Different Sorts of Literacy

"In any case, there is a world of difference between the sophisticated command of vocabulary and tradition necessary of to read Virgil or Keats, and the pragmatic use of written documents to validate legal rights or social position." (Innes, "Memory, Orality, and Literacy in Early Medieval Society," Past and Present 158).

...Sometimes you're reading along in an academic journal article, and it's all very subtle and nuanced, but rather dull, and then you come across a statement and you wake up and go, "no sh**!!!" Keats I can do, but the tax code I cannot. By the way, did you know that the tax code has the same "lexile" level, or complexity, as Hume and Kant? Complexity has little to do with actual worth--or perhaps the relationship is inverse. I guess that's why I never trusted Mansfield and Derrida.

Is There Any Greater Happiness...

Than sitting in a well-appointed booth in a well-decorated cafe, doing a pleasant assignment late on a Saturday morning?

You Know You Have Adult ADD if...

You wonder why everyone else talks so slowly.

You always suspect the red light is broken.

You pass up joggers when you're walking to class.

People think you've had a lot of coffee when you haven't, and that you've had cocaine when you've had coffee.

You learned your multiplication tables while standing on your head.

You wish queues were on a treadmill so at least you'd be moving.

When you try to play frisbee with the dog, you end up throwing and retrieving the frisbee.

Etched in Stone

Emily and I took a lovely walk through the Leesburg graveyard, and were mutually gripped with grammatical horror when we saw this marker for a 20-year-old:

Reception at Lost Creek Winery

I've never been to a wedding reception--I thought I wouldn't like them, and I probably wouldn't like most of them, but it was as tasteful as the ceremony itself, and how could a party at a small winery go wrong? I swore I wouldn't dance, but four glasses of excellent rose and pinot noir later, I was swinging like an Andrew Sister along with the bluegrass band (Sarah and Allis, by the way, were perfectly sober).
You can access more photos on my flickr account.

Vestigial Picture

Well, I'm here! Waiting for Brianna to wake up from her jet-lagged sleep so we can commence primping. I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to post after this weekend, so here is one I've been meaning to post for awhile.
The kids are my second cousins, and the bike is my brother's new Triumph (I'm so, so, so happy he didn't get a Harley--ick). All five kids went for rides. Cowards we Hoopers are not.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well, more precisely, I'm driving to VA tomorrow for Brooks and Dana's wedding. I'll be staying with Sarah, Allis, and Leeann, and Brianna will be there, too! When Emily gets finished with the wedding stuff, we are going to descend upon her Saturday.

This is the very first time a close friend has taken the plunge. Normally I'd disapprove, but they are happy, and old enough to know what they want.

My, My, What a Coincidence...

BBC News: Bush Compares Bin Laden to Hitler.

Couldn't we just call him a "bad guy"? I mean, terrorist, or religious fundamentalist, is so much more apt a term than fascist (which implies nationalism and racism) for what Bin Laden actually is (right-wing authoritarians are so run-of-the-mill these days). But I suppose we must get all the emotional mileage we can out of the only just war in the past century. Let's just be sure not to use any Vietnam terminology.

Perhaps we all have little black mustaches

Great article from Harpers.org based on Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies: "as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1."

Back when I used to bother reading everyman's political opinions, I generally found this to be true. Lately I've been reading El Nuevo Dia to bone up my Spanish. The paternalistic view of the government evidenced in the comments is mind-boggling! I sympathize with the independista desire to break away from the American Empire, but why do they trust their own government any more?

Two Completely Unrelated Items

Librarians look like muppets.












Is there a deeper meaning behind this revelation?


The Pope is having a seminar on evolution.

Of course, everyone is concerned that this will further the divide between science and faith. But doesn't it take faith to believe anything about the origins of life? I can't really "believe" in anything that happened before there were people. The whole "if God were alone in the universe and a tree fell" sort of thing. When I think of origins, I think of Discovery Channel simulations, and who can really believe in those?

Resumes, D.H. Lawrence, Dumas, and Dr. Seuss

Right now I'm avoiding sending in my resume. I hate resumes, and I always feel like an imposter when I send them out. All those things I put on the paper--degrees, awards, memberships, languages--aren't me, they were the products of time and chance.

I've finished Women in Love. At first it is tempting to be caught up in the speech, the conversations, and even the actions. There are so many quotable quotes in the beginning, when there is a host of characters, all feeling each other out with dialogue. I don't have the book with me, but so many specific quotes one can rally behind--they seem so revolutionary. Then you realize that except for a few observations, that Gudrun will always be a mistress and Ursula a wife, for example, talk is almost meaningless. Even action is only symbolic of the essential characters of each individual. In the end, the setting is stark and there are only five real characters--perhaps only three. Ursula and Birkin have found closure, albeit that Birkin still feels something lacking. But the triangle of Gudrun, her new lover (whatz his face), and Gerald nuke it out until the very end in a battle of wills and essential purposes.


I tried to start Count of Monte Cristo, but found it didn't sit well after Lawrence. Not that there's anything wrong with it--just not a good combination. So I've been trying to neutralize the atmosphere by reading a study of Dr. Seuss.

Dr. Seuss is actually a controversial figure. On the one hand, his language is inventive, he doesn't condescend to children, and most people like nonsense. On the other hand, his lingual "creativity" is seen by many as a perversion of standard English, his political messages (in the Lorax, the Sneeches, and the Butter Battle Book), are seen by many as too simplistic for such complex subject matter, and his poems are denounced as mere limericks. What do we think?

Things about Ann Arbor that make me happy

The weather is mossy damp right now, but in a month it will be Fall.

I can walk along the river (in my backyard) to the lake (where canoes are for rent).

I have a beautiful pool and fitness room (well, I share them with several hundred other people in my apartment complex).

There is a cafe with coffee, and a convenience store with ice cream, on the ground floor.

September 18, Elizabeth Kostova, author of The Historian, is coming to Shaman Drum Bookshop!

Exacto Knives and My Passing Lane Obsession

Well, oddly enough, I spent the day using an exacto knife at work. I, the child who wasn't allowed to use a steak knife until she was 12. Not because I was violent, mind you, but because I might cut myself (accidentally). My brother could wield a full machete at 5, so I took perverse delight when he nearly cut his toe off in the banana patch one Christmas Eve. I don't think I ever did "arts and crafts" or "scissors skills" as a child. My mother was too kind to inflict such horrors on her left-handed daughter. She was even apologetic about the whole handwriting thing.

Today I followed a pickup truck home from Ann Arbor that stayed in the fast lane THE WHOLE WAY. I wasn't too upset, because he was going about a mile per hour faster than I. But he had a line of traffic behind him, and he would SLOW DOWN when he was passing another car (hence the reason he stayed in my line of vision). I know I'm obsessed with this. But I don't understand. Why?

Poor Me

I'm in serious pain. My head and my throat hurt because the construction on the roof of the library is creating dust that is filtering down into Special Collections, despite the fact that they closed our ventilation system to prevent this from happening. Libraries, in fact, can be very dangerous places. One of my co-workers sliced her fingernail open with an exacto knife while "mylaring" a book today.

The muscles of my back are also in serious spasms. Probable cause was the moving I did on Monday for a professor. I was helping a high school football team carry boxes of books up and down stairs into a UHaul. The professor kept reminding me that I was an "old woman" by comparison. I didn't believe her until the next day.

Does anyone have any suggestions for sore muscles?