Baguette and Nectarines

D'Paul and I took his brother down to the farmer's market this morning. Smoothies and  gorgeous thick cups of chocolate milk were consumed along with freshly fried donuts. This is one of my favorite things to do on Sunday morning. Today I picked up a delicious baguette and some beautiful nectarines. This is what my afternoon looks like:

I've been cooking and focusing on eating a lot lately (even more than usual) for a number of reasons. I've been introduced to my new favorite blog, which makes it impossible to avoid wanting to make delicious food. Rehearsals have also been taking a good bit of time, so when I get a few hours I like to take the time to eat a real meal and get my head on straight. The rehearsal process is going wonderfully, I just have too much on my plate. It's always been this way, and will continue to be until I find a livelihood that is satisfying on a personal level that also pays the bills. This could take awhile...

Back to the food. I just tried this next recipe and you should probably stop whatever you're doing right now and go make this delightful Baked Vanilla Yogurt! It was a hit with everyone, even after an evening of stuffing ourselves full of my wonderful potstickers. I prefer a smoother filling to my potsticker, so when you're looking at the recipe know that I use onion, garlic, and ginger powder instead of actual chopped veggies. It's a personal preference, you should do what sounds delicious to you. I definitely use the cabbage, it's wonderful.

I did my first run yesterday to start my training for the 5k. It went pretty well, and I plan to go back to the gym tomorrow and do another. I will run outside when the weather is more comfortable. I also got my feet and my stride analyzed yesterday. Turns out I have what they call "islands" for feet. It means that my arch is so high that when you take a print of my feet from below you only see the ball and the heel of the foot. I thought I was probably closer to being flat footed since I spend all of my time barefoot or in flats if I can help it. I hate arch supports in shoes, they all feel uncomfortable, which makes D'Paul uncomfortable. He's wildly concerned that without arch supports my arches are going to collapse, but the girl at the store didn't seem bothered by the idea of that happening. Her rational was that I've spent so much time as a dancer that my feet are so strong and so stretched out at this point that I'm unlikely to hurt myself. Just keep stretching...

Then they took an analysis of my running, which was really interesting. I got on their treadmill and ran for about 30 seconds with a camera looking at my feet. I'm almost completely neutral. One side of me (I forget whether it's right or left, don't worry it's written down at home) is perfect and my other side only turns in slightly. I may run reeeeally slowly, but I also run near perfectly. This means that I need a completely neutral shoe. I will probably be investing in new shoes in the coming weeks. My current shoes are basically crap and a few years old so they're not doing me any favors.

I finished out my summer semester with an A in my Religion and 20th Century Drama class, so that's wonderful! The course was great and I am taking one with the same professor this fall that I'm looking forward to attending. I've picked up the banned books project again, but with less urgency than before. I'll probably plow through them over the course of the next year. I'm going to try and keep it stress free.

Something Special

Last night was our first stumble through for Hedwig and the Angry Inch. It was also our run for the folks designing the show. I’m having trouble putting into words just how amazing this experience has been so far, and from the looks of things, will continue to be. I almost started to write about the individual talents and energy from the designers, musicians, actors, director, stage manager, and supporting Iron Crows with personal descriptors, but the fact is that it’s unnecessary. EVERYONE who is working on this project is amazingly gifted, enthusiastic, committed, and a consummate professional.


When I think about this show I get a tingly excited feeling in my stomach. I’m not nervous; I know it’s going to be wonderful. This feeling is telling me that we’ve got something really special on our hands, and I am so thankful that I’m a part of it. Get your tickets now. This is not to be missed.

UPDATE

Here are some beautiful rehearsal photos from the designer run, taken by the lovely and talented Katie Ellen Barth.

Procrastination, Pastry, and Pace

I have two papers that are due for my Religion and 20th Century Drama class this Wednesday, so of course I'm choosing to update this instead. I will be brief, for even my procrastination knows that I have limited time between now and Wednesday to work.

I baked a loaf of bread this week. It looked and smelled beautiful. It was boring to eat. D'Paul said to throw out the recipe because it was no knead bread, which he says he doesn't believe in. It just doesn't exist. He's probably right. At least it made my apartment smell like I knew what I was doing.

Fall must be coming because in the last week I've started baking in my spare moments (which are few and far between), along with shopping for sweaters, and now the bread cravings have hit.  I ran to the store before coming to work this morning just to grab a delicious batard to go with my soup. Oh yes, I also made delightful cream of crab and corn chowder. It is thick, creamy, and spicy - and full of crab meat.

The picture here is from the next bread recipe that I plan to try. I will let you know if mine turns out as beautifully as the bread in the picture! I hope so...

I suppose that it's only appropriate to end a carb heavy post with some physically fit news. I plan to run the Baltimore Running Festival 5k this October. I ran it last year, and while I am a trail snail, finishing it (without stopping or walking, no less) was a great feeling of accomplishment. I am fond of feeling greatly accomplished, so if I can get the day off of work I will do it again. Now that I've frittered away 10 minutes of writing time, I should return to my essays. Au Revoir!

Adorable Naivete

Did you know that life gets busy sometimes? I did. And yet, I still took on a 25 books in 25 weeks project. What a silly little lady I was in April. Very cute. Adorable. Failure.

It isn't that I haven't been reading. Oh no, I've been reading; just not the material for the project, because I can't justify more books on top of my in-class reading (I have three plays to read before tomorrow). I'm not abandoning the project. I'm just giving myself a longer time to accomplish it. But you can bet that I'll be ready for Banned Book Week 2011! Watch out, I'm coming for you with some fierce literary analysis.

The purpose of this blog is to remind myself to do new things. Exciting things. Sparkly things. But here's the thing: I've been so busy doing new and exciting things that I haven't had time to write about them! Here's a quick rundown since we last caught up:

1) Life fun! In the last few weeks I've visited the farmer's market, had a wonderful birthday crab feast, visited my hometown to eat everything, introduced my boyfriend to my parents, went roller skating, been a mommy to five cats, learned a show, and made SO MUCH GORGEOUS FOOD! And then...

2) I started my summer class at JHU. Religion and 20th Century Drama. It's fascinating, and my professor is a cute little old man who has somehow maintained a sense of wonder about the world. I love it. I'm also signed up to take his Religions of the Emerging World class this fall. In the next few weeks I will be doing a research project on Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night which is super excellent because I love that play. The only thing that could stand in my way would be a lack of time due to...

3) Rehearsal! I was cast in one of my favorite plays in a dream role! We start rehearsal this Tuesday for an intensive two-month process wherein I will be working on the role of Yitzhak in Hedwig and the Angry Inch! I'm so excited. I'm off book (I have 3 lines, but a few thousand songs) going into the process, which is very helpful. I can focus on learning to move like a dude. Now, how to work in some research/writing time for the project for class...I know!

4) I'll do the work at my 2nd job at the radio station. I DJ every Sunday, and it's a five hour shift where I'm by myself. I should be able to get some things finished, if I don't choose procrastination and write a blog instead. For example, I should really be reading Ionesco's Rhinoceros right now. Le sigh...One always wants what one cannot have. You see, yesterday I really wanted to read Rhinoceros, but I couldn't because...

5) I was at work all day, where my position has changed. I was promoted to Regional Leasing Specialist on the Corporate Marketing Team! It's an exciting change, and during the one day I've floated so far I really felt like I was doing something worthwhile. Sadly, I'm stuck at the community where I've spent the last year until we get the new gal up to speed. I'll really start moving around after August ends. It'll be cool to learn a new job that caters to my strengths. So, that'll be happening hard core in September, which is also when...

6) Hedwig... opens for a four week run! Four shows a week! Two jobs! Two Grad classes at JHU!

I'm scheduling a nervous breakdown for October.

A long overdue update on all the things in my world!

Life has gotten a little out of control in the last few weeks (I thought after the semester ended things were supposed to calm down...), so I've been off being fearless without sharing. Apologies! Rest assured, all projects are moving forward.

Update on the Banned Books Project:

I have read six out of the twenty-five books so far. That is 24%, which isn't bad, but also isn't as far along as I wanted to be by this point. Time to kick it into high gear! Since my last update I've read Forever by Judy Blume, The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Patterson, and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.

A quick word about Of Mice and Men: it's an easy book, but it's not an easy book. It's about a hundred pages, and the narrative isn't filled with huge words; you can read it in about an hour or an hour and a half. The hard thing about this book (which I suspect may be the reason why it's still the #1 banned book in the country) is EVERYTHING ELSE. The plot, which you already know when you pick it up, is heartbreaking. You forgot about that though. You let the book become reduced down to a joke about wanting to tend the rabbits. You forgot what happens, and then three pages into the story you remember. You know, it's the only way this tale can end, and the dread of the ending sticks to you through every page.

Another project I started about a year ago and then abandoned is on my radar again. Last June I bought the world's most beautiful acoustic guitar. It has a big body (think Emmylou Harris' guitar) and is colored dark maroon with a little black on it. It's seen a bit of wear prior to getting to me, but I don't care. I love it, and it's gorgeous. It sounds great when played by someone who knows what he's doing. Sadly, that person who knows how to play is not me. I started lessons last year for a few months. A few thousand factors came into play that didn't facilitate my learning how to play my beloved new toy. On the plus side, none of these factors included an unwillingness to practice, develop the proper calluses, or cut my nails. I didn't click with my teacher, lessons are expensive, and I was going through a major personal struggle at the time. Well, it's been a year now and I think it's time to put down the excuses, pick up the guitar, and learn a little bit. I'm a musician, and a multi-instrumentalist at that, but the guitar is a whole different kind of animal from anything in my comfort zone and I'll tell you why. I play the flute, the piccolo, the bari sax, and I sing. What do all of these instruments have in common? They all deal solely in single notes. You cannot play two notes on a woodwind or sing two notes at the same time. No chords.

Guess what I struggle the most with as a musician? Theory! The way music is put together! Harmonics and chords! All you do on a guitar! I am not a proficient piano player. I can teach myself any melody line that I need, and I can easily warm up a choir. I even play a few scales, but that is where it ends. My mind shorts out when I have to think of music in terms of chords. I do not write my own music (anymore - because I was TERRIBLE, probably because I had no understanding of musical construction). A whole bunch of studies say that learning music makes children more proficient at math, a subject with which I also struggle. I never developed that thing that allows one to make sense of these complex systems of organization. See? I can't do math. I can't handle chords. It all comes full circle! Like a circle of fifths!

Which I CAN'T POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND.

For anyone who didn't get that joke (what joke?) it was for all the music nerds out there, and you should just ignore my awful sense of humor and keep reading. Unnecessarily long rant short: Chords are hard for me. Really hard. My last instructor didn't care and tried to teach me the construction of everything I was doing. I didn't understand. I got uber-frustrated. It was expensive. So, I quit. I recognize at the start of this project that I am never going to set the guitar world on fire, and I am completely accepting of that limitation. I am setting out to learn a handful of chords so that I can sit around my backyard someday with a guitar, a glass of lemonade, and play old rock songs while we barbecue. That's all. I've found a teacher (quite the handsome devil, too) who can already sit around and play old rock songs, who is willing to teach me without all the fuss. It's my boyfriend, D'Paul. He's wonderful and (most importantly) extra patient so I'm prepared to give it another go. Wish me luck!

There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. - Ray Bradbury

I have been reading, ladies and gentlemen!

It is wonderful. For the past few years I've been one of those people who only reads three or four substantial books a year, and that's it. Life is too busy with work, school, outside activities, relationships, pets, friends, and of course, TV. All excuses that keep me from being the voracious reader that I was as a child.

All that is no more. Somehow, I've been able to attend to all of my commitments and still finish a few books for the project. I'm still going to hold the release of all the essays until Banned Book Week, but I am not going to be able to keep my lips sealed about what has been on my radar until then.

So far, I've read And Tango Makes Three, Are You There, God? It's Me Margaret, and Fahrenheit 451.

I love this project. And Ray Bradbury is a genius. More about that in a moment.

And Tango Makes Three

What a great book! As you can clearly see by the cover art, we are dealing with highly subversive subject matter here. Certainly not a book about a sweet baby penguin, and the parents who love her very much.

I want to adapt this into either a staged reading, or a play and see if there's some room for mind opening in Baltimore. I borrowed a copy of this from the library, but it's clear that I must own it. So, once my very own copy arrives in the mail I'll start in on Banned Books Week Sub-Project: Gain acceptance for adorable cute little baby penguin chicks who just happen to have two daddies.

All together now: Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Now, onto the other books: Are You There, God It's Me Margaret? This book is banned? Seriously? This one was the title that I looked forward to re-visiting the most in my list, because it was essentially my bible in Middle and some of High School. I thought I had it memorized, but all those readings way back when didn't allow me the understanding that a few years has given me. Margaret's grandmother, Sylvia is 60 years old. That's all. In my mind she was an old lady. A grandma. She knitted sweaters for Margaret, which clearly made her ancient. Now, at the ripe old age of 26, my friends knit (amazingly, btw) and sixty doesn't seem so old at all. One of the plays I was just involved with included a woman who was of that age who is one of the most intelligent, gorgeous, poised women I have ever ever met. I would go to synagogue and Lincoln Center with her in a heartbeat if she was my grandma. I didn't get that 60 could also be vivacious back then.

Also, Margaret's family starts the book out with a move from NYC to New Jersey. That never meant anything to me before. They were just places. Sure, her parents talked about gardening, which they never had to do in NYC. I had been to NYC on a number of occasions, but my favorite place there (still, to this day) is Chinatown and Margaret never mentioned Chinatown. Therefore, as far as I was concerned she lived in a house exactly like I did, on a street just like mine, in NYC. Then (because I am the center of my own universe) she moved to a house like mine, in a new place, that just happened to be New Jersey. Would you also believe that no one in the book mentioned poofs, tanning, or any kinds of Situations, it was so weird! She didn't move to Jersey, the stereotype, she just moved.

I think one BIG thing that I've taken away from just these few books has been that it's imperative to take into consideration when a book was written and what was going on in the world. For Are You There... it's invaluable to know that it's the year 1970 (because you really wouldn't know from the text - Judy Blume's writing is universally accessible and timeless) to understand why it's such a huge issue for Margaret's parents to be of differing religious backgrounds. They got married in the 1950's and as a result only one set of parents accepted their relationship. Margaret's maternal grandparents disowned her mother. When you read that today you immediately assume that they're two religious zealot wackos, which is only a little true. The important part to realize is that they were born in the very early 20th century, when you just didn't mix those traditions. Hell, my maternal grandparents were Catholic and Presbyterian and that degree of religious difference had to be addressed very delicately prior to their wedding in 1947. Thank heavens for progress.

I realize that my personal love for young adult fiction and children's books may not translate to all adults (specifically those who have lost their childlike sense of whimsy and wonder), so it's on to a book for an older crowd. I put Fahrenheit 451 on this list because you have to include it in any discussion of censorship, you just have to. I think I might have read this in the 7th grade. I know we watched the film that year in English class. Oh, the irony of watching a film about the dumbing down of a culture that watches TV all day while books are banned in an ENGLISH CLASS.

Brilliant.

Whether or not I've read this before is irrelevant. I needed to read it again. I've spent the last few evenings with this book (maybe 30 minutes to an hour at a time) with tears streaming down my face for the better part of my leisure time. It's beautiful and horrific, and it gets right to the heart of the matter. I was grabbed by the violent disregard for human life, the plastic people, and the passionate awakening of our protagonist. I was also proud that the first person Guy approaches for help was a former professor of English at a now shuttered Liberal Arts college. Yea Liberal Arts! This book shivers with humanity, and demands your attention. I'd forgotten how Bradbury can do that. In sixth grade we read his short story All Summer In a Day and the impact of that brief story has never left me. You can read it online in a few minutes. I understand that Fahrenheit 451 creates a strong emotional reaction in its reader, and that that can be disturbing for some. That's no reason to ban it.

I've learned some interesting things while addressing this title. One of the things that amazes me is that people have tried to present this book in an edited, essentially censored format. Bwhaaa? What? How? To edit/censor it you have to have read it, and if you've read it and still feel the need to censor it, then I believe you have missed. the. point. Twenty-one years after the book's initial publication it was to be included in an anthology for school readers with 400 or so stories in the same collection. In the coda to the story (added in 1979) Bradbury writes:

"How do you cram 400 short stories by Twain, Irving, Poe, Maupassant and Bierce into one book?

       

Simplicity itself. Skin, debone, demarrow, scarify, melt, render down and destroy. Every adjective that counted, every verb that moved, every metaphor that weighed more than a mosquito - out! Every simile that would have made a sub-moron's mouth twitch - gone! Any aside that explained the two-bit philosophy of a first-rate writer - lost!

Every story, slenderized, starved, bluepenciled, leeched and bled white, resembled every other story. Twain read like Poe read like Shakespeare read like Dostoevsky read like - in the finale - Edgar Guest. Every word of more than three syllables had been razored. Every image that demanded so much as one instant's attention - shot dead. 

Do you begin to get the damned and incredible picture?

How did I react to all of the above?

By firing the whole lot.

By sending rejection slips to each and every one.

By ticketing the assembly of idiots to the far reaches of hell.

The point is obvious. There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches."

I have a crush on Ray Bradbury right now. The man is astounding. He's really lit a fire under me (pun intended) for this whole project. I'll leave you with one last little tidbit that I find amusing. You're familiar with the saying that one reads Playboy for the articles. Turns out that The Fireman, Bradbury's short story that became Fahrenheit 451 was serialized in the March, April, and May 1954 issues of Playboy magazine. Maybe I should go pick up a copy and educate myself on the next big thing in literature.

The BIG Project

Somehow, a few weeks ago, I started thinking about the books that have been banned, and continue to be challenged in this country. I started doing a little research on the subject and found that many of these books would make my list of most favorite and influential stories (maybe that's the point: people don't want these kinds of clearly subversive books to influence people). I did a little counting and found out that there were exactly 25 weeks until banned book week. So, here's what I'm going to do:

25 Books in 25 Weeks

It's going to be a challenge, but I'm committed, I'm excited, and most importantly: I'm organized. I have the books divided up into categories. On each day of banned book week I'll discuss the books in the category at length, right here. What are the categories? I'm so glad you asked.

Day 1 - September 25th: Banned Books
Today will be my intro to the project. I'll discuss any interesting research I come across that covers why we, in a country that places such a high value on free speech, find ourselves banning books in the first place. The discussion will include a classic book that always seems to cause trouble, a book I'd never heard of before this project started, a book that I love which doesn't strike me as offensive in any way, and two childhood favorites of mine that seem to be banned all over the place, but don't fit neatly into any one category. These books will also be identified by their number on the list of the American Library Association's list of the Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books from 2000 – 2009.

The books covered today will be:

Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things – Carolyn Mackler
The Upstairs Room – Johanna Reiss
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain


Day 2 - September 26th: The Classic Banned Books
These are the books that scare people. They are often futuristic, dystopian, and infused with a science fiction tinged atmosphere. Humorously enough, you'll find people on both sides of the political aisle referencing these (most notably, 1984) to help prove their talking points. I've read them all before, but as I'm quickly learning, there is an inherent value in the re-read. I've been amazed at the details that I missed in some of my favorite books the first, second, and  sixty-seventh time through as a younger reader. Now I have a chance to see another level of what is really happening, and what really makes people uncomfortable with these titles.

Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
1984 – George Orwell

Day 3 - September 27th: Another Day of Classics
Uh-oh. Sometimes people don't do what we expect, like, or program them to do. It's probably best if we don't let any of the innocents know about all that icky behavior though. It could give them inappropriate ideas...


Rabbit, Run – John Updike
Catcher In The Rye – J.D. Salinger
Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov


Day 4 - September 28th: Gay Day!
You can catch it from them. It's true. Best to keep these titles away from the children. The gays are always trying to snag new recruits with their seductive advantage of having to fend off hate for a lifetime, and a significantly smaller dating pool in which to swim. Ahh, the luxury of a non-majority sexuality...


And Tango Makes Three – Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
The Drowning of Stephen Jones – Bette Green
The Education of Harriet Hatfield – May Serton
Maurice – E.M. Forster


Day 5 - September 29th: Race Day
Maybe if we ignore it, they I mean, this uncomfortable topic will just go away. By the way, it's interesting to note that when exploring the banned book lists I couldn't find any books that were listed due to racial issues other than those dealing with the African American experience. I've read books where people behave in a racist manner to Chinese people, Jewish people, Indian (native) people, and Korean people. These books haven't made the list though. Why is that? What makes these books so different than the others? Isn't racism to all people something we should be concerned about? Or, as I fear, do the people banning the books have an interest in keeping their children from reading about Black people? Gosh, that might cause some...*gulp*... empathy toward them.


Uncle Tom's Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Color Purple – Alice Walker


Day 6 - September 30th: Young Adult Literature
This is a pet day for me. I will just come out and say it: I love young adult literature. I think there is a wealth of wonderful writing available for the middle school/high school age person that is creative, funny, empathetic, and that directly relates to their current world experiences. I worked through a ton of personal issues with books from this genre, and it makes me crazy that these books are being pulled off the shelves in favor of sparkly Mormon vampires.


The Giver – Lois Lowry
The Great Gilly Hopkins – Katherine Patterson
Bridge To Terebithia – Katherine Patterson

Day 7 - October 1st: Young Adult Literature - Judy Blume Day
My mother (who is not a radical in any way) gave me Judy Blume books to read, and BLESS HER for it. If I hadn't had a copy of Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret I wouldn't have made it through middle or high school. She's an amazing writer, and if you think that talking to your kids about religion, sexuality, puberty, masturbation, or death is awkward and uncomfortable then I say to you: read one of her books. Take a breath, and try again. She's got a sensitive, no nonsense approach, and she probably knows what's walking through the mind of the young person in question when these subjects are broached. Why do we take her off the shelves?


Forever – Judy Blume
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret – Judy Blume
Then Again, Maybe I Won't – Judy Blume


Day 8 - October 2nd: Books About Which I Know Nothing
I don't know why these two books are banned. I haven't ever read them. I've been alive long enough to know that Lord of the Flies ends badly, has violent components, and that there's been comparison between the book and what happened in the Stanford Prison Experiment, but other than that I know very little about this title. I know even less about the Faulkner. However, these two books showed up on the lists too many times to be ignored. Let's see what they have to say.


Lord of the Flies – William Golding
As I Lay Dying – William Faulkner


Sooooo, what do you think? Ambitious? Yes. I think so. But I'm very excited by the challenge, and I've already been around to my book shelves gathering up the offending titles and planning out my reading schedule. I've also taken a trip to my local library, and to Borders, where I learned a few things:

 1. Libraries are friendly. They arrange titles by author - alphabetically, and all the books are available in an organized manner, for free, and there are knowledgeable people there to help you.

2. Book stores are less friendly. They organize things by arbitrarily assigned categories. I didn't know that 1984 was a science fiction book, while Brave New World is literature. I also didn't know that Then Again, Maybe I Won't is in the section labeled Independent Reader, while Forever is Young Adult. And now, for optimal confusion, please understand that Are You There God, It's Me Margaret is available in both categories. Of course.

3. The people at Borders hate you.

 See? I've already learned new and wonderful things. I will be making much use of my library card. Let the reading begin!