Tweets for Fri May 24, 2013 (approximately)
May. 25th, 2013 04:30 am![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tko- May 24 22:49 GMT : http://t.co/7i2FQNM3nM Apparently their cafe is closed due to complaints about the overwhelming smell of bacon, but there's a food truck too #
- May 24 17:51 GMT : @pumpichank But there's such a long and storied history of bad docs/usability in PGP! http://t.co/KOYQXAohwz #
thinky thoughts about clothing
May. 25th, 2013 12:02 amskudA month or so back someone on Twitter linked to an article about Israeli politics, from an Israeli media outlet. Reading it, I found I was missing a lot of context, so I started looking at things like the "Who is a Jew?" debate and opening 200 Wikipedia tabs. Not long after, I found myself on Youtube watching a series of rather awesome head-covering howto videos, and then sidetracked into watching documentaries about Amish and Hutterites, and all about religious orders (fuelled also by watching Call the Midwife around the same time).
At the same time, the seasons have changed here, and it's getting cold. I brought out my winter underwear, which is mostly the merino leggings and long-sleeved undershirts/spencers that Target Australia sells. I habitually wear them under *everything* in winter -- sometimes in basic black, sometimes stripes and colours depending on what Target has.
Then, also, I'm working from home, which means I am dressing for practicality and comfort, and not worrying too much what other people think of my attire. I don't have to "fit in" with a work culture, and the area I live in (inner north suburbs of Melbourne) is somewhere on the border of "hipster" and "hippie" so pretty much anything goes.
Also, I like natural fibres (especially wool and linen, but cotton's okay too) and wear them as much as possible; I've recently discovered Gudrun Sjoden and have some of their simple dresses in linen and cotton, and I just ordered some new stuff from Flax in preparation for my upcoming US trip since I'm short on summer clothes after wearing all my last batch almost to rags. (Btw, anyone else know similar mostly-natural-fibre brands, that serve plus sizes? Apart from Eileen Fisher, which I'm not that into at that price point, but will occasionally buy from charity shops if I get lucky.)
Also, I am a history nerd and know quite a lot about historical (western) clothing styles. I've also spent a fair amount of time wearing them, through the SCA and stuff like that.
Also, I am kind of a nanna and into things like wearing aprons (because they keep your clothes clean and save on laundry) and wearing hats outdoors (for sun protection and because I don't like the feel of sunscreen) and buying clothes that will last and/or can be mended rather than throwing them out.
Also, I do the "no poo" thing where I only wash my hair with water, or occasionally conditioner, rather than using shampoo/soap/detergent of any kind. My hair's getting longer and going through a bit of a phase where it gets a bit greasy sometimes, but isn't long enough to put up/back on bad hair days. Actually it's just at that irritating length where I can't do a damn thing with it.
The result is that at the moment I am kind of dressing in a style that I would call "European grandma meets inner north hipster". I tend to wear knee-length or slightly-below-knee-length (because I'm short and haven't hemmed them up) dresses with long underwear underneath, a cardigan over that, and lately usually some kind of bandana or head scarf over my hair. Sometimes there is an apron. When I am around the house I wear ugg boots, but when I go out I usually put on Doc Martens or my Vevo barefoot boots which kind of look like those ones boxers wear.
So maybe it's because all this season-changing and bad-hair-month-ing is going on at the same time that I've been reading/watching all this stuff about religious communities and religious modesty, but I'm having lots of complicated thoughts about the way I'm dressing lately, which has a lot in common with religious modest dress styles, and wanted to sort of poke at them and see what happens. So, in no particular order...
( Read more... )
At the same time, the seasons have changed here, and it's getting cold. I brought out my winter underwear, which is mostly the merino leggings and long-sleeved undershirts/spencers that Target Australia sells. I habitually wear them under *everything* in winter -- sometimes in basic black, sometimes stripes and colours depending on what Target has.
Then, also, I'm working from home, which means I am dressing for practicality and comfort, and not worrying too much what other people think of my attire. I don't have to "fit in" with a work culture, and the area I live in (inner north suburbs of Melbourne) is somewhere on the border of "hipster" and "hippie" so pretty much anything goes.
Also, I like natural fibres (especially wool and linen, but cotton's okay too) and wear them as much as possible; I've recently discovered Gudrun Sjoden and have some of their simple dresses in linen and cotton, and I just ordered some new stuff from Flax in preparation for my upcoming US trip since I'm short on summer clothes after wearing all my last batch almost to rags. (Btw, anyone else know similar mostly-natural-fibre brands, that serve plus sizes? Apart from Eileen Fisher, which I'm not that into at that price point, but will occasionally buy from charity shops if I get lucky.)
Also, I am a history nerd and know quite a lot about historical (western) clothing styles. I've also spent a fair amount of time wearing them, through the SCA and stuff like that.
Also, I am kind of a nanna and into things like wearing aprons (because they keep your clothes clean and save on laundry) and wearing hats outdoors (for sun protection and because I don't like the feel of sunscreen) and buying clothes that will last and/or can be mended rather than throwing them out.
Also, I do the "no poo" thing where I only wash my hair with water, or occasionally conditioner, rather than using shampoo/soap/detergent of any kind. My hair's getting longer and going through a bit of a phase where it gets a bit greasy sometimes, but isn't long enough to put up/back on bad hair days. Actually it's just at that irritating length where I can't do a damn thing with it.
The result is that at the moment I am kind of dressing in a style that I would call "European grandma meets inner north hipster". I tend to wear knee-length or slightly-below-knee-length (because I'm short and haven't hemmed them up) dresses with long underwear underneath, a cardigan over that, and lately usually some kind of bandana or head scarf over my hair. Sometimes there is an apron. When I am around the house I wear ugg boots, but when I go out I usually put on Doc Martens or my Vevo barefoot boots which kind of look like those ones boxers wear.
So maybe it's because all this season-changing and bad-hair-month-ing is going on at the same time that I've been reading/watching all this stuff about religious communities and religious modesty, but I'm having lots of complicated thoughts about the way I'm dressing lately, which has a lot in common with religious modest dress styles, and wanted to sort of poke at them and see what happens. So, in no particular order...
( Read more... )
Tweets for Thu May 23, 2013 (approximately)
May. 24th, 2013 04:30 amtko- May 23 18:31 GMT : You know, I kind of want one of these David Suzuki shirts: http://t.co/4Tg6h3pUnQ Be good for finding fellow Canadians in airports. #
- May 23 18:29 GMT : @scribblemethis I am assured that it's a very unique experience, at least. ;) #
Hawaii trip: Maui
May. 24th, 2013 12:30 ampuzzlementFlying into Maui was exactly the right length of flight, about half an hour. Sadly after that our next task was picking up the rental car, which took about a million years.
Way back, during undergrad, the Faculty of Science used to have four hour queues at the start of each semester, mostly to do with switching units of study before the fee deadline. (I think you needed to be enrolled in units by the second week, and have dropped out of them by the fourth.) I tended to notice that, by the head of the queue, people were adding to the time by being sure to ask the Faculty staff. every question they'd come up with in that four hours. If I do this subject now, and this other subject in second semester, will this preclude me from taking this unrelated subject in third year? Good, just checking.
Rental car companies, especially in the US, seem to work on the opposite of this principle. By the time you reach the head of the queue, you are dying to take the keys and just go, and they're dying to up-sell you. I don't remember all the pitches, but one was for key insurance; I believe it was about $35 a week and they won't charge you any extra fees if you lock the key in the car and they need to retrieve it. Otherwise, something something, thousands of dollars. You can either take the insurance (it's all helpfully in the first invoice they issue) and leave on-time, or get them to remove it all one-by-one.
I was there to be added as the second driver; once Andrew's father got the upgrade to the eight seat vehicle we wanted, we went outside to find it. It was a late model Yukon XL, I later started referring to it as 'Sherman' for its tank-like properties. I've never driven a vehicle that large, nor had I ever driven on the right before, but I figured the only way out was through, and I drove Sherman back around to Kahului airport to pick up Andrew, Ilga, Nina and V, and then to Kāʻanapali, about a one hour drive. Other than aggressive drivers in Kahului (one half second of hesitation and someone turned left across me) it worked fine. Making all the adjustments for driving on the right is fairly easy as long as there's other traffic (lack thereof bit me once, later, in California).
In Kāʻanapali we had apartments rather than hotel rooms, which worked well with a supermarket across the road, and stopped the whole first-world gatherer problem of needing to spend an hour researching restaurants for every meal. The complex was still a bit of a death-trap for V, with beach frontage, and an unfenced pool (shallow, but deeper than his depth, and he doesn't have enough sense anyway). Somehow the pool water managed to be very nice, rather than freezing as it was in Honolulu: perhaps they were heating it? At night, as a bonus, there were loads of lit tiki torches. V continued his running-away games for most of the holidays, but mercifully was never found in the pool or on the beach by himself. During the day he very much enjoyed the hot tubs with us, rather illicitly at his age.
( 8 more paragraphs )Originally posted at http://puzzling.org/logs/diary/2013/May/2
Whoops!!!
May. 23rd, 2013 09:04 ambadgerbagI accidentally have two rooms at WisCon! Aaaaack!
It is a governor's club room with king size bed, shower, access to the 12th floor lounge with free drinks and food.
email me if you want it! if no one emails in the next couple of hours I will cancel the extra reservation. lizhenry@gmail.com.
Completely forgot that I booked this room *at last year's wiscon* and then i took over tempest's extra room. AHahahahahah.... fail.
It is a governor's club room with king size bed, shower, access to the 12th floor lounge with free drinks and food.
email me if you want it! if no one emails in the next couple of hours I will cancel the extra reservation. lizhenry@gmail.com.
Completely forgot that I booked this room *at last year's wiscon* and then i took over tempest's extra room. AHahahahahah.... fail.
Your co-ed team must contain exactly 70% men
May. 22nd, 2013 11:31 ambeableI've been meaning to post a "Quantum State of the Beable" update for the past 3 weeks, and I have some fannish stuff from this weekend as well, but this is neither of those posts.
Instead, this is me being somewhat amused by the e-mail I have received about an upcoming $workplace softball game in which co-ed teams may register to play for FUN andPROFIT er, CHARITY. (I think the FUN is mandatory and you get written up if you aren't having it, but the CHARITY is optional).
The description reads thusly:
Team Registration: Spots will be filled on a first come, first serve basis. To sign up your co-ed team of 10 players (7 men, 3 women minimum), please fill out the attached registration form and contact $male_organizer_name_and_email before June 4th.
As my department (being almost entirely STEM) overall skews mostly male (as a more extreme example in my work unit of about 30 people I am one of two women) than I understand what the actual intent is, but I'm still entertaining myself picturing the softball team with a 5/5 or 6/4 or 4/6 split being rejected for not having the approved team make-up.
Instead, this is me being somewhat amused by the e-mail I have received about an upcoming $workplace softball game in which co-ed teams may register to play for FUN and
The description reads thusly:
Team Registration: Spots will be filled on a first come, first serve basis. To sign up your co-ed team of 10 players (7 men, 3 women minimum), please fill out the attached registration form and contact $male_organizer_name_and_email before June 4th.
As my department (being almost entirely STEM) overall skews mostly male (as a more extreme example in my work unit of about 30 people I am one of two women) than I understand what the actual intent is, but I'm still entertaining myself picturing the softball team with a 5/5 or 6/4 or 4/6 split being rejected for not having the approved team make-up.
extra space!
May. 21st, 2013 02:02 pmbadgerbaghalloa! i will be flying out to WisCon tomorrow, with Moomin! So excited.
our 3rd roommate will not be getting in till friday morning, so if you need a space to crash on Wed. or Thurs night, or need a spot to rest up during the day, just ask!
Yay yay yay I am very excited. But I have to keep thinking about work for another couple hours here. I worked late last night figuring that today my head would be full of packing and plans and it is VERY DISTRACTING. :)
our 3rd roommate will not be getting in till friday morning, so if you need a space to crash on Wed. or Thurs night, or need a spot to rest up during the day, just ask!
Yay yay yay I am very excited. But I have to keep thinking about work for another couple hours here. I worked late last night figuring that today my head would be full of packing and plans and it is VERY DISTRACTING. :)
Tweets for Sun May 19, 2013 (approximately)
May. 20th, 2013 04:30 amtko- May 20 00:03 GMT : I'm quite amused by the placement of Dr Who merchandise right beside the addiction/recovery section in my local http://t.co/RCmQNEWMs6 #
- May 19 23:56 GMT : I spent most of the afternoon dealing with #gsoc related stuff. Still waiting for a few people to get back to me, though. #
Apple rhubarb crumble
May. 18th, 2013 06:38 pmbadgerbagI made a up nice recipe! It is green apple rhubarb crumble and is gluten free.
- crumble stuff is brown sugar, butter, oats, tapioca flour, coconut flour
- 4 green apples, maybe 8 stalks rhubarb, brown sugar, tapioca flour, cinnamon, ginger, honey
I sauteed the rhubarb for a few minutes to see if it was very juicy, but it wasn't. Threw a spoonful of honey in there and about as much ginger as my thumb. Then mixed it with the apples and sprinkled some sugar, cinnamon, and tapioca flour on it all figuring that would thicken the juicy inside.
Mash the brown sugar into the butter, then mix in the oats and various kinds of flour.
I cooked it maybe 40 minutes at 375. It is perfect! The ginger really makes it. If I could have found the cardamom I would have put a pinch into the apple/rhubarb filling. This much stuff filled a 9 inch square glass pan.
Gluten free stuff is for Zond7 who is trying this out and seems to be doing better on it. Hard to stick to. Next I will try making gf cornbread again and then gf mac and cheese with brown rice pasta.
Day of domesticity and naps - I put up a lot of hooks and brackets and did a lot of laundry. A. continues excitedly doing things to create a Paradise for Birds. At 7am she was up asking me for "chores -- chores that might be like watering the garden or filling the bird feeders." OK! Chores! 7am! hop to it, kid! Over the course of the day she helped me drill holes, screw screws, and oil the patio benches with teak oil.
She duct taped a yogurt container up on top of the highest fence for crows. Her rambly singing has switched between lullabies and fake crow calls all day. Moomin did some homework (but has WAY MORE) everyone but me played a board game called zooloretto and A.'s friend from school came over.
Zond7 slept off his jet lag. I also did some worky things over the day when I was resting my ankles and not asleep. We're hoping to see the star trek movie tomorrow!
So lovely to have more energy, be able to walk around today, etc. and use my hands so much for things like drilling, screwdrivers, laundry, and carrying things. It may not feel very good tomorrow. And yet Enbrel <3 <3 <3 <3
- crumble stuff is brown sugar, butter, oats, tapioca flour, coconut flour
- 4 green apples, maybe 8 stalks rhubarb, brown sugar, tapioca flour, cinnamon, ginger, honey
I sauteed the rhubarb for a few minutes to see if it was very juicy, but it wasn't. Threw a spoonful of honey in there and about as much ginger as my thumb. Then mixed it with the apples and sprinkled some sugar, cinnamon, and tapioca flour on it all figuring that would thicken the juicy inside.
Mash the brown sugar into the butter, then mix in the oats and various kinds of flour.
I cooked it maybe 40 minutes at 375. It is perfect! The ginger really makes it. If I could have found the cardamom I would have put a pinch into the apple/rhubarb filling. This much stuff filled a 9 inch square glass pan.
Gluten free stuff is for Zond7 who is trying this out and seems to be doing better on it. Hard to stick to. Next I will try making gf cornbread again and then gf mac and cheese with brown rice pasta.
Day of domesticity and naps - I put up a lot of hooks and brackets and did a lot of laundry. A. continues excitedly doing things to create a Paradise for Birds. At 7am she was up asking me for "chores -- chores that might be like watering the garden or filling the bird feeders." OK! Chores! 7am! hop to it, kid! Over the course of the day she helped me drill holes, screw screws, and oil the patio benches with teak oil.
She duct taped a yogurt container up on top of the highest fence for crows. Her rambly singing has switched between lullabies and fake crow calls all day. Moomin did some homework (but has WAY MORE) everyone but me played a board game called zooloretto and A.'s friend from school came over.
Zond7 slept off his jet lag. I also did some worky things over the day when I was resting my ankles and not asleep. We're hoping to see the star trek movie tomorrow!
So lovely to have more energy, be able to walk around today, etc. and use my hands so much for things like drilling, screwdrivers, laundry, and carrying things. It may not feel very good tomorrow. And yet Enbrel <3 <3 <3 <3
Adopt a Salamander
May. 18th, 2013 02:47 pmpleia2For each Ubuntu release I spend a little time finding a toy or other representation of the codename animal to use at booths, Ubuntu Hours and other events. I wrote about Quetzals and Pangolins here and you may have seen Raring here.
When the salamander came up I was confident that a toy would be easy to find, and indeed they were! Even better, I found that the World Wildlife Fund offers a $50 Hellbender Salamander Adoption Kit that ships with 2 plush salamanders! Mine arrived yesterday, I’ll be keeping one to use at our events and will find a way to give away the other (perhaps as part of the Ubuntu Women contest we’re planning? Or at some LoCo event?).
Event decoration + helping to save the actual animal, hooray!
Oh, and it is a release late, but while I was in Mérida, Mexico we stopped in to Miniaturas where I picked up some adorable quetzal earrings:
I think I’ll wear them to our San Francisco Ubuntu Hour on June 12th, and bring along the salamander!
Originally published at pleia2's blog. You can comment here or there.
Virtual Ubuntu Developer Summit 1305
May. 17th, 2013 08:42 pmpleia2Since I left for my wedding and honeymoon a bunch of things happened! Ubuntu 13.04 was released, 13.10 was given the code name “Saucy Salamander” and Debian 7.0 Wheezy came out. Plus lots of exciting OpenStack development discussion that came out following the Summit (I left right after it). When I got back into the country on the 12th I had a lot to catch up on! I did my best to cram before sessions and certainly had to limit involvement to a handful of sessions that I was particularly keen on attending and so could get up to speed with quickly.
This was the first virtual UDS I was able to participate in, so it was all new to me. Essentially the the “fish bowl” (as seen here, I took this photo from my spot in the wider attendee seating) is replaced by a Google Hangout and the “wider attendee seating” is an IRC channel. For the 4 sessions I participated in this worked very well, session leads were pro-active about asking who wished to participate in the Hangout so everyone who wanted to was able to. A great deal of attention in all these sessions was given to the IRC channel, which is a contrast with in person UDS where the channel can sometimes get a bit left behind (even though it’s being projected, it was easy to forget once you get talking). I didn’t use the summit.ubuntu.com page for anything aside reference, preferring to pop out the etherpad and use my standard IRC client, but I appreciated it all being there as a resource (and I’m sure it was super helpful for newcomers to follow along!).
Cheri Francis and others in the Ubuntu Women session
I found the sessions I participated in to be productive and focused and when applicable resulted in a solid list of action items. I hope that the event also lessened the experience gap that was always present for in person vs. remote participants, we all got the same experience. Now I have to admit to not being a fan of using Google Hangouts for this (I like Google, but it is still a proprietary, closed-source tool that we have no control over), but I understand that the ease of use and immediate availability of videos on YouTube makes a compelling case. Perhaps my only other complaint is lack of cohesiveness that comes from an online event, I didn’t watch the introduction or the wrap up. I also didn’t participate in the “beer hangout” – I didn’t even know it was happening, and sitting in front of my computer with a beer in the middle of the day wasn’t particularly interesting to me. I only attended a few specific sessions and there was no “wandering into something that looks interesting” (instead I just went back to work) or the regular social down time we get to relax or sit down to hack on things. I do hope we can find some kind of replacement for the in-person events, it would be great to see something on the LoCo team level at conferences where we seek to have an expanded Ubuntu presence focused on contributors (perhaps an Ubucon with a participant track?).
And the venue… it was at home! In order to participate in the hangout I did feel the need to leverage my multiple monitors.
My desk is a bit chaotic
Now the sessions themselves…
– Planning for Ubuntu Community presence on the Ubuntu Website –
This was not a particularly productive session as far as action items were concerned, but it turns out that while I was gone the removal of the “Community” link from ubuntu.com took on a life of its own (and boy was I surprised to see my name end up in a recent Datamation article about it). Personally I was satisfied with Daniel Holbach’s blog post on the subject a day after the change was made, but it was nice to speak with with some folks from the Design team and allow everyone to confirm that no ill will was intended and that plans for a new and improved community site were moving forward. The session was kept short given the more structured session about the community site specifically planned for the following day.
YouTube video of the session here
– Ubuntu Women UDS-1305 Goals –
Huge thanks to Silvia Bindelli and Cheri Francis for doing all of the leg work for this session while I was gone, I felt very comfortable reviewing their pre-session notes and found a really great, collaborative environment upon joining in. The discussion began talking about an information scavenger-hung competition that the team will be doing in the coming months, seeking volunteers to assist. It then moved into a topic that I was really happy to see on the agenda – a user poll to see how the team could be most effective in serving our audience of women interested in Ubuntu. I find that the project needs a bit of an adjustment every couple of years to refocus on our current targets as Ubuntu and the open source ecosystem evolves, so I’m excited that we’re doing this. Finally, much of the session was spent discussing our intention to further collaborate with other groups seeking to encourage women in open source (and in technology in general).
YouTube video of the session here and I uploaded session notes here
– Revamping ubuntu.com/community –
Picking up from where discussion left off the previous day, this session was a focused on on concrete things that need to be done to get the proposed community website that was under development reviewed and published. I admit that job change + wedding planning had my attention diverted this past cycle so I wasn’t able to contribute to this project, but I made sure to spend time the night before to do a review of the content so I’d be prepared. I was able to go through some of my suggestions during the meeting and took a few action items to continue with a more thorough review and to collect some quotes and photos from the community to make the site more personal and approachable.
YouTube video of the session here and I uploaded session notes here
– Shaping a plan for the future of Ubuntu Documentation Team –
I can’t begin to say how pleased I was to see this session land on the agenda. The Ubuntu Doc team has been a very small team for a long time, and new contributors have struggled to participate as the docs for writing the docs got stale to a point where they were not useful. We’re at a very exciting time now where we have limited support from a couple of the (very busy!) former drivers of this team and at least two strong contributors who have committed to moving the project forward. The first thing on the agenda was addressing the updating of docs so that more contributors can get on-boarded. I was able to pitch in with a couple action items to nudge things along a bit, but I’m hopeful that this is the beginning of an exciting new phase for the team.
YouTube video of the session here and I uploaded session notes here
A Slimy Salamander (wait, you said Saucy?)
– Xubuntu –
Since the event was online, the Xubuntu team took advantage of the flexibility and ended up pulling their sessions from UDS proper and scheduling our sessions for the hour after UDS each day to tackle a series of blueprints designed for the coming months. I was able to use my YouTube account + Hangouts to replicate that portion of what main UDS was doing.
Discussion of most interest to me centered around our testing+release plans (should we do alphas? betas? which ones?) and documentation, but discussion of our limited developer force (want to grow it!), a proposal for a shortcut overlay and default applications also were discussed. A much better summary was posted on the Xubuntu website yesterday: Looking towards Xubuntu 13.10. Pasi Lallinaho also wrote bullet-point style summaries of Night 1 and Night 2 which include links to their respective YouTube videos.
In all, a productive UDS for me, I have a lot of work to do… :)
Originally published at pleia2's blog. You can comment here or there.
Honeymoon week 2
May. 17th, 2013 08:40 pmpleia2The second half of our honeymoon was full of adventure (and ok, a bit more luxury). We decided to spend 5 days traveling through the Yucatan peninsula visiting Mayan ruins, cenotes and local cities. We wanted our visit to be stress-free so MJ did some research and found William Lawsons Personal Driving Service which would not only take us around the peninsula but our driver would also be a registered tour guide! We met our guide, Angel, at the resort on Tuesday morning to begin our adventure.
Our first visit was to the ruins of Ek’ Balam. This was a really cool site, with multiple structures to climb, including the huge main temple. It wasn’t until I climbed to the top that I fully appreciated how hot it was out (and that I hadn’t brought enough water!).
I was pretty tired after wandering around those ruins in the heat, so I was delighted when our tour guide was able to find Cenote Hubiku, just north of Valladolid where we were spending the night. A cenote is a “a deep natural pit, or sinkhole, characteristic of Mexico, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneat” (wikipedia). There are thousands in the Yucatan and many that are equipped for people to swim in. Cenote Hubiku had a small admission fee and full, modern facilities for changing before swimming. We caught them at the tail end of their day, but got a good 20 minutes of swimming in the beautiful, cool cenote before being on our way. It was the perfect thing for post ruin exploration.
For dinner we went to Taberna de los Frailes for a delicious dinner that included a grilled watermelon with cheese appetizer (which I wouldn’t have ordered, but the waiter recommended it). We retired for the night at Casa Hamaca Guesthouse which was a cute little inn in the heart of Valladolid. Even better, the proprietor Denis Larsen is a northeast US expat who was exceptionally welcoming and helpful the next morning as we enjoyed banana pancakes and chatted about everything from our shared love of Google Docs for collaboration to tips for the rest of our stay in the Yucatan.
We then spent the day exploring the beautiful city of Valladolid. We visited the small San Roque Museum and then spent some time walking around the main square. From there we did some shopping and I picked up a couple of the traditional embroidered blouses that Valladolid is famous for. We also got a couple of brimmed hats for further ruin exploration. Mid-day we met up with Angel who took us to the Convent of San Bernardino de Siena and Cenote Zaci – a cenote right in town! We didn’t swim but it was nice to visit.
Come late afternoon it was time to start driving toward Mérida to check in to Hacienda Xcanatun boutique hotel for the night. This former hacienda was one of the many in the region that used to be a sisal (fiber) plantation. This was my favorite hotel. The rooms were sprawling and while modernized, still held an architectural feel and basic layout similarities to what I’d expect from and old hacienda. We had dinner at their famous on-site restaurant of the same name.
The next day was Uxmal! Plus a couple other sites on the Puuc Route. Uxmal was a major city and so touring the ruins takes several hours. We managed to see most of it and had a lot of fun climbing around several of their major structures (only the largest and a few minor sites had climbing prohibited). This site really rivals Chichen Itza in how big and amazing the ruins are, definitely one of my favorites.
Next on our list to visit for the day was Kabah. Most amazing about this place was its famous “Palace of the Masks” which was a whole building covered on one side with ornate faces of stone. You’re allowed to climb up to and around the palace, making this probably my favorite small site we visited.
The last ruin site we visited was Sayil where we just visited the Palace of Sayil (the site was very spread out, with buildings up to 1 mile apart). Like so many of these palaces, it was an impressive and imposing sight! No climbing up the structure allowed though.
Our final new site of the day was the Ecomuseo del Cacao. Our first hint that this place wasn’t quite up to par with the rest of our day was the clue from Angel that, while a traditional Mayan thing, cacao doesn’t actually grow naturally in the Yucatan because it’s not humid enough. The museum had it’s moments but was a bit too polished and cheesy. It was nice visiting the grove of artificially maintained cocoa trees and the hot chocolate tasting at the end was probably worth the entrance fee.
Photos from Ecomuseo del Cacao
From there we headed back to Uxmal for a sound and light show. I hadn’t read great things about it online, so I was prepped for something really cheesy, but I admit having really enjoyed it. The main track being broadcast is in Spanish, but you can rent headphones in several languages so you can hear the stories going along with the show that paint a picture of what it may have been like in the height of civilization there. It was also then that I noticed how beautifully clear the sky was out there, you could see so many stars.
That night we checked into Hacienda Temozon. It was a beautiful property, advertisements for it are quick to tell you that Bill Clinton stayed there once and the only owned by a major American company. The rooms were large, but it turns out perhaps not the right place to stay during ant season. Staying true to some of the age of the place, it didn’t have glass on the windows so everything was quite open-air and the doors covering the windows didn’t seal (you could put your finger through some of the gaps). I did enjoy a wonderful Mexican omelette in the morning.
Angel picked us up in the late morning and, knowing our interest in cenotes, decided to take us to a less touristy one that he knew of, Cenote Kankirixché. It wasn’t a fancy, staffed cenote like the previous ones we’d been to, we had to change in the van and then it was just a hole in the ground and a somewhat questionable wooden staircase taking you down to the water. It was beautiful and refreshing though!
More photos from Cenote Kankirixché
From there we were off to the city of Mérida! First stop was to check in to the stunningly modern Rosas and Xocolate boutique hotel before heading across the street to the Anthropology and History Museum. The museum is located in the former Canton Palace and while all in Spanish the exhibits mostly spoke for themselves. My favorite exhibits were one of one of the earlier expeditions to the Yucatan where many of the Puuc sites we explored, seeing photos from those sites before they were uncovered and restored was really cool. They also had a local embroidery exhibit upstairs which, seeing them in context, made me really happy about my beautiful blouse purchases in Valladolid.
Then it was off to the Grande Plaza district of Merida where we had lunch at Amaro. We did some shopping and were able to visit the Casa de los Montejo and the Palacio de Gobierno with it’s captivating murals by Fernando Castro Pacheco. We enjoyed dinner back at the hotel and in all a relaxing night.
Unfortuantely the adventures had to come to an end at some point, our last day was spent visiting the famous Chichen Itza.
Chichen Itza is a huge settlement and we spent over 3 hours exploring it. It was more crowded than any of the other sites we went to, but the benefit of going in the hottest part of the year is that it wasn’t overwhelming with people at all. One of the interesting things about it though was while it’s expensive for tourists to enter (up to 5 times as much as other sites), the whole inside was filled with vendors! Angel told us it was because it used to be privately owned and they owner brought in all these vendors, and when it was transferred to more government run thing they kept the vendors. At first it was a little off-putting to have so many vendors throughout the archaeological site, but I came to realize that these vendors were selling on-topic keepsakes that tourists (including myself) were interested in buying, and technically these people are descendants of the Mayans who built this city – this is theirs. It also brought a liveliness to the site that was lacking at the other sites, I appreciated them by the time we were wrapping up our day there. And what a day. You couldn’t climb any of the ruins but it’s probably for the best, even just walking among these giants in the heat was enough to tire me out considerably.
We spent our last night in Mexico in Cancun so we’d have easy access to the airport the following morning. MJ picked a hotel on the beach where we could have a romantic private cabana dinner. Perfect wrap up to our honeymoon :)
Originally published at pleia2's blog. You can comment here or there.
Ender's Game is morally repugnant
May. 17th, 2013 12:21 pmbokunenjinAs I hear friends and acquaintances express eagerness to see the Ender's Game film that will be released this fall, I have a hard time responding. I want to ask, have you read the book? After you were fifteen years old? And you enjoyed it? I can't understand how it won the awards it did. It's not just poorly written, it's repugnant. John Kessel articulates why in his essay Creating the Innocent Killer:
Ender's Game, Intention, and Morality. An excerpt:
Ender's Game, Intention, and Morality. An excerpt:
We see the effects of displaced, righteous rage everywhere around us, written in violence and justified as moral action, even compassion. Ender gets to strike out at his enemies and still remain morally clean. Nothing is his fault. Stilson already lies defeated on the ground, yet Ender can kick him in the face until he dies, and still remain the good guy. Ender can drive bone fragments into Bonzo’s brain and then kick his dying body in the crotch, yet the entire focus is on Ender’s suffering. For an adolescent ridden with rage and self-pity, who feels himself abused (and what adolescent doesn’t?), what’s not to like about this scenario? So we all want to be Ender. As Elaine Radford has said, “We would all like to believe that our suffering has made us special—especially if it gives us a righteous reason to destroy our enemies.”
But that’s a lie. No one is that special; no one is that innocent. If I felt that Card’s fiction truly understood this, then I would not have written this essay.
A story of loud public disinhibition
May. 16th, 2013 09:45 pmbadgerbagJust realized this evening my sinuses really are going haywire. This maybe explains why I feel so generally rotten, and my head hurts, and I spent a day dizzy and sick. Maybe it's just that I actually am sick. Well, whatever.
Not a bad day. Though very long and I cried on the way home from the pain clinic. Before my appointment I went to the fabulous House of Paincakes (not really called that) and had a totally delicious hummus/falafel/tabouleh/dolmas plate with toasted pita bread. it is all very fresh and homemade and was 8 bucks for the lot. Yeah! Worked from the cafe, then oozed over to the Pain Rooms.
The waiting room smelled unbelievable like someone had just crop-dusted with farts, or a disco fog machine but with old armpits, farts, yawns, and gym sock mold. Really, what was wrong with that place! Along with the other people trapped there I delighted in a 2 year old who was being entertained by a nice lady with an iphone. Fish! Dora! Bubbles! Etc. Then they looked at a highlights magazine together while the father beamed proud & nervous that maybe the kid was going to start annoying the nice strange lady. Then a new lady came in and went "Huh! This place smells like MUSKY BALLS!" (2 year old: "Ball? Ball? Catch? Bounce? Ball? Bounce? Dora?) I could not believe I had just heard this out loud. Whose balls has this woman been smelling, anyway? Gross! Did she really say it? Was there something else she could have said that I mistook for "musky balls?" Should I ask her? Was I smirking? Hahahah! Holy wow!
The rest of the people left over the next few minutes for their appointments or as their partners came out of the PAIN ROOMS inside the super secure drugs-inside-here door. It was just me and Ms. Muskballer. She mentioned the weather. I agreed that it had been foggy and cold, but was getting nicer outside. We agreed the sun is awesome. She told me how she loves to go in her back yard and sunbathe. Me too!
"And I sprawl out. I don't care, maybe someone way up there (gestures towards imaginary 3rd floor window) can see me but I just don't care, I'm all in my altogether out there in the sunny morning now that I'm in Union City instead of Alameda where the fog would just get at me." "Oh, me too, morning fog, goes right into my bones." "So I sprawl out like THIS" (demonstration of Sun Worshiping Wide Open Beaver yoga pose, arms up)
Hahahha! No one can see me in the yard either except maybe from way up! So I just, you know, get a little sun in there too! (We both crack up as I mime coyly lifting up my shirt).
"Well I just love the sun. I go down to the Caribbean 3 times a year just to get my sun but now I get it in my own back yard. You know, it's close in here. "
"Yeah it's not very..."
"It smells like MUSKY BALLS in here. It's not right." This time I know I heard it! GLORY TO THE BALLS LADY. It is the best time I have ever had in a waiting room especially one that stinky. I went over to the door and wedged a trash can in it to get more air in. We then discussed how much sun was optimal on the skin and whether we used sun screen (only sometimes). Then the doctor came out.
The new resident or guy on rotation was very nice, though, he did the horrible rotating-outwards thign that hurts like fury to test me, and my blood pressure was unusually high. (still high normal) Maybe I will stop eating butter and go back to olive oil and vinegar for my toast. Rotation guy suggested I try the old compound ketamine cream on my ankles. Dr. Major General was awesome as always but impressed me extra with a special, gentle, two handed flat palmed handshake that had NO SQUEEZING. Genius of the pain clinic! My next injection is at the end of June.
Bus ride hard and crowded and jolty. I was a bit teary-eyed. Finally home. yarnivore was here with A. who came home early (there was a plan , with a friend, but it fell through) Baby birds discovered in the birdhouse in the backyard! A. declared she would make the yard a paradise for birds! We could hear them peeping in there and see nest material but the birds seemed to be huddled up against the front just out of site. Birdseed scattered! expedition to the park to get sticks and dead leaves so that bugs would live there and the birds could eat them! Beans and flowers planted! (this all happened while i laid on the couch.) Yarnivore and i laid about talking about arthritis. We ate bean soup. Hours later A. broke the news there are no birds. The peeping noise was the wood of the birdhouse rubbing against the fence! Chagrin.... "But we will make it an awesome bird paradise anyway because the birds put nesting stuff in there so they will come back!"
Video chatted with Zond7 in Norway. He is stuck there an extra day but on his way home now! Hurrah!!!!!
Going tomorrow to see A. play the flute for the school concert.
OK, taking some more sinus meds and then to sleep.
Oh wait. Stranger in Olondria was very good! I loved it! I knew I would from the excerpt booklet from last year's WisCon. Dreamy and lovely....and all the quotations and literary allusions from the narrator! I didn't want it to end. I'll read anything Sofia Samatar writes!
Not a bad day. Though very long and I cried on the way home from the pain clinic. Before my appointment I went to the fabulous House of Paincakes (not really called that) and had a totally delicious hummus/falafel/tabouleh/dolmas plate with toasted pita bread. it is all very fresh and homemade and was 8 bucks for the lot. Yeah! Worked from the cafe, then oozed over to the Pain Rooms.
The waiting room smelled unbelievable like someone had just crop-dusted with farts, or a disco fog machine but with old armpits, farts, yawns, and gym sock mold. Really, what was wrong with that place! Along with the other people trapped there I delighted in a 2 year old who was being entertained by a nice lady with an iphone. Fish! Dora! Bubbles! Etc. Then they looked at a highlights magazine together while the father beamed proud & nervous that maybe the kid was going to start annoying the nice strange lady. Then a new lady came in and went "Huh! This place smells like MUSKY BALLS!" (2 year old: "Ball? Ball? Catch? Bounce? Ball? Bounce? Dora?) I could not believe I had just heard this out loud. Whose balls has this woman been smelling, anyway? Gross! Did she really say it? Was there something else she could have said that I mistook for "musky balls?" Should I ask her? Was I smirking? Hahahah! Holy wow!
The rest of the people left over the next few minutes for their appointments or as their partners came out of the PAIN ROOMS inside the super secure drugs-inside-here door. It was just me and Ms. Muskballer. She mentioned the weather. I agreed that it had been foggy and cold, but was getting nicer outside. We agreed the sun is awesome. She told me how she loves to go in her back yard and sunbathe. Me too!
"And I sprawl out. I don't care, maybe someone way up there (gestures towards imaginary 3rd floor window) can see me but I just don't care, I'm all in my altogether out there in the sunny morning now that I'm in Union City instead of Alameda where the fog would just get at me." "Oh, me too, morning fog, goes right into my bones." "So I sprawl out like THIS" (demonstration of Sun Worshiping Wide Open Beaver yoga pose, arms up)
Hahahha! No one can see me in the yard either except maybe from way up! So I just, you know, get a little sun in there too! (We both crack up as I mime coyly lifting up my shirt).
"Well I just love the sun. I go down to the Caribbean 3 times a year just to get my sun but now I get it in my own back yard. You know, it's close in here. "
"Yeah it's not very..."
"It smells like MUSKY BALLS in here. It's not right." This time I know I heard it! GLORY TO THE BALLS LADY. It is the best time I have ever had in a waiting room especially one that stinky. I went over to the door and wedged a trash can in it to get more air in. We then discussed how much sun was optimal on the skin and whether we used sun screen (only sometimes). Then the doctor came out.
The new resident or guy on rotation was very nice, though, he did the horrible rotating-outwards thign that hurts like fury to test me, and my blood pressure was unusually high. (still high normal) Maybe I will stop eating butter and go back to olive oil and vinegar for my toast. Rotation guy suggested I try the old compound ketamine cream on my ankles. Dr. Major General was awesome as always but impressed me extra with a special, gentle, two handed flat palmed handshake that had NO SQUEEZING. Genius of the pain clinic! My next injection is at the end of June.
Bus ride hard and crowded and jolty. I was a bit teary-eyed. Finally home. yarnivore was here with A. who came home early (there was a plan , with a friend, but it fell through) Baby birds discovered in the birdhouse in the backyard! A. declared she would make the yard a paradise for birds! We could hear them peeping in there and see nest material but the birds seemed to be huddled up against the front just out of site. Birdseed scattered! expedition to the park to get sticks and dead leaves so that bugs would live there and the birds could eat them! Beans and flowers planted! (this all happened while i laid on the couch.) Yarnivore and i laid about talking about arthritis. We ate bean soup. Hours later A. broke the news there are no birds. The peeping noise was the wood of the birdhouse rubbing against the fence! Chagrin.... "But we will make it an awesome bird paradise anyway because the birds put nesting stuff in there so they will come back!"
Video chatted with Zond7 in Norway. He is stuck there an extra day but on his way home now! Hurrah!!!!!
Going tomorrow to see A. play the flute for the school concert.
OK, taking some more sinus meds and then to sleep.
Oh wait. Stranger in Olondria was very good! I loved it! I knew I would from the excerpt booklet from last year's WisCon. Dreamy and lovely....and all the quotations and literary allusions from the narrator! I didn't want it to end. I'll read anything Sofia Samatar writes!
Tweets for Thu May 16, 2013 (approximately)
May. 17th, 2013 04:30 amtko- May 16 23:56 GMT : Not quite sorry enough to build a motion-activated birdcam, but sorry enough to contemplate it for a few minutes. #
- May 16 23:54 GMT : Apparently @warthog9 saw a robin trying to eat out of the hummingbird feeder. I am sorry I missed this. #
- May 16 20:41 GMT : Fisheye lens https://t.co/AGd2lXG7jw = "omg, @MarsCuriosity looks gigantic" Now I want to see posters for "Curiousity vs Godzilla" #
- May 16 20:09 GMT : RT @gvwilson: "Side effects are bad, so we should use functional languages" is like "Cream in coffee is good, so let's add some brie." #
- May 16 19:28 GMT : @asayeed The parade is a giant water fight and our band is usually desperate for clarinets for the gig. It's so worth it. :) #
- May 16 19:24 GMT : @asayeed Alas, probably not. I've got a parade I want to be in here on July 4th and the travel logistics around then would be crazy. #
- May 16 18:45 GMT : @asayeed Done and done. Drama! Confusion! Alumni spam! #
- May 16 18:34 GMT : @asayeed Does that mean you'll get to attend the apparently disastrous sim reunion? I'm tempted to book a flight and bring popcorn. ;) #
- May 16 17:50 GMT : @asayeed Maybe rather than a memoir, you could simply tweet possible titles as an art project where the readers fill in the blanks ;) #
- May 16 17:37 GMT : @asayeed Your new memoir title can be, "I was a teenaged prophet." #
Honeymoon week 1
May. 16th, 2013 08:42 pmpleia2On Tuesday the 30th we flew from Philadelphia to Cancun, Mexico. From there we took a shuttle south for about 40 minutes until we got to the Riviera Maya district and Grand Velas, the all-inclusive resort we had reservations at for the first week of our honeymoon.
We then spent a much-needed week relaxing.
We had a stunning view from our room.
Hours to spend relaxing on the beach, or in one of their several pools where they brought us all the food and beverages we wanted.
Plus, chocolate strawberries.
I read my way through several books that I’d been wanting to read but never could find time for. Pretty much the only decision we needed to make all week was which of the top notch restaurants they had on site for each meal. I quite enjoyed room service for breakfast.
More photos from our stay: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pleia2/sets/7
We did end up making one excursion during the week, and that was to Rio Secreto, a nearby series of underground caves and waterways. I wasn’t sure what to expect since it was quite close to such a touristy area (tourist trap?) but my expectations were surpassed in all ways. We were geared up with water shoes (we opted to buy new ones for $10/pair), helmets and wet suits and we had a great tour guide, but it was far from a risk-free, polished tourist experience. We got a real feel for the natural caves and we had an amazing time swimming through some of the pools we were taken through in our 3 hour tour through 600+ meters of cave.
A photographer came along with to take photos and we paid the charge to download them all royalty-free, I uploaded several of them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pleia2/sets/7
Alas, the luxurious stay had to come to and end at some point. The following Tuesday we packed up… but not to end our honeymoon! Instead we repacked to spend the next 5 days traveling through the Yucatán visiting Mayan ruins and modern Yucatán cities! But that’s for the next post…
Originally published at pleia2's blog. You can comment here or there.
Our wedding!
May. 15th, 2013 09:27 pmpleia2On Sunday April 28th MJ and I were married!
The day began gathering with mothers, my aunt and the bridesmaids in the bridal suite of the Joseph Ambler Inn where we and most of our out of town guests stayed. Inn Manager Keenan Christiansen and Brian Cottman really made us feel welcome throughout our stay and during all the planning.
My maid of honor, Danita Fries, took care of morning makeup and hair preparations, bringing in Daneene Jensen and her team to take care of hair and makeup for all of us. Not being a makeup person, I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of wearing it, but Daneene made me feel comfortable and was great about keeping the makeup light and the look very natural. MJ’s Best Woman even stopped by with refreshments in the late morning so we wouldn’t be without lunch.
We met with our photographer, Melissa Morelli, at 1PM to begin taking photos at the inn. She was the photographer MJ hired for our engagement and a few months back she also did my head shots. We were really happy to have her join us in Pennsylvania for the wedding.
After photos at the inn, we took a small bus chartered by 1st Class Transportation over to the wedding venue, Talamore Country Club.
The weather was beautiful, which was quite fortunate as the wedding was outdoors and Melissa was able to take some great pictures throughout the venue before the ceremony.
Everything began the signing of the Ketubah we selected by Amy Fagan of 20th Century Illuminations and the Badeken.
Then, the ceremony! We went back and forth about having a videographer for our wedding and decided to go with one from the Mixed Media Productions, the firm our DJ, Mike Robertson, runs. In retrospect I’m glad we decided to have one, the photos are great but I was so overwhelmed (happy! excited! nervous!) that I can’t say I actually remember that much of the ceremony :)
It all went very smoothly. My mother and grandfather walked me down the aisle. We were honored to have Rabbi Elliot Holin work with us on the ceremony and finally to officiate.
We also held our reception at Talamore, starting with a cocktail hour in the garden room (this room was also backup for ceremony had it rained). Then dinner in their main ballroom which was decked out with the amazing flower centerpieces by Moles Flowers.
The rest of the reception was also pretty traditional, short speeches from family and friends, a first dance and cake! We selected a multi-flavor cake from Bredenbecks and I made sure to have a bit of each ;)
And in addition to being able to talk to many of our guests, we even danced a bit! It was an amazing night.
Afterwards we had a bit of an after party back at the Inn, giving us time to kick back and relax for a couple hours with some of our guests.
In all, things went as perfect as I could have imagined thanks to MJ’s attention to detail throughout the process along with some great vendors who were able to work with us on requests.
We’ll be updating our website in the coming weeks with tons more photos and other details of our wedding weekend which included family and wedding party dinners.
Originally published at pleia2's blog. You can comment here or there.
dizzy lizzie
May. 15th, 2013 03:10 pmbadgerbagFeeling dizzy and nauseated. Maybe I am getting sick and it isn't all about swimming the other day? Or, it could be related to having taken NSAIDS. Loss of appetite also. I am eating anyway but minimally. At least I managed to work today.
Tweets for Tue May 14, 2013 (approximately)
May. 15th, 2013 04:30 amtko- May 14 08:02 GMT : This bag doesn't quite fit my criteria, but it has a built-in scooter. Tres cool! Can't deny that I want one: http://t.co/rs1kj1gVSN #
Swimming good intentions
May. 14th, 2013 08:33 pmbadgerbagSwam today. Fucked up my ankles. Fingers crossed I don't go back into the space boots.
What should I read before WisCon? I need some escapism, quick.
What should I read before WisCon? I need some escapism, quick.
I made y'all a mixtape.
May. 14th, 2013 12:57 pmrandomInspired by M's challenge to acknowledge the shameless pop you unironically love, and by watching and discussing Bowie videos, I ended up putting together a video mix tape of shameless pop with massively surreal videos.
Trigger warnings: Contains sexual violence, rape culture, orientalism and straight-out racism, fetishization of the "exotic," body dysmorphia and horror, and really ridiculous symbolism. In other words, they're pop music videos.
Full track list:
Trigger warnings: Contains sexual violence, rape culture, orientalism and straight-out racism, fetishization of the "exotic," body dysmorphia and horror, and really ridiculous symbolism. In other words, they're pop music videos.
Full track list:
- Hey Ocean! - I Am A Heart
- Aqua - Dr Jones
- Evan Taubenfeld - Boy Meets Girl
- Madonna - Like a Prayer
- Amanda Marshall - Fall From Grace
- Enigma - Mea Culpa
- Savage Garden - Break Me Shake Me
- Tori Amos - A Sorta Fairytale
- Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
- Wild Strawberries - I Don't Want To Think About It
- Roxette - It Must Have Been Love
- Live - Lightning Crashes
- Sarah McLachlan - Into The Fire
- Florence + The Machine - Shake It Out
- Melissa Etheridge - Come To My Window
- Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe [ Steve Kardynal Chatroulette Video ]
- P!nk - Raise Your Glass
one of those entries that is actually about something else
May. 13th, 2013 04:08 pmyatimaThe Fault in Our Stars is written by someone my age about teenagers dying of cancer. The teenagers are adorably articulate and wry, which is what happens when they are written by clever fortysomethings – see also Juno and The Gilmore Girls. But I cried and cried for Wendy, who was just that funny anyway at fourteen, and for Jen, who at forty-three knew exactly what she was leaving behind. Glioblastoma, leukaemia.
The Still Point of the Turning World is written by Emily Rapp, who lost her son Ronan in February. He was three. Tay-Sachs. I’ve become violently allergic to the notion of meritocracy because of its implication that there are people who are without merit. Jen never made much money. Wendy never finished high school. Ronan never learned to speak. What does that make them? Emily Rapp says:
If you love but the love is never known by the other person as the love you bear for them, is that love wasted? I eventually realized that this way of thinking was more about ego than anything else, and that no love is ever wasted; in fact, the most precious love is often the kind that isn’t returned, and that is given freely.
I’ve realized it is my most deeply held political conviction that all are created equal. A person’s performance as an economic agent under late capitalism is about as relevant as their performance in chess or dressage or sport aerobics to what they are actually worth. Every person is a planet with a diamond core, a Tardis, bigger on the inside. We can’t possibly love anyone enough, but we can try.
Rumpus: What did Ronan smell like?
Rapp: Rice and shampoo. Sleep.
Rumpus: I know what it felt like for me to hold Ronan. What did it feel like for you?
Rapp: It felt like holding the world.
Mirrored from Yatima.
elephant sanctuary
May. 12th, 2013 09:51 pmyatimaThere are only two in the USA: the other is in Tennessee. This one was founded by Pat Derby, an Englishwoman descended from Shelley who found herself in Hollywood training cats, bears and elephants for shows like Lassie and Daktari. She hated the violence and cruelty of the industry and exposed it in a pretty wonderful, if bleak, book cowritten by Peter S. Beagle, who also wrote The Last Unicorn. She died in February.
The sanctuary is only open twice a year and you have to buy tickets in advance. It’s up in the Sierra foothills and it was a scorchingly hot day. Six hundred people came. I grumbled about the heat and having to wait in line for a shuttle, and then the shuttle came and we were taken to a picnic area where there were two Asian elephants to the left of us and three African elephants to the right. Gypsy, Wanda, Mara, Maggie and Lulu.
There are massive steel fences around their enclosure but the enclosures are vast – acres upon acres. That they wanted to visit with us at all is astounding to me. We were kept at a safe distance, about twenty feet, but we were in the presence of elephants, and this is an ungainsayable thing. I’ve seen elephants before but I don’t think I’ve ever seen happy elephants before. We were there for their entertainment as much as the reverse. They made eye contact.
I believe of them now, as I believe of whales and octopus, that they are sentient. How they must suffer when they are caged or in chains.
Maggie, one of the African elephants, lived in an Alaskan zoo with only an Asian elephant for company. The two have different vocalizations, but Maggie speaks both languages. Gypsy and Wanda came to the sanctuary at different times from different places but are now inseparable. Archival footage of circuses revealed that they had been friends before and had remembered one another for decades. Lulu, rescued from the San Francisco zoo, was the most reticent of the females. She wanted to be near Maggie and Mara but she didn’t particularly care for us. Up on Bull Mountain we saw Nicholas and Prince; Prince also prefers to keep away from humans.
But Nicholas swam for us, and dug a log up from the bottom of his lake. Another animal again in water, his bony head like a hippo’s, the water pouring off his gleaming skin. Graceful and at peace.
It was everything I love most passionately about California: the dry hills, the circling raptors, the ridiculous mule deer, and the people who pour out their lives trying to fight injustice and make safe spaces and be kind.
Mirrored from Yatima.