feast

Perhaps quite obviously, one of my favorite things about "the holidays" is good food. In my family, there were more cooks in the kitchen at this time of year because there were more and different things to prepare. Delicious standards (like garlic bread) and rare treats (eggnog pie) emerged from the commotion of the kitchen only to land at a table whose company was equally as bustling. I've recently realized that my fond memories of holiday feasts stemmed as much from the good company as the good eats.

S and I just returned from a visit to Oregon where we feasted on the delights of reconnecting with friends we hadn't seen in far too long. The phone and e-mail are good, but I really enjoy face-to-face conversation (and all the subtleties of expression that come with it). S and I have had the good fortune to come to know some pretty remarkable people. Seeing many of them in only a few days was like overeating at a wonderful, long holiday feast. At its end, we were contentedly exhausted and ready to return for more. (One of the few drawbacks to this trip was the absence of C and those Santa Cruz people.)

So, if you're going somewhere in the next week or so (and even if you're not), I wish all of you great feasts.

flicks

I saw Sicko a few days ago and enjoyed it very much. I was appalled; I was saddened but it also made me laugh. I appreciate Moore's sarcasm, sense of irony and injustice, and his use of juxtaposition in telling this story. (The only beat he missed was when he explained how Western European countries developed nation-wide health care following World War II; he didn't explain that they did so on U.S. tax dollars thanks to the Marshall plan. This is an irony that I'm sure Moore have included if he had had it in hand.)

The best line from the movie came from a young couple taking their newborn home from a British hospital: "This isn't America" followed by laughter. It's brilliant; you can see it here.

My point is that I've seen a lot of good flicks, most of which were recommended by the lovely people whose blogs are here on the right. I enjoyed Atomic Cafe and Thank you for Smoking, and City of Men is in the queue. The holiday lull is fast approaching, so what other great flicks can you recommend to me?

my mom sent me this

...to ease my mind.
And, so far, it has worked.

yum

We are still enjoying our turkey-day feast- all three of us. When you make the whole Thanksgiving dinner for three, it lasts. But not as long as I thought. We're running low on stuffing/dressing and I admit that's my fault. I love stuffing. Year after year, it is the highlight of my Thanksgiving dinner and I always take seconds. It is such an odd food - admittedly, all parts of a Thanksgiving dinner are strange. How does stale bread, spices, butter, onions, and celery become such a wonderful treat? Anyway, during one of my post-stuffing carbohydrate-induced dazes, I wondered what you all think of dinner - what's your favorite part (if you can narrow it down to one)?

characters

and. . . . done. Whew.

I finished my grant applications and I got them in. The grants I applied for were all on-line which made it easy to upload my stuff at the last minute (actually I had about 15) instead of finding a printer and then flying off to the post office. The one major drawback to the application process was that they limited my response to some questions by the character - including spaces! I spent far too much time searching for a shorter word, like "study" - or better yet "work" - instead of "dissertation."

One of the applications asked for a "personal narrative" which was pleasantly narcissistic for the first hour. Then, it just became tedious. How may different ways can I say I'm desperate for money - in 2000 characters?

Now that these ap's are in I should take a day off but I can't because I'm tired and when I'm tired I have a hard time managing my anxiety/sleeplessness. So, I still feel an urgency to plug away at another chapter. I hope this next week will break me of the stress/fatigue. There's turkey in store and we've installed window-darkening curtains in the kid's room (she decided that 5:45 - when the sun comes streaming in her window - was a good time to get up for the day, ugh).

history

Many years ago I read this smart and innovative history - The Technology of Orgasm. The author - a historian of science - explained in the preface how her colleagues and academic presses would not take this work seriously and the struggles she went though to get it published. The book jacket listed her as a visiting professor - something I thought was all part of the flack associated with pursuing the study of a taboo topic (assuming, of course, that histories of women, sexuality, and sex were just not "serious" history of science).

I was please to find out I was wrong. I just read this article and discovered that not only was her book an academic success but it is now a documentary.

This is my inspiring, unexpected-victory story for the day.

halloween

This holiday is so much fun with a kid to share it with. My little "Hermione" made all of our Halloween decorations including this skeleton.

She also planned out and executed the perfect face for this jack o'lantern.

And here's Hermione on the big day demonstrating the use of her wand.

I hope you all had a good holiday!