silent45

3.11.10

Freedom Fire

"When Bush celebrated the explosive and irrepressible [Iraqi] thirst for freedom as a “fire in the minds of men,” the unintended irony was that he used a phrase from Dostoevsky’s The Possessed. Dostoevsky used the phrase to describe the ruthless activity of radical anarchists who burned a village: “The fire is in the minds of men, not on the roofs of houses.” Today, we already see—and smell—the smoke of this fire."

-Slavoj Zizek's "The Not-So-Quiet American" for InTheseTimes.com

8.10.10

Poena Cullei

Poena Cuelli: Form of ritualisic killing whereby the condemned man had his head covered in wolf skin and he was put in a sack with serpents, a dog and a rooster and thrown into water.

TGIF happy Friday!

4.10.10

Shower of Blood

Morning returned in joy. The mountains showed their gray heads, the blue face of ocean smiled. The white wave is seen tumbling 'round the distant rock, a mist rose slowly from the lake. It came, in the figure of an aged man, along the silent plain. Its large limbs did not move in steps, for a ghost supported it in mid air. It came towards Selma's hall and dissolved in a shower of blood.

Ahhh I love ancient Irish sagas!

27.9.10

Boo.

24.9.10

BC Parents Weekend

It's Boston College Parents weekend! Here's my one-liners regarding the event:

It's BC Parents Weekend! Campus looks like a Brooks Brothers trunk show.

It's BC Parents Weekend! The cafeteria foie gras and flan counters are stocked and ready.

It's BC Parents Weekend! The lawyer-dad's tour of art-history-son's department appears on the itinerary simply as "Trail of Tears".

It's BC Parents Weekend! Tea Party lapel pins and autographed copies of Glenn Beck's "The Overton Window" available in the campus book store!

It's BC Parents Weekend! The dorm bathrooms are filled with the scent of Trophy Wife perfume.

It's BC Parents Weekend, but the campus is a dead ringer for a Doctor-Lawyer Convention.

It's BC Parents Weekend! What do you mean they won't valet my Mercedes? What is this, Bosnia?

It's BC Parents Weekend! God help you if you're not wearing an ascot.

It's BC Parents Weekend! The air sings with the money-begging lilt of "Da-ddy!"

It's BC Parents Weekend! Keynote Speaker: Christine O'Donnell.

It's BC Parents Weekend, which explains the tax-writeoff forms next to the coin fountain choked with $100s.

It's BC Parents Weekend! Quick, everyone hide evidence of your expensive cocaine habit!

It's BC Parents Weekend! Just me, or are girl's skirts on this campus a few inches longer than normal today?

It's BC Parents Weekend! That's funny, that mom's Sigg water bottle smells like Christmas trees.

hahahaha, rich people. Have a good weekend everyone!

22.9.10

Kate Studying

Here's where I am right now, in Bapst Library, reading a shitty book on Human Rights and the Bildungsroman. In the last 72 hours, I've been here more than I've been home.

So, that's me studying, lookin' kinda scruffy! There you go!

15.9.10

Bus v. Subway

Bus
+ it's usually faster
+ you get to look around at the sights out the window
+ no rats or poo to contend with

- usually smell like urine
- the seats area is always sketch
- vom-inducing bus driving
- cold in winter, hot in summer
- who the hell knows how to navigate a bus schedule/bus route?

Subway
+ pretty easy to navigate
+ that sing-song destination voice
+ its underground, like a Ninja Turtle
+ if you've successfully gotten through one, you can handle 'em all
+ have become classic landmarks: Tube, Paris Metro, NYC Metro, El, San Fran's trolleys, Luas...

- Pee, poo and rats
- Germtown, population: germs
- It's hot underground
- Can be expensive
- Never takes you exactly where you want to go

14.9.10

Timeless.

Ancient Irish sagas, I am finding, are not often the stuff of great reading. I think something may be getting lost in the time and translation. It was written 8,000 years ago. That's Bronze Age, for those who are counting. Most other civilizations were still in their infancy, still rooting for berries n' stuff. The Celtic bards were memorizing stories. So, okay, it's old. But this stuff is usually dry, sometimes confusing. Typical excerpt:

In Eiru, there was complete peace during Conare's reign, save that battle was proposed in Tuadmumu between two men named Coirpre, both foster-brothers of Conare, and th matter was not put right until Conare arrived. There was a geiss against his going to settle a quarrel before the quarrelers came to him, but he went all the same and made peace between them. He stayed five nights with each man, and there was also a geiss against that.

......*blink*

Sometimes, there is a sparkling moment. A rare literary gem among the clogged arteries of complicated names and battle catalogs.

Just read this. You'll love this.

In The Only Jealousy of Emer, Ireland's greatest warrior, Cu Chualind (Koo-kul-ind) cheats on his wife Emer (Ee-mer) with this beautiful banshee, Fand. Here's how that goes:

"Where will we meet again?" Fand asked. They decided upon Ibor Cind Trachta. This was told to Emer, and she prepared knives with which to kill Fand.

Ha! So, she's miffed. Poor Emer! She confronts Cu Chualind.

"Why, Cu Chulaind, have you dishonoured me before the women of the province and the women of Eiru (Ireland) and all the people of rank?" asked Emer.

"Emer, why will you not permit me to see this woman? She is pure and modest, fair and clever..."

Yeah yeah. Let me cut you off there, buddy. Emer answers like any woman would:

"Perhaps this woman you have chosen is no better than I," answered Emer. "But what's red is beautiful, what's new is bright, what's tall is fair, what's familiar is stale. The unknown is honored, the known is neglected -- until all is known."

So true! Many a woman has been burned by this very truth. Then, Emer brings it home.

"Lad, we lived together in harmony once, and we could do so again if only I still pleased you."

Oh! Swoon swoon swoon. I love this! Tattoo this on me. Tattoo this on my cat. Write this on the inside of my Trapper Keeper and tape it up over my Joey McIntyre wall poster. How lovely! How sad! How horribly, terribly loving.

Isn't that wonderful? Isn't it amazing to connect with a story told 8,000 years ago? 6,000 years before the Bible. Before the Romans, the Egyptians. Before bronze. The metal, bronze! Emer's story connects us with the universal, down through the ages.

10.9.10

Warner on Marriage

"Adults who marry are not necessarily more mature than adults who do not; often enough the reverse is true. Yet marrying is deeply embedded in the cultural unconscious as a sign of majority attained. It makes people feel grown up. What an extraordinary power we grant the government over our innermost lives!"

from Michael Warner's The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics and the Ethics of Queer Life

Thoughts?

9.9.10

Short Story About A Long Book

As a class assignment, I'm supposed to read chapters 2-4 of a book.

I pick up the book.

It has only 4 chapters.

Chapter 1 is a 20-page preface. The rest is 300 pages long.

It's one of two books I have to read by next class.

I have 3 classes.

My first thought: "Oh so this is the overwhelming work they were talking about..."

(cue shake n' pop! CUE IT! c'mon I need it!)

That's better.

8.9.10

Shake n Pop

Why I think I might love Boston:

While on the Freedom Trail, my sister saw Benjamin Franklin dancing to this:

Room of Kates

This being the first day of school, here are some things that already feel different from undergrad. And things that haven't changed at all:

1. Different: Went to gym at 8am. Never did that as an undergrad! Turns out, the tradition of undergrads never working out before noon is a time-tested one. The place was deserted.

2. Same: Walked through a diag, nearly got hit in the head with a frisbee. I have my suspicions it was of an "ultimate" nature.

3. Different: Went to the department's grad orientation. Everyone there was brilliant. We're talking Ivy League, Phi Beta Kappa, cancer research grant writers, NPR producers, real readers and thinkers. One girl was even published in...wait for it....Highlights magazine. Ye gods! ....well, everyone else seemed truly brilliant. Which is not to say UM Lit kids weren't. What it DOES say is that you can't appear talented and bright until you've been given time in the real world to make something of yourself. I felt really honored to be a part of that group.

4. Different: As part of the writing fellowship I've been invited to participate in, I will be coaching 12 students in an undergrad course (Econ, in my case) on their papers as the semester goes by. So today I had to introduce myself to the class! The way a TA does! I was the one at the front of the lecture hall, raising my hand and giving everyone a brief hello as the professor introduced me. How weird is that?!
Sub-Same: The kids in the class stared at me with a cool, disaffected glaze. Some things never change.
Sub-sub-Different: Some of those kids would have been born in 1992. Jeeza.

Good first day. I feel old. Everyone in my class came straight from undergrad except the weirdos. Wait....am I a weirdo? Hahaha, yeah I am. Who am I kidding?!

But outside of the babies and weirdos, everyone does seem kinda like me. More than that...I'll be honest, it was a room of Kates. In our meet-n-greet, we had to give a fun fact for our ice breaker (yay). One girl said she keeps a sourdough starter in her pantry and has for 2 years. One girl makes her own cider. One girl taught her parakeet how to sing the Star Wars theme. A chick admitted to loving building Ikea furniture "above nearly all other things." One guy plays an ancient proto-form of Chinese chess. One chick spent her summer teaching ropes courses in a Redwood forest and is, "having a hard time adjusting to life back on the ground." How cool/eccentric are all those things? In other words, how me are all those things? I'm excited to be back in the all-embracing arms of the liberal arts.

If you were wondering, my fun fact was that my favorite book is and always will be "The Giver". The more books I read, the more I love it. But like I told some friends tonight, I wish I had told the story of the time in a rural Ireland sing-song when, after everyone sang lovely ballads, I sang the theme song from the Fresh Prince of Bellaire. But it's a long story. And maybe it paints me as more than eccentric.

More to come. Have a good Wednesday!

6.9.10

Some Things

This interim time before school starts is crawling. Here's some entertaining stuff for us all to pass the time.

via Redux

Rill Rill by Sleigh Bells

via Tumblr

gorgeous prints at Simply Hue's etsy site

Finale Desserts in Boston and Brighton

via superpoop

Have a good Labor Day!

4.9.10

Fenway and The Burger

Last week, while Mike was in town and Cristina was new to Boston (we're veterans now), we took a tour of Fenway Park.

Fenway!

Amurrica's Oldest Remaining Baseball Stadium

Cristina loves her some sports, and Mike eats, breathes and sleeps baseball, so the tour was made really fun by their enthusiasm.

THEN WE ATE AT JERRY REMY'S! Home of, in case you'd forgotten:

My one true love: The Remy Burger. YES, I will eat this burger again. YES, if you come to town and enjoy unhinging your jaw over a 1/2 lb of meat, cheese and caramalized onion, we will eat this burger. YES, it makes you feel full to the point of being perhaps a little sick but you endure. YOU ENDURE for Remy! All hail the Remy burger for it is good and just.

So this was the highlight of my Fenway day. Check out the slideshow for shots of the park, of the Green Monster, of the burger and of everyone going nuts over the burger. Then there are some shots of us walking around Boston in a post-burger daze. It's worth a look.

Counting down the days here 'til school starts. We've been trudging to mixers, socials, orientations and other such get-to-know-me events around campus. I think everyone's ready to hit the ground running once the semester begins on Tuesday. I am more than ready...I'm enjoying the time off but this calm-before-the-storm feeling is pretty grating. They say your first week you feel terrified and snowed in. Can't wait, homies!

So stay tuned for first-day-of-school pictures! Yeup, those are so happening.

27.8.10

Day of Funness and/or Peanut Butter Bacon Burgers

Oh my gosh! What a fun day in the new city! I took some pics and I wanna tell you about it. LISTEN, DAMMIT! For once in your life, sit down and really listen to me. Do yourself this one favor.

Now. First I met up with Erin for matcha (that's green tea milk smoothie, you backwater neophyte--sike I totally learned that on Food Network. Now who's lame?!) If you wonder how I know Erin, I met Erin in Eire but she's originally Bostonian. Capisce? You'sa betta capisce! *angry fist shake, followed by sigh and changing leg cross* Anyway, Erin's in town for a bit so she graciously met me in Harvard Square to catch up over a cuppa tay and then take a walk around her alma mater (one of them, anyway. She's wicked smaht.)

Also, we found a Harvard dorm that is named something awesome:

.....pppbbfftttt mkay whatever Harvard!

End Scene...I don't know why I'm douchily stage-directing this but I'm really tired and I've had about 4000 calories today, so bear with me.

Next I had lunch with the wonderful Stephanie. Steph and I go way back but we re-met each other today. We did so over 1/2lb burgers. Nothing says, "Get to know me!" like a big piece of meat [twss].

But guys. This burger I ate. I have to tell you something about it. It had bacon and.....prepare yourself....I mean it, gird thine loins cuz this is nuts....peanut butter.

It was good! I mean, not life changing like the REMY BURGER (all hail the remy burger):

But the peanut butter was good! Came with about 3/4 cup of pb on the burger. Think about that. That's a sh*t ton of peanut butter, in actuality. I think it was Skippy (wtf amirite?). I mean...I ate it. I ate the whole thing. Then I washed it down with 2 beers and a really, really awesome catch-up conversation with Steph.

But more on the meat [twss]. I guess I don't know how to feel about that burger. It's a mystery. Enigmaburger. I happily ate the entire thing, but then, afterward I could actually feel it wrapping itself around my heart and I think that might be what left me with a case of the no-thank-yous. Steph, if you're reading this, you were right. The bbq burger was the way to go!

OKAY nevertheless aren't I pathetic for getting so excited about a burger that I forgot to snap a shot of me and Steph? God I am terrible! Next time, no meat, more photos [twss].

So then I walked down Newbury and did some Back-Bay shoppin', which is really good for the record. Then I traipsed through Boston Commons before jumping on the T home. What a lovely day!

Yay Boston is awesome when the rain FINALLY dissipates!

25.8.10

The Bawston Apahtment

Oh my gawhd I'm finally unpacked....mostly.

Here's the apartment.

Please excuse the mess.

Also, imagine some artwork onto the walls as you watch this, because I haven't hung any yet. Hold your ahtichoke hahts! Patience! All in due time.

It's only been 3 days but progress is being made. Oh, also I'm an expert on Boston now and know everything there is to possibly know about the city. For example, for the best pizza in Boston, go to...the place on the corner right here. And for the best groceries, go to... uhm, Whole Foods right down from me on Washington. And the best place to run is...aaaaround my neighborhood. See? I'mma frickin' sage. Run n' tell that!

In addition to unpacking (which Damian says I do relentlessly and a bit compulsively), I've gotten a few runs in around my neighborhood including the loop around the big beautiful Chestnut Hill Reseroir. I'll put up a few photos later this week but it's a gorgeous swan-filled pond surrounded by willows and big Bostonian mansions. I'm slowly getting my bearings but it's hard work in 4 days of constant downpour.

Kate moved to Boston. And Boston wept.