Twitter

I've never even had Sriracha and I'm stressed out about the possibly impending shortage. #stupidtwitter

Currently Eating...

...crystallized ginger. So obsessed. Why have I never had this before?

Rant

Guys: Last week I looked up some Tiffany-style lamps on Overstock.com, and contemplated buying one; now every webpage I open that sells ad space has an ad for a Tiffany-style lamp. It's dizzying and annoying and the internet is too smart.

Rope

We just watched Alfred Hitchcock's Rope. It's a superbly shot one-room drama with breaks in the shot only to change the film (which is to say, a real-time, single-shot film that seems like it's a play).

Two men strangle a boyhood friend, David, and then invite their old teacher, two friends, and David's father and aunt for dinner, which they proceed to eat off of the chest in which he's stashed. (That isn't a spoiler--it's from the first two minutes of the film.)

The film hits you over the head with the fact that it's a working out of Nietzsche--it's the superior dominating the inferior. This points to the gap between theory and practice and to the fact that the superiors aren't equally superior. Brandon is invigorated by his "superior" action, while Philip is torn up about it. (It turns out, from watching the documentary about the film afterward, that Brandon and Philip are gay, which didn't even remotely occur to me while watching the film--at least the screenwriter thinks they are; it's not clear to me what the guy who adapted the screenwriting thinks.)

How does Hitchcock fit himself into a one-room drama? At one point the camera looks out the window and Hitchcock is walking along on the street below.

Also: I made up a recipe for mulled wine that was basically cheap red wine, some citrus, nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper. I was pretty nervous, since I made up the recipe, since the store where I went to buy the correct spices and the cheesecloth to hold them all was closed, but it came out good and peppery. And the pepper wasn't bad.

Davidson Lake Campus

When we visited Ilana in Charlotte, she took us to her college's "lake campus." I was very curious what that meant--alls it meant is that the college owns a bit of land on the lake where the students can come to relax. It's lovely to walk around there and put your toes in the water.

We also visited the school's actual campus, which was likewise lovely--lots of green space and old trees in addition to nice old buildings.

Asheville.3

The same architect who designed the Biltmore's swimming pool designed St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville. That wasn't a particularly promising recommendation, but it did make me curious.

The pamphlet says that the dome "is considered the largest free standing elliptical dome in North America."

The crucifixion with Mary and John looking on is a 17th century Spanish carving. I love it, and I'm dying to know how St. Lawrence got it. (It reminds me of the work of Master Paul of Levoca--the sort of thing you don't run across everyday.)

It turns out, the architect wasn't just some guy they brought in to make a swimming pool: Rafael Guastavino also did Grant's Tomb, the Great Hall at Ellis Island, Grand Central Station, Carnegie Hall, Duke Chapel, and many other things.

Twitter

I got a new last name in the mail the other day; it had been delayed because of the government shutdown.

Asheville.2

Asheville

Asheville, I understand, had loads of debt from the 30s to the 80s and so didn't develop in the way that other cities did. This means that it's an art deco paradise. And just a lovely little town in the mountains. With great food.

On the first night, we ate at Chai Pani, an Indian street food restaurant with a southern twist. The Okra chips were amazing, as was the tandoori fish wrap.

Afterward, we went to French Bread Chocolate Lounge where we enjoyed their Indian Kulfi drinking chocolate (with rose, pistachio, and cardamon) and their exquisite homemade vanilla bean ice cream. And their gender neutral bathrooms: "this gender neutral bathroom is equipped with a urinal; this gender neutral is equipped with a changing table." That was a bit confusing, since I require neither a urinal, nor a changing table, so I played it safe and stuck with the changing table.

In the morning, we went to Tupelo Honey (also the name of a record we just bought), where we had goat cheese grits (must remember to make these at home!) and eggs benedict on biscuits and sausage. Yum. Plus, we had a waitress with a Southern accent so strong that we literally had no idea what the specials were.

Next time we visit, I hope we can also hike the Appalachian trail and work off a bit of that delicious food.

Rant

The good news is: I'm growing my own sprouts. I have a great sense of accomplishment and we had them for dinner on top of hamburgers.

The bad news is: one of the many institutions that I've taught at over the past five years does not keep chalk in their classrooms. Chalk is purchased by the departments and given to the faculty to carry with them to class. I spoke with teaching support services today and she suggested that a) I carry some chalk in a sandwich container so that it doesn't break or b) hide a piece in the classroom so that I can come back to it each day I teach. I can't really fathom a worse system, except maybe a system where the faculty made their own chalk from scratch each day. This makes me so angry I want to roar. I hate poorly managed things. I want to be in charge and fix them.


(P.S. The same is true of the white board markers--I carry one of them with me. I just think carrying chalk with me is a step too far.)

A Random Assortment

New college chapel.

~ I love this book cover. I've never read Dorothy Parker, but this makes me want to.

~ Gender-reveal parties rub me the wrong way, too:

These parties seem to marry the oversharing of Facebook and Instagram with the contrived ceremonies that modern people in search of meaning impose on normal life events: food journaling, birthday parties for grownups, workout diaries, birth-experience planning.

(via Miriel)

~ The Pope gave another interview (I know, I know, it was a couple of weeks ago). I've heard maybe that the translation is weak, but I still like this guy:

It's a joke, I tell him. My friends think it is you want to convert me.

He smiles again and replies: "Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us. Sometimes after a meeting I want to arrange another one because new ideas are born and I discover new needs. This is important: to get to know people, listen, expand the circle of ideas. The world is crisscrossed by roads that come closer together and move apart, but the important thing is that they lead towards the Good." ...And you think that mystics have been important for the Church?"They have been fundamental. A religion without mystics is a philosophy." 

I don't think that he's being relativistic in this interview--I think that he's a proponent of a model of engagement with the world that praises honest communication and lets the Holy Spirit handle the work of conversion. In fact, in his conversation with his non-Christian interviewer, Pope Francis gives us an example of what he means--he engages with his interviewer, asking what his fundamental beliefs are, and attempts to show the commonalities between them, as well as their differences.

Also, on Augustine and why he feels feels close to Augustine:

Augustine feels powerless in the face of the immensity of God and the tasks that a Christian and a bishop has to fulfill. In fact he was by no means powerless, but he felt that his soul was always less than he wanted and needed it to be. And then the grace dispensed by the Lord as a basic element of faith. Of life. Of the meaning of life. Someone who is not touched by grace may be a person without blemish and without fear, as they say, but he will never be like a person who has touched grace. This is Augustine's insight."

~ Why read fiction?

It found that after reading literary fiction, as opposed to popular fiction or serious nonfiction, people performed better on tests measuring empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence — skills that come in especially handy when you are trying to read someone’s body language or gauge what they might be thinking.

~ For Francisco, a map that shows buildings in the Netherlands by their age. (He loves maps.)

~ For Ilana (who has probably already seen this):



~ I guess this is too manufactured, but I like that it's a nod to stamp-collecting history.

~ Love this (it is weird, isn't it, that he swam in his clothes?):

Davies, who adapted the Jane Austen novel for the BBC, has disclosed he wanted his Mr Darcy to be a "natural man", and suggested his plans were only thwarted by actor Colin Firth's "anxiety about his love handles"...."It was about nature and culture. It was my notion that Darcy was a natural man but he spent all his time constrained by the demands of society.

How sweet that Colin Firth was concerned about his weight--makes me love him even more. Thankfully, I married my own Colin Firth (not in the concerned-about-weight sense, but in the dark, curly hair and dreamy, intense eyes sense).

Twitter

Doesn't 5-hour-energy cause breast cancer? (Or some kind of cancer?) Why are they still supporting breast cancer research?

Also, what in the world is the point of decaf 5-hour-energy??

The Biltmore

One of the reasons I've been away from the blog is that Francisco and I took a little tour through the south--Nashville, Asheville, Charlotte, and Charlottesville (with a stop for lunch in DC on the way home)--to see friends and cities. Really, sadly, the main place that I took pictures was in Asheville. The first thing we did when we arrived was tour the Biltmore

Sadly, you aren't allowed to take pictures inside, and outside it was raining, so I just sneaked some pictures from underneath the umbrella.

The house was interesting. It was very American--even the price tag. In Europe, there are plenty of lovely homes, and it isn't too expensive to visit them. In America, gigantic houses are not the norm, so you can charge an arm and a leg. (Plus, it felt a bit like Disney World--there's a deer park and a winery and an inn on the property, all for additional charges. They try to take your picture as you're walking through the house and sell it to you at the end, pasted on t-shirts or mugs or endless other souvenir options.)

The house is also different from European estates insofar as it was built from scratch by one man with a lot of extra money, by one architect and one landscape architect (who also did the Capitol grounds and Central Park, among other projects). In Europe, the architect is often less important, because these estates were made by many architects over many years.

The inside was amazing, but rather hodge podge: the dining room tried to look like an over-sized setting for a medieval feast and added in a pipe organ and some chairs that look like church pews.

There were loads of engravings on the walls throughout the house--Francisco speculated that their more valuable art was sold or perhaps the house was never fully decorated (several of the rooms were unfinished).

The library was spectacular, as were the views. And I love how the Biltmore looks from the outside--although that facade was evidently put on after the house was built with traditional methods of the time (including steel).

Apparently when George Vanderbuilt built the Biltmore (ha!), he also decided he needed a little town at the foot of the hill where he lived. So he built one of those, too.

Lovely old greenhouses.

Bleh

Bleh to fall break being over and a particularly full upcoming week. On the other hand, yay for a week-long fall break (which I'd never even heard of before this year).

Lancaster

One of my favorite places is Lancaster's Central Market (plus, my grandparents and dear cousins live nearby).

Philadelphia.3

Next we visited the Wanamaker Organ--possibly the biggest pipe organ in the world. It's now in a Macy's. (There is the guy playing in the picture below.)

Plus, there's this cool eagle from the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. It is purportedly made out of more than 5000 (metal) feathers. (Francisco and I couldn't figure how.)

The store is beautiful.

Some other pictures from walking around after dark:

Philadelphia.2

The Philly City Hall is my favorite, even with its disproportionately large tower.

Somehow, I'd never actually walked through the middle before. I'm curious about the pillars in one of the archways. Some of the pillars' capitals represent African-Americans and American Indians.

Pet Peeve

When students say, "Enjoy!" when they email me their papers. I can tell you, there are very few student papers that I enjoy reading, and almost none of them contain, "Enjoy!" in the body of the email. In fact, I know many, many professors, and almost none who "Enjoy!" reading students' papers.

Philadelphia

Sorry I've been gone. This semester is busy.

A while back, Francisco and I got community rush tickets to the symphony. In between standing in line to get the tickets and the actual concert, we had some time to wander around. We stumbled on this Cold War airplane-turned-greenhouse.

The concert was great, plus there were local Philadelphia connections to the music:

Richard Strauss’s Oboe Concerto had its genesis during a lengthy meeting between former Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Oboe John de Lancie and the composer. De Lancie, who was stationed in Germany at the end of World War II, suggested that Strauss compose a concerto for oboe and orchestra. While de Lancie did not give the work’s premiere, he did perform the Concerto in The Philadelphia Orchestra’s first performance, in 1964. Principal Oboe Richard Woodhams, a student of de Lancie’s, now carries this connection forward.