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Friday, March 24th, 2006
I am reading Unequal Childhoods by Annette Lareau currently, on the recommendation of Harry Brighouse. I like the slice-of-life aspect of it but the narrative style is kind of freaking me out. She switches constantly between a first-person where (as near as I can reckon) she is the narrator, and block-quoted observation notes in first-person where the narrator is the person who did the observation, who is never identified by name. I am finding this really frustrating, not to have an identity for the observer -- clearly there are several different people doing the observations but I have no way of distinguishing them, and it sounds like sometimes it it Dr. Lareau herself, but again no way to verify this. Maybe this is a standard style in sociology -- it just seems weird to me. The families being observed are named (though I don't know if they are real names or pseudonyms), so why not the observers?
posted evening of March 24th, 2006: Respond
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Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006
The president of the Oglala Sioux is intending to open a Planned Parenthood clinic on the Pine Ridge Reservation, which is inside South Dakota but not affected by South Dakota's new law prohibiting abortions. They could use your help in bringing it about -- see the linked post for more information about how to contribute.
posted evening of March 22nd, 2006: Respond
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Tuesday, March 21st, 2006
This evening I am having my second fiddle lesson with Lisa Gutkin, who impressed me favorably at our first meeting. What I want to work on: blues; "John Hardy"; vibrato; "I'll Fly Away" and a couple of similar folk songs. I was going to go to a lecture on Robert Musil beforehand, but the schedule switched around and I will not be able to make it. Got my midterm back in Network Systems last night -- I scored 62/100, which in the wacky world of Professor Rubenstein's curves is an A. (Class median was 44.)
We worked on vibrato and blues, and a lot of bow hand exercises. And toward the end of the lesson some work on "John Hardy" and on playing drone notes while I am singing. I can do some really nice stuff jamming on "John Hardy". It is time that I should start keeping a book of what songs I play. Offhand: - John Hardy was a Desperate Little Man
- Shine On
- I'll Fly Away
- The Louisville Burglar
- St. James Infirmary
- Will the Circle be Unbroken
Anything else?... as I say, time to start keeping a book.
posted afternoon of March 21st, 2006: Respond
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Sunday, March 19th, 2006
I added a "Mineshaft" category at left to reflect the undeniable fact that most of my blogging presence these days is reading Unfogged and related sites.
posted morning of March 19th, 2006: Respond
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There is a fun meme floating around, which I saw at Jackmormon's place and at Matt Weiner's. Neither of them thought to tag me; but I am doing it myself: write one sentence about each state you have visited. - California: California is my base line for comparison, it is manifold, it defies description.
- Wisconsin: I wish I had been old enough to form a memory of Madison, the summer we lived there.
- Missouri: I love the St. Louis Children's Museum.
- Iowa: All I remember of Iowa is a snowy day and a house with red trim.
- Oregon: My favorite rural experiences took place in Oregon.
- Pennsylvania: Philadelphia is a fine city for walking around.
- New York: A vast number of opportunities to have a good time can be found in the city.
- Illinois: Mostly I remember driving in Chicago, with my newly acquired license, and freaking Gary out with the quality of my driving.
- Florida: I watched Pulp Fiction in Boca Raton.
- Connecticut: Unlike any other place I've been in Connecticut, Danbury seems like a very pleasant town to me.
- Massachussetts: What can I say about Massachussetts that has not already been said?
- New Hampshire: In New Hampshire I learned how to build a chair.
- Vermont: In Vermont we mostly ride our bikes.
- Maine: It took a long time driving to get to Maine but we had fun there.
- Rhode Island: We rounded out our New England tour by walking around Providence.
- District of Columbia: DC is not a very good place to be at loose ends.
- Ohio: I visited Oberlin, and nothing about it seemed distinctively Ohioan.
- New Jersey: I live in New Jersey.
- Kansas: The greatest night sky I can remember having seen was from a Kansas field.
And there are probably some others, but I do not remember them. (Illinois and Florida added after some consultation with my memory.... Oops! And Kansas.) Update: Jackmormon is now claiming the right to tag me retroactively. Update: Richard Mason is mandating that everyone join this meme.
posted morning of March 19th, 2006: Respond
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Wednesday, March 15th, 2006
Yesterday I started reading the stories in Close Range by Annie Proulx. This will bring my Proulx-reading arc full circle in a way, since I got interested in her by reading "Brokeback Mountain", which is in this book, and the first book I read was Bad Dirt, to which this is sort of a sequel. My early reaction to the book is that the stories are good, but don't blow me away in the same way that the stories in Bad Dirt did -- with those there was a sense of immediacy and freshness that I'm not getting as much here. But that may be because I know what to expect a little better. Also I am missing the thread of connection which was one of my favorite features of Bad Dirt -- at least half the stories there had characters and setting in common, whereas here all that seems to be shared is that the stories occur in Wyoming or feature characters from Wyoming.
posted evening of March 15th, 2006: Respond
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Sunday, March 12th, 2006
Today I played "Shine on" blues, by Big Bill Broonzy, with Bob and Dave. It was the first time I have ever really been satisfied with my fiddle playing on a blues piece. I think also that I could play and sing this song, once I learn the lyrics.
posted evening of March 12th, 2006: Respond
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Monday, March 6th, 2006
My current reread of V. is officially over, bogged down in the course of reading about Fausto Maijstral. Over the course of this chapter my relationship to the book went from loving it, to sweating my way through and hoping that the next chapter would be easier going, to reading the sentences for sound with no comprehension. I put a bookmark in on Thursday and haven't picked it up since. So, better luck next time through.
posted evening of March 6th, 2006: Respond
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Monday, February 27th, 2006
Lots of good V. stuff from last February at Josh Blog.
posted morning of February 27th, 2006: Respond
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A question: are the dreams of 1904 which Mondaugen undergoes at Foppl's Siege Party, based on experiences that Foppl had in 1904? Or is that even what's going on? The story switches out from what's happening to Mondaugen, into the dreams -- there's no direct statement that Mondaugen is the dreamer, and there are constructions like "Firelily's rider" to keep him masked -- but I'm pretty sure it is Mondaugen. Ad first I thought the experiences were Godolphin's, but now I don't think that would make as much sense as if they were Foppl's. Update: Yes, the dreamer is definitely Mondaugen -- I found this passage at HyperArts: "His horse drowsed and collected dew while Mondaugen squirmed on the seat, trying to control anger, confusion, petulance; and below the farthest verge of the Kalahari, that vast death, the tardy sun mocked him."
posted morning of February 27th, 2006: Respond
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