I'll Take You There

It has been years since I read anything by Joyce Carol Oates - and I think until this point, it had always only been short stories. I just finished her novel I'll Take You There and find myself to be satisfied and just a little disturbed.

A first-person narrative, I'll Take You There's narrator is an intelligent, obsessive, needy, and slightly off-balance girl in her college years. With sometimes brutal self-awareness, the narrator seeks to define herself through her surroundings. Though the "self" is something too complicated to understand itself, she tries by turning to other girls her own age, to other intellectuals, and to family - constantly reinventing herself as other might see her - trying to learn who she is by who others think she is.

While riveting, I did not like that the cover of the book is pink and purple with flowers. It looked like a romance novel, and while there were some sordid parts, they were more of the intimate, merciless commentary on female intelligence and social affairs in the sixties sort.

In other news: BBC news is still reporting on Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty's public kiss with Richard Gere; Two U.S. computer engineers are charged with conspiring to steal microchip designs to sell to China's army; And bridges collapse in Vietnam too.

The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana

Yesterday, at a Starbucks downtown, in a tight corner with room only for me, and a great window for people watching, I finished the book The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco. I enjoyed this book. It wasn't one that compelled me to read above all else, but when I thought I might sit down and read, it was always a pleasant thought to remember what book I was in the middle of. It was a fun shout out to all your history, comic-book, old movie, and Catholic dogma trivia; this book strings together all the incidental things that we absorb and make us who we are.

The premise is that a man, through some accident has lost his memory. He remembers events as one would have read about them but not as he experienced them. The book is his quest to restore those memories. He delves through old books, papers, records, comic books, etc, hoping to glean a bit of himself from them. In the minor details of political history and cultural iconography, he pieces together what kind of child he must have been - but he has no idea what kind of man.

Eco writes philosophically of the banality of individual lives and the trivial manner we have of living them. Though it wasn't as good as Foucault's Pendulum (one of my favorites) or as gripping as The Name of the Rose, it was a very fun book to read.


In other news: Mattel, not China, is responsible for the flaws that led to recalling more than 20 milion toys; Violence has soared in Afghanistan this past year - and the past two days have seen heavy fighting between US-led forces and Taleban militants; There is such a thing as a cadaver sniffing dog; and the word of the week is proglottidean (i have no idea how one would use it in a sentence).

Art of the Day

Well, shoot - all that time in Colorado and I could have been using my time like this:

This guy (who lives in Colorado) is an etchasketch genius! I'm just so impressed.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Last weekend, in Omaha, I finished the book Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. I really enjoyed this book - it made me feel like a kid to read it. It felt like the telling of old fables and fairy tales with a tinge of eastern mythology. Haroun is the son of a story-teller who has lost the gift of gab. He goes out on a bizarre and beautiful quest to return the gift of story-telling to his father and restore happiness to his home town - a town so sad it forgot its own name. A thoughtful adventure story - Rushdie writes exciting and unusual characters and fantastic plots with a quirky sense of humor that makes it so enjoyable to read.

Word of the week: Fungible (adj.) - interchangeable.

In other news: We send just as much junk to China as they send to us; Your seatbelt isn't working properly if you are riding in your car with your seat reclined; The world is standing still until General Patraeus delivers his report on the war in Iraq; And for a satisfying coma I recommend trying pancakes and scotch.

The Midwest

I have been meaning to blog about this for some time now, but I have been too busy to even shower lately! Tomorrow I teach six group classes and have seven new private students. Yikes!

Over Labor Day weekend, I drove to Omaha to meet Monte and Curry. Omaha as a destination spot for a weekend getaway? Well, let me tell you a thing or two about Omaha! Kool-Aid is almost from Omaha but it's not (it is from Hastings, NE). And that isn't even what makes Omaha cool!

Omaha has the prettiest and most interesting chocolates I have ever tasted (they even beat out chocolates from Altman & Kuhne in Vienna):



They are so cool and laid back that there are bookstores that allow dogs in them:



And there are bubbles.

And my sister. Needless to say, I had a great time.

But now I'm back in Chicagoland with Curry and am enjoying/resenting my first week of teaching.

In other news: Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti died at age 71; Parents are advised hyperactive children may benefit from fewer additives after new research is published; The mosquitos are out of control out here; New versions of the iPod are unveiled including one with a touch screen and a wi-fi connection; and the 3.2-million-year-old fossilized remains of Lucy, the most intact human ancestor ever discovered, began a six-year tour of U.S. museums starting in Houston, despite much controversy.

Knitting Under the Influence by Claire LaZebnik

I should be lesson planning but I don't know who my students are. I should be practicing but my piano is still out of tune. I should be learning the rest of the songs for my BabySteps classes but I've had "Shake Those Eggs" in my head for too many days now.

Instead, I finished a book I had found on Lydia's shelf and started reading last week. It was called Knitting Under the Influence by Claire LaZebnik. This isn't a book I'm going to go around recommending to people. It was the type of book that satisfied me when I needed something light and uplifting. And it did the job. It did give me wee morsels of things to think about - helping autistic kids, appreciating friendships, having a hobby..... but now I'm going to get back to my REAL reading (that is to say - the kind of important fiction that makes me feel better about reading for pleasure when I should be reading more about music and education). I hear Cormac McCarthy's book The Road just won another esteemed literary prize. I could read that. The second volume of Proust's collection is still sitting on my desk. I could read that.

In local news: Storms ravaged parts of the North Shore this past week leaving towns without power and trees strewn about normally neat looking neighborhoods.

Both of these images are of my mom's neighborhood in Glenview.

In other news: England beat India at cricket; Seats on the first commercial flight of the Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger plane, are being auctioned on eBay; Experts have found a way to trigger an out-of-body experience in volunteers;

And sometimes other people's puppies are cute too.

Kung Pao Chicken

Today, as a part of my effort to tour the exciting museum circuit, I visited the Museum of Contemporary Photography. [I wanted to visit the Shedd Aquarium and see the new baby beluga whale but the cost of admission is TWENTY FOUR DOLLARS AND NINETY FIVE CENTS. I'm sorry, but that is ridiculous.]

The photography museum (which is free) is hosting an exhibit called "Loaded Landscapes" right now. These are beautiful and still views that are rather savagely altered in the mind of the viewer when the captions are read. All of these locations are the sites of tragedy and violence. So, while some of it was quite powerful, it was not the most uplifting morning.

Another set of photos were beautiful and disturbing in a different way. Pictured below is a portion of the wall Israel is building to section off towns and groups of people - under the guise of protecting them from suicide bombers.


This Israeli wall, while very damaging, is decorated in such a way to make it substance for art.

And lastly, over a year ago, American troops started training for battle in mock-Iraqi villages. The same thing is going on over there in Israel and Palestine and the photo below if of one of these villages. Once I knew what I was looking at, it was nothing but creepy to me.


In other news: Iranian police close more than 20 barbers' shops in Tehran for offering Western hairstyles for men; The US state of Texas executes its 400th prisoner since the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1976; Bill Murray is given a DUI for reckless driving of a golf cart; and I finished reading the last Harry Potter book last night.

Too much pepper and poppyseed and not enough good, honest bread

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom’s birthday. If you know her, please wish her a happy birthday! Last night we took her out for a lovely dinner at Karyn’s in Chicago.

Left to Right: Luke, Tim, Mom, Me

After enjoying all sorts of raw entrees (Luke's entree pictured below), we finished up her birthday meal with some sweet treats.

Ravioli with a tomato olive sauce

Carob Mint Cake (we ordered two of them)

Recently also, I made my way to the museum of contemporary art, started learning Arabic, started the newest Harry Potter book, and spent a little bit of time with my aunt and her grandson (pictured below).

Jordan, age two. Adorable. Funny. Not amused by my computer camera.

In news on this day: In 1866, an eight-hour workday was first mandated in the U.S.; the first around-the-world telegram was sent in 1911; Minimum wage was increased in 1996.

Can I buy you a soda?

Some people diligently check my blog and have become frustrated at seeing a sideways picture of my zen alarm clock every day. So, here are some new images (all right-side up too! I'm as surprised as you are.):I've peed in the ocean before, but I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with a bunch of fish in my toilet.

The Field Museum is hilarious. A plaque in the Egypt exhibit says, "The basic needs of a dead person did not change much over the centuries." Hahaha!

I encountered this fellow on my recent trip to Champaign. I was too weirded out to try kissing him.

A Green River Phosphate. When was the last time you had one?

I am enjoying my zen alarm clock. In fact, I have had a few zen mornings which I like to think were precipitated by the clock. I'm not sure how well it is helping me to transition out of sleep with improved awareness, have a greater focus on goals, and have increased self-knowledge though. For example, this morning, with the first "bong" of the clock, I smiled, stretched, and fell back asleep content that I could trust my clock to bring me into a fully conscious state in a comfortable amount of time without oversleeping - only to DREAM of the next bong, and the next and the next as my wicked inner ear sent me messages that the bongs were getting closer and closer together and were increasingly insistent that I get out of bed. This I did for three minutes and forty-eight seconds before I was woken up by the second bong. Sigh. I hope I'll get better at this.


In other news: Number crunchers were dismayed to find out that an avatar on Second Life uses as much real power as the average Brazilian; The average blogger is a 14 year old girl talking about her cat who will most likely give up her blog in less than two months; The under-resourced war in Afghanistan is now starting to turn around for the better; And one can develop a chemical dependency on light supporting the idea that tanning is addictive.

Saturday Presents

I just received a present in the mail from Monte. It is a Zen alarm clock - one which I have been wanting for years. It is beautiful and I can't wait to use it. Of course, I do usually wake up before my alarm, but if I don't, this alarm clock should promote in me gradual awakening, diminished grogginess, improved awareness of dream life and increased self-knowledge, improved self-esteem, greater focus on goals, elimination of bad habits, improved quality of meditation and all sorts of stuff. I can't wait for all these things to start taking effect.


Darnit. I still haven't figured out how to rotate my pictures when I put them on my blog. So, tilt your head to the left, and you'll see what I've been talking about. I think I should take a nap.

In other news: If you go here you can find some helpful tips on how to escape from a sinking car; Leaders from Darfur's fractured rebel movement are holding their first main day of talks in Tanzania, aimed at finding common ground; my sister is moving to Omaha, Nebraska.

I Am Sunburnt

I went to the zoo AGAIN! This time though, I didn't go IN - no - I have had enough of bus loads of sweaty kids at zoos recently. Instead I merely biked there and back. Merely?!?!?! That is seventeen miles! I'm proud of myself because it is hilly and I think I'm a bit out of shape since I've been so busy with other stuff and am no longer a member of a gym. So, while to you, seventeen miles may not be much, to me it warrants a nap.

a stupid polar bear purse you can get right now a Brookfield Zoo if you hurry!

And yesterday I got another job. I'm cobbling together something like full-time work. We'll see, in the fall, how successful I have been. Until then, my summer to-do list is calling.

In other news: Australian schools are beginning to require that students wear sunglasses on the playground; Exciting advances in electrode stimulation may help many people while helping us understand how sad things have been for many people considered brain damaged all along; The suburbs make you fat - type in your address here to find out how walkable your area is! (my dad's house scores a 49 out of 100 - not good)

The Zoo, Raw Foods, and Life

So that you don't think I've been a hermit, or only reading, or gorging myself silly, or driven past frustration by my parents' piano, I'll tell you a little bit about what I've been up to:

I went to the zoo:

Brookfield Zoo, unfortunately, has become one of the most gimicky places I've been to visit since my adulthood (which I'd say came about in June). It is the perfect place for a field trip. However, since it is so close to where my parents live, I decided to visit for old time's sake (and to see the giant gorilla that throws poop). It turned out (once I found the animals) to be quite the adventure! Here are some pictures as proof of my recent trip, and testimony to the adventure that it was:

an okapi

I ate raw food:

There is a restaurant in town called Karyn's. I've blogged about it before. However, since I attended a raw foods class and consider myself a bit of food snob, I have to include it here (plus, it was one of the healthiest meals I've had in a while). Pictured below is a zucchini pasta

with a macadamia nut cream, tomatoes, basil, and pine nuts. Mmmmmmm. There was also a pretty good stuffed pizza, a ginger rejuvelac beverage, and a fabulous tiramisu dessert:

Oh. And I got a new laptop. A MacBook. And I'm really awful at using it. This is why my tiramisu is on its side. Help?

In other news: Though he previously stated that England and the U.S. would be no longer joined at the hip, England's new PM Gordon Brown has reaffirmed strong relations between the two countries; Liberia has lifted the diamond mining ban that was imposed during their civil war; Britney Spears causes all sorts of trouble; I am disturbed, yet still laughing at Scary movie 3.

When the Messenger is Hot

I very recently finished reading the book When the Messenger is Hot by Elizabeth Crane. This book is a collection of short stories, and as I have claimed recently, I am NOT a fan of short stories. When I told this to my friend Michelle, who was trying to get me to read the book, she sat me down and read one to me aloud. (she is persistent) That was enough for me! Based on only that reading, I wanted to read them ALL!

Less of a collection of short stories and more of a collection of creative wishes/dreams/fantasies/alternate realities possible for this woman's life, When the Messenger is Hot is about identity and isolation – as far as I can tell. Though I don't claim to be able to classify the threads and overall meaning of this book, I found it to be charming, quite insightful at times, and thoroughly enjoyable. The author explored, through her quirky story-telling, ideas of self-worth, position in society, how relationships reflect our ideas of ourselves, and how we see how others see us at times. Really, getting into town, the last thing I wanted to read was a bunch of short stories written by some woman in the Chicago area. Thank you to Michelle, because this was JUST the book for me. If any of you end up reading it, let me know what you think!


In other news: Authorities in India's north-eastern Manipur state have begun killing poultry after an outbreak of bird flu; A European heatwave is killing the elderly in Greece where temperatures yesterday reached 113 degrees; Paris Hilton has bought another Chihuahua; and a Tsunami warning has been issued in Indonesia.

A serious day off

I am currently trying to get back under my fingers Beethoven's Bagatelles Op. 124, the last set of pieces he wrote for piano. I need to demonstrate my artistry for a school downtown I am hoping to get a job with. However, the piano I have here at my disposal is inadequate. It is going to be a challenge to practice artistry when currently the notes aren't even sounding right! And to boot, my dog is now living in Colorado. To cheer myself up, I went to the Art Institute of Chicago today and browsed around watching people as much as looking at the artwork.


The painting below is one by Paul Klee, a Swiss-born painter and musician of the early 20th century. Though I have seen his paintings several times hanging at the art institute, I never really took much notice of them until today. Klee's colorful, and sometimes childlike art is supposed to have political dimensions (which I don't understand) for which he was labeled "degenerate" by the Germans post World War I (go figure).

I don't know the name of the above painting, and couldn't find it online. But his art reminds me of the stories of Brian Andreas.

I was also able to find one of my favorite paintings, done by John Singer Sargent, an American Impressionist and contemporary of Whistler. I love how brilliant the whites are in the portrait, especially as how it usually hangs by such stiff-looking American art.

The Fountain, by John Singer Sargent.

Not having to walk my dog, I'm not sure what to do with myself in the evenings! Maybe I'll go on a bicycle ride. Sigh. Maybe I'll go back to practicing the "piano."

In other news: Somalia, who hasn't had a functioning government in the past sixteen years has scheduled a peace conference - Islamist opposition members refuse to attend because the venue isn't neutral - the president says the talks will occur regardless of violence in the area - and they are postponed. Mary-Kate Olsen needs new shoes. And former Prime Minister Shimon Peres is formally inaugurated as the ninth president of Israel - he is eighty-three years old.

Pre-pre summer reading

I am now living in the Chicago area (it has been pointed out to me that while I tend to blog inanely about food and books, I tend to leave out important things such as big changes, my daily existence and where that might be). I've been busy. Too busy to eat. Or read. Really. I have been attending the Suzuki Institute in Deerfield, Illinois, and learning how to teach the Suzuki method to piano students ages three and up. For more information on how this works and how amazing it can really be, I recommend you read Nurtured By Love by Dr. Shinichi Suzuki. He was a very generous and inspiring man and he has quite a following today!

I did finish the book Deep Economy by Bill McKibben. I did this while sitting in my car and eating my lunch (I'm a bit of a hobo now, so this is quite a typical activity for me). This book was a simple and quick read that really took a look at how we live our lives today - the American way - the values that set us apart from the rest of the world in many good ways, and many destructive ways. It was a nice compliment to The Omnivore's Dilemma, which I read last November. Bill McKibben, in this book, studies the effects of many of our lifestyles on the world around us in terms of food consumption, energy consumption, and the values we have adapted ourselves to which have completely changed the structure of our communitites.

I also read The Unknown Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac. This is a really great short story that was translated by Richard Howard. Four characters are drawn together by their passion for art. One of them - the inspired genius - or the humiliated failure is the center of the work and who has served as an inspiration to artists as varied as Cezanne, Henry James, and Picasso. This short story is a bit of a study of the philosophy behind modern art and is supposed to be read with a rather tragic short story titled Gambara, also by Balzac. I have yet to read this story, but it is on my list of stuff to do.

In other news: President George Bush refuses to rule out pardoning ex-White House aide Lewis Libby, convicted of perjury; eight people arrested in connection with failed car bombings in Glasgow and London all have links with the National Health Service; Jessica Simpson has monster calves; and Slate has a Summer Reading list that I think we should all check out.

The New Seven Wonders of the World

Check it out. If you have time online and would rather not read about Paris Hilton or Iraq, vote for the new seven wonders of the world: http://www.new7wonders.com/index.php.

Happy Twenty-Ninth Birthday!

I had a birthday last weekend. I turned twenty-nine. For my birthday, Monte took me out to Boulder, Colorado to go gliding. The experience was ........ hmmmmm...... let me try to be eloquent about this.......... so cool.

Me, and my pilot, Gary, strapping me in so I'm SAFE for the flight!

Our tiny little glider! Now, that is a landing you can feel! My butt is practically on the ground!

Us, being pulled by the tow-plane heading for those mountains over...... THERE!

Some mountains.

A postcard I bought. Just kidding! I took that picture!

lunch. very important.

In other news: North Korea has reportedly tested a missile, as US officials say it now has access to funds frozen for years; Claude Monet's painting Waterloo Bridge, Temps Couvert doubles its estimated selling price at auction (18 million pounds); Lindsay Lohan has cancelled her 21st birthday party; and the US military says 10,000 US and Iraqi troops are moving against al-Qaeda networks north of Baghdad.

Raw Foods Meal

I mentioned a couple of blogs ago that I attended a raw foods cooking class with my friend Sara in Vail. Well, the class was definitely worth it because last night I made my first raw foods meal!

Zucchini Pesto Pasta:

2 cups basil leaves (stems removed), tightly packed
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ tsp sea salt 6 zucchini, peeled
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil 1 tomato, seeded and diced
¼ cup raw pine nuts ½ cup Pine Nut Parmesan (optional)

To make the pesto, place the basil, olive oil, garlic, and salt in a food processor fitted with the S blade and process until the basil is chopped. Add the pine nuts and process until smooth. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Pesto will keep for five days.

To make the pasta, use a vegetable peeler to peel the zucchini down to the core of seeds on all sides, forming long strips. Do not continue peeling once you reach the core of seeds. Cut the zucchini strips into 1-inch pieces. Toss the zucchini with enough pesto to coat. Place a small pile of zucchini on serving plate. Top with the diced tomato and Pine Nut Parmesan, if desired.


Well. I don’t have a food processor, so here is what my pasta looked like:




Plus, I don’t have a dehydrator, nor did I have the energy or time to make pine nut parmesan, so I used REAL parmesan. Sue me.

And the pesto goes quite nicely with a martini:




And a side of grilled meatloaf:




Hehehe. GO RAW FOODS!

In other news: The prestigious UN Heritage List is voting this month on 5 globally important natural and cultural wonders of the world; Aids say that Bill and Hillary Clinton have sold their blind trust stocks to avoid any problems for Mrs Clinton's presidency bid; Nicole Richie is pregnant; and Switzerland opens the world's longest rail tunnel on land - the 34km Loetschberg tunnel under the Alps.

Snobbery by Joseph Epstein

On a recent non-fiction kick, and finding myself bookless in Cheyenne, Wyoming, I perused the shelves for something to read. Appropriately, for the setting, I chose the book Snobbery by Joseph Epstein.

A very cute read, Epstein talks about the curiosity he finds in that though democracy, by its very nature touts itself as anti-snobbery, seems at the same time, by its very nature to breed it. By taking away the social solidarity of class, getting rid of any true aristocracy, and even by eliminating the society columns, Americans are left with the need to find some way of distinguishing themselves from their fellow countrymen.

We do this by becoming snobs. Job-snobbery, school snobbery, intellectual snobbery, political snobbery, celebrity snobbery, food & wine snobbery, overall "good-taste" snobbery…… and the list goes on. We all fit into some of these and know people who fit into some of these. I myself have a wee bit of job-snobbery (but of the more modern I-don’t-make-any-money-but-I’m-doing-something-important kind), intellectual snobbery (I thought myself over that, but I was merely taking a break and am a snob again in full force), and food and wine snobbery (though, in reading this book and making the distinctions, I find that I am less of a snob and more of an elitist).

The book was very entertaining. I especially enjoyed the chapter on good taste:

"…good taste really is good sense, which means that in friendship, it is
represented by tact, generosity, and above all kindness; in possessions, by
comfort, elegance, utility, and solidity; in art, by beauty, harmony, and
originality…"

as well as the chapters on WASP society (my only experience with that being from Gilmore Girls [holla!]), and the chapter on the snobbery of being un-American. Though the book was enjoyable, I found it a little too fleshed out and thought it might do better as a series of essays.

In other news: gas prices are up; though the station's three crew and seven visiting shuttle astronauts are not at any immediate risk, Russian computers controlling the International Space Station's orientation, as well as its supply of oxygen and water have failed; Jessica Alba is an "American hero;" and during daylight hours, a million dollar painting by the 17th Century Dutch artist Frans van Mieris has been stolen from the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney!