December 2011
1 post
Be the machine
When Weingarten is reporting a story, according to everyone, he’s focused on that and nothing else. He ceases to be a human being—he becomes, in his own words, “the machine.” He hoovers up information and that’s it. Maybe he sleeps. Maybe he eats a sandwich. But mostly he does what he does until it’s done.
Tom Bartlett. “How Do you Explain Gene Weingarten?”
October 2011
1 post
News from the garage: October 19
There’s nothing more to worry about. An apple, thought to be lost for 125 years, has been found. The Hewes crab apple, one of three apples specifically cultivated in Thomas Jefferson’s orchard to be pressed for cider, was found on an estate outside of New York City. Branches have since been mailed around the country and grafted onto thriving root stock. We’ll be drinking the same...
September 2011
1 post
August 2011
1 post
News from the garage: August 22
Today an arborist scaled the majestic pine on the corner of Chelsea Drive and Shamrock Road. A series of ropes and knots held him high as he dismembered the tree from top to bottom. He scaled it a second time to deconstruct the trunk in six-foot chunks. Finally, the gaunt, pony-tailed dude hopped to the ground, but the pine’s remains still stood one story in the air. His crew wrapped a noose...
July 2011
8 posts
Check out the new family blog! →
News from the garage: July, 25
At the U.S. Embassy in Paris, France, a twenty-seven year intern posed as an invader in the building. The marines swarmed the scene, practicing their handcuffing and detaining skills. Fortunately for all by-standers, the live action role play participant could not contain her giggles.
In Charlottesville, VA, residents are looking forward to the Great Thaw of the Summer of 2011. After weeks of...
News from the garage: July 16
The cops may or may not have been notified about the wrath of the beast, a firework set off last night at an outdoor pizza party. Many enjoyed the surprise, carnival-like light, while its prolonged bangs and pops shot pangs of grief through some guilty guests who promptly departed. Neighbors, know that those pangs were felt but that the joy was great.
Not far from the firework launching, local...
News from the garage: July, 12
Today’s the day to talk heat index. Backs under back packs are soaked. Sweaty socks are wrinkling toes all around town.
The used bookstore on Elliewood is still waiting for an anthology of Rumi poetry.
Two new bikers joined the fleet of morning commuters. Both wore helmets and remembered locks. One inflated her tires with a pink Hawaiian pump. A great success for the city-wide bicycle...
Dear Ricotta
My exploration into a half pound of ground chuck was part of a more general effort to reassess my needs and see what changes I could make to render my new life more livable. For example, I saw a doctor last week. She asked me various questions about my lifestyle and I answered confidently to all but one: Are you eating enough? I said yes at the time, but reflecting later, decided that I would be...
June 2011
4 posts
re-up
first reupholstery project. finished chair on the bottom.
how to kick
kicks
The lights were dim at the fanciest restaurant in the once burgeoning, but recently foreclosing, beach development in North Carolina.
My family walked into the steakhouse in our standard fashion: comfortably under-dressed. Pat wore a purple Milwaukee Bucks jersey with nice Clarks flip-flops. John zipped on the bottom quarter of his convertible hiking pants and Mike looked like he usually does....
January 2011
2 posts
December 2010
1 post
“If I had known how they pronounced Golz in Spanish I would pick me out a better...”
– Hemingway. For Whom the Bell Tolls
November 2010
3 posts
October 2010
2 posts
September 2010
3 posts
Dani, the Hunters, and the NBA
In his bouncy and charming, Spanish-inspired English, Jose introduced me to his class.
“She’s from Wisconsin, you know? Students what do you know of Wisconsin?”
I was sizing up the nine pupils. Who is a window gazer? Who is a cube doodler? Of course no one has heard of my state before. So there’s the knuckle-cracker. The chronically-late student walked through the door...
July 2010
1 post
June 2010
1 post
May 2010
3 posts
Waiting in the shade of wisteria
During my last week in Tournefeuille, my fellow English teachers scheduled dinners and parties for me on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Tonight I was at Therese’s house.
Her husband, Thierry, welcomed me with a list, “Gin, scotch, rum, Therese do we have rum? Fortified wines, like Port, sweet white wines, you know Jurancon or Muscat?” He kissed both of my cheeks, poised to mix the drink...
April 2010
4 posts
a lucky strike
Today—a hot spring day—cranky voices, evil thoughts and stinky travel-breath are steaming up and swirling out of the gare. I can smell this heat, once trapped under shirt collars, now wafting through the waiting area. For all this effort and sweat, no trains are coming and no trains will be going. The national train system, SNCF, was striking again.
Small groups settle into corners or empty...
whisky time
Charlie pointed to the laminated flavor map on the bar. Dots representing whisky distilleries freckled an outline of Scotland, and thick black lines divided the land into quadrants according to four distinct flavors and geographies. Smokey is the flavor in the north, where distilleries use peat to fire their heaters. Coal replaced peat in the south, when mines were discovered in the nineteenth...
March 2010
2 posts
part 1 of goddesses, grandmas and orange trees
My grandmother’s carry-on was quite large. She packed a pair of high-heeled boots, black slacks, jeans, white pants, five shirts, and long underwear and button-ups, pullovers and camisoles. She passed through security with a hundred ounces of liquids; well over today’s limit. Could this seventy-year old dame lift this bag up and over her soft grey bob? Could she slide it into the overhead bin? ...
the great american game
I recently fielded some subtle inquiries as to the garagekeeper’s whereabouts. In response I will step up to the plate, and swing as hard as I can. We are already at the top of the sixth but unfortunately the network has been down for a time now. For now I’ll say that the team’s been on the road for a while, but has held its own without the ole home field advantage. For those fans out there,...
January 2010
2 posts
Lost and Found
Mike came to visit me in Toulouse. I warned him that the South of France could get cold, and when he arrived in the airport lobby, I found his blue woolen cap bobbing above the European crowd. This winter has been unexpectedly harsh.
Luckily Mike landed just before the airport runways closed and before the city buses returned to the garage. During his stay, no one tempted to unlock the...
December 2009
5 posts
Reading The New Yorker's Fiction: "All That," by...
seedz:
human beings have a well-established track record for making and enjoying art, including the fiction appearing weekly in The New Yorker. “All That” makes an important claim about this circumstance. Even though it is silly to believe that a cement truck, toy or otherwise, has magical properties, it is important to believe such a thing, or things like it. Artwork, which humans so greatly...
sweet potatoes
The winter rain had settled into Toulouse. At the market, vendors tugged their hoods over their eyes and hugged themselves while surveying their green beans and pre-cut pumpkin slices. Bent against the wind and rain, I stopped at a booth to ask, “Excusez-moi, avez-vous des patates douces?” I was on sweet potato duty for our American Thanksgiving feast later that evening, and my friends doubted...
Some Certainties in an Uncertain Time
seedz:
I will know a lot more about rap music and professional wrestling in a few weeks. Wikipedia will experience a near-negligible bump in its inbound-link count. Midtown grocery stores will experience improved revenues on a similar scale. My apartment will be clean. I will once again become a connaisseur of bottom-shelf tallboys and homemade tacos. Friends’ couches will once again know the...
November 2009
2 posts
dress code
I needed to open a bank account by October 12 to get an advance on my salary. This cash would buy me beers, which would help me make friends. But I couldn’t drink too many beers because I had to wake up at five-thirty to get to school on time. My fellow teachers would like me for my punctuality, and they would like me more if I looked nice.
Last summer, as I entered the working world, I...
english class
As payment for living and eating with the Lepersonne family, near the Jardin des Plantes in Toulouse’s centre ville, I have daily English conversation with Astrid. Astrid will be eleven in one week but they say she looks more like fourteen. They also say she prefers her Chinese class to her English class. I think that means her parents like her Chinese class more than her English class. From...
October 2009
6 posts
Listen
occitania
i forgot to tell you about the two sisters. they were seventy-something with skinny legs and boxy busts, and they waddled around the restored stone grainery scolding each other in the pyrenees patois called bearnais. it is a dying language that few can understand. during dinner they sat next to each other. denise said little, but rolled her eyes, winked at me, and adjusted her darn dentures....
