The other night I dreamt I was in France.
I was walking down the street, and everywhere I looked, I thought, "That's a French house," or, "That's a French lawn," or, "That's a French person."
I stopped through a concert hall for a while; there was a youth orchestra performing and I was in the very back row, towards the right side of the auditorium, but people near me were talking since they didn't take the concert seriously since it was free admission, so I got up and left, even though I thought the youth orchestra sounded really good on the 1st piece.
After walking down a French street for a while, I stopped through a bakery - cafe, and somehow I was with my one (French) colleague from school, and we were there to catch up. I kept looking at these chocolate croissants in large square multi-shelf glass cases stacked up on top of the counter, and when my colleague went to get a cup-saucer to hold the croissant that he was going to get out of the case with tongs, he noticed it was stained and dirty from years of dried coffee, made a face, and went it down to get another one, only to discover that the next several saucers in the pile were stained as well.
We sat down, and for some reason we were near an older French businessman who knew my colleague, and I made some sort of joke about how he oppressed the Arab immigrants and said they were dirty but gladly took their money when they were his customers.
Later, I was at another table with an older Dutch man, and I made the same sort of comment.
(...overall there were so many elements from my everyday life in that dream - the free concerts where people talk [=the summer concerts downtown], catching up with my French colleague [=we've bumped into each other a few times in the past couple weeks and have made tentative plans to], the croissant cases [=the cases I saw Beninese women carry on their head "when I was in Africa", the comments to Europeans [=shit I really say to them, when they get all know-ally and piss me off]...)
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
Musical premiere.
The other weekend I went to a downtown classical music program.
On the program was some misc. music, including Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks, and then the premiere of this piece for the 50th anniversary of the festival chorus.
After the festival chorus piece ended, I chit-chatted with the (middle-aged) (white) woman next to me, and she found it pleasant, but said it "wouldn't age well", esp. since it was city-themed.
When I was unlocking my bike, I ran into the one classical philosophy professor from school who I always see at the concerts, and I asked her what she thought of the concert, and when she said she enjoyed the new chorus piece that had been premiered, I said I didn't care for it much, and she was like, "Well, it wasn't heavy duty, but then, neither was the Handel," and giggled.
On the program was some misc. music, including Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks, and then the premiere of this piece for the 50th anniversary of the festival chorus.
After the festival chorus piece ended, I chit-chatted with the (middle-aged) (white) woman next to me, and she found it pleasant, but said it "wouldn't age well", esp. since it was city-themed.
When I was unlocking my bike, I ran into the one classical philosophy professor from school who I always see at the concerts, and I asked her what she thought of the concert, and when she said she enjoyed the new chorus piece that had been premiered, I said I didn't care for it much, and she was like, "Well, it wasn't heavy duty, but then, neither was the Handel," and giggled.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Was a bit burned out.
For the past couple weeks I was a bit burned out with work, and every chance I got I procrastinated when I was working from home. The end of last week was better, fortunately.
I think the year of Hebrew really added up - that was a hellacious schedule, for like 9 months.
I can only keep my fingers crossed that I can get a couple more dissertation chapters done so I can maybe dip my toes into the job market this fall.
I think the year of Hebrew really added up - that was a hellacious schedule, for like 9 months.
I can only keep my fingers crossed that I can get a couple more dissertation chapters done so I can maybe dip my toes into the job market this fall.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Random tidbits: Bars, Tutoring, Puppet play.
1) The best bar name ever?: "The Swagger Inn."
It's one of those bar names like "The Dew Drop Inn", only so much better, esp. since it's a black bar.
The other weekend I was at a patio a bit south of downtown in this odd in-between area near the elevated subway tracks, and it was inundated by older (black) people all dressed up before going to some party.
"You going to the Swagger?", one older (black) woman said to another, and when the second woman looked blank, she was like, "Ain't you never been to the Swagger? C'mon!".
2) I'm up to 5 tutorees right now because of some inquiries from 2 adult learners who want to know Latin and had contacted me a couple months ago, but I had put them off till I finished my Hebrew class... I'd be up to 6, but my homeschooler is taking a break for the summer.
3) I'm in the process of writing a delicate year-end evaluation for my homeschooler's files, since she still has major problems with Latin... I think she'd be doing high C/low B range work if it was a *high school* class (I'm not even talking in terms of college level work, which her mom says she does other areas).
4) My one friend from the sex doc movie series who is into BDSM invited me to a puppet play about Ishtar last weekend... It was in a storefront theater with like 15 seats, and though it was a $10 donation to get in, there was a crapload of good free refreshments. The play itself had a lot of intricate pieces and was very disjointed, though the best part was that the (older) (white) (female) puppeteer at the end was like, "That's it, thank you," and then, "That was my midlife crisis."
Later, I was talking with the people who owned the space, this couple who made drums. The guy was British and not quite all there. I asked him how he got into making drums after he showed me the work area equipment stowed away behind the theater seats, and he was like, "Do you ask a piano player when they learned to play?"... He didn't mean that meanly, either, he meant it honestly, and delivered it spacily.
It's one of those bar names like "The Dew Drop Inn", only so much better, esp. since it's a black bar.
The other weekend I was at a patio a bit south of downtown in this odd in-between area near the elevated subway tracks, and it was inundated by older (black) people all dressed up before going to some party.
"You going to the Swagger?", one older (black) woman said to another, and when the second woman looked blank, she was like, "Ain't you never been to the Swagger? C'mon!".
2) I'm up to 5 tutorees right now because of some inquiries from 2 adult learners who want to know Latin and had contacted me a couple months ago, but I had put them off till I finished my Hebrew class... I'd be up to 6, but my homeschooler is taking a break for the summer.
3) I'm in the process of writing a delicate year-end evaluation for my homeschooler's files, since she still has major problems with Latin... I think she'd be doing high C/low B range work if it was a *high school* class (I'm not even talking in terms of college level work, which her mom says she does other areas).
4) My one friend from the sex doc movie series who is into BDSM invited me to a puppet play about Ishtar last weekend... It was in a storefront theater with like 15 seats, and though it was a $10 donation to get in, there was a crapload of good free refreshments. The play itself had a lot of intricate pieces and was very disjointed, though the best part was that the (older) (white) (female) puppeteer at the end was like, "That's it, thank you," and then, "That was my midlife crisis."
Later, I was talking with the people who owned the space, this couple who made drums. The guy was British and not quite all there. I asked him how he got into making drums after he showed me the work area equipment stowed away behind the theater seats, and he was like, "Do you ask a piano player when they learned to play?"... He didn't mean that meanly, either, he meant it honestly, and delivered it spacily.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
I shouldn't get so involved in politics and current events.
I'm thinking I shouldn't get so involved in politics and current events; the more I tune in, the more upset I get.
Citizens United is just crazy, and I'm dreading the effects that will play out over the next few decades, with cuts to the social safety net, environmental regulations, and privatization of everything in a way that feeds into corruption.
The impending healthcare decision is also depressing. I really thought that was the big redeeming thing to happen politically over the past few years, and now it might be gone because of rightwing craziness...
Esp. because of job instability and people having to go on the job market sometimes several years in a row, having health insurance and no pre-existing condition exclusions would have really extended the safety net in a way that would have helped me, if I had needed that to fall back on.
I've also been thinking about global warming lately, because of articles I've been reading and the funky weather happening in my region. I find it very very messed up that our climate is changing so radically and there's no political will to address things, or begin to develop clean energy. How bad will things get, and will people ever figure out a way to get carbon out of the atmosphere? It is disturbing that the city I live in is planning ahead with paving etc. long-term already now for a climate like Baton Rouge, in the foreseeable future.
I remember during the Bush years people will upset and felt like everything was going in the wrong direction, and that's how I've been feeling lately, everywhere I look.
And don't even get me started thinking about a Romney presidency and how that will mean more cuts to education, higher taxes for people in my bracket, and all of that stuff.
Citizens United is just crazy, and I'm dreading the effects that will play out over the next few decades, with cuts to the social safety net, environmental regulations, and privatization of everything in a way that feeds into corruption.
The impending healthcare decision is also depressing. I really thought that was the big redeeming thing to happen politically over the past few years, and now it might be gone because of rightwing craziness...
Esp. because of job instability and people having to go on the job market sometimes several years in a row, having health insurance and no pre-existing condition exclusions would have really extended the safety net in a way that would have helped me, if I had needed that to fall back on.
I've also been thinking about global warming lately, because of articles I've been reading and the funky weather happening in my region. I find it very very messed up that our climate is changing so radically and there's no political will to address things, or begin to develop clean energy. How bad will things get, and will people ever figure out a way to get carbon out of the atmosphere? It is disturbing that the city I live in is planning ahead with paving etc. long-term already now for a climate like Baton Rouge, in the foreseeable future.
I remember during the Bush years people will upset and felt like everything was going in the wrong direction, and that's how I've been feeling lately, everywhere I look.
And don't even get me started thinking about a Romney presidency and how that will mean more cuts to education, higher taxes for people in my bracket, and all of that stuff.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Some (African-American) bars....
The other weekend I went to some African-American bars on the deep southside, in the mid-afternoon before a graduation party of a (black) undergrad who I had in section a few years ago... I had a bike, and went where I felt safe, so I skipped one bar but went to 4 others:
1) The "popcorn lounge", named after the James Brown song. It was pretty packed, and one woman was grooving at the end of the bar, and I realize in retrospect I should have sat near her and chatted; the people at the end of the bar where I sat weren't very chatty.
The best part was that the (black) (female) bartender would just snatch up the phone when it rang and would be like, "POP KOHN!", with strong emphasis on the 1st syllable.
2) At another bar that I've heard about for a while, I buzzed in, and there were a couple guys and a girl and a bartender (all black), and I kind of joined in their conversation while they chatted...
They were talking about the hot weather, and all the women dressing up in not enough clothes and sitting in the front rows of churches to tempt preachers, and one of the men retold an urban legend about a preacher who spoke to some such woman from the pulpit and was like, "I may be a preacher, but I'm also a man!", and told her not to wear that again.
They also told me that Wed. was the best night to come since it was game night, and they had everything up to Twister, though people didn't pull that out too often.
The heavier guy also bought shots for everyone, me included, and the bartender girl rang this big bell up on the wall and we all downed the shot, and then the guy who bought shots was like, "Hey, hey," to me, and the bartender girl told me to flip my shotglass over.
When I had come in, too, I asked what their cheapest beer was, and then the girl asked if Old Style was fine, and when I was like, "I ask for the cheapest beer, and you think I have standards?", everyone laughed, and I think I made them like me.
3) At the 3rd bar I had to buzz in, too, and there was a heavyset guy by the entrance with his head on the table, and a couple women grooving to themselves and dancing in their seats in seats at the bar over by the jukebox...
The signs in the bar included a handpainted poster inviting people to "RED BEANS AND RICE WITH RUTH" every Friday, and another sign saying that "PROFANITY SUCH AS M.F. AND BITCH WILL NOT BE TOLERATED."
As I sat there drinking my beer, all of a sudden the older guy falls over behind me, and I have to jump up and help him up with a few people, even though he weighs probably at least 280lbs... We put him in a seat and ask him if he's okay, and immediately someone gets the bartender to get a half-glass of lemon juice, and they make him drink it, while he keeps saying that he hasn't had a drink in two-and-a-half years.
"How would you feel, if you didn't have a drink in two-and-a-half years?", he kept asking everyone, including calling it out to the 2 women grooving down at the other end of the bar.
They shrugged, and I called out to them, "I don't know about you, but I'd be pissed!", which made them laugh.
Then, some younger (black) woman kept asking the guy if she could go get him some food...
"I think they have bags of pork rinds for sale at the bar," I was like.
"We already tried that!", she was like.
After she left to go get him some food, I talked to the guy more, and he was saying he has been on call for his firefighting job a lot, and so he can't drink like he used to, and he had 3 beers and 3 shots that day.
"That Johnny Walker, he will lay you on the FLO'," he told me and the 2 woman grooving at the end of the bar.
He also said he didn't live in that neighborhood anymore, because he didn't want to live "in a place where anyone could live," and he said something about guys moving in with women and then moving out and going from house to house and never working.
Then, he looked me in the eye, "You understand, right?"
I then said I expected a lot of people like that would find themselves getting into trouble, and he just nodded, sadly.
4) At the last bar, it was very run down, and the night bartender was this short plump (black) woman having a beer down at the end of the bar by herself, while everyone else was watching "Wheel of Fortune" on TV.
She bitched to me about how the bar just had an A/C unit like you'd have in a house, and the place would be hot by the time more people came in later that day, when she had to work.
Later, she got up and stared into the mirror wall behind her and reapplied her mascara.
I asked the bartender about live music, since they had posters about it and my one (white) colleague from Mississippi had asked me to keep my eyes open for that, and she said they just had DJs.
"Any live bands?", I was like.
"No," she was like, "Not like there used to be."
. . .
When I finally showed up to the graduation party, I had a nice buzz on, and like I expected, his family was a lot of church people, so there was food but no liquor, and I was glad I had pregamed.
So, I got some spaghetti salad and some 7-layer salad and some fruit salad and some chicken wings and even made myself a chicken salad sandwich on a roll I sliced in half, and then I talked to everyone, including a teacher from the 'burbs who was a cousin of the undergrad's, and a relative of his who was this older (black) gentlemen who came up from Arkansas at the age of 17 to get a factory job, and had made his way north picking crops through Missouri, then got here and stayed with distant relative till he got set up in work.
1) The "popcorn lounge", named after the James Brown song. It was pretty packed, and one woman was grooving at the end of the bar, and I realize in retrospect I should have sat near her and chatted; the people at the end of the bar where I sat weren't very chatty.
The best part was that the (black) (female) bartender would just snatch up the phone when it rang and would be like, "POP KOHN!", with strong emphasis on the 1st syllable.
2) At another bar that I've heard about for a while, I buzzed in, and there were a couple guys and a girl and a bartender (all black), and I kind of joined in their conversation while they chatted...
They were talking about the hot weather, and all the women dressing up in not enough clothes and sitting in the front rows of churches to tempt preachers, and one of the men retold an urban legend about a preacher who spoke to some such woman from the pulpit and was like, "I may be a preacher, but I'm also a man!", and told her not to wear that again.
They also told me that Wed. was the best night to come since it was game night, and they had everything up to Twister, though people didn't pull that out too often.
The heavier guy also bought shots for everyone, me included, and the bartender girl rang this big bell up on the wall and we all downed the shot, and then the guy who bought shots was like, "Hey, hey," to me, and the bartender girl told me to flip my shotglass over.
When I had come in, too, I asked what their cheapest beer was, and then the girl asked if Old Style was fine, and when I was like, "I ask for the cheapest beer, and you think I have standards?", everyone laughed, and I think I made them like me.
3) At the 3rd bar I had to buzz in, too, and there was a heavyset guy by the entrance with his head on the table, and a couple women grooving to themselves and dancing in their seats in seats at the bar over by the jukebox...
The signs in the bar included a handpainted poster inviting people to "RED BEANS AND RICE WITH RUTH" every Friday, and another sign saying that "PROFANITY SUCH AS M.F. AND BITCH WILL NOT BE TOLERATED."
As I sat there drinking my beer, all of a sudden the older guy falls over behind me, and I have to jump up and help him up with a few people, even though he weighs probably at least 280lbs... We put him in a seat and ask him if he's okay, and immediately someone gets the bartender to get a half-glass of lemon juice, and they make him drink it, while he keeps saying that he hasn't had a drink in two-and-a-half years.
"How would you feel, if you didn't have a drink in two-and-a-half years?", he kept asking everyone, including calling it out to the 2 women grooving down at the other end of the bar.
They shrugged, and I called out to them, "I don't know about you, but I'd be pissed!", which made them laugh.
Then, some younger (black) woman kept asking the guy if she could go get him some food...
"I think they have bags of pork rinds for sale at the bar," I was like.
"We already tried that!", she was like.
After she left to go get him some food, I talked to the guy more, and he was saying he has been on call for his firefighting job a lot, and so he can't drink like he used to, and he had 3 beers and 3 shots that day.
"That Johnny Walker, he will lay you on the FLO'," he told me and the 2 woman grooving at the end of the bar.
He also said he didn't live in that neighborhood anymore, because he didn't want to live "in a place where anyone could live," and he said something about guys moving in with women and then moving out and going from house to house and never working.
Then, he looked me in the eye, "You understand, right?"
I then said I expected a lot of people like that would find themselves getting into trouble, and he just nodded, sadly.
4) At the last bar, it was very run down, and the night bartender was this short plump (black) woman having a beer down at the end of the bar by herself, while everyone else was watching "Wheel of Fortune" on TV.
She bitched to me about how the bar just had an A/C unit like you'd have in a house, and the place would be hot by the time more people came in later that day, when she had to work.
Later, she got up and stared into the mirror wall behind her and reapplied her mascara.
I asked the bartender about live music, since they had posters about it and my one (white) colleague from Mississippi had asked me to keep my eyes open for that, and she said they just had DJs.
"Any live bands?", I was like.
"No," she was like, "Not like there used to be."
. . .
When I finally showed up to the graduation party, I had a nice buzz on, and like I expected, his family was a lot of church people, so there was food but no liquor, and I was glad I had pregamed.
So, I got some spaghetti salad and some 7-layer salad and some fruit salad and some chicken wings and even made myself a chicken salad sandwich on a roll I sliced in half, and then I talked to everyone, including a teacher from the 'burbs who was a cousin of the undergrad's, and a relative of his who was this older (black) gentlemen who came up from Arkansas at the age of 17 to get a factory job, and had made his way north picking crops through Missouri, then got here and stayed with distant relative till he got set up in work.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
2 grad student comments (2 of 2): African-American with dreads.
There's this one (late 30s or early 40s?) African-American grad student with dreads who I know from always being in the library at the same time, and sometimes if he's smoking out front, I join him if I'm eating my lunch out there to enjoy the sunshine.
He just finished his ph.d., and he was telling me about a motorcycle trip he was planning.
(I think he's an older generation of grad students, one of the ones who took forever and now has no job.)
We then got to talking about trips, and he was saying the last roadtrip he went on, he ended up in Montana, and his big goal for the trip was to see Little Bighorn.
"I really wanted to see where Custer got his ass kicked," he was like, with no bit of humor about it, just a straight-up statement about what he wanted to see on his trip.
He just finished his ph.d., and he was telling me about a motorcycle trip he was planning.
(I think he's an older generation of grad students, one of the ones who took forever and now has no job.)
We then got to talking about trips, and he was saying the last roadtrip he went on, he ended up in Montana, and his big goal for the trip was to see Little Bighorn.
"I really wanted to see where Custer got his ass kicked," he was like, with no bit of humor about it, just a straight-up statement about what he wanted to see on his trip.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
