asteroid B612

uuuh. Well, turning on the heat is far from my radar screen yet. We just turned off the air, and it's not certain whether it's off for good yet. This lovely cool weather we're having is low 80's/high 70's with the humidity down to 50% and minimal UV index. The cardigan I don is for night time. I'm still wearing my flip-flops. Aaah...I love how my perspective has changed to my sub-tropical climated.

I heard a story on morning edition the other day about a family who plunked down their savings in airfare to take their three teenage kids to see the world. Not for some sort of token cross cultural experience or National Lampoon vacation to Europe...more for an opportunity for them to bond and for their increasingly self-centered, materialistic kids to see that their way wasn't the only way, gaining a little perspective on the world. Aside from the fact that certain child-rearing techniques might have avoided some of the said reasons for the trip, it was nevertheless a very interesting trip. The book, I think, is by the father of the family, a Brooklyn writer, and his 16 yr old daughter. It sounded fascinating. They went to the Middle East, India, Asia, and finally did a few days in London and Paris. And from a fast paced "normal" life of school, work and activities where they hardly saw each other, the family was thrown together where they were all each other had.

I finally dug around the NPR archives for the name of the book. The Amazon review by Publisher's Weekly takes a kind of anti-hipster posture and sounded kind of pooh-pooh about the book, but the reader reviews rave about it. Judging from the interview on the radio, I think it sounded interesting. I'd love to read it.

Journalist Mark Jacobson and his wife Nancy of Brooklyn, New York, thought a three-month trek around the world might remedy a serious case of teenage alienation and addiction to pop culture. Jacobson relates their travels to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, Jordan, Israel, France, and England in the book, 12,000 Miles in the Nick of Time. Jon Kalish reports. (Publisher: Canongate Books, ISBN: 0871138522)

Another fascinating report I heard recently was on the this play Anna in the Tropics. Apparently cigar factories used to hire someone to read out loud to the workers before the days of radio. This play is about one such person who read Anna Karenina, and the play is sort of about how their lives are changed by the story...insofar as one's life does change when one encounters art. The author of the play, Nilo Cruz, is only the second to win a Pulitzer Prize without the members of the prize committee actually having seen the play staged yet. Right now it's making its way to the Big Apple, currently enjoying a staging in Princeton, NJ. Sure wish I could go see it.

One play that is on-stage in New York right now is Flow, a tale of storytellers in an urban neighborhood. It's written and performed by actor-rapper Will Powers. And is all in rhyme of rapping or freestyling. Sounded especially interesting since Chris is a big advocate of viewing rap as a literary more than a musical form.

We turned off the air conditioner yesterday. The weather is glorious and cool. It feels luxurious to wear a cardigan outside (not just inside to combat the freezing cold air) yesterday evening. I am home now...a pile of reading awaiting my day...and the beginnings of a cold tickling my throat. Fall break this weekend will be nice.

Here at LSU there is a new project to launch a Med/Ren interdisc studies program..MARIS. They had a consortium for med/Ren people from Louisiana universities on Saturday...basically a one-day conference. I think it was one of my favorite conferences ever. For the first time, I didn't get that glazed over feeling a third of the way into a paper. I had sufficient knowledge base to engage with all the papers, and even connect some of the information to my own research. Needless to say, it was exhilirating. For the first time, I didn't feel like I was sitting in a room while I other people spoke a language I only knew a few words to. Discourse was happening in my little brain. And all the papers were excellent. It was really inspiring.

But I'm exhausted...trying to balance the adrenalin of Saturday with the two tests I had today. A pretty hard listening exam in Symphonic Lit. And a test I felt pretty good about in Latin. So at least they're over.

Edward Said has died.

He was an amazing scholar and intellectual whose writing I admired immensely.

but who is Dave Barry?

disclaimer/explanation: I tend to be popculturally challenged in all areas. I plead my sheltered upbringing in a cornfield in Iowa

but this one was fun...and a little more subtle

ENTP - "Inventor". Enthusiastic interest in everything and always sensitive to possibilities. Non-conformist and innovative. 5% of the total population.

Take Free Myers-Briggs Personality Test

Miles Davis. Kind of Blue. The sound of New Orleans in the fall.

The weather is changing miraculously and beautiously!!! It is just gorgeous!!! I went out on the porch this morning to inspect the plantage. They are obviously loving the reprieve from oppressing August, too. Lush foliage, full of blossoms, new growth. When we're sure they're done working on the porch, I'm going to get some chrysanthemums. Maybe we can have Thanksgiving dinner on the porch. It'll be so lovely!!

I can't begin to express how much I'm enjoying my schedule this sem. I don't have to go to Baton Rough on Tues and Thurs, and have been to make these such profitable days, such that even though I feel like I'm working all the freakin' time. I feel like I'm able to get things and to be prepared for my classes. Alas, though, I found out that two absolutely necessary courses for me are going to be offered on Tues and Thurs next sem. Well, no use whining about it now. I'll just finish this sem and enjoy it while I can.

THE DARK AGES WEREN'T FREAKIN' DARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!