Public Service Announcement

[The following is prompted by some of the answers on the final exam in one of my classes where students could earn extra credit by identifying the capitals of several countries]

The capital of Mexico is not:

• Tijuana
• Cancun
• Margaritaville

It's Mexico City (or Ciudad de Mexico, D.F.).

Thank you for your attention.

Snowed In

Today was supposed to be a productive day.

I was supposed to go into the college, grade, collect papers, and get organized.

The weather had other plans.

It became a mellow day at home.  Not very productive, but I didn't mind.

I am looking forward to tomorrow.  I plan on walking around and taking some pictures in the snow.  

Avoiding Responsibilities

This semester I quickly fell behind with my grading.  Once papers start piling up, it becomes more and more difficult to make the pile shrink.

I intended to grade today - I did manage to be productive yesterday - but it just didn't happen.  I didn't even look at a single paper.  In some ways, it is better for the students.  If I am not focused, I am more irritated.  The more irritated I am, the harsher grader I become.  

Of course, there is no guarantee that I will be feeling more focused or more charitable tomorrow or the day after.  Well, tomorrow I probably won't as I have an exam to give at 8:30 and then I have meetings.  

I enabled my procrastination by watching the Charlie Brown Chirstmas special tonight.  It had been ages since I watched the special.  I had always liked Peanuts and the special (in particular the music).  This time around I was amazed by the sophistication of the social commentary in the original special.  Sara, who was also watching, turned to me at one point and commented, "This isn't really for kids, is it?"  It is also amazing how relevant it is even today's society (it originally aired in 1965).  

Sara and I also joked about how all the Peanuts kids would be diagnosed with some disorder today and medicated in one way or another (or removed from their families and placed in foster care).  I even think it could be a new holiday party game: diagnose the Peanut kid.  

Oh, and the similarity between Snoopy and Zeus are uncanny.  Except that Snoopy is afraid of cats...

Sign of the Apocalypse?

It was 62 degrees today.  And tomorrow we are supposed to get snow.

I am not complaining about the snow, but I wish the weather would make up its mind.

Today I spent most of my waking hours writing letters of recommendation (what goes around, comes around...it's payback for all of those I asked my profs to write) and grading (I am nearly done with one of my three classes).  

Tomorrow I get interviewed by the NY Post.  I guess I am one of those rare creatures that has bought a house in recent times.   I may use this opportunity as leverage with a little accounting problem we have had with the bank that we got our mortgage through (more on that later).

Back

The Return

Yes, I have been away. Away in the land of being grown up.

House ownership.

Long-term, permanent work.

Short-term consulting gigs.

Politcs and elections.

Unpleasant surprises.

Bills.

You know?  Responsibilities.

I am not sure what to make of it all.  

It has been a crazy set of months.  The fall semester is done - only finals remain and a ton of grading.  

I am looking forward to some down time.  I need it.  The dogs need it.  The house needs it.  

The house.  It is a wonderful place.  We were so fortunate on this front.  There have been the quirks of owning a new home, but relative to many of the horror stories I have heard, we are doing well.  There is still much left to do to make it fully home.  There are still many boxes that need to be unpacked.  The wonderful thing, though, is that when I unpack a box, I get to throw it away (yes, it goes into recycling).  No longer do I need to save it for "the next move."  It is such a wonderful feeling.  

We are finally getting real furniture.  We now have nice leather sectional for the living room, rather than a collection of rescued arm chairs and futons.  I ventured out into the Black Friday madness to purchase a bedroom set that was a good buy during one of those early-bird specials.  Being able to identify that the sales person was from Nigeria and asking him whether he was Ibo or Yoruba got me free delivery.  

Slowly it is becoming ours.

It has been a hectic autumn and my writing - here and elsewhere - has taken a hit.

But I need to return to it - especially elsewhere, but my writing here can be my muse, I hope.  

So grab some coffee and be prepared to indulge in my mindless rants, inane observations, and pointless stories.  Maybe...

Sold!

Finally! We own our home!

I am exhausted and a bit overwhelmed, but excited as what not.

There is a lot left ahead of us, but we control more of that. No more mystery bank decisions, secret new costs, and general uncertainty.

So this is what a whole lotta money gets you in the New York area.


We are so proud - I am giddy but ready to collapse!

So -

...we are this close to being home owners.

Tomorrow we do the walk through and Friday is the closing.

Yikes.

Movers come next week, although we have until the end of the month to complete the move.

Things are moving along, but today I had a mild anxiety attack. I have been stressed, nervous, extremely worried, etc. before, but this was different. I suddenly felt shaky and extremely unsettled. It is so hard to describe. It was not triggered by anything in particular. I could not specify what the anxiety was about - it was just there. It lasted about five minutes and then it was gone. I was back to my usual levels of worry, stress, and anxiety.

I hope I never have one of those again.

I must say, that the two most unhealthy things I have done in my life are:

1. Write a dissertation.
2. Buy a house.

I guess the ends justify the results, but my body sure has paid a price for it.

It is going to be an intense couple of days...I hope I survive.

Between Jobs


It's been a busy summer - working on two separate research projects.

Today I worked on both.

In between, however, I stopped to gaze on one of my favorite buildings.

Not for long.

Just enough time to think, wow.

Nature Hike

Things have been rather chaotic - the house buying craziness, random jobs, trying to pack, organizing my new office at work.

I did take some time for a nature hike today with the dogs.


I would have liked to have taken more pictures, but it is hard when two dogs are yanking at you wanting to run into a field of poison ivy in search of critters. We did come across an interesting uprooted tree (that wonderful green all around it is poison ivy).


I was fascinated by the twists and knobs in the remains of the roots. It did not come out well, but I did see a creepy face outline in the shadows. Do you see it or is it my over-active imagination?


On the way home we walked past one of the most obscene intersections in Manhattan, which is only a few blocks from where our apartment is!


Over the next couple of weeks we hope to close on the house, pack, move, and stay at least partially sane. Wish us luck...

Yet Another Blast from the Past

About six years ago, Sara and I were living in Bergamo, Italy, working hard on our dissertation research. On Sundays, either as a brief respite from our work or as part of our ethnographic experience (take your pick), we would engage in the Italian ritual of la passeggiata (the walk). I have written elsewhere how this is more than just exercise or walking off nonna's big Sunday meal, rather an important part of the construction of community (if you are interested in the academic take, email me and I can send you the text).

During these walks, you encounter every aspect of Italian life: families showering attention on the only child sitting in his designer stroller clad in the latest fashion, elederly being left on the sidewalk outside the gelateria as though they were the family dog, marginalized immigrants trying to push books, trinkets, or counterfit wears on passers by. In the squares of the city, you could find activists advocating for their cause or roaming musicians playing and selling their homemade CDs. In Bergamo, common sights were the wandering Incas playing Andean music on pan flutes and guitars and the tough biker playing new age music on his electric guitar amplified on the amp towed by his chopper.

Another entertaining sight was the capuchin friar who sang and crooned on a portable amplifier. He was a memorable fellow, rotund in his humble brown hooded habit, a long white breard flowing from his ginning face. His songs were not overtly relgious nor memorable. He didn't seem to be selling CDs, either. It just seemed like he liked to sing and share it with the world.

The yesterday, while half-heartedly watching Keith Olberman's Countdown while reading the paper I saw this:



It was him! No doubt about it. It seems like he has gotten a little edgier since we last saw him. It also appears that he has gotten more popular as well. You can see the Italian news coverage of one of the concerts (worth watching even if you don't understand Italian):

Nostalgia Karma

Global nomads, that is what people who grow up moving from one place to another sometimes call themselves. They bounce around from culture to culture, never truly setting down any roots, but picking up local customs. I probably don't fit into that category because my bouncing around has happened later in life, but I grew up in an environment where a lot of the people I knew fit into that category. I definitely thought of myself as an outsider or at least different, even though part of my family was local. As such, I gravitated towards those who were also foreign - or at least different.

One of the struggles of global nomads, or whatever you may want to call them, is that your friends end up far away. Back in the day, the only way to keep in touch involved a pen, some paper, an envelope, and a stamp. I did write a lot of letters and got many in return. Some times you bonded more with people who were casual friends once you moved away, while some of your closest friends seemed not to have much to share through writing. Ultimately, the distance won and you had fewer and fewer people from your past in your life.

I am not sure what kind of nostalgic karma tsunami has rippled through the universe, but over the past couple of weeks it seems like many of the people who were part of my formative years in Mexico have all come together in a virtual collision in cyberspace. People who I have not communicated in 20 or more years are popping up on my screen. There are old neighbors and schoolmates who have all dispersed across the globe, each with their own adventure.

Most of the encounters have occurred on or have been facilitated by Facebook. It seems like there has been a flood of people from this period in my life joining the social site. The result has been a snowballing of contacts and reconnections. I've reached people who aren't on there through their siblings or other friends.

The researcher and anthropologist in me is fascinated by the process. But another part of me doesn't want to analyze it. It is such an adventure in curiosity learning about the paths people have taken and where they have led them: Australia, the Philippines, Israel, Canada, or all around the world just to end up back in Mexico. There is gross inquisitiveness to see how people look after all these years. Of course there is often less hair, more rotundness, the extra lines. But people generally look the same - and at times there are points of comparison (I probably look quite different now - I certainly am glad that my mother stopped dressing me. In all fairness, that was a school uniform). However, you can read the experience of life in people's faces. Experiences of having families, triumphs and disappointments, struggles and joys. I also reflect on how people may see me and my experiences - and even how I present myself to them, both through the Facebook page itself and through the words I share with them. Finally, it is curious what emotions that emerge when getting in touch with these people. The afinities, rivalries, respect, and other feelings that existed seem to reawaken to some degree, even after so many years.

So there have been brief messages bouncing all over the world, telling stories and giving updates. I do wonder if there will be a reconnecting and the possible recreation of a community that existed so long ago. Or will these messages bounce around for a while only to begin to fade once again once the curiosity factor wanes. I will be curious to see...

For now, it has been entertaining.

In Desperate Need of Distraction

The Blessings of Distraction

Today we were able to put all the chaos and craziness aside to celebrate Sara's birthday.

We headed to midtown and had some wonderful Indonesian food for lunch.

Picture borrowed from Amateur Gourmet

Then we let these silly chaps entertain us:


It was jolly good fun even though the seats in the theater were designed for people with very short legs.

To cap it off, we partook of a Sara tradition and had a wonderful slice of:

Junior's Cheesecake

I fear that tomorrow bodes a return to the craziness. A day off was sure nice, though.

How to go Mad (or Die Trying) in about a Week...

Try to buy a house in that time period.

So yes, as I mentioned before, we decided to venture into the real estate market.

As of last week, we were still in the looking around phase. We made the bold move to start working with an agent and began to think about a more focused search.

First thing she did, was to send me off to some mortgage bankers to get pre-approved for a mortgage. And we made plans to see some houses with her on the weekend, including one house we had already seen and found much to our liking.

Due to some unforeseen circumstances, our agent had to cancel and reschedule for Tuesday. We were already in the area because we had made plans to have lunch with a friend of ours whose mother lives that way. So we made a trip to the house anyway, just to get a look at it from outside.

On Monday, I followed up with the mortgage people getting copies of all sorts of financial documents to them to try to get the coveted pre-approval.

One Tuesday, we finally met up with our agent to see a few houses including the one we liked. As we walked around, we decided that we really did love it. When we got home, though, we found out that it had an offer on it. That's when everything started going really crazy. I called the agent and she asked me what we wanted to do. I didn't know. I never have done this before.

"Help!" I requested.

She then explained that we needed to make our own offer quick, which required the pre-approval. I asked if we could meet the following day to go through our options and the steps we needed to take.

I then called mortgage guy to let him know we needed the pre-approval. He said he would work on it.

On Wednesday we met with our agent who had received the pre-approval (yay!) and we put in our offer. The seller's agent said they were going to get a third offer. So we expected to hear back the following day or maybe even Friday. After two days on edge and running on adrenaline, I thought we would have a few days to breathe and let things settle a bit.

No chance.

That evening our agent called saying that our offer was accepted. So then it was off to get a lawyer, contact the mortgage guy, and set up an inspection. Yesterday we had the inspection and everything looks great.

Now we need to actually get the mortgage. And something do cope with the repeated surges in adrenaline and the utter exhaustion of the past week.

Wish us luck - and sanity....

Lecturing Made Easy - Now with two Updates!

I am teaching Food & Culture this summer. A trip to the grocery store makes the lecture on gendered food easy:



I wonder if the Barbie cereal comes with instructions: Pour in bowl, add milk, enjoy, excuse yourself, vomit. Repeat as necessary.

You gotta love the skulls and bones in the Indy cereal. Doesn't that teach our children that cannibalism is ok, though?

------------------------------

Update: On a more serious note, Sara quite rightly pointed out to me that a skull and bones also appears on poison:


Now if you think about it, small children might be apt to associate skulls and bones with a tasty, sugary treat and consume something toxic.

Maybe it is time to send off an email to Kellogg's.

------------------------------

Update II: Here is the message I sent to Kellogg's, Consumer Reports, and MSNBC:

I spotted your Indiana Jones cereal at my local supermarket. At first I found the skulls and bones in the cereal amusing. However, on deeper reflection, I am concerned about the similarity between the cereal and the skull and bones which is the universal symbol that denotes poison. A small child might be tempted to consume poison thinking they are getting the sweet treat they previously had in your cereal.

I hope this never happens, but I would urge you to consider recalling the cereal and changing the contents from skulls and bones to mini-treasure chests or something more innocuous.

We'll see if anything comes of it - probably not. I was tempted to suggest changing the skull and bones to mini Lost Arks or Holy Grails, but that would probably be too sacrilegious.

I am at home in between my summer course and my summer "consulting" job. I am incredibly tired and could have used a nap. Instead I used most of my time writing a short note to a friend who posted the following status online:

...unbelievably upset Hillary won the popular vote & not the nomination.

I have not really been political here. However, I have followed the campaign very closely and I have pondered the process. I mainly have not written because I never felt like I had the time or energy to invest in the arduous process of verbalizing the complexity of my thoughts and opinions. So rather than do a superficial or half-assed job, I just left it alone.

My friend's comment just pushed me into writing to her because she is extremely intelligent, however, she was buying into a media promoted rhetorical line. I don't know how she will respond, but it was time I entered into the discussion. So here is my note...

M-
Just wanted to comment on your status. Before I start, I just want to disclose that I am supporting Obama. I was on the fence for a long time, though. And while I did vote for him in the NY primary, I was still quite amenable to either candidate. Recent behavior has soured me towards her, but more her campaign staff. I have always considered Terry McCauliffe a weasel, but that is beyond the point.

Don't fall for campaign rhetoric [propaganda?]. The truth of the matter is that you cannot count up the popular vote the way the primary is structured. Here is why:

1. Caucuses are not regular elections. Thus vote totals are often not even reported, rather they are estimated. However, if you are going to claim to count every vote, you can't ignore those votes.
2. If you are going to count popular votes, the votes need to be cast within a short time frame. There are people who would change their votes later down the line. That is why we have election day not election week or election month.
3. Michigan, which gets included in HRC count, was a mess. You can't honestly believe that no people in MI voted for Obama, Edwards, or any other. Write-in ballots were discarded.

I could go on. The point is that there are countless ways to count the popular vote so that whichever side you are on wins.

The system stinks - it is unclear and complicated. It is not democratic by any means. In fact, it is designed to give the establishment the upper hand. Ironically, before the primary campaign started, there were attempts to streamline and cleanup the system and it was HRC people that blocked that change (Harold Ickes in particular). Why? Because it seemed that the system favored them. They were the establishment. When she started to do poorly, they thought they could rely on the "super-delegates", and it was only when that started to fail, did they begin to advance the "popular vote" line.

Think about this, if HRC has such a strong popular backing, why is it that Obama has been able to greatly out-fund-raise her. More so when you see the bulk of his contributions coming from small donors (i.e. the popular vote).

It has been an ugly campaign and it really has shown the real problems in the system. I hope this pushes the party to change the primary process.

I do feel for Hillary and all her supporters. She has worked hard to get to this point and I can't imagine the disappointment and frustration to have come so close. We are way overdue for more women in leadership at all levels, including the presidency.

I hope you can put your disappointment and frustration into a broader context. Both candidates are advancing the same important issues that the Republicans are trying to minimize. The way the system was set has played its way through and we have a candidate. Trying to change that at this time will only be counter-productive to the broader goals.

I offer you this perspective, rather than think of the number of popular votes each side received, think of the number of total voters that have been engaged and mobilized for the whole party. If we think of ourselves as one group, one movement, one people, then not only will we win in November, but we can begin to address all the issues challenging our country.

Peace!

I hope I am not alone in my optimism. There is always a danger in being an optimist...

My [Crappy] Day in Bullet Points

[Warning: lots of kvetching ahead]

• My "wonderful" day started without Sara - she's in Texas.
• Realized the fridge is kaput and that a good deal of our food in there needed to be thrown out.
• Had to attend some pointless bureaucratic meetings at work - the admin is making us jump through some useless hoops (without really telling us which hoops we need to jump through).
• Stopped to get a small fridge to try to salvage at least some of our food (and because our super will probably get to dealing with our fridge next year).
• They didn't have the size I wanted. I could get a minuscule one or for $10 more, a large one. Opted for the larger one.
• Drove home to quickly walk the dogs
• Took the subway to the Upper West Side
• Had part three of my root canal - still some pain, but managable
• The endodontist decided to push on to try to finish since he didn't want to have to deal with trying to numb me up again.
• Discovered that after sitting 2 hours with your mouth wide - I mean very wide - open your mandible muscles really start to hurt
• Made my way back home, with my face in my lap (again)
• Carried the fridge up to our apartment - kinda wishing I had opted for the smaller one
• Unpacked the fridge and moved things around to find a spot for it
• Cleaned out the old fridge salvaging a few things - happy that I did get the larger fridge so I could salvage more
• Took out the spoiled food
• Walked the dogs
• Prepared for class tomorrow at 9 - ugh...

I don't think I will have trouble sleeping tonight. And I can hope that tomorrow won't be as bad as today!

Teeth - The Sequel

I survived the second installment.

As I write this I am feeling the last drops of anesthetic slowly fade away from my lips to be replaced by the subtle throbbing of my gums and jaw.

Yes there was pain, but no suffering this time. I still needed countless injections, including several straight into the tooth. But we made progress...

Hopefully one more visit - then back to the dentist for a crown.

The amusing part of the day was the praise I got from the endodontist as I was leaving.

"You did really well today! We got most of it out."

What I heard was, "Now weren't you a brave little trooper today. I am so proud of you. Here's a lollipop. Don't forget to brush!"

Good thing I didn't get a lollipop. I could just imagine the sticky mess my slobber would have made in my lap on the subway as my face slid off the side of my cheek.

Of Teeth and Pain

I have been fortunate in my life to have had good teeth and the wherewithal to take care of them. I never had braces and the only fillings I have had were preventative ones where there was a chance that a cavity might occur. Even when resources or time kept me from the dentist for long periods of time, dentists were always amazed on how little work needed to be done.

My mother had bad periodontal diseases when I was a teenager and had to have surgery on her gums. Witnessing that was incentive enough to maintain good oral hygiene: brushing and flossing.

My good fortunes came to an end a few months ago when one of my molars cracked and then chipped off a few days later. I went to the dentist and he filled in the missing part. He said he doubted I would need a root canal, but there was a possibility. There was a little pain, but it slowly went away.

Then I got fairly sick: an unidentifiable illness that started like strep, mutated to a head cold with intense sinus pressure, and ended with a cough. It took several weeks to shake it off, but I was left with swollen glands - and my tooth started to hurt. Not all the time - only when I chewed something hard or when exposed to something cold.

Back to the dentist I went and he informed me that I would probably need a root canal. As I sat in the chair pondering the procedure, he smiled and told me, "Don't look so glum. There are worse things in life than a root canal."

Hmmm.

The dentist referred me to endodontist, who he claimed was very good. I looked him up on line and he seemed to have quite an impressive academic and professional pedigree. Places like Harvard, Tufts, and Columbia were in his past. The guy probably knows his stuff, I though.

The night before I went, I talked to my mother who reassured me that root canals were not bad anymore. So I began to feel a little more relieved.

When I got to his office, I saw there were pictures of many celebrities adorning the walls: Meridith Viera, Barbara Walters, Keith Olberman, Bill Moyers, Lauren Bacall, Raquel Welch, George Pataki. All had personal notes thanking the endodontist for his attention, care, and professionalism. A common thread seemed to be "quick and painless".

The helped my anxiety slip away a little further.

Then he called me in. We discussed the problem and he did some diagnostic work.

Yep, I needed the root canal.

It would probably take several visits. Did I want to start then?

Sure - might as well.

He commented that he wished that all patience were as easy going and accommodating as I was. I felt pretty good. A talented dentist who was well trained and had already taken a liking to me.

Then the fun began...

You see, my body has a little problem. It reacts very slowly to most types of anesthetics - sometimes not at all. This can be handy when someone is trying to get you drunk. It isn't good when you are having some kind of surgical procedure with local anesthetic.

I informed the endodontist about this and he said he would give me some time to sit. He injected me several times and then left for a while. I did get a bit numb - slowly.

When he returned he decided to try working on the tooth.

"Don't be a martyr. Let me know if you feel pain," he instructed.

"AAAuuaaa..." I replied through the dental dam.

He began drilling. And it hurt. So I raised my hand and he stopped. He gave me a few more shots and we waited a while more.

We went through the procedure again and again we had to stop.

After several repetitions, I began to sense the frustration. I will deal with the pain, I thought. I need to get through this. So the next time he started to drill, my hand remained on my lap even though there was some pain. It was tolerable.

Then less so.

The endodontist talked through what he was doing, explaining that he wanted to open up the tooth so that it could drain.

I gripped the arms of the chair as the pain got worse. Lets get through this, I thought. It hurt, but I did not protest. Then suddenly....

POW!!!

The drill made the acquaintance of my nerve and it was not a happy encounter.

My body decided to take matters into its own hands and jerked away. Tears began to roll down my face and my heart was racing. There have been few times in my life that I have felt pain like that. And I hope there won't be any more.

The endodontist stopped and injected some anesthetic straight into my tooth. It didn't help too much. He drilled a little more, but then just worked on getting some of the pulp out and started filing out the canal.

Then it was over.

After he marveled about how much anesthetic he had given me, he told me that there was a big abscess in the tooth and that it had insulated the nerve from the anesthetic - compounding my slow reaction to it. But now he had opened it up and it began to drain. He prescribed some antibiotics and painkillers and told me to come back the following week.

Then came the other painful part. Even though I have dental insurance, it only covers about half of the cost. And yes, it is expensive.

I was anxious about the pain I would feel once the anesthetic did wear off. The tooth did not hurt too much, but my jaw felt like someone had hit it multiple times with a hammer. I was not sure whether it was the procedure or the innumerable anesthetic shots I got.

After a couple of days I was off the painkillers, but my jaw was still swollen. It remained so even when I went back the following week. The doctor decided that working on it would only aggravate the jaw more, so he gave me another week off.

I go back tomorrow.

I have been in a sense of denial about it. I keep realizing, oh yes, I need to go back tomorrow. He assured me last week that it would not be painful this time. He will have to excuse me if I am a bit skeptical this time around.

And oh yes, summer term also starts tomorrow...it should be a swell day.

I think I am growing up.

The thought makes me shudder. But I think it is true.

Another semester has come to an end and the summer session is lying in wait ready to pounce on me on Tuesday. It will be four weeks of intensive teaching, but then I am done. Only to begin another summer job - this time as a freelance anthropologist. I'll be hanging out at a psychiatric institution. That is probably as much as I can say for now.

I have other research projects I will be working on too. And there is the book manuscript that is haunting me.

Moreover, we will be moving this summer. We are still not sure where, but certainly out of the city and out of this building. We may be purchasing a home. That thought is overwhelming and it leaves me a little stunned. It sure sounds so very grown up.

Although I am so very ready to leave this place, the thought of the actual process makes me oh so anxious.

To top things off, I have had an adventure with an endodontist trying to get a root canal. But that is a story for another day.