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2010-07-27T14:35:00.008-04:00

stuff i'm digging #1

2010-07-02T12:35:00.001-04:00

In an effort to get myself writing again, I thought I'd post lists of things I'm enjoying every so often. Feel free to chime in with your own, I love recommendations!

music : The Roots - How I Got Over
Perhaps the best thing about Jimmy Fallon's late-night show is that The Roots are his backup band. Their new album is fantastic, especially this stand-out track that samples Joanna Newsom's "Book of Right On." Right on.

food : Daiya vegan cheese
It's melty, it's delicious, and it's on the quesadillas at Spiral Diner.

television : Breaking Bad
Take Bryan Cranston (the wacky dad from Malcolm in the Middle, remember him?), turn him into a wannabe crystal meth dealer with lung cancer, and watch the dark comedy unfold.

artifact : my travel coffee mug
Nothing special or fancy here, just an insulated coffee mug with a plastic handle. I am chemically dependent on caffeine once again. But this NPR story about caffeine's potential affects on preventing alzheimer's makes me feel a little less guilty about my massive daily intake.

website : pinterest.com
A slick, pleasing interface for collecting and viewing all those random photos you've found wandering down the unpredictable paths of the internet. Lots of inspiration to be found here, whether you curate it yourself or creep on others' pinboards. Currently, the site is in beta, but if you'd like to try it, let me know and I'll send you an invite.

olden-timey days

2010-06-30T10:03:00.001-04:00

I have a thing for old things. Which is not uncommon. Lately, I've been preoccupied with research on the neighborhood I live in.

After doing a bit of sleuthing through old census records, I found out about some of my house's former occupants. The house was originally built at the turn of the century, sometime around 1896. (The picture above is a plan for an unrelated bungalow I found on the internet.)

Minnis P Lansford was a blacksmith from Tennessee, who moved into a Fort Worth boarding house as a young man. His guardian (and perhaps, mother-in-law), Mrs. Margaret J Smith, helped him purchase his own place (our Spinster Farm) sometime between 1900 and 1910. He found work at a bridge building company headquartered in downtown Fort Worth and married Etta, his guardian's daughter, originally from Arkansas.

In 1910, his cousin Emmett, a factory worker, moved in for a brief period. By 1920, the Lansfords could afford to keep their niece, Ruth Dechert, and two servants, who lived in the quarters in the back yard (now a storage shed, but there's still a really old creepy toilet in there! I think things live inside it now.)

In 1930, Minnis disappears from the census, presumably deceased. The servants are also gone. Etta remains in the home with her niece Ruth, who takes up a job as a court stenographer.

From what I know, the house changed ownership in the late 1930's, perhaps after Etta passed away. I've also been told that it was owned by a single woman up until the end of the 20th century. Was the home turned over to Ruth Dechert, making her the first spinster of Spinster Farm? Or was the house sold to another spinsterly gal?

These are things I hope to find out.

The 1940 census has not yet been released and won't be publicly available until August 2012. Until then, I'll be scouring other avenues. I did find an old newspaper record that had a memo for Minnis to come pick up his mail at the post office. Can you imagine, reading a personal reminder in the newspaper to pick up the mail waiting for you at the post office?

I think a lot of people are quick to jump to the conclusion that the age of social networking on the internet has lead to everyone's business being publicly available. But it seems like back in the day, airing one's business openly was somewhat the norm, at least in smaller towns and communities.

The ad below is from the Morrison & Fourmy general directory 1896-1897. Minnis is listed as an employee at the Southwestern Bridge Company in that directory. I found it at the Portal to Texas History, a really great resource.

Hopefully, I'll uncover more.

minimalist bicycle basket

2010-06-25T13:37:00.001-04:00

I love the design of this bike basket. The elastic straps are key.

(via swissmiss)

june is bustin' out all over

2010-06-21T12:05:00.002-04:00

Life has been busy busy, but good-busy.

I'm back down south at Spinster Farm. We're growing corn, beans, basil, tomatoes, peppers, jicama, squash, cucumbers, zucchini, and lavender at our community garden plot. I'm still awed like a dope by the way these big beautiful vegetables grow from the tiny vulnerable seeds that were started months ago.

I have a new job at a web design/software development company, writing content and developing the support department for a new web-based software project.

I also have a car, and my iPhone got lost/stolen at Ikea. (If that isn't the ultimate posterchild for first-world dilemma, I don't know what is!)

Other than that, I've been going to a lot of concerts, seeing some Shakespeare plays, drinking Mexican beer, gardening, playing a little guitar, redecorating, cooking, trying to keep things simple.

Spring Chicken

2010-04-06T01:16:00.007-04:00

Fuzzy on good scotch, cooled by a spring breeze through the window, warm from a still-fresh bath and and dizzy from Billie. A fine birthday to carry me on into this Year of the Tiger, and whatever it may bring.

Win A Russian Bride!

2010-04-04T17:57:00.002-04:00

She's going to get housemaid's knee if she keeps that up for long, Well of Loneliness style. The cure is in the bottle!

stray cat is crying, so stray cat sings back

2010-04-02T17:31:00.000-04:00

My father instilled in me a love of Cyndi Lauper, among other artists, and I thank him for that.

The Supremes - Baby Love

2010-03-25T00:54:00.001-04:00

Murnau + Midlake

2010-03-06T16:10:00.002-05:00

Skinput Technology

2010-03-02T14:48:00.000-05:00

via IntoMobile:

Skinput technology works by “listening” for the sounds made by your finger tapping on a particular part of your body. Since skin, joint and bone density are highly variable on any normal human being, those taps are associated with different acoustic profiles – tapping close to your wrist would result in a slightly different “sound” than tapping closer to the elbow. The demo you see in the video below projects a control interface onto a forearm, giving the user a visual guide as to where to tap.

So far, Microsoft has been able to use their flesh-control technology to play a game of Tetris and to control an iPod.

[full article here]

Oh, the potential.

Drawings by Marco Fusinato

2010-03-01T21:02:00.000-05:00

[more here]

Nostalgia

2010-02-28T14:59:00.001-05:00

Looking Into the Past, a Flickr series. Description:

Images are made by finding old photographs of places, printing them out, and then holding the print up in the modern day location that the original photograph was taken. So far, most of the historical images have been available for free at the Library of Congress.

"This is the boardinghouse where the plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln was planned.
It is now a Chinese restaurant named "Wok n Roll Restaurant."

"It makes me very sad. I want to step into this photograph and go join those folks in line. I want to eat at the Acropolis Cafe. I want to visit the Gayety. And yet, the only thing left from this scene is the red brick building on the left. You cannot convince me that Washington, DC is better off by having the modern blahbuilding taking up this space instead."

Reeeear Window

2010-02-24T19:17:00.001-05:00

Dear Spinsters,
Today in grad school, I learned that Rear Window is, in fact, really all about anuses. Of course! The anus!

Henceforth: Master Gollary!

2010-02-23T14:47:00.002-05:00

The story involves an egregious misspelling of my name and the MA exam (unrelated threads of two narratives), but I'll just skip it and say this: I received good news and ate a really great burrito and now I can move on with my life.

On A Good Day

2010-02-22T22:14:00.001-05:00

MP3: Joanna Newsom - On A Good Day

hey, hey, hey, the end is near
on a good day you can see the end from here
but i won't turn back now though the way is clear
i will stay for the remainder.

i saw a life and I called it mine
i saw it drawn so sweet and fine
and i had begun to fill in all the lines
right down to what we'd name her.

our nature does not change by will
in the winter 'round the ruined mill
the creek is lying flat and still
it is water though it's frozen.

so, across the years and miles and through
on a good day you can feel my love for you
will you leave me be so that we can stay true
to the path that you have chosen?

Advice to Sprogged-Up Spinsters!

2010-02-19T13:08:00.002-05:00

Follow your dreams, and don't let that fetus stop you from competing in Olympic skeleton!

These pregnant athletes mean business. [via Huffington Post]

1938 "Dating Guide"

2010-02-18T00:33:00.000-05:00

Ladies: avoid a life of motley spinsterhood!

If you don't want to end up a Certified Spinster, shacked up with other Spinsters like yours truly, take this infallible advice for the modern eligible bachelorette to heart. Now, get out there and catch those mens!

(via Shana)

the morning benders - "excuses" live session

2010-02-17T20:10:00.000-05:00

a little sliver of warmth and light peeking through all this dank grey weather. real lovely.

Run, Sarah, Run

2010-02-16T16:44:00.001-05:00

Leonard Pitts Jr. implores Sarah Palin to run for president in 2012. [full commentary here]

Excerpt:

...you represent the latest iteration of an anti-intellectualism that periodically rises in the American character. There is, historically and persistently, a belief in us that y'all just can't trust nobody who acts too smart or talks too good — in other words, somebody whose "general persona" indicates they may have once cracked a book or had a thought. Americans tend to believe common sense the exclusive province of humble folks without sheepskins on the wall or big words in their vocabularies.

I don't mock those people. They are my parents, my family elders, members of my childhood church. I honor their native good sense, what mom called "mother wit." But if it is insulting to condescend to them, it is equally insulting to mythologize them.

More to the point, something is wrong when we celebrate mental mediocrity like yours under the misapprehension that competence or, God forbid, intelligence, makes a person one of those "elites" — that's a curse word now --— lacking authenticity, compassion and common sense.

So no, this is not a clash of ideologies, but a clash between intelligence and its opposite. And I am tired of being asked to pretend stupid is a virtue. That's why I'd welcome the moment of truth your campaign would bring. It would force us to decide once and for all whether we are permanently committed to the path of ignorance, of birthers, truthers and tea party incoherence you represent, or whether we will at last turn back from the cliff toward which we race.

Census

2010-02-15T18:23:00.000-05:00

I'm oddly excited about filling out a census form! It's important to stand up and be counted. Of note [from the Chicago Tribune]:
Same-sex couples will have two ways to characterize their relationships on the 2010 census: They can choose "husband or wife" or "unmarried partners." The census will publicly report those responses and recognize demographic differences, such as their ethnicities, where they live, and whether they're raising children, between the two groups.

The modification is an attempt to capture the changing nature of American households. It is part of the evolution of the decennial survey, which adapts to the social climate and is being advertised this year as a snapshot of America.

In response to advocacy from demographers and national gay rights groups, the Obama administration quietly reversed federal policy this summer to allow the Census Bureau to publish tabulations that tell us how many same-sex couples consider themselves husbands or wives.

Previously, if same-sex couples checked that they were "husband or wife," that information was automatically coded as "unmarried partners." The policy was established during the Clinton administration and maintained under the Bush administration because gay couples could not legally get married, and officials said it was more accurate to call them unmarried partners.

In the decade since the last census, however, laws have changed. In 2004, starting with Massachusetts, gay couples were given the right to legally marry. Four other states — Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire — have full marriage equality. And New York and Washington, D.C., recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender groups (GLBT) advocated for a census methodology that would accurately account for how married couples and those identifying as partners in these groups live, such as their income and education levels, the same as the census does for heterosexual couples.

The 2010 count, however, should not be interpreted as a federal estimate of how many legally married same-sex couples live in the United States. Technically, it's only going to count how many same-sex couples use the term husband or wife to describe their partners.

"This is the first time you see what is considered the gold standard agency begin to collect data on the LGBT population," said Gary Gates, a demographer at the Williams Institute of UCLA's law school. "Even if the data aren't completely accurate, it gives us a more nuanced picture."

The bureau recognizes that same-sex couples are hamstrung because some of the terms they use, such as civil unions or domestic partnerships, aren't on the form. Although several GLBT groups are encouraging same-sex couples to participate in the census, they aren't telling them how to fill out the form. Instead, they are encouraging them to choose the term that applies best to their relationships.

[read the rest of the article]

Valentine

2010-02-14T13:30:00.000-05:00

From "Lifting Belly" (Gertrude Stein)

Kiss my lips. She did.
Kiss my lips again she did.
Kiss my lips over and over and over again she did.
I have feathers.
Gentle fishes.
Do you think about apricots. We find them very beautiful. It is not alone their color it is their seeds that charm us. We find it a change.
Lifting belly is so strange.
I came to speak about it.
Selected raisins well their grapes grapes are good.
Change your name.
Question and garden.
It's raining. Don't speak about it.
My baby is a dumpling. I want to tell her something. Wax candles. We have bought a great many wax candles. Some are decorated. They have not been lighted.
I do not mention roses.
Exactly.
Actually.
Question and butter.
I find the butter very good.
Lifting belly is so kind.
Lifting belly fattily.
Doesn't that astonish you.
You did want me.
Say it again.
Strawberry.
Lifting beside belly.
Lifting lindly belly.
Sing to me I say.
Some are wives not heroes.
Lifting belly merely.
Sing to me I say.
Lifting belly. A reflection.
Lifting belly adjoibs more prizes.
Fit to be.
I have fit on a hat.
Have you.
What did you say to excuse me. Difficult paper and scattered.
Lifting belly is so kind.

Buddy Holly

2010-02-12T20:48:00.004-05:00

I know someone whose mother got a ride from Buddy Holly, mere months before he died in the plane crash. Apparently, he was a real gentleman, and agreed to a cup of tea upon delivering her safely home.

Post-War Baller

2010-02-10T21:52:00.009-05:00

Snooping around the public archives of Patricia Highsmith, I found this ~~somewhat~~ rather scintillating photograph of her at age 21, taken in 1942.

(err, not quite safe for work, unless you can chalk this up as art)

Highsmith authored novels including Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley, both of which are incredible and have been adapted into great movies. A recent biography has been published about her, in which her biographer asserts that at one point in her life, Highsmith had six girlfriends. Considering the photo, it's perhaps no wonder why.

Though I am a pretty staunch practitioner of monogamy, I must give Highsmith due props. She was a fine post-war baller if there ever was one.

lewis takes off his shirt

2010-01-30T16:19:00.001-05:00

this is a brilliant showman.

"Partner"

2010-01-30T16:15:00.000-05:00

I really, really don't like the word "partner." There's got to be something better. One that doesn't quite carry the semantic weight and political baggage of "wife" or "husband," but still significant enough to connote a serious romantic relationship? Partner sounds so sterile, and especially douchey if I find myself saying it out loud.

"My partner and I are having a party." Who? Business partner? Square dance partner? Partner in crime? Blech.

i believe in the good of life

2010-01-25T23:39:00.001-05:00

Wisdom

2010-01-25T01:31:00.000-05:00

"If everything is terrible, then nothing is"

there i was in uniform

2010-01-23T19:54:00.000-05:00

2010-01-23T19:37:00.001-05:00

63.

Practice no-action;
Attend to do-nothing;
Taste the flavorless,
Magnify the small,
Multiply the few,
Return love for hate.

Deal with the difficult while it is yet easy;
Deal with the great while it is yet small;

The difficult develops naturally from the easy,
And the great from the small;
So the sage, by dealing with the small,
Achieves the great.

Who finds it easy to promise finds it hard to be trusted;
Who takes things lightly finds things difficult;
The sage recognizes difficulty, and so has none.

2010-01-20T00:03:00.002-05:00

21

from Before the Flowers of Friendship Faded Faded
Gertrude Stein

I love my love with a v
Because it is like that
I love my love with a b
Because I am beside that
A king.
I love my love with an a
Because she is a queen
I love my love and a a is the best of them
Think well and be a king,
Think more and think again
I love my love with a dress and a hat
I love my love and not with this or with that
I love my love with a y because she is my bride
I love her with a d because she is my love beside
Thank you for being there
Nobody has to care
Thank you for being here
Because you are not there.

And with and without me which is and without she she can be late and then and how and all around we think and found that it is time to cry she and I.

2010-01-19T23:58:00.003-05:00

Big Bad Woolf

Required Reading

2010-01-19T14:55:00.002-05:00

Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe

When Gay People Get Married Haven't read this one yet, it's currently en route via inter-library loan. Badgett's findings in the Netherlands have been instrumental in the Prop 8 trial currently underway.

2010-01-18T19:18:00.001-05:00

2010-01-17T14:46:00.000-05:00

Cupid: genderqueer?

2010-01-16T22:20:00.000-05:00

Djuna Barnes

The Book of Repulsive Women

exam writing: thou art a bitch

2010-01-14T22:16:00.001-05:00

My Master's exam is due tomorrow at noon, so natch, I'm finding every outlet possible to distract myself from occasional bursts of academic slop. Slop? Let's hope not.

Many miles to go before I sleep--if I sleep--but it sure will feel good to get the thing out of my hands. Then I can watch the two discs of Dexter burning a hole through my coffee table.

And have a beer. Or 3. Lord, I need a drink.

2010-01-08T18:10:00.003-05:00

A cat does everything on purpose.

2009-12-31T16:21:00.001-05:00

A Japanese photographer set up his camera on the balcony of an old movie theatre. When the film flickered on to the screen and began to play, he opened the shutter of his camera. Three hours later, the film--some old 16 millimeter black-and-white print--ended. As the reel skittered to a stop and the final credit had rolled, the photographer closed his camera's shutter.

He took his equipment home, developed the film in his darkroom.

The result: a still photo of a three hour movie. The sum of all the action, the narrative, the people and scenery, added together, playing out in the center of the frame, flanked by creaking rows of seats and faded curtains, was blank, clean, white.

2010 is the Year of the Tiger. Fellow Tigers, this is our year.