Political Action

So, I wrote about the different reactions that one could have after viewing Moore's movie or simply in light of our current administration's crappiness, and I am going to take that to a slightly higher level.

I am going to advocate a few Web sites/initiatives that exist out there to inform and sway voters to a shift in political parties come November. Now, I know that there are many who feel that Kerry is not really a solution, just an alternative, but in some ways, that is true of each election. And this administration is causing a lot of angst and creating a lot of doubt, so why not embrace a change to see what can happen in the next four years. I think that we have a pretty clear idea what will continue if Brash, I mean Bush, is re-elected.

Some great sites:
Involver. Non-partisan but angry. From their site, "an alliance of independent organizations, venues and artists who are pissed off about the state of our country and are facilitating a new political movement with two solutions: 1. Convincing our generation that we have to get involved in politics in order to fix the big problems. 2. Offering ways to take action that will make the country work for us. We can just get pissed, or we can get involved."

Axis of Eve. "Panties for protest". 'Nuff said.

John Kerry is a Douchebag but I'm Voting for Him Anyway. How can one not check this site out. Written by an ordinary citizen of the United States who recognizes that Kerry is not the greatest candidate ever, but that he is a viable and probably better candidate than W. He basically got so angry with this election and its possible outcome that he created this site. He has 5 essays that he is writing to support this stance. So far, he has two posted with a third coming shortly.

Elections 2004. An incredible resource created and maintained by the Poli-Sci librarian at the University of Michigan. Offers links to and descriptions of election sites, candidate info, important policy issues and a great list of resources on the Web to answer any questions you may have about our political system. Some of the sites are for the UMich community only, but it still provides some good sources and information.

In separate, dinger-related news, Johnny Damon and David Ortiz hit them last night, but it was not enough and NY prevailed. Oh the Sox should be winning so many more games than they do. Sigh.

The weekend activities caused some mixed emotions. Fahrenheit 9/11 left me burning with indignation at the recklessness of the current administration. I knew that it would offer a slanted view against Bush and that it existed to incite, but it just left me with the sad feeling that the President of the United States has perpetuated many egregious acts against the people he swore to protect. And as I continue to hear stories of soldiers captured and beheaded or shot in the head, I am more disheartened about our place in Iraq. One of my biggest problems with Moore's film is that it did not truly offer any suggestions or solutions. He is not a politician so he is not formally charged with creating solutions, but his use of the film to simply point fingers was a let-down. I guess that what the film does is offer choices to the viewer: Get mad and do something about this situation. Get mad and do nothing. Or don't believe any of it and vote for Bush this November. I am mad and my action is to vote for Kerry and hope that the tide of anti-Americanism will shift under a more diplomatic and sophisticated hand. This does feel kind of passive, but I would rather read books and watch baseball and movies than be politically active. I am lucky to have that choice. I know this. I still think that W is a muddleheaded lackwit.

My family reunion was slightly less political as over 50 people related to me in one way or another gathered to discuss who was doing what where and to whom. I had to inform a few members of my family that I was now single again, which was a bit of a shock, but everyone accepted it with their usual grace and overwhelming support. My happiness was their only concern and they could see that I am happy and settled, so life goes on.

One of my cousins, Lois, and her boyfriend, John, two children and grand daughter, came to their very first cousin party (we've been doing the reunion for the past 14 years). They live in Florida and work in the tourism industry so it is difficult for them to get away in the summer. It was great to see them. Because of their presence, only 3 of my mom's first cousins were not there. It was pretty incredible.

I did manage to watch a few more movies this weekend, including the end of Singin' in the Rain, which was wonderful, The African Queen, Katharine and Humphrey going down the river together=excellent, and Billy Elliot, "I'm not a pouf, I just love bal-let" - fantastic movie. Last night, Bryan and I borrowed 2 movies from the Brookline Public Library where we were happy to learn that they don't charge at all for movies. Have I said it before? I love libraries. We watched the creepy, voyeuristic Rear Window and the creepier, transexualistic Rocky Horror Picture Show. It has been quite a few years since I have see the RHPS and while I remembered it being weird, I had forgotten just how weird. I still love Tim Curry in a metallic corset and Susan Sarandon singing "Touch-a, touch-a, touch-a, touch me", but I could not watch this again for a few more years and not be too sad. It was more fun to comment on the movie than really watch it.

Tomorrow is the last day to vote for the Baseball All-Star game, so be sure to visit MLB.com and vote for all of the Red Sox players it is possible to vote for.

Lots of Book News

Last Tuesday, June 22nd, Mattie Stepanek died. He was a 13 year old muscular dystrophy advocate who wrote several best-selling books of inspirational poetry while suffering from the disease. In his short life, Mattie wrote five volumes of poetry that sold millions of copies. Three of the volumes even reached the New York Times' best-seller list. He wrote books that sound a bit cheesy by their title, but that are pretty incredible considering Mattie's situation and medical condition. Heartsongs is his first book of poetry and I was able to read some of it in Barnes & Noble. I was definitely touched by the simplicity and truthfulness of the words.

Boston.com has published its list of quality books for Summer Reading. They break it down into categories like Popular Fiction and Non-Fiction, Mysteries, Romance and Classics and the reviews of books are by regular people. There are some great suggestions in all categories.

From Publisher's Weekly: The New York Times will serialize four "great books" in the New York market over the next two months, in a new book promotion called "The Great Summer Read." The program will launch on July 12 with The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Scribner), followed by Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's (Modern Library/Vintage) on July 26; Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate (Anchor has English and Spanish editions) on August 9; and James McBride's The Color of Water (Riverhead) on August 23.

Each book will be published in its entirety, in seven installments that will begin on a Monday and culminate the following Sunday. The daily excerpts will appear in a 16-page newsprint supplement similar to the New York Times Book Review, though typeset in a slightly larger font and without illustrations.

For the Times, which sees itself as "a natural advocate for fostering literacy and a passion for reading," the program is a way to reward its current readers and perhaps draw new ones, said marketing v-p Alyse Myers.

Pretty cool!

The blog community grows...

My friend Chris has joined the world of blogging. Check out his thoughts at From a Whisper to a Scream. I have also added a link to his page on my blog.

I love to see more people take up web journaling and I marvel at our society that this type of thing is now on display. At work, we have the journals of a woman from the 19th century, but I am sure that no one ever saw the words that she wrote throughout her lifetime unless she offered or until she died. Journals have an association with secrecy and an internal thought process. Today, people are more willing to share those processes and those thoughts and I find this enriching and exciting. Not to say that there isn't a place for quiet written contemplations, but I do like sharing.

On the movie front, Bryan and I both ended up falling asleep at different points of The Maltese Falcon. Who knows if this was a fault of the movie itself or of an overload of moving picturing. I liked the movie, but I wasn't as taken with it as I thought I would be. The good thing about the nap, though, was that it rejuvenated both of us so we were able to watch the first half of Singin' in the Rain. Wow! I loved what I saw. I am sure that I saw this movie on tv as a kid, but I didn't really remember it. It delves into the world of silent films as 'talkies' were moving into popularity and I am so taken with Donald O'Connor with his legs of rubber and Gene Kelly with his ultra-brite smile and melodic voice. I look forward to the 2nd half and will definitely add this movie to my list. I highly recommend it to those of you who haven't yet seen it.

On my agenda for this weekend:
*Fri night - Watching Michael Moore highlight George W's cowboy machismo and stupidity (are those things one and the same?) in Fahrenheit 9/11
*Sat - Attending the annual family reunion on my mom's side, called the Cousin Party
*Sun - Working at the Library
*Dare I say, more movie watching thrown in here and there

Movies and Books

Movie watching is in full swing as we watched Meet Me in St Louis (still love that Trolley song), Wait Until Dark (terrifyingly good) and A Mighty Wind (hilariously, embarassingly awful). Tonight it's The Maltese Falcon and Singing in the Rain. And tomorrow night it's Fahrenheit 9/11, though that will be too new to make the list.

In looking at my top 100 movies, I realized that I often avoided movies made from books that I loved. In some cases, I saw the movie first, so I fell in love with it as a movie. This goes for The Shining, The Princess Bride and Jaws. In the case of Bridget Jones' Diary, I thought that the book was obsessive and annoying, but as a movie, it was brilliantly played. And a few I haven't read (imagine that!) like The Wizard of Oz and About a Boy. Here and there both the book and the movie are lovely in their own right - Out of Africa, The English Patient, Gone With the Wind, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. Out of 100 movies I consider my favorites, only 18 were adapted from books and 2 from short stories. I have no idea where I am going with this, but it is an interesting observation. I will be curious to see how many other people included movies adapted from books.

I took a sick day yesterday to try to recover from a pesky and persistent cough I have been suffering from. It is apparently the result of a very early case of allergies since I usually only really feel this crappy on account of nature in the early fall. I am on a daily regiment of Robitussin and Allegra and think that I will kick it soon.

On my day off I most notably slept until I wanted to, applied for a few more jobs and went to the public library where I rented 8 movies for $6. Yes, it is still possible to get more for less and you will find it all at your public library (god, I am such a library dork).

Bryan has put us to the task of ranking our top 100 favorite/best movies. This has led to much discussion of movies, followed by the watching of movies. So far, I have watched the Royal Tennenbaums which led me to fall in love with Wes Anderson, who wrote and directed this quirky film. I now want to see his other film Rushmore. I also rented A Mighty Wind, The Maltese Falcon, Badlands, Meet Me in St. Louis, Wait Until Dark and Billy Elliot just to catch up on a few I haven't seen and to refresh my memory of some that I consider my 'favorites'. Currently Moulin Rouge is my #1 followed by The Shining and Breakfast Club. I have realized that either because I completely missed seeing them all, or I have really weird tastes, I don't have many of the 'classics' on my list. It is still a work in progress and I mean to watch "Citizen Kane" and "The Graduate" before I die, but they may not make my list. If anyone has a great movie they want to recommend, I am all ears.

Also went to dinner with my dad and brothers to celebrate Father's Day 2 days late. After stuffing himself with as much bread and as many french fries as possible, my nephew Noah (2 years old)decided that he would rather roam the restaurant with Auntie Jill than participate in any further adult conversations. We got to watch several nice hits by the Red Sox along with some excellent pitches from Curt Schilling in between saying hello to every wait person and hostess in the entire restaurant.

Today, back to the grind though I am looking forward to more movie-watching this evening.

Bad Blogger and Weekend Happenings

I have been pretty bad about posting lately so now you will have to endure a really loooong posting. The end of last week was actually really busy at work.
Things that I was working on last week:
Getting ready for the departure of our most excellent book cataloger, Mary
Writing up training info for my new circulation assistant
Attending meetings
Looking for another job
Watching Red Sox games
Booking a room at a B&B in Rockport for the weekend
Buying new underwear
Suffering from a particularly nasty bout of allergies/hacking cough.

Bryan & I headed up to Rockport, Massachusetts for the weekend. We had every intention of going to the beach upon arrival on Saturday, but it was kind of overcast and we saw a few drops of rain hit the windshield. Instead we drove into Gloucester (the town next to Rockport and best known from the book/movie The Perfect Storm), and sat on a bench in a little park right on the ocean. We ate lunch and watched seagulls and boats while the clouds decided whether or not they were going to block the sun for the entire day. That bench and its view felt worlds away from the hustle and bustle of Boston and I loved the calm it provided.

The sun did finally peep out, so we checked into our inn, The Sally Webster Inn right near the center of town, and then walked to a small private beach to catch the last of the afternoon rays. It was Bryan's first time on a beach in a few years and I felt a small tug of victory at having brought him to where sand and water and sun all meet. He even attempted to go into that water, but 10 seconds later he was back on his towel - gotta love the Atlantic Ocean in June. We walked into Rockport center, called Bearskin Neck and had a delicious dinner at a restaurant called My Place by the Sea perched at the edge of a cliff on the tip of Bearskin Neck. We were seated on the lower deck facing the setting sun and some sailboats just leaving the piers. We thought we were in heaven until the sun set and the wind picked up and we realized that it was freezing on the edge of cliff overlooking the ocean in June! We ate our tasty food as quickly as we could and escaped back to the inn after stopping to pick up an ice cream sundae to go so we could eat it in the warmth of our room. All in all, a relaxing and amazing day.

Sunday, we fared just as well in the food department since the Sally Webster Inn serves a lovely french toast breakfast thing in addition to fruit and other breads. During breakfast, Bryan and I met an older couple who were in Rockport for a wedding. Turns out the bride is from Framingham and her mother was my high school guidance counselor. When Eddie, the male half of the couple, found out that Bryan lived in Brookline, he assumed that I did too, that we were married and that we might have children who would certainly benefit from the "excellent school system in Brookline." Needless to say, we couldn't get away from them fast enough.

On our way home, we stopped at Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester for a few more hours of sun worship before heading back to our lives of Monday morning cubicles and pasty legs. Both of us were pretty surprised at the price of parking at the beach - $25! Yes, that was the amount we paid to park our car for 2 hours of laying on a beach. We got nothing else for this price, though I really do believe that the hours of soaking up sun and listening to waves lap the beach are worth 25 bucks every now and then. When we got back to Brookline, we tried to watch Red Sox dingers, but only saw a San Fran dinger, so we decided to hit our own dingers in the park. If I had been a boy, I think that I would have played baseball. Just a feeling I have.

And today, more coughing and being at work though I may go home early to catch up on some reading and sleep. I finished Waiting for Luciano, which I wrote about a while ago. It was decent and short. It tried a bit too hard to be deep, and really only came off feeling like an Oprah book club book (definition: fraught with meaning yet neatly tied-up and a little depressing). My mom still defends it as a great read and I will admit that it wasn't bad. I just started Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies which has been on my list of must reads for a while. It is a collection of short stories that won a few awards and has been well-reviewed. I like it so far, but I am only one story in.

Home Ownership

Well, my younger brother, Joe, and I bought a house! We put an offer on the house on May 16th, and it was accepted, but it takes a long time to go through all of the bank paperwork, so we didn't actually sign the Purchase and Sale until last night (this is the official document that makes it pretty difficult for any parties involved to back out). We close on the house on July 8th - three short weeks.

About our new home: It is a two-family house on a quiet street by the name of Pond in Framingham, Massachusetts. That's right, it is 4 doors down from my mom's house, on the same street that we both grew up on. Some people find this funny, some odd, but we are psyched. There is always someone to borrow sugar from and it will add up to extra beds for parties. There are tenants who live on the first floor - a nice, young couple; they are going to stay. Our apartment is the entire second and third floor (or the rest of the house). The people who are moving finished the entire attic into a huge living room with skylights, a decent-sized bedroom and a small bedroom. Joe has claimed the third floor, the larger bedroom will be his room and the smaller one will be his closet & storage. The second floor has a kitchen, bathroom, 2 big bedrooms and a small den/office. I will live somewhere on this floor. There is plenty of space and we are starting to think about getting furniture to fill it in. For those of you who have been to my mom's house, this is similar in style. There is a lot of beautiful wood work, including hardwood floors, and large, airy rooms. The backyard is big and has a full jungle-gym, so there will be lots of swinging and sliding in our future :) Owning a house is a scary thing, but it is so cool and I am absolutely thrilled. And, to answer the question on everyone's mind: Yes, there will be a party of some sort toward the end of the summer.

San Fran pics and Kate's resignation

As promised long ago when I first started this blog and then left for San Francisco, a few pictures from my trip above and below. I still have half a roll in my camera, but I am waiting for the right occasion to finish it out before getting them developed. I got some decent shots around the city and, as previously mentioned, of Barry Bonds' posterior (though a bigger zoom lens would've been magnificent). I will be sending my Barry series to Corissa to spice up the plain white walls of her condo.

So, my friend and colleague, Kate, turned in her resignation today at work and I am pretty sad. Not only do I lose her clear thinking, amazing sense of humor, and excellent company at work, but she won't get to see me daily and I don't think that anyone at her new job will be as willing to wrap themselves around her leg in the office kitchen (she made the mistake of asking me if I could be any more in her way, so I showed her that, yes, I could). She is going on to bigger and much better things - she will be working at a place that will utilize and appreciate her talents and intelligence in a way that our little library just can't. But, I dread the day that she clears her desk and walks out the front door for the last time. I can't write anymore - tears are streaming down my face and clouding my sight. Sob...

Speaking of crying, based on the recommendation of one of Bryan's friends, via his blog, I watched Six Feet Under last night. I have heard a lot of good things about the show, but I have just not tuned in. Last night, I decided to check it out and, boy, am I glad that I did. It was absolutely gripping and I have no idea who any of the characters are, so I am sure that it would be 10 times more excellent if I had been following it for the past few seasons. Basically, in an hour I was intrigued and drawn into the family dynamic of the main characters. I was blown away by Lauren Ambrose, who plays Claire. And I was sad that one of the main characters, Nate, lost his wife; so much so, that I had tears streaming down my face at the end of the episode when he buries her body under a lone tree in the desert. It is a show that deals pretty directly with death - not a lot of glamorizing or romanticizing - and I am glad that I watched it and will continue to do so for the rest of the season.

Cool shot of scoreboard during Bonds' second at bat. He hit a double on the first pitch, which is why people are cheering. The sacrifices I made to get my shot... 

We were sitting pretty close to Barry Bonds' ass during the Giants/Rockies game at SBC Park.  

Me, Karen, Denay & Corissa in a mushroom garden at Domaine Chandon winery. this is before getting liquored up. 

This is me, Karen, Denay & Corissa in the wine cave at Del Dotto Vineyards after getting good and liquored ('cept Corissa who drove our drunk butts around - you're the best!)  

Me & Corissa inside a Redwood in Muir Woods 

Dingers!

Went to the ballgame last night. Pokey Reese's first at bat on his 31st birthday was a solo dinger. He said that it was his 1st b-day homer and his mom was at the game, which was excellent all around. Nomar's second night since coming back from an Achilles' tendon injury was lovely - he had a great two-run double in the fifth inning prompting Bryan to vote for him on his last 3 All-Star ballots. Course, I voted for Red Sox at every position on the AL side of the ballot. And I found out today that Schilling is playing with a hurt ankle. He actually takes a shot of anaesthetic before each game and plans to do this for the rest of the season. He will get arthroscopic surgery after the playoffs (yes, I believe the Sox will get into the postseason). I thought he was amazing before, but he has been elevated to Hero status.

So, beers and beachballs and bleacher seats along with Cuban sandwiches and lots of manbacon made for one of the most entertaining ballgames I have been to. I was also supposedly surrounded by lots of Holy Cross alums, but I failed to recognize a single person. Oh well. Dingers!!

My brain is melting

It's over 90 degrees in Boston today and, like typical New Englanders, everyone is complaining about the heat and humidity already. I like it just fine, though I really do believe that my brain is slowly being broiled.

I think that people are stupider in the hot weather, maybe it's just cause they move slower. Take me, for instance, there are a million things fluttering in my head, but I can't seem to capture any of those thoughts for long enough to write them down. I guess I will just go with, it's hot outside, Friday is a state holiday so we can mourn the passing of Ronald Reagan (I will reserve judgement about this, he was a prez of our country and he is dead now so what does it matter), not that I work for the state, but I wish I did, and Garciaparra returns to the BoSox lineup tonight - We love you Nomah!!

Job Hunting

Looking for a new job is pretty awful and I am currently doing so because the environment at my current library kind of bites. The problem with job-hunting is that there are so few openings and so many people looking. I get disheartened pretty easily and I hate writing cover letters, but I am determined to have another job as soon as possible.

This weekend's work activities have not particularly helped my dislike for my current job - after so many hours at the library (20+ in two days) and so much chaos, I realized that I would rather work in an academic library where people know why they are using the building and the collection. My library is a 'special' library where sadly, visitors have to go through two floors of exhibits to get to the Reference Room on the THIRD floor where I work and where the prefered comment is then, "Oh, so this is where the books are!" A library indeed.

My leisure activities this weekend, though they felt fewer and farther away, were lovely. I enjoyed watching grown men run through a small fountain and then play on a jungle gym. Bryan, and his friend Kervin from NY, hit dingers in the park and then grilled an excellent dinner of dogs and asparagus (oddly matched but so tasty). I also thoroughly enjoyed watching Game 6 of the NHL playoffs though I was saddened at the end when Tampa Bay (hockey in Florida?) beat the Calgary Flames. Hopefully Canada will claim a championship in the only sport they actually have that's worth watching on tv tonight in Game 7.

I am drawing this out as long as possible so I don't have to write the final 3 cover letters that await. In book news, I am reading a strange autobiographical/fiction book titled Waiting for Luciano that my mom recommended. It is the story of a Japanese woman whose mother is obsessed with things European, particularly opera. The mother loves Luciano Pavarotti and she gets the chance to meet him and then believes that he is coming to her house to visit her so she begins to renovate her delapidated home. Not a prize winner, but since it came so highly recommended by someone I respect a lot, I will reserve opinion and finish it. Course, I should mention that my mom has a weird thing for Pavarotti herself, so that may have influenced her rave review.

I did read Kate Ross's The Devil in Music while sitting in the Chicago airport waiting for my ridiculously long layover. I really enjoyed the book and the writing, and was actually surprised by the ending. Ross is a bit romantic and some of her description was overly drawn, but on the whole, it was an engaging mystery and her main character, Julian Kestrel, was likable and intelligent. This is her 4th book with this character and, while I will probably not go back and read the first three, I would definitely pick up future books and continue getting to know Kestrel and trying to figure out whodunnit.

That's all for now. I'm off to immerse myself in the job hunt.

Ah, the Routine

So, I've been home for a few days and it's as if I never left. Funny thing about traveling - you leave your life, but it continues on without you, waiting for you to return and step back in. I waded through hundreds of emails at work yesterday and have been horrible about getting back to any friends who have emailed (sorry, I'm working on it). I did develop most of my pics from San Francisco so I'll hopefully post a few this weekend. I did manage to go out a drink a few beers last night and then dance around light poles (with Bryan) and sit in a puddle (by myself)...good fun!

This weekend will be really busy at work - there is a big meeting near the library - so lots of people will be wandering in to ask questions. Good thing I am fully trained in Reference to answer all of (most of) those questions.

Congratulations to Nicole, who just finished her very intense international policy graduate degree from John Hopkins, and to Kathryn, who now has a master in divinity from Harvard University (thought she was pretty close to divine before; now she has the paper to prove it!).

Going Home

In the past two days, I have taken way too many pictures of Barry Bonds' ass (covered by his uniform), seen an amazing fireworks display over San Fran, drank A LOT of wine, dipped my feet in the artic-like Pacific Ocean and eaten very good Chinese food with Corissa and her parents. Not bad. I haven't eaten any pizza though, and boy do I miss Boston pizza.

It's been a fun, whirlwind trip, but I gladly head home. Having safely traveled to CA, I am now calm and confident about going it alone; however, I do wish that it didn't take so long to get there. I have always been a big fan of the Star Trek "beam me up" way of traveling; damn I wish that were actually possible, because I could be home in like 30 seconds instead of 14 hours (with time zone adjustments added in). Course, I know there is the chance that when I was beamed to Boston my limbs could be rearranged or missing all together, but I honestly think it would be worth the risk. Are physicists working on this somewhere??