Expatriot Act

Nerd Tourism: Streets of Philadelphia

2009-04-13T22:04:00.001-04:00

The movers came and they took quite a while getting my things into the truck, but that's also because they were doing it right, wrapping everything in blankets and such to ensure its safe delivery, 3000 miles away. Afterwards I had to find something to do with myself for the rest of the day. Luckily that wasn't hard to do.

Bunnicula does not know what to make of the empty apartment.

I stopped for lunch then headed for the Mason Museum, a place I've always wanted to check out, taking photos along the way...

Wee airplane over City Hall

Former Mayor Frank Rizzo could use a shoe shine.

John McCain as a mummer?

To my chagrin but not my surprise, the Mason Museum is closed on Mondays. So I hightailed it over to the Franklin Institute in hopes of catching the Galileo exhibit there.

Seeing the instruments in the exhibit were cool, but unfortunately nearly all of the medieval books in the exhibit were facsimiles, and not terribly convincing ones at that. I could tell the 4 or 5 real ones out of the dozens of fakes from across the room. Also, although most of the exhibit was very low lit, at the exit two of the REAL medieval books, one on loan from UPenn's rare book room and another, funnily enough, from my now-former company (because the book was published in Amsterdam by Louis Elzevir in the 1600s) were under the harshest possible fluorescent lights. I shook my head. Tsk tsk. Wanted to call the book police, as if there were such a thing.

But the Franklin holds a lot of Philly nostalgia for me. As a very young child I thought I'd be a scientist (a paleontologist, I declared, in kindergarten). Going through the heart for the first time is a very vivid, exciting childhood memory of mine. A first love, even. I went through it again today. Though I've been at the Franklin for a number of things over my years in Philadelphia (shooting a music video, seeing IMAX films, even DJing there) but going through the heart today as an adult was movingly nostalgic for me.

Also I forgot how much I adored Foucault's Pendulum, even if it does remind me of Vertigo.

Can you feel the earth move under your feet? Since half of the pegs are knocked down, you can see it's near closing time.

Speaking of first loves, I ducked into the Free Library of Philadelphia, but only briefly. Missed the rare book room hours. Might try to find the time to go by again this week. That was the first rare book room I'd been in, and now I feel I'd appreciate it much more. Also, as a teenager, I started taking the train into the city to work on this research project, and it was an important summer for me, learning to love not only the library but negotiating the city for the first time on my own.

I also ducked into the Book Corner, a beloved former haunt, to see what they had in their rare books, even though I can't buy a thing because all of my stuff is packed and gone. Still spent a decent amount of time in there. They've got great pretty used copies of everything. A real browsing bookstore.

Continued on over to Mugshots for a coffee, passing another fave, Eastern State Penitentiary. One peanut butter and chocolate soy smoothie (plus espresso shot) and a few chapters of Origin of the Species via Kindle later, and it wasn't a bad first day of (thankfully temporary) unemployment.

Nerd Tourism: DC Edition

2009-03-20T17:24:00.000-04:00

I was happy to find out that my last work trip before I leave my company would be in Washington, DC, not only because I have friends there, but because there was some serious nerdery I wanted to get up to in DC before moving across the country.

Some of the nerdery was serendipitous. I was lured to an Asian restaurant across the street from Ford's Theatre by their vegan pho, only to discover they had a special of Lincoln's favorite drink: Laird's Apple Jack with homemade orange bitters. Let me tell you, the man was wise in many ways. Also the age-old question of what the hell he's been drinkin' is finally put to rest (it was not turpentine after all!)

Another case of serendipity, I was on my way to Mecca (aka The Library of Congress) when I saw on the map that one of the buildings was marked FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY. I literally gasped outloud, "No WAY!" During my regrettably short docentship at the The Rosenbach Museum (one bittersweet thing about moving), I would rattle off the various rare books libraries in the country whose collections Rosenbach had helped build. Widener Library at Harvard, the Huntington (featured in a recent entry), and the Folger Shakespeare Library. But I must admit that I had no idea it was in DC, and practically ran there once I realized it was a block away from where I stood!

I was not disappointed. I got to chat with the charming, southern gentleman docent before the tour. They have frequent Shakespeare performances in addition to the research library and public expositions. In addition to their permanent collection (which includes about 80 first folios like the one above, the most in any one spot in the world) they had a special exhibit on dreaming in Shakespeare. They had Shakespeare works, and famous and lesser known early printed works and manuscripts showing Elizabethian era concepts of what herbs and gems one can use to manipulate dreams, what one can do "to make one sleepe," and even Elizabethian era dressing gowns.

It's a really odd building architecturally, the outside being both a touch neoclassical like its surroundings and also built in the 30s; the docent called it "greco deco." Inside was a charming mix of early industrial American bravado and Anglophilia. The docent huddled us into the middle of the room and dramatically pulled a curtain and this is what we saw:

...or at least this is what I saw from my smooshed perspective. I want to go to there. No fair ;) It kinda makes me laugh though that a lot of these gorgeous research libraries save the prettiest rooms for researchers only, but then show the tourists the rooms through a window, giving the feeling of a zoo exhibit. They did that at the Library of Congress as well, but photography was not allowed as it disturbs the ~~animals~~researchers. Which is a pity, because gee, golly.

I could have almost been contented with just seeing the Folger, but I came for Mecca, and Mecca I shall see. I headed over to the Library of Congress, which was somehow far grander and beautiful in a way I didn't expect.

So colorful and busy! Mosaics and paintings and allegory everywhere, my eye just kept catching all of these wonderful surprises.

Anarchy in the U-S!

The grandeur of it all was dizzying. And there were great quotes all over the walls. "The university of these days is a collection of books." "Books must follow sciences and not sciences books." But all of the best parts of the library were the parts where you weren't allowed to photograph. There was a wonderful Lincoln exhibit (as most museums have this year) that included, memorably, his Bible that Obama used at his inauguration.

Walking through this place alone, I was honestly choked with emotion and patriotism. The most awe-inspiring for me was walking through Thomas Jefferson's original collection, which was set up in a bit of a spiral, and you could walk on either side. Seeing how he arranged his books, and what he had, it really brought him to life as a person to me. I understand why projects like Librarything's Legacy Projects are undertaken, or, more humbly, why people who care about books always check out others' bookshelves in their homes. It's like crawling around in someone's head for a while.

Thanks dude, for letting me crawl around in your place, and your head, for a while. It was well worth the trip. Up soon: Nerdin' in New York.

Nerd Tourism: Westward Edition

2009-02-24T11:36:00.000-05:00

I've always had a tendency to seek out nerdly delights wherever I travel, but over the past year or so it's definitely hit a fever pitch. As my interest and knowledge of rare books grows, I get more familiar with the places where they're kept and know where to look when I travel. I've been referring to this trajectory as Nerd Tourism, though I'm sure I'm not the first one to think of it. Anyway here's my latest installment of nerd tourism, California and Las Vegas edition.

I hadn't heard of Henry Huntington until I started my docent training at the Rosenbach Museum & Library. Dr. Rosenbach is known for building most of the best rare books libraries in the United States on behalf of his wealthy clients, and Mr. Huntington was his best client, and the only one not living in the northeast. His former residence is now the The Huntington Museum, Library, and Botanical Gardens, and the grounds are absolutely massive. No modern day millionaire would ever be able to afford or maintain this kind of California real estate. Just my luck, it was pouring down rain in the Sunshine state the day of my visit, but my interests lay where there was practically no light to be found.

Because of my MLIS and my connection with the Rosenbach, I managed to get a behind-the-scenes tour of the library building at the Huntington. Unfortunately (and such is the trouble with nerd tourism in general) most museums are not very photo-friendly, especially in the places others never get to go. The photos I have here from the Huntington are from the historic house where photos are allowed. Anyway the Huntington is an absolutely amazing facility, especially if you are one of their lucky "readers" who get access to the collections. Every corner we turned, I thought I couldn't be more astounded, and then there'd be something else. The original stacks Huntington had built that aren't connected to the floor or walls (hard to explain unless you're looking at them) so they would sway in case of earthquake...reading rooms that rival the New York Public Library's just tucked away into corners...a jaw-dropping state-of-the-art photography studio...and a conservation center with medieval printing tools to repair their treasures.

It was pretty amazing to have the Rosenbach context on the collections, because so many of the things that Dr. R bought for Huntington he ended up collecting himself as well. One notable exception is a medieval elephant folio (read: effing huge) Canterbury Tales that the executors of Chaucer's estate had made in his memory. One delightful surprise that I highly, highly recommend checking out is their History of Science collection. I seriously lost my shit in that hall over all the amazing old science books and association copies. The layout of the exhibit was amazing, and they had interactive pieces (you could look through a replica of Galileo's telescope to see how he would have seen the moon) and they also had digital screens where one could flip through the books on display and zoom in and out using your fingernail. It was glorious, I can't wait to go back on a sunnier day.

A day, a desert drive, and a stop at the Pee Wee's Big Adventure dinosaurs later, I was in Las Vegas for a work trip. The night before I left I managed to get to Bauman's Rare Books at the Shoppes at the Palazzo. I first heard of Bauman's through my boyfriend's father, there was a store in Philadelphia which are now administrative offices. One of the very few things I liked about Vegas: even the rare book shop, which on a whole are always known for being only open for 2 hours on a Tuesday, was open until 11pm. And it was an oasis in the noisy, smoky den of iniquity that is Las Vegas.

Can you hear the angels heralding? I spent a long, long time browsing the shelves, and taking photos, and talking to the shopkeeps. They even let me paw this little $36 thousand number...

This copy of James Joyce's Ulysses is special in that it is illustrated by Henri Matisse, and signed by them both. And as is often the case with Joyce, there is drama surrounding this partnership. The apocryphal story is that the two artists were sitting at a table signing these special edition copies of the book, and about 12 signatures in Joyce realized that Matisse didn't illustrate the action in his story at all, but just did illustrations for Homer's Odyssey instead. And of course, anyone who knows Ulysses and who looks at the drawings Matisse did would jump to similar conclusions. Apparently Joyce stormed off in a huff. Can't say I blame him. But the resulting, rare artifact is an interesting, unusual piece with a great story behind it.

It was definitely my favorite moment in Sin City. Unfortunately at that price, it'll stay in Vegas.

My Antiques Roadshow style birthday gift

2008-12-15T13:19:00.000-05:00

I was fussing over a random book I found on a shelf in a used/rare book store in San Diego. It was a touch out of impulse buy price range, so as the BF and I walked around the store I talked myself into the purchase outloud. He disappeared and came back, having haggled over it for an undisclosed lower amount and gifted it to me. It is the best kind of gift, something not only fun and beautiful to behold, but full of mysteries to uncover.

Come through the pages with me, won't you?

The clerk at the store described it as a community book... something folks write in and pass around, but that's all he knew of it. After I got it home and got to look over some pages more carefully, I would say it's more likely a book the owner kept in the house and visitors would leave well wishes in, with some scrapbook elements as well. Dates inside range from 1931-1936, all manuscript by many authors in French and some English, includes photos, printed ephemera, calling cards, and official French government documents. Some deducing leads me to believe it belonged to one Madame William Warren Card, who was recognized by her friends for her philanthropy. She was also, apparently, recognized by the French government for her charitable works, as in 1933 she was inducted into the French Legion of Honor, and there are numerous official documents, congratulations cards, and well wishes to that effect.

I didn't even find this letter, folded modestly and pasted inside, until well after I got it home. It is from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated June 27, 1933, notifying Mme. Card of her recommendation for the cross of Officer in the Legion of Honor.

Some very preliminary research (aka Googling) tells me William Warren Card was chief engineer and general superintendent of the Cleveland, Tuscarawas Valley and Wheeling Railroad. Born in New York state in 1831, his parents moved to Lancaster, Ohio in 1837 where his father served as county surveyor for Fairfield County, Ohio, and son William assisted. He eventually worked his way up to superintendent and general freight agent until 1864, when he gained the same position for the Pittsburgh, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, where he stayed until 1871. He was a colleague of George Westinghouse, Jr., and resigned his position in 1871 to work for the Westinghouse Air Brake Company. In 1873, he became superintendent and chief engineer of the Lake Shore and Tuscarawas Valley Railroad, now known as the Cleveland, Tuscarawas Valley and Wheeling Railroad. And apparently he looks like this. In June 1872, he married Miss Hattie Dinsmore, stepdaughter of Rev. D. D. Mather, of Delaware, Ohio, and presumably owner of the book that is now in my possession. Further Googling reports that the Reverend gave a fairly famous speech on the occasion of Lincoln's death, and was apparently a trusted community leader, until accusations of indiscretion led to public shaming and the sudden suicide of his just-wed daughter, Stella.

I believe this photo is our lady and former owner of the book, Mme W.W. Card:

Congratulations card (here it is opened), opposite page a letter to the French president.

Calling cards and opposing page acid burns

Life is like a mirror, if you grimace it will send that back to you, but if you smile, it will smile upon you. Sept 7 1935

What fun mysteries to unfurl in this little leather book! So many signatures to decipher, I wonder if any of these folks writing sonnets are celebrated poets perhaps, since she seems like the type of lady who could be an artist's patron. I will slowly savor the discoveries this book will reveal over time as I delve into it. Couldn't think of a better birthday gift for a francophilic book nerd like me. :)

In other nerdery...

2008-11-07T13:11:00.000-05:00

Megan's Dewey Decimal Section:

182 Pre-Socratic Greek philosophies

Megan's birthday: 12/01/1981 = 1201+1981 = 3182

Class:
100 Philosophy & Psychology

Contains:
Books on metaphysics, logic, ethics and philosophy.

What it says about you:
You're a careful thinker, but your life can be complicated and hard for others to understand at times. You try to explain things and strive to express yourself.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

America Again

2008-11-05T12:02:00.002-05:00

Let America Be America Again
by Langston Hughes

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine—the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!

"Put it on microfilm & file it, Dundee!"

2008-08-01T16:09:00.001-04:00

I finally joined the ALA and ACRL today. One unexpected member benefit...some really fun links from their blogs. Witness this 1985 account of future librarians in the Apocalypse...

I love how Lester gets all impatient with Ms. Bookheart. His rolled eyes seem to be saying, "Damn girl, the world is about to end. Are we gonna get down in this library or not?" My guess, Lester, is not. Sorry buddy. You'll just have to read How to Eat Fried Worms or some other "made up" books until the four horsemen draw nigh.

Stark Raving Madras

2008-07-30T14:51:00.002-04:00

Since I've moved to Center City and have been walking only a few blocks to work in the morning, I have noticed a rather disturbing trend.

I've seen this whole madras thing before in windows like J. Crew and other ultra preppy stores, but lately it seems like it has exploded into this unstoppable wave of douchebaggery. I see babies in little madras dresses. I see women wearing these madras skirts to work with flip-flops (don't even get me started on that). Over the past few days it's become a joke between Jon and I, because we talk on the phone on my very brief walk to work-- maybe 4 blocks total?-- I will encounter at least two or up to five instances of madras. I saw a woman in a madras skirt this morning before I even got off of my front step! It inspired me to coin a new snowclone, "Madras is the new popped collar." Ugly, douchey, and inexplicably popular.

I was going on and on about it (as is my nature) to my coworker Tracey when we popped out to grab lunch, and I was somewhat surprised that on the busy lunchtime Center City streets I couldn't find one example. Our conversation was suddenly dampened by a really godawful cover band, the members of which just had to be someone's kid. Had to. No way they got an obviously paying gig on the street for some outdoor corporate event otherwise. Tracey mockingly danced to their oppressively bad rendition of "All Along the Watchtower" as we walked by.

Passing again on the way back, I snarked that I bet every one of these dudes in this terrible band own a pair of madras shorts. Then, as if I had conjured it by sheer, unintentional will, the sea of passersby parted and I got a good look at the singer who was, you guessed it, wearing madras shorts! I squealed with delighted horror (I wonder if the Germans have a word for that), scaring a good handful of people on the street. I tried to get a shot with my cell phone but apparently my camera is made of chicken grease because this is the best I could get:

...but that's probably for the best. Don't want to look too intently into the madras, you could go blind.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman

2008-05-11T22:51:00.001-04:00

I went home for Mother's Day and hoped to go through a lot of old photos from my childhood to bring them home to scan. In the meantime I found a lot of the things I used to write as a child and they cracked me up to no end, so I thought I'd share.

The first installment is from a handwritten journal I found called Megan's Trip to Florida December 1988 which was right after my 7th birthday. My grandmother took me to Disney World. I'm pretty impressed with my reportage skills, and much like now, everything revolves around where we ate!

Monday
We went to the airport and mommy all most got lost. Then we put all our bags on convair. I got my ticket and the lady let me see her computer. We got on the plan and every place looked like perfect little boxes! We got off the plane and got on the other plane. We got up in the air and went above the clouds. They gave us a drink and some peanuts. I felt very, very happy.

We got off the air plane and we picked up our bags. We got on a shuttle. Mommom rented a car and drove to the hotle. She drove to the wrong hotle. The the lady at the counter and showed her the derection to the hotle. It's called: The Howard Johnson hotle. We ate dinner at the House of pankakes. Then we watched T.V. and went to bed.

Tuesday
We went to Disney world and took pitchers of me and Chip and Dale, Minnie, Goofy, Tigger, and Winnie the Pooh. I went on lots of rides. And my favorate ride was Space Mountain. It goes sidewards and glows in the dark. And Misson to Mars. A Person talked to us and then we sat down in chairs. We blasted off and they took pitchers of mars. The ground shook very, very much. Minnie kissed me on the nose. We stopped at Pinokeo's. We went on more rides! Then all of us went on the monerail took us to the parking lot. We got in the car and went home. All of us ate at Denny's for dinner. Then we got into the hotel and went to sleep.

Wensday
I woke up at 8:00 in the morning. We ate at our hotel. Then we went to Sea World. First we went to the dolfin pool and fed them fish. Then we went throw the Rain Forest. We saw parets and a lake. From there we went to see The Legend of Shamu. A woman got into a big, big pool with all of the killer whales. She went under the water, and came up on Shamu's nose! There is a baby whale and it does what ever the mother does! They jumped up in the air and dove right back in. Then we saw the Ski Pirates. The girls were mad because they couldn't play pirates. At the end the boys and the girls made a big pyramid. We went to a show called New friends. It had dolfins, and white whales. A little boy went up to the dolfins and played with them. Then we went to Perkin and then went to bed.

Thursday
We ate breakfast at Denny's and I ordered a Granite Slam Jr. Then we went to Epcot Center and firt we went to Spaceship Earth. It had stars and the Moon. And we went on different ride which talked about the future, motion energy, the Land, The Living Seas, Captain Eo. We went to France, Morocco, U.S.A., Germany, China, Norway, Mexico. At night we saw IllumiNations. It was really beautyful. We went to Disney Village and saw a show about the birth of Jesus. At 10:00 we finally got dinner at Kentucky Fried Chicken. After dinner we went to sleep.

Friday
I woke up in the morning and walked out on the pateo and it was very warm. So I got my swimsuit on and went into the hot tub. I sat in there for a few mins. and got out and swam in the pool. I went inside the hotel and went up the elevator. Then I got changed and ate at Denny's. Then we went Old Town. I rode on a rollercoaster called The Beast. It had two huge hills. then we went to the air port. We ate lazonya and salad, cookies and pretzles. We got off the plane. We got on another plane. We flew for a long time. Finally we landed and I was happy to see my mother.

From the first publication I ever worked on, the Woodlyn News, my elementary school newspaper, 1991, Halloween edition:

Halloween
On the night of witches and ghosts,
The night I really like the most,
Is Halloween.

On the night of scares and frights,
The night I call my night of nights,
Is Halloween.

On the night of candy and treats,
The night I think is just for me,
Is Halloween.

The funny thing is that poem is still totally true! Also I think I might have been an original member of The Misfits. Always a morbid sensibility.

When I read this one on the train ride home I literally snorted outloud with laughter. This won a big award, and I now have a picture of me receiving it as well.
From "Delaware County Reading Council/Intermediate Unit Young Author's Project 1991 Winning Entries":

Megan Marucci, Grade 4

The Case of the Missing Masterpiece

One sweltering summer's day, I, Megan Marucci, alias Agent 007 was cruising Las Angles in my cherry red 2017 Ferrari when the mayor, Melissa Lilley, called me on my car phone. "007, the Moanin' Lisa was stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art! Please find it and you will receive a medal of honor. You could hear her usual cheerful voice turn into one of fear and worry. I began right on the case.

Going about ninety five miles per hour, I haulted in front of the dome-shaped museum. I saw something strange about it. In shock, I pulled out my high-tech, state-of-the-art lazer-phazer gun and shot it. It didn't damage the museum, but it did remove the enormous crystal-like iceball surrounding the museum. I walked in aware of the dangers ahead in my journey ahead.

I almost slipped on the oil covered steps that lead in. I just made it past the falling ax in the rare book department. I also completely avoided the tar and alligator pit. I avoided each trap with precision and care.

Finally, I was at the scene of the hideous crime. Then, there stood the twins who own the entire enterprising building. Tracy and Jenny Sabatura were wearing identical sweaters (both in hairline detail) and designer Guess Jeans. They were also wearing Reebok Pumps. Jenny and Tracy were quite wealthy people. I began to inquire them about the missing masterpiece. Then Jenny gave me a clue, "Ask the restoring painters, they might know." I went straight toward the basement.

The farther I went, the more eerie it became. Suddenly, a white glove caught my eye. It was pure white, except for a few speckles of paint.

As I continued, I saw a faint, distant light from afar. I heard mumbling, but I couldn't make it out.

I slowly walked down the rickety staircase. I found the Moanin' Lisa! Ryan Burke, Megan Hopkins, and Kim Cacciatore were restoring it! It wasn't stolen! Another case solved by the famous Agent 007!

I think this survey is probably from about 5th grade.

Name: Megan Marucci
Nickname, if any: Meg
Birthday: December 1, 1981
Activities: After School Sports, 4-H Club, Safety
Favorite Teacher(s): Mrs. Blair, Mrs.
Kane
Best Subject: Language Arts
Hobbies: Roller Blades
Favorite Color: Aquamarine
Favorite Music Artist(s): Amy Grant, Mariah Carey
Favorite TV Show: Dinosaurs
Favorite Movie: Freddy's Dead
Favorite Book: Phantom Valley, The Dark
Favorite Food: Pizza
Favorite Safety Duty: Corner Duty
Favorite Time of Day: Recess

1. If I had one wish it would be... to become a successful writer when I grow up.
2. If I were stranded on a deserted island with 3 other people, I would like those people to be... Tracy Sabatura, my cousin (what that's it? Eff everyone else I guess!)
3. When I am an adult I hope to be... a writer
4. If I were principal and could change one rule it would be... to change the way people treat each other

Last Will:
I, Megan Marucci, leave homework to my little brother.

This story cracks me up as well. I love how I have a Spanish teacher for a husband. Risque! Also I make lots of culturally insensitive remarks haha...
From "Winning Stores by Elementary and Middle School students in the Young Authors Project Spring, 1992":

Megan Marucci, fifth grade

The Gypsy's Eye

Salutations! It is I, Roxanne Blumington, the former principal of Lakeside School. I have a strange yet funny tale to tell. It all began when I went to dinner with Senor Jose Chavez, the Spanish teacher, who happens to be my husband.

We drove to a little restaurant on the "wrong side of the tracks." We walked in and the hostess showed us to a table. it was then that I noticed the place was deserted except for an old, wrinkled gypsy woman. Something about her caught my attention. Then I gasped in horror! She had a glass eye that seemed to look right through you! I pulled myself together and began to order.

A few minutes later she got up and started walking toward us, holding an old coffee can. I tried to remain calm. She asked in a quavering voice, "Give money to a poor gypsy family?" We politely refused, explaining our own financial difficulties. She slowly walked away, mumbling something unintelligible.

The next day at school everything went wrong. I had to suspend a child for refusing to do his work and then calling me a not-so-nice name. The problem with this was that his father was going to donate several computers to our upper grade classes, but after the incident with his son, decided to purchase a new slurpee machine for the local Quick-E-Mart instead. Many other unfortunate events occurred that day that I don't have time to explain right now.

These behavioral problems continued several times a day for about a week. Jose became very upset. He was extremely concerned about me. Finally he dragged me to a Spanish witch doctor. I definitely didn't believe in that sort of thing but I went along with it. It couldn't hurt, could it? After all, Jose is my husband. So I sucked in my gut and walked into the dimly lit, misty room.

When I saw the witch doctor, I immediately believed. There was a certain something about him that just made you feel he could help. So Jose and I told him my little tale. He nodded at various places along the way. After we finished, there was a moment of silence. Then he seemed to "grunt" with laughter. Jose and I looked at each other doubtfully. When the witch doctor finally stopped chuckling, he called to his translator. He whispered into her ear. He nodded and giggled. Then she gasped, trying to catch her breath, "He says you don't need a witch doctor,. All you need is a good vacation."

Epilogue
As I sit here on the sunny beaches of Maui, I reflect on those days and laugh. I'm now the superintendent of the Wrigley School District. Along the way I have learned two very valuable lessons:
1. Just because someone is different doesn't mean you should be suspicious of him.
2. Everyone, even Roxanne Blumington, needs a vacation once in a while.

I was just so tickled reading these. Once a nerd, always a nerd.

Down to the Wire

2008-03-30T19:18:00.003-04:00

I started this blog about two years ago as a compulsory assignment. Here I am, on the cusp of graduating with my Master's in Library & Information Science, and despite my usual blythe nature about such things I have to admit, it feels really huge.

This kind of thing doesn't really happen in my family, and because of that, they don't really have an idea of what it means for me. And that's fine and not their fault, but it does give me the urge to go ahead and make a big deal about it for myself. Because if I won't, who will? I've had two former graduations go by with a whisper (the first one, actually, was a bit of a personal tragedy for me, which is probably why I fixate on this sort of thing). But it's not about the ceremony. I'm not even going to the ceremony. It's about me knowing that I saw what I wanted to do, I did it all on my own (and through a remarkably difficult time in my life) and I finished. I went in on one side feeling lost and trapped, I come out feeling full of options and legitimately proud.

All that aside, there's still a month to go and it is a doozy of a month. I just finished the most foreboding assignment (which explains the optimism of this post) but I have a lot of assignments still left in a month during which I will be in at least 4 states. And I feel like some of these assignments, though finishing them is important, aren't exactly of burning importance for me or my future. So who do I turn to? The cataloger's patron saint, Saint Minutia.

I love that she's splitting a hair with a sword. Also I feel she's very apropos, considering my big project was all about French medieval literature.

Back to hacking through this final month's forest of work, one hair at a time.

Of Scents and Peppermints

2008-03-21T16:18:00.003-04:00

Oh how I've been neglecting you, little blog.

Still no real time to update, but I figured I'd mention two little things.

My coworker just showed me this perfume website where I realize that some company made the scent I've always wanted...old book smell.

In the Library

English Novel taken from a Signed First Edition of one of my very favorite novels, Russian & Moroccan leather bindings, worn cloth and a hint of wood polish

The Story

I love books, particularly old ones. I cannot pass a second hand bookshop and rarely come away without at least one additional volume. I now have quite a collection…
Whenever I read, the start of the journey is always opening the book and breathing deeply. Don’t you find there are few things more wonderful than the smell of a much-loved book? Newly printed books certainly smell very different from older ones. The ink is so crisp. I’ve also noticed that books from different periods & different countries also have very different smells. And then there are the scents of different bindings: leather is marvelous of course but I find a peculiar pleasure in musty worn clothbound books as well. Perhaps just a hint of mildew…
The main note in this scent was copied from one of my favorite books – I happened to find a signed first edition of this novel a few years ago in London. I was more than a little excited because there were only ever a hundred in the first place!

I could have very well written this description, now I just have got to smell this stuff. This'll be on my must-investigate list for sure. I wonder if it'd smell good on a person though? If it'd be charming to smell like a musty old book? If not I'd just spritz it around my house! Mmmm.

Speaking of house, my housemate Adam Arcuragi's new EP is available to stream free online, check it out, it's really lovely.

Mes Trèsors

2008-03-10T09:59:00.002-04:00

I decided to start a flickr photo set with some of my favorite things I've come into possession recently. Most are things I pick up at used bookstores or thrift shops that are lovely and old. Here's a couple of photos.

A postcard from 1910, purchased for $1 at a used bookstore in Long Beach, CA:

Washborn, Texas
December 29, 1910
Dear Alonzo how
are you and why
dont you rite to us
we would like to
hear from you
Harry is hear
with us he likes
it down hear
fine pleas rite to
us oftener Mother

There are a lot of great books, some are not worth much but are pretty, some worth more, but they're all special to me :)

This week in Philadelphia I got a couple of cute French language Beatrix Potter copies. Here's adorable Pierre Lapin:

Also this one is old, I got it in 2005 somewhere in California, needs to be framed, November 1960 full issue of Life magazine with Jackie O. and JFK on the cover. Some of the ads inside are great too.

Twin Beaks

2008-02-16T14:39:00.002-05:00

Two favorites in one: Sesame Street and Twin Peaks

"Diane, me hurt the log's feelings today and me no closer to finding out why they call this place Twin Beaks"

:)

Another choice Internet find today: Stuff White People Like.

Curtis Institute of Music Library

2008-02-11T12:42:00.000-05:00

The Curtis Institute of Music is one of the most respected conservatories in the world, instructing about 160 scholarship students annually in a performance-focused environment. The John de Lancie Library is located in the Milton L. Rock Resource Center, which is located across the street from the institute on Mozart Place near Rittenhouse Square in Center City Philadelphia.

The library houses more than 80,000 music scores, books, and recordings in the four floors of a 1908 townhouse. The cramped confines of the beautiful building pose space challenges for their small professional staff. Planned renovations to the basement and the eventual relocation of the orchestra parts library and instrument collection to a new facility should give the de Lancie Library room to grow.

Head librarian Elizabeth Walker says that their collection is almost entirely scores and recordings for student use; very little research materials are used. For the de Lancie Library, there are 3 professional librarians, one quarter-time archivist, and one-and-one-half support staff positions. All of the Curtis librarians are performing musicians with cataloguing knowledge in at least three languages. The three orchestra staff members, whose library is located on the top floor of the building, equal about three-quarters of one full-time position. The orchestra library staff also rent all the music for Curtis’ students.

The first floor of Curtis’ library mainly consists of a periodicals reading room. There are interesting donated artifacts in this room, like death masks and hand casts of famous composers and a beautiful, giant Latin Gradual from Spain, dating from the latter half of the 16th century.

It was a bit jarring to see such a thing just out in the open like that, surrounded by boxes. It is the second of a 4 volume set, illustrating the music of the propers of masses that fall between the first Sunday of Lent and Palm Sunday. The parchment folio stands about three feet tall. A closer look:

On the second floor there is a rather beautiful hurdy gurdy as well that was donated by a former student. The second floor accommodates students’ audio and visual needs, with microform readers, Internet access, and listening carrels with turntables, cassettes, CD and CDR capabilities. Students can access the library’s proprietary catalog, the Rock Online Catalog (ROC), at computers on this floor as well. Currently 90 percent of the Institute’s materials are catalogued in ROC, including all extant recordings of Curtis performances. The library also provides access to a growing number of music-related electronic databases.

There are also stacks of recordings, primarily on vinyl, but some other media as well including reel-to-reel tape.

Also on the second floor is an enclosed listening room for groups to watch and listen to performances.

Although the top floor was closed, there is an instrument lending library for the Curtis students. Eighty string instruments, ranging from 17th century Cremonese craftsmanship to modern American instruments are housed in a climate-controlled room. A wide selection of woodwind and brass instruments are also available there.

The library at the Curtis Institute of Music is one of a score of amazing special libraries tucked away in the streets of Philadelphia. One can live their whole life in the city and not know that such places even exist. As a library student and lover of this fair city, I’ve been making it my business to visit a lot of these libraries and check out their collections. There are a lot of treasures in this town if you take the time to look.

This particular visit (and this blog entry) is for an assignment for my Music Librarianship and Bibliography class, via the GSLiS at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I’m taking this class through a consortium as a Fasttrack MLIS student at the University of Pittsburgh. Come spring, I’ll have my degree.

Come On Baby, Kindle My Fire

2008-01-04T10:53:00.000-05:00

I wouldn't really describe myself as one on the forefront of technology. In fact, despite my general computer savvy and my love of things Library 2.0, I'm rather old-ladyish in my daily life. I lug my groceries in a wheeled cart, I prefer anything vintage over anything new, and I get visibly agitated when people don't dress up for the orchestra. I try to only buy hardcover books, and old copies if I can manage it, because I revel in my personal library looking a certain way, all dusty spines of muted colors with that old book smell that I wish some perfumerie would bottle for sale. So why do I have an increasingly rigid techno-boner over the Amazon Kindle?

The most alluring thing about this slim little vixen isn't the super long battery life, or the service plan free wireless access, or the unbelievable storage capability, or the undeniable environmental improvement over the newspaper (although they all make me foam a bit at the mouth, be sure) but the element that really gets me going is something I've longed for since the advent of the e-book (and maybe even the computer): a screen that looks just like paper! I've been waiting for this innovation like some Christian fundamentalists wait for the rapture. I mean, I love my stylish chunky frames as much as the next 20something would-be librarian, but I certainly wouldn't need them if the blare of the computer screen didn't tax my blue irises so. The idea that I can download an entire book anywhere in under a minute and read it pain free and not lug 3 or 4 books in my bag at once? Goddamn if that's not a marvel of technology.

I'm cowed by the idea, though, that I've had these stirrings before. I was initially wooed by the siren song of the iPhone when it was announced at MacWorld, and would get in very nerdly conversations in bars about how amazing it was going to be. I now have a few friends who have one, and although there is a palpable ain't-it-cool factor still, some of the missing elements (and how slow the download time can be) resigns me to wait until a second generation, a resignation my wallet heartily thanks me for. So I guess this is a call to my early adopter friends out there, when you see the Kindle, kiss it once for me. Tell me if it has all the zazz that it does in my mind. If so I'll squirrel away for a while and maybe around this time next year I'll know for myself.

(Un)naturellement Pulpeuse

2007-11-14T10:11:00.000-05:00

Oh man.

In the Paris Metro I made a complete ass of myself because I was laughing so hard that I kept doubling over while I was trying to take a picture of the repugnant yet hilarious yet can't-look-away Orangina ads with the tagline "Naturellement Pulpeuse" (Naturally Pulpy) that take elements of nature -- plants and animals -- and give them a pulp treatment. They're all on my Paris Flickr Set but the one that set me into fits of hysterics the entire day was this furry fella:

Anyway my friend just found that there's a video version of this campaign, and although The Bear is not as lascivious in movement as he is captured and pasted on the Metro wall, don't fret, there is still plenty of really disgusting animal faux copulation and Orangina shooting out of bottles like so many loads. Ew. Vive la France!

Photo du Jour: San Fran 2

2007-10-28T08:39:00.001-04:00

You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave

Couldn't have staged this photo if I tried! Took it on the way to a delicious dinner at Millenium. Afterwards I felt pretty dizzy so I took a nap which turned into being like 10 hours long, and now it's 5:30 and I shouldn't be awake but I am. Oops. Can't decide whether to go back to sleep or do my assignment which is already late, since I have to work long hours today. Crap.

Photo du Jour: San Fran 1

2007-10-27T20:11:00.000-04:00

I'm Afraid of Americans

I'm sure it's partially the 10-hour time difference, having to work all weekend, having assignments due that I'm too tired to work on, and wishing I were home, but man I am just not feeling San Fran right now. Staying in the downtown area where everything is huge and commercial and there are lame street performers and bums everywhere and...man, the cultural shock feels gigantic for me right now. I totally drank le kool aid in Paris and now the West Coast, not being home and not being Paris, is just le bordel. Meh. At least there's a fancy vegan joint around the corner, I'm going there for dinner now. Then I'll have to shake myself awake long enough to get my assignment in. Sigh. I gotta snap out of it.

Photo du Jour: Last Tango in Paris, double shot

2007-10-26T11:36:00.000-04:00

It's impossibly early in San Fran right now, I'm pretty sure I went back in time yesterday flying over so many timezones, but I'm here, eating cold leftover room service and trying to get my bearings. The travel day won't get a photo (I'd rather forget that one, honestly) but my last day was great so you'll get two pics.

Castles in the Sky

Manning and I cold-chillin' on castle ruins at St. Remy les Chevreuse, a little hamlet outside of Paris. This would be the album cover of our band that would only sing in franglais.

Zese fucking guys

American friend Jesse from These United States outside of the venue where they played in Les Halles. I was so glad to see him and JzayTom and Vandaveer, with their big smiling American faces and American hugs. I just wished we got to hang out longer!

Now I'm in San Fran having to remember how to do work and stuff. Boooo. The complete Paris photo set can be found here.
Au revoir beeches.

Photo du Jour 8

2007-10-23T21:02:00.001-04:00

Ma VIe en Rose

Paris, Je t'aime.

More on the Flickr.

God I love it here. xo

Photo du Jour 8

2007-10-22T19:09:00.001-04:00

Posting this one a bit early because I have to get up early tomorrow to go to Chateau de Versailles.

Je voudrais un croissant

Now a total of 159 photos on the Paris set and there's captions on them now. Must get back to drinking champagne in my pjs with a comic book artist birthday boy and a Bosnian model. What, your Monday night is different?

Photo du Jour 7

2007-10-22T02:53:00.001-04:00

I'm going to do it a bit different today and give you a bunch from one place, I got lost at one point and ended up wandering into Notre Dame, which is always the way I end up in there, and the incense was chokingly thick as they started a mass, I quietly took some non-flash photos and hightailed it out of there. Lots more of my various adventures yesterday on le Flickr.

Our Lady of the Highway

Photo du Jour 6

2007-10-21T07:25:00.001-04:00

You spin me right round

The carousel near St. Eustache.

I stay up til 5am every night. I walked probably 6 miles yesterday and took about 40 pictures around town, which are on le flickr. I ate super heavy cheese things for every meal. My hosts are amazing and funny and beautiful. It was so cold I had to wear gloves yesterday, but incredibly beautiful, today looks beautiful also, so I'm going to go enjoy it. Kisses! xo M.

Photo du Jour 5

2007-10-20T10:12:00.001-04:00

Starting to lose track of whether I'm really only posting one a day, but that's OK. In honor of that loss of a grip on spacetime I'll post two photos today.

Joyeux anniversaire Manning!

It looks like Manning is really really excited for cake. Which is probably true.

Dali's Bathroom

Surreal picture in my hosts' co-co crazy bathroom.

More, comme d'habitude, sur le flickr.

Photo du Jour 4

2007-10-19T07:34:00.000-04:00

Je suis arrivee

Je suis tellement fatiguee mais au moins mon francais n'est pas trop mal...

plus sur le Flickr.

Photo du Jour 3

2007-10-18T08:25:00.000-04:00

Double Take

Sometimes Philly looks like Paris if you squint a little. Shawn at Rx.

Je partirai ce apres-midi, en arrivant a Paris le matin prochaine. A demain! xo M.

Photo du Jour 2

2007-10-17T09:25:00.000-04:00

A Day in Black and White

Philadelphia gets moody when you leave her.

Also the subway windows could use a washin'. I'm off tomorrow!

Les Photos du Jour

2007-10-16T11:45:00.000-04:00

As you may already know, I'm about to leave for Paris-San Fran-New York until November 5. That's a long time to be away! It's likely going to be really hard to blog about so I plan to post a picture everyday. So if you're interested in seeing what I'm up to, this'll be the best way.

Although I won't leave til Thursday I'll start now.

Clouds in my Coffee

Comcast building, Philadelphia, my walk to work on a beautiful cloudy fall day. Got my Euro exchanged right after snapping this one. More, as always, on le Flickr.

BEST.BAND.EVER.

2007-09-26T10:11:00.000-04:00

I know it's been a while, dear library friends, but I feel like I had to share this with you all (esp BillFee).

I went to my friend's event last night that blew my mind. So here's the scoop, apparently after The Beatles hit Japan in the mid-60s this new genre of Beatles-esque Japanese music cropped up called Group Sounds. They all have early Beatles hair and styling and sing bubbly guitar driven pop songs. My friend Joseph did an event last night where he showed the GS version of "Help!" called "Go Forward!" about this band The Spiders which was hilarious and awesome, then The Captains (pictured above) played.

Let me just say they were INCREDIBLE. The lead singer has this Japanese androgynous Bowie thing going on, and magician hands that do elaborate dance moves and some syncronized choreography. The dude uses props like umbrellas and mirrors and flowers. They are wildly over-the-top and fucking awesome. Some days I thank god for Youtube:

Fall in Love with Me Live
This will give you some idea of how awesome they are live. The singer faints from "too much love" and screams OH MY GODDDDD then the crowd has to chant "Wake up!" for him to get back up. Trust me all 7 minutes is worth it.

Like a rhinestone cowboy... Cowboy style video

I swear the Japanese are so far ahead of us with things like video technology. I bet Japanese kids are doing that Matrix move on their cell phones now. Matrix style video

At the show last night they got everyone doing the Love! Like! Volcano! dance moves. Some kids were absolutely freaking out dancing, which you all know in Philly is quite a feat.Love Like Volcano Live

I think The Captains are going to ruin me for all other bands. I mean, if all other bands don't have props or choregraphed dance moves or matching military jackets, it's just not a performance.

The Plight of the Elusive Male Librarian

2007-08-03T11:50:00.000-04:00

I'm really starting to feel for my male counterparts in this field. First came the New York Times with the unbearably hilarious term guybrarian, now there's a comic about what to call a male librarian, and how do they address you poor saps?

Librarymans.

I think guybrarian has a much nicer ring to it. It's like saying, "Yo dude, I can totally hook you up with the new issue of Neuron. No worries." It makes you seem cool and confident but with the bibliographic skillz to pay the billz. But there's something sad and still-lives-with-his-momma about Libraryman. Unless you think of it like a super hero. But I think guys who live with their mommas like superheroes too, so you might not want to identify yourself that way. Either way you fellas have a pretty rough shake of it.

I don't have a new suggested term to offer, I think like many oppressed groups it'd be best for you male librarians to come up with a term for yourselves that you're comfortable with. Godspeed, gentleman. I mean, totally tough, rugged dudes.

If you get close to her, kiss her once for me.

2007-07-26T10:59:00.000-04:00

I got in this really interesting conversation with my friend C on AIM last night. I was listening to Bob Dylan yesterday (and today, and many days) and I told him how I was thinking about what it must have been like to be him, having these connections with women while he's ramblin' from town to town, and thinking of them from time to time, but knowing it'd be rather unlikely that he'd hear from them again. There's something beautiful and romantic in that, and largely it's something that doesn't exist anymore.

It's too easy for people to reconnect with past loves. At his time, which was not long ago at all, he could find a bit of comfort writing a song about a girl, and perhaps she would hear it on the radio some years down the line while she's doing the dishes and wonder if it's about her but never be totally sure. If people did reconnect, it seemed like fate's hand, and had this big beautiful stamp of divine providence. Now it's the opposite, it seems that if people don't reconnect, THAT is fate keeping them apart. That's beautiful in its own way too, but it's just not the same. Dylan has a lot of songs that give me this feeling, but the most illustrative would be If You See Her, Say Hello. I often jokingly tell friends that if they see so-and-so, kiss him/her once for me, but no one sadly ever gets the reference. But that lyric gets me every time. It's that longing that is elicited by a memory, where that person is frozen in time for you to revisit whenever you wish, there's something beautiful about the privacy of that.

C, making an unintentionally pretty typo, wrote, "The age of lost love connections is god. Now is the age of creeping." Sounds like a lyric for a 21st century lament on the notion that sometimes it's all too easy to reach your past, and isn't it better sometimes to have the hazy, sun-dappled memory in its stead?

Sex Advice from Librarians

2007-06-07T21:44:00.000-04:00

Oh la la.

Don't act like you haven't thought about sex in the stacks. But the real question is, have any of you done it?

HAIR!

2007-05-01T22:46:00.000-04:00

This morning, and for the past 6 years of my life, I looked like this:

In my five hours at the salon I had multiple bleach sessions, two colors of hair dye, and a glaze. I also read two chapters of Ulysses and got ravenously hungry. I took pics all along the way.

Step 1: Back in Black. I start off tired and visibly worried. All of my friends and coworkers have only known me with black hair. This is going to be a huge change.

Step 2: Roots Gone Wild

Step 3: Illuminati. I like to think I look like someone from a medieval painting with the new-fangled dryers they have.

Step 4: Cheetos

Step 5: Drop Dead Fred (I am rather disturbed at how much I look like him there, as much as I love Rik)

Step 6: Cyndi Lauper

Step 7: The Fifth Element

Step 8: Counting Crows

Now I look like this:

It will take me at least a week to get used to it. At least. But I *think* I like it.A little redder than I expected but it'll get blonder in the sun as my natural blondeness grows in. None of my friends or coworkers have ever known me as anything but having black hair. Tomorrow's going to be interesting...

And they're buying us drinks and they're givin' us winks...

2007-03-19T01:03:00.000-04:00

Writing this entry in the Austin airport, I'll try to focus my eyes long enough to make it coherent. Edit: I actually fell asleep right after writing this and missed my plane! I'm home now though so all is well. Heat is pulsating off of my hilariously uneven sunburn, my eyes are on fire, I have the worst allergies ever, I slept only a few hours each night, more than one friend had really unfortunate drama, and I have to go to work tomorrow somehow.

Now that I've gotten any and all whining and bullshit out of the way, I'm left with this: I had a fucking great time at South by Southwest. I feel pretty fucking great, this little crazy vacation was just what I needed.

Won't give the blow-by-blow because it would take forever and probably be boring, but I did take a lot of pictures. The full set is on my Flickr. There are some pretty good ones.

Ryan watching Adam play, Thursday night, shortly after I arrive in Austin.

Adam napping like a Texan

These United States, best pic I've taken of them yet.

Debbie and I finally get a pic taken together. The lighting is really weird here.

There were tons of crazy parties going on with lots of free booze and weird stuff. We stopped at the Diesel party for a hot second to see this crazy scene going down. Oh, and they had bowling too.

Hanging out with Adam Arcuragi and brand new friend Dawn Landes who turned me into a superfan of hers overnight. We went down to a river to watch this swarm of bats come out at night, they didn't but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Adam's set at the Philebrity Philly Jawn party, there's an awesome video about Adam from this here.

Adam and Peter teach a Philebrity reporter how to play the saw. Not as easy as it looks!

One of the best things about going to SXSW was meeting up with my friend Dana who's been in the army and out of touch for two years. We had a blast this weekend and she asked me to be her maid-of-honor in her wedding! I love her.

Dana smoking outside of Cream Vintage at Philly Jawn. Bob Dylan's on the wall in the back.

Dawn, Adam, and J. Tom Hnatow make beautiful music together.

Probably the best pic I've ever taken of Adam.

Goddamn this girl is good, backed by an incredible bluegrass band she met in Austin, they brought the house down. Maybe one of the best sets I've seen, ever.

My favorite pic of the weekend, newly minted major label A&R rep Ryan "signs" Vandaveer for $25 on the back of a business card. He's going to have to pay that shit back though, no such thing as a free lunch. Probably one of those you-had-to-be-there things.

Overall I had a fantastic time, too tired and delirious to piece together a more cohesive narrative than this. Too too much fun at SXSW.

I Represent Philly

2007-03-07T16:06:00.000-05:00

This player has a bunch of songs loaded on it from the Philly bands playing Philebrity's Philly Jawn party at South by Southwest (SXSW) this year. You can skip forward through the tracks as well, it's all really good (and yes, my roomie's on there as well).

Guess what other Philly thing will be in attendance in Austin?

ME.

Wooo. Can't wait. Next Thursday is too far away. Baby needs a vacation.

An Olde Fashioned Malady

2007-02-15T17:25:00.000-05:00

Tuesday I ventured out into the cold to get some cold remedies as my two roomies were still asleep and I was in dire need. When I came back in I was coughing, Adam asked if I had received my Victorian Trading Company Catalogue of Maladies and picked out some consumption (referring to the Victorian Trading Company catalogues I get sent to the house with various replicas of weird Victorian stuff).

Today I was blind with pain from the stomach muscle I pulled while coughing, so I called the doctor to see if she had advice (or preferably drugs). She asked me to come in and I obliged, and upon my visit I learned that perhaps I did order a little something from the Victorian Trading Company Catalogue of Maladies as I have...

WHOOPING COUGH!

After picking my jaw up from the floor my first question was, "Don't you get vaccinated against that as a child?" I mean, I know my parents have had their negligent moments but they're not Scientologists or anything. She said yes, I was vaccinated, but it can wear off after 18 years or so. Would have been nice to know that. So I'm at home until Tuesday. When I called to have my co-worker put up my out-of-office reply she told me the whole department was in an office looking up Whooping Cough. I've inspired a real Victorian bout of hysteria!

It's not as serious in adults as it is in children but I'm probably still pretty contagious or whatever. Adam, who's been taking care of me, is away for the weekend and Debbie's been building a fortress in which to hide since I started coughing on Saturday. So it's just me, raspberry vegan cheesecake, codeine, and bad movies on TV-- the height of Victorian decendance. Perhaps if I collect alms from the right souls I can get that fainting couch I wanted.

Quantify Your Love

2007-02-10T14:46:00.000-05:00

This week is going to prove to be an extremely busy one, between schoolwork, work, hosting my Ulysses group meeting at my house (I'm making vegan potato soup and offering Guinness, of course) and giving a lecture at Drexel. So busy in fact that I don't really have time to think about it being the feast day of St. Hallmark. That is a good thing. But oddly the subject comes up in the strangest of places, like my course reading.

To give an example outside of cataloging, imagine trying to model something like love. Love is an abstraction, but it is something we all know and recognize. Exactly how do we do that? To make a model of love that can be used in research or in some other kind of rationalized practice or process, we operationalize it. Operationalizing makes it possible to observe, count, or verify something such as love. However, operationalizing something very abstract, such as love, is not only difficult, it can cross the line into the comical. For instance, because we cannot see love,we have to identify things that are observable to indicate the presence or existence of love. Thus, one could operationalize the presence of love between two people by counting the number of times they kiss each other and the amount of time they spend with each other, or observing whether they live together, and so on. Doubtless, these actions are easy enough to verify, but no matter how many of them we come up with, any model of love gives a rather sorry representation of the real thing.

Here's sending a wish to all of you lovers out there for the unquantifiable Real Thing.

The Kids Are Alright

2007-02-08T19:13:00.000-05:00

Ian MacKaye, always sticking up for the little guy.

Can I get an Amen?

Profiles in Awesomeness: Septa Operator 55

2007-02-02T10:08:00.000-05:00

I know what you're probably thinking, me praising a SEPTA employee? Has she finally fell off her rocker? Well I'm just as shocked as you are, but I just felt that I needed to give some big Illadelph ups to my morning train conductor, who identified himself this morning as SEPTA Operator 55.

Normally the conductors on the Market-Frankford El (and the Broad St. Line) are anonymous and only speak when absolutely necessary or totally pissed off. But not S.O. 55. Every morning after the Spring Garden stop he exclaims, "Good Morning Philadelphia!" just as the waterfront appears and disappears from view. He also gives us helpful courtesy hints to make our ride more enjoyable..this morning he informed us that smoking is prohibited not only on the train and in the underground platform but on the platforms that are outside as well! I was surprised to hear that, thanks for the info, S.O. 55!

But the real reason I'm writing this praiseworthy post is regarding an incident sometime last week. A stop or two into my train ride, when the doors opened, someone hurled an empty soda bottle out of the doors onto the platform. One thing you may or may not know about me is that I DESPISE LITTERING. I have almost gotten in physical altercations with strangers over it. It's just one of those things that really gets my goat, I think it's so disrespectful to the other inhabitants of this fair city. Anyway the doors were closing, and S.O. 55 reopened the doors and announced, "Will the person who just threw that bottle on the platform please go retrieve it and put it in the receptacle. This train is not moving until you throw away your trash." Boo-yah! Take that, littering scum! That person was probably so fucking embarrassed as a train full of eyes burned a hole in him, he went onto the platform, picked up the bottle, threw it in the trashcan and got back on the train. Once the doors closed, S.O. 55 told us passengers about how very dangerous it is to litter on SEPTA trains and platforms, as bottles and debris can get on the tracks and cause fire hazards and service interruptions. I couldn't possibly hide the grin on my face, and I think I saw a few other smirks as well.

So SEPTA Operator 55, I salute you.

Space Hootenanny

2007-01-22T13:35:00.000-05:00

It was quite a weekend. Friday I ended up staying home instead of going dancing, and after the workout I got the rest of the weekend I'm glad I did! I needed to save up my dancin' mojo. Saturday I headed out to my knitting group's Secret Pal reveal (you secretly send someone else in the group packages for a few months and then make them a handmade gift at the end). I was so focused on finishing my gift and hoping that my pal would like it that I forgot, oh yeah, I get stuff too! I got some super soft nylon yarn and a GORGEOUS beaded hat that I love love love to pieces.

Here's Zoe with the gifts I gave her and me in my new hat!

Unfortunately about an hour into the reveal Debbie texted me from Adam's video rehearsal and said, "You should get here as soon as possible. The dance is really complicated." In case I didn't mention this before, my roommate Adam was shooting a professional music video at the Franklin Institute planetarium last night, and originally the emails said that the dancing would be really easy and you wouldn't have to be a very good dancer to do it. Ha! That was not entirely true. So I had to hightail it out of South Philly (and I was so sad I didn't get to see the rest of everyone's gifts!) But I got to the Painted Bride for rehearsal just in time to realize, oh gee whiz, this is going to be rather complicated.

The concept of the video is that elements in the universe - like stars, atoms, or people - all move in similar ways, sometimes chaotically, sometimes in elegant patterns, but always in flux. So the band is in the center of the planetarium, the stars are being shown above, and the dancers move in and out of big and small groups, sometimes dancing freely, sometimes in very elegant swirling patterns, and most of it was shot from above on a jib. It was really wild and cool. Everyone had good energy and got into it and fed off of each other.

The song is pretty countrified, a total footstomper, so there was some stylized squaredancing and people clapping and whirling about. At the end you have to look across the room to your partner, run to them, and kiss. I was sadly without partner, so I got paired up with a boy named Ricky at rehearsal. They told us originally that you could be creative, you didn't have to kiss on the mouth or lips, so there were some people kneeling and kissing hands, and Ricky and I came up with a really cute thing where he held my face in his hands and bent my head down and kissed my forehead. At rehearsal the band thought it was really cute, but the director (our friend) was like "Aww man you're not kissing her FOREHEAD! I wanna see some action!!" etc, so when we arrived for the shoot on Sunday the choreographer said, "Sorry for the false advertising but you guys do need to kiss now, either on the lips or right next to the lips on the cheek."

Ahem. But back to that in a bit.

We got all the lighting and stuff set up in the space and the dancers rehearsed (I got some cool pics of the setting up process, I'll post them on Flickr tonight) and we were just about to shoot and...THE FIRE ALARM GOES OFF. So we all had to stand outside in the sleet for about 20 minutes until we could go back in. We were all worried as the shoot was on a very tight schedule to begin with, but we worked it out. Everyone started off tentatively, and I don't think there was a single take where we didn't mess up in some fashion, but I think there was enough good stuff that they can piece it together, and by the end it was MAGICAL, everyone was really hamming it up and having an amazing time despite being super tired.

It was QUITE a workout, square dancing and running from place to place and ending in a kiss, take after take in rapid succession. The people who were making out had an advantage that you could kind of move around, but since Ricky and I went for a stylized kiss (started off on the cheek but we gave up on that quickly for convenience's sake, no tongue though, I swear!) where we both put our hands behind our backs and kissed like two little kids. Thing was, we had to hold that kiss everytime for nearly a full minute, and after running around for the first five minutes of each take you're totally out of breath, so you're kissing and breathing HARD through your nose at each other! It was really funny and a few times it was hard not to burst out laughing. We were strangers at first but I'd say we got to know each other fairly well by the end of the night haha!

When I got home every muscle in my body ached, Adam convinced me to give a good stretch before I went to bed which helped, but I was so full of adrenaline from running around like that all night that I couldn't fall asleep. My mind raced and raced all night long. So now I am so tired I can barely see straight. But man, that was some of the most fun I've had in so long, it was incredible to see all these people, no one getting paid, but everyone just giving it their all over and over again and having fun with each other and bonding and joking. I think the video is going to be so beautiful, I wish we didn't have to wait a few months to see it because I can't wait to see how it comes out. Horray!

Edit: Here's a pic friend and fellow space square dancer Gretchen took during some of the action:

Look at all that makin' out!

PS I saw BC Camplight at Johnny Brenda's on Saturday and it was incredible.
PPS My boss just asked me to go to South Beach at the end of April! Awesome.

Nerd Alert

2007-01-19T14:14:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite memories from Space College thus far came from our first on-campus session. Our little bad kids clique had just formed (and of course, being the "bad kids" in library school is pretty relative!) and we went to check out the gorgeously redesigned Carnegie Mellon Library. As we traipsed through the ground floor we came across a large room with one wall lined with a card catalogue. Instinctively we all (and by we all, I think I mean Stef and me) ran over to the catalogue and said, "Ooh!", opening the drawers and smelling the old paper inside.

My new place is slowly coming together and I'm really excited about the way it looks so far. None of the art is on the walls yet, though, and I'm waiting for my tall bookshelves to come so we can unpack the books into the "reading nook" area of the living room. But one of the main design elements that has been vexing me is where to put all the media. Now, books look gorgeous on a shelf, I would never want to hide my books. Vinyl, while not particularly pretty, is not totally unappealing as the spines are pretty uniform. But CDs, DVDs, and VHS? FUGLY. It's like having a mini Times Square in your living room--all garishly colored advertisements. Right now I have some shitty white IKEA shelves and towers that look terrible in my new place (not that I particularly liked them to begin with, but they did look much better two apartments ago when my room was hot pink and black). Listening to one of the Organizing Info lectures last night, I got a brainstorm and did a search and found the solution to my worries at a rather reasonable price. Behold:

It holds about 450 CDs/200 DVDs/100 VHS tapes or any combination therein. Squee! I cannot WAIT for my own baby card catalogue to show up! I will wait everyday by the window like Bart Simpson waiting for his spy camera.

Today my nerdiness has reached new heights.

Tonite Let's All Make Love in London

2007-01-12T11:00:00.000-05:00

Went to see two Peter Whitehead films at the I-House, Wholly Communion and Tonite Let's All Make Love in London. They were both fantastic documentaries that gave you a feeling of what it must have really been like in the 60s in London.

Wholly Communion (1965) shows when the US and English Beat poets got together in front of a crowd of 7,000 in Royal Albert Hall to read poetry. First of all, I'm amazed that they filled Albert Hall with poetry fans. The beautiful stylish guys and girls in the crowd were smoking pot, drinking wine from the bottle, and doing bizarre proto-hippie dances to the poems. It was a lot of the usual cast of characters from the US-- Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti. But I had never heard (or even heard of) the English Beat poets so I was kinda interested in them. I thought of them, Adrian Mitchell gave a particularly good reading of his anti-Vietnam War poem, To Whom It May Concern.

The highlight of the film (for all the wrong reasons) was Harry Fainlight. Harry got up in front of 7,000 people and started to read his poem, and got interrupted by someone in the crowd (I feel like this person is probably famous as well). Harry proceeded to completely lose his shit and breakdown on stage, people started yelling at him, "READ YOUR POEM!!" and he's like, "This reading is all messed up now." And he asked the organizers to read another, and he did, and then he felt like he needed to "explain" it but the organizers were like, "Harry wants to explain his poem to you folks, but I say, nahh, the poem's great, we don't need to hear any more from you." Haha! Oh, it was like watching a train wreck. Every once in a while they would put the camera back on Harry and he looked absolutely shell shocked. Poetry is hell.

Ubuweb has a good writeup about the film here.

Next was the main feature, Tonite Let's All Make Love in London (1967) which was a profile of swingin' London around 1966. The psychedelic aesthetic of the shots of the streets at night were perfect, but the interviews with younger versions of still famous people were excellent. A young, dapper Michael Caine talking about the freedom of the mini-skirt, mod heartthrob Julie Christie bathed in window light, The Small Faces and Pink Floyd playing, and The Rolling Stones being practically torn limb from limb by ravenous fans. I realized I haven't heard an unsung word from Mick Jagger ever, and it was really interesting to see his smooth face predicting the future from 1967. I'm doing this from memory, but it went something like this:

People never thought about morality surrounding war, because before our generation people were worried about having food in their mouths. It's because we have food in our mouths that we can think about these things. In the future machines will be doing our work for us, it's already starting to happen, so we will have more and more time to think about these things. Eventually we'll only have to work 4 hours a day so the rest of the day will be filled with other things, but it won't be what you think. We won't be slagging off and going to the cinema. I don't think we'll know what we'll be doing, but hopefully it'll be good, and good will come of it.

That was probably my favorite part of the film. Overall it was fantastic, I'm really glad I ventured out to see it. Inspired by the hot mod broads in the film, I think I might go see if I can find some crazy tights on my lunchbreak.

Today I am EXHAUSTED. So glad that I get out of work at 3. I'm going to this benefit thing at 4 though, so I'll be running around no matter what. Think I might need a shot of espresso or some crank or something. OK just the espresso.

Computer Love

2007-01-11T16:31:00.000-05:00

God I love the Internet today, too bad I've been in meetings most of the day and haven't gotten much time to peruse things.

First up, a post from the venerable YarnHarlot about how the bank thought the sock yarn of the month club must be a scam so they froze Blue Moon's account and returned all their orders! Unbelievable...a bank just throwing away money like that!

Secondly, a NYT article about how the French are trying to bring back politeness. The whole thing is pretty interesting, all the signs and such that they are putting up reminding people to behave a certain way (how Academie Francaise of them, always heavy-handed from above). There are some pretty choice quotes here.

In the perfect French world, rules govern even the most mundane subjects: how to answer the telephone, how to greet a guest at the door, how to address a stranger, what to take to a dinner party, how to behave on the Métro.

“It’s like a sport, you have to train hard,” said Marie de Tilly, a rail-thin expert on manners, who teaches a two-hour course in Paris to women who pay $90 to attend. “But once you train and know the rules, it all comes naturally.” Yes $90 training sessions and rules memorization = perfectly natural!

Some of the traditional politeness rules tickled me.

A married woman should fold one hand over the other at the table, the better to show off her jewels.

Wine is not an appropriate dinner gift. (It assumes that the host does not have good taste.)As a habitual hostess and wine drinker, I roundly disagree with that idea.

Only a country bumpkin would say, “Bon appétit” at the start of a meal.

and my absolute favorite:If a woman’s wineglass needs filling, she should play with it until her male neighbor notices and fills it. OK I don't know about you guys, but I think that's classy as hell. I am totally going to try to this and see if it works. I doubt it will, but I would be very impressed with any man who would pick up on that.

Also a friend sent me this amazing hunk of Internet eye candy from Vice Magazine, a photo shoot of chic Swedish librarians. Mmm mm. Now that's a look that's worth cultivating! Sarah's a particular scorcher...

Also I love that I have so much in common with the lovely ladies of the library featured. There are former journalists, ladies who worked in "big publishing", francophiles, etc. And I love this little tidbit:

Working at the library I get guys hit on me quite a lot. Mostly they’ll say corny things like “You have beautiful eyes” or they’ll leave me little notes with their phone numbers. Once a guy returned a book and told me that there was something for me in the first chapter. When I opened it there was a long letter where he explained why he didn’t dare to come up and talk to me and that he wished that some day he would have the courage to do that. It was a really nice letter but he never showed up again. Oh if only!

And to round out a rather long entry, I took a few pictures of my new El stop in the pretty winter sunshine yesterday morning.

Good Morning Philadelphia

2007-01-10T11:10:00.000-05:00

Oh my little Blogger, how I've been neglecting thee. I've been busy and far, far more productive than I have been in months. Been nerding out over lots of things -- The Prisoner, HBO's Rome, Ulysses, schoolwork and space. Prompted by an interesting New Year's Eve conversation about various library school stuff and untraditional usage of Web 2.0-style tagging, I started a dream LJ and have been logging and tagging my dreams every night to see what kind of themes emerge (it's a friends-only journal so that I can be completely forthright with my dreams' content, all in the name of pseudo-scientific inquiry!)

I moved into my new house in Fishtown and I'm loving it. The picture above is from my bedroom window on the morning I left for Tucson (there are some of the best photos I've ever taken on my Flickr from that trip). Been reading a whole lot, actually enjoying the class readings thus far and doing my own pleasure reading, cooking up a storm in my awesome new kitchen (I even made my own seitan!!) and just generally having a good time of it.

How are all you other cosmonauts in Space College?

Having a Very Philebrity Christmas

2006-12-22T14:43:00.000-05:00

Oh today. At work in theory but not in practice. Had a great lunchtime shopping excursion with Christian, came back to the cube for my last hour of work (get out at 3) to discover two of my friends on Philebrity today.

The first is my darlin' Mr. Robert Drake, chattin' it up about Xmas music with WPRB's Jon Solomon. What an adorable conversation. I love radio people, they warm my little Grinch heart. Hope to catch some of Robert's Xmas eve show when I'm going home to the parents.

The second is my houseguest Mr. Adam Arcuragi. Yesterday he told me he made a Christmas card, but I had no idea what I was in for. He's going a little Brian Wilson on us in this one, but I'll be damned if the new song of his he plays isn't fantastic. Mostly hilarious and just a touch creepy, just like Christmas should be in the Illadelph. Here's the link to the Philebrity jawn, but I'll also just embed the Youtube video here just for the fun of it. Merry Christmas Philadelphia.

Deep Thoughts

2006-12-21T09:29:00.000-05:00

Spam email is the 21st century poetry.

Discuss.

And with this Birthday Season draws to a close...

2006-12-10T14:08:00.000-05:00

So many crazy pictures on the Flickr from my birthday party last night. A few highlights:

Not many girls get to celebrate their birthday with a rock band in their bed. Then again, I'm not most girls. Ha! Adam Arcuragi and crew play in my bedroom, I sit on the bed like Marcia Brady.

Who's that drunk broad yelling about Pittsburgh in the kitchen? Justin managed to avoid the camera's eye by hiding in the smoker's lounge all night.

I love this picture, it looks like some early Renaissance painting. Everyone should have halos.

Man I'm exhausted. Lots of work to do. That's all for now.

And Everybody Knows...

2006-12-05T19:40:00.000-05:00

You know, sometimes, no lie, the Internet vastly increases my quality of life. Today is one of those days, as I realized that, while I've been hoping to eventually see the Leonard Cohen documentary again, I got the absolute best part of it -- Rufus Wainwright's story about Leonard Cohen and his big gay cover of "Everybody Knows" -- all in one clip on Youtube! Hallelujah!

Thank you Internet, cause of and solution to all of life's problems.

Also thanks everyone for your birthday wishes. I'm pretty sure it was the best birthday I ever had. I'm sure I'll be blogging more once this tedious semester is over.

What we got here is a failure to communicate

2006-11-27T10:05:00.000-05:00

B 666
S I(W)HATE(W)DIALOG
VIEW S1/8/ALL
0336662002 GO FUCK MYSELF

Man I think that may have been the nerdiest thing I ever typed. Damn you Library School!

Instead of burning the midnight oil last night working on the assignments due this week (as I hoped I would) I drank half a bottle of wine, fell asleep at 9:30, and didn't wake up until 8:30am. What the hell. I need the Dialog elves to visit me in the night and make this stupid system do my bidding.

Pen & Ink

2006-11-22T13:41:00.000-05:00

Awesome library-related find of the day: Librarian themed temporary tattoos.

Have a happy holiday y'all.

Glitter and Gold

2006-11-18T11:40:00.000-05:00

Last night was the gold themed Sex Dwarf, really fun but we left early to conserve my energy for my sleepover party tonight. But yesterday I got my permanent veneers on so I thought I'd update you all on the fascinating saga that is my teeth. Here they are, for eternity:

More pictures from last night on the Flickr. Slumber party pictures to come! Yay!

Blog Infidelity

2006-11-13T16:31:00.000-05:00

I have to apologize to this blog. I posted in another one this weekend, but it meant nothing to me, I swear. I was on tour with Adam Arcuragi and my little tour bloglette can be found here. I also got to see Stef, almost got to see Mark, and saw some other friends as well. Great time, and I'm going out again at the end of the month. With the first of my birthday parties starting this weekend, I'm going to be having more fun than I can shake a stick at. I just hope I can manage to get all my work done somewhere in there too!

On the Road

2006-11-09T09:57:00.000-05:00

Last night I wrote my entire paper in a bar where my friends were playing. I think Tomer would be proud.

I'll be on tour all weekend, I'm sure I'll post pics upon my return. See you soon, Stef!

Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance!

2006-11-08T13:52:00.000-05:00

Gotta give credit where it's due but this made me laugh hearty, maniacal laughter in my cube today.

Man oh man I didn't know the aftermath of elections could feel good! But with Rummy sleepin' with the proverbial political feeshes, Santorum and his creepy folk family riding off into the rapture, and the balance of power shifting just a bit, well, it makes a sister feel good on a rainy day.

It's a shame that things had to get this fucking bad for people to stand up and vote and do something about it, but I'm quite enjoying the domino effect. I'm sure it's a banner day in the White House today, reminds me a lot of my favorite period of US political history -- the Nixon administration (oh, if only!) I hope those lazy Dems don't rest on their laurels and that people are still mad enough to put a fucking decent person in the White House in 08.

I think Philebrity said it best:

2006: A Voting Odyssey

2006-11-07T19:04:00.000-05:00

Oh, I am not happy with the state of our electoral affairs in the Illadelph right now. Yesterday I went on The Committee of 70's website to find out whether I needed some sort of change of address form, and it said I did not if I moved more than 6 months ago (I moved two blocks nearly two years ago). The law had changed in 2005, it said. So I get up early, and my neighbor and I went to the new polling place in this shady school in the part of my neighborhood I never go into (as I rule, I do not walk west past my house. My neighborhood is not the worst in Philly, but it's definitely not the best). They didn't have my info. They didn't have my neighbor's either, so he had to grab his bike and go all the way to 5th and Wolf. I go to my old polling place, it moved. I go to that place (meanwhile I'm sweating and peeling off my coat and scarf) and they don't have me either, they call the Committee of 70, they say I should go to 17th and Tasker and use a provisional ballot. UGH. At this point it was 8:58 so I had to get to work, so I decided I would come back after work.

Now I was not super psyched about walking in the shittiest part of my neighborhood alone in the dark, but I was determined to fucking vote. So I go in, at least one of the same women who I saw at 8am was still there at 6pm, she looked about 5 minutes away from falling asleep both times. I explain to them my situation and that I need a provisional ballot. The man working the polling station says, "What is a provisional ballot?" My jaw nearly dropped, but I was not going to leave. I helped him look through the polling kit, showed him what to do, read the forms for him, voted, and told the poll workers what to write, where to sign, etc. so that my vote would be counted. I also told him which people behind me could use the same procedure to their benefit, because I heard some people explaining to poll workers why they weren't in the book and about to turn around and leave. Unfortunately I saw numerous people walk out before me for the same reason I had trouble, and can only assume there were dozens of people during the day at this particular polling place that were turned away for unresolved change of address issues today. This is not good. Do you know who move around a lot? Students and poor people. Sigh, this does not bode well for our little democracy in Murderdelphia.

So why do I care so much about voting? Because I used to be a journalist. I looked forward to Election Day like it was Christmas. All the preparation for the big day, and then the actual Election Day running -- often literally running -- around the city all day, usually a good 10 or 15 hour day, talking to voters and politicians, watching the results come in, getting comments, etc. It's electric, and besides that it's IMPORTANT. So the idea that so many people were turned away today when they actually got out and tried to vote chills me to the core.

The man at the polling place, after I patiently trained all of his volunteers who were obviously not briefed properly just using my common sense, said, "I should hire you next election!" And I thought, fuck, it is my DUTY to take off next election and volunteer at that shady school. I'll bring the Box of Joe, you bring the votes.

Hello hello

2006-11-04T16:08:00.000-05:00

Say hello to my expensive new smile:

That's all I have to report at the moment :)

Remember Me? How could you forget? It rained silver coins the night we met

2006-10-31T15:27:00.000-05:00

One of the best parts of having to work on Halloween is listening to Halloweeny music on the iPod. Started off the day with the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds live album, then segued into probably my favorite Philly group of all time, Ink & Dagger.

I think I can say with a fair amount of certainty that Ink & Dagger was the best vampire hardcore band ever. If you like The Refused, you can thank I&D for making them possible. I have a ton of pictures from the times I saw I&D but they are analog so I don't have a scanner. God I love Ink and Dagger!

After listening to both bands I'll probably move on to some Murder City Devils and who knows what else. Ink and Dagger also penned my favorite song about Philadelphia:

Twisted pretzel logic
You're cracked like the Liberty Bell
Have you ever been to the city of hell?

My diagnosis? Philadelphia psychosis.

(Billfee I think you would like them, you should check them out).

Dare to be Scared

2006-10-31T10:08:00.000-05:00

Hello Guys and Ghouls on this most holy of unholies and my favorite day of the year. I'm a little brought down because I didn't manage a real costume this year thanks to Grad School (like THAT'S important!) and I didn't get to go to a big crazy costume party this year. Still when I saw a man on the subway this morning with 12" horns sticking out of his head it brought a big, evil grin to my face.

Besides all the fantastic & terrible horror movies on TV, that chill of mischief in the air, and all that candy, I love reading the little stupid Halloween stories in the news today (most of my favorite stories when I was a journalist were done around Halloween time...a standout would be when I went on a hunt with the Jersey Devil Hunters). I came across this little nugget today, which claims that Halloween is just too scary for kids:

It is the adults who should be afraid this Halloween. Not of ghouls and goblins, but of permanently scarring their children.

In a recent study of six- and seven-year-olds in the Philadelphia area, Penn State psychologist Cindy Dell Clark found that most parents underestimate just how terrifying the holiday can be for young kids.

First of all, parents are always permanently scarring their children, I don't think Halloween is to blame. Secondly, Philly kids are tough! They can handle a little emotional scarring all in the name of fun. Remember that 7-year-old who chewed her way out of a kidnapper's captivity, broke out of the basement where she was kept, and ran to safety? Yeah, she was from Philly. No Jon Benet's here. Represent Philly, your kids are tough as nails. They can handle a handful of peeled grapes without pissing their pants.

Plus (and I've gotten in weird heated arguments over this in the past) the best fun is scared fun. One of the many reasons horror films are so great (not that there are very many actually scary ones as of late). I remember being a kid, gripping on to one of my friend's arms, running wildly through the entire length of a haunted house, screaming and panting and laughing and falling over at the end. (Out of curiosity I just googled that friend, and see that he's a Johnny Cash style country singer and I'm not at all surprised. In high school he signed his home recorded CD for me saying that he'll remember our haunted house adventures when he's rich and famous. Not sure if he's famous or rich, but he's definitely a touring musician so bully for him!)

Anyway I like being scared just as much as I like being scary, so here's a little boo for you:

Me and my friend, Halloween birthday boy Charles, from last year. I'm silent film Cleopatra. I'm not quite sure who he was supposed to be.

Poet's Corner: Demetri Martin

2006-10-24T19:38:00.000-04:00

Since I was posting some poetry yesterday, I thought I'd post some more (but very different). Above is Daily Show Trendspotter Demetri Martin. First of all, yum. Secondly, on his website he has two poems. The first is an absurdly long palindrome...far longer than "racecar." The second I thought some of you Pennsylvanians might appreciate. Snap your fingers together for Demetri Martin's "All of the Words on a Bottle of Rolling Rock Beer in a Different Order."

women, your ability to operate
extra tender
springs from birth
good machinery comes
as your contents
cause enjoyment

cash, beer, a car...rock and rolling?

during "it" the general warning:
"we may risk pregnancy
according to old problems."

your refund from the goverment
for alcoholic beverages?
not ok.

refund this premium beer surgeon,
because premium beer impairs taste.
A drink! To the tribute of health...
to the pale alcoholic.
Rolling, glass tanks of beverages rock this lined mountain.
should the defects
of consumption
drive me...

or you.

Latrobe, Latrobe, COL, CT, DE, IA, MA, NY, VT, CA, MI
"33"

As awesome as this poem is, Rolling Rock still sucks.

Irish Eyes Are Smilin'

2006-10-23T16:25:00.000-04:00

The Scholars

BALD heads forgetful of their sins,
Old, learned, respectable bald heads
Edit and annotate the lines
That young men, tossing on their beds,
Rhumed out in love's despair
To flatter beauty's ignorant ear.

All shuffle there, all cough in ink;
All wear the carpet with their shoes;
All think what other people think;
All know the man their neighbor knows.
Lord, what would they say
Did their Catullus walk that way?
William Butler Yeats

Thought this was kinda funny, looking forward to this weekend, I just hope I can accomplish all I want to do before I leave. Pittsburghers, am I going to need to wear my winter coat? I'm a total wuss when it comes to the weather. I am looking forward to some foliage on the drive through PA.

Today was the first day in Philadelphia that I came in from lunch and my nose and cheeks were all pink with cold. Because of this weather all I want to do is read poetry, drink tea or coffee, and wear scarves. Unfortunately I am obliged to do a lot more than that. I wish I had my camera with me, I would go take some photos in Rittenhouse Square, maybe some other time this week. Fall!

Procrastination Station

2006-10-16T12:24:00.000-04:00

Guess who hasn't really started writing the paper that's due tonight?
Guess who has a big presentation at work tomorrow that she also didn't start?
Guess who is in an inexplicably good mood despite all this?

I think part of the good mood might be that I'm finalizing some birthday plans, and I decided for my 25th anniversaire I'm going to go balls out. I'm talking multiple parties, over the course of weeks.

First up: a sleepover! All girls and gay dudes, all silliness, November 17
On my actual birthday (December 1), I'll be in NYC on tour with Adam Arcuragi and crew! Can't wait to be on tour for a long weekend!
The week after, my actual birthday party, to which I will invite practically everyone I've ever known. It should be real fun.
I'm also planning to do a small, dressed up New Year's at my house again this year, on the menu: vegan French. Mon dieu!

So I pretty much have amazing and fun plans nearly every weekend from now until after New Years. Holy hell!

L'aventure commence...

She says I'll Throw Myself Away

2006-10-13T13:47:00.000-04:00

To go along with my Josh Homme post, I figured I'd post the Queens of the Stone Age video for Go with the Flow, which is definitely visually one of my favorite music videos of all time.

Oh and for the FastTrackers...

2006-10-13T11:56:00.000-04:00

I almost forgot, my friend sent me a link to Target's Naughty Librarian Costume, in case any of you FTers are still looking for a costume for Pittsburgh (Justin, I'm looking at you, haha.) Personally I like my version better.

For $60, I hope the tits are included.

How Do I Afford my Rock-n-Roll Lifestyle?

2006-10-13T11:21:00.000-04:00

I ended up having a really fun time last night. I went to The Shack and had dinner, Debbie met me there and we talked a bit which is always nice. She invited me on a mini-tour with Adam Arcuragi around my birthday to NYC and possibly points north (she said I could blog the tour, haha!), and I'm psyched about that idea, so I think I might push the impending b-day party dealy a week. I'm getting kinda excited about all my plans and such (more in a bit).

My friend Candice had scored free tickets to see Joan Jett and asked me to come along. So Candice met me and we went to T-Mom's for a beer, then to the TLA. I got there and was flabberghasted that the marquee said the Eagles of Death Metal were opening for Joan Jett. Wait a second, I thought, isn't the object of my creepiest desires, Josh Homme, in that band? Oh and I have a VIP pass?! Uhhh whoa!

(Yes I realize he's totally not really good looking, but he's so sexy! And that voice! Swoon.)

Then I walked in and over to the bar area, hoping we didn't miss them so I could drool over Homme's dirty gyrations and honeyed voice, and who is the first person I see? My friend Sal! And then Robby! YAY. So we hung out for a bit and Eagles of Death Metal came on. Now I admit, I know nothing about them other than Josh Homme had something to do with them. The singer/guitarist had red hair like Josh, but was skinnier and had some super creepy Hessian facial hair. Oh no, I thought, Josh, why would you do such a thing? But when he sung I knew there was no way in hell that was him, and I WISHING I had an Internet connection or something to figure out what was up. Did Josh quit the band at some point? Well, the dear Internet told me this morning (thanks Wikipedia: teacher, mother, secret lover) that Josh IS in the band, he DRUMS for them, and I didn't even see/notice the drummer! Sal said when I was going on about Josh he walked behind me, looking for the stage door, but I think he was talking about the singer. Fuck. Oh well, guess my rockstar fantasy will remain unrealized.

Joan Jett was pretty cool, although some of her new songs are god awful, and Candice seemed really less than enthused the entire set. Although, mon dieu, the body on Joan Jett! The woman is 48 years old and has the butt of a 20 year old... in those leather pants and vinyl top, she's hot as all get out, which every lesbian in the joint noticed I'm sure (and trust me, there were a lot of them there). When she played, "I Love Rock n Roll" Candice was ready to roll (out the door) but then I heard the beginning strains of "Ah-ahh" and grabbed her arm from halfway down the stairs...CRIMSON AND CLOVER. Fuck I love that song so much, one of my favorite songs of all time, her cover is especially good, and at this point I was kinda drunk so I swayed and sung CRIMSON AND CLOVAH, OVA AND OVA...oh hells yes.

This morning I felt a touch hung over but I'm generally OK, drinking coffee and lamenting my near miss of my creepy rockstar boyfriend. Maybe I will listen to Joan's cover of Crimson and Clover, then some Queens of the Stone Age, and melt into a giant puddle. Hopefully I can reconstitute myself in time to go to the dentist this afternoon. Did I mention my dentist's first name is Axel? I am so rock n roll.

Song the Sinner Sings

2006-10-11T23:35:00.000-04:00

Our boy Adam Arcuragi is the cover story for the City Paper music issue that comes out tomorrow. Deb told me last night and I'm so proud/psyched for them. Debbie is only mentioned in passing though, and she does so much work for the band I think she should have gotten a bit more mention. Still it's a great article.

My favorite bits:

*Almost compulsive use of the word "fuckin'"

*"You listen to old gospel recordings, those don't have fuckin' drums," he notes. "But it's rhythmic. Handclaps and things like that. And just the percussion of someone's voice; a cappella groups, they don't have a drum kit. But some of them are so evocative of rhythm that you can't help but tap your foot."

To him, the human voice is the most effective instrument for pulling a listener in. "It's the sound of your compatriots. It's the sound of your brother and your sister." I do like the drums, but I totally agree with this, which is probably why I like Adam's music so much.

*"Look at the Philadelphia music scene right now," he says. "It's phenomenal. It's one of those great moments in time. I mean, everything is cyclical based on time, place and people, as the Sufis say, but sometimes the cycle is just right and everything comes into congruence so that there's a confluence, right? A coming together, so that everything lights on fire."

Still, as much as he envisions Philly 2006 as comparable to the height of the Ming dynasty, or Paris in the 1920s, or Madchester, he wishes for something more unified than competitive, a crosstown camaraderie. "I just wanna get everybody to get tighter and just hug more and high five more, and smile more." (See Stef, it's all about Philly right now. Philly is the new black.)

The pictures are fun too! I particularly like this one.

Right on.

C is for Cash

2006-10-10T20:43:00.000-04:00

This blew my mind!

Johnny Cash on Sesame Street.

Respect.

A Hallowed State of Mind

2006-10-10T14:49:00.000-04:00

Despite the warm weather, it is definitely October and I'm starting to get into the Halloween spirit. I've been watching more horror films than usual (have Rocky Horror Picture Show coming next on Netflix, which is always a treat), have the above spider brooch on its way to me in the mail, listening to Bauhaus, and just generally feeling pretty wicked...awesome.

I'm feeling much, much better today. Super caffeinated (thanks maple macchiato!) and hopefully motivated to do some schoolwork tonight (or at least dye my hair, or clean, or something!) Sadly my Ulysses reading group is cancelled for the evening because everyone else is now sick, but it's ok because I'll have time to re-read chapters 2 and 3 without annotations (maybe even aloud, it seems to beg to be read aloud).

Also, a propos of nothing, I'm deeply offended that the Netflix bot recommended a Carlos Mencia DVD for me. As if! That bot, while usually very good at recommending things for me, just totally FAILED Information Retrieval.

Blame the Cold

2006-10-09T13:43:00.000-04:00

Just updating to let you all know that I'm not entirely dead. On the rare occasion I get a cold, it usually only lasts a day or two, but we're going on a week and a day here, which is some sort of record for me (which is why I can't stop whining about it!). I had a nice weekend in Baltimore despite being totally ridiculously sick the whole time, and today I'm back at work, trying to catch up, and I'm super weak and exhausted and high on caffeine and Dayquil and sushi. I brought my laptop to Baltimore but didn't check the boards once, I am a very bad grad student this week. I do know that we have some sort of assignment due today that for 2700 that she gave us Friday (evil!) and there's a paper due for 2002 next Monday, which I should really start soonish because I seem to be slow as molasses about everything since I caught the plague.

Tonight I have to read chapter 3 of Ulysses for my book group tomorrow, do that assignment, and try to coax myself back into the land of the living. I bought fuzzy slippers today on my lunchbreak; I'm tempted to put them on at my desk. Alas it is only 2pm on the Monday of my discontent and I have much to do before I can get home and get comfortable. Until then my body parts will take turns hurting and I will periodically emerge out of cold medicine stupors long enough to send journals all over the country. Joy. Rapture.

Library Marketing

2006-10-05T11:07:00.000-04:00

Read on a blog today that made me laugh:

Waiting for a bus in downtown Seattle, I see a disheveled and possibly deranged man with an enormous duffle bag sidling down the sidewalk, stopping to bellow "Are you going to the library?!" at each and every person in turn. Most ignore him until he moves on, but some -- out of compulsive politeness, or because they have somehow mistaken this raving for a sincere query -- begin to reply "No, I'm waiting for my --" at which point the man cuts them short with an impassioned and spittle-intensive "GO TO THE LIBRARY!!!"

I dunno. Call me cynical, but I just don't think Seattle's literacy program is all that effective.

That made me smile through my choking, hacking cough that is making me want to barf. Oof.

My Karma Ran Over my Dogma

2006-10-02T13:35:00.000-04:00

To quote Lucille Ball, wehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I am sooooo sick! Fuck. I have like, 3 ailments going on at once, I will no doubt have to cancel a presentation I was set to give tomorrow, I might not even be able to drag my ass in to work tomorrow (I barely got here today). So why this subject heading? Because I took a sick day last week when I wasn't sick to have Justin show me around Temple's library, and now that I am sick, I have all these meetings scheduled and such and can't go home! Whine whine whine whine.

On the upside, I think I found a site similar to Librarything that could solve all of WKDU's cataloguing woes, name'a Squirl. Looks pretty perfect to me. I'm in talks with them right now about how much it would cost to host a collection of our size, since it's past their upper limit. Could be much easier than I originally anticipated.

I guess I better get ready for these hellish meetings. Uhhhh kill me.

A followup on nerds vs geeks

2006-09-30T12:29:00.000-04:00

I thought this was seriously really funny:

White and Nerdy

C'est la vie, say the old folks, goes to show you never can tell.

2006-09-26T12:59:00.000-04:00

If you guys know me at all, you know I LOVE Halloween. Love.it. And because of that I've been cursing Pittsburgh, where I will be for the best weekend of the year, doing decidedly un-Halloweeny things. During the last on-campus I was thinking we could have a big Halloween party somewhere, but since it'll be pretty jammed up with schoolwork I think that's an impossibility. But maybe, if we plan ahead, we could have a little one? Like, at someone's house for instance? (cough, Stefanie, cough). Or maybe get dressed in costume and go to a bar? I mean, we're going to be drinking anyway, we might as well be dressed up! But we'd have to plan in advance, just so people can bring a costume, because I do not want to be the only one dressed up (and I WILL dress up).

So, is anyone interested in a little costume party thing while we're at Pitt? Just a few of us, of course ;) I have a pretty easy costume already in mind, as you can tell from the images here. What I'd really like to do is do the O.D.'d Mia Wallace, complete with syringe in her chest, but I never could think of the proper way to get it to stand up (that's what he said). Maybe just a blood-trickle from the nose would suffice...

How I'm Feeling about the Strategic Plan Assignment right now...

2006-09-25T22:20:00.000-04:00

WKDU Project Notes: First exec meeting

2006-09-19T22:29:00.000-04:00

Tonight I went down to WKDU for the first time in probably two years (since I graduated undergrad). I felt like a bit of an olde lady at first (most of the execs are not old enough to drink, and the two positions I held there - publications director and public affairs director - don't exist anymore!) but mostly things are very much the same. The exec staff seems a bit more laid back and open to suggestion than some previous administrations (maybe they were a bit intimidated by me because I'm a scary olde lady now). One of the biggest differences is the addition of the faculty advisor, who is much more hands on about things than previous ones, actually has a great deal of radio experience and connections, and is using them to promote and improve KDU in some tangible ways. He gave me the name of a sympathetic Drexel librarian who might be of help to me, so I have an action plan and WKDU's blessing to continue poking around for more info. So far, so good.

I also got to take a bunch of pictures, I figured they'd be useful, and also that some of you who've been reading this might wonder what it's like down there. There are lots of fun things to take pictures of in KDU (including a full Risk-style war scene with army men and barracks glued to the ceiling), but since my camera only holds about 10 pics I had to stick to the library-related stuff.

One row in the record library. Note the letters for filing in alphabetical order.

Imagine trying to find a record when faced with hundreds of shelves that look like this.

WKDU's record library, long view. Note the CDs are creeping in on the records' territory.

This reminds me of the cinematic masterpiece Party Girl "That's OK everybody, let's just put things back WHEREVER WE WANT!!"

Standing on this rickety ladder brought back a lot of memories. Mostly of getting vertigo when looking in the "B" section and desperately hoping I didn't break my neck. When you're underground in a locked radio station, no one can hear you scream...

Part of the CD library at WKDU. That is not a ghost on the right, it is a trashbag. The roof has been leaking!

Crates of CDs waiting to be filed, like orphans looking for a home.

KDU deters thieves upon penalty of DEATH. There is another sign somewhere that illustrates the exact way that your hands will be cut off if you're caught. Don't go down that road, kids, and stay in school!

One of the not-so-gently loved records in the library, Black Flag's (here ironically titled) Damaged.

A close up of the tag. Originally I took this shot because I thought it was funny. It reads, "Black Flag Damaged - it really is! 12/1/81." Then I realized, this record was added to the WKDU library on the exact day and year of my birth! It looks like it's been through a war. My war! Har har I'm not funny.

WKDU Project Notes: my visit to the UArts Library

2006-09-19T09:33:00.000-04:00

Sorry, dear readers, if this is boring, but your humble narrator needs to keep her thoughts on this project somewhere so I don't forget anything.

I met with the University of the Arts Music Librarian Dr. Mark Germer last night. Their music library is located on the third floor of the Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St. Surprisingly to me (but I guess I've never been in a music library before, so this could be the way they usually are) the bulk of the space in the library was taken up by books on music, scores, and magazines. They also had a very nifty listening area that patrons were actually using! Their actual storage facility for the CDs and LPs was pretty small, Mark said he got the LP collection down to about 12,000 (WKDU probably has about 30k).

Speaking with Mark was super helpful, as I definitely don't know my ass from my elbow about cataloguing a music collection, and I'm completely flying by the seat of my pants. He showed me OCLC's WorldCat, which we used to look up some semi-obscure titles we have in the vinyl library at WKDU, to see if they were listed. We looked up the punk band Flipper, and sure enough, their albums were catalogued in WorldCat (although, oddly, the albums for Queens of the Stone Age were a few pages into the search results. Go figure.) He explained to me that OCLC is a collective of sorts, and you are expected to give as well as take. But when I think about the kids who will be cataloguing the records at WKDU now and in the future, I think it'd be best on all accounts if we just used OCLC as a reference tool to look up information about albums to be catalogued, and load that information into a local database of our own.

Mark brought up a lot of interesting points that I hadn't previously considered about this project. Since OCLC is web-based, it is possible that if we spoke with the Drexel library they would let us use their username for looking-up purposes for free (we are, after all, a student organization). The trick, though, would be that I know most WKDU DJs and the exec staff would not want Drexel to then use our cataloguing efforts as a way to quantify our holdings and make them available to Drexel students and personnel. The physical space of the station, the lack of supervising personnel, and records' uncanny ability to walk makes that an impossibility. It is important with this project to always, ALWAYS keep the best interest of the users - the WKDU DJs - at heart, despite the attractiveness of more dangerous liasions. His point did give me the notion that I should be careful what I ask for, and I should talk to the WKDU exec staff before poking my nose around the Drexel library, so I will talk to them at their meeting tonight and see what shakes out. I'm a little nervous. I hope it goes well.

Where to go from here? I think the project is doable, I think it will be cheaper than we thought, I think it's possible to do without any grant money whatsoever. Ideally we would get free access to OCLC as a guiding tool, but we would be able to also set our own standards (what Mark called "minimal cataloguing," he uses a similar, abbreviated method for his vinyl collection) that any WKDU kid or new member entering a record could handle. The job of the record librarian would be to supervise/spot check the records going in for accuracy. My dream database program would be free or cheap, open source, particularly suited or modifiable for a music collection, run on Mac, and have the ability to have a long list of keywords to search by (man, tag clouds of the KDU collection would be an INCREDIBLE tool for DJs)...I'm all ears to any suggestions of such a program. Natural language and a set list of genres and guidelines would be key (and one of the most difficult parts of the project!) A possible grant would be to pay for the software for x years and maybe some initial freelance cataloguers if we find that doing it ourselves is too difficult (although, I think, a freelance cataloguer might be a bad idea. How would you catalog Kraftwerk for example? Electronic? Punk? New Wave? Krautrock? Experimental? File under A for Awesome?) It could get very confusing very fast, especially for the uninitiated to WKDU. There needs to be a fair amount of flexibility with the system (as Kraftwerk is all of the above, in my opinion, so all of these descriptors should be keywords). Also different genres' DJs have different needs from a system - the difference between an extended dance mix and a radio single might mean a great deal to an electronic DJ, for instance (while track times could be useful to any DJ, which is something routinely featured in WorldCat). So, so much to consider! But I think if I can get the support of the exec staff and get them up and running (maybe with a semester of independent study...cataloguing and coming up with manuals for later cataloguers to use), KDU will do what it's always done, getting their motivated members to do it themselves. Which would rock.

Tonight: off to WKDU for the first time in years, taking pics of the record library, talking to the exec staff. Wish me luck.

I Love Youtube

2006-09-18T20:24:00.000-04:00

I'm still watching the rebroadcast of the Daily Show from yesterday, and I saw the most hilarious spoof of those celebrity translator Geico commericals featuring Little Richard translating for Bush talking about 9/11, and I look on Youtube and there it is. Awesome!

I ain't gettin' better I am only gettin' behind

2006-09-17T17:33:00.000-04:00

Standin at the crossroads tryin' to make up my mind...

I started off the semester with a bang but I'll be damned if I can motivate myself to do anything right now! The only project I want to work on is the KDU one, I've been searching articles all day on Information Retrieval and I feel like no matter what I write it's going to be inadequate. I don't know why. It doesn't help that the assignment is supposed to be "brief," but doesn't have a real length suggestion. Normally I'm fine with that, but I thought I was OK and on par with the others in my small group for my Managerial Theorists assignment, but when we posted them on the big board the others who did the same theorist as me wrote a lot more, and did a much better job. Bah. I really need to get out of this funk and get my head in the game!

That said, it's about 5:30 and I'm getting ready to go see Magnolia Electric Company, one of my favorite bands. It's not fall without seeing Jason Molina open his mouth just a little bit and all the beautiful tones in the world come pouring out. Hopefully it'll clear my mind a bit, and I'll come home ready to actually write this thing. Yee-haw.

There's an Army on the Dancefloor

2006-09-16T13:12:00.000-04:00

Had lots of fun last night, still trying to learn this whole Flickr thing, but the rest of the fun photos are on my set.

The theme was back to school and my outfit? You guessed it, naughty librarian. Ha!

Smashing Pumpkins

2006-09-15T11:19:00.000-04:00

Sadly this entry is not about my favorite band of all time.

Woke up this morning a bit groggy but still in a pretty good mood...going dancing tonight, and had already made plans with my girlfriends at work to get my first Starbucks soy Pumpkin Latte of the season. I love anything pumpkin-flavored, especially coffee and beer. So we go to the closest Starbucks, it's closed (lack of electricity, it seems). Go to the second closest, get the latte, get back to work. I put it on my desk and get ready to get down to bidness and I tap the cardboard box of 500 mints that's sitting on my desk, which knocks over the giant industrial stapler right onto my dear sweet Pumpkin latte, which then EXPLODES all over my keyboard, mouse, and dumbs a Grande mess all over the floor. I think I got one sip of it before this happened! Then I spent the whole morning calling facilities, watching the shocked faces of onlookers at the giant wetvac and custodial worker in my cube, calling IT to get a new keyboard, and generally feeling grandly sorry for myself.

Couldn't bear to go all the way back to the Starbucks (plus, it was about 11am at this point, and I haven't done a single lick of work!) so I went upstairs to the cafeteria. The door to the stairs gets thrown in my face by my annoying co-worker, then I pump the coffee carafe and, that's right! Only two pumps and it's empty. I had to wait another 10 minutes for the pot to refill. On the way back to my desk with my coffee I pass the custodial worker who just cleaned my cube, and promised him I had a death grip on the fucking thing. So, now that it's 30 minutes til lunch, I guess I should get to work. Bah!

This is my second thwarted attempt at getting a Pumpkin latte (the first time they were out of soy milk). At least my cube smells like nutmeg.

These posts sure are getting long...

2006-09-14T10:34:00.000-04:00

Late night last night, was at the coffee shop with Christian until 9, working on my stupid Management Theorist assignment that I wanted to get over with before I got to the other two assignments having to do with my KDU project. Lately I've been overwhelmed with the feeling of just how wonderful it is to be around my friends. From Fiber Nite to the Ulysses group to the coffee shop with Debbie, Zinnia, Justin or Christian, everyone is such a pleasure. I was having problems thinking of a way to write about Herbert Simon's theories (he's just a straight up post-war rationalist...he did lots of interesting important shit in other fields but this organizational theory didn't really yank my crank). Having Christian at the coffee shop to give me the philosophy student rundown was really helpful, it almost feels like cheating, but it's not, it's LEARNING. Imagine that.

When I got down to writing my KDU Organizational Description, I was in the zone, my typin' fingers were a-flyin'. I still have to write a 3-page environmental scan for the same project today (I hope it's not redundant at all) but all in all I just continually feel better and better about my project. I hope to go to Temple today to get a library 101 lesson from Justin. Wish I could do some Ulysses reading tonight but I doubt it's possible. Normally I'm not big on the rain but lately I've been revelling in it...the gray, the cool air, the ability to cuddle up with the cat and some coffee and read and be productive. The urge to listen to bands like Radiohead and Leonard Cohen and early 20th century French jazz.

Well here's my org description, but I cut out the budget stuff because they're real numbers I used, and I don't think that's everyone's business.

Organization Description – WKDU 91.7 FM Philadelphia (http://www.wkdu.org)

WKDU is probably one of the only truly non-commercial brick-and-mortar radio stations in the country. Unlike NPR stations, WKDU has no underwriting of any kind, and derives its entire operating budget from Drexel University’s student activities fees. WKDU’s programming is also special in that it is free form, the only rules are 1.) at least 1/3 of their show has to be “new music” and 2.) DJs can only play artists you cannot hear on commercial radio stations or MTV. Although that second tenet might sound incredibly restrictive, the shows on WKDU are incredibly diverse, spanning genres of punk, indie rock, jazz, hip-hop, reggae, electronic, and music that defies description. WKDU is an entirely student and alumni run organization of 88 active members. There is a lone faculty advisor whose main job is to sign papers that officiate the student executive body’s decisions. WKDU is an 800-watt radio station, which would serve practically no one if it weren’t situated in the densely populated Philadelphia area, where it manages to reach potentially over 1 million listeners in the transmitter’s serving area. In addition to the radio transmission, WKDU offers a live stream of their broadcasts available via WKDU.org, and fans from around the world can instant message DJs with their requests in real time.

WKDU has been started amassing its music collection sometime in the 1970s, when it officially became Drexel’s radio station and adopted the call letters WKDU. Although no definitive count exists, student executives at WKDU estimate their vinyl collection to weigh in at nearly 50,000 strong – more than 30,000 12” LPs, more than 10,000 7” records, and even nearly 100 10” LPs. The CD collection, which grows at a rate of about 30 titles a week, contains at least 50,000 CDs. Both the CD and record libraries are dusty, overflowing, and barely organized alphabetically. Users of the CD library have the advantage of the design of CDs that enables them to visually scan the spines of the CDs when searching for a title. Searching for a particular title in the vinyl library, however, often proves a fool’s errand, as one has to literally flip through records to find what you’re looking for, without knowing for certain whether the record has been misfiled, the record has been stolen, the record is in use, or the record was never owned by WKDU in the first place. DJs have long been hoping for a database of some type to help them find what they’re looking for, and a classification system that not only allows them to know what they really have in the collection, but ways to search by keywords, genre, year, etc.

The organizational culture of WKDU is an interesting one. Although the 88 active members are diverse in terms of age, race, economic background, they were all at some point students of Drexel University, and all very committed music fanatics. In recent years WKDU has had trouble attracting new members, as some find the amount of work expected of these student volunteers not worth the coolness factor of being on the radio, especially when one can podcast for practically nothing in the comfort of their own home. It is actually the resources of WKDU’s music collection (as well as the community of DJs, and the paying DJing opportunities around the city that come with the notoriety of being a WKDU DJ) that ultimately attracts students to the organization. Once a student is hooked into WKDU, though, the loyalty is fierce and unending, in fact there are many alumni who continue to be active in the day-to-day operations of WKDU and DJ on the air who began their tenure with WKDU 20 years ago! As DJs are unpaid and orchestrating a weekly 3-hour, commercial-free radio shows time-consuming, the commitment of the WKDU DJ is worth noting. Because the DJs are so emotionally invested in their endeavor, a lot of in-fighting ensues, especially from those who feel others are taking more from WKDU than they are putting into it. WKDU DJs are extremely technologically savvy; student DJs engineer live bands playing on the air and make professional recordings of their performances for later airplay, they also routinely perform feats of d.i.y. engineering on the station’s equipment when it breaks. DJs nearly unanimously prefer Macs and the entire station is outfitted with a veritable arsenal of Macs—both brand new and ancient—and are voracious early adopters of new technology, despite their penchant for vinyl. The entire staff votes each year on an executive body of students and alumni who make the important decisions of the station and to whom grievances are referred, and they in turn appoint junior executive positions for students to carry out. One of the most thankless and impotent of these positions is record librarian – currently the position is unfilled.

[budget stuff cut out]

The climate at WKDU is ripe for a change in the way their record library is managed, judging from a preliminary email survey sent to the active member e-mail list. Some responses:

“It would also be tremendously helpful if there were some hard and fast rules for alphabetizing the CDs posted where all the DJs can see them so some doofus doesn't put Explosions in the Sky under the "S" CDs. After putting in all my new DJ hours in the record library, I can't understand how some of the DJs passed 1st grade.”

“Due to theft, there are some glaring holes in the record library. This is especially apparent with the early Revelation catalog, and some of the "bigger" early straight edge bands like SSD and Uniform Choice (Staring into the Sun, but not Screaming for Change? There's a problem there!)

Also, there is no definitive list of what is actually in the library. A lot of times, you'll say, "I wonder if we have ________," and then you have to just dig for it unless you've seen it there before. Also, a lot of people suck at putting things back in their proper places which makes nearly every visit for a popular LP something of a dig.”

“It's the most important thing possible. For kids involved with punk rock, it creates an archive of our history. Records, zines, live tapes, and photographs are all little pieces and memories that need to be collected and protected. With my own record collection, I see it this way: As long as I have a copy of Break Down the Walls in my possession, no matter what happens in the rest of the world, it'll never be completely forgotten. As stupid as that sounds, I think it's important for KDU to maintain that sort of mentality. As long as we maintain this library, there's a chance in the future some kid with no clue will pick up a Bad Brains record and have his life totally changed.”

===========

C'est tout. I hope I can get my enviro scan done at work today around the work-work I have, so I might actually get to sleep at a decent time and rest up for dancin' the night away tomorrow night.

"Brilliant!!"

2006-09-13T10:50:00.000-04:00

Last night was our first meeting of the Ulysses reading group. It went so well! I expected most of the first meeting to be awkward silence, or one or two blowhards trampling everyone else, but it went really well and everyone got words in and we covered a lot of ground. It really was the best scenario I could have imagined, you never know what strangers are going to be like, especially with something as personal as the way you read or interpret a book. Everyone seems smart and I think as we read more we'll have even more to say. Also I drank my first Guinness! (and my second...) I don't know why I was so scared of it before, it's actually pretty easy to drink. After some persuasion Justin says he'll kindly write me a few paragraphs about the Irish conflict around the turn of the century for the group blog. I had fun, and thanks to last night's group meeting and a long walk home in last night's fantastic weather, I woke up feeling refreshed...although I still wanted to stay in bed and cuddle the cat. Maybe Saturday!

=========

Am I ever the busy beaver this week! Tonight I had to cancel on my work's charity Quizzo to do work (I'm meeting Christian at Chapterhouse to work, definitely my new haunt, practically been setting up residence there lately.) I have like 3 or 4 assignments due tomorrow that I've done general work on but haven't really started (eep.) and my KDU project involves a lot of legwork, so I'm running around a lot for that (it actually reminds me of my reporter days, which is a bit of a rush). So my week is shaping up to look something like this:

Thursday - possibly going to Temple's library after work to meet Justin and get a hang of the programs they use and such, since I've never worked in a library before, and maybe meet their music librarian, he tells me. If not Thursday night then definitely Sunday.

Friday - dancin' til the breaka breaka dawn.

Saturday - probably lots of school work and going to the movies

Sunday - either a reschedule of my Temple visit or more work

Monday - visit with the UArts music librarian right after work

I would also like to get to KDU sometime next week, inspect the record library, take pictures, etc. I'm getting a lot of good responses from the DJs which makes me happy. I just hope I can keep up the momentum! Especially now that my actual paying job is ramping up again, I've been pretty busy this week at work and they want me to give a big presentation probably sometime next week. I just keep thinking of Kevin MacDonald from Kids in the Hall saying "Things to do, things to do..."

But I definitely am in much better spirits, at least. I love the fall!

Commit Library Warfare

2006-09-12T11:25:00.000-04:00

Me circa 2002. Yes, I'm in my PJs, was never without those giant headphones (I have better big ones now, need to break them out for the winter) and look how short and punk my hair was! It was longer in the front.)

I have to say I wasn't psyched at all when I found out we had to take a class on Library Management. Zzzz. But like a bolt of lightning, inspiration struck me what project I could do, and now I'm super amped on it. I'm going to write a grant proposal to get my college radio station, WKDU, a cataloguing system for their record library. WKDU is probably the only really non-commerical, brick-and-mortar radio station out there. We do not have any commercials or underwriting, nor do we play any music that you can hear on other stations (and you wonder how I became a music snob!) Of course for now it's all hypothetical, but it could be very useful for them in the future if I do a good job, so I'm determined to do some serious research here.

I got some estimates from my boy Adam at KDU about how much we actually even have in the library, and they really are just estimates but there is way more than I thought. For example:

12" vinyl LPs = 30,000
7" vinyl = 10,000
10" vinyl = 50-100 (I didn't even know 100 10" records were even ever pressed!)
CDs (although I'm focusing on vinyl for this project, I wanted to know) = about 50k

And this collection is completely unorganized. It is in vague, dubiously alphabetical order. That system works fairly well for CDs as you can read the spines of the CD at a glance, but for our records, the general consensus is that no one knows what we really have. Nor is it remotely possible to say, search for a punk record from 1981 from a band that begins with a W. So I'm going to write my fake grant to get them a cataloguing system, an extra server, and the manhours for the initial setup. It's all a pipedream but the research could at least be useful to them down the line and I think I'll learn a ton. I'm meeting with University of the Arts music librarian Dr. Mark Germer on Monday to look at their collection and how it's set up. Also I sent out a survey to the KDU DJ mailing list, here is a sampling of some of the responses I got:

"Due to theft, there are some glaring holes in the record library. This is especially apparent with the early Revelation catalog, and some of the "bigger" early straight edge bands like SSD and Uniform Choice (Staring into the Sun, but not Screaming for Change? There's a problem there!) Also, there is no definitive list of what is actually in the library. A lot of times, you'll say, "I wonder if we have ________," and then you have to just dig for it unless you've seen it there before. Also, a lot of people suck at putting things back in their proper places which makes nearly every visit for a popular LP something of a dig."

"The record library could use some monthly alphabetizing. things get misfiled kind of often. it would also be nice if there was a database accessible to all DJs, so that DJs could search to determine whether or not a certain record ever existed in the library. it could also stand to have some additional lighting, and a dust job."

"After putting in all my new DJ hours in the record library, I can't understand how some of the DJs passed 1st grade."

And the real reason why this project is super exciting to me is summed up by one respondant:

"It's the most important thing possible. For kids involved with punk rock, it creates an archive of our history. Records, zines, live tapes, and photographs are all little pieces and memories that need to be collected and protected. With my own record collection, I see it this way: As long as I have a copy of Break Down the Walls in my posession, no matter what happens in the rest of the world, it'll never be completely forgotten. As stupid as that sounds, I think it's important for KDU to maintain that sort of mentality. As long as we maintain this library, there's a chance in the future some kid with no clue will pick up a Bad Brains record and have his life totally changed."

I hope I can manage to put into this project what it needs to be worth something. I would love to be able to give something back to KDU. But for now, I would settle for an A.

What to Do in Philly When You're Dead

2006-09-07T18:24:00.000-04:00

I'm minorly helping out with this awesome Fringe Festival event tomorrow, if you're near Philly you should come because this is going to be a phenomenonal event. Members of Espers, Fursaxa, and Grass playing a live original soundtrack over the 1970s Czech psychedelic vampire flick Valerie and her Week of Wonders. TWO HARPS, PEOPLE. And you thought you've seen it all...

It's getting a lot of press so it might even sell out early (it will most definitely sell out at the door), you can read all about it here.

What's the greatest nation in the world?

2006-09-01T13:32:00.000-04:00

Caffeination.

There is practically no one around at work, and I'm a tired, tired egg. Last night, when I did fall asleep, the cold air was flitting in the windows and touching my face, it was wonderful! I wish I were back in bed right now! Had a cuppa coffee earlier today, finishing my peachy green iced tea I made right now, at 3 I'll be getting another cup of java, which will hopefully fuel me through some schoolwork before dinner, when I switch to beer. Hopefully I will not have to get another cup of coffee before the show, but that is sadly a possibility. I expect to sleep in big time tomorrow morning before bombarding myself with more work. The only thing I can think to keep me awake at work today? Listening to all the Nirvana I have on my iPod. It is helping more than you'd think.

No recess! NO RE-CESSSSSSS!!! I hear ya Kurt, I hear ya.

Random Fandom

2006-08-31T13:18:00.000-04:00

While I was doing my school reading the other night, my cat Bunnicula was getting all up on the screen in my computer, so I snapped this photo, which I think is one of the best non-kitten photos I have of her cute self. My baby.

My first whining post of the term

2006-08-31T09:36:00.000-04:00

Oh Tomer, why do you do this to me?

I thought we had no books for 2002. Now we have like, 6? I hope that they're all e-books because it's not fair that they said before that there were no books and now there are. Blarg.

Also I just want clarification: is the on-campus session the 21st or the 27th of October? Because I just got asked to be Candice's date for a fancy pants gay wedding on the 21st at the Philosophical Society and I reallllllly want to go (any excuse to wear my vintage little black dress!). Plus I bet a lot of people have already booked hotels and the like. Eep!

Ground control to Major Tom: You're back in Space College. Realizing that I can't do whatever I want now with all this work to do again, I cancel my plans for this evening and plan to just go home and read, read, read. I hope I find some time for Ulysses this weekend, now that I have the book! But unfortunately The Accidental Library Manager and endless PDFs are the menu du jour. Bitch bitch bitch...

Autumn Beckons

2006-08-29T21:30:00.000-04:00

I've had it with summer, it is time for fall, dammit! I'm willing it to be fall. Cardigans and leaves and pumpkin ales are dancing in my head. Finishing my sweater was one aspect of my hoping that my actions will somehow influence the weather. The second was tonight's dinner: sweet potato chili. The finished product looks a bit different than the picture, where the sweet potatoes were still hard and it wasn't nearly as thick. I'm going to write the recipe in my LJ but not here, because I'm not sure if y'all are interested in such things, but this chili was completely ad hoc and involves sweet potatoes, tempeh, black eyed peas, black beans, carrots, and various sorts of majicks. If you want the "recipe" let me know, I just wanted to post about that and the tasty iced peach green tea I made tonight.

C'mon fall! FALLLL.

What I did on my (tiny) Summer Vacation

2006-08-29T14:29:00.000-04:00

Finished seaming the sweater over lunch. I hope I get to take some better pictures soon, after I block the sweater (I took these with my camera phone in my cube). I must say though, this knitting went really fast, the seaming is nearly invisible and it's the best fitting garment I've produced thus far. I might just be getting good at this knitting thing! Too bad I probably won't be able to knit much again until my NEXT term break!

"Better to be Pissed Off than Pissed On"

2006-08-28T16:53:00.000-04:00

Here's a
lengthy but fascinating New Yorker article about Stephen James Joyce, executor of the Joyce estate, and his protracted battles with scholars over Joyce's works. Lots of interesting stuff about US copyright law as it applies to Academia, as well as biographical information about the Joyce family. With a special cameo by our buddy Lawrence Lessig.

Bibliotic

2006-08-28T10:52:00.000-04:00

Well here we are, first day of school once again. Did I feel like I was really even out of school? Not particularly. I see Dr. T has posted some lengthy PDFs to read for the class that won't really be up and rolling until Wednesday (first one is 46 pages). So, as I figured, the lack of required books does not really mean lack of required reading. That's OK though, I'll just try to plow through as usual, and everything should be OK. I'm no longer worried about my ability to succeed in the program, so it's just a matter of staying motivated and keeping the rest of my shambles of a life in check. Meeting Justin after work to get the recommended book for 2700 and I also just received my copy of Ulysses and the companion book at work today for my reading group. I see lots of lengthy coffee shop hangs in my future this fall!

Speaking of, yesterday I went to the coffee shop on 9th & Bainbridge that my friend Anj had mentioned. I have to say, I liked it a great deal! The staff was nice, the space was really cool, the music was good, and the coffee was good, as was the other drink I got (something with coconut and ricemilk). I can envision that environment being the one where I get most of my work done this fall and winter, especially since they have free wifi. Sunny enough to give a view of the outside world but cozy enough to keep me comfy and working inside. Perhaps I'll go back there sometime this week after work.

PS Saturday's weather was such a tease. I can't believe it's going to be almost 90 today. I don't care if it's gray and rainy, but this humidity/heat has got to go away! It's time for fall to happen.

Escape to New York

2006-08-27T10:35:00.000-04:00

For my last gasp of a "vacation" before school starts on Monday, my friend Duck and I went to the MoMA to catch their Dada exhibit before it closes. The exhibit was pretty awesome (although no photography was allowed, sadly) but I took lots of other pictures, as this is the third time I'd been to the MoMA and hadn't yet seen their full collection (the first time was in Queens and they barely had anything on display, the second time I was there to see an 8 hour film and couldn't see anything else as a result.) On to the pics:

The architecture of the building is really beautiful. In this picture you can see three floors.

The Sculpture Garden was so pretty, and the weather was absolutely perfect; it was dark and cool all day but it didn't rain. Such a relief from the August we've had.

Carlo Carrà - Funeral of the Anarchist Galli.. never seen or heard of this work before but it was beautiful.

Picasso sculpture, Glass of Absinthe.

Closeup of Jackson Pollock's signature.

Duck looking at the Pollocks.

My reflection in the Brancusi. By far my favorite photo of the day.

My boy Lichtenstein (you can see me in this one too).

Me examining a Rauschenberg.

I can't remember what artist did this minimalist green-blue-grey thing, but the picture of me and Duck in this reflection is really weird and cool.

After we left the MoMA we went to Kate's Joint, this awesome vegan diner I've been to many times, and we ate a ton of food in a very short time frame (I had a vegan caesar salad, delicious African peanut soup, and the holy grail - vegan Disco fries! Then we split a piece of chocolate mousse cake). We went to a little bar with a photobooth and took some pictures, and realized that if we made it back to Penn Station within 30 minutes we'd get home at a reasonable time, so we downed the beer super fast. Duck started feeling ill right away. We ran for the train and got on, the train to Trenton was hell because I had to pee the entire hour and Duck was fighting vomiting, but once we got to Trenton everything was golden, although I think I was still a bit green from the experience:

Not terribly flattering picture of me on the train home. We walked home from Suburban Station and it was such a beautiful night! I hear the weather should be like this all week which is quite agreeable to me. Overall I think it was the most efficient and we didn't get lost or anything. Good end to my vacation, as tomorrow it's time for SCHOOL!

Knives Out

2006-08-24T13:11:00.000-04:00

There is one day a month I look forward to work, the glorious day known as Sushi Day. Seriously, I write it on my calendar. My work's cafeteria has this amazing sushi chef come in and he rolls me up a cucumber avocado roll and seaweed salad and it is glorious. I haven't been having too great of a day, but I went up to grab my sushi and the chef smiled and started performing surgery on a tomato and made this for me...

A tomato butterfly! Is it sad that that could make my day? Probably. But happiness is where you find it, and today it was in a tomato butterfly on my sushi plate. There's your moment of zen for the day.

Did They Tell You How the West Was Won?

2006-08-24T09:10:00.000-04:00

On my day off Monday Scott and I concocted the best of all possible concept birthday cakes for our dear friend Christian. It was inspired by a previous cake Scott had done, called 2001: A Cake Odyssey, which was conceptual only in that that phrase was written on the cake. This idea started modestly and spiralled wonderfully out of control. We decided to do Manifest Destiny in cake form, dubbing it Manifest Birthday. We put little flags with Christian's face on it all over the globe, representing stereotypes of various cultures (mostly for the comedic value of drawing on Christian's face.) Here goes:

Scott fills in the continents with the precision of a surgeon.

Manifest Birthday in its full glory.

Top of the World! Took some flags out to show the continents. Not bad for freehanding.

A ludicriously large beret, a baguette, and a bottle of wine for Chretien, and a fez for his Moroccan counterpart. Notice the major difference between the French and the Morroccan is the curliness of his moustache.

The Fu Man Chu here looks a bit like Charles Manson, and sadly you can't see the rest of the Russian picture, which features a hammer and sickle insignia on his lapel and a jaunty pipe.

Christian and his Penguin friend at the South Pole.

Christian SCUBAing off the coast of Greenland. Most have been cold!

Christian loves the President!

Christian the Great terrorizes the earth.

After this picture we immediately dug into the chocolate cake, and in classical imperialist tradition we carved up Africa first. Somehow I see more silly cakes in our future...

The Great Day Off

2006-08-22T12:19:00.000-04:00

So much to write about, and really no time at all to do it! (I'm writing this while eating my lunch in about 15 minutes, and I might end up having to stay late today too which is a total bummer.) Anyway I had a great, productive weekend but I'll mostly just talk about Monday, which was a real honest-to-goodness vacation day (instead of a vacation day that I take to go to Pittsburgh and sit in class for hours on end)! It was perfect.

Woke up in the morning, bopped around the house with my cup of coffee and made plans to meet Scott at the Starbucks near the Free Library. Brought my knitting and had a decaf version of my signature $-bucks drink-- grande iced coconut soy latte-- and knit until Scott arrived. We went to the third floor of the library which is really secluded and pretty and rang the bell for the rare book room, which they opened after a few moments. We were met by a charming gentleman librarian who asked us about ourselves before our tour, and we discovered he's friends with the librarian with whom Scott team-taught at Masterman. This little nugget (and the fact that I'm a library student) gave us access to more works than the usual tour which was great!

O the things we saw and learned! Egyptian scrolls on papyrus! How to guild paper! Renaissance illuminated text! Illusionary artwork on the edge of paintings that only appear when you bend the book slightly (easier to explain what that is in person but it was awesome!) a miniature copy of the Magna Carta from 1315 with a thick wood binding with actual bookworm holes in it! The first folio of the works of Shakespeare! The dead stuffed raven, once a pet of Charles Dickens, that inspired the Poe work! I wanted to move into the Elkins room, it was my dream study. Our guide was wonderful and we all chatted back and forth, and Scott and I left beaming from ear to ear.

We grabbed some lunch at Whole Foods and went back to the Book Corner, where I hoped I'd find Ulysses for the reading group I'm joining. I didn't, but I found so many other wonderful things. They had sections of books that were all first editions, sections that were all about Philadelphia or printed there, sections with only rare books, sections with all signed copies. And with everything 40% off, Scott and I both made out like bandits. He got a ton of old literary journals and a 1st edition copy I found of a Robert Frost book of poems. I got a beautiful 1930 "art type edition" of Wuthering Heights, Alexandre Dumas' Celebrated Crimes which was printed in 1895 by the Rittenhouse Press of Philadelphia, a 1st edition copy of Lazarus by Andre Malraux, and a 1st edition collection of Benjamin Franklin's autobiographical writings. Horray!

Next we met back at Scott's and made Christian's hilarious concept birthday cake, but I'll write about that after I load the pictures. Then a bunch of us went to Abysinnia for Ethopian food, I used to live near there and hadn't had it in a while, I cleaned my plate! Went home and knit and watched the first part of Spike Lee's documentary on Hurricane Katrina, it was really very good, will watch the rest tonight. My goal is to finish the sweater before I start school on Monday.

OK that took too long to write, way too much to do, but I'm so happy I had such a productive, awesome day off.

Knitters Gone Wild

2006-08-20T09:40:00.000-04:00

My knitting circle is not exactly like many others. We have some very strange things in common besides knitting, one is that a lot of us are librarians or librarians-in-training (which might not be that surprising as far as stereotypes go), but a more unusual one is a love for New Wave music. Over a year ago my knitting group introduced me to a once-a-month New Wave dance party called Sex Dwarf, and although I had never wanted to dance in public before (I'm both tone deaf and devoid of any rhythm) I went and had such a great time that I was hooked. I brought Zinnia with me this time, and it was a blast! It was the third anniversary so everyone had to wear red and black. Witness the sweat and debauchery.

Zinnia and I ready to leave - put on your red shoes and dance the blues

Cute picture of me and Zinnia on the dancefloor

Robby and Superstar DJ Robert Drake

Sam, the glorious Ms. Jackie, and my sweaty self.

Knittas represent

Me and my awesome gay boyfriend, Robby

Blood in the disco!

Another fun one of me and Z.

Group action shot!

There are so many more pictures! I have a few more here, the ones marked with an "R" were stolen from Robby's pictures (of which there are 1,000) here. Fun fun!

Revenge is a Dish Best Served "Wit"

2006-08-18T15:47:00.000-04:00

This is GREAT, taken from Philebrity:

Subject: 9/9/06 !!! FLASH MOB AT GENO’S !!! Please Forward Forward Forward to your Philly Friends !!!

Hello friends and fellow humans,
You’ve probably heard of random flash mobs happening around the country by now - masses of people suddenly, unexpectedly showing up at a public space, doing something marginally absurd, such as pillowfighting in Love Park, or 5-minute mega dance parties in a plaza, etc. Well, here’s another one coming up you can be a part of! Please forward it along to your friends if you think it’s interesting.

Imagine this scenario:
Hundreds of people lining up to order cheese steaks at Geno’s. Nothing unusual, right? Right. That’s the usual scene there anyways. However, here’s the twist: everybody lined up, one after another, will be ordering in any language besides English! Don’t be surprised if none of those people get served. They probably won’t be. Imagine the confusion!

Where:
Geno’s Steaks
S. 9th & E. Passyunk, between Federal and Wharton

When:
Saturday September 9, 2006
5 PM sharp
**show up between 4:30pm and 4:50pm or so, hang around the area, in the park, etc, and at exactly 5pm, everybody ‘in on it’ will start lining up.**

What:
Going to Geno’s for the specific purpose of ordering in non-English. Come equipped with a couple of lines in another language to order cheese steaks, fries, anything really. They probably won’t serve you, and if they do and you don’t want to buy it, just say, “Sorry, no thanks,” or, “Sorry, I changed my mind,” in your other language.

Remember:
You may sincerely want to buy a cheese steak/fries/soda/etc. For this purpose, we will try to be as polite as possible. However, you are not obliged to buy anything.

For more info, go here, to figure out what the hell I'm even talking about, go here. I've actually witnessed/participated in a flash mob before, and it sounds lame unless you're actually there, then it is quite exhilirating/hilarious, even better if it's political in nature!

I Ain't Dedalus Yet (worst joke ever)

2006-08-17T13:56:00.000-04:00

My awesome friend Jackie decided she wants to get together a monthly reading group to discuss James Joyce's Ulysses. She posted it on Craigslist:

Are you interested in reading (or rereading!) Ulysses by James Joyce? I'd like to get a group of readers together to discuss the book monthly (Wednesday nights?)?)ed: it will actually be Tuesdays starting in September. I thought meeting at Fergie's would be appropriate! We can have some Guinness and do a chunk a month, and finish up near Bloomsday (June 16). Please contact me if this sounds like your kind of fun!

I've read The Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and I've been wanting to read Ulysses but never thought I had the time. And although I know that this is still true, being in school again has kicked my intellectual curiosity into overdrive, so I think I'm going to give it a go. No time like the present, right? I am also going to try to learn to like Guinness and other super-dark beers, as I'm more of a Hop Devil, myself. Got to get down with my Irish ancestory!

Jackie then shared this link with me to a full-text online version of Ulysses, which will pretty much guarantee that I will never do work again. Also this explanation of Why One Should Read Ulysses is great.

Yes I realize this picture is not of James Joyce, but of Ewan MacGregor as James Joyce. But as Ewan MacGregor is my dream man, this is how it shall stand. And yes, I have seen the movie where Ewan plays Joyce, it is bloody awful but borderline pornographic, and I did like that aspect of it :)

Deep Thoughts

2006-08-17T11:28:00.000-04:00

Been feeling some wanderlust lately, so I was looking through some old traveling pictures. My work monitor is really dark so it looks like my shape is just cut out of the scene. It makes me think a few things:

* I'd be hard-pressed to think of a prettier place in the States than Big Sur.(although Ithaca and Vermont are two favorites)

* I've been incredibly, incredibly lucky to do as much traveling as I've done in the past two years. It's one of those things I never thought I could afford to do. I hope I continue to travel as much!

* Please oh please let it be jacket weather again soon.

========

On a completely unrelated note: Somehow I find parallels between the whole Gunter Grass being an SS officer thing and the Jon-Benet Ramsey killer being found. I guess the parallel is time, and how the truth does eventually surface. I think there is little on this earth more important than honesty. Better late than never, I guess.

Fanspotting

2006-08-16T09:37:00.000-04:00

I was a voracious reader since age 4, but sometime in middle school I just completely lost all interest, until in 9th grade when I picked up Trainspotting. Then I would take the train to the Philly Free to read all his other works, and it got me right back on the horse, so to speak (no, not heroin!). So even though I don't read much contemporary literature now, Irvine Welsh's works have very special memories for me.

I got to the Free Library and sit in the 4th row center of the reading room and I had a perfect vantage point from which to take pictures. As the place filled up (it was surprisingly full) one of the workers said no photography was allowed. Drat. Welsh approached the podium, bald as a cue, sporting an awesome kelly green track jacket and a surprisingly placid facial expression. My general impressions of him in person were that he was a much kinder, gentler person than his writerly voice would suggest.

He read some passages from his new book, The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs, and the first two were funny enough and it was especially lovely to listen to his Scottish brogue lilt over the dialect. I looked around at the crowd and saw there were a fair amount of people my age who probably read Trainspotting as teens. But I also noticed some extremely elderly folk hanging out, which I felt was a bit out of place. Is Grandma really reading about shooting junk, anal sex, and House music? In fact, in front of me was a regular white-haired cabal of olde women.

At this point Welsh, losing some of his nervousness, launches into his last passage where one of the characters goes to an old witch living in a Scottish project to try to figure out how to reverse a spell he's inadvertenly cast, and the woman propositions him for sex, which he reluctantly agrees to. What followed was an absolutely filthy, detailed depiction of the sex act that went on for quite some time. The crackle of the audience was audible as we blushed, laughed, and shifted in our seats. I look at the olde ladies, who were shaking their heads in disapproval. Then one, much to my delight, actually stuck her fingers in her ears!

After a nice little Q&A (I thought it was interesting that Welsh comes up with a title before he writes a book. Who does that?) He went upstairs for the signing. When I approached with my copy of Marabou Stork Nightmares (my favorite of his) he smiled warmly and said my name with that lovely accent of his. I had witnessed a veritable parade of geeks gush all over the man like the various fluids in the passage he had just read, and I didn't want to do that, but what happens when I get up there? "Hi Mr. Welsh. I just wanted to say that I love the way you visually lay out the words on the page in some of your books. It's almost like concrete prose, it's remarkable."

Yeah, that's right, I said CONCRETE PROSE.

I am Megan's bottomless well of embarrassment.

The smiling, gracious Mr. Welsh thanked me and told me he loves my city, and I thanked him (taking credit for all of Philadelphia in the process) and scooted over to the book table to buy his new book with the literal last dime in my wallet from a nice shaggy haired fellow. Then I took the extraordinarily shitty, dark, grainy, fuzzy picture that you see below.

So that was it! I'm glad I went, glad I now have three signed books in my collection (Marabou Stork Nightmares, Sarah Vowell's Take the Cannoli, and Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States) and I still never cease to amaze myself, that I can work at a place for 3 years where I met world leaders, musicians, and movie stars on a weekly basis with barely the bat of an eye, but put me in front of a writer I like and I turn into an absolute silly little girl. So it goes!

High Five

2006-08-14T10:31:00.000-04:00

Much to discuss! It was a rather eventful weekend. I think a numbered list will do it best.

1. Rosenbach Museum! - Duck and I went to the Rosenbach Museum on Saturday and it was a real treat. There was so much artwork and beautiful furniture, and I hit it off big time with the docent when I told her I was a library student. We talked a lot about their collection of rare books, and I hope to one day go back and get to page through them (you can make appointments to do so). Mmm is there anything better than a really old book? They even had some incunabula (I hear there's a killer collection at the Philadelphia Free Library's Rare Book Room that I will hit up soon). I bought a chapbook of the original Dracula story from 1488, and a book called Passing Through: Letters and Documents Written in Philadelphia by Famous Visitors. If you're a big nerd like me I suggest checking out the Rosenbach. I have a feeling I'll at least be going back to pick up gifts in the future.

2. Bob Fosse! - Friday night my friend Jackie brought over Cabaret. I had never seen it before, but holy cow was it great! It was so dark and decadent, it had potential Halloween costume written all over it. Then Sunday I was sitting around bored and looked On Demand and saw All That Jazz, which is Bob Fosse's autobiography starring that dude from Jaws. Man what a surreal, disturbing, awesome, beautiful film! I'm loving some Bob Fosse at the moment.

3. Whores! - Apparently all the drug dealers in my neighborhood have moved aside to make way for a ton of prostitutes! Walking home Saturday after the Rosenbach I saw three, one of which commented on my outfit (I didn't hear her) got incredibly offended I didn't respond, and yelled at me, "What are you going to act like we don't know each other?" and turns to Duck, pointing at me, "We slept together." Duck turns to me in mock disbelief and yells, "MEGAN!!!" and I retort, "Oh, I didn't tell you? You don't remember that week where I was a filthy disgusting crack whore?" Haha

4. Sam's benefit! - My friend Sam who survived ovarian cancer had a benefit on Saturday night to raise money for the cause. It was fantastic, the place was mobbed, and she raised $1700 all told. They had a Johnny Cash cover band called Man in Black, and while I HATE cover bands this guy was actually really great. Also, I drank too much beer. But it was a good time! Big ups to Justin for coming by.

5. Librarything! - Yesterday, somewhere between determined and hungover, I catalogued pretty much all of my fiction books on Librarything. My collection is here if you're interested. I hope to do my non-fiction sometime this week, which will take much, much longer. I'm loving everything about Librarything (I only wish I could categorize my records this way!)

Also does anyone know how to get my Blogger right column with my user info to stay at the top? It's driving me nuts that it's all the way at the bottom like that. That's it for now, pictures soon to follow.