frazzled

Gawd, moving is such a biatch! I'm getting finished and it feels good. It's nice to see myself in new space. Tomorrow, it's up to Flag for work. I'm looking forward to visiting the Brewery and ejoying a pale ale with some hot wings.

The Snowbowl is finally open. Though there's probably less than a foot of packed powder on the trails, a couple of lifts are running. It's supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow and I'm bringing the Comet, so we'll see how it goes.

Toodles!

mixplay

Mixplay is rad.

cachina perspective

cachina colada

a secret

Don't you love it when people blog about secrets they don't want to reveal? They're all like 'I have a secret, it's really juicy and exciting...but I'm not going to tell you what it is, sucka!'

Not me! I have a secret and I'm going to share it. I'm moving! If you know me in real life, you probably know this already and you're disappointed at the lack of drama surrounding my high falutin' secret. I'm surrounded by boxes and drums and bags and crates and ginormous rubbermaid tubs stacked to the moon. I feel really excited to unpack my stuff in my new room. I'm only taking my very favorite things, those knicknacks at which I love to stare. This does not include the my hemp nalgene caddy, the dingy old poodle that my old cat Nina used to play with years ago, or the collection of Jodi Picoult novels my mom passed on to me. It does include my collection of tiny wooden vases, my frog pencil holder and all the Steinbeck novels I own.

This is what Ping Pong thinks about all that...

IF HEAVEN HAS A GHETTO

IF ONLY YOU KNEW MY NATURE
THE ESSENCE OF WHO I AM
MY AMBITIONS R NOW LEGENDARY
BUT I AM A SIMPLE MAN
THE WORLD IS CONVINCED THEY KNOW ME
I'VE BEEN CAPTURED, SHOT AND FRAMED
THEY HAVE CRUCIFIED ME AND ANALYZED
SACRIFICED AND GAMED ME
BUT I STILL LOVE MY SISTER
GOD FORGIVE HER FOR HER SINS
I WONDER IF HEAVEN HAS A GHETTO
AND WILL THEY LET ME IN?
TOMORROW IS NOT PROMISED 2 US
TODAY IZ HARD ENOUGH
HELL AIN'T SHIT COMPARED TO LIFE
PROTECT ME GOD IT'Z ROUGH
IF I SHOULD DIE B4 I WAKE
TELL THE YOUTH I CAME AND WENT
MY LAST WORDZ HERE WAZ FUCK THE WORLD
BE STRONG AND REPRESENT

March 12, 1995
Tupac Shakur

Depeche Mode...

...the perfect soundtrack for cleaning under the bed.

Let's Talk About Population

I just finished reading The Story of B by Daniel Quinn and I’m filled with a hundred existential questions right now. This book changed the way I view human history in a fundamental way, particularly in regards to the way I’ve thought about the evolution of agriculture.

I am an agrarian by nature. I love dirt. Deriving nutrients and sustentation from soil and seed brings a real sense of self-satisfaction for me. When I think about the history of Homo Sapiens on this earth, I assume that our species has not always been of the agrarian sort, but I never really though about the time-line leading up to the development of farming. Archaeologists have surmised that human beings evolved in the Pleistocene Epoch, about 1.8 million years ago, yet the advent of totalitarian agriculture began only 12,000 years ago. Totalitarian agriculture is farming that singularly focuses on the production of human food on a mass scale.

For millions of years before the birth of totalitarian agriculture, human beings were living and reproducing in various tribes and cultures across the globe. Populations were checked by the availability of food that could be hunted and gathered and gardened. As soon as mass scale farming caught on, a surplus of food was available. This lead to a boom in population. Any species will reproduce as much as it can to be sustained by its food source. When the food source plateaus, the population plateaus. With an unchecked food surplus, there’s an unchecked population boom.

You might ask, well if there’s such a food surplus in the world currently, then why are there so many starving people in Indian and Africa? B argues that agriculture made it possible for the people of Africa to farm their land to exhaustion, the land is now stripped of it’s natural resources and the population has exploded. B cautions that the rest of world is headed straight for the same predicament.

I’m barely scratching the surface here and am certainly not paying due justice to the archaeological research surrounding this subject. There are so many questions on my mind right now surrounding the current population explosion and this new-to-me theory behind it. There are quite a few of you out there who have read this book before me and while I agree that Daniel Quinn is not the most eloquent or artistic of writers, I do think he brings forth some very interesting and astute ideas about the current state and future of the world. I’d love to hear your own opinions about the world’s population explosion in relation to our farming practices.

Complaint Department

Today I have two:

1. I haven't been able to breathe through my nostrils for three days now. After taking-off and landing in two airplanes today, I have serious doubts that the pressure in my head is ever going to equalize. I wonder how many antihistamines a person can consume in a day without adverse effects.

2. What is it with horizontal stripes these days?! I used to love wearing horizontal stripes. They always made me feel like a sailor or a mime. Nowadays, I feel like a pre-teen trend monkey. I fear those frowning waifs have abducted my beloved stripes and exploited them to the point of no return.

I guess if these are the two worst things going on in my world right now, then life is pretty damn good.

geeky stuff

Is anyone using the new Explorer 7.0? I just upgraded and I really like it a lot. Knowing me, this has probably been out for sometime and I'm just figuring it out. It feels like the colors on my browser are brighter and truer. Is that just me too?

I've never converted to Firefox. I have it, but for some reason my blog shows up all funky and weird when you open it in Firefox. I know that's because I'm a craptacular web designer and know almost nothing about properly formatting a web page.

Nawlins

I didn't take a single picture in New Orleans. The image that sticks in my brain is that of Charity Hospital, which was once the largest public hospital in New Orleans. I remember the news during that time showing images of the hospital after sniper fire from the streets made it impossible to evacuate patients. Driving past the tall, salmon-colored building, eerily silent with broken windows, I felt an incredible weight of sadness and pain. I can only imagine what happened inside that place during and after the storm. It's been said that the damage to the building's structure was so intense that the city will have to demolish it and build a new hospital.

I was struck as well by the scope of devastation and slow rate of rebuilding. We drove for 2 hours through neighborhood after neighborhood, looking at ruined houses. Most have been gutted though some are still strewn with belongings, now covered in mold and rot. There were quite a few FEMA trailers outside people's houses and we saw many of those homeowners working in groups of one or two to restore their property. I wonder what will happen when three or four people have rebuilt their homes on a street with 12 or 15 other abandoned buildings. The amount of hope one has to muster to power through such circumstances is staggering to me.

It's clear that while many have volunteered and the government has provided some resources, there is so much work to be done. Regardless of whether you believe the people of New Orleans should rebuild considering the risk posed by the city's elevation, that place is steeped in a unique history and is home to many. The people of New Orleans are so culturally bright and vibrant with firey music, an irresistible vernacular and lush cuisine. It would be a real shame if our country lost that flavor, that piece of our heritage that contributes to the diversity of our nation. In a day when big box corporations and moneybags politicians are rapidly wiping out individuality, it's more important than ever for us to hold on to and promote cultural diversity.

If you'd like to give, Oxfam America continues to support survivors with their Katrina Fund.

Things

Things that happened to me this week:

-boyfriend decrees it's time for him to move Back East
-one hour later we sign the 30 days notice to vacate our apartment
-I get violently ill with a fever and sore throat. can't talk, breathe or eat
-things begin to look up when a girls night out falls into play
-things plummet in a downward spiral when my purse gets stolen at the bar
-realize blackberry (aka my lifeline), car/house keys and most treasured sunglasses were in said purse
-have to drive through the barrio to the only MVD (aka DMV in every other state) open on Saturday to get duplicate license so i can get on an airplane tomorrow
-avoid making eye contact with surly, sulking barrio residents while waiting for 2 hours
-can't sleep for fear that burglars are going to use my stolen keys to break into apartment

Things are looking up though! It only cost me $4 to get a new license. I used this old-school method of payment called a "check" to buy myself a fancy new phone. I've got a few great prospects for new places to live, and my search has helped me reconnect with old friends and meet some new ones as well. All of this change has been a long time coming and is really an great opportunity for growth and renewal. It always seems that when life takes a big turn it happens fast and furious, and I think I actually like it this way.

So yeah, a bunch of really shitty things happened all at once. But, you know what? Tomorrow is a new day. A day that will bring me to New Orleans for a week of collegiate inspiration, stimulating conversation, good food and dixieland dancing. At least, here's hoping!

Books of 2006

Since I doubt anyone wants to read about the new haircut I got or how accomplished I felt yesterday when I finally registered my car in Arizona, I've decided to take a cue from Elah over at Ciboulette and showcase the books I read in 2006.

• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
• The Anthropology of Turquoise: Meditations on Landscape, Art and Spirit by Ellen Meloy
• Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster
• Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos
• The Cactus Primer by Arthur Gibson
• Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
• The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates
• The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
• The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• Legends of the American Desert by Alex Shoumatoff
• The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
• The Mountains Know Arizona: Images of the Land and Stories of Its People by Rose Houk
• Now is the Time to Open Your Heart by Alice Walker
• The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence by Deepak Chopra
• A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell

I think that's about it. This summer I was in a reading frenzy when I was working that crazy temp job and I have no recollection what books I checked-out from the library and read on my lunch hour in the park. That's okay though as those that were particularly noteworthy are listed here.

I would not recommend all of the books above, Bitter is the New Black was particularly absent of substance. The Anthropology of Turquoise felt uninspired and sometimes snoozeworthy.

I felt most accomplished after finishing Anna Karenina which took me forever and a day to read but it was well worth the time and effort. The Falls was another beautifully written novel, a seriously crafted work of art. The requisite Walker, Monk Kidd and Chopra are represented on the list. I don't know if it's me getting older or if it's a reflection of these works in particular, but this time around the books weren't as inspiring as others by these authors have been in the past. My new favorite author of the year is Luis Alberto Urrea. Of all the books I read this year relating to the desert and it's native plants and people, Urrea did the most lovely job portraying the pre-revolutionary Mexican rancheria and the surrounding Sonoran desert in his novel The Hummingbird's Daughter.

I just started The Story of B by Daniel Quinn; I'll make sure to let you know how it turns out.

A Good Read

"No matter how dark the tapestry God weaves for us, there is always a thread of grace"

I just finished reading Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell. It's a novel about the Italian partisan effort to hide Jewish refugees during World War II. The story is one of sacrifice, giving and tolerance. It was beautifully written and even more beautifully inspiring. At the core of this effort which, in reality, saved over 40,000 Jews from persecution, was a doctrine of selfless giving. It was a compelling story inspiring hope, ingenuity and compassionate salvation.

A Year in Arizona