los viajes de sam marin

The sense and sound of being underwater

2007-08-09T13:47:00.001-07:00

bug view, originally uploaded by sammarin.

When I woke up this morning, the house was totally silent. It seemed like you could actually hear the blank space. And then there were a few rusty goose honks outside, and I realized where I was...

As I walked downstairs, I saw the lonely 4:00 timer for timeouts and walked past a pile of stuffed moose on the sofa and thought it was a pile of my nephew Paul. Isabella's bed is all rumpled and empty. The family left this morning for a wedding in Vancouver, and it feels eerie to be here on my own today.

The underwater feeling might have something to do with my fierce head cold. I slept in and still felt tired. Then I took a bath and ate some all bran, which felt very adult. I plan to dedicate today to Water for Elephants, but I might be sucked from my book, back down into a sick nap. I guess I shouldn't resist - it is quiet enough, after all...

here & then gone

2007-08-03T21:42:00.001-07:00

summer evening, originally uploaded by sammarin.

I was back in Sacramento for a few days... a few short days. And now I am headed out for Portland for a week. I'll visit Dan and family and then see Dad the following weekend. We talked about camping, but now it seems like we might just take a spin somewhere in the PacNW and stay in motels.

It feels like I've unpacked and am just repacking again. Well that's probably because... it's true!

I look forward to a little bit of nothingness when I get back home next week.

Fresh Starts

2007-08-02T17:08:00.000-07:00

It isn't fall yet, by any measure, but it is AUGUST now. And you know what that means...

Thinking about what classes to register for in the fall

Back to school shopping (although I've spent SO much money this summer that I'm going to go easy on this one)

New academic-year planners (!!!)

I just got myself a new planner and I totally dig these moments. There's nothing like the feeling of a clean calendar into which you can pencil down upcoming weekend trips, concerts, birthdays (in the vain hope that THIS year I will get cards sent out on time), etc etc...

Firsts

2007-08-01T14:40:00.001-07:00

I caught the list bug from my new friend Beth, who is always making lists of one type or another. (So Beth, have you made that last and most important list yet??)

At the risk of being perceived as a) melodramatic slash cheesy, b) nationalist, or c) unappreciative of the spontaneity and variety involved in travel to a different country (because I actually LOVED the differences)...

I am going to make a list of Firsts I Have Particularly Relished Upon My Arrival Home To North America.

And here it is:

First text message (sent to Brett as soon as the plane landed)

First longish conversation with my mom

First fast food (at Checkers in the airport in Atlanta, included spicy fries and a vanilla shake)

First dependable shower in which I could open my mouth to the water shooting forcefully from the spout (and during which I thought that the fact that we bathe in potable water is kinda unbelievable after all)

First morning waking up in my bed and hearing morning swear words from the alley

First burrito (!!!!!) at one of my neighborhood cafes (see above photo) ... Who would have thought that one of my biggest USA-related desires in Peru would be Mexican food?

First successful logon with the laptop I missed so dearly at my favorite neighborhood bar where I am drinking a club soda with lime on the patio

There are more things I have relished, but I right now I am busy.

Focusing my attention on this lovely summertime weather.

Aaaaah.

Flat tires, empty pockets

2007-07-31T14:01:00.001-07:00

I left for the Lima airport this morning at 3:45am in a taxi that quite unfortunately got a flat tire on the way. Fortunately the driver was a fast tire changer and I still made it on time - but once I got to the airport I was out of cash and had to pay the exit tax AND extra money because I had been careless and said I was staying for 30 days (on my little form at the beginning of the trip), when I ended up staying 37. When the uniformed man told me I wouldn't be able to leave without paying, I spilled ALL of my extra sol coins out on the table and said (trying not to cry): this is all I have... Please can I go home now! OK, so it is not all I have, obviously, but I did NOT want to go back to the cash machine AGAIN. He showed mercy and told me what I had was enough.

I am in Atlanta now and ... I can't. Wait. To go. Home!!!

More photos to come on flickr of the end of our trip: Pisco, Islas Ballenas, and the final dinner with our group... once I catch my breath.

Goodbye Arequipa...

2007-07-28T12:35:00.001-07:00

azul, originally uploaded by sammarin.

Yesterday was our last day in Arequipa, after a month of study and homestay. A few other students and I walked around in the morning, very slow and relaxed, had espressos, shopped for last-minute things at antique stores. I had a last supper with the family. Camila (the 10 year old granddaughter) fell off her bike and bumped her head, had to go to the clinic because she lost consciousness and couldn´t remember anything... that was scary.

I packed all my bags. Then we got on an overnight bus to visit Nazca.

More photos of Nazca to come... I am enjoying the HOT SUN, sitting by the pool and reading, swimming, and finally taking a deep breath now that classes are over. Summer vacation time...

taxi jam

2007-07-25T13:21:00.001-07:00

taxi jam, originally uploaded by sammarin.

HERE is an example of what the streets normally look like at 8am (in reference to the previous entry about taxis)... later in the day, it is more dangerous because the taxis speed freely down the road. Freeeeeely. And with velocidad!

taxis taxis taxis

2007-07-24T12:58:00.001-07:00

taxis, originally uploaded by sammarin.

During Fujimori's regime, many economic sectors were opened up internationally in Perú - and many products started pouring in that hadn't been imported before. For example, the TICO.

Almost all taxis here are Ticos - that's a specific make of automobile - and this is a shot of an extremely empty street with the exception of these few Ticos. When you ride in a Tico, the experience is so squeaky that it sounds as if all the various plastic and metal parts are going to fall apart instantly upon the next bump, like a house of cards.

To a great degree, I actually felt safer during the strikes because the protesters had blocked off ALL the streets and there were NO taxis... These taxis actually drive FASTER when they see a pedestrian in the way, all the while honking to warn/scold/petrify the pedestrian. There are, I think, a total of 2 stoplights in Arequipa - the rest of the time, people just drive through 4 way intersections with the firm belief that those coming in the opposite direction will just stop.

Walking from one end of town to the other can be quite an adventure...

SHOELACES!!!

2007-07-22T18:22:00.001-07:00

SHOELACES!!!, originally uploaded by sammarin.

If anybody needs shoelaces, this guy sells them for 5 soles a pair.

But for free, he will scare your pants off with the crazy growl-scream that is his trademark sales pitch. He yells SHOELACES right in your face like a mad dog.

I asked if I could take his photo for 30 centimos (10 US cents) and he balked at that. So here is a photo of his back as he walks away...

Caminos

2007-07-20T10:29:00.001-07:00

flores, originally uploaded by sammarin.

Now that I have taken my last test, I will have plenty of time to take caminos through the city. This shot is from the barrio of San Lazaro, which is my favorite part. Twisty narrow streets like in southern Spain - the oldest part of Arequipa. And every once in awhile you see the most amazing flowers spurting out from an unanticipated place...

Soy la Denunciante

2007-07-19T19:00:00.001-07:00

soy la denunciante, originally uploaded by sammarin.

OK - So I haven´t written about this because I didn´t want to admit it - but I got ripped off.

Before we went to Cusco, I went to a travel agency here, which sold me bus tickets from Puno to Cusco, a hotel room for one night in Cusco, and train tickets from Cusco to Machu Picchu and back. But when we arrived in Puno... none of the things I had paid for were actually there. So we had to buy everything AGAIN.

When I returned to Arequipa, I went to the agency to demand my money back. The guy who sold everything to me said, "I am not the boss, so I cannot give you your money back. Come back on Saturday." So I came back Saturday, and guess what!? The boss was not there then either. Or the next TWO TIMES I returned, when I was told the boss would be there.

So today I had to go to the tourist police and make what they call here a DENUNCIA. First, let me explain that Peruvian institutions seem to relish carbon copies, each page of which is violently stamped with great officiality. The whole process took three hours, because I had to tell the story, little by little, to a woman who wrote everything by hand in one of several giant old ledgers that are full of denuncias. Then, as you can see, I had to sign and give my fingerprint that everything was true and correct.

Then, I had to go to a different desk in the same office, and tell the same story ALL OVER AGAIN (and let me tell you, it was painful enough to relive the buying process, the showing-up-in-depressing-hole-of-a-town-puno to find out that there were NO BUS TICKETS, the showing up in cusco at 3am to find out there was NO HOTEL RESERVATION made, and also NO TRAIN TICKETS to pick up, the waking up at 5:30am that same day to go to the train station to see if we could even buy tickets, the paying for everything again, and the returning to try to pin this creep down to get my money back... but I had to go through it all AGAIN with a policeman who repeated everything I said aloud, followed by a ¿no? ("Is that correct?"), while he hunted and pecked on his computer to record my manifiesto).

After he had written the report, I sat for 15 minutes while the dot-matrix printer produced the report, on two pages - one was carbon copied! - and then I had to sign and put my fingerprint on every page. And I had to return with all of my receipts from buying things a second time.

Tomorrow at 3pm I go back to the police station to meet with the officers and with "Carlos" - the guy who sold me everything - and who has told me several times that he simply works there and so cannot resolve my issue... But it turns out HE IS THE OWNER OF THE PLACE!!!

So this guy is what they call here a "sinvergüenza." That literally means he is:

"sin" (without)
"vergüenza" (shame)

... Wish me luck in getting my money back!!

Cuuuuuuy!!!

2007-07-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

Cuy is the name for guinea pigs here. I admit that I have eaten two of them. But I feel a little sorry about it when I see them in their little apartments. (This one was a highrise, but the photo doesn´t capture the many levels of balconies...)

E sent me a photo from Jon Stewart´s recent Moment of Zen about the best-dressed guinea pigs contest in Perú. Awesome!!

¡hola!

2007-07-18T10:33:00.001-07:00

llamas, originally uploaded by sammarin.

It has been quite a while since I posted, because:

1. The strikes are still happening in Arequipa. Not violent, but effective for making things more difficult.

2. We went away for the weekend to Colca Canyon (fun! - I will be writing about that soon).

3. I have been completely focused on the two big presentations that I did today - on the story by Juan José Millás, "Viajes a África" and on various cultural and historical aspects of Perú...

But now I am back in town, there is a tregua (cease) of the strike for 48 hours, and most importantly, I am DONE WITH MY PRESENTATIONS!! Woo hoo!!

Now I can blog like a madwoman... So, see you again soon.

stuck indoors

2007-07-12T11:58:00.001-07:00

at irina's house, originally uploaded by sammarin.

so, there have been huelgas (strikes) here for the past few days. class was cancelled yesterday, and we have condensed classes today - because there is a fear that the protesters will become violent. they want the whole city shut down, so when they see taxis and buses running, they throw rocks and swing sticks.

streets are blocked off with buses and big rocks, and when protesters come down the street shouting, stores shut their front doors so that they don't get vandalized.

yesterday i was sick all day with stomach bug (something i ate? it could have been LOTS of things!) and there is lots of studying to do, so I don't mind being indoors most of the time...

07/07/07

2007-07-09T15:06:00.001-07:00

i was here, originally uploaded by sammarin.

We visited Machu Picchu on Saturday, and it just happened to be the day that the New Seven Wonders were announced... and Machu Picchu was awarded number 4!

Voting was on when Mom and Dale visited in the spring, and booths were still set up last weekend when I went with the whole group. Signs are everywhere here in Peru urging people to vote for Machu Picchu.

There were big parties on site, in Aguas Calientes, and in Cusco. As the results were announced, live music played in Aguas Calientes and TVs were all tuned in to the live ceremony. B & I celebrated the evening by visiting the thermal baths and then eating traditional Peruvian fare: cuy (guinea pig) and chicken roasted over a fire.

Check out more Peru photos here.

Y ya empiezan las clases...

2007-07-03T12:56:00.001-07:00

at our school, originally uploaded by sammarin.

We started classes yesterday and already had an exam on the things we learned while traveling in Cusco and Machu Picchu, Lima, Puno and Lake Titicaca... fortunately I had studied with my beloved flash cards so it went well. It was a short day yesterday, and the normal classes started this morning at 8am.

I am enrolled in two classes:

El Cine y la Narrativa de España (Cinema and Narrative in Spain) - 20th century - and today we talked about the Spanish civil war. We had read Requiem por un Campesino Español and some chapters from ¿Qué fue la Guerra Civil? I have lots to learn about the war, to understand how Spain developed and influenced the rest of the world events in the 20th century. It is going to be an interesing class.

Also, Culturas de la América Latina (Cultures of Latin America) - an overview of Latin American cultures through studying adivinanzas (riddles). How fun! Different vocabulary for each country, different flora and fauna to which the riddles refer. In the second part of the class we will talk generally (very generally, very briefly, very superficially by necessity) about each country - from social, historical, literary perspectives.

I have a lot of reading to do in Spanish! So, off to a café I go...

en posición fetal

2007-07-03T12:37:00.001-07:00

en posición fetal, originally uploaded by sammarin.

Here is a photo of me inside one of the chullpas (funerary towers) at Sillustani. The Colla - a preincan population - built these towers to stick their dead people in. The dead people were posed in a fetal position because they were being reborn as seeds for new life. For photos of the outside of the chullpas, see this photo.

río in puno

2007-07-03T12:20:00.001-07:00

río in puno, originally uploaded by sammarin.

Here´s a view from the bus near Puno. You will see, once I get the photos of Machu Picchu and Cusco up here, how much drier this landscape is than the more jungly parts of the Sacred Valley.

Diana lives on a floating island in Lake Titicaca

2007-06-29T19:52:00.001-07:00

diana, originally uploaded by sammarin.

...and is totally enchanted by bubble gum.

This afternoon we visited her home of Uros, a bunch of about 35 human-made floating islands which are made by people who have lived on Lake Titicaca since way before the 1400s. The islands themselves and everything on them - houses, beds, boats - are almost entirely made of a reed called totora. The president of the island showed us how the islands are constructed and secured. Awesome.

good fortune

2007-06-29T19:44:00.001-07:00

fortunas, originally uploaded by sammarin.

One of the very coolest things about today was that a monkey told my fortune at the fiesta in Ichu. In the market, there were all kinds of stands, including ones that featured fortune-telling monkeys and parrots. The guy in the white hat touches the monkey to your head so it can ¨leer la mente¨(read your mind), and then the monkey picks out with its tiny hand a little folded up piece of paper from the drawer below and hands it to you. Of course all the fortunes are good - but I was (of course) still delighted.

¡puro fiesta!

2007-06-29T19:41:00.001-07:00

guitarra, originally uploaded by sammarin.

OK, I am so retrasada (behind) in the chronology of my postings... so I am going to simply skip the glorious Machu Picchu and Cusco and other details about the Sacred Valley for now, and tell you all about those places next week. Today I just have to tell you about what happened today.

We went to a small pueblo called Ichu, where they were celebrating an annual festival to honor San Pedro y San Pablo. People who were born and raised in Ichu but have moved away to the big city return from all over Perú for this fiesta. It is the town´s biggest party of the year.

In addition to a market where people sold and traded stuff for dried fish and many varieties of papas (potatoes), there was a giant parade with costumes and dancing and bands playing music. Rivers of people flowing into the town. All kinds of special foods - like chicharrones and chuños, which i ate - and plenty of cusqueña (cerveza).

mi nuevo abrigo

2007-06-29T19:28:00.001-07:00

mi nuevo abrigo, originally uploaded by sammarin.

Here in Puno it is soooo frííííííííío that I had to buy a new alpaca coat. (And gloves and scarf.) The gloves are actually of baby alpaca and very soft.

I told Mom about this purchase last night on the phone and she wanted a photo. So here you go, Mom! xoxo

at the highest point

2007-06-28T19:14:00.000-07:00

We took a bus for 7 hours from Cusco to Puno today, and this is the town we will stay in for the next two nights - we visit Lake Titicaca tomorrow. Then on Saturday, we head for Arequipa, the town we will stay in for 4 weeks while we take our classes for the Travel Study-Spanish MA program through Sac State.

The landscape has totally changed between Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu, and the area leading down to Puno. It is much drier here. I will post photos of both places soon on flickr... maybe after we have settled down in Arequipa. We are at the highest altitude we have experienced on the trip. Some of the symptoms of soroche (altitude sickness) are fatigue, headache and nausea. Thanks to Pacha Mama and drinking mate de coca, I have not had any big problems yet - except for being super tired. I definitely feel like 10pm is the latest I can muster these days.

Up early tomorrow to see Titicaca and the floating islands.

i have just one word for you tonight...

2007-06-27T20:20:00.001-07:00

horno, originally uploaded by sammarin.

EMPANADAS.

memorias

2007-06-27T14:14:00.001-07:00

ollantaytambo, originally uploaded by sammarin.

I wish I had more time on this computer to write about how things are going. I´ll just say that it feels amazing to me to see places that were constructed by the Andean people so long ago, to climb the same steps and look at the same sky. I feel connected to the past in a way that I´m not sure I ever have felt before.

And also connected to other places, as well as times... people visit this sacred valley from China, Brasil, Germany... everywhere - and they are discovering for the first time, as I am, something amazing. I´m awed by the sense of newness - the sense that we tourists have never seen such a thing as this before - mixed with the oldness of these places. Old and new are mixed again when you see folks on the street calling ¨memorias... memorias¨ - in order to sell the memory cards for cameras that they´ve got, alongside the hand-stitched tapestries...

There´s so much more I want to share once I get to Arequipa about this initial time in the Sacred Valley. Cusco, Ollantaytambo, Aguas Calientes, Machu Picchu - I feel truly fortunate to be here and walk these paths and breathe this high high mountain air!

desde el ombligo

2007-06-26T18:41:00.001-07:00

mira el cielo, originally uploaded by sammarin.

here´s a photo from sacsayhuaman, near cusco in peru. more stories to come! i am currently inhabited by the inca spirit.

eroticismo

2007-06-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went on a tour of the centro històrico de Lima, and we saw the cathedral, plaza de armas, Palacio del Gobierno, and the church of San Francisco with its catacombs FULL OF HUMAN BONES arranged all crazy in order to save space for more of the dead! (I am going to post my own photos to flickr and blog them here asap.)

In Lima yesterday we also visited the Museo Larco with its enormous collection of Mochica ceramics and other pre-Incan objects. The museum features a Sala Eròtica, which was pretty amazing. Animals humping, humans humping in almost every way you could think of, including with dead people. Ahh... those horny pre-Incans!

Spent the afternoon at Larco Mar, a cool beachside eating and shopping center. We had 5 types of cebiche. Nam nam! Miraflores rocks; Everybody was out on the streets, even though it´s cold. A group of about 40 people were sitting around an amphitheater, waiting for a possible performance... Apparently every Friday, Saturday and Sunday there`s normally some kind of impromptu performance art that occurs in the central park.

This morning we were up way early for a flight to Cusco. When we arrived at the hotel we rested and drank coca tea which seems to be helping with the altitude.

Additionally - this group is amazing. Most of the people have done the program in previous summers and were embracing each other this morning with excitement. Already a bunch of people have remembered my name and welcomed me. They invited me out for ONE DRINK last night but I was ... too... tire ... d ....... Today I feel better, and we are off now for a city tour.

a quick first post from peru

2007-06-24T05:18:00.000-07:00

Arrived at around 6am and I was amazed at the Lima airport - so bright and spacious and clean, like Scandinavia almost! With ladies dressed in bright orange outfits working at the duty free shop. My cab driver was amazingly kind, speaking really slow Spanish for me and clarifying vocabulary words, such as the difference between garua and niebla, and pointing out old viviendas that la gente de plata (rich people) live in.

We go on a city tour at 9am, and I'm heading upstairs now to take a shower. I fear taking a nap would do more harm than good at this point... I did sleep quite a bit on the plane, where I sat next to 2 limeños, a mom and 14-yr-old son... he was so cute, listening to rock music on his headphones and then curling up and snuggling with mom during the night. They were very curious about me and asked even about the over-21 wristband I was wearing from going to the wine tasting at the Washington, DC barbeque festival. (¿Para què es eso?)

If you have asked me to send you a postcard from Perù (or even if you haven´t and would like me to send you a postcard), could you (¿por favor!) email your mailing address to me at marjorieschreiber@yahoo.com? In my scurries I have left all snail mail addresses at home. ¡¡Gracias!!

If you would like to write me a letter in Perù (I would love it!) here´s my address for the next 5 weeks. It apparently takes a week to ten days for letters to get here from the USA.

Rosa ZANABRIA
Para: Marjorie SCHREIBER
Urb. Campiña paisajista B-7 San Lázaro Cercado
Arequipa
PERU

¡Hasta pronto!

funky keyboards, for starters

2007-06-23T17:15:00.000-07:00

I'm writing from one of those internet airport kiosks (in Atlanta). Can you tell the space bar sticks? Oh, now I realize that is I tap it on the far right end, it works fine. Oh, maybe not after all. (Editorial comment: after looking at the published post, you can't see the extra spaces from the sticky keyboard, but trust me, they are *maddening*.)

I was told that I shouldn't bring my laptop to Peru (because of the risk of it being stolen, and because there's not much wifi, and definitely not where I'll be living), so I'm going to have to get accustomed to funny keyboards of all sorts, I'm sure.

So I left DC this afternoon, where I'd attended a tiny bit of the annual convention (basically just the RSS Services to Spanish Speakers committee meeting - I'm going to serve starting the end of this conference). That group of folks and the things they've been working on seem very cool. See the guidelines that were published at Midwinter for info. The new projects will be to compile reference resources in Spanish on this blog Adam created, and to plan a program on collection development en espanol for 2009.

I really wish I had the patience to create links for things in this post, but this funky keyboard has no control key or options for cutting and pasting. And I'd rather eat a taco than type in URLs. So, more later on the exciting world of Library Services for Spanish Speakers.

For those of you not-so-interested in my professional affiliations, here's some life info:

B & I ate soul food in Adams Morgan last night, a cool strip we would have explored more in a world of endless leisure time. We rode the bus through parts of DC we hadn't intended to explore. Confusing! Even the bus drivers were confused! I've spent my post-conference time on the plane, reading about colectivo buses in Lima and how they crash into each other in a mad rush for customers, and rush off before you're completely inside the bus. And eating unsatisfying airplane snacks. Now i'm in the airport for the next three ish hours. I leave Atlanta at 11:30 tonight, arrive in Lima at around 5am, hang out in Miraflores for the day and night, and then leave for Cusco in the morning. I'll post again soon!

offline

2007-06-13T08:37:00.001-07:00

pool, originally uploaded by sammarin.

So, this is the reason I've not been posting to the blog!

More photos of Bermuda to come on flickr. It might take awhile to get them all up ... it's lazy and lo-tech days lately.

our awesome future

2007-05-30T09:06:00.001-07:00

someone on flickr thinks google will do this for us in 20 years

nearing stage 5: the EVERYBODY PANIC stage

2007-05-30T06:12:00.000-07:00

Because I don't want to lose you as a reader, I won't go into all the maddening (and mindnumbingly repetitive instances of) problems I have had in renewing my passport this spring, in preparation for my departure to Peru on 23 June. For the sake of brevity, I will simply give you some highlights:

STAGE ONE: Naive Hope
- In which I submit a renewal app back in the beginning of March, having read that due to the new requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, it takes up to 10-12 weeks now to get this process done. The helpful web site provided, where you can check the status of your app, tells me that my app is still not in the system. (They are sorry though!) My check to the Dept. of State was indeed cashed, about six weeks ago.

STAGE TWO: Wonder
- In which I learn that the passport renewal folks won't even talk to you in person until you are 14 days or less from your departure. (If more, "Do not worry, please.") This makes it tough for people like me who are leaving tomorrow from home and not actually leaving the country until 23 June. Fortunately one does not need a passport (yet) for traveling to Bermuda by sea... or I'd be screwed.

STAGE THREE: Alienation, Paranoia
- In which I go into my local friendly post office to talk to a person, and I am given the phone number for the SF regional office, where apparently it used to be that one could make an appointment to expedite one's passport renewal/application. I try to call and reach a voicemail recording which instructs me to leave a message. At the tone, though, I hear: "This voice mailbox is full." So I call again and sneakily enter a different extension number to see if I can reach a human. This is the nutty part: I hear a recording that tells me I can call two numbers (877 and 900) that charge by the minute where I can get help. I am that desperate; I call the numbers. One is out of service, and the other gives me a recording that I should call a different number to meet people nationwide.

STAGE FOUR: Dismay, Resignation (?)
- In which I try again to call the main toll-free number and describe my situation, and I am not exaggerating when I say that it takes me a dozen or more calls to get past the recorded phone message that begins by asking me to stay on the line and ends by saying "Due to high call volume, your call cannot be answered at this time. Please call later." Finally I wake up at 6am to call and get through to some person who tells me that my passport is in stage 4 of 7 stages, the adjudication stage, which takes about a week. (I wipe the sweat off my brow to know that Joe Blow hasn't stolen my check in the mail and cashed it for his own purposes, and sold my passport to someone else.) The rep says I should call back after 8 June to see if I can get an "urgent expedite." I ask him if I can have the passport mailed someplace other than Sac, since I don't plan to be here, and he replies: "Well, I can put in a note." I respond that that would be nice... and give him a mailing address... and then he doesn't say anything that would lead me to think he got any kind of training whatsoever (I was expecting something like: "Is there anything else I can help you with" or even "that's all I can tell you" -- not that I was expecting anything like "sorry for the delay") -- he simply says "Bye!" Now, that's spooky and makes me think that the whole thing is a Big Joke On Me.

Except that (der) apparently I'm not the only one with problems, due to the recent changes:

From Seattle Times: Want a Passport? Be Prepared to Wait

From NYT: A Heightened Summer Rush for Passports

From NPR: Passport Backlog Blamed on New Requirements

I should have started this back in January, when FARK provided the heads-up:

[Interesting] New passport rules go into effect Tuesday. Terrorist threat level to be lowered. Just kidding, you aren't any safer

bad baby pie

2007-05-29T22:32:00.001-07:00

I've never really liked pies. See? Even when I was little I could barely swallow them down.

But I just saw The Waitress, a funny and silly and sometimes-hokey movie that seemed sort of like a play and much like a fairytale (including the violent threats of a villain, the suggestion of magic, and a handsome prince)... and there were some tasty-looking pies in that movie. And of course, the warm feelings and complex domestic skills that are infused in great piemaking.

But the things I really liked about the movie: the crisp acting and sharp, loopy dialogue of the women actors; the names of the pies (for example, "naughty pumpkin pie" and "Old Joe's horny past pie"); and the sappy syrupy warm soft sweet love scene in the kitchen.

What can I say? I guess I'm just a sappy syrupy warm soft sweet-loving kinda gal...

Oh, but what I really, really, really, really, REALLY want to see now is the movie Once. It looks perfect.

my brother, the horror novelist

2007-05-29T11:28:00.001-07:00

He has a blog, too: The Scary Parent.

In fact, he is a hoary old blogger by now!

Here's an early entry.

Don't blame me if you barf or scratch out your eyes!

Brains! And a bizarre, unscratchable itch

2007-05-29T09:50:00.000-07:00

I can't wait to read The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, featured in this NYT review by Abigail Zuger.

You should read the linked piece simply to enjoy the reviewer's way with words (emphasis mine):

"Now sophisticated experimental techniques suggest the brain is more like a Disney-esque animated sea creature. Constantly oozing in various directions, it is apparently able to respond to injury with striking functional reorganization, and can at times actually think itself into a new anatomic configuration..."

Plus, Zuger uses the word "hoary" in her review. I don't know her but she is probably rad.

"Share Our Joy"

2007-05-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

You are invited?

http://gwynnanddavesharetheirjoy.com/

(From the May 21 New Yorker)

flowering

2007-05-28T18:42:00.001-07:00

cactus flower, originally uploaded by sammarin.

even the prickliest, driest things can become something pretty.

A coherent story to tell

2007-05-26T17:48:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about how we make sense of our own lives through storytelling since I read the May 22 NYT article by Benedict Carey, "This Is Your Life (and How You Tell It)" - which describes the work of narrative psychologists and explores the significance of "the life story that people themselves tell about who they are, and why."

Carey summarizes that studies by psychology researchers like Dan C. McAdams, author of The Redemptive Self, show:

"...strong correlations between the content of people’s current lives and the stories they tell... Those with mood problems have many good memories, but these scenes are usually tainted by some dark detail... A note of disappointment seems to close each narrative phrase. By contrast, so-called generative adults — those who score highly on tests measuring civic-mindedness, and who are likely to be energetic and involved — tend to see many of the events in their life in the reverse order, as linked by themes of redemption."

The article goes on to talk about personal life stories revealing the differences between study participants who attribute the troubling aspects of their lives to their own specific personalities, rather than to the events and/or environments around them - and the ones who consider those negative things external or separate from themselves, as things to be conquered/eliminated/risen above...

shawna's feet look like hershey kisses

2007-05-23T22:34:00.001-07:00

pointy pointy, originally uploaded by sammarin.

popularity controversy

2007-05-23T15:39:00.000-07:00

From today's Sacramento Bee:

Sacramento library staffers are circulating a petition of no-confidence in management, decrying what they view as a departure from amassing a rich research collection to pandering to the whims of the YouTube generation.

Librarians question administrators' selection of materials, which include six copies of Paris Hilton's 'Confessions of an Heiress' autobiography and 10 copies of the film 'Jackass 2.'

Oh, the library has those kinds of things?! Wow... those must be some hip administrators selecting that kind of stuff... I'm gonna go check them - OH. They are all checked out. With holds on them. Well I guess that not everybody must think having popular materials is such a bad thing after all.

sigh

I guess I'll just check out Moby Dick. It looks like there are at least eight copies of that on the shelf at the Central Library alone...

hammered down

2007-05-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

This image caught my attention immediately when I read an article about the effects of increased access to various forms of media in China in Global-e, a new global studies journal provided through Open Journal Systems, which is part of the Public Knowledge Project.

'Nail house' is a Chinese slang term referring to the dwellings of people who refuse to move after receiving eviction notices from real estate developers or government officials. You can read about the fate of the Nail House in this BBC article.

Farewell, Spanky

2007-05-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

Brett sent me this Denver Post article yesterday about the medieval business that's going down at the Denver Zoo (poor Spanky!). And then I saw a link on Fark this morning about schools cancelling visits to the zoo because of the incident.

I think, truly, the best thing about Fark is the one-line teasers Drew provides for each item. I clicked on the link because my iGoogle Fark feed read:

[Dumbass]: Elementary school cancels zoo trip over fear that children will eat plague-infected squirrels

Too many damn beavers ?!?!!

2007-05-22T09:08:00.000-07:00

First of all, pardon the profanity, but I am trying to pat down my hackles as I type this.

I work in Sacramento, but the college is very close to Elk Grove, which is a suburb that has pretty much exploded in the past 10 years with little-boxes-made-of-tickytacky, and Linens-n-Things conveniently located across the street from Bed Bath & Beyond (so that you have your very important choice of which specialty bed/kitchen store you want to patronize) and a drive-through Starbucks on every corner, etc etc, you know the drill. So I was interested to read an article in the Sac Bee (see if you can access the link) about how Elk Grove plans to eradicate beavers.

People, why is it that we care so much about a couple of whales (article from SFGate) but when it comes to everyday critters like beavers building their inconvenient dams and messing up the workflow of human overpopulation and urban sprawl, we don't give a crap about anything but ourselves? Kill em. Dealing with the dams takes too much of our resources.

Nevermind the point that resident Tom Russell brings up, that "When beavers are left alone, they create new ecosystems and sanctuaries for 'quite a few species of fish, turtles, snakes, animals, birds and plants' without threatening humans or safety."

Grrrr...

pant pant

Image by Zoe Cormier at Zoetic.

more fantastical sea beasts

2007-05-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

Check out this and other amazing images from as far down as four and a half miles below the surface of the sea...

They come from “The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss” (University of Chicago Press, 2007), by Claire Nouvian, a French journalist and film director (as reported by the NYT).

i'm not tired of the lolcats yet.

2007-05-21T17:36:00.000-07:00

Fark might be, but Michael Agger of Slate gives us a slide show essay that explores the charm, complexity, and (dare I say it!) brilliance of this MEEM.

And just for yallz info, my favorite of the day is:
IM ON UR LAPTOP BLOIN UR MYND

Very! Important! Update!
(For those of you who don't read the comments)
Anne-Marie posted a link to the best lolcats I have ever seen:
BABUSHKA CATS ARE IN UR BOX, BEIN OLD WIMMENS

happy one-week anniversary!

2007-05-21T09:28:00.000-07:00

My week-long experience of being a blogger (I made it through to my first anniversary - HOO-RAY!!) has been both excellent AND informative!

I celebrated my one-week anniversary with blogger by checking my StatCounter project for recent activity, and finding that someone in Maryland from the FAA (bot? naughty staffer on her lunch hour?) had visited my blog as a result of a google search of "evil.gov".

In all candor, my first thought was that my mom would tell me to remove the Onion posting as quickly as possible. But, Mom: That evil glowy-eyed goat is so cute! And I'm obviously already on the naughty list! The Onion must have lots more checks behind its name on the chalk board than I do...!!

Experienced bloggers out there probably will tell me that it has been proven that featuring humor (or criticism, ooh!) or even personal information has its obvious consequences, and that they've seen it all before. But I want to hear about it, then!

"worm lizards" and the like are messing things up, but beer makes it all better.

2007-05-21T02:09:00.000-07:00

As NPR reports: "This month marks the 300th birthday of Carl Linnaeus, Sweden's beloved botanist who gave order to the plant and animal kingdoms." However, as the segment continues: "Modern science is complicating Linnaeus' ranking system. DNA analysis often shows that two organisms, thought to be distant relatives, are actually first cousins. There are now sub-orders, super-orders, even 'tribes.'"

See, for example, this "bloated earthworm" which scientists did not know how to rank until recent DNA testing showed them to be closely related to some of the most common lizards in Europe. All I know is... looks de-licious.

In other science news from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, all it takes for science to become interesting to adults is beer. The paper reports on Science on Tap, a monthly forum for people to learn about and discuss timely scientific issues while swilling microbrews. Recent and upcoming topics include: enzyme-level figures contrasting how men and women hold up under the unremitting stress of caring for a loved one, and the exchange of cells between mother and child during pregnancy.

Rock on, Seattle scientists! Sacramento, Davis... how about asking us out for a drink?

Gaaaaah!! ... Google Maps Mania!

2007-05-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

I think I could spend the rest of my days exploring this blog.

There - if you don't know about it already, I've put its hex upon you too.

Enjoy your new addiction!

spidey 3: pros & cons

2007-05-19T22:58:00.000-07:00

rad things about spiderman 3:

1. the crab-like movements of the molten black pleather goo
2. venom/topher's jaggedy yellow teeth
3. mj's waitress outfit

... and the best of all...

4. SANDMAN - everything about him including:

thomas haden church as flint marko, who served as the perfect comic character in his face, body, voice, movements, etc

the way in which his body comes into form at the testing ground

his head being temporarily ripped apart in a fiery explosion

crap things about spiderman 3:

1. james franco's beautiful face gets marred

... but the worst of the worst...

2. peter parker never says he is sorry for being such a butthole, even from before the molten black pleather goo! what a bum.

dark-to-light

2007-05-19T15:31:00.000-07:00

my man brett is good at sharing online toys he knows i will enjoy, like this interactive webradio site...

curling inward

2007-05-19T08:22:00.001-07:00

feeling a bit like the fern in this great photo by my e-friend in scotland, idleberry.

The pathos of Napoleon's penis

2007-05-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

In this NYT op-ed piece about weird relics people collect, Judith Pascoe recommends that the poor object (which she compares to a "maltreated shoelace") should be returned to its body to rest in peace.

Pascoe also mentions in the article that "Mary Shelley [kept] her husband’s heart, dried to a powder, in her desk drawer." Awww!

maw haw haw

2007-05-17T22:37:00.001-07:00

lolcats AND lolbrarians

teeming with lifeforms

2007-05-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

BBC reports discovery of cool undersea Antarctic creatures. Made me think of Mara, my marine biology fiend.

linguistic curiosities

2007-05-17T07:54:00.001-07:00

linguistic curiosities, originally uploaded by marmix.

here's a photo from heather in florida. i miss her.

whacked with a guinea pig

2007-05-16T22:22:00.000-07:00

So in preparation for my studies in Peru this summer, I'm reading Along the Inca Road by Karin Muller. In the first chapter she visits a curandero who whacks her all over with a guinea pig to diagnose her ailments, and then she sees another medicine man who treats her by rubbing her all over with stinging nettles. Yowza.

I guess my experience of the book is similar to that of this Peace Corps Writers review, which states: "This is a book written by a tourist whose mission it was to write a book. I closed the book having learned little about The Inca Road or the people that now inhabit its environs. What I read was largely a travelogue filled with anecdotes of self inflicted adventure" (...though self inflicted adventure can sometimes be quite entertaining, it's true).

This review from Entertainment Weekly gave the book a "B" when it came out in 2000. (The notable part of that brief review, to me, is that seven years ago, the reviewer felt it necessary to put in parentheses what GPS stands for.)

ouch?

2007-05-16T16:49:00.000-07:00

According to the Sac Bee, Sacramento ranks #3 for the highest number of dog bites to postal workers. But how many cities were included in the stats? And what's the source? Inquiring minds, you know?

Let me add that the Sacramento Bee is one of the news web sites that does NOT allow one to view articles without registration. I think that blows. I'd originally tried to link directly to the article about the dog bites, but when I revisited the link, I got a load of crap page about how I needed to register. Booo.

The full text is available at evil.gov

2007-05-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

"This is a waste of taxpayer dollars to do work best left to the private sector. It's high time for the DOE to be absorbed into Homeland Security, where it belongs."

Excerpt from The Onion's Recent News article, Dept. Of Evil: 'All Of You Must Die'

And in Beijing...

2007-05-15T16:51:00.000-07:00

"They seem to be having a honeymoon."

Now I'm a brilliant mistake

2007-05-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

I have all the enthusiasm of a newbie blogger...

So I wanted to declare, while I sit in the bubble chair at Infusion, and pay attention to the music that's playing instead of focusing on my Spanish text:

There's not enough Elvis Costello currently in my life.

So, there's Marisa Monte and Bebel Gilberto and...

2007-05-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

It's starting to get hard to keep up with all of the intriguing reasons to visit Brasil. Here's another quotidian example from my e-friend in Rio, Ana Valéria.

a house in my neighborhood

2007-05-15T00:50:00.001-07:00

house, originally uploaded by sammarin.

Today seems like a good day to start a blog.

2007-05-14T23:41:00.000-07:00

I was inspired last Friday by David Silver and Anne-Marie Deitering's presentations at the CCLI 2007 Spring Workshop to begin, no matter how small-scale, and to be consistent.

Today I created my 2007 summer reading list, which includes Rebecca Scott's first novel, Ghostwalk (Suspicious deaths! Alchemy! The plague!), I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas R. Hofstadter (Gödel! Escher! Bach!), and Colin Woodard's The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down (Pirates!).

Next Thursday, my summer vacation begins, and these will be my first delicious reads.