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April 30, 2004
Is there such a thing as a cool nerd?
Because I feel really cool right now -- I have a moblog!
All that's there right now is a picture of some daffodils from our front yard -- but my s3krit plan is to take photos at MDSW and post them from there! Mobile sheep and yarn blogging! Whee!
Posted by Rose at 09:34 AM | Comments (2)
April 27, 2004
Maryland here I come!
I'll be at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend, and if any of you reading this will be there, please let me know -- I'd love to meet you! (Don't they have the most wonderful logo? I'm really hoping they've got that on a t-shirt for this year.)
My main purpose in going is to look for small vendors for Yarnivore. I'm really looking forward to talking to lots of vendors and finding out if they'll be able to supply yarn and fiber for the store. One of the best parts of starting the store is meeting lots of wonderful fiber people, many of whom are living the dream of starting their own fiber-related businesses.
Posted by Rose at 01:20 AM | Comments (3)
April 22, 2004
Wetback terrorists
Yo. I'm in a pretty bad mood because I've got some respiratory crud, but I would be totally pissed over this quote from W. no matter when I heard it. He's responding to questions about an AP poll that says "two-thirds of Americans believe that another attack is somewhat likely."
Singling out Texas, the president said: "It is difficult to stop people coming across the Rio Grande River, whether they be people looking for work or people looking to do harm. And so I can see why people feel that way."
Because you know, once those brown-skinned people start swarming onto American soil, anything could happen.
Of course I understand that another way to interpret what he said is that the border with Mexico is long, and that "bad guys" of any description may be able to get into the country by crossing it, and that he isn't specifically saying that illegal Mexican immigrants should be suspected as terrorists. However, INS crachdowns justified by a "response to terrorism" have definitely trapped poor Mexicans in their hazy legal morass.
I don't have any articles to link, and I know this is hearsay, but my mom (a resident alien who immigrated from Mexico 35 years ago) works with a community of more recent Mexican immigrants, and they live in constant fear of apprehension and deportation. Most of these people do have work papers, and many of them are in the process of applying for citizenship. However, they're terrified that one "suspicious" move will bring them to INS attention, and that they will be detained for questioning. One man my mom knows has been detained for questioning for over two months, and his wife and child had to return to Mexico, because they could not afford to stay in the United States without his salary.
In the worst case scenario, say this guy was helping people falsify their papers. My mom doesn't think so, but he might have been. Does it take two months to prove that and then deport him? I can promise you he hasn't been tying them up in court with lawyers!
So, I know I may be irrationally sensitive to Bush's lunkhead comment. But perhaps I should be glad every time he makes an ass of himself in a public forum. Because honestly, at this point I probably would vote for a hamster to replace Bush.
Posted by Rose at 08:40 AM
April 20, 2004
Blogging the time away
In an attempt to make it easier to read blogs when I take breaks at work, I've added more of the ones I read often to my sidebar. Surely this is good for everyone. Enjoy!
Posted by Rose at 03:58 PM
April 19, 2004
Coffee of summer
Francis used to call Dr Pepper the "coffee of summer", but living in Brooklyn has taught me that there is a contender for that title: Manhattan Special.
Look at it, in all its sweet coffee splendor. It's carbonated espresso soda -- how cool is that? Mmmmmm.
Posted by Rose at 11:34 AM | Comments (3)
April 18, 2004
knitting in public
Yesterday and today have been a blessed, sunny respite from the horrible rain and chill that have been upon us for far too long. I took the opportunity to do some knitting outside on our stoop, where we convened Music Club for a couple of hours. (Music Club is where a few of us get together every month and we all bring a song pertaining to a theme we picked the month before. At the end, we burn mix CDs of all the songs we brought.)
How nice to be knitting outside!
Posted by Rose at 06:33 PM | Comments (2)
Heard in a dance accompaniment
While at the Brooklyn Museum's celebration of their new facade, I attended a dance performance. The second piece was against a backdop of light projected from an 8mm projector, with sound provided by a series of snippets of sound from movies. I heard the line (from some film noir, no doubt), "A dame with a rod is like a guy with a knitting needle" and thought it was hysterical. Not true these days (there are plenty of guys who knit, and I just read an article in the Times a couple of weeks ago about a Manhattan women's shooting club), but still really a funny sentiment.
Posted by Rose at 01:03 AM
April 16, 2004
Actual business news!
My awesome designer pal Debby has finished laying out my business cards! When I've got a final version, I'll post an image here. This is fabulously exciting!
And yesterday, I visited Seaport Yarn, where I was welcomed warmly by Andrea, the owner. Every time I meet a yarn store owner like her, I know I'm entering the right business. She was totally generous with advice and information, and clearly happy with what she's put together. Wow!
Posted by Rose at 04:57 PM
April 13, 2004
words of a former teenager
Michael Chabon has a brilliant little op-ed piece in today's NY Times -- it was written in response to the incident in San Francisco that many folks have already heard about -- a college student was recently thrown out of art school for writing a "disturbing" story (bloody, horrific, detailed, gruesome), and then his teacher didn't get rehired.
This sympathetic and persuasive essay wouldn't have made a damn bit of difference to my father, who tried to keep me from reading what I wanted, and who opened my mail and read my journal and freaked out when I was 15. (Like Jack Valenti, my dad was more upset about sex than he was about violence....) But I find it soothing to hear an adult acknowledge that what teenagers want is to know
that somebody else has felt the way that you feel, has faced it, run from it, rued it, lamented it and transformed it into art; has been there, and returned, and lived, for the only good reason we have: to tell the tale.
I'd like to think that some kid will get cut some slack as a result of this essay; I know it's wishful thinking, but I'm a relentless optimist.
Posted by Rose at 03:58 PM
Cool kid or wannabe? You'll have to tell me.
My good pal Daniel Radosh has alerted me to the latest craze sweeping the "litblogger" nation:
Pick up the nearest book. Open it to page 23. Find the fifth sentence. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
Any noise would be unexpected at this hour, as Manning's secretary had gone home.
from The Dante Club, by Matthew Pearl. (Which is already turning out to be a little more graphically gruesome than I had expected, even with my deep knowledge of Mr. Alighieri's work itself.)
Posted by Rose at 01:45 PM | Comments (1)
April 10, 2004
Worst Poetry in Motion Poem Ever
Now, I know that everyone's taste in poetry is a little bit different, and that's fine. But I hate hate hate this poem that I keep seeing on the NYC subways.
A Big Clown-Face-Shaped CloudYou just went by
With no one to see you, practically.
You were in good shape, for a cloud,
With perhaps several minutes more to exist.
You were speaking, or seemed to be,
Mouth open wide, talking, to a
Belted angel-shaped cloud that was riding ahead.� Kenneth Koch
The New Yorker, May 6, 2002
Did you notice that last bit? The New Yorker printed that bit of drivel! The New Yorker!
Better still, in the course of looking up this dreadful thing online so I could complain about it, I found a link to someone's essay (looks like a college English class assignment) talking about how damn much they love this poem. If you'd like to check out a different point of view from mine, you can read what Tom Hall has to say about it.
I know they want to use at least some contemporary poetry that's in colloquial English. But why can't all the poems be as good as this one?
PrimitiveI have heard about the civilized,
the marriages run on talk, elegant and
honest, rational. But you and I are
savages. You come in with a bag,
hold it out to me in silence.
I know Moo Shu Pork when I smell it
and understand the message: I have
pleased you greatly last night. We sit
quietly, side by side, to eat,
the long pancakes dangling and spilling,
fragrant sauce dripping out,
and glance at each other askance, wordless,
the corners of our eyes clear as spear points
laid along the sill to show
a friend sits with a friend here.� Sharon Olds (1980)
Posted by Rose at 10:24 PM | Comments (2)
April 09, 2004
Arthritis Walk 2004
I let a bunch of my friends know about this, and now I'll let my blog friends know, too!
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Posted by Rose at 11:56 AM
April 03, 2004
My backyard
Well, the part of my backyard that I call the Japanese hill and pond garden at the BBG. Ain't it purty?
Posted by Rose at 11:50 AM
April 02, 2004
I guess I'll have a beef pattie, then.
I was in a Golden Krust yesterday, and I was vastly amused by a sign there. I didn't have my camera, so you'll have to live with a transcription:
We apologize for the inconvenience.
PS -- Blogging from work -- even on a break -- makes me a real blogger, I think!
Posted by Rose at 11:35 AM