A Few Words on Ohio

I came to Columbus for Thanksgiving.

I am knocking on Winter's door. The snows seem not too far off. It is definitely long-sleeved t-shirt weather and although yesterday the skies were blue, today they are a smear of grey. My brother and I took advantage of the blue-sky day yesterday and drove to Kirtland: my first ever travels to an Eastern U.S. Mormon history site. I was surprised at how hilly the area around Kirtland was. The temple there is a beautiful building, and we had a very good tour guide. Afterward, we went to the Johnson home where Joseph Smith lived for about a year.

Well. Columbus has a great Italian food scene. Last night we got takeout from Carfagna's Kitchen. Homemade pastas, great sauces. I got the Carfagna's combination - lasagne, gnocchi, a meat raviolo and a cheese canolo. I was in heaven. I got their creamy pomodoro sauce instead of the regular marinara, and I could not believe how wonderful it was. So today we went to the original Carfagna's, an Italian grocery. It was so much fun. They had so much wonderful stuff - if I lived in Columbus, it would not be hard to live una bella vita all'italiana, except for the whole not-sure-I-could-find-a-job-teaching-Italian-here thing. I came out with snacks for my brother's afternoon watching football (Brigham Young v. Utah State) - a box of breadsticks and some prosciutto di San Daniele, some Genoa salame, and some cheese: principe, a pecorino from Sardegna, and smoked scamorza, which was my favorite cheese when I lived in Italy. (My all-time favorite cheese now is vento d'estate, which is cured in hay and tastes like the summer wind it is named for.) I also picked up some gelato from a company in Cincinnati: burnt sugar and star anise. Wow.

Columbus also has a pretty good radio station: CD101 which used to be on 101.1 but now is on 102.5, just because. So I have heard some good music here. Most notably, Mumford & Sons. I'll post some below. Mumford & Sons wowed me with the inclusion of a banjo in the lineup.

Mumford & Sons - The Cave

Mumford & Sons - White Blank Page

My brother is down in the basement watching the game. In spite of the fact that I am listening to music on my headphones, I can tell how the game is going from his shouting and screaming at the TV. I just don't get football. Anyway, after the football game, it's to Target to replace the MP3 player that has died (I'll need it for the return trip) and then Harry Potter. Funny to think that 10 years ago, I was at the midnight showing of the first movie, and now here I am lollygagging more than a week after the release of the latest show in going to see it.

Well, here is a big thumbs up to Columbus. I must admit that despite having never wanted to visit the Midwest when I was growing up, I have been most impressed with my travels in Ohio and Indiana. It is a lovely stretch of the country, homey and cosmopolitan all mixed together. Very nice, indeed.

Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain

Yeah, not exactly. You see, mine is more of a destino meraviglioso or something like that. Even though I have no idea yet what the destino is. But life the past little while has had a decidedly wonderful cast to it and the world, though not supersaturated in color, has been beautiful. They predicted that because of drought conditions over the summer the fall would not be as colorful as usual, but let me say the trees have not disappointed, nor have the skies ceased to be varicolored, nor have long-sleeved T-shirts been any less cozy to wear.

Tonight I went to a program of American opera arias and scenes. Almost all of the program was music I hadn't heard before. One was strikingly beautiful - here it is on YouTube, although the woman playing Marianne (the crying one) is very hard to understand as recorded here. (I must say, too, that I think the singing, acting, and staging were better in the production I saw tonight- especially the girl who sang Dorine - the maid - who was the outstanding performer of the evening).

No More, Pale Moon - from Tartuffe, by Kirke Mechem

Also very powerful this evening was a scene from The Consul. Here is what I can find of what they performed tonight, pieced together.

The thing is that these are just the first half of Act 1 scene 2. The second half was incredible. So you know I am on the verge of buying a DVD of this opera so I can see the entire performance.

Anyway. So that's how it goes. Who knew American opera had such possibility?

One more as a send off. "What a movie!" from Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti.

A link worth posting

Dear friends, click on this link and see a 3-year-old reciting poetry. Sadly, it won't let me embed it.

***LINK to see a 3-year-old reciting poetry***

Yeah. That was good.

Still here.

I've been busily buzzing around. In some ways, I feel like I've never been better, and in others, I don't know when it has been worse. I finally got my hands on Where the Wild Things Are and I was watching it - Catherine Keener is a superb actress. She is on the phone being told that she has messed up something with her work, and when she gets off the phone, she seriously does this noise that is somewhere between an exhale and a groan and it is the reality of life choking all of the air out of her. It was so real. It made my throat tighten just to watch - and then I realized how much life has been choking the air out of me lately. Bewilderingly much.

So here is a song for the last few weeks.

Midlake - Bring Down

Dilemma

Reading A Brief History of Time, and trying to picture space-time. I did have a strange moment this morning when I was thinking about it and it was like my brain just clicked to nothing for an instant, but as soon as I realized that my brain had clicked to nothing, there something was again.

I got up and downloaded this one this morning. Amazon had another Low track, Monkey, for free, and I got that one too, but in checking out the album this one just grabbed me.

Low - Sliver Rider

Ending Banned Books Week

Dismay! What is it with these states where I have lived?

You know, not every book is perfect for kids. One of my favorites, The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine, really isn't one I feel like I must recommend to young people. And I don't run around shoving Anne Frank into young people's hands: fortunately, it has never been my role to have to read something so horrifying with children. But should people read The Hakawati? If they respect tight storytelling, yes. Nor would I rip it out of a young person's hands.

It is incredible to me that the extremists who want government to tell us what to read come from the same contingency that does not want government ensuring that every citizen have access to healthcare.

Yeah.

The Magnetic Fields - The Book of Love

And for Good Measure:

Nataly Dawn - The Book of Love

Open Letter

Dear Frank,

You are brilliant on both sides of the camera. You are a creative genius and you bring that out in the rest of us. And you are fun. And I am terribly lucky to know you.

♥Melissa

3-in-1: Banned Books Week 2010

I have been a bad blogger, and I have neglected my reposting of Banned Books week! So today, please enjoy 3 books in one update:

That one addresses one of my living nightmares: in this post-modern age, discrimination has been reversed and then re-reversed. It's 2010, people. Shouldn't we just get along?

(If I didn't have to get to work this morning, I would insert here a rant about Israel's continued settlement building in the face of peace talks - much to the world's dismay. Yesterday I read an op-ed proposing that Palestinians hit the streets demanding to be able to vote in Israel because the Israelis settling on their land have that vote. Wouldn't that be a nice thing to see.)

(I could also rant about France kicking out the Roma.)

Next.

The people who would ban the dictionary would probably be the same people insisting that English be the only language spoken in schools. Just sayin'.

And.

Yeah. Brown Bear is an inane book. There are lots of way better books out there, but reading specialists love it for its alliteration! Except in Texas, apparently. But the Texas Board of Education makes lots of decisions with which I don't quite agree. Take their decisions regarding the history curriculum over the last year for example.

Well. I've got to go fight the madness.

Modest Mouse - Float On

In the spirit of Banned Books Week,

I am still reposting today's comic strip even though I have no interest whatsoever in reading Twilight AT ALL. But I do think Liz is funny with her T-shirt at the end.

Hooray for books. Right now, I am reading another set of short stories spun into a novel. A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, by Yiyun Li. It is a treat I get to read while on hall duty. Thankfully, my hall duty this year has so far been low traffic enough that I've been able to read a bit. And it is a good read. I'm sure I'll write more when I'm done (I'm about halfway now).

Well. It's the beginning of the week, so there is more work to do. Ha! That's the beginning, middle, AND end of the week! I thought of a fun new game for practicing semi-modal verbs today, but now I have to make it. Always the challenge: doing the work to implement the good ideas. I also want to get it made in time to get it laminated before using it Friday. The race is on. Many of the students have seemed quite motivated lately and I want to keep that as long as possible.

Here's a song to enjoy. A high-octane take on the Italian folk style.

Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta

Queen Victoria Presents: Banned Books Week

Oh, I do love my comic strips. And The New Adventures of Queen Victoria is one of my favorites. This week she is celebrating Banned Books Week, with her usual aplomb. I expect I'll be reposting all of them, but if you want to read them on the GoComics site where I find them, here is the link.

I can't wait to see what Pab has going on for the rest of the week.

Ha! Gary and Elaine are at it too!!!!

More cheese fun for this great day. Enjoy.

Happy Donald Hall Cheese Day

I love fortuitous coincidences. Today is the birthday of Donald Hall, former poet laureate, and Amilynne and I have given it the name Donald Hall Cheese Day in honor of his greatest poem, O Cheese.

And here is the Pearls Before Swine comic for today. Also genius.

So why is Donald Hall's birthday such a great day? Because it has undergone natural nachofication.

Or maybe it's been fonduified.

Whatever suits your fancy.

Happy Birthday, Donald Hall.

O Cheese
By Donald Hall

In the pantry the dear dense cheeses, Cheddars and harsh
Lancashires; Gorgonzola with its magnanimous manner;
the clipped speech of Roquefort; and a head of Stilton
that speaks in a sensuous riddling tongue like Druids.

O cheeses of gravity, cheeses of wistfulness, cheeses
that weep continually because they know they will die.
O cheeses of victory, cheeses wise in defeat, cheeses
fat as a cushion, lolling in bed until noon.

Liederkranz ebullient, jumping like a small dog, noisy;
Pont l’Evêque intellectual, and quite well informed; Emmentaler
decent and loyal, a little deaf in the right ear;
and Brie the revealing experience, instantaneous and profound.

O cheeses that dance in the moonlight, cheeses
that mingle with sausages, cheeses of Stonehenge.
O cheeses that are shy, that linger in the doorway,
eyes looking down, cheeses spectacular as fireworks.

Reblochon openly sexual; Caerphilly like pine trees, small
at the timberline; Port du Salut in love; Caprice des Dieux
eloquent, tactful, like a thousand-year-old hostess;
and Dolcelatte, always generous to a fault.

O village of cheeses, I make you this poem of cheeses,
O family of cheeses, living together in pantries,
O cheeses that keep to your own nature, like a lucky couple,
this solitude, this energy, these bodies slowly dying.

I Am Not a Big City Girl

Last night I was looking at the homepage for Lapham's Quarterly. Their new issue, coming out soon, has as its theme "the city." Not to get off the point, but I really do have mixed feelings about cities. Well. I should be specific. I have very mixed feelings about one very big city in particular. New York. Everyone acts like "ooooOOooooooo. New York." And I just want to say that there ARE other cities and other places that are NOT cities besides New York. I get tired of every TV show that wants an air of the cosmopolitan being set there. I get tired of every cop show being set there. I get tired about hearing about its news and about its mayor. And I really, really hate the "Start Spreadin' the News" New York song. With a bottomless loathing. You know, there is a big, wide world outside of New York. And yet, I do like it fine. I like that you can find a newsstand with Italian magazines. I like that it has museums. I like that I could go a thousand times and still always find something new to do, and I like that I've only really been there once so the vast majority of the thousand times are still ahead.

Anyway. Lapham's Quarterly. And they have a bit about the sense of the blasé that tends find root in city dwellers. Funny how I don't find ennui in the woods. Here's Pliny the Younger:

"Oh, sea and shore, veritable secret haunt of the muses, how many thoughts do you suggest to the immagination and dictate to the pen!"

I am feeling homesick for the mountains. The real ones. With granite peaks well above the tree line and glacier-fed lakes at their bases. For the dry air that fortifies the lungs. For family that fortifies the soul.

The Rosebuds - My Punishment for Fighting

That autumn feeling is here.

We've been lucky to have a couple of days with highs in the 80's - not exactly crisp, but with a drop in the humidity, and with the lower angle of the light hitting the leaves in the trees in the park on the way home from work, it harbors tidings of fall. Fall is not my favorite season, spring is, but I do love fall too, although it carries in its colder air the barren winter chasing on its heels. It is a time for closing up: I imagine myself with an old wooden 2-part door (you know, the kind on Snow White's cottage) and as autumn comes I shut the top half against the cold.

The start of school went off all right. Now it's busy busy busy.

Tori Amos - Black Dove

Oh, Nick Cave, I Love You.

So I am still working on the morning disc. And I had a problem accessing the file for the one song on Nocturama that I had downloaded years and years ago. So I decided to just get the whole album. So I am listening to this song for the first time, and I just plain have to say that I love Nick Cave. Unabashedly. Wow.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Wonderful Life

Not much

I am really trying to make myself wake up. So I am continuing the waking up song hunt for the new waking up CD. This song will definitely make the final cut.

Ian Brown - Time is my Everything

So you would not believe the mess my classroom is in for today being the Saturday before the start of school. I have at least a few more hours of physical prep to do, plus the planning. There are also tests to be written on the readings the students were to do over the summer. This was the best-organized set of summer reading assignments I have given yet: I really hope the students did them and retained their skills over the summer.

Well, cheers for Ian Brown. That song is super good. Now I must be off to getting myself ready for the day.

Vacation Time

So for vacation this year, there was some camping and some mountain time, but mostly there were the nephew and niece. Their mom spent some days working at their dad's office, and I got to be the babysitter. It was fantastic.

The days started out with a bottle for the niece and Sesame Street for all. And on the very first day, they played one of my very most favorite clips:

And this is the song I have been singing in my head for three weeks.

While babysitting, I also introduced the kids to the Carmen-singing orange (see the previous post below), which is the most brilliant clip ever on Sesame Street. Or on just about any show, for that matter.

So one day, the kids and I were watching clips on the computer when their mom came home. We were watching and singing along to Ricky Gervais and the Letter N Lullaby. Then they wanted to show their mom the orange. So we clicked to that, and as the orange started to sing, so did my niece. Never mind that the song is in French. She just made it up the whole way through. Although she hit the "La Moo" part as well as the best of us at that age! Her mom was doubled over in laughter, and I was stifling it pretty well, because with the little performer sitting on my lap, I didn't want to burst in to laughter and make her stop. It was terribly cute.

So now I am going through nephew and niece withdrawal. I can't wait until Christmas to see them again.

Do you want to make a 4-year-old laugh and laugh?

or make his 2-year-old sister wonder watch wide-eyed, wondering what on earth...?

That last post really worked.

In the last two days, I've been called "sweetie" and "baby." Both better than "ma'am."

Today I have been listening to Zoltan and his Gypsy Ensemble. There is a real struggle in this music, and a brief triumph before the next struggle. My heart definitely identifies with it.

Zoltan and his Gypsy Ensemble - Dve Gitari

Just Don't Call Me "Ma'am"

A List Compiled by Melissa and Amilynne

Terms of address preferable to "Ma'am":

1. Miss

2. Lady

3. Love

4. Hon (especially from a waitress)

5. Bella (and I don't mean Twilight)

6. Doll

7. Poppet

8. Yo

9. Chica

10. Y'all

11. Doc

12. Your Excellency

13. Toots

14. Sis, Sista, even Sister

15. Babe

16. Dear

17. Darlin'

18. Sweetheart / Sweetie

19. Sug (like Nancy Gribble says it)

20. The bread, the knife, the crystal goblet, and the wine

21. The wind in the orchard

22. Teacher lady

23. Missy

24. Hey you

25. Number 37, Number 37 to the counter please...

The Pretenders - Angel of the Morning