We lost Bobbi last weekend. Boo-cat was 19 years old. I don’t have any pictures of her handy (they’re stored at the apartment) so I couldn’t post anything. Not that a measly blog post is a worthy tribute to the pet you grew up with. She’ll be pretty hard to forget though–if nothing else, there are scars. I think Boo thought I was a cat when I was a smaller Jen-person. I think I thought I was a cat when I was a smaller Jen-person. We played hard.  ::sigh:: Miss you, Boo.

On a significantly lighter note, it is with great anticipation that I await the arrival of my new SHINY. I ordered my iPhone 4 on Monday, about a month sooner than I thought I would be (Russ’s phone died so we ended up doing all of the switching around of lines and accounts a month before our contracts were up).  I’ve been seriously considering buying a Shiny (and not just dreaming like before) for a over month now. I am hopelessly attached to my iPod Touch–I don’t go anywhere without it. It’s high time I consolidate devices and get rid of this LG (the replacement that AT&T sent for the Motorola that I lost) with its hideous touch screen! AT&T Guy anticipates that Shiny will arrive sometime next week or the week after.

Next time: trying new recipes, knitting progress, and searching for a car that I might like to buy in a year or two.

Post from: Playing in Puddles by Jennifer McGee. Content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Catch

Evidence of yarn industry. And Libby.

Thanks to Jessie, I’ve been learning to KNIT.  My first project is a scarf with alternating knit and purl stitches, nothing too fancy. I can’t say that I like knitting any more or less than crochet–I’ve only just begun. I can, however, say that knitting doesn’t give me the repetitive stress problems that crocheting did (different movement). Knitting, I’ve found, is just as addictive as crochet. Maybe it’s just the zone-out appeal, kind of like when I was doing latch hook as a kid. Just craft and dream.

In other news, I’ve had digestive problems for a week and a half now. Even though I’m not tracking calories anymore, I still pay pretty close attention to what I eat–and I have no idea what could be bothering me. I’m not ready to run to the doctor just yet (I’ve been there twice in as many months) but I needed to do something. So yesterday, I cut milk out of my diet. The only dairy I ate yesterday was half a tablespoon of butter on my bagel. Today I tried margarine on the bagel instead. I’ve felt much better today but it’s probably too soon to know anything conclusive. The experiment continues.

Oh and the hairs done been cut, if you haven’t already seen on Facebook or ::gasp:: in PERSON.

Right. That is all, comrades.

Post from: Playing in Puddles by Jennifer McGee. Content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Knit

By way of a techy aside: in the midst of upgrading WordPress, I was reminded that I wanted to try out the WPtouch plugin, which tacks on a mobile theme for those who are browsing your blog from their phone. This blog doesn’t have enough traffic to warrant a mobile site (and my few loyal readers see new posts via RSS and rarely visit my blog) but if the plugin works well, I might go through the trouble of bringing up something more customized for Starrynight. If you would be so good, take a looksie at my blog in your iPhone/iPod, Blackberry, Smartphone, etc. There’s an option to turn off the mobile site for comparison. Better? Worse? Indifferent?

From ‘my snory life’ department: I was cleaning up my workspace before lunch and found a scrap of paper with a few call numbers scrawled on it. The Scrap of Paper Game! I had forgotten I was playing this game. Backing up–I used to keep long lists of call numbers back when I was a copy cataloger because I dealt with a much larger volume of books then and would happen upon all matter of interesting titles. These would collect until I filled a scrap of paper (~20 books). By that point, I usually wouldn’t have a clue what books I had thought worthy of The Scrap of Paper. When you have super-crappy memory, you constantly piss people off but better, you also litter your life with surprises. $6 in a pair of shorts I wore to work last summer: cheers! Realizing that you’re seeing a movie Tuesday night that you’ve been waiting to see forever: huzzah (the movie is usually decided the previous week)! The Scrap of Paper Game yields similar excitement. What will I FIND?

The only clues are usually the call number classifications. This time, two books were in the GR folklore classification and one was in BL religion and mythology classification. I ventured to the seventh floor of the stacks (taking the stairs!) where I found some collections of ancient Egyptian stories. A treasure! A find! Making a note to jot down call numbers more often.

The result: I now have two more books checked out (one of the three book didn’t have a focus that interested me) that I have to struggle to find time to read. I’ve added them to my Goodreads account, if you’re curious as to the particulars.

Post from: Playing in Puddles by Jennifer McGee. Content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Scrap of Paper

I hunted down and viewed videos from Palin’s May 14, 2010 speech to the Susan B. Anthony List. What’s immediately obvious is that Palin did not pepper this speech with the word “feminism.” In fact, she uses the word sparingly–a bit uneasily at times–and only tentatively applying the word to her comrades fighting the anti-abortion fight (and even then, she applied the word indirectly). Never once does Palin refer to herself as a feminist. Instead, she slips in the friendlier “womens’ movement” and attempts to redefine what feminism is for conservative women and men¹. Listening to the mama grizzlies bit sent me over the top. These grizzly-women are the same people who demand books being removed from library shelves for containing dangerous information for children and teens! Oh but again, with the knee-jerk reaction. Back to the words.

While listening to the context and to the “mama grizzlies” quote in question at 6:35, the deeper, far more horrific message of Palin’s metaphor dawned on me: cease all meaningful dialogue immediately and begin ripping into and destroying one another like animals. She’s stirring up the mama-mob. Don’t think, don’t discuss, don’t research, just get really ANGRY. Curiously, Palin muddles her own message. There are a couple of weird disconnects in Palin’s speech regarding the angry mob/rational dialogue dichotomy.

Minutes before Palin speaks about “mama grizzlies” (same video, 4:48), Palin accuses the media of portraying Tea Party members as (among other things) violent. Tea party members are not, according to Palin, violent mobs–and in general, I’d agree with her. So are we to believe that these Tea Partiers are like mama grizzlies, protecting their young from predators? Sorry, was this supposed to comfort me? Mammals protecting their offspring do not invest energy in logic and fact-finding; they are reactionary and unthinkingly violent. Is this the kind of behavior that you want to see encouraged in your fellow American voters? It is one thing to educate yourself, listen to the other side, make a cool, rational decision and put your vote behind it; it is another thing to get angry, shut down and start shouting–just as I was guilty of doing immediately upon reading these articles. Thinking calmly and rationally about the issues that are really important to us is very difficult, even when there isn’t a popular public figure stoking the fires.

The mob/dialogue disconnect becomes really hard to reconcile at the end of Palin’s speech (different video, 8:25), when Palin praises the Susan B. Anthony List organization for their ability to “engage in the issues and the debate–with healthy debate–and so diplomatically, so professionally, with so much wisdom and intelligence and again, with grace.” Wait… what about the grizzlying? Weren’t you just telling us fifteen minutes ago that standing around talking gets in the way of getting things done? Right before she leaves the stage, Palin refers back to her speech’s opening quote by Margaret Thatcher, “If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.” So men talk and are generally ineffectual (nice!), while women do what it takes to make things happen². Palin’s message seems to be “Women: get ANGRY. Let’s get out there and get more people ANGRY. Let’s take our anger to the polls where we will vote on one and only one issue.” Utilize anger to turn off brains. Act on a people’s sense of persecution and/or righteous moral indignation. Unleash the mob.

It’s my wish as a voter that intelligent, healthy debates regarding the crucial issues relating to our civil liberties continue in the days leading up to and beyond November 2nd; however, I find this insulting likening of taxpaying citizens to brainless, enraged animals to be a little too close to the truth of things. Talking down to me–reducing me to a beast–will neither win my vote nor my respect, Mrs. Palin. I am prepared to discuss specific policies–regarding abortion and MUCH, much more–when you are.

Star has another well-written take on Palin’s speech at her blog.

2. Or women do what they’re told to do–it’s unfortunate that Thatcher’s quote works both ways. Back to the text.

Post from: Playing in Puddles by Jennifer McGee. Content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Grizzly vs Voter

Spouse-Creature and I await our lunch on the cafe patio. The sun also makes an appearance.

I don’t know much about art and I know even less about the art of American Indians. What I found most striking was the variety in the arts of peoples from different geographies. This should have been obvious. Sadly, my idea of Indian art has been hitherto limited to Navajo silver and turquoise. There is so much more though: gorgeous beadwork, woodwork, and weaving. And, as is he case with every culture, art–both in form and function–is determined by the land.

View of the Canal from the cafe patio

If you have the opportunity to go, I highly recommend the Eiteljorg. In addition to the fine collection, the museum itself is gorgeous: beautiful wood and stone and the clever use of space to give the impression of expansiveness. These photos represent a few pics from the day. I’ll upload more to my Flickr account when I have a moment. The Eiteljorg is a great place for photography enthusiasts. Photography was allowed in all of the exhibits (except for the special exhibit area, which wasn’t open when we were there). There’s a three-story water exhibit in the parking garage stairwell that I wish I had framed in a photo better rather than just pointing and clicking. The museum interiors (think light and space) and  patio cafe and outside garden area were also photo worthy.

Post from: Playing in Puddles by Jennifer McGee. Content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

29

THE UNMARRIED AND CHILDLESS

The nerve hygiene of single people, childless married people, old maids, bachelors, widows, and widowers, deserves special attention. As a class these people are given to a great deal of thinking about themselves, while they are usually quite without a definite aim and purpose in life. There is a great tendency for this class to become selfish, self-centered, while the tender emotions of natural affection and love are so little exercised that the unselfish social instincts become stunted. There is a great tendency to develop a peculiar temperament and an eccentric disposition.

When a woman has neither a husband nor a child to love, she is altogether likely to develop an inordinate fondness for angora cats or lap poodles. Likewise, when men do not have their better natures drawn out and their unselfish instincts developed by the responsibilities and care of a family, they become, as a rule, more and more self-centered in all their thoughts and plans.

It is absolutely necessary in the interests of nervous hygiene that all persons without family and all married persons without children should develop some specialized hobby in art, science, literature, or philanthropy, and assiduously devote themselves to their choice–literally to bestow their heart’s affection upon their work, in the absence of husband, wife or children. A failure to have some definite humanitarian object upon which to bestow one’s affections, upon which to lavish one’s labor, will be attended by the penalty of developing the hermit’s disposition; unhappiness and disease can be the only result of such a solitary existence. If intelligent men and women will not marry and have children, then nature exacts, as the price of their continued health and happiness, that they raise up and nourish worthy objects of science, art, literature, and sociology.

I don’t have much to say about this really, the passage just tickled me and I thought I’d share. Well, OK, I have one or two four observations. And I’m not at all feeling defensive. Nope.

1. ALL men, by their natures, are slime from birth; it is impregnation and marriage–but not in that order–that draws out mankind’s hitherto latent “better nature.” ALL women, on the other hand, start out as good, nurturing, selfless creatures and remain so throughout their lives, unless they fail to pop out of few children or get hitched (but not in that order). The later category of women turn into total bitches.
2. No one worked in 1914 America. Not women. Not men. Americans at the beginning of the 20th century sat around idle until they got about life’s business of getting themselves knocked up and espoused, only not in that order. Those who did neither continued to sit around idle. How fortunate that those of us single and/or childless in the 21st century have TVs and computer screens to stare at while we do all of this idle sitting!
3. Intelligent men and women are expected to procreate and tie the knot–but not in that order!–while absolutely nothing is expected of stupid people. In fact, it was hoped that all stupid people wouldn’t spawn at all.
4. The medical profession in the early 1900s, unfettered by the experiments and clinical studies that frequently sabotage modern medicine, found reasons to justify moral, religious and societal norms through an extremely complicated and technical process called science. The scientific process is far too complex to explain here, but it includes the processes of fuzzy logic and making stuff up that sounds right.

I mock this passage for being out-dated and backward but the sentiments are still prevalent today. This passage (indeed, this whole book) is pretty hard on women (having a period means that your nervous state is suspect from the start!) but this line of thought doesn’t do men any favors either. There is only one truly acceptable outcome and those who do not or choose not to comply are medically deficient. So how much of this is ludicrous in light of today’s cultural expectations of relationships and families? Do we still cling to any of these sentiments?

Oh and sorry Russ, I know you’d prefer a cat but I’m horribly allergic. Lap poodles sound horrid though. Our course of action is obvious. We must have a pony.

Post from: Playing in Puddles by Jennifer McGee. Content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Angora Cats or Lap Poodles?

I’ve listened to about three-quarters of Northanger Abbey. It’s… different. I feel absolutely nothing for any of the characters. I know Austen is writing satirically but I’m not a big fan of the genre that is being mocked to begin with. Austen is not being nearly as ruthless as I’d like. I want horrible things to happen to Catherine Morland. I’m probably not meant to feel that way about the heroine. She’s just so damn clueless and she keeps making the same mistake over and over. Every character in this book could die and I’d clap and cheer. They’re all too two-dimensional–even for satire. All of you. Die.

In other news, The Cavaliers just announced their 2010 program, or parts of it, at any rate. Interesting concept. I immediately thought of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World but that film has nutty, vaguely carnivalesque theme music, which judging from the show logo is probably not what The Cavies are going for. In any case, I look forward to June!

In OTHER other news, my microwave may not be malfunctioning after all. Russ has used it a few times with absolutely no problems. He is convinced that there were small bits of metal in the green beans I was reheating. Oh, I feel much better now that I know the microwave won’t EXPLODE; however, there was METAL in my GREEN BEANS. Russell could not understand why I would not be consoled on this matter.

Post from: Playing in Puddles by Jennifer McGee. Content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Life, a Miscellany

And now from the Notes on Life Dept., these messages:

Gramma Anna generously gave her van to Russell and me. I thought about naming it The Roch (pronounced ‘rock’)– it’s sturdy and reliable and you can count on it, just like Gramma (and Grandpa, so I hear). Russell, however, will probably want to name it TARDIS because IS teal and boxy. As we intend for the van to be the first of what might someday be a fleet of Starrynight commercial vehicles, it will probably just be known as Number One. Which makes me think of Will Riker. Which makes me giggle–mostly at the image of Riker behind the wheel of an Aerostar. But as long as long as I’m paying for the van, I have naming dibs. Until Starrynight can take over the bills, it’s my Roch.

I started listening to Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey on walks to work and plan to listen to Lady Susan immediately after, thereby finishing the volume of complete works that has been sitting in my goodreads queue forever. I’m still forging ahead on Dragonriders of Pern during bus rides and breaks at work. I’ve stopped requesting books at the library in hopes that I can focus on finishing what I’ve been reading since the end of last year. Clearly, I have book ADD. To those whom I’ve borrowed books from: apologies! If you need your books back, just lemme know.

Last in the news, I’ve been maintaining the same weight for two weeks; however, my clothes are still getting looser. Losing inches not pounds? Gaining muscle? Not a clue. I do know that I feel great, aside from the whole allergy/asthma thing and, as Tim pointed out to me a couple weeks ago, exercise really helps those kinds of ailments. Overall, I’m pretty happy about how things are going. If I was going to set any new goals, I want to start stretching everyday for at least 15 minutes. I’ve limbered up a lot but I’m still not as flexible as I used to be. And it just feels good.

In the spirit of April Fool’s Day, I will list five things about myself. One is not true:

1. I’ve never smoked in my life.
2. I’ve thrown animal crackers at people from high atop a Ferris wheel.
3. I’m hopelessly addicted to chocolate: dark, milk and white, I love them all.
4. I wanted to be a horse when I was little.
5. I hold a few belts in hapkido.

OK, OK! The name Number One is growing on me. A little. “Make it so, Number One!”

Post from: Playing in Puddles by Jennifer McGee. Content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

No Joke

I found an essay at LISNews written by librarian, Abigail Goben, regarding the needs of patrons between the ages of 20-40. Goben posits that libraries, while doing an admirable job finding new and exciting ways to reach out to teens and children, have neglected patrons who fall into the post-college (and possibly pre-family) category. Intriguing but who are these patrons? What do they want? If libraries expand hours, staff, and programming (let’s assume that there isn’t an economic crisis and that the coolest, most talented librarian ever is doing the program planning ), will that make mid-20 somethings more likely to walk in the door and stay an hour and a half?

To find answers, I started with the most authoritative source I know: me. Indeed, the patron Goben describes IS me. While reading her essay, I was all nods. In fact, I was one click away from my library’s program website before the thought struck me: “I can barely make time to run inside to pick up my holds, how will I make time to attend programs?” OK, granted, I’m probably not the most representative example of persons of this age group. I work 60 hours a week in addition to trying to keep a new film company afloat. My husband and I share one car, so physically getting to the library is a bit of a challege at times. On the other hand, I wasn’t always this busy. Even when I had my own car, worked a normal 40 hour week and didn’t have a film production company diverting my attention, I still didn’t attend library programming. Is that the library’s fault? Absolutely not. MCPL DOES have programming that interests me, good collections and services, and hours that suit me. I simply didn’t make the time, then or now. Are all of us 20 and 30-somethings too busy with Life? Has Evil Technology destroyed our ability to interact with one another and sit still for ten minutes without Tweeting or checking Facebook? Was all of the wonder and curiosity which we possessed back in college stamped out of us by the big, mean Real World? Surely not. Attending such programming simply isn’t a priority for me.

I’m curious what others of this demographic think. Are you interested in on-site programs at your public library? Is your library offering such programs? Do you attend them? Why or why not?

The expectations of library service held by 20-30 somethings, to my knowledge, hasn’t been studied much. I applaud Goben for putting this concern on the radar. Check out her blog for more smart writing.

Oh, and yes, I can pay my fines online– and yes, I’m feeling rather smug about it.

Post from: Playing in Puddles by Jennifer McGee. Content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

If You Build It/Lead a Horse to It

Special note: Quirk Books is giving away 50 Quirks Classics Prize Packs, which include advanced copies, audio books and much more. See here for details.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls
by Steve Hockensmith.
Philadelphia: Quirk Books, c2010.
320 p. : ill. ; 21 cm. $12.95
9781594744549
Link to Publisher.

“A world with zombies in it had no tolerance for softness or sentiment. The dreadfuls infected everything just by virtue of existing. To live in their world, one had to become like them. Dead inside.

So be it.”

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls (PPZ:DOD) achieves what a prequel should: providing background and context for a published work. What was most shocking about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (PPZ) was the savage character of Austen’s heroine. I found it hard to imagine how Elizabeth Bennet came to be so cold, heartless and blood-thirsty. In PPZ:DOD, Hockensmith fills in the gaps for us.

At the very beginning of the book, the Bennet sisters are precisely as we find them at the start Austen’s novel. Then, in the space of the first five paragraphs, a corpse rises from his coffin–interrupting his own funeral. The zombie scourge which plagued England twenty-some years ago has returned and Mr. Bennet, once a warrior in the fight against the dreadfuls, resolves to make his family ready for the renewed menace. He begins to train his five daughters–much to Mrs. Bennet’s horror–in the ways of the deadly arts.

Elizabeth soon becomes desensitized not only to violence and death but to the cultural mores of society as well. When the town is scandalized by the Bennet sisters’ running about with swords at their hips, the girls are un-invited from attending a ball–a ball in which Elizabeth was supposed to have her coming out. While Mrs. Bennet, Kitty and Lydia “…fell into each other’s arms weeping, Elizabeth simply waited for whatever her own reaction might be. Tears, anger, bitter laughter… what was it to be? And why didn’t it come more quickly?” Elizabeth doesn’t care that those of society treat her and her family like outcasts (although she is moved by Jane’s pain over the matter). Without sharing the particulars that precipitate the hardening of Lizzy’s heart, I will say that the progression works. The develpment isn’t sudden or cheap.

A number of new characters are introduced. Most aren’t very memorable and each has a specific role to play: adoring suitors, some are lecherous rogue, and some are mere comic vehicles to lighten up the violent parts of the book. I expected to see a certain formidable woman make an appearance and I was not disappointed. I did not expect Darcy to make a cameo–and he didn’t. However, events build in such a way that we are meant to think of Darcy when certain proud, arrogant men disappoint Elizabeth. The consequence is that Elizabeth trusts, loves and shows mercy to no one but her immediate family.

The quality of prose didn’t do much for me (but again, it’s hard not to compare to Austen) and something (perhaps the pacing or the supporting characters?) seemed flat; however I, did appreciate that Hockensmith’s PPZ:DOD had far less gratuitous gore than Grahame-Smith’s PPZ. In fact, none of the gore sequences were gratuitous–all were used to advance plot and/or character development. I don’t particularly object to gore but it can be overdone. If I’m taken out of the story by the ridiculousness of a situation, the author has failed. Happily, this was not an issue in PPZ:DOD.

I would recommend this book to those who enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or other books in the growing Quirks Classics series. I just happened to notice that there are 50 copies available in a Good Reads Giveaway from now until March 23rd. If you’re looking for more, Quirks is gearing up to release Android Karenina in early summer. Details here.

Post from: Playing in Puddles by Jennifer McGee. Content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Review: Dawn of the Dreadfuls