Thursday, May 31, 2012
The end?
I'm seriously considering closing down this blog. I'd keep it online but archive it, not adding new entries. In its place I'd begin a private, posthumous blog.
Doc Watson : NPR
Doc Watson : NPR:
More resources.
A memorable Doc Watson story, sort of. Grad school, early 70s. A party to honor blues legend Son House, visiting campus, hosted by my office mate, a folksinger like myself and like my girlfriend "Sally" (the same one), so all the folkies are at the party. A Doc Watson record playing. He starts singing Amazing Grace. Was blind but now I see. The line devastates Sally, who practically falls over in tears, losing her breath, it takes some effort for me to get her breathing in other than gasps. It's a moment I've never forgotten, the effect of a Doc Watson song on Sally.
More resources.
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| This album blew me away |
Time out
Putting the narrative poem down until after school is over. Not feeling right. It's missing something. Need to brood more about it, then return without teaching responsibilities to see if it's worth pursuing and, if not, what if anything will replace my obsession with its title.
Still dragging. In fact, I went to bed at 730 last night, up at 730 this morning, 12 hrs in bed!, which is not like me at all. And all this without "symptoms" of a virus, no cough, headache, congestion. Just very little energy. The weekend student work might be a chore in this context. Maybe I'll finally get a second wind.
Still dragging. In fact, I went to bed at 730 last night, up at 730 this morning, 12 hrs in bed!, which is not like me at all. And all this without "symptoms" of a virus, no cough, headache, congestion. Just very little energy. The weekend student work might be a chore in this context. Maybe I'll finally get a second wind.
In memory of ...
I went to a large high school, Pasadena HS, graduating in 1957. Today I got a link to a slide show of those in our class who have passed away. It took 20 minutes to watch it, so many are gone. I learned my first wife died. I learned the kid across the street where I grew up died. I learned the girl who invited me to the Sadie Hawkins dance died. I learned a cheerleader I had the hots for died. Most of the people passed by like strangers.
Mariners find bats!
Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers - May 30, 2012 | MLB.com SEA Recap:
"ARLINGTON -- Flexing their new-found muscles for a second straight night, the Mariners blasted Texas, 21-8, on Wednesday as Justin Smoak hit a pair of three-run home runs to lead the onslaught at Rangers Ballpark."
Over 30 runs in two nights on the road against the division leader -- go figure!
"ARLINGTON -- Flexing their new-found muscles for a second straight night, the Mariners blasted Texas, 21-8, on Wednesday as Justin Smoak hit a pair of three-run home runs to lead the onslaught at Rangers Ballpark."
Over 30 runs in two nights on the road against the division leader -- go figure!
Mariners 21, Rangers 8
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SEA
| 0 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 21 | 20 | 1 | |
TEX
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 13 | 1 |
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
A full day, a slow day
I got a lot done today on all fronts -- prep work, a few pages on the narrative poem, yard work, harmonica practice -- and yet I'm still dragging ass like a 90 y/o old fart. Definitely not at full speed but not sure why.
TREEbook, a New Time-Triggered E-book Format
TREEbook, a New Time-Triggered E-book Format
In my experience with hyperdrama and hypertext I doubt if readers are ready for this.
In my experience with hyperdrama and hypertext I doubt if readers are ready for this.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Doc Watson, Grammy-winning folk musician, dead at 89 | OregonLive.com
Doc Watson, Grammy-winning folk musician, dead at 89 | OregonLive.com:
A giant. Got to hear him perform up close and personal when he visited a folk music class I took at UCLA (so did most people performing at the Ash Grove during the term). His Doc Watson and Son album blew me away.
Watson picks with only TWO fingers, ala Merle Travis, after whom he named his son. As a kid, I sometimes was "baby sat" at a daytime country music TV show that featured Merle Travis (among many others) while mom shopped at a farmer's market in the area. The TV station became a daycare center in those very early TV days!
A giant. Got to hear him perform up close and personal when he visited a folk music class I took at UCLA (so did most people performing at the Ash Grove during the term). His Doc Watson and Son album blew me away.
Watson picks with only TWO fingers, ala Merle Travis, after whom he named his son. As a kid, I sometimes was "baby sat" at a daytime country music TV show that featured Merle Travis (among many others) while mom shopped at a farmer's market in the area. The TV station became a daycare center in those very early TV days!
Dragging
No energy all day. Thought I was coming down with something but no other symptoms. Just dragging ass.
I'm A Fool To Want You
Saw you mention this on your blog, Mark. Thanks for the reminder. Need to learn it on the chromatic.
Close to getting my first chromatic song down! "It's All Right With Me." Next, Fly Me To the Moon and Angel Eyes. Then maybe this one.
Learning to read music on chromatic, which is easier than on piano actually. Can visualize the holes on the staff. The chromatic has a more logical note distribution than the diatonic.
A summer project of sorts
I may gather together all my short digital films into one longer film, for my archive. Wouldn't be too hard to do. Might even make a few DVDs for friends. Hmm.
The milk truck to campus
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| My own private Park & Ride |
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| The scenic neighborhood route |
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| Past Corbett Fish House, best in city |
2012 French Open -- Maria Sharapova wins 6-0, 6-0 in first round - ESPN
2012 French Open -- Maria Sharapova wins 6-0, 6-0 in first round - ESPN:
Hope she goes all the way -- not getting any younger!
Hope she goes all the way -- not getting any younger!
Crunch time
Major reading next two weekends, last look at projects before grading them, then grading them. Then finals. Two weeks to go. Whew. I'm ready for summer and a time of relative leisure, poking around doing household and lawn chores. Dabbling in writing, more or less. The long narrative poem possesses me most now.
Time
A thought while reading about German book burning in classic Third Reich book ... they thought they were removing old ideas in order to replace them with new. Time as linear. Time also is circular, events repeating themselves. Perhaps a better notion is Time as layered, all moments existing at once, together.
Germans supported Hitler. Why? I remember a tense family gathering when I was a kid ... an uncle had brought home a German bride after the war ... at this gathering she defended Hitler, who had given folks jobs and their lives back ... needless to say this was not popular ... I remember a lot of shouting and crying ... my folks were only ones in clan who accepted the German woman after that (mom reluctantly)... took mom years to ride in my VW. WWII always a strong reality.
Germans supported Hitler. Why? I remember a tense family gathering when I was a kid ... an uncle had brought home a German bride after the war ... at this gathering she defended Hitler, who had given folks jobs and their lives back ... needless to say this was not popular ... I remember a lot of shouting and crying ... my folks were only ones in clan who accepted the German woman after that (mom reluctantly)... took mom years to ride in my VW. WWII always a strong reality.
Monday, May 28, 2012
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Sunday, May 27, 2012
Vietnam in HD — Memorial Day reflections
Vietnam in HD — History.com TV Episodes, Schedule, & Video:
Today I watched all 5+ hours of this excellent documentary. I saw it a few years ago when it first came out but had recorded a rerun recently. Memorial Day weekend struck me as appropriate for watching it again. It's not easy to take all at once but there are advantages. You get consumed by it -- and its sad lessons (the main one being, we don't learn from history).
We, which is to say our foreign policy, haven't changed since McKinley's dream at the top of the 20th century when the President was visited by Jesus Christ, who told him to protect "our little brown brothers" in the Philippines, thereby setting forth a policy that turned admirers into enemies and dashed the dreams of those fighting Spanish colonialism, who suddenly found American colonialism in its place.
The brilliance of this documentary is that it's not about policy and politicians but about the experiences of soldiers in the field and their families at home. Lots of home movie footage. It breaks your heart.
Today I watched all 5+ hours of this excellent documentary. I saw it a few years ago when it first came out but had recorded a rerun recently. Memorial Day weekend struck me as appropriate for watching it again. It's not easy to take all at once but there are advantages. You get consumed by it -- and its sad lessons (the main one being, we don't learn from history).
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| If only Jesus had stayed out of McKinley's dream |
The brilliance of this documentary is that it's not about policy and politicians but about the experiences of soldiers in the field and their families at home. Lots of home movie footage. It breaks your heart.
Of sausage and music
Made Swedish potato sausage this morning. Had a casing break during filling, which gave me experience in recovery -- successfully!, though I had moments of doubt. They came out pretty well and I had enough to make a few patties as well. May try them for breakfast tomorrow.
Been thinking about my harmonica goals and reached some decisions, taking a slightly new route. I'm not interested in playing blues as much as Cole Porter. So I picked up an inexpensive chromatic, a necessary tool for the music, and it's perfect. I feel confident I can get this down now, so it's all about practicing and building up a song bank. All this for my own amusement and satisfaction, no delusions of public performance, ever, though I'll record a few for my blog when they turn out.
Need to decide about this week in class, next to last week. A few things to read as well.
Been thinking about my harmonica goals and reached some decisions, taking a slightly new route. I'm not interested in playing blues as much as Cole Porter. So I picked up an inexpensive chromatic, a necessary tool for the music, and it's perfect. I feel confident I can get this down now, so it's all about practicing and building up a song bank. All this for my own amusement and satisfaction, no delusions of public performance, ever, though I'll record a few for my blog when they turn out.
Need to decide about this week in class, next to last week. A few things to read as well.
Ebooks: winners in the generation game | Books | The Observer
Ebooks: winners in the generation game | Books | The Observer:
"The growth of e-reading among older age groups shouldn't come as too much of a surprise"
"The growth of e-reading among older age groups shouldn't come as too much of a surprise"
Betrayal – review | Stage | The Observer
Betrayal – review | Stage | The Observer:
"As Samuel Beckett wrote, in a letter to Pinter, it "wrings the heart". A potentially mundane tale achieves mythic proportions"
My favorite Pinter play, rarely done. Made into a brilliant film with Jeremy Irons. Extraordinary drama.
"As Samuel Beckett wrote, in a letter to Pinter, it "wrings the heart". A potentially mundane tale achieves mythic proportions"
My favorite Pinter play, rarely done. Made into a brilliant film with Jeremy Irons. Extraordinary drama.
Americans vote fictional politics on screen a hit – but reality is a turn-off | Television & radio | The Observer
Americans vote fictional politics on screen a hit – but reality is a turn-off | Television & radio | The Observer:
"TV and cinema are turning again to life in the White House and on the campaign trail for drama while the approval ratings for real politicians are at rock bottom"
'via Blog this'
"TV and cinema are turning again to life in the White House and on the campaign trail for drama while the approval ratings for real politicians are at rock bottom"
'via Blog this'
The Great Gatsby and the American dream | Books | The Guardian
The Great Gatsby and the American dream | Books | The Guardian:
"Class inequality and 'the gospel of wealth' – in tackling such issues F Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece has never been more relevant. "
"Class inequality and 'the gospel of wealth' – in tackling such issues F Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece has never been more relevant. "
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Indy 500 & Billy Vukovich
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| Billy Vukovich 1947 |
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| Vukovich won Indy in 1953, 54 -- crashed and died in 1955 |
Comfort food
A slice of toast soaked in milk. On it a slice of fried scrapple. On the works a fried or poached egg. How can something so simple taste so damn good?
Friday, May 25, 2012
University of Missouri Press is closing
University of Missouri Press is closing
Sad. They have a fine journalism school. Once did a play of mine.
Sad. They have a fine journalism school. Once did a play of mine.
On the unsavory parts of a pig
We checked out a large Asian market and Eureka! Pork hearts ... livers ... feet ... uteri ... and a few parts I never heard of. No problem for future scrapple ... sausage ... pate ... I'll find what I need there.
Adventures in sausage making
I now have two large fat lamb sausages made from scratch! An adventurous morning to say the least.
I've never worked with hog casings before. When I opened the package to find a jumble of string, I thought, What the hell? They expand a bit after soaking in warm water for an hour or more but even then it's tricky to find an opening on one to slip over the funnel-stuffing gadget I add to the grinder. Took me a few tries but I got one on! And although I bought the smallest package of casings I could find, I have 10x more than I'd need in the near future. So I have lots of room for mistakes.
The funnel loaded with a casing and attached, I began the final small grind of the lamb mixture -- marinated in red wine, spices, two cuts of lamb -- and though it took four hands I managed to do it alone, stuffing the long casing, ended using only about half of it, tied the ends, success! I'm letting them rest before cooking them. I think I'll braise them first, make them like cooked sausage you buy in the store, Have enough for 4 to 6 sausages, though I "shaped them" into two large fat ones.
Ah, before stuffing I did a taste test, frying a small piece. Was ok, not great, but it should improve with continued age. I used a Greek recipe depending on cumin, oregano and paprika, with allspice and mint added. I can see where you can spend a lifetime toying around with the spices. I need to find a reliable "standard" one and then experiment, as I do with scrapple and pate.
All in all, I think maybe it was a little bit easier than I expected. Took about 4 hours, half of it waiting for something to happen. Later the bottom line ... tasting it!
Since this is a relatively free weekend before the grading crunch begins, Sunday I should make sausage again, maybe try buffalo or veal sausage.
The funnel loaded with a casing and attached, I began the final small grind of the lamb mixture -- marinated in red wine, spices, two cuts of lamb -- and though it took four hands I managed to do it alone, stuffing the long casing, ended using only about half of it, tied the ends, success! I'm letting them rest before cooking them. I think I'll braise them first, make them like cooked sausage you buy in the store, Have enough for 4 to 6 sausages, though I "shaped them" into two large fat ones.
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| My first sausage |
All in all, I think maybe it was a little bit easier than I expected. Took about 4 hours, half of it waiting for something to happen. Later the bottom line ... tasting it!
Since this is a relatively free weekend before the grading crunch begins, Sunday I should make sausage again, maybe try buffalo or veal sausage.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Sausage
Should get my casings tomorrow, time to try and make sausage. Actually I prefer patty to link but I have to try and stuff one, sounds like too much fun to pass up. I want to get good at lamb sausage. Yet another cooking adventure.
Weather supposed to improve. I need to do lawn work, so I hope we get some dry days.
Weather supposed to improve. I need to do lawn work, so I hope we get some dry days.
Wealth!
An unexpected trickle of royalties today from Amazon UK More coffee bean money. Ah, the (mostly retired) writing life, full of surprises.
Breakfast report
I'm delighted to report that yesterday's scrapple is first rate! I'm still going to try new things -- after all, homemade scrapple can vary every time you make it. But certain things may be fixed, like some of the ingredients in the stock. The first batch added something to the final mix I'd never seen before and so tried it, cooked blackeyed peas, and it overtook everything. Yet the consistency, with the grinder, was perfect, more moist on the inside than the consistency of the "easy scrapple" recipe I'd been using in recent years. Grinding your own meat changes much for the better. So I knew the grinder had put me on the right track.
Next batch I'm going to try ox-tails instead of soap bones in the stock, which will give me more meat as well to add to the rest. What I am missing in the supermarket are the basic "butcher shop" ingredients, pork heart and pork liver. With this batch I dropped the liver entirely and used chicken hearts ground with pork sausage and it worked fine. I still need to do the traditional recipe, though.
The bottom line is, I think I have the confidence and experience now to make a decent batch every time as long as I don't get too crazy with the ingredients, unless it's an admitted experiment. Like I say, this batch is first rate and I am only using what works from the American supermarket. I need to check out some Asian supermarkets, too, for more "unsavory" parts of a pig.
The Scrapple King of Portland is happy.
Next batch I'm going to try ox-tails instead of soap bones in the stock, which will give me more meat as well to add to the rest. What I am missing in the supermarket are the basic "butcher shop" ingredients, pork heart and pork liver. With this batch I dropped the liver entirely and used chicken hearts ground with pork sausage and it worked fine. I still need to do the traditional recipe, though.
The bottom line is, I think I have the confidence and experience now to make a decent batch every time as long as I don't get too crazy with the ingredients, unless it's an admitted experiment. Like I say, this batch is first rate and I am only using what works from the American supermarket. I need to check out some Asian supermarkets, too, for more "unsavory" parts of a pig.
The Scrapple King of Portland is happy.
Dan Fiebiger’s History Of Portland Filmmaker Tom Shaw | Oregon Movies, A to Z
Dan Fiebiger’s History Of Portland Filmmaker Tom Shaw | Oregon Movies, A to Z:
This is a terrific piece, including a link to my documentary on Shaw.
This cover with Shaw was set up by yours truly when I was Managing Editor at the magazine. Shaw loved doing it. The art director Rob O'Lenic and I led the way in transforming this rag into Oregon Business Magazine, which still exists today. The make-over done, I got bored with the job. When I got a fat grant for my playwriting, I gave notice. This was my last 9 to 5, as they say.
This is a terrific piece, including a link to my documentary on Shaw.
This cover with Shaw was set up by yours truly when I was Managing Editor at the magazine. Shaw loved doing it. The art director Rob O'Lenic and I led the way in transforming this rag into Oregon Business Magazine, which still exists today. The make-over done, I got bored with the job. When I got a fat grant for my playwriting, I gave notice. This was my last 9 to 5, as they say.
King Priam, a pacifist's opera, can still shed light on the trauma of war | Music | guardian.co.uk
King Priam, a pacifist's opera, can still shed light on the trauma of war | Music | guardian.co.uk:
"Half a century after its first showing, Michael Tippett's libretto based on the Iliad is a fitting work for today"
"Half a century after its first showing, Michael Tippett's libretto based on the Iliad is a fitting work for today"
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
The perfect tool
My inexpensive little meat grinder is perfect for making one loaf of scrapple in the kitchen. Did so this afternoon. Try it for brakfast. I have been getting great kitchen tools lately. Think sausage is in order this weekend.
Jazz
Been listening to jazz on the tv satellite station this morning and you'd think they were playing my record collection from the 1960s! Amazing.
The solitary artist
I don't even remember his name. But he was a significant influence on me in the very early years of my writing career.
It was the year I'd dropped out of grad school. I finally was beginning to publish in literary magazines and sell a few freelance journalism pieces. I could call myself a writer. I met him at The Ship Tavern, in Multnomah Village, which still exists.
He was an artist, a painter. In time he invited me to his studio, a shack behind his house in Multnomah. He was in his 70s and in that time had painted a huge number of canvases, stored chaotically in the large shack. All western scenes. Cowboys, roundups, gun fights, bar brawls. I loved his work. He sold very few pieces, he told me. He'd made his living, such as it was, as a car mechanic. He'd inherited the house and built the shack, the studio, himself. He still painted every day. He couldn't remember the last painting he'd sold ... maybe 20 years ago, he said. To a friend. He thought the friend felt sorry for him but he sold it anyway. He needed the money.
The impression this artist made on me, a young writer, was that commercial failure had nothing to do with personal success. The artist felt damn lucky! He'd arranged his life so he could paint every day! What the hell else was he supposed to do? He told me he was the most successful man he knew. He lived his life his way. He was a free man, an artist.
This was in 1968. I can still picture his work and see him in my mind's eye. I wish I could remember his name.
It was the year I'd dropped out of grad school. I finally was beginning to publish in literary magazines and sell a few freelance journalism pieces. I could call myself a writer. I met him at The Ship Tavern, in Multnomah Village, which still exists.
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| Reminds me of my friend's work |
The impression this artist made on me, a young writer, was that commercial failure had nothing to do with personal success. The artist felt damn lucky! He'd arranged his life so he could paint every day! What the hell else was he supposed to do? He told me he was the most successful man he knew. He lived his life his way. He was a free man, an artist.
This was in 1968. I can still picture his work and see him in my mind's eye. I wish I could remember his name.
This and that on a Wednesday morning
A great comment to my poem at Work Literary Magazine
A wandering mind this morning.
:Charles, I remember exactly where I was that night. In a tent in the backyard with an extension cord to my radio and a little lamp. Annie also “Had A Baby” and I had dreams of doing “THAT” on the radio.How we remember where we were! The first time I heard Little Richard's "Jenny, Jenny" I was camping with some high school nerd friends, the father of one a physicist, we'd water ski etc. The first time I heard Canned Heat I was in a cabin in Utah. I didn't realize until later that it was the same guys who as UCLA grad students did Eastern European music at the Ash Grove! Shit, I can even remember the first time I heard Perry Como's "Pack of Wild Horses"! I'd better stop. (Why can't I remember something that happened yesterday?)
A wandering mind this morning.
- Great article on the Hollywood Hotel in the LA Times. They charge now, can't copy it here.
- Brooding about the narrative poem. I think I found a way to give it a shot, after dismissing my first take on it because I don't have the chops to embrace it that way. It's good to know something like that. Saves wasted time. What bullshit that Little Johnny can do anything. Don't limit your goals but don't be a fool either.
- A day of coding, getting student posters ready for Show and Tell tomorrow.
- A free weekend, calm before the storm, no student work to collect.
- Back to cold, windy, wet. Jesus, Portland weather!
- Friday a new batch of scrapple, I think, with my first sausage close behind. The pate is great but I've been thinking of an embellishment to make it my signature pate. The "easy scrapple" of the past took about an hour ... the new scrapple will take 3 or 4 hours and if I get my meat from a butcher, it will take 7 or 8 hours. Love it! I think I'll probably focus on the middle kind, with stuff I can get in the supermarket, for convenience, but now and again venture across town to the butcher shop. I don't expect to find a hog's head on my porch any time soon, which is what the late and dear friend John Basham left me on a spring day in Eugene in the early 1970s.
- Feeling good, despite the weather. My first rate coffee helps. Knowing I have scrapple to make gives me something to look forward to. Hey, getting a response to my poem is very cool as well.
- Nature will win and there will be hell to pay soon enough but in the meantime, I plan to enjoy myself as much as I can.
Orange is not the only fruit: why book prizes, not sponsors, matter to writers | Books | The Guardian
Orange is not the only fruit: why book prizes, not sponsors, matter to writers | Books | The Guardian:
"To step up and receive the cheque and the statuette and believe you have written the "best" book is to be delusional. What winning means is money: not money to buy a diamond ring, but to be able to push aside everything else that interferes with writing books. "
Hear, hear! Yeats on hearing he'd won the Nobel: How much? Perfect.
Alas, with most prizes, like the Oregon Book Award, the money is insignificant. It's more about ... what? Prestige? Something to put on your resume? Some Oregon awards offer "real money," like the Oregon Arts Commission fellowships (I won twice, once for fiction, once for drama, both in the 1980s. I think I'm the only Oregon writer to win in two writing forms.). But it's always a crap shoot.
"To step up and receive the cheque and the statuette and believe you have written the "best" book is to be delusional. What winning means is money: not money to buy a diamond ring, but to be able to push aside everything else that interferes with writing books. "
Hear, hear! Yeats on hearing he'd won the Nobel: How much? Perfect.
Alas, with most prizes, like the Oregon Book Award, the money is insignificant. It's more about ... what? Prestige? Something to put on your resume? Some Oregon awards offer "real money," like the Oregon Arts Commission fellowships (I won twice, once for fiction, once for drama, both in the 1980s. I think I'm the only Oregon writer to win in two writing forms.). But it's always a crap shoot.
Tristan und Isolde – review | Music | The Guardian
Tristan und Isolde – review | Music | The Guardian:
"The classic, sculptural simplicity of Welsh National Opera's 1993 production of Wagner's masterpiece has proved enduring. Director and designer Yannis Kokkos treats it as Greek tragedy, and his creation of a frame within the proscenium gives every big moment and strategic action its optimum dramatic context"
My 2nd favorite opera, after Mahagonny.
"The classic, sculptural simplicity of Welsh National Opera's 1993 production of Wagner's masterpiece has proved enduring. Director and designer Yannis Kokkos treats it as Greek tragedy, and his creation of a frame within the proscenium gives every big moment and strategic action its optimum dramatic context"
My 2nd favorite opera, after Mahagonny.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
30 Seconds with South Sudan Team Member, Kara Goucher | Lopez Lomong
30 Seconds with South Sudan Team Member, Kara Goucher | Lopez Lomong:
"One of the United States’ top female distance runners, Kara Goucher, gave birth to her son, Colt, in September 2010. Seven months later, she finished fifth at the 2011 Boston Marathon in 2 hours 24 minutes 52 seconds, her best time by a minute. A hip injury tempered the remainder of Goucher’s 2011 season, but she recovered sufficiently to finish third at the Olympic marathon trials in January in Houston, qualifying for the London Games with Shalane Flanagan and Desiree Davila."
"One of the United States’ top female distance runners, Kara Goucher, gave birth to her son, Colt, in September 2010. Seven months later, she finished fifth at the 2011 Boston Marathon in 2 hours 24 minutes 52 seconds, her best time by a minute. A hip injury tempered the remainder of Goucher’s 2011 season, but she recovered sufficiently to finish third at the Olympic marathon trials in January in Houston, qualifying for the London Games with Shalane Flanagan and Desiree Davila."
Oregon track & field rundown: There will be a huge Oregon presence at the U.S. Olympic Trials | OregonLive.com
Oregon track & field rundown: There will be a huge Oregon presence at the U.S. Olympic Trials | OregonLive.com:
"The Olympic Trials -- June 21-July 1 -- are just a month away."
"The Olympic Trials -- June 21-July 1 -- are just a month away."
Everybody Get Excited...FOR SOFTBALL!!!
Everybody Get Excited...FOR SOFTBALL!!! - Addicted To Quack:
"For the third straight year, the Oregon women's softball team has swept through the regional round of the NCAA tournament and into the Super Regionals. However, Oregon is still looking for their first-ever win in a Super Regional, and their first trip to the College World Series since 1989."
"For the third straight year, the Oregon women's softball team has swept through the regional round of the NCAA tournament and into the Super Regionals. However, Oregon is still looking for their first-ever win in a Super Regional, and their first trip to the College World Series since 1989."
Protest Is Coming to the London Olympics | Common Dreams
Protest Is Coming to the London Olympics | Common Dreams:
"As the games approach, and you begin to mark your favorite athletic contests on your calendar, remember that at noon on July 28 there will a different kind of event: when campaigners come together not to celebrate the breathtaking athleticism of the Olympics but to challenge the breathtaking audacity of Olympic elites."
"As the games approach, and you begin to mark your favorite athletic contests on your calendar, remember that at noon on July 28 there will a different kind of event: when campaigners come together not to celebrate the breathtaking athleticism of the Olympics but to challenge the breathtaking audacity of Olympic elites."
Monday, May 21, 2012
Members Of Congress Speak Like High School Sophomores, Sunlight Foundation Report Says
Members Of Congress Speak Like High School Sophomores, Sunlight Foundation Report Says:
"The members speaking at the lowest grade levels tend to be freshmen Republicans."
That well?
"The members speaking at the lowest grade levels tend to be freshmen Republicans."
That well?
Summer kitchen project
Now that I have a meat grinder ... want to learn how to make my own sausage. An adventure.
The forgetful poet
How aging changes a writer's life! When I was a young short story writer, just beginning to appear in the literary magazines, late 1960s, each publication made my heart flutter. To see my story in print!
It almost seemed magical, almost as if this "Charles Deemer" listed as author couldn't possibly be me.
The story of my poem being published in Work Literary Magazine today is somewhat different.
When I received an email from the magazine some weeks ago, telling me they had accepted the poem after holding on to it for a year, I was puzzled. I had no memory of writing this poem. I had no memory of sending it to them. Moreover, I couldn't find a copy of it on my computer. What was going on?
Not wanting to admit to premature senility or worse, I wrote back that I had lost my copy of the poem and could they send me a copy, just to double check that I still owned up to it. They did and it suddenly rang a bell. Sort of. I had a vague recollection of writing it, sending it. At any rate, I approved it (again) and today it appears.
My heart isn't a-flutter. At the same time I am delighted to be a part of a journal I've come to admire. And the poem deals with a still vivid memory of my teenage life in LA.
What would send my heart a-flutter today? I'm not sure. A lot of money maybe. Fat chance.
I gave up on Happiness long ago. I traded it for Contentment.
Here is the song that's the subject of the poem and its even better sequel:
- The Thing at 34 degrees..., The Colorado Quarterly, Spring 1969
- Presenting the Annual Interracial Pig Roast, Prism International, Spring 1971
- The Idaho Jacket, Prism International, Spring 1973
It almost seemed magical, almost as if this "Charles Deemer" listed as author couldn't possibly be me.
The story of my poem being published in Work Literary Magazine today is somewhat different.
Not wanting to admit to premature senility or worse, I wrote back that I had lost my copy of the poem and could they send me a copy, just to double check that I still owned up to it. They did and it suddenly rang a bell. Sort of. I had a vague recollection of writing it, sending it. At any rate, I approved it (again) and today it appears.
My heart isn't a-flutter. At the same time I am delighted to be a part of a journal I've come to admire. And the poem deals with a still vivid memory of my teenage life in LA.
What would send my heart a-flutter today? I'm not sure. A lot of money maybe. Fat chance.
I gave up on Happiness long ago. I traded it for Contentment.
Olympic Park's former artist in residence to deal with disillusionment | Sport | The Guardian
Olympic Park's former artist in residence to deal with disillusionment | Sport | The Guardian:
"Neville Gabie's next project will 'explore how far away we might have moved from the original spirit of the Games'"
Or, Corporate greed strikes again.
"Neville Gabie's next project will 'explore how far away we might have moved from the original spirit of the Games'"
Or, Corporate greed strikes again.
Charles Deemer, 5/21/2012 « Work
Charles Deemer, 5/21/2012 « Work:
Today's Work Literary Magazine features my poem.
"When Work Meant Fuck, LA, 1954
In high school in Los Angeles
in 1954, the word spread quickly
that Huggy Boy was going to play
“Work With Me, Annie,” at midnight
even though the song was banned.
The song was banned because “work”
meant fuck, which everybody knew
without anyone actually saying it,
and if you doubted it the sequel
proved you wrong, “Annie had a baby
can’t work no more,” which also
was banned.
Every white teenager at my school
tuned in Huggy Boy that night."
Click link above to continue. And don't miss the song after the poem!
Today's Work Literary Magazine features my poem.
"When Work Meant Fuck, LA, 1954
In high school in Los Angeles
in 1954, the word spread quickly
that Huggy Boy was going to play
“Work With Me, Annie,” at midnight
even though the song was banned.
The song was banned because “work”
meant fuck, which everybody knew
without anyone actually saying it,
and if you doubted it the sequel
proved you wrong, “Annie had a baby
can’t work no more,” which also
was banned.
Every white teenager at my school
tuned in Huggy Boy that night."
Click link above to continue. And don't miss the song after the poem!
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Sunday roundup
It's been a productive day.
- Good progress on reading student work. Should finish the little left tomorrow.
- Learned I'll have a poem in tomorrow's online Work Magazine. I sent it in over a year ago to support their worthy cause, though my piece was a bit off their focus.
- Graham Greene called the mathematician Handy's memoir the best thing ever written about the life of a creative artist. So Greene understood that math is an art! More later, after I read Handy's book, which I'd heard of but never read.
- A good opera on public TV today, a modern retelling of some Shakespeare themes.
- A good day!
This book leaves me breathless!
A Mathematician's Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form
I'm not sure I could understand my high school math journals today but this book makes want to peek inside and find out.
A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.
If there is anything like a unifying aesthetic principle in mathematics, it is this: simple is beautiful.
You don’t need to make math interesting—it’s already more interesting than we can handle! And the glory of it is its complete irrelevance to our lives. That’s why it’s so fun!
English teachers know that spelling and pronunciation are best learned in a context of reading and writing. History teachers know that names and dates are uninteresting when removed from the unfolding backstory of events. Why does mathematics education remain stuck in the nineteenth century?
There is such breathtaking depth and heartbreaking beauty in this ancient art form. How ironic that people dismiss mathematics as the antithesis of creativity. They are missing out on an art form older than any book, more profound than any poem, and more abstract than any abstract. And it is school that has done this! What a sad endless cycle of innocent teachers inflicting damage upon innocent students. We could all be having so much more fun.This book began as an essay passed secretly from math teacher to math teacher, like some banned Russian novel, until a math columnist found it and tracked down the writer, telling him how important this message was and that it deserved expansion into a book. Here it is, published a few years ago. I doubt if it will make any difference. But how incredibly beneficial if it could make a difference!
I'm not sure I could understand my high school math journals today but this book makes want to peek inside and find out.
Dividends
Productive brooding, not ready to abandon long narrative poem quite yet. Might have a way to do it.
Brick wall
More fiddling and brooding with long narrative poem idea. Two things make sense. The concept could work. But not if written by me ... I have the wrong skill set. Back to the drawing board.
Back to the play idea. This I could do.
Most of all more brooding ...
Back to the play idea. This I could do.
Most of all more brooding ...
Saturday, May 19, 2012
I'll Have Another wins Preakness Stakes | OregonLive.com
BALTIMORE -- I'll Have Another overtook Bodemeister, blazing down the stretch to win the Preakness in the final strides Saturday and keep alive his hopes of winning the Triple Crown.
What an exciting horse to watch! One more to go in 3 weeks. Pretty cool.
An important book
I'm always reading more than one book at a time, no doubt a carryover from my student days. Today I began what I already can tell will be a significant book for me.
The Use and Abuse of Literature
The Use and Abuse of Literature
*
If literature solves problems, it does so by its own inexhaustibility, and by its ultimate refusal to be applied or used, even for moral good. This refusal, indeed, is literature’s most moral act. At a time when meanings are manifold, disparate, and always changing, the rich possibility of interpretation—the happy resistance of the text to ever be fully known and mastered—is one of the most exhilarating products of human culture.
The battle of the book reviews | Lionel Shriver | | The Guardian
The battle of the book reviews | Lionel Shriver | Comment is free | The Guardian:
Professional reviewers v. Amazon reviewers. A pro defends the craft.
"Still, when executed responsibly, reviewing requires many hours of reading that modest fees don't begin to compensate. We're not all grinding an axe or scratching a back. We try to put an author's work in context, to advance a more constructive argument than "I didn't like it", and to make a few halfway amusing observations along the way. We delight in bringing a fine book to your attention, while sparing you a trawl through dozens of conflicting comments by folks who can't spell. When we pan a work, hoping to save you time and money, we risk making an enemy of the author for life, while Amazon trolls can forever hide behind "woof25"."
This is a subset of the elitism v democracy argument in the arts. There's a sense in which it's a misunderstood, even false, argument. "High art," "serious art," has NEVER been popular. What is different is that the new consumer-capitalist focus on "the bottom line" has created a contest between long established apples and oranges. I favor elitism in the arts. I favor elitism in baseball. I favor elitism in anything that requires skill, craft, talent.
Pop lit is a popularity contest and always has been. That's fine. What has changed is that media now would have us believe that pop lit is more important than "literature." Yes, there are individual books in pop lit genres that "rise to" the level of literature, but overall there is a world of difference between today's best seller and a novel by Joyce or Faulkner. Because all are written in English, it's tempting to believe they share more than they actually do. Their differences define the difference between pop lit and serious lit.
I guess the bottom line is this: what has changed, really, is there now is so much loud hype in the land that defenders of serious lit barely can get a word in. I always come back to the class I took at UCLA, 19th C Popular Literature, and the absolute invisibility of all those novelists today -- and this in a century now labeled for its "classic American literature"! The point is, there are many kinds of writing. We didn't used to be as short-sighted about the books we treasure. Pop lit is immediate entertainment. Serious lit looks at the long haul and asks questions about our lives that stay with us all our lives. But we have to be receptive to the question, which takes a varying degree of literacy.
This latter -- writing a serious book -- used to be considered a noble quest for writers who attempted it. Today such writers are asked -- but how many copies did you sell? With the answer, the writer is dismissed.
I'm reminded of a moment I witnessed at a writer's conference at the Univ of Colorado when I was a grad student. A serious novelist was giving a reading. In the front row, two pop lit writers -- one of a popular TV series, the other a successful sci-fi writer -- sat in the front row blowing bubbles at him. They, and some in the audience, thought this was amusing, even hilarious. I thought it was disrespectful. I was disgusted. I left. (So, it turns out, did the wonderful poet and short story writer Marilyn Krysl, and this in fact is how we met, fleeing this scene together, starting a long friendship.)
As I've said here before, one of the more important and consequential "careers" a bright young lover of literature could embrace today is to found an ejournal of literature, an online journal that would seek out, find, and promote to the heavens the "great serious writing" that surely many young (and even old) writers are producing today, which has not yet been able to find its audience. All artistic revolutions are supported by a small coterie of critics. Where are they today?
Professional reviewers v. Amazon reviewers. A pro defends the craft.
"Still, when executed responsibly, reviewing requires many hours of reading that modest fees don't begin to compensate. We're not all grinding an axe or scratching a back. We try to put an author's work in context, to advance a more constructive argument than "I didn't like it", and to make a few halfway amusing observations along the way. We delight in bringing a fine book to your attention, while sparing you a trawl through dozens of conflicting comments by folks who can't spell. When we pan a work, hoping to save you time and money, we risk making an enemy of the author for life, while Amazon trolls can forever hide behind "woof25"."
This is a subset of the elitism v democracy argument in the arts. There's a sense in which it's a misunderstood, even false, argument. "High art," "serious art," has NEVER been popular. What is different is that the new consumer-capitalist focus on "the bottom line" has created a contest between long established apples and oranges. I favor elitism in the arts. I favor elitism in baseball. I favor elitism in anything that requires skill, craft, talent.
Pop lit is a popularity contest and always has been. That's fine. What has changed is that media now would have us believe that pop lit is more important than "literature." Yes, there are individual books in pop lit genres that "rise to" the level of literature, but overall there is a world of difference between today's best seller and a novel by Joyce or Faulkner. Because all are written in English, it's tempting to believe they share more than they actually do. Their differences define the difference between pop lit and serious lit.
I guess the bottom line is this: what has changed, really, is there now is so much loud hype in the land that defenders of serious lit barely can get a word in. I always come back to the class I took at UCLA, 19th C Popular Literature, and the absolute invisibility of all those novelists today -- and this in a century now labeled for its "classic American literature"! The point is, there are many kinds of writing. We didn't used to be as short-sighted about the books we treasure. Pop lit is immediate entertainment. Serious lit looks at the long haul and asks questions about our lives that stay with us all our lives. But we have to be receptive to the question, which takes a varying degree of literacy.
This latter -- writing a serious book -- used to be considered a noble quest for writers who attempted it. Today such writers are asked -- but how many copies did you sell? With the answer, the writer is dismissed.
I'm reminded of a moment I witnessed at a writer's conference at the Univ of Colorado when I was a grad student. A serious novelist was giving a reading. In the front row, two pop lit writers -- one of a popular TV series, the other a successful sci-fi writer -- sat in the front row blowing bubbles at him. They, and some in the audience, thought this was amusing, even hilarious. I thought it was disrespectful. I was disgusted. I left. (So, it turns out, did the wonderful poet and short story writer Marilyn Krysl, and this in fact is how we met, fleeing this scene together, starting a long friendship.)
As I've said here before, one of the more important and consequential "careers" a bright young lover of literature could embrace today is to found an ejournal of literature, an online journal that would seek out, find, and promote to the heavens the "great serious writing" that surely many young (and even old) writers are producing today, which has not yet been able to find its audience. All artistic revolutions are supported by a small coterie of critics. Where are they today?
The conversation: Where are the women in film? | | The Guardian
The conversation: Where are the women in film? | Comment is free | The Guardian:
"This week's Cannes festival has been mired in controversy because of the lack of female film-makers. Producer Trudie Styler and director Lucy Walker spill the beans"
"This week's Cannes festival has been mired in controversy because of the lack of female film-makers. Producer Trudie Styler and director Lucy Walker spill the beans"
Cannes film festival set to honour the bookworm | Film | The Guardian
Cannes film festival set to honour the bookworm | Film | The Guardian:
"Coveted Palme d'Or likely to go to a screen adaptation, with many of this year's entrants borrowing from literature"
"Coveted Palme d'Or likely to go to a screen adaptation, with many of this year's entrants borrowing from literature"
Friday, May 18, 2012
Space Double-Feature Weekend: SpaceX Launch and Solar Eclipse | Wired Science | Wired.com
Space Double-Feature Weekend: SpaceX Launch and Solar Eclipse | Wired Science | Wired.com:
"Don’t look directly at the sun, even during the eclipse, without special lenses. Better yet, join us here to watch live feeds of the eclipse from various locations. We will host the Slooh Space Camera’s live show beginning at 2:30 p.m. PDT, which will feature cameras in Japan, California, Arizona and New Mexico, as well as expert commentary. We will also have Panasonic’s live feed from the top of Mt. Fuji in Japan starting at 3 PDT. And for an eerie treat, we will be playing amateur astronomer Scotty Degenhardt’s broadcast from Area 51 in Nevada."
The eclipse is Sunday.
The eclipse is Sunday.
Theater: Hard Times for big theories | Oregon ArtsWatch
Theater: Hard Times for big theories | Oregon ArtsWatch:
"To paraphrase Robert Wuhl as the wacky minor-league coach in the fabulous baseball movie Bull Durham (he was actually talking about working at Sears): Theories suck, man. Sell Lady Kenmores.
At least, that’s my theory after a weekend of theatergoing that included Candide at Portland Opera and Stephen Jeffreys’ adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Hard Times at CoHo Theatre. Theories? Just shut up and hit the ball."
By Bob Hicks
"To paraphrase Robert Wuhl as the wacky minor-league coach in the fabulous baseball movie Bull Durham (he was actually talking about working at Sears): Theories suck, man. Sell Lady Kenmores.
At least, that’s my theory after a weekend of theatergoing that included Candide at Portland Opera and Stephen Jeffreys’ adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Hard Times at CoHo Theatre. Theories? Just shut up and hit the ball."
By Bob Hicks
What''s in a title?
Sometimes a project can begin with nothing more than a title. Christmas at the Juniper Tavern began this way. Sodom, Gomorrah & Jones began this way. A title you love pops into your head and you begin brooding about content appropriate to the title.
But sometimes a title can linger long without resolution, without finding its content. This is the case with a title I've been wrestling with since the 1980s: Women I Have Tried To Know. I originally thought of it as a two-actor play, a narrator-man and the half dozen women in his life, each played by the same actress. A play actors would love to do if written right. I could never write in right, not through a dozen or so attempts.
Once I tried it as a novel but didn't get far. I even tried it as an opera libretto and got nowhere.
Now, today for some reason, yet another approach popped into my brain, I tossed out two quick opening pages, and this may be the way to go: a long narrative poem. There is considerable advantage in this form. It cannot possibly be commercial, it lends itself to irony and introspection, it is slow by nature, it resists cheap shots, sexual histrionics and exploitation.
At the same time, it's a very difficult way to go. It would be long and slow to create, maybe requiring more time than I have. But it will keep me dabbling in something comfortably inside-out (as opposed to the kind of inside-out writing that flirts with nervous breakdown), since outside-in writing seems to be impossible for me these days. Something to dabble in and make me look like I'm keeping busy while waiting for the bus.
I suppose I'll continue to dabble with it. I wish I had thought of this approach ten years ago.
But sometimes a title can linger long without resolution, without finding its content. This is the case with a title I've been wrestling with since the 1980s: Women I Have Tried To Know. I originally thought of it as a two-actor play, a narrator-man and the half dozen women in his life, each played by the same actress. A play actors would love to do if written right. I could never write in right, not through a dozen or so attempts.
Once I tried it as a novel but didn't get far. I even tried it as an opera libretto and got nowhere.
Now, today for some reason, yet another approach popped into my brain, I tossed out two quick opening pages, and this may be the way to go: a long narrative poem. There is considerable advantage in this form. It cannot possibly be commercial, it lends itself to irony and introspection, it is slow by nature, it resists cheap shots, sexual histrionics and exploitation.
At the same time, it's a very difficult way to go. It would be long and slow to create, maybe requiring more time than I have. But it will keep me dabbling in something comfortably inside-out (as opposed to the kind of inside-out writing that flirts with nervous breakdown), since outside-in writing seems to be impossible for me these days. Something to dabble in and make me look like I'm keeping busy while waiting for the bus.
I suppose I'll continue to dabble with it. I wish I had thought of this approach ten years ago.
Alain De Botton's 'Better Porn': Prominent Writer And Philosopher Wants To Revolutionize Online Sex
Alain De Botton's 'Better Porn': Prominent Writer And Philosopher Wants To Revolutionize Online Sex:
""No longer would sexuality have to be lumped together with stupidity, brutishness, earnestness and exploitation," he wrote in a press release from The School of Life, a school he helped create in London. "It could instead be harnessed to what is noblest in us." Noblest meaning those moments when people are at their wittiest, "showing kindness, or working hard or being clever.""
""No longer would sexuality have to be lumped together with stupidity, brutishness, earnestness and exploitation," he wrote in a press release from The School of Life, a school he helped create in London. "It could instead be harnessed to what is noblest in us." Noblest meaning those moments when people are at their wittiest, "showing kindness, or working hard or being clever.""
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Park and ride
 |
| My own private park & ride |
The photo is where I park near my bus stop. Beats the official park and ride about a mile away, which is usually full anyway. And this feeds a different bus, my once-an-hour scenic route to campus.
In defense of elitism
A couple of articles from 2008 worth rereading, one from the left, one from the right.
In Defense of Elitism by Sam Harris
In Defense of Elitism by Tucker CarlsonAnd this NPR radio piece by the LA Times music critic, also from 2008.
The Changing Politics of the Self-Publishing Stigma
The Changing Politics of the Self-Publishing Stigma
I often wondered why it was "sexy" for a garage band to put out their own CD but pathetic for a writer to publish his own book. This landscape, like so much, is changing.
I often wondered why it was "sexy" for a garage band to put out their own CD but pathetic for a writer to publish his own book. This landscape, like so much, is changing.
5 horses with chance vs. Derby champ in Preakness - Yahoo! News
5 horses with chance vs. Derby champ in Preakness - Yahoo! News:
I still like Creative Cause, though I'd love a Triple Crown winner (of course).
I still like Creative Cause, though I'd love a Triple Crown winner (of course).
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Robert Reich: Romney Has Public and Private Morality Upside Down
Robert Reich: Romney Has Public and Private Morality Upside Down:
"He's got private and public morality upside down. He doesn't want to regulate where regulation is necessary -- at the highest reaches of the economy, where public immorality has cost us dearly, and will cost even more unless boardroom behavior is constrained. Yet he wants to regulate where regulation is least appropriate -- at the level of the individual, in bedrooms and other intimate spaces, where private morality should govern."
"He's got private and public morality upside down. He doesn't want to regulate where regulation is necessary -- at the highest reaches of the economy, where public immorality has cost us dearly, and will cost even more unless boardroom behavior is constrained. Yet he wants to regulate where regulation is least appropriate -- at the level of the individual, in bedrooms and other intimate spaces, where private morality should govern."
Pass it on
Some time back I dashed out a short Kindle ebook called Staying Sober Without AA (or religion, ideology, dogma, peer pressure, spousal ultimatums, deals, trade-offs, wagers, false promises, fear, loneliness, self-delusion and other popular crutches), just to let folks know it can be done. I did it. I identified my "higher power" as Science, or Knowledge. Well, this book sells better than anything I have out there. Now and again I get a response, like this one:
Your article put me on a trail that gives me new resolution. Knowledge is a wonderful quest. Hope you write more if there are any new developments. The two books you suggested have given me an empowered outlook at alcoholic addiction. Any and all reading suggestions would be welcomed.Hope he does as well as I have.
The sun, the sun!
By the gods, if I lived in a sunny warm climate I'd probably live to be 100! I come alive with warmth, heat. Here, in gray usually dismal Portland, I've got maybe five years left. Hell of a fix.
But I surely enjoy these sunny Portland days and who knows, maybe with global warming we'll even get more of them.
A very very productive day. This morning I wrote a story development exercise for my students to do in class tomorrow. Best of its kind I've written. I'll use it from now on -- wish I'd thought of it years ago. Then I ran errands, getting scrapple ingredients, came home to find the grinder had arrived, assembled it, did some yard work and maybe more to do later, or maybe not.
Busy all day, warm all day. WARM ALL DAY! What a blessing.
But I surely enjoy these sunny Portland days and who knows, maybe with global warming we'll even get more of them.
A very very productive day. This morning I wrote a story development exercise for my students to do in class tomorrow. Best of its kind I've written. I'll use it from now on -- wish I'd thought of it years ago. Then I ran errands, getting scrapple ingredients, came home to find the grinder had arrived, assembled it, did some yard work and maybe more to do later, or maybe not.
Busy all day, warm all day. WARM ALL DAY! What a blessing.
Scrapple revisited
I grew up on scrapple. After Pearl Harbor, dad went to war and we moved from Norfolk to stay with extended family in Milford, NJ, where scrapple was as necessary as eggs for breakfast. After the war, we moved to Texas and found scrapple in the markets there, too. It's only when we moved to California in 1948 that scrapple was hard to find.
I started making my own scrapple in the 1960s in grad school. I found an old-fashioned hand crank meat grinder at a garage sale and I was off and running. I became the Scrapple King of the Eng Dept. Well, there was no competition actually. One day I came home from class to find a cardboard box on the porch. Inside was a pig's head! I told a friend who lived in the country and raised pigs to save me the head the next time he slaughtered one. He did, in grand style. What a great batch of scrapple I made!
I lost the meat grinder and almost everything else I owned in the explosion of my personal life in the late 1970s. I returned west from Maryland's Eastern Shore, where the stores also carried scrapple. But it was hard to find in the west. I went for a long time without scrapple in my life.
A few years ago I saw a recipe for "easy scrapple" that used ground pork instead of a meat grinder. I tried it. I was okay, close enough under the circumstances, and this is the recipe I've perfected in recent months. Then a few weeks ago I found a small hand meat grinder for sale, light weight and kitchen compatible and under $30. What the heck? I bought it.
It arrived today and tonight I'll make my first batch of scrapple, grinding my own meat, in over 30 years. I can't wait to taste it.
I started making my own scrapple in the 1960s in grad school. I found an old-fashioned hand crank meat grinder at a garage sale and I was off and running. I became the Scrapple King of the Eng Dept. Well, there was no competition actually. One day I came home from class to find a cardboard box on the porch. Inside was a pig's head! I told a friend who lived in the country and raised pigs to save me the head the next time he slaughtered one. He did, in grand style. What a great batch of scrapple I made!
I lost the meat grinder and almost everything else I owned in the explosion of my personal life in the late 1970s. I returned west from Maryland's Eastern Shore, where the stores also carried scrapple. But it was hard to find in the west. I went for a long time without scrapple in my life.
A few years ago I saw a recipe for "easy scrapple" that used ground pork instead of a meat grinder. I tried it. I was okay, close enough under the circumstances, and this is the recipe I've perfected in recent months. Then a few weeks ago I found a small hand meat grinder for sale, light weight and kitchen compatible and under $30. What the heck? I bought it.
It arrived today and tonight I'll make my first batch of scrapple, grinding my own meat, in over 30 years. I can't wait to taste it.
Have we fallen out of love with John Updike? | Books | guardian.co.uk
Have we fallen out of love with John Updike? | Books | guardian.co.uk:
"Three years after John Updike's death, his reputation appears to be on the wane. But who else can match his deftness and grace?"
The Rabbit series will hold up.
"Three years after John Updike's death, his reputation appears to be on the wane. But who else can match his deftness and grace?"
The Rabbit series will hold up.
What makes the ideal theatre? | Stage | guardian.co.uk
What makes the ideal theatre? | Stage | guardian.co.uk:
Small, in the round; or even better, my theater design for hyperdrama. But no one agrees with me.
Small, in the round; or even better, my theater design for hyperdrama. But no one agrees with me.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Chinese Physicists Smash Quantum Teleportation Record | Wired Science | Wired.com
Chinese Physicists Smash Quantum Teleportation Record | Wired Science | Wired.com:
Is anything more baffling than Einstein's "spooky action" at a distance?
Is anything more baffling than Einstein's "spooky action" at a distance?
I surrender
OK, writers never retire. I admit it. Try as I might, I can't "retire" as a writer. However, this does not mean I have to be "visible" in any way. I can be an underground writer. A posthumous writer. Which is to say, on the bus ride today an old idea for a play kept bugging me, I ended up making a rough outline, I dig it, and it can join Oregon Dream as a "posthumous play," that is, plays that cannot be produced until after I'm gone. Done. Finished. "What an extravagance! What a relief!"
There may even be a book down the road, Three Posthumous Plays. Or how many. Has a ring to it.
There may even be a book down the road, Three Posthumous Plays. Or how many. Has a ring to it.
A tale of two royalty statements
A tale of two royalty statements
His self-published ebook earned twice the royalties in half the time at half the expense, compared to a book with a major publisher. The new landscape.
His self-published ebook earned twice the royalties in half the time at half the expense, compared to a book with a major publisher. The new landscape.
The Most Well-Read Cities in America
The Most Well-Read Cities in America
No Pdx ... I knew we'd never be in top ten -- after all, I've lived in Berkeley -- but thought we'd be in top twenty. Of course, CofC makes you think we're number one, part of the standard hype in any city. Now that I think about it, I saw another (or maybe the same) list recently and we were like 23. The reality of Pdx is quite different from its image via Portlandia if you include the ENTIRE city. This can be said about most cities, I expect. The image-makers have a very narrow focus that seldom includes the sensibilities of what used to be called "the working class" (when we had one).
No Pdx ... I knew we'd never be in top ten -- after all, I've lived in Berkeley -- but thought we'd be in top twenty. Of course, CofC makes you think we're number one, part of the standard hype in any city. Now that I think about it, I saw another (or maybe the same) list recently and we were like 23. The reality of Pdx is quite different from its image via Portlandia if you include the ENTIRE city. This can be said about most cities, I expect. The image-makers have a very narrow focus that seldom includes the sensibilities of what used to be called "the working class" (when we had one).
Monday, May 14, 2012
Monday drive
Spring sports
I have no interest whatever in the NBA, so thank the gods for Track & Field, baseball and horse racing! And the summer Olympics get closer and closer.
After a day in the cellar, the Mariners won and crawled out by half a game.
After a day in the cellar, the Mariners won and crawled out by half a game.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Portland arts scene: contender or pretender? | OregonLive.com
Portland arts scene: contender or pretender? | OregonLive.com:
My thought on the matter: in a saner world, the question would be irrelevant.
My thought on the matter: in a saner world, the question would be irrelevant.
Pac-12 Championships: Jordan Hasay is all smiles after a win in the 1,500 (video) | OregonLive.com
Pac-12 Championships: Jordan Hasay is all smiles after a win in the 1,500 (video) | OregonLive.com:
She sat out the 5000. Women were so far ahead by that point, team didn't need her points. Men and women swept!
She sat out the 5000. Women were so far ahead by that point, team didn't need her points. Men and women swept!
Hot news item
-- Jordan Hasay ran a brilliant tactical race to win the women's 1,500. Anne Kesselring was fourth, Becca Friday fifth.
1 Jordan Hasay JR Oregon 4:13.28 10
2 Katie Flood SO Washington 4:13.80 8
3 Jessica Tebo SR Colorado 4:15.06 6
4 Anne Kesselring JR Oregon 4:17.20 5
5 Becca Friday JR Oregon 4:19.82 4This is fantastic. Flood was heavily favored, Hasay picked 3rd or 4th. And she hadn't been running well lately either. Now for the 5000 later today! Track rules.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Heat
What I dislike most about Pdx is its weather. So today's summer heat with several days to follow is a time of rare comfort for me. If this were typical I could live here fine. Or easier. Bitch less. I plan to enjoy it.
Hope to wrap up prep tomorrow. Behind on harmonica practice.
Hope to wrap up prep tomorrow. Behind on harmonica practice.
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