24 October 05
Bartók on the Mind
I have no idea why Bela Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra is running through my head right now since it has been a zillion years since I’ve heard the piece, but there you have it. I think I have a tape of it around someplace—will have to dredge it up.
23 October 05
Baraka
I somehow managed to miss Baraka when it first came out, though it undoubtedly played in Cambridge when I was there.
One of the Wildlife Health Center students—the same one who taught us all how to dance salsa back in August—thinks everyone should see this film, so she organized a party around it this evening.
Not unlike Koyanisqaatsi for the developing world, minus the Philip Glass. I’m still reeling from the images: snow monkeys in their bath, monks, temples, clouds, rush hour in Tokyo, baby chickens getting their beaks burned.
Kuwait oil fields on fire.
I think Tamara’s right: everyone should see this.
22 October 05
The Wide and Tall Guy
We went over to Chris and Karen’s this evening to watch the first game of the World Series. It was a very good game—the Chicago White Sox ended up winning 5-3. Their starting pitcher, Jose Contreras, was not overpowering, but kept the Houston Astros under control and was finally lifted for reliever Neil Cotts after giving up a leadoff double at the beginning of the 8th. Cotts struck out two batters, and then the White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen called in the big guy, with both arms apart gesturing wide, then tall. This was rookie reliever Bobby Jenks who, as we found out, happens to throw 100 mile per hour fastballs. I haven’t seen one of those in a while. Neither, it seemed, had the Astros hitter Jeff Bagwell, who struck out to end the 8th.
We were all rooting for the White Sox, though not with any great fervor. But none of us can stand A.J. Pierzynski, the Sox catcher, since he left a bad taste for Giants fans in his season with the team last year. Karen won the inning-by-inning pool at the end, but Pica did well too since the score remained stuck at 4-3 for four innings.
21 October 05
Davis Fast For A Day
Today the city of Davis was encouraged to fast in solidarity with the Muslim community, culminating in this evening’s Iftar celebration at the Davis Senior Center. About 500 people were in attendance, a chaotic mix of voices and colors, ages, languages, starting with dates and milk and ending with baklava and almond pastries.
I fasted. I don’t do this very often; the last time I did was for Yom Kippur a few years ago. It draws you inward, making you slightly apart from the world. I went for a walk at lunchtime, enjoying the day; I felt a little misted. It’s hard to describe.
People whose tradition calls on them to fast regularly speak of this apartness, how it’s an important part of their spirituality. I can see how that would be.
Fasting has kind of gone away in Christianity, at least in the earnest form being practiced this Ramadan by students in Davis. Maybe people miss a meal on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday but mostly not; “fasting and abstinence” implies some kind of food since abstaining from food should include abstaining from meat. I’m not sure where this went, or why, but it seems an important spiritual practice in most traditions, and gets you in touch with your core pretty quickly.
And then there’s the useful reminder that the majority of people in the world fast every day, not from choice…
20 October 05
Tagging the Bay Area
The website Urbanitic provides a setting to tag in a manner similar to del.icio.us your favorite places in the Bay Area and comment on other peoples’ contributions. Tags range from burritos to gentrification. And this being the last half of 2005, there is of course a Google Maps interface to the site.
19 October 05
Yolo Crow
A poem of mine got published in the Yolo Crow, a new literary magazine. A copy came in today’s mail.
I seem to find myself around people whose ambition it is to start a literary magazine; often they don’t make it beyond the third issue. I hope that’s not true for this one…
18 October 05
Urban Spheres of Influence
The CommonCity Map Project is an interesting endeavor to map the cultural boundaries of the United States. There’s a survey on the site which asks what cities both in your local area and in the greater region, you most identify with. The project then uses these survey results to make a map of the boundaries of influences between the major cities of the United States.
A variation of this is to map the boundaries for fans of sports teams, such as for Major League Baseball.
17 October 05
Iftar
Today was the opening event of this fall’s Campus Community Book Project, which this year is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. The first work of fiction we’ve done, it seems to be drawing quite a different crowd than the past three. We’ll see when it’s all over just how different.
Today featured a kite-making demonstration and an introductory film about Islam followed by a panel discussion, a break-the-fast (it’s Ramadan), and delicious community meal catered by Kabul Restaurant here in Davis.
I sat next to a sociology professor who teaches at Sacramento State and a student in child development. At our table we were pretty evenly split, muslims and non-muslims, but everyone was eager to learn about each other, and about each other’s beliefs, in an atmosphere of respect and tolerance.
I think we should do this kind of thing more often. We’ll have a chance, next week. There’s a community Iftar for the whole of Davis.
17 October 05
Tuxedo Cats Rejoice
For the White Sox are going to the World Series, which they haven’t won since 1917. We were rooting for the Angels, but the White Sox have been on a roll. The Houston Astros are now heavy favorites to make the Series as well.
I won’t have strong emotions either way about the upcoming World Series, but in some ways that’s a relief—just sit back and follow some good baseball.
15 October 05
SuperDog
Earlier this year I posted about a friend who had lost her dog, Bruno. More than just a dog, Bruno was the first wheelchair/blind trained dog in the country. She and Bruno muddled through law school, the job market, disappointments, the craziness leading up to the Iraq war, Natalie’s growing leadership in Code Pink.
But he got sick, and two years later, it was time to let him go.
Nugget’s the new pup fresh from training in Michigan. They had intensive training together as a pair for a week, and are doing ongoing training now. Nugget was attacked by a tethered dog outside a cafe on Thursday. He kept going. Natalie didn’t know what was going on but the trainer said, when they turned the corner: “We need to wipe the slobber off Nugget’s face.” That was when Natalie discovered he’d been attacked.
Oh, he’s a good dog. It’s good, she says, to be pulled in her wheelchair rather than be pushed even by a human, because it allows her to anticipate things. SuperDog, she says.
I’ll meet Nugget on Thursday when I’ll be reading poetry at the Cafe Roma in Davis: Women’s Voices, Women’s Votes. But no petting him then: he’s working. He’s being SuperDog.