cocinar

top chef may be over, but the next iron chef has just begun. and it has one thing top chef doesn't have.

yes, my original celebrity crush, alton brown. at nine minutes into the show i could care less about the contestants, but ab is looking dapper in his dark suit and white shirt. i just hope at some point he dons a white chef's coat. i don't think that's his style. i suppose because he's not really a "chef," but a food scientist. alas, its probably all for the best. i'm not sure i'd be able to handle it.

in other events, it was a more interesting weekend than most. we had the public anthropology day yesterday, and kicked it off friday night at a U street restaurant/bar. i met a student who's starting in the program next year (she deferred), who i think i like, but can't quite tell. there were also a few prospective students there. all nice. no one spectacular. there was a guy from UT who knows the lazy eyed texan and who has a post-doc at UMD. jen got his numero de telephono, so perhaps we'll see him again. also there was this dude who spoke at the conference, who clearly had a bit of a superiority complex. he's negotiating a book deal...blah blah blah...the daily show refuses to have me on...blah, blah, blah....i got fired, but before i left the building, i had 3 new job offers...blah blah blah. then he gave me his card and said i should call him.

um, no.

the conference itself went well. i was there from 8 am to after 5, and then we all went for mexican food, where for once, i was perfectly positioned at the table. near c howe, next to suzie T, kronner on the other side, and right across from the gill. interesting conversations ensued. and mr. bookdeal was all the way at the other end of the table.

i got home around 9pm, and went directly to bed. and it felt sooo good.

today, i woke up early and wrote a proposal for a grant for the summer. i'm not feeling particularly confident about it, but its good practice if anything. and i was forced to decide on bolivia over peru, and do a little research on it. perhaps a foolish choice, considering my knowledge of peru, but we shall see how it turns out.

but while taking a break today i noticed true life, i'm a coney island side show performer was on. i didn't watch it, but it made me think those dudes that pick up heavy things with chain links pierced through their skin would be an interesting study. or something like that. who knows....

or maybe not.

once a year and worth the wait

well, as i mentioned before, it was tough to miss the fair this year. "the fair" being the Iowa State Fair (is there any other? --and to anwer you MN & TX supporters, I'd say "no"). Turns out, for the last 4 years ISF has been doing an erotic corn dog eating contest. And we've totally missed it. i guess we were too busy hanging out at the racing corner tap or gettin' loud with our schlitz ice while driving the campground in our sweet rig harassing the other film crew.




but its been making me crave those sweet, life affirming vegetarian corn dogs at the veggie table.

and marc hansen's got my back. now, i'm not one to ignore the genderist implications here. yes, i find it a bit chauvenistic. but listen, corn dogs are erotic no matter who's eating them. i've watched big bro K devour one, and its not a pleasant sight. but perhaps i'm reproducing the male gaze. though i don't really want to watch the fairest of 15 year old, tight jean wearing, horse showing, bleached haired iowa chicks eat one either.

in the end, its probably best that the contest will be shut down. but for the wrong reasons. i'm sure it will ended because the fair represents "family fun" (now here's a sexuality and citizenship project!) and somehow families and overt sexuality are not compatible (sort of the opposite of the french case-see Provencher, forthcoming). When really I see the problem as one of equality.Men are (self-)excluded. Vegetarians as of now are excluded. Those that adhere to pork dietary restrictions, and perhaps kosher-keepers are excluded. And really, I think by featuring people of all sexualities and genders (and I'm pretty sure a good representation can already be found strolling through the Varied Industries building), we destigmatize sexuality, and all have some good clean fair fun.

besides, we all know what the first rule of the fair is, and the fair board is threatening to break it.

t’áá hwó’ ají téego

the rez has stepped up its exercise program it seems. k has informed me that they are hosting a marathon (which i'm half tempted to try to train for--maybe next year), and now they've got rez robics videos. what i wouldn't give to get my hands on one of those.

now if they can just get the koolade out of city market and make taco bell "run for the border," as howard would say.

(i enjoy the leisure life at spider rock campground)

uranium en el Peru

Ah, now it makes sense
that strange sickness associated with the "meteorite" crash in Peru is now explained. It had nothing to do with zombies or aliens (as some were hoping). Nope, just good ol' US military power.

Well, that's a relief!

tiendas, té, y telefonos

last night, my phone died. i was talking to my mom and it shut off. no warning beeps. nothing. i figured the batter was dead, so i plugged it in, but it wouldn't charge. the screen wouldn't light up (but the keys would!) after about 45 minutest i gave up.

off to verizon tomorrow, i thought. and this morning i headed to chevy chase to my nearest verizon store. there i got a lovely new motorola phone, which sort of looks like a razor, only black and thicker. well, really its thinner, but deeper, if that makes sense. anyway, it seems to work just fine (and infinitely better than the dead one). but of course since no one can get the old phone to turn on, i've lots all my numbers. so if you are sad i haven't called you back or something, its probably because your number has now been lost to the evil hand of technology. best way to exact revenge is to use technology to give me your number again. but enough of that...on with the story!

my plan was to go to verizon, then to my local (not-so-social) safeway for some grocery items. but as i left verizon, i noticed trader joe's across the street. for years i have heard of the wonders of trader joe's. i've never stepped foot inside one though. until today. and i, quite honestly, was a little disappointed. maybe i'm just cheap, but i expected better deals. the only cheapness i was amazed at was the veggie burgers. $2.69 is damn good. but the selection was lousey. in the end i decided on fake chicken nuggets and mcribbs. roll your eyes, yes, but back when i was a meat eater nothing excited me more than the McLean McDonalds advertising that the "McRibb is Back!" I was even known to eat them on the way to track meets. Hm. No wonder I could never keep up with Heidi Knapp. Anyway, again, back to the story. Most disappointingly, there was no cheap wine! Isn't that the whole point of Trader Joe's? In the end I got a lovely selection of things that Safeway does not carry. Maté, quinoa, tempeh, organic veggie soups, organic rasins, white cheddar mac & cheese, etc. But I don't think I'll be going back. It seemed just like whole foods, only with about 10% of the selection. I'll stick to safeway for now, perhaps with periodic wholefoods runs for those crazy grains i like so much.

goodies from joe's

Trader Joe's on the other hand did add quite a bit to my internal fieldnotes contributing to an ethnography of grocery stores. I guess i first thought of food stores as anthropological sites, back in the rez days. i was always so intrigued by city market. the giant bags of blue corn flour, and raw wool, stacked next to rows and rows of koolaid. the new york post cards. my beloved salad bar. it was an amazing place. contrasting your average rural supermarket with a Dominick's in Chicago, Shoprite in New York, or Safeway in DC is pretty fascinating. Not to mention throwing in a C town town. In the end Trader Joe's ranks somewhere between whole foods and A&P, but it definitely has a granola appeal the others don't. Sure wholefoods seems to be aimed at the same crowd, but I'd argue they're catering more toward the post-granola yuppie bunch that now votes with their checkbooks rather than making their voices heard in the streets. But that's just an initial impression.

I thought of Andy today too, and the mental schema of grocery stores that we expect. I clearly had problems today. I missed the baskets as I walked in, and took one from a stack behind a checkout. the checker gave me a strange look. not stern, a little confused, but more of a "why the hell are you doing that?" sort of thing. I wandered around, back to front basically (produce last), and couldn't find what i was looking for. I basically went through the store 3 times before i was satisfied with my choices. i got up to the counter (with the same checker), and placed my basket to be rung up. i put my small tote-bag-ish purse on the counter to take out my wallet, and he just left all the food on the counter. did he think i was going to fit it all in that bag? i do like the idea they assume you'll bring your own bag. not even wholefoods does that (at least around here). i could see plastic bags hanging behind him. we had a bit of a stand off. i eventually put a few things in my tote bag, before he reached around the side and pulled out a paper bag. ah! there they are. so now i know. if only there were going to be a "next time."

fin de semana

friday was a really great day. i went with jag and blondie to a congressional briefing on slums. very interesting. apparently brazil has got it figured out (well, more than the rest of the world, at least). no real policy solutions though.

then i noticed hollywood video was closing and bought 4 dvds.

then i read some durkheim.

then i got my stipend check.

then a bunch of us went to heritage india. good times. the first picture of me in dc was taken.

today was less exciting, with the bank telling me my check wouldn't be avaliable for 5 business days, and plenty more durkheiming. but i'm done now! at least until i have to write about him. but that's a good 5 days away. i also cleaned my kitchen today and did some cabinet rearranging. it was much needed. oh, how i love method.

to end the day, i watched volver, finally, and it was pretty wonderful. i want to watch it with my mom & lou. speaking of which, its mamaH's birthday today. which means mine is less than a month away. i think i'm going to buy myself a pair of nice jeans for the occasion. its probably time to start a search. away we go....

el peru y escuela

apparently, crazy things have been happening in el Peru lately. apparently a meteor is causing all sorts of illness.

now, on to the good stuff. its officially been a month of school, and i thought i'd do some follow up impressions. the jag, otto & perhaps delf are becoming friends. though things started slowly, i think the department is solidifying a bit. i even feel comfortable with aud, e.e., the gill, and d-vra. i never see el peruano, but when i do (like yesterday) we have nice friendly, short conversations. i even think i might like the frat boy more than i thought.
aside from that, i'm vp of the gsc, working on a spring conference, and generally feeling less stupid and more smart. though i often have moments....

all in all things are good, and there's an "executive meeting" planned for tomorrow night.

amig@s de classe

the school week started out rather awfully. the leap's class was rather brutal. i went in understanding. i left in a state of confusion. but in the end i think it will be fine. once i figure out what i'm doing this project on. ugh. and as murph pointed out, i think the class discussion dynamic has a lot to do with it. we are too abrupt. too abrasive, and too quick to change subjects. no time to contemplate connections or larger aspects. and of course when i say "we," i really mean "they."

c howe class was fine. nothing much to report as i told gill after he asked me what he missed. and i got the camera finally. the battery chargers were no where to be found, but gill brought me the one from his camera today, so crisis averted. and i finished my copyediting. it felt like being back at nyrb. except no borden. and a much crappier computer (mine).

class tonight was pretty enjoyable. d'kone seemed to think we were all pretty anti-weberian, but i'm a fan of ol' darth. but then again, i'm in a class of a bunch of people who do gentrification, esl, education, and tourism stuff. i guess i should expect a marxian leaning. i tried to defend his interpretive efforts as best i could.

and tomorrow i go to the field. well not the real field. but a field no less. jc, 7s, blondies. all excellent field locations. i know how to pick them i guess. i'm still not packed though. better get on top of that.

comidas

so, i've been trying to stick to this 8 foods to eat every day thing. well, really only 7. i haven't even attempted walnuts. i haven't done them all, every day, but carrots, tomatoes, blueberries, spinach, yogurt, black beans, and oats (oatmeal) have made up a large part of my diet.

i've always been a big fan of oatmeal
especially the peaches & creme variety

vanilla yogurt & blueberries...
i never really liked those little blue guys (its the texture)
but i guess they're alright

black bean burrito with tomato salsa, spinach & cheddar cheese (plus lemonade)
quite possibly the greatest meal ever

so, i'm not sure how long this will last. probably until i go to the grocery store next (which won't be until the end of the week when i finally get PAID!). but its food i like and apparently its good for me (not that it comes as any shock). i'm just not sure how many ways i can eat black beans and salsa before getting tired of them. i might try to eat each thing 3 or 4 times a week. it seems more do-able. with room for other things in there too. too bad potatoes aren't on the list. i could eat them every meal, every day, and every time a different way. that should be a poem.

lentes y bigotes

rumor has it that the mets were handing out 20,000 fake mustaches to their fans tonight at shea. apparently keith hernandez was named as some winner of top twenty mustaches or something. google is disappointing in terms of providing some confirmation, but what i would have given to be there! like my own personal glasses convention.



alas, it wasn't meant to be. instead i read some darth weber, watched 3 eppisodes of what not to wear, and finished the evening off with alton and a glass of smoking loon pinot noir.

and now, as usual, i can't sleep. i'm contemplating doing some more copy editing for c howe, but i'm much more interested in reading blogs apparently. and i have to get up early tomorrow.

historia

its funny how history creeps up on you. such strange ways.


i was looking at old marky marx notes from the dale, and noticed the way i drew arrows was different back then. later in the notes from that semester i had begun drawing them they way i do now, and suddenly i remembered, zig draws them this way. he always sat next to me in johnny mac's class, and convinced me that his way was superior. as i think back, i'm not totally convinced now. aesthetically, i like the old way better.


but i think i'm stuck. its natural now. like a maussian technique of the body. those arrows, that time of my life, that history will be a part of me forever. and in a way that makes me really happy. even if i never speak to zig again, or any of the anthropology nouveauers again (which is unlikely, thankfully), i hope that someday, one of them will look at something random and realize what a role i played in the changing of that one small thing.

oy, german ideology is getting to me.

puedes llamarme cheney

well, i'm now officially the vp of the department student council. which means i also get to be on the cas grad student council, oh boy! not the most exciting of things, but it does feel good to have some sort of say about the environment i'm in.
and i like the other people i'm working with, at least in the dept. we've got e.e. as president, the jag, otto, tudy (that's a contraction for ted-judy), and a few other people who seem nice. the "meeting" we had to "elect" each other was actually really full of laughter, and enjoyable.

i watched jarhead last night. i don't think i'm going to use it for my paper, but it was fairly entertaining, and i took notes, so if i want to use it later, i guess i can.

i have a lot of thoughts on straightness (versus straightness), and the queering of heterosexuality, and stuff, but i'm not in the mood to write it all out. perhaps later. perhaps

no los tenian hambre

well, the bears lost their first game. rather depressing considering the 7-0 start they had last year. fortunately, the mildcats won yesterday, so the weekend wasn't a total waste in terms of football.

its times like this i need a little pick me up


ah, the glory days...

be a woman. be a fan.

the doorbell rings, and woman 1 opens the door, sporting a trendy giants tank top. woman 2 enters, wearing a similar (but distinct) shirt, and they engage in a "secret handshake" style greeting. woman 3 enters wearing a giants track jacket, and a similar greeting ensues. woman 4 enters, wearing a similar trendy tank top, only in green with the jets logo prominently displayed across her chest. she's met with "hello," and a cold stare.

it was clearly marketed exactly to me.

the commercial ends with the postscript: "be a woman. be a fan."

so, of course i immediately went to http://www.reebok.com/ to check out the collection. i was pleased to see that in addition to the skimpy tank tops, there were jerseys, yoga pants, jackets, hoodies, even sandals (though they only came in pink and gray). so, i'm left pondering, what exactly does this mean?

clearly it parallels (or parodies) male interaction. but i'm a little put off by it. certainly the recognition that women do watch nfl, and are a key demographic/money-holding consumers, is overdue. but the portrayal on the commercial was offputting. and in theory, i do like the slogan. yes, one can be a woman (not chick, not girl, not lady, but strong confident, but at times feminine, if that suits you) and enjoy watching football. i'm all for that. but the visuals of the commercial indicate something far different. its ok to watch football as long as you're still cute, still feminine, sexualized, and maintaining what are considered female relationships. while on one hand i would be equally as critical if woman 1 had accepted the jets fan similarly to women 2 and 3, it also seems to reinfoce the cultural notion that women, are petty, catty, and don't get along (as exemplified in oh, so many seasons of the apprentice and many other reality shows as of late).

so, in short, i'm glad reebok finally wisened up and started marketing to women, even if i don't agree with the way they're continuing to relegate women's fandom to a purely "female" realm (and objectify/sexualize in the meantime). but don't fret. you won't catch me wearing this next sunday.

listas

i talked to mama H last night, and she was telling me about an article she read that listed 8 things to eat every day. it seems like a decent list and the only thing i really don't like on it is walnuts. i actually went grocery shopping yesterday (before said conversation), so i'm all stocked up, but next time i go food shopping, i'm totally abiding by this list. we'll see how it works out from there, but it seems worthy of a trial.

i also watched tim gunn's guide to style last night (after 2 episodes of the shockingly similar what not to wear, clearly exposing is derrivitave form), and enjoyed that tim made it simple with a list of 10 things every woman should own.

my closet

surprisingly, i actually own most of them, in one form or another. i'm sure if the gunn came to my closet (conveniently located in my living room), he would judge most or all of them inappropriate, ill fitting, ill constructed, or unflattering, but i'm proud to know that i at least have some sense of what one should be wearing. really, the only thing i don't own is a cashmere sweater (though i do own a few cheaper sorts), and perhaps a "sweatsuit alternative." though i'm not really sure what qualifies and what does not. i imagine my yoga pants and zippered fleece outfit may be an alternative to a sweatsuit, but not quite within the bounds of tim's constraints.

chicas

well, i think i officially might have 2 friends now. the jag, otto & i got pizza and beer tonight. and i like them way more than i anticipated. not that i didn't think i'd like them, but they're supercool. i think we're all going to the antiwar march next weekend. they've both had rather interesting lives though, and i'm not so sure i have. we're all veggie too, which makes sharing food easy.

i also went to the preliminary session for the greenberg lectures today, which is supposed to teach me how to teach. funny thing is, i keep thinking about how this is basically what my dad does, and i never really thought of his work as connected to mine. i can even get a stipend for going to an education related conference, which would be pretty awesome. meet the 'ol dad at a conference and not mooch! unheard of! or if i actually have something to present at an anthro conference i could use it for that. though i don't really anticipate that happening any time soon...perhaps next year.

i've read ridiculously little this week, so i'm forcing myself to stay in all weekend and get some work done. k tu invited everyone to some club tomorrow night, and if jag and the mister go, i might, but likely i'll get myself a six pack, get platoon from the library, and give it a first go. whoo!

no bueno

i'm hormonal. i know. but it doesn't make it any better. i'm so annoyed/saddened/depressed by people today. no one has done anything mean. in fact i haven't really talked to anyone. i said hello to two people, and briefly talked to the leap. mostly just saying "yes, its marx, and no i don't really want to be reading it.

but somehow i'm scoffing at all of them.

i've got a conference call at 3, group meeting at 7, and class from 8-11. ugh. but then my week is over (& on to a weekend of reading. at least its not marx!)

never trust an archaeologist

i often forget this....and then suddenly, i'm snapped back into the realization that it should be the central tennant of my life.

but that's beside the point.

i was worried c howe was pissed over the copyright situation, but it seemed fine when i talked to her. she also approved of my "hanging out" as participant observation, so a ny/nj visit is planned for sometime soon. class, otherwise, was disappointing. all these wonderful monographs. malinowski, geertz, rosaldo (even mead i can enjoy). but the discussion fell flat. first i had to endure a 30 minute "history of anthropology" lesson, in which i drew pictures of armchairs and elephants. then on to the meat (lentils)! but the class is too full of International Service people and undergrads, and I feel selfconscious dominating the conversation. i kept wanting to say things about reflexive anthropology, the crisis of representation, ortner, chagnon & neel, practice theory, writing culture, but it just didn't work. we were even forced to endure a peer-created activity in which we watched a clip of a "friends" episode and reply to it as a "classic anthropologist" and a post-interpretive-paradigm (post-cadillac?) anthropologist. c. was in my group and i made a good point about reflexivity, but it wasn't repeated to the full group. fair enough.

now i'm home, working on this damn dv project. it should be done by friday, and i'll be relieved. i'm watching top chef and eating a little chic pea salad. and its miraculously good considering the contents of my fridge were chic peas, salad dressing, feta, and yogurt. an inspired combination, perhaps.

saltar

its been a leap-ful day. i woke up to an email which put me in a bad mood. i got some good reading done in the library this morning, then had a meeting with him, where my frustrations were relieved, and a topic (which i actually am quite comfortable with) was decided upon.

i went to best buy and then cvs looking for printer ink, but apparently hp74 is a hard one to find. i've been on the quest for a week. at this point its time to order online. i also talked to lou, who seems to be having an amazing time.

eventually i went to class, and was worried about class discussion, but somehow...we started talking about the butter cow. we were discussing citizenship as lived experience, and a guy in the class, who is a hip-hop dance teacher was talking about the subjectivity of dance and "the good citizen" vis a vis ballet as "high art" versus hip hop as "low art." Ah, my entry! i though. so i suggested that depending on place and class, sometimes what is perceived by outsiders as "low art" can by symbolic of citizenship. its sense of tradition, belonging and place make it a good candidate, at least for a liberal interpretation of citizenship, and i think, especially in iowa, the idea of the fair as a political place, in which presidential candidates are pretty much required to appear, makes the whole space somewhat politicized, and connected to citizenship. and, no, i wasn't ranting. and people kept bringing it up again. and they want to see pictures!

and then class ended with us all crowding around a little macbook to watch this:

tengo una sofá

it was a big weekend. i stayed in friday night, but went to the bar to see the nu game on saturday. it was wholly different than the blondie's experience, but fun in its own way. plus, i heard reports that blondie's was tame, sans becky, and therefore sans purple shots. the 'cats won handily, though they weren't looking in top form which gives me pause. the big deal of the afternoon of course was app st.'s mountaineers taking the wolverines for a ride. normally, i probably would have derrived a decent amount of glee from this outcome, but since its bij's backyard i had to smile. the game was topped off by some young michigan alum shouting at a former mountaineer who clearly hated sleeves (oh, there's nothing more american...) after dinner at mr. beirut's (as mentioned in a previous post) i finally finished das kapital. you'd think by that point i'd have no problem falling asleep, but as usual, insomnia hit, so i read a diary in the strict sense of the term for a while.


sunday was swell, with a visit from K. we went to ikea where i purchased a couch. i think its the most expensive thing i have ever debited (rather than credited), which is probably sort of sad, but was pretty exciting at the time. there was much debate over what color (slipcover) to get. the patterns were too crazy and distracting, the colors were either too bright or too beige. i wanted something light, since the apartment's sort of dark anyway, so eventually i went with teh white. i suppose time will tell how it will work out. but i'll definitely have to impose the no red foods rule on myself.


sunday evening we saw superbad, then eventually went to rock bottom for some food. of course the chicken was not taken off my pizza as requested, but i suppose a little meat juice is good for the soul every once in a while. unfortunately, the onion rings were cold. we came back and watched some tv before passing out on the couch (yup, it passed test #1).


today i did quite a bit of work for both cic & c howe, but of course no work for school. i should probably read some of argonauts of the western pacific before bed though...

un ver nuevo

so, you may have noticed the new look of the blog.
i guess the best explanation is, i was bored (meaning, i was procrastinating).

and i got rid of the whole lima time thing. don't worry. i'm still on lima time, mentally, but you know...

i suppose that's all i have to say for now. mas, muy pronto

comidas y mas

tonight was one of those great nights, that started off as any other, but ended with a sort of splendid simplicity.


i was again invited by bij and the lebanese to dinner. also invited were mr. beirut's roommate, and (mr. beirut-too), and the third, young beirutee woman. the troops assembled, and we set to work making delicious cilantro chicken (black bean for me) tacos, with homemade guac, pico de gallo, and fresh corn tortillas. when that project was well on its way, ms. beirut (soon to be dr. beirut) and i set upon the task of dessert. peach and blueberry cobbler. it was easy enough, but such an adult dinner, eventually consumed on beirut-too's "heirloom" table.



so the food was delicious, and made with "the luv" as fireboy would say. but the conversation with these people, half of whom i met tonight, was rather inspired. it ranged from mescaline cacti & hallucinogenic mushrooms, to the lebanese war and the insecurities (incompetencies?) of doctors. there were no outrageous moments, but the whole evening seemed to sparkle. and i realized, i guess this was what i was always searching for in new york. that semi-adult life where you are still too poor to reasonably eat out nightly, but wealthy enough (in one way or another) to enjoy a fine meal (and beverages) with friends who are truly interesting and enlightening.


not to say that new york was completely absent of this for me. but it came in spurts. pizza making here, a long walk there. absolutely, i have wonderful friends there who are truly interesting and enlightening, but somehow the circumstances rarely led to those magical nights. maybe its economics, or transportation, or lack of a suitable venue. who knows. i'm just glad i found it here, even if its fleeting.

piedras nuevas

well, its the weekend. i spent my friday night (and most of the day, too) reading Capital vol. I. I'm still about 40 pages from the end, but i'm all Marxed out right now. So I decided to do something productive and finally clean maryanne's home.

now her rocks match my big green rug, which is still shoved in a closet. one of these days i'll either put it in the living room or my bedroom. it all depends on other slow-moving decorating decisions. but my big plan for the weekend (other than reading more Marky Marx) is to buy a couch. yes, the ikea couch everyone owns, but i think its about all will fit through the doorway and stairs to this place. and its cheap.

alright...back to the marxercising.

that's the way....

we all know i have a deep love for all things iowan (except football, of course). well, those hawkeyes outdid themselves now! they've finally (though, before the rest of us) wisened up and made good on their constitution's guarentee of equal treatment. who knows how long it will stand, but for now, i've gotta give them props.

[side note: i think that's the first time i've ever used "props" in that sense, and i'm a little embarassed, but i'll let it stand]

sure, missing my yearly iowa trip (and therefore, missing my yearly veggie corn dog) has left me with a soft spot, but iowa is shooting up to the top of my list of favorite states. at least until november 3.

"i'll tell you what's great:
the hawkeye state
of I-O-WA!"

on not leaping to conclusions

just got to give a shout out to my man, the leap, in his comment about larry craig. sure its a tiny snippet at the end of a long article, but its a good way to close. and i'm pleasantly surprised at msnbc for actually consulting a social scientist!

viva los grabowskis!

well, it looks as if, (if they'll let me), the grabowskis may be the subject of a research methods project. i'm still not totally convinced this is the right way to go (being off season and 4 hours away), but there are finer points to the idea (already having rapport, a backlog of data, and a reason to visit). c howe seems to like it. i'll have to contemplate though, how i'll get around the whole participant observation thing....

in other anthropologically related news, i got to return $168 worth of books today. woohooo! of course tomorrow i'm going to have to make another big book purchase, but it shouldn't be quite as substantial. which means i'm closer to totally convincing myself its time to buy a couch this weekend. which means i'll have a place to read other than my bed. which means i might not sleep so much, and actually finish reading things.....ah, its a vicious circle of books, money, and sleep.....

muchos libros

i bought some books today. over $200 worth. most of them seem pretty good. most that is. included in the lot were some darth weber, durkheim diggler, and marky marx. which aren't necessarily my favorites, but aren't as bad as say, bourdon't. or giddy giddens. anyhow, in the mix is some mary douglas, abu-lughod, and my personal favorite, a book called g-strings and sympathy, among a few others.

i also went on a library tour, where i ran into el peruano. the library is tiny! but in a way that means its easier to navigate than the spaceship, and its not under construction like morris. it seems that you have to rely pretty heavily on the consortium, but hopefully that will work out. plus, in the days of online journals, you can do a lot without paper at all, really. i also found out that there are 2 computers with final cut on them, which is handy to know. and dvds can actually be checked out of the library. so once i actually own a dvd player, that will be just lovely.

i had lunch at guapo's with the wolf's namesake, which was nice. yay! friends! i'm gearing up for my first class and meeting with my advisor tomorrow. scary, but exciting, i suppose.

la nell nueva

so, i'm somehow coming out of my shy shell a bit.
i was actually doing a good job of starting conversations with people on friday at orientation, then last night, i made my big move and went to the party alone! and it was great!

it was a small party, with around 10 guests, so it turned out that everyone was basically in one big conversation. which was great, because it was less pressure on me, but i still felt involved. and i met two other people working on "body" stuff. lots of people i think i'll get along with really well.

plus there are a few 1st year people i have high hopes for. i think after visiting carbondale this summer i was really anxious about how the friendship component would turn out. i realized there that mags, kim, tami, jerry, zig, frank, yukitec, etc really were a great crew and how much i really do miss them. which then made me too quick to judge others. i think its all going to work out.

now my major stress is the leap's class. some of the people at the party made me a little worried. mostly because i totally don't get the althussier. i've got time to re-read though. and hopefully no judgements will be made too early into the semester. ah!

el dia primero

today was orientation. i have a few thoughts...
-c. how looks like heather graham
-the leap is as awesome as i remember
-i am quite glad to have made the acquaintance of the vine
-the 1st year students were less than enthralling, but will make adequate friends
(perhaps, some day i'll be good friends with them, and give them the address to my blog, and they will read back-posts, and hopefully won't be offended-because its not a bad thing. just that none of them strike me as my new best friend. no new wives here).

the last few days i've been trying to remember what i was feeling those first days in carbondale.
so, in case i have similar memory problems of my first thoughts here, i will briefly describe the people and my impressions.
-fratty boy with MA from UMD, does some sort of gentrification stuff ("perhaps in latin america")
-peruvian guy who will likely fill the void left by mr. s espinosa, batres, y rodriguez. not as outgoing as the 3 of them, but not as creepy as c-los. and probably the only good conversation i had today. he studies indigenous development in the peruvian rainforest.
-quiet bio girl who studies "the effects of culture on the skeleton"
-former military guy who studies gentrification. he is the subject of the most exciting thing that happened today.
-older woman getting a MAPA studying similar gentrification issues. she is aunt judy's cool doppleganger.
-older (than me) phd guy who's interests i don't remember, but he may have talked me into being his vice president of the CAS grad student council.
-married woman with specs appeal and an MA from Temple who studies tourism
-MAPA girl from florida who seems like someone i would have been good friends with in high school
-young guy who's mom does some sort of massive international public health something. after hearing he lived on the rez for a while, i wanted to talk to him, but after hearing him talk more i was less convinced of this fact
-another woman who's interests i don't recall, but i do remember that she, like most othrers, does US work.
-a young mother who has "good stories" and souvenirs from Zimbabwe, with a Masters in Ed, who is working on public school issues
-Youngish girl from Oregon doing ESL issues, who reminds me of Ra.Lo. vaguely. Someone who i would have known and liked in college, but not necessarily on the inner circle. i'd say she has the most wife potential. but i'm still not convinced.

now, for the most exciting part of the day: we had a little break in between speakers, and it was suggested we stand up and stretch. we complied, and the next thing we knew, one of the guys and fallen to the floor and was having what looked like a ceisure. he got up right away and was confused and didn't know what had happened. emts came and checked him out. he was fine, but it was a little crazy. quite a way to be introduced to a cohort.

anyway, so i'm left contemplating this party tomorrow night. they did seem to go out of their way to invite 1st year students, and i want to meet more people. plus it starts fairly early, so i could do a quick appearance and leave smoothly, most likely, if its awkward. i'm not well-known for my ability to strike up a conversation with strangers, but i figure i can always ask what their specialities (pronounced spe-see-al-i-tees, if you please) are.

google maps failed me

i got my student id today. and it actually looks like me. people tell me all the time my drivers license doesn't look like me. the woman at PP told me "you are much more lovely than that picture." even i can see how much my siu id looks like i paid someone else to be in the picture for me.

afterwards, i set out for target, but google directions kept telling me to turn the wrong way on one way streets, and take exits that didn't exist. but after about 3 determined hours and 4 trips back & forth between dc & va, i finally found it. its actually quite simple. but more importantly, there is a goodwill next door. so i bought a pair of pant to turn into some lovely bermuda shorts, and an alarmclock. which makes me realize i've done a rather poor job lately of buying used when possible. i do have a lot of used furniture which i am glad about, and in the kitchen i'm generally good at reusing. but i've been a poor consumer with clothing.

at target, i got a good fix for my method addiction and bought 2 pinot noirs. mmmmmm......

mi cocina

there have been requests for photos of the apartment.

the kitchen is the only room i'd consider "done" in any capacity.

















the cactus mama H bought me the day i moved into Hobart House


























note the beaker magnet on the fridge



















i'm pretty sure both of these thai food products were purchased in 2003. so i emptied them and reused. pretty, exotic, and recycled!

mixtec, zapotec, xinka, moche, y aguarana

i worked all day yesterday writing little reports on the above mentioned indigenous groups. plus i did a long summary of santeria. i wish my job had involved more of this while i was actually working full time.

afterwards, i was a little burnt out so i opened my $7 bottle of wine. it wasn't very good. but i drank about half of it while watching crappy tv. then i made a frozen pizza, which made the kitchen & living room really hot, so i thought about making it ndt, but being alone, that just seemed a little too pathetic. i went to bed far earlier than usual, but still didn't wake up until the usual time this morning.

i was more productive today. i actually took a shower, and i called some au offices to find out about student ids and parking. oh, what an exciting life i lead.

the district

well, maybe not exactly. i'm not sure what exactly delineates the district from dc. i was under the impression they were one and the same, but clinton, knower of all but deutschland apparently insists otherwise.

anyway, i seem to be somewhat settled. despite my mattress on the floor and lack of couch, its almost homey feeling. and now there is internet! and i went to target today! and i've been doing art projects!

i have plenty of reading to do though. and ms. E. wants me to work more, which i'm not excited about, but should probably do, especially if i want to actually buy a couch. for now, here is my tv chair

i've been seeing megan a lot. well, not a terrible lot, but more than anyone else. i've been quite the hermit in my little basement apartment, that i'm rather growing in love with.

the whole situation reminds me quite a bit of my first days in the dale. forcing myself to take trips into town for one thing or another. spending hours reading books for free at barnes & noble. unbearable heat. hermit-like activities. molly was a nice distraction from that lifestyle, but megan fills the void better. its hard to have so much free time while knowing you're simply on the cusp of no time whatsoever. but i am rather enjoying it. catching up on bravo!'s programming, doing laundry, arranging and rearranging my furniture, strolling through the internet in search of things i would buy for my apartment if i had more money.

so, i went to the dale. and it was lovely.




we went to mugsy's, and i had lovely talks with frank & dan. yuki was there, and kim too, along with mags-who both noticed two girls in the corner looking at me. we couldn't decide if they were lesbians or just emo girls, but their staring convinced us of the former. we had to take a bathroom trip all together so i could look at them inconspicuously. kim says i could do better. i certainly hope so.


ponger also came and was tellling me about presenting a paper this year at the lavendar languages conference at au. he met bill and i asked if he met e. patrick, which he confirmed, but i also wonder what exactly he means by "met" (sir, i mean ma'am!). --speaking of which i found my birthday card from the anthropology nouveau cohort the other day, and got all sentimental. not that the whole trip wasn't sentimental--after the bar, frank and i went to denny's. i think the only two times i've been to that denny's were with frank. both quite late at night.


saturday, i got up late and went to panera--i said it was a sentimental trip--then watched apocalypto with frank. which, as zach would say, was "less than interesting." then dan came over with his dog, who was adorable, and actually liked me (and she doesn't like the hippie girls matt brings over, apparently). we made food to take to the potluck, and then went to coryn's.


first, we stopped at westside liquors for drinks. i bought a 6 pack, and then realized i had left my wallet in my car. frank paid for me (note: dumbass move #1). as we pulled up in frank's sweet minivan, he said "nobody fall in the ditch! carlo fell in last time we were here." i made some smartass comment about being capapble of getting out of the car.


the potluck was good, mostly. candy was there, along with her husband, who i ended up talking to more than i wanted, but i also got to meet yata tanaka's new boyfriend who was as dorky and strange as described, but nice. quite a few new people who also seemed nice and relatively normal. and coryn was very nice. for an archaeologist.


after a few hours, 2 beers, and some of steve's amazing! pineapple upsidedown cake, we decided to leave to get frank's (after)party started. we took my dip & chips, plus mags's chips & dip. i carried all of it, for some reason. when we walked outside it was about 9:15 and completely dark. apparently, the southwest side of carbondale has a lot in common with evanston when it comes to lighting. as we walked across the yard i said, "ok, now is the time i'll fall in the ditch." frank said "what?" and i started to repeat myself. when i got to the "i'll" i tried to make the step from the yard to the driveway to avert the ditch, but misstepped, and consequently scraped my entire body down the side of the driveway and into the ditch, throwing both bags of chips and all the dip in the air (dumbass move #2).


i had to sit there for a minute, i was laughing so hard. eventually, i got up and we gathered the salvageable remnants of the food. frank had a roll of papertowels in his sweet minivan which i used to sop up blood. i'm so smooth.


eventually we got back and i cleaned up most of the blood. i started on my first boone's farm. mags came shortly afterwards, and brought a few farm products with her too. eventually, quite a crew was there. jessica, a new archaeologist, yuki, mags, and then zach and val came. i was pretty apprehensive about seeing zach, since i never really told him goodbye, and our friendship was sort of in shambles when i left. even though neither of us would have admitted it at the time. but it was really good to see him. he's going to florida for his ph.d. and val's going with him. i guess that's what married people do. weird.


at some point, dan started mixing us mojitos, that got progressively stronger. and then ponger showed up with a strange entourage. but then again, when does he not come with random people in tow. i talked to some guy getting a bio ph.d about the politics of speaking spanish vs. english for a while. and dan was apparently mesmerized by one of ponger's latina lady friends. and i don't mean ladyfriend. at least i don't think anyway.


we stayed up until 4 am, or so, and i ended up sleeping really late on sunday. i basically just got up, made my rounds saying goodbyes, and then drove home. i miss them all a lot. and i've never regretted leaving (especially being there and hearing how often complaints about funding come up), but i wish there was some way i could see them more.

el autobus

so, last time i took the chinatown bus to dc, i had a lovely experience on the way down. fiend said he also liked the apex bus. so i figured they were alright by me, and boarded the bus back to ny cheerfully. the ride was fine, until half way between exits 6 & 7a in jersey, when suddenly the bus swerved and then filled with the smell of burning rubber. yes, a tire had gone flat when the driver swerved to avoid a merging sedan. The driver slowed down as we rambled along to the next rest stop. fortunately, it was a mere 5 miles away. at the rest stop, we disembarked and tooled around the parking lot. After about an hour a pickup truck delivered a new tire, it was replaced and after a two hour delay we were back on the road. it was not a particularly pleasant experience, but everyone took it in stride and the driver was very friendly, funny, and amusing. I decided I would make a concerted effort not to let the unavoidable mishap affect my future bus company decisions.

then last week, when buying my ticket for this weekend, i went straight to apex. i booked the ticket, and arrived at 88 e. broadway on time. as usual, we left about an hour late, but that was to be expected. however, about 4 blocks into the trip, the bus suddenly began to reek of feces. as i looked around everyone was straining not to make a face. i, and my seatmate as i learned later, thought it was just the stoplight at which we were stopped. but as the light turned green and we continued, the smell remained. people started to buzz about it. a young man stood up and announced that he had gone to use the restroom, but the seat was covered in poop. he had accidentally gotten it on his pants. now it was on his seat as well. so the troops sprung into action. the guy was offered a pair of pants to change into. he was given anti-bacterial waterless soap. we covered the seat in newspapers. perfume was sprayed. the overhead shafts were opened. it became somewhat bearable.

at the third or fourth rest stop avaliable, we stopped, disembarked, and the bathroom was cleaned, or simply shut. its hard to say. the unfortunate young man used the rest stop bathroom to clean himself up more. the seat was sprayed more. the faint aroma of feces still hung lightly in the air, but it was bearable. unfortunately, the bathroom was officially off limits, so a stop was required every hour or so. which turned the 4 hour bus ride into one that was 6 1/2 hours. But eventually i arrived in dc. made it to dupont, and met my parents.

but the unfortunate day did not end there. after changing out of my traveling (pajama) shorts, we went in search of food. we settled on a little italian place called La Tomate where instead of being served fetuccine verde e veggies i was served fetuccine verde with piping red meat sauce. with some switching of entrees and eating around shrimp, it was fine. until about 1/2 way through the meal when papa h bit down on a piece of clear glass. he wasn't hurt, and we got our meals for free. i even got free tiramisu out of the deal.

today while serving myself a whole foods salad, i poured about 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar down my leg. but it was far enough from my crotch that it didn't appear i wet my pants. close call.

but prior to my vinegary mishap, i did secure a cute 1br apartment in a lovely neighborhood. sure its a basement, and not particularly close to the metro, but its near the bus right to campus, near to georgetown and i'll have use of a little yard. and it has a dishwasher & washer/dryer. and i don't have to worry about it any more. those keys are jingling in my pocket.

examen de pub

last night k & i met mo & spat in hoboken for quiz. it was our first time there and the set up was similar to hooters, only with legit questions and a crowd that was....more our speed. we didn't win (we had one shut out round), but we did win free shots. and this quiz has no entry fee, so who can complain? plus, it was good to get one last quiz in before departing, even if there was no turd place.

the moving process is coming along. i have a bunch of stuff in boxes. no one wants my furniture. not surprising considering its quality, but a little disappointing. maybe someone will take it when i put it out for big trash. my goal is to get the dresser out thursday, at least. maybe even the desk too.

i still have a long list of tasks, including getting euros, paying bills, and finding a storage place, but it seems managable. its all really starting to hit me. i'm LEAVING. i've always had a love/hate relationship with this place, but as much as i've tried to deny it, its been home. i do see people i know on the street. i feel like people have my back at the bar. its comfortable. but, i've never been one to be afraid of change so i'm trying to charge forward without looking back. its comforting knowing, however, that the jc will be just a short bus ride away.

nel pastel

as you may have noticed, i changed the address of the blog. in fact, you'd have to notice to get here.

i had been thinking that nellinperu wasn't really working anymore, since i am dragging my writing out far beyond my time in lima (though, for now, the title's staying lima time). this weekend, the perfect name hit me. so there it is. nel(l) pastel. no cake. no way, jose.

anyway, there's your explanation. sort of. more about the moving experience coming soon.

viernes

its been a long week of work. it started sunday when i worked noon to around 8pm, then worked from home from 9-9:30 (while watching the sopranos & eating pizza from pizzaland). the week has been long, but i was worried i'd have to miss softball. fortunately, it looks like i'll be able to get out of here in about an hour.

i also suffered my first allergy attack of the season. not the worst ever, but sleeping was next to impossible.

all this adds up to not accomplishing much in the moving department. here is what i have done:
essentially sorted all of my clothing into 4 piles (store in NJ--winter clothes, ship home--summer clothes, take to paris, get rid of). i also cleaned out my two top drawers which contained a wide array of cosmetics, lotions, first aid materials, hair stuff, and other random health and grooming products & equipment.

so, things are moving slowly but surely i suppose you could say. and the weekend should be better, i have a fun upperwestside saturday morning/afternoon planned, followed by a queens slumberparty (note the pun). i also might see nancy drew, despite scathing reviews

I'm looking forward to it all. Hopefully this will keep my mind off all the stress

siento mejor, en parte porque el chupacabra

things are a bit better as of last night.



i'm not sure what it was, but immediately things seemed better. clearer, easier. and we talked. it wasn't a perfect talk. i still have misgivings about it. mostly the sentance (we'll try it and hopefully in 6 years this can work out). not that i disagree necessarily, but i guess i expected a different response. an "of course this will all work out" sort of thing. but i respect what i got more, i suppose. its more realistic. more us.



i've always said the relationship has been defined by its practicality. there were never fireworks. never the honeymoon phase. and in a way i want that (which i said last night), but in other ways, i realize that those things wear off, and who knows what you're left with. at least i know exactly whats in the middle, because there's no frosting on top. hell, maybe i've even got a twinkie on my hands here.

another interesting, and fairly accurate point was brought up, but i am the one delaying things. which in a way is true. i mean, i've never wanted to rush into anything. but i think i'm often blind to my own influences on situations. everyone tells me the same thing. you have to say exactly what you want. and i always try. but i have a lot of masculine pride burried somewhere in my feminine frame. i don't want to be needy. i don't want to be demanding. i don't want to cry or in any way manipulate. but maybe those things are necessary at certain times. like balance, love is not a noun. it is a verb. an active verb. a constant struggle. a constant shift.



anyway, so who knows what will happen, but i've got 3 weeks to enjoy things as they are and i do believe i'll make the most of it. starting with a fun filled saturday of amnh, blondies, and maybe even a free concert in central park...

buscando para una casita y amor

well, the homehunt was a failure. i had 3 appointments, but 2 were already rented by the time i got there. the third was a studio in a big complex. it was ok. livable. close to whole foods, and not terribly terribly far from the metro. but nothing worth coveting. so i'm passing on it. perhaps this will prove to be a foolish move, but i think i should keep looking. maybe the realtor will find me something amazing.

i do, however, have a much better idea of neighborhoods. by no means comprehensive, but better. au really is surrounded by residential zones. not much by way of a little downtown nearby. but its not far from georgetown, which is very cute and inviting, so i suppose that works.

after all the looking (& walking!) i headed back to chinatown for the bus. i ate a little, got on the bus, read a bit and eventually, i started thinking a lot about jk and questioning things. i got a bit misty-eyed, and then fell asleep.

then, somewhere around edison, nj, we got a flat tire. thinking i was fairly close to home, and know someone with a car, i gave him a call. he lied about being sober, then made up excuses (involving pizza) about why he couldn't come get me. and its not so much the fact that he didn't. it more that, in my thinking, in my worldview-if you will, when you care about someone, you go out of your way to make them happy. you try to help them out of predicaments without being asked. making them smile makes you smile.

so, eventually the tire gets fixed, and we're back on the road. we got into the city around midnight, and i was home by 12:45 (now, if i had been picked up in edison, even with bad traffic, i would have been home by 11). now, k had told me to call when i got to the city so we could hang out, and i first called right before going through the holland. then when i got off the bus. then between the subway and the path. never an answer, so i just went home. and when i walked in the apartment, sitting on my desk was a box from a friend of mine. perhaps friend is overstating. it was from a guy i knew in college, who was a friend of several of my friends. we had a few im conversations here and there. we spoke at parties, but i have never been in posession of his telephone number. and as far as i know he has never had mine. but a while ago i sent many people nyc condoms from work and he was among them. in return he sent me, priority mail, a box of cookies, homebaked in his own kitchen. and i thought....now that is what i've been looking for.

now, this is not to say that i've been looking for it in this particular pseudo-friend. not at all. but that is the type of thing i would expect a loved one to do.

so, then yesterday, i was at work all day. 9 hours to be exact. i did get free dinner out of it, but it was still annoying and stressful. i got home just in time for the sopranos finale, and k & clay brought over some pizza from pizzaland. i didn't have hbo for the first 85% of the sopranos run, and as a latecomer, i never understood the acclaim it had earned. i never found the stories that compelling (though i had taken an interest in the anthony jr. storyline i suppose), i found the ways that women were treated at time appalling, and i've never enjoyed graphic violence. it just wasn't my bag. but everyone (especially in jersey, but including my parents) has been enchanted by it, so i gave it one last shot. i figured it would go out with a bang, and i'd finally be swayed.

and then it ended. and i was miffed. i'd call it awful, but it isn't even deserving of a reaction. at that point i said i was fed up with tv and wasn't watching anything else on hbo. so i went to my room to read. when the john from cincinatti ended, k came in and said he was leaving so he could do some ironing. i wimpered a bit and he left. then i called him and wimpered more. then i had a good crying session. then i called my mama, and had a very long chat about all things relating to love.

today i still feel deflated. i don't know what i want, or if i want anything at all. i suppose it doesn't really matter what i want. i have a certain set of circumstances to deal with and from those i will make my own history.

prospecting & mobility

originally, there was going to be a big fun roadtrip to dc this weekend. then everyone else backed out. so now estoy sola. but i think i'm still going to go, even though i only have one place to look at.
it will be good to see bii jih bah (& the fraudulent admiral) and maybe i can at least see some neighborhoods. i think i'll head back up this way saturday evening though, and maybe even show up to evan's going away party.

speaking of parties, its about time to start planning one for myself. i need a good concept. its a damn shame i already used the neocolonial idea. perhaps something associated with dc....oh the lou party would have been so much better, but i'm not going to dwell on that. perhaps just a bar and people buying me shots would be best.

i've felt impermanent for so long. there's always been something in the back of my head saying "don't acquire things, you'll be moving soon. don't paint the walls, you'll leave here shortly. don't get attached. you'll be somewhere else in no time." and not that this is a bad thing. i always envisioned this part of my life as a time of mobility, change, excitement, travel, intrigue. and i suppose i've only really achieved the mundane aspects of that sort of life, but i'm not regretting it. but i was interviewing a woman today for work, and it all sort of hit me. i don't think it was even anything she said. but suddenly all i could think about was this woman (who is only a few years older than i) owns a home, doesn't plan to leave, will be at her job for the forseeable future, has a family, has furniture, probably a yard. and it sounded so nice. so comfortable. i guess i'm getting to that point where i, as guz would say "need to start making life decisions." i guess grad school is a start. and i think i'm really going to like living in dc. and i've never been one to be afraid of change (probably because in the last 4 years i haven't had much worth holding on to), but this is scary. i think because it feels like this is the big one. the change after which, all other changes happen at a significantly depreciated rate. and maybe i'm ready for it. or maybe i'm not, but i'm going into it with a positive attitude. now, if i can just find a fairly cheap apartment...

limpiando

i started the great clean last night.

i'm throwing away what looks like 100 magazines in a pile, but its really about 10.

i'm putting a pair of shoes on ebay.

i threw out some nlirh stuff too.

unfortunately, i want to keep too much stuff. i think a lot of people may be receiving packages of random crap from me this month...i won't be offended if you throw it away. i promise.

i only hope that moving frequently helps me keep a simplistic lifestyle. not that its necessarily worked up to this point. I have moved 6 times in the last 4 years, and i'm still a pack rat.

freegan moving

tomorrow is june 1, officially marking the beginning of my last month of permanent new jersey living.
and so, i am about to embark on what i hope to be a socially responsible and cheap move. i hope to follow the freegan philosophy of waste-minimalization, and so, i hope to give away a large amount of what i am not taking with me. this includes clothing, books, furniture, random appliance like things, etc.

this weekend i'll be mailing a big box to my parents which has a lot of their stuff in it, plus things i'll need while in IL.

but there is much more excess in my posession. so i hope that craigslist & freecycle will absorb much of it.

and so (not that anyone reads this) if you are looking for any of these things, let me know:
crappy lexmark printer (works fine, but it was like, $30 originally)
old school inkjet printer
ikea bed stand
full length mirror
small ikea desk
wooden slat chair
broken dresser (no bottom drawer, but you can't tell from looking at it)
old sneakers of many varieties (sizes 8-9)
many many t shirts (small-medium)
art
books including: bitch, the original coming out guide, some goulds, backlash
1/2 used bottles of lotion

probably much much more....i suppose i'll find out as i go along.

la guerra

i just got an email from nowar (yes, i'm still on the progressive alliance listserv, but i promise, i only read, never respond). apparently asg is voting (again) on (another) resolution to condemn the war in iraq.

i wonder if things have changed in 4 years. it was the early winter of 2003 when we sat in the back right corner of the northwestern room on a wednesday night. it was my first meeting from the back. i had always sat next to senator fong in the front row on the left before. it was one of many asg meetings i attended as a wo co senator, off campus senator, wo co president, academic committee member, and progressive alliance aggitator. but this one was probably the most disappointing of them all. most of my asg moments were met with opposition, but eventually things worked out. we eventually passed the lighting bill (no thanks to mike blake). we got our naomi wolf funding. we even escaped financial misconduct for the Park debacle. by the end, Carson, Le'Jamiel, Darcy & I were pretty tight. but the anti-war resolution? that was utter failure.

i do have fond memories however, of heading back to the co-op (in the glory days on ridge) and drinking no small amount of vodka with chris, jay, naureen, and i'm sure many others.

of course nostalgia is all well and good, but what's the point? this all complicates my larger, ongoing rumination on whether activism really does anything. now as a person working for a nonprofit which bases much of its work in grassroots action, perhaps this is a moot question to be raising. i certainly believe that policy and advocacy are paramount. lobbying is key. getting out the vote is of importance. but i am yet to be convinced that 10,000 people marching in dc really does anything at all. and certainly 50 students marching from the rock to norris and looping back to the library plaza is not going to affect national policy.

but maybe i'm too cynical. maybe its a start. or on the other hand, maybe i have a point. though i could probably lighten up about it. i'd suggest reading the last two scenarios in this piece.

Scammellot

we went down the shore this weekend, and everything was lovely. it truly lived up to its name like some mythical wonderland where all was right in the world. i guess there was a sense of returning to childhood, despite the fact that we were there to celebrate ryan officially becoming post-mid-twenties. i suppose one could say that there was quite a juxtaposion between the childlike activities of doing cartwheels on the beach & putting puzzles together and the adult-ness of doing laundry, washing dishes, and reading the New Yorker.

but i think the weekend succeeded on both accounts. it was fulfilling in all the right ways, relaxing, excapist, and quite frankly makes me want to (come across some large sum of capital,) open a bed & breakfast on LBI and spend my life at the beach. a girl can dream can't she?

so, now its back to city life. at least the weather is nice, sunny, bright. but its still wall street. fortunately, this weekend brings more travel, and i really only have a little over one month left in this place, which brings about simultaneous feelings of anxiety, anxiousness, excitement, and nostalgia. but this is a good move emotionally and intellectually. and there's definitely a huge part of me that can't wait!

hace un ano, mas o menos

ok, so i've been uploading some pictures from peru finally. i doubt anyone's really reading this anymore, but being the perfectionist i am, i like to have a lovely looking blog, even if its for my own enjoyment.

i also might write about some key moments i missed. gina's wedding, amanda & cari having daughters, something about that job that i never wrote about. so, i guess i'm disclaiming right now, do not assume a linear order to the blog. i will backdate things so that they will appear to be in chronological order, but the time in which they are written may not be linear.

cinco de mayo ha passado

its been a while, but i just randomly stumbled upon a blog that i was quite taken with and got a little inspired.


peruvian related things
* i attempted to make myself a peruvian style dinner the other day, though in reality it was much more like a peruvian lunch, in my experience at least: I had spicy saffron rice, smashed black beans, avocado & tomato slices, corn on the cobb, and a hard boiled egg. Very tasty, and I even had some chicha left in the fridge, but its been a few months, so i didn't partake. i think its time to throw it out.
*i'm seeing kelsey in a little over a week! she is brining me an inflatable llama from lima. she also may bring me an alpaca sweater, because i never bought one, and probably should have. i have to locate my leftover soles though. i think they've made their way to illinois (back to lima time), so it will probably require a phone call and mailing.
*my boss now has a half-peruvian daughter (she's salvadoriana, her husband is peruano). she's a pretty cute kid, though i must say, she doesn't compare to the radiance that is my own mexican-polish niece (mas o menos).


non-peruvian related items
this spring has been one of adulthood for me.
*3 babies born to close friends, plus my cousin in law is pregnant again.
*the whole grad school thing makes me feel adult-like.
*i've been to an engagement party and a wedding, and have another wedding next weekend. *this weekend i'm going away to the shore. the first weekend of june has been appointed as time to find an apartment in dc.
*i'm also being very domestic (at least in my planning). I want to make a rather elaborate quilt for myself. this is my inspiration:


and i'd also like to make something more reasonable for my sobrina.

*granted, i'm not all that grown up. i'm scouring craigslist for used furniture.


in other news, i think this blog needs more pictures. and i've been thinking about its function as well. i think i'd like it to be more of an everyday blog, than a strictly peruvian blog. to replace the myspace blog. because really...as lovely as it is, it might be time to move on (to facebook!--just kidding).


we'll see how long that lasts, but its worth a try.

camisas en todo el mundo

silvia returned from maternity (as if that is possible) and informed us all that while visiting her sister in miami, she had seen one of our shirts. just some random woman walking around in south beach.

which reminds me that i gave one to ms. moyer before her journey to south america. in her pictures, i noticed it prominently displayed. here's my favorite:

zapatos nuevos

i don't know where my poor shoe-buying luck comes from.

i'm the type of person that makes a conscious effort to buy comfortable shoes. i like to walk a lot. i'd much rather walk 20 blocks than take a subway. even when its 10 degrees outside. though when i walked from wall to 14th street on the coldest day of the year i did start to regret it about midway through soho. but i pressed on.

and so, i like shoes that both look pretty and i can walk in. this means flat. i do own 3 pairs of shoes that are heeled. i have worn them an average of 2 times each. so, last year, when it became apparent that i would need a new pair of fancy shoes for a friend's wedding, it did the only logical thing a girl can do. i observed that the new "fad" was these ballerina flat things, and bought the cheapest pair i could find (strangely the cheapest pair was ordered online from urban outfitters). I wore them to the wedding, which i arrived at by car. they were lovely (though i did get a fair amount of criticism from my truck-fixing, creme brule-making roommate for wearing shoes with less than a 2" heel), and fine for the occasion. then the reception began and my feet cramped up!

that hadn't happened since high school, when i would come home after a long saturday spent at speech tournaments, where i was forced to wear heels....maybe it was all the dancing....
a few days later i wore them to work, and took a short walk on my lunch break (in an attempt to find lisa loeb's apartment--an entirely other story), and it happened again. perhaps i wasn't getting enough potassium.

well, the wave of foot cramping continued, and i eventually retired the shoes.
last weekend, i found myself, again, looking for shoes to wear to a wedding-related event (this time an engagement party). i found a lovely pair of $20 flat sandal-ish shoes with a peep toe at target, and grabbed them up. the party was fine. my feet hurt by the end of it, but i had been standing for 3 hours. and, just like last time, i gave the shoes a go at work today. and again, bad news.

by the time i got to work, my right heel had bled through my gray pants. i was the first one to the office, so i stuck my leg in the sink and rinsed the pants out, which worked pretty well.
i spent the morning walking around barefoot, but when i had to make a trip to the bathroom around noon, i put the shoes back on. now the walk to the bathroom from my desk is about 10 feet each way. by the time i came back to my desk, i felt something wet under my left toes. i removed the shoe, once again to discover that a newly formed blister on my big toe was oozing clear puss. i got most of the liquid out of the blister with my handy box of kleenex (or kleenexes--what is the plural of kleenex anyway?).

now i'm just biding my time before i have to walk to the path and then home. i have a bandaid on the back of my heel, but the box only had one in it, and it might not be enough. maybe i'll tape some kleenex behind my ankle too. the oozing toe will just have to ooze away i suppose. at least for today.

tomorrow i'm wearing my starburys to work.

La Trenchera Luminosa del Presidente Gonzalo

Tonight I saw what I thought was a documentary about women imprisoned for involvement with Sendero Luminoso. But I was a little confused. The first clue was when 3 women, dressed in the red shirts and black skirts of the other senderistas began introducing themselves in the Navajo way. I thought to myself, are Quechua and Amayra Athabaskan languages? Are clans structured the same way in those cultures? Then it became unmistakably clear that it was indeed Dine' Bizzad. They were performing some sort of adaptation of Hamlet, which mentioned the names of several rez towns (Sheep Springs, Window Rock, Mexican Hat, etc). The Senderistas seemed to understand. Weird. I kept thinking how the hell did these Dine women get involved with S.L.? And what the hell were they doing in Peru in 1989.

But the credits cleared things up. It became clear that this was hardly documentary. Perhaps based on fact and documentary footage, but in no way authentic.

Still, it was pretty enjoyable, and I enjoyed hearing the director speak afterwards. Plus, who doesn't like to hear some Navajo once in a while.
Ya'at eh!

escuela

its been 30 seconds, but i thought i should write something about school too.
i'm pretty settled, but i'm first on the waitlist for another one, and if that happens to work out, it might be a difficult decision.
all in all i can't be disappointed with the results.
2 admits & 3 waitlists.



i've also decided recently, that i really want to go to mexico city. i'm not sure when though. i won't really have time this summer (though United seems to have round trip flights for under $200). and i'd like to go for at least a few weeks. 1st priority is Lima during the summer (maybe next Christmas break or something), but after that Mexico City is next. Unless Cusco is next. Oh, who knows....all i know is Mexico City is on the list.

patterson

so, i've been wanting to write about la fiesta de la virgen del carmen since last july. i'm finally getting around to it. of course there's very little written about chincheros, and even less (meaning absolutely nothing) on the actual fiesta, so i'm looking at a lot of fiestas patronas in the Peruvian & Bolivian Andes.
and in doing this research I keep finding things about Patterson, which makes me wish I had taken more advantage of my proximity to Patterson, NJ while here.
I'm starting to feel like my time here is winding down, which is both good and bad, and really if I'm in DC, which is what it looks like is going to happen, its very close. very weekend-trip-able.

also, there's a film I'm seeing monday about Sendero Luminoso women who were imprisoned. It looks so perfect. I mean, awful. But perfect. I'll make sure to write a good critique after seeing it.

chicha!

on thursday, i was given a code for ordering a free poster print from snapfish. I (figuratively) sifted through my pictures of peru on snapfish, settling on the picture of the ram's horn players at la fiesta de la virgen del carmen.

appropriately, as i was absorbed in the pictures, i got a phone call from jk. he was at a peruvian grocery store in rahway. he asked what i wanted and all i could think of was chicha morada. so, he bought me some and i drank it with (very tex-mexish) tacos this weekend. there's still plenty though. i'd like to experiement adding rum to it...???
what i really want though, is to go with him to the store, because i'd like to see if they have huancaina sauce. mmmmm i love me some papas huancainas. and the aroz for aroz con pollo. the green kind! funny how i wasn't entirely impressed by the food while there, but now i want some.

san luis

i was in the lou for the weekend. looking at a grad school. and i loved it. more than i thought i would. and now i'm very worried and anxious because i don't think i made a good impression
(and at this point you all reassure me i did--how could nell make a bad impression?)
there are few things i want badly. health for myself, friends, & family, a living wage, and.....school!
ah! i can't handle the suspense. especially because i think it will only end with heartbreak.
and this one will be far less pretty than the bright blue broken heart i drew for the picture blog last year.

but at least i know i've accomplished a lot in the last year. despite my stalled academic career, i'm moving forward in other areas (and backwards in areas such as "salary"). i don't believe things happen for a reason, but i've been a lucky person this far in life. hopefully that will continue. hopefully there will soon be two nellie hayneses in st. louis.

blogging para opcion

well, apparently today is the official blogging for choice day.
so i'm attempting to take part.

to keep with the lima theme, at work i've been working on a fact sheet about latin american women. its a very broad topic, but included are reproductive health and reproductive rights.


its very scary when one considers that the vast majority of women in the world really don't have much reproductive choice. barriers such as legality, economics, knowledge, availability, and stigma keep so many women in so many places from the true equality and justice they deserve. and the scariest part is that the US, a country slowly chipping away at that justice, has some of the most liberal policies.

oy, its so hard to work for justice in the world.

mucho celos

hasta un largo tiempo
kelsey's in lima now. i'm muy jealous. and not in the "oh i'm so jealous!" excited sort of way, but in a being on the verge of tears after reading her email sort of way. but its also really nice to read her emails and have very vivid pictures of the streets she's riding down, and the mar she's so close to.
and an opportunity to visit! although i think this is what really got me down. as things stand now there is absolutely no way i'll be able to afford a trip. even if i don't pay for much.
but at the same time, what she's doing is so wonderful, and i am really excited for her.
and nlirh is exciting and good and all that stuff. if not lucrative. oy. at least i can drink the water here.

salud, dignidad, justicia

i've now been working for the national latina institute for reproductive health and communicty impact consulting for almost a month. and december is a good time to start working here. I've averaged two parties with free wine a week. and i get the whole week of christmas off.
but the best part of it al is that a coworker made me a mix cd, and it has the song that i've been searching for. mi corazon. i love it.
me gusta la montanas, me gusta tu
me gusta nlirh.

also, kelsey is moving to lima soon. she'll really be on lima time. maybe once i pay off some debt, i'll join her there. we can live a like a little rez outpost in south america.
me gusta miraflores, me gustas tu
me gusta zapallal, me gusta peru

mi corazon es un combi de america del sur
y tu eres tomando un taxi

soy una gringa de nuevo

friday night, jk & i went to a peruvian restaurant in harrison. it was called spondylus or something like that (something i couldn't translate/make sense of). it was way more authentic than mancora in manhattan (not all that shocking). i had chicha morada and papas huacallinas. muy bueno. jk had lomo saltado (chifa) and i tasted some of the veggie bits. muy bueno tambien. unfortunately they were out of both cristal and cusqueno beers. but it didn't really matter. i was going to ask for some pisco after my chicha, but they sort of ignored us blancos and never asked if we wanted more to drink. we had to actively hunt down the check for a good 10 minutes when we were ready to go too.

so some people might be deterred by this, but it just makes me want to go back. watch some futbol there and drink some cerveza at the bar. i'm not daring enough to do it alone, but maybe i can talk others into it sometime.

anyway, it really brought lima time back and made me miss it.

its been a while...

so, i intended to keep this up after lima. unfortunately, i became employed in a 12 hr. day, 7 day a week job for a short time. i didn't do much but sleep and work. there will be more on that later. i'm preparing myself to write thorough investigation of my experience.

now, on to more important things...

today, the rest of my family left on their vacation. i was left alone in the big house with just the cat and lizard to keep me company. so, tonight i fell back on my second family.
its funny, last time i hung out with the kids, they called me. this time i called their niece, and just happened to find myself invited to a family get together.

and i never really thought of them as family before, but i realized as i walked in the door, really, i've known this family aunts, uncles, grandparents, kids, parents, etc. since i was 5. i know there will be a certain point in the evening when the two young cousins will wander off to call boys. and then kerry will say something misogynist and bill will start arguing conservative politics. and stace & i will play off each others' gender theory in an attempt to raise some consciousness, but really, its just the cheap beer talking.

and i feel comfortable. and its almost like home.

in other news, tomorrow i leave for chicago, then the wedding in muncie. then the iowa state fair. hopefully. transportation has yet to be arranged.

but the closet is finally cleaned. i have a sizeable paycheck on the way (but still not the paycheck the engineering co. still owes me), and i'm about to have a good week.

just remember the two most important rules:

-don't ruin anyone's fair fun
-what stays on the road, stays on the road (yes, that's how its supposed to be written)

that pretty much covers it all. meet me at the racing corner tap sunday night. i'll buy you a boilermaker.