie. But it and its merchandising spawn need to go away.

What has sparked this hatred toward the latest fad in terrible fiction? As I was driving around recently I pulled up behind an annoyingly shiny SUV. As I looked at the monster before, I saw a license plate frame that read: "Warning: I drive like a Cullen". Because vampires have awesome superhuman senses, they can drive like bats out of hell and not get caught.

Robin McKinley sums up her dislike of Stephenie Meyer's abominations by talking about their bad example. I think a book that encourages young women to be passive little twits, wholly consumed by their seemingly undying love for a creepy stalker boy, and empty of any personality or common sense is BAD. Also books that encourage people to continue driving huge pointless SUVs and buying crap related to them are BAD. But whatever.

I feel that my dislike for Twilight, etc. has grown exponentially into hatred. Crappy fiction needs to go away. Luckily crappy fiction tends to fade after a few years, so that in roughly a decade few will remember these silly vampire stories.

If you want a good vampire story, read Sunshine by Robin McKinley. It has a complex female heroine, good writing, and an awesome vampire battle.

THE END

My paper is done, all 17 pages of it! Let me rejoice! The end is here!

Suddenly, inexplicably, it hits me--I'm finished with my MA coursework. The last item to complete is my thesis. And while that's a challenge in its own right, I find myself sad because I'm done with classes. No more discussions about awesome books. That's right: it's also the end of this phase of my schooling.

Yay?

And Now For a "Read" Post

I obviously love good food*, but I also love good books. Yesterday, I found myself enthralled with Robin McKinley's newest, Chalice. So much, in fact, that I neglected to even look at my paper**.

I was sad when I closed the cover of Chalice last night: not because the book ended sadly but because I was finished. I did not want to finish. I wanted the story to go on forever and ever because I liked the world McKinley created, and I liked the characters, and I liked the story. She's good. She's really good--and she doesn't really write sequels, so you're left with the feeling of having finished a good story but also knowing that all the bits of story that are left unresolved will never come to anything.

McKinley's books are good because she sticks with Tolkien's style of storytelling. Tolkien knew that there's always more story to tell, and to create a rich story, full of depth and meaning, you (as the storyteller) had to hint that there are more stories to tell. You create the craving in the reader, but never fulfill it. It's like Scheherezade in The Arabian Nights' Entertainments: both delight and surprise, but stir up a desire that can never be satisfied. "More!" you want to shout, but more you'll never get. In the meantime, you are left with this splendid book, Chalice, and the hope that maybe McKinley will do what she did for Damar and make another story***.

I'm being purposely vague about the book because I think it best if the reader simply immerses herself into McKinley's beautiful world without knowing what's going on. McKinley reveals it slowly, throwing the reader into the narrative stream partway through and then reveals pieces of the tale (not the whole story, mind you) that pertain to the overall plot. There's this niggling sense all along that McKinley has several narrative threads in her hands, but merely shows you a flash of their color instead of spinning it out fully. It adds a three-dimensionality to her world without bogging it down with unnecessary explication. Like Tolkien, she assumes the reader is smart enough to get it, and the story is all the richer for it.

It's a delicate balance that many authors fail at (cough, Twilight, cough). McKinley succeeds, and I now have a new favorite book, at least until the next one comes along...

*I made the most delicious dinner last night: couscous with roasted vegetables^, seasoned with salt, pepper, and olive oil with a crumbling of the soft goat cheese. Oh. My. God. That (and a glass of wine) and Chalice, and I forgot about my paper entirely. I also sort of refused to share with my neighbor because I wanted it all for myself.

^Beets, turnips, butternut squash, apple, onion, garlic, cranberries, red bell pepper, and almonds. Toss lightly in olive oil and roast in a pan for a while (until vegetables are all tender). Sprinkle the almonds on toward the end or else they might burn before the veggies are cooked.

**And so much for that goal of 5 pages typed. Okay, so now the goal is to get to page 5 tonight, and finish it up tomorrow. Buckle down and work, do it now!

***The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown are longtime favorites. I read them in high school and have reread them over and over again. (Beauty is also really delightful.)

In Praise of a Delicious Salad

I'm fond of salads. They can be just the perfect meal (or side to a meal), if made properly. Unfortunately, too many salads use nasty iceberg lettuce as a base, and they become a vehicle for meat, cheese, and fatty dressing. That's not a salad; that's an excuse to continue eating crap while pretending to be healthy.

The most important part of a salad is the proper ratio of ingredients along with a good balance of textures and flavors. Too little green and too much topping ends up not being a good salad. My preference is a base of mixed greens (green leaf, red leaf lettuces, possibly some spinach and arugula), some other veggies (grated carrots, beets, etc), a little something sweet, something nutty/savory, something cheesy, with a modicum of vinaigrette*. A good balance of crunchy and soft ingredients is a must. If we're making it a meal, a boiled egg (more savory) is a nice addition along with a piece of toasty bread. A dash of salt and pepper, and voila! delicious salad.

If you top it with too much stuff, you get to the end of the salad and you only have toppings and no greenery. I like a bit of greenery with my other salad components, and I don't much care for gobs of dressing (just a smidge for extra flavor--sometimes none at all). When all of it is in balance, I am happy eater of salads.

For the past two days Lance has created the perfect salad. He started with a base of green leaf lettuce, shredded nicely. He then topped it with chopped Medjool dates (sweet), almonds and walnuts (savory/nutty), and some bits of soft goat cheese. He sprinkled on some black pepper, and I dressed it with a small dash of vinaigrette. Every bite is crisp and green, with the flavor of dates and goat cheese and nuts and pepper. The textures and flavors are in balance, and I didn't have toppings left at the bottom of my bowl. It is, at this moment, the perfect salad.

*Annie's makes a shiitake vinaigrette that's amazing. I also love the word "modicum".

Cheap Eats

I was browsing my RSS feed today, and came across this article in the New York Times, which talks about how people are cooking more as the economy is getting crappier. I have to say that we've been doing this all year--though, not just to save money*.

Roughly one year ago, I moved into my own apartment. We suddenly found ourselves not wanting to go out to eat as much (an expensive trip to Spain helped) because we liked the kitchen. Lance and I go back and forth playing with recipes, with flavors, with new ingredients, and we LOVE it.

This summer, we invested in the freezer and have been putting up fruits and vegetables from our local farmers' market. We spent about $40 each week we went, but we bought so many vegetables that we have plenty for the winter. And we recently found out that there is a group of farmers who have a "winter market," so we've invested in that. We rarely buy produce from the grocery store (except for what we consider staples, like onions).

All of this contributes to us having a healthier diet and being pretty happy. We love to cook. Love it. We occasionally eat out not because we don't have anything to eat but because we want to enjoy the flavors of our favorite eateries (like Petra Cafe, for example). We have people over and share our delicious meals. When we go to visit places, we bring food with us to prepare--or raid their pantries and freezers and whip something up. Many of my Christmas gifts will be homemade treats.

I think for me the reason to cook at home is not just to save money (which it certainly does), but to be able to create. When I whipped up a quick dinner the other night (pasta and vegetables with a light cheesy sauce), and I didn't consult a recipe (just my gut and what was on hand), I realized that I just created something delicious without fuss or bother. It was easy and satisfying.

*Saving money is one perk to cooking at home. I can then use the money for other things, like clothes.

Jenn's Kind of Meme

Meme time!

a) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
b) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Reprint this list and leave a comment——————————————–

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights- Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (I've started it a couple of times)
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37.The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (uggh, regretfully)
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce (has anyone really read it?)
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (which one?)
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Wow, I'm fairly impressed with my list. Of course, most of the classics I read in class, so I guess that's an unfair advantage... Also, it's cheating slightly to say "The Chronicles of Narnia" AND "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"!

Milton, In Translation

Just in case you didn't know, Milton's Paradise Lost is a masterpiece of the English language. It's also really difficult to slog through, which is why it is infrequently taught outside of an college English classroom. What if there was a way to translate the epic from English...well, from hard English to easier English? Would that betray the project of the poem, or make the work more accessible to the everyday, non-English major reader?

Stanley Fish wrote today in the NY Times about a new "translation" of Milton: a prose interpretation alongside the original work. It makes a great work of English literature accessible to those who want it.

My initial impulse is to dislike it (why don't we just get students to use ClifNotes?), but after a bit of thought, I realized something like this could be a great teaching tool for high school teachers, or in an introductory English course in college. Milton's epic is worth experiencing, even if you need a bit of help translating/interpreting.

I think I'm going to order it and check it out. Maybe I'll even try to read the whole work--I've read parts of it, but that epic is long!--to experiment with how it will read for a student. For me, works like this have to strike a balance between getting folks to read Great Books and simplifying it for readers. I think Danielson's translation doesn't reduce it down (like ClifNotes might), but instead illuminates it. And that is a worthy project.

Eating Well?

I'm listening to an episode of This American Life, where they are playing recordings of folks talking about the Great Depression. Meanwhile, I'm eating a delicious homemade lunch: venison stew with beans and vegetables with a thick slice of fresh homemade sourdough bread and a beautiful salad made with local produce.

As I'm eating my healthy and delicious lunch, the thought occurred to me: how many people don't think they can eat this well? And worse yet: how many people can't afford to eat good, fresh food?

After learning that nearly a billion people worldwide live on less than a dollar a day for food, a couple in California set out to do just that. The NY Times recently wrote an article about their month-long experiment, where they learned that they could not afford the fresh organic produce they were accustomed to, and that junk food is usually cheaper than the good stuff. They also raised money to donate to charity.

I read their blog, and I found it thought provoking. We don't tend to think about healthy food as anything special; everyone can afford good food, right? The people who buy junk food just don't want to eat healthy. The fact that many poor people are fat is just their fault, not the fault of the government whose farm policies have many crappy processed food more affordable than vegetables.

I grew up in a "economically disadvantaged" home. There were seven mouths to feed, and not a whole lot of money to do it. Our meals were spaghetti, macaroni and cheese (4 boxes for a dollar--feeds us all, with leftovers!), hotdogs, and other really inexpensive foods. For vegetables, Mom prepared canned green beans or corn. Occasionally, we'd get frozen peas. We ate lots of potatoes, and usually had bananas. There was usually iceberg lettuce, but I've always hated iceberg lettuce.

We had a garden growing up, and it was from that garden that I learned to like fresh cucumbers and squash and other fresh vegetables. But when we couldn't grow it, we stuck to the standbys: processed food.

And of course school was much of the same, since we either chose between the "hamburger line" (with nary a vegetable to be seen) or the regular lunch line. (Our whole family was on the free lunch program.) You could sign up for a salad in the morning, which I did occasionally, but the salads were piled high with cheese and ham and ranch dressing.

Anyway, now that I can afford to eat great food--and I make it a priority in my budget--I find myself reflecting back on my childhood and adolescence. There are lots of kids like me and people who live on even less than we had. We may not have had money for fresh organic produce, but we didn't go hungry.

As I was contemplating all of this, the thought popped into my head: what if we had a soup kitchen that included a garden? What if this soup kitchen fed people fresh, organic food, and allowed them to help out in the garden and learn the magic of growing things? People within the community could also come help in the garden and volunteer in the kitchen, learning how to cook healthy food, learning the connections anew between seasonality and what you eat (i.e. no strawberries in December, nor asparagus in June). This vision of a community space to feed and teach people about good food was so stirring and beautiful that I wanted it to happen, now.

How could I create such a place?

Back to It

Well folks, I'm back home. I'm sitting in my very comfortable pants and UCA sweatshirt, with a needy kitty sitting on my lap. Lance is off at Sunday night potluck, but I decided to hang out at home and enjoy being home.

I like home. It's great. Travel is fun, however, because I know I have someplace to return to after all the hustle and bustle of the trip is done. I'm actually quite a homebody when it comes down to it. Not that you're likely surprised.

I had a great time: I got to meet and talk to some really neat people, and I even went on an impromptu walk around DC to the Monument and the Lincoln Memorial last night:

Why not go out on a bang? It was a great trip and a great city, and I look forward to my next academic conference!

Exploring

I went to eat lunch today with a fellow conference attendee: we went to a fantastic Indian restaurant with served delicious lamb-based dishes. I rarely have lamb, so I relished the food--it was great. And I also had great conversation with the older academic. I miss getting to have non-stop conversations sometimes.

Today I presented my paper, and I think it went well.

After lunch, I relaxed for a few minutes, then set out for a used book store. I've been having fun walking around Georgetown, relaxing and exploring this wonderful sector of DC. I love how old it is, how the houses stand shoulder to shoulder, tall and stately. I love the feel of the city.

Whenever I travel to a new city, I make sure I get out and explore. I decided I would do that when I did travel to a new city, and I stayed in my hotel for most of the trip...and missed out on some wonderful experiences. I've learned to love exploring a place alone, mostly because I'm not really alone--I'm getting to know the place.

Tonight, I'm heading out to eat dinner with another fellow conference attendee. We chatted last night and made plans. It's my last night here, and tomorrow will basically be travelling home, so I want to make sure I soak up as much Georgetown as possible. I believe after that I'm meeting up with another friend (someone from UCA) to have a drink, and that'll be fun.

Ah, new places. Will I ever grow tired of visiting unknown cities?

Jenn's First Conference

My conferencing today has gone very well. I've met many intelligent, gracious scholars--I think this is a group (the EC/ASECS) that I would like to be associated with for a long time.

I have some thoughts about my first conference and realizing how I should present myself professionally (which is different, perhaps, from how I present myself normally). Also, about how as a young female academic, I've been treated not as a fellow scholar--by one or two older folks, anyway. (Mostly everyone else has listened to what I have to say, and I've been happily partaking of the intellectual atmosphere.) But I think I'll save those thoughts for when I don't have to stand at a public computer in the hotel lobby.

Oh, and for the knitter-readers: I bought some lovely yarn from Stitch DC. I felt as though a trip to a new place would not be complete unless I did a bit of yarn shopping. Yay for LYS!

Traveling to the East

Greetings, Dear Readers:

I have journeyed far to the East to a land called Washington, where our leaders gather and issue forth proclaimations. My mission is to attend a gathering of scholars who study the eighteenth-century: On Saturday, I shall myself lecture on Matthew Lewis' The Monk. It promises to be a thrilling adventure.

Today, I boarded a flying machine from the mountains of Arkansas, journeyed forth to the Deep South (Atlanta, y'all), and arrived in DC. I then wound my way through the maze of the public transit system. I found myself the object of a kind gentleman's charity: he gave me 35 cents so I could make my bus connection. Alas, his kindness went awry when the connection fee was in fact 45 cents. The bus driver took pity on my poor travelling soul, and allowed me to board anyway.

All was well, until I could not find the Inn. It turns out that Georgetown University Conference Center and Hotel is cunningly hidden, tucked into campus behind (a freakin') hospital. I arrived sore and sweaty from hauling my luggage. Ah, should a shining knight had resuced me! Alas, I must care for myself. And in the end, I much prefer to be independent, alone in a strange city and loving it.

Tonight, the conference opened with much lauded performances of poetry, music, and a staged production of Mr. Pope's "The Rape of the Lock". It was splendid, dear readers, splendid. Afterward, I conversed with many scholars, all of whom were kind and welcoming to me, the young academic setting forth for her first real conference.

It is now time for me to retire my soft quarters. Adieu, dear readers, adieu.

A Time to Celebrate

When I returned from my run a few minutes ago, a horrible sight assaulted my eyes: there, peering from two different apartments were fully lit Christmas trees.

Christmas trees! And it's just the beginning of November.

Now, I love Christmas a lot. In fact, I'm already working on my Christmas gifts (because I'm making them, mostly). So I have nothing against Christmas. What I do have a problem with is people not celebrating when it's the right time. These two tenants have completely skipped over enjoying Autumn and Thanksgiving.



How can anyone think about Christmas when the trees look like this? Lance took this picture of me on our walk up to the Farmers' Market on Saturday. Fall is in full swing in the Ozarks, and people who are putting up Christmas decorations and listening to Christmas music are forgetting about how cool the current season is.

Christmas comes "in the bleak midwinter" for a purpose: it livens us when the days are short and the nights are cold. It gives us cause to celebrate, even when the world seems dead. Autumn is all about harvest and life and color.

Also, it's about presidential elections. I will comment that I'm quite pleased with the results of last night's voting. Another reason to celebrate this season!

Voting Day

I participated in democracy by voting early last Friday (No way I was standing in line today). Women have only had the right to vote for 88 years. You bet I voted in this election--and proudly. I believe the best way to appreciate rights is to exercise them, and I did.

Anyway, go vote if you haven't yet...or you might end up looking like this fellow:

(A friend's sick sense of humor)

Tonight, I'll be alternating watching the poll returns with preparing for my conference--I leave for DC on Thursday, so I'm trying to get everything ready early so I don't forget anything. Also, I need to practice reading my paper slowly. Basically, I'll be trying to distract myself until Obama is officially declared our next President. This is so exciting!

Greens!

Last year, Lance and I started eating greens. You know, collard greens and the like. I'd never really had them before until his sister-in-law fixed us some mustard greens that were delicious, so we started eating them. And they are delicious.

This weekend, we picked up some beets (with gorgeous greens attached) from Patrice* at the Farmers' Market. Beets are a delicious, nutritious, often overlooked vegetable. There are many ways to cook them, and when you buy them with greens attached, you get two vegetables for your buck. (A giant bunch of beets cost us about two bucks from the Farmers' Market). You could make this. Or this.

We made a simple stir fry of beet greens, sweet potato, and beans. Sounds a little funky, but the beet greens (unlike kale, for example) are sweet and tender; they aren't bitter like some cooked greens can be. Lance seasoned them with nutritional yeast, garlic, and onion to make something really delicious. One thing to know: the greens and the beets themselves will turn any dish you put them in a brilliant shade of magenta.

Now, I just need to use up all the beets I have lying around. Shall I grate them, or roast them? Slice them thin and make beet chips? The possibilities are endless!

*He's an awesome farmer who we always chat with. He has a charming French accent and gushes about how few young people (like us) eat delicious vegetables.

In Which Lance Acquires a Bike

Remember a few months ago when I bought a bike? I've been riding it around and enjoying myself immensely. One drawback, however, was that Lance did not have a bike. So I had no one readily available to go with me on rides to the grocery store.

For several months we went back and forth, until finally Lance was committed to finding one. There were debates about buying used versus buying new. Lance is...um, very frugal, so he didn't want to drop much money on a bike. We looked at used with little luck.

Meanwhile, I'm getting the hang of riding, making new biking friends, and longing for the day that Lance acquires a bike. Well, folks...that day was yesterday.



I've been asking various friends with bikes to keep an ear out for an appropriate one for Lance, and yesterday while talking to Kyle at a pumpkin potluck*, I talked to him about our quest for a bike. He then told me about a bicycle that's been sitting in his garage for 10 months, and how he might like to see it have a new home. I immediately jumped on the opportunity**, and a few hours later, Lance was the owner of his very own awesome bike. Seriously--it's a fantastic bike. And it was just the right price.

Today, Lance, Kyle, and I set out to explore the Fayetteville trails. We rode to the start of the trail a short skip from my house and we biked roughly fourteen miles without interacting much with road traffic. We figured out we could get to many of our favorite places by bicycle, likely almost as quickly as by car. Yay!

So, the lesson? Although I may hate waiting and being patient, persistence eventually pays off. Also, Lance is lucky to have me.

*I made these amazing cookies and pumpkin brownies. Yum.

**If you know me, you know that once I set my mind on something, I want it accomplished right THEN. So after peppering him about price and what the bike was like, we set out to go look at it, brought it home, and I paid him. It was a good day.

Weekend of Halloween.

Friday and today were spent attending various Halloween celebrations--because, after all, white people LOVE Halloween. And we love Dr. Horrible.