19 January 06
A Swearing-In
I went because I hadn’t been before. I went because she didn’t have anyone going with her. I went because I was curious. I went because of my ambivalence about my own American citizenship. I went to stand in line and stand in line again and watch Bureaucracy in Action.
What I saw was this: generations. I saw the generations of people, alive and present and dead and gone, who waited for this moment. My forebears (well, some of them). Numenius’ forebears. Generations from around the globe. Diversity is what makes us be our very best, said the judge swearing everyone in. It’s what Dr. King taught us.
The oath they swore is one I wouldn’t take: but my privilege is having been born here. So I needn’t worry about oaths. It was something, seeing 400 people suddenly becoming American, laboring through the difficult consonants. It was something, this evidence always around me, suddenly concentrated, of how this is a culture of immigrants.
We had lunch, I the English/American designer and she the Russian soil scientist, at an Afghan restaurant, representing a culture none of the three of ours has ever managed to subdue. It seemed like an appropriate thing to do.
Today, as I went to lunch at the Iranian restaurant just up the street, I saw the man we had been standing behind in line. He became a citizen yesterday also. I crossed the street to shake his hand, congratulate him. He looked like a French lefty from the 80s, which probably makes him a Bulgarian economist from the 00s. His name, he said, was David. He was very touched I had bothered…
13 January 06
A full day
I’m just back from a day of a) Macworld b) going to the SF Center for the Book on the bus (plus very long walk) to retrieve my Art Bin I left there on Saturday, only to find it closed c) Macworld d) SFCB again, got bin, minus camera which has mysteriously disappeared in the interim e) sharing a bustop session with a Peruvian con artist on the way back from SFCB f) sharing train seats with two furniture buyers for some unspecified department chain, probably Neiman Marcus (GOD how boring AND stressful their lives are) f) a rejuvenating visit to the Coop g) arriving home and finding that Numenius had gone looking for a frickin’ snowy owl without me (he does NOT chase birds so this is something of a first).
I did take my sketch book and will post a sketch once I’ve gone for the snowy owl myself tomorrow.
12 January 06
Green Eggs and Ham
Or at least the green ham bit. Taiwanese scientists have bred several pigs that glow in the dark and whose skin has a greenish tinge. They accomplished this trick by introducing jellyfish genetic material into the pig’s embryo.
The aim of this research is not improved forest camouflage for the hogs, but rather to aid in tracking pig genetic material when their cells are introduced into other animals, for instance in stem cell research.
11 January 06
Memed
I was reading this over at Sister Spirit and was thinking about doing it even before I knew I’d been tagged by Chris, so here goes:
Four Jobs You’ve Had
1. Interpreter for a project of hail suppression in southeast Spain
2. Bilingual secretary (yes, that was shorthand in FRENCH) in a reinsurance office in Paris
3. Clerk in the electoral offices of Santa Barbara County
4. Administrative assistant in the liver transplant section of the UC Davis Medical Center
Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over
1. Casablanca
2. The Rookie
3. The Singing Detective (I know this was made for TV but I saw it on the big screen)
4. Lord of the Rings
Four Places You’ve Lived
1. Madrid, Spain
2. Montpellier, France
3. Cambridge, UK
4. Cambridge, Mass
Four TV Shows You Love to Watch
I don’t have a TV…
Four Places You’ve Been on Vacation
1. Barrow, Alaska (life yellow-throated loon)
2. Bisbee, Arizona (on the way to life buff-breasted flycatcher)
3. Gibraltar (yep, it really is one of the craziest places in the world.)
4. Opatija, Croatia (I think; it was Yugoslavia then)
Four Blogs You Visit Daily
1. Via Negativa
2. Toad in the Hole
3. A Brit Abroad, though he’s in a different abroad now and doesn’t post as much, are you listening, Richard?
4. Fezoca’s Blurbs
Four of Your Favorite Foods
1. tofu cilantro
2. the veggie soft tacos at Mariachi in Davis
3. the veggie soft tacos at the roach coach on the UCSB campus
4. Jefferson Davis pie
Four Places You’d Rather Be
1. anywhere in Sweden, anytime
2. at the dinner table with good friends
3. a baseball game
4. with my sleeves rolled up, making mudpies (literal and metaphorical)
Four Albums You Can’t Live Without
I can and do live without lots of albums. I think as a couple we need music therapy. But I seem to be recreating some kind of iTunes collection which is in process and I’ll report back at a later date.
Four Vehicles You’ve Owned
1. Subaru GL hatchback (my first car I got at 37)
2. Honda Element (bought two years ago when I donated the Subie to a coworker in great need)
Four people I’m tagging
I’m not tagging anyone. Whoever would like to take this on, please do. Jenny ? Fer ?
27 December 05
Teff Luck
We went to Oakland to meet Ron Sullivan and Joe Eaton to go to the Baseball as America exhibition at the Oakland Museum only to discover they are in fact closed on Tuesday. (Before doing any more long-distance museum jaunts, do check the website!) We regrouped quickly to fetch up at Cody’s and Moe’s books on Telegraph, and then went for an early dinner of Ethiopian food.
We went to Cafe Colucci near Telegraph and Alcatraz, and having almost no exposure to Ethiopian cuisine, didn’t know what to expect. Thankfully, Ron and Joe served as good guides, and explained what to do with the injera pancakes made of teff grain. It’s not a cuisine for the fastidious, but it makes a very yummy vegetarian meal. Our favorite dish of all was the collard greens (gomen).
26 December 05
Resolving
I’ve never much been one for New Year’s resolutions. They seem ineffective for most people and I don’t know why I’d be any different. Last week as I was pondering the solstice, though, I did come up with some things I’d like to do differently before the next one. These aren’t the normal “lose weight read more exercise regularly get fully prepared for disaster” variety, all of which would certainly be a good idea, but things like “Sing on the bike more. Learn spencerian. See the flammulated owl.”
May you sing on your bikes more or whatever your equivalent is! And may the flammulated owl look at you with its deep black eyes and speak to you of peace in the still places of the forest.
20 December 05
“When UC Davis Vice Chancellor Celeste Rose resigned under pressure last summer, the university gave her a new job with a new title, a $20,000 a year raise—and very little responsibility. In fact, Rose, 55, isn’t required to do any work at all.
As part of a secret legal settlement negotiated to avoid a potentially embarrassing [racial and gender discrimination] lawsuit, UC Davis promised to keep Rose on the payroll as the “senior adviser to the chancellor” for two years at an annual salary of $205,000, plus all the benefits of a senior manager, including health care, severance pay and a growing pension.”
—San Francisco Chronicle, 12/19/05
“This administration has been completely open with Congress, we reported to Congress about this surveillance twelve times.”
—George W. Bush, 12/19/05
“As one of the recipients of [Paul Takushi’s] unofficial newsletter [about books of interest to the UC Davis community], I am taking this opportunity to share with you a concern we have with the lead article that was provided in the most recent issue. The lead article contained some commentary about the University of California structure, referencing compensation of top administrators and fee increases for students that have been in the Northern California press in recent weeks. This message is intended to clarify that the communication does not represent the view of the UC Davis Bookstore, or that of the University. In the future, there will be some editorial review for this publication before it is sent out…”
—Jason Lorgan, Book Department Manager, University of California, Davis, 12/19/05
“You and I wouldn’t be here without corruption … corruption is why we win.”
—Tim Blake Nelson’s character, Danny Dalton, in Syriana (released December 2005)
19 December 05
Geranium Photography
Geraniums aren’t my favorite plants, but here’s a way to put them to good use when you run out of film.
16 December 05
Potlucks Versus Cocktail Parties
I haven’t been to a cocktail party since I lived in Spain, which was a very long time ago. I don’t know anyone who throws cocktail parties, nor would I want to. Jut the idea of it gives me hives, people posturing about how much they make and own and stupidies like this. It’s bad enough at the Marxist Cash Bar at MLA, but at least the posturing is backed up by a reasonable amount of measurable (well, maybe not) intelligence, and the conversations certainly are interesting.
I’ve just gotten home from the office holiday party potluck. The food was excellent but even more excellent was the wine. We have a number of vets and peripherals who know wine and share it generously.
I arrived home, as I said. Awaiting me was an invitation to a cocktail party from my British university in Pacific Palisades, of all places. This is about 2-1/2 hours from here.
The only thing that will take me to Monterey toward the end of January is a good bird, so I’ll wait to RSVP…
14 December 05
Poundage
What with reducing my Santa Barbara bike commute from nine miles, the last three of it up a mountain, to three minutes, combined with the enforced inactivity of my achilles rupture, I’ve put on some weight over the past five years. Just how much weight was made searingly obvious when I went to the doctor two weeks ago for my finger tendon and they made me get on the scale.
I joined Weight Watchers the following day. I’ve never done anything like this before. So far so good. I’m enjoying rethinking what we cook, how we eat, specifically what I have grown to consider an adequate portion size.
Stay tuned…