Snow days

There are ten inches of snow on the ground in Delaware, and they say we might get more on Wednesday. Here's how things are looking around the museum estate.  No one else had really walked around in the snow, so it was great to explore all the untouched whiteness. I tried to restrict my steps to where there were already deer footprints, as not to ruin the prettiness.

The weird thing about thesis writing is that there really are no snow days - you can always write something no matter the weather. So I've been plugging away a bit every day, up to 20 pages now. I'll be glad when that count is up to 60.

My little 4 unit apartment building is at least 40 years old, so it doesn't handle winter well. At least once a day, the roomie and I shuffle past one another wrapped in blankets and moan, "It's soooo cooooolllllld." Keeping a bunch of candles on my desk while I type helps give me the illusion that it's really 75 degrees in here.

Live-blogging Breakfast at Tiffany's

I said I think I remember the film

And I recall I think we both kind of liked it

And I said hey, that's one thing we got.

I've never seen this movie, even though I loved that song about it back in middle school. So tonight I snuggled up with pajama pants  and Netflix to experience a permanent fixture of American pop culture. There was no one around to hear my snide comments, so you get to read them. 

10:00 Wait. Truman Capote wrote the novel? Interesting.
Where is Tiffany's anyway? I better visit next time I'm in New York.
10: 04 That column dress, updo, and jewelry are so iconic, but it's a very non-curvy silhouette. Why is this the first thing that comes to mind for elegant femininity?
10:07 Audrey looks good in anything, even a baggy tuxedo shirt. The way her hair is piled up on her head reminds me of my VSC roommate K. 
10:11 Her couch is a claw-foot bathtub cut in half with purple cushion and pink pillows.I want to try that in my next apartment.
10:23 Perfume in the mail slot. Genius. She must never get utility bills.
10:26 Sugar-mama decorator is an aspiring Dorothy Draper, what with all that damask and rococo statuary.
10:30 So our protagonists are two lost souls, trying to make their way in the urban jungle of New York.
10:32 A lesser actress would not be able to pull of this corny monologue about raising horses in Mexico with her brother Fred.
10:34 Ah, the mandatory baguette sticking out of every movie grocery bag.
10:35 Dorothy Draper wannabe (let's caller her DDW) has a crazy awesome apartment with a gloriously tacky painted Greek frieze.

10:39 This discussion of phoniness brought to you by JD Salinger?
10:43 Brazilian party guest wants to learn about Stuff White People Like
10:46 How did anyone think those fake teeth on Mickey Rooney were a good idea?
10:49 There's something Gatsby-esque about a cocktail party left by its host as the cops arrive.
10:53 The Moon River balcony scene reminds me of Kate and Leopold when they hear that song playing nearby.
11:00 This secret redneck husband business appeared sooner than I expected. What will happen with the rest of the film?
11:09 Drunk woman dressed in white, locked out of her apartment after running into an ex lover. This scene was imitated in The Wedding Planner.
11:12 Holly's tote bag has a painting of the Annunciation printed on it. I wonder if she bought it at the Met?


11:19 Kate and Leopold also mimicked this "do fun things in New York" montage.
11:22 Cracker Jack prizes give one "a sense of solidarity really, of continuity with the past." Too bad they don't give out whole rings any more.
11:23 "Is that really where they have the book itself? Live?" Libraries - not half as nice as Tiffany's.
11:26 Modern romantic comedies take note - this montage actually helps us learn about the characters. Awww, when they are happy they both have their keys.

11:32 "I can help her, and it's a nice feeling for a change." Just like Sebastian Flyte in Africa in the middle of Brideshead, I love it.
DDW has a great amethyst ring, but she's evil.That's right, Mrs. Robinson, he's leaving all the suits behind.
11:41 That shot of the feather-strewn room is brilliant. There are a surprising number of blackouts in this film.
11:44 "I'm fat as a pig." Shut up this minute young lady. Also, your Victorian rosewood furniture signaling your new domesticity is ridic.
11:47 Oh Audrey, the pigtails are too cute. Someday if I have 9 children I'll take them to New York too.
11:55 We've seen Holly getting dressed up/dressed down several times - there's definitely symbolism in that, the way she's putting on a glamorous front to the world.
11:59 "You call yourself a free spirit, a "wild thing," and you're terrified somebody's gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you're already in that cage. You built it yourself." Somebody should have told Carrie Bradshaw that right off and spared us 6 TV seasons and two horrible movies worth of drama.

Hooray, happy ending, I think I kinda liked it. I kept drawing parallels to a million other films - The Graduate, The Apartment, etc. Audrey Hepburn is indeed charming and beautiful in every scene, but the story is much heavier than just jewels and croissants.
Still, I have the sudden urge to go necklace shopping....

Winter Break Book Reviews

Here's what I've been reading for fun before classes start.

The Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan

There have been many recent exposes of the food industry, but Michael Pollan's is by far the best. It's not a polemic (although I hear he's written those too). It's a surprisingly balanced and realistic, admitting that its ideals are also difficult and impractical. Pollan takes us through "a natural history of four meals" that exemplify four means of food production. We see a McDonald's meal produced by conventional farming; organic roast chicken and vegetables from a Whole Foods; a chicken dinner dinner all grown on a sustainable small farm; and a pork/mushroom that resulted from training as a hunter/gatherer. Along the way we learn about FDA regulations, food subsidies, the evolution of the corn genome, and Peter Singer's persuasive but flawed writings on animal rights.

It's appropriate that I read this book on my epic airport adventure, being herded like cattle through security gates. While I don't always buy organic or free-range food, I feel like knowing is half the battle. We can still understand our food even if we never visit farms or slaughterhouses.My food restrictions require me to pay close attention, but that's also why I do goofy things like photograph my salads. Pausing to thank God for a meal couldn't hurt either. 

Pollan frequently invokes the natural balance evolution has determined, making his account is also an unwitting testament to the complex beauty of God's creation. Could it be that we have tried to circumvent God's wisdom with our chemical fertilizers and synthetic vitamin supplements? The book's very title points to the blessing and curse of human nature. When you can eat or do anything, how do you determine what you should? Pollan's dilemma is one that we've been struggling with even before we left Eden.

Girl Meets God - Lauren Winner

Raised by a Jewish father and lapsed Baptist mother, Lauren Winner went through two conversion processes. Her freshman year at Columbia she became an Orthodox Jew. Still, a fascination with Jesus persisted, and she entered the Anglican church while studying for her master's at Cambridge. This book reflects on the process of both conversions, and the challenges of building a meaningful life in one's new religion. Following the course of  a liturgical year, the story celebrates aspects of both Judaism and Christianity, showing how they are connected. There is some typical new convert fervor - she covers her bedroom wall with images of Christ - but there is also  family tension and continuing catechesis.

True confession - part of me wanted to hate Lauren Winner. (Self-deprecating envy is one of my congenital vices, Lord help me.) In all of our close similarities she surpassed me: more advanced degrees in America religious history, more publications, more devoted bookworm, more abundant social life, more historic Virginia hometown.  Luckily some Googling dug up video of a sermon Winner gave at Duke. Her very nerdy voice and glasses assured me that book deals do not guarantee celebrity hotttness.Just because no one is publishing my spiritual memoirs does not make me a loser (pun intended.)

Phew, now that is off my chest, I can say this was an excellent book. Winner's story was approachable and relate-able. It made me appreciate my own faith, and even inspired me to pray more! Winner's reflections on the Incarnation and scripture study were especially good. Of course, her experiences as a religious person in academia were especially encouraging to me. Go pick up this memoir if you want an intelligent discussion of faith that blends modernity and tradition.

Image Sources

New York: A culinary recap

 At the end of every day on these long class trips I feel like I've lived through a week and am at a loss to sum up everything I've seen. Gluten-free survival is always a big part of my day, though. While all my classmates are looking forward to a platter of assorted sandwiches, I'm just praying there won't be any croutons or mysterious gravies. So I decided to chronicle New York by documenting every salad lunch. Stroke of genius or dorky idea? Whatever, I had fun doing it, and I happily did not starve or have to resort to sandwich meat and potato chips. . 

Day 1, Tuesday: Sotheby's auction house 11th floor cafe. Spinach with chicken, asparagus, roasted beets, and mushrooms tossed in lemon herb vinaigrette. Pretty tasty, though not as lemony as I hoped. We had several Devil Wears Prada moments when 80 lb. girls dressed in black cut ahead of us in line.

Day 2, Wednesday, Metropolitan Museum of Art American Wing curatorial conference room: Spinach salad of candied walnuts, sauteed pears, dried cranberries, blue cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette. Classmate L gave me her salad tomato. The Met's staff were very nice, and a few are alumni of my MA program. The silver curator caught me sneaking my one blurry salad photo,  but I don't think she thought I was too much of a weirdo. 

 

Day 3, Friday, Brooklyn Museum Cafe: Lemon tarragon chicken breast on arugula with tomatoes and manchego cheese. Tarragon was faint, but the grill marks tasted real. We sat on fun lime green chairs and learned about the museum's new extended evening hours. I also ate my last remaining sprinkle doughnut from Babycakes, a vegan gluten free bakery around the corner from the Tenement Museum. Both are awesome places to visit.

Day 4, Friday, the Appraisers Association of America: Grilled chicken, bell peppers, carrots, and tomatoes on romaine with balsamic vinaigrette. Not too exciting, but it still hit the spot. While we ate, three chatty, confident, successful New York women told us how the appraisal business works. Not unlike antiques dealers, they have customers as long as there are deaths, divorces, and debts.  

Day 5, Saturday, Cilantro restaurant on E. 71st: Tequila lime shrimp enchiladas with green chile sauce, rice and beans. Ok, I fell off the salad wagon. But watching that Sotheby's auction made me hungry!
This lunch was so good, and fortified me for two afternoon antique shows.

Emotional Perfection

This morning I went to Mass at St. Patrick's cathedral, since it is only a 15 minute walk down 51st from our hotel. It was just a typical simple half-hour weekday service with no singing and sparse pews, but I haven't felt this happy to be in church in a long time. I remembered feeling the same way about a year ago when I sought out Catholic churches in London.

As I walked back past Radio City Music Hall and Times Square, I wondered why I had the sudden attack of pious euphoria. It must be because I'm on a trip - all the excitement of exploring makes me feel like a new person. Seriously, when was the last time I fit in Mass, a brisk walk, and breakfast before 9am?

It's true that I can be something of an emotional perfectionist. I think I need to be happy all the time, and feel guilty if I am depressed, distracted, discouraged, etc. This can especially happen in my spiritual life. Not every Mass is full of quiet joy; sometimes I am going through the motions. Sometimes the rosary is drudgery. Sometimes saints are intimidating, not inspiring. Does this mean I am a bad Christian?

But this morning I realized that having a connection with God is not that different from any other relationship. Sometimes the stress of ordinary life gets you down and it's not all cinematic fairy tale fireworks. Then you go on vacation or have a birthday party and suddenly you appreciate everyone much more. For example, there have been Saturdays where The Beau and I are so zonked out from school that we haven't had much to talk about. Those days are mundane and not particularly euphoric. Then there are days that are blissfully happy and exciting, like the Saturday in New York last December when we visited St. Patrick's and the Guggenheim. There's a natural emotional rhythm there, and maybe my relationship with God is not too different.

Trip traditions

This is going to be just a little update since I'm leaving for yet another school trip. This is the last big one for my class - five days in New York. By now I've got a little routine down for these outings. I get distracted by other things, then stay up late packing and second-guessing what to wear. Tomorrow I'll go through the usual cycle of adrenaline, car napping, grogginess, grumpy exhaustion, and finally enjoying myself. Yikes, does that sound like the 5 stages of grief? I should really be happier about a free trip to New York, right? I think the underlying issue is that these trips are physically harrowing but also make me question how much I fit into ever aspect of my grad program. First years, you are about to head to London. Take note: it's a marathon experience of Darwinian proportions. You will not return the same.

Then again, I'm not to new to late night packing and travel prep. That's how my family always got ready for our annual summer drive to Chicago. Tonight I carried on another of my Mom's traditions, late night sewing. Sitting here hemming those jeans I bought at an outlet ages ago, I'm listening to the sleet and snow falling outside.It reminds me of a July night my last summer of high school, when I was up late packing for World Youth Day in Toronto while Mom patiently hemmed my capri pants.

Such downright domesticity

(Bonus points if you can tell me the song/musical where I got that title.)

It was great to be back home on break, but I also love coming back to my own apartment and getting re-settled in my own domain. My roommate doesn't cook too much, so she doesn't mind my crazy kitchen experiments. Thus I spent Monday playing at domestic goddess. Maybe I didn't get much thesis writing done, but I felt darn productive anyway.

First, I tried out my favorite Delaware Christmas present - a new washing machine! Call me an old lady, but I was seriously ecstatic when I heard the landlords were replacing our ancient leaky, shaking, violently loud machine. Check out the glorious new toy - those buttons and timer are the bees knees.

Then I roasted a chicken in the awesome roasting pan I got for Christmas. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

 Finally, I tried out a black bean soup recipe my Mom gave me that involved bacon, sherry, and lemon. It was delicious, and I bet you could adapt the 400 degree oven cooking time to a crock pot

. If you are interested, click on the link for the recipe.

Material Culture Alert: Collections Storage

Well, now I am back in Delaware - break's over. I returned with even more stuff in my car than when I departed, thanks to my parents' offsite storage unit. We all pitched in to empty it out, sending a full U-Haul to the dump. In between trash boxes and broken furniture, my siblings and I retrieved a few long-lost and almost-forgotten goodies. I made off with most of my books from undergrad history classes, along with a large scented candle, exercise resistance cables, my yoga mat, some jewelry, and a perfectly good watch that I had never worn for some reason. It was like a yard sale, only we already owned everything.

It's hard to believe that it was three years ago we packed up many of our belongings to make way for mold remediation and renovations. What was supposed to be a three month project turned into a year-long home improvement odyssey. I'm grateful for our shiny new mold-free house, but still contemplating what we've lost in the process. No longer do I arrive at the familiar home I knew with its brown carpet, wobbly banister, and floral wallpaper. Forever I will regret not making photo documentation of each room before the drywall started flying. That U-Haul took away a lot of the past too - childhood toys, Halloween costumes, and storybooks. Have we lost our memories? Or are we just making room for new ones? Honestly, we haven't missed too much from that storage unit. We've survived just fine without most of it for the past three years. As an historian, I know that memory is constantly evolving and being created. The smaller material record does not mean my childhood never happened.

 Oh, and in other news there is a man in my coffee shop wearing a Ravens jersey and Union Civil War cap narrating Japanese obstacle course game shows. Earlier his friend was discussing going to Confession in Italy. Even earlier there were two little kids repeating "underwear" and giggling uncontrollably. Not gonna lie, this might be more entertaining than the library. 

Material Culture Alert: Travel bags

True confessions: I am a tote bag addict. Ever since I started carrying books in them in college, I've accumulated almost a dozen different bags of various materials. They range from a Duaghters of Charity grocery tote to a Vera Bradley that was a birthday gift. Lately I've been a fan of a fleur-de-lis print bag from The Beau's mom.
Sadly, I am also a tote bag destroyer. Thanks to my heavy computer and tendency to carry a million books, I've busted the straps on two stylish bags and worn out countless others. I can never find exactly the right fit, so I keep collecting more totes..   

So after ruining the straps of my last two computer bags, I decided to abandon cuteness for total practicality. The savvy laptop tote from eBags.com has proven to be some of the best $40 I ever spent. Its rugged straps are firmly attached and won't dig into my shoulder. There are a gazillion pockets, including side hatches for bulky water bottles and umbrellas. There is even a strap on the back for attaching it to a suitcase handle!

Though plain looking, this awesome bag can hold my big laptop along with tons of other items and still fit under the seat of a plane. The nylon construction means it is waterproof and not too heavy on its own. Seriously, I cannot say enough good things about it, or how glad I was to have it on my 4 airport journey this weekend. If it's not your style, eBags has a laptop bag finder widget where you can search their huge inventory by computer model.
I promise not to become one of those bloggers who is always shilling products, and eBags was in no way involved in this review, but I couldn't help wanting to spread the word about my trusty traveling companion.

2010:The Year of Travel

8 airports, 16 states, and one foreign country make the grand total. I've been to London, Pittsburgh, Boston, Tampa, Alexandria, Washington DC, New Orleans, St. Louis, Charleston, Hartford, Newport, New York, Philadelphia, and Williamsburg. I've spent hours in planes, trains, and cars. I've logged thousands of miles. I hadn't realized grad school would turn me into such a globe trotter.

So it is most fitting that I spent the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 as a nomad, bouncing from one location to another. Part of it was planned - a fantastic 5 days with The Beau and his family that culminated in watching New Year's Eve fireworks from the bell tower of the New Orleans cathedral. Then things got unexpected as I discovered how incompetent AirTran airlines can be. A canceled connecting flight from Atlanta meant that I did not make it home in time for the annual New Year's day ham supper. Instead, I got rerouted to Tampa, and am now on my way from there to Baltimore, from where I will take a shuttle of some sort. At this point, I would not be surprised if there were a stagecoach involved.

BUT as a surprise burst of Divine Providence, my Tamp layover meant I got to spend the day with my dear friends K&J and their three kiddos. We kept joking that I was playing Mary Poppins - I flew into town in the dead of night, and when the kids awoke I was there ready to play. I ended up helping keep track of everyone at a birthday party. I even assembled a kite - no joke. I almost expected to find Dick van Dyke dancing with some penguins. Then the winds changed and I was off in the air again.

The school-funded trips will end, but 2011 will see the nomading continue as I graduate (yikes!) and figure out where I will have a job. I hope the road continues to stumble on such fun surprises.