News and Such

So many things in the past week and a half. L.A. trip + reunion with good friends far away + beautiful wedding = happy smiles (see above, looking very Dawson's Creek/90210).

Two items of newsy interest passed on by the lovely Miss S. (now on blogspot!) this week: check out the Personalities of States and revel in the neuroticism or lack thereof (if you're from Oregon) of your home state. And for the future professors out there, enjoy the total lack of rationality in relying on student evaluations for tenure decisions.

Of course you've all heard about the Washington Mutual badness of last night -- as a WaMu customer I was of course concerned and immediately logged on to their site to ensure that my negative checking account balance was adequately protected. I do enjoy having no investments or income capable of being lost. Actually, I went to their site last night to see what they said about it, and this letter was posted there instead, from Monday:

To Our Valued Customers:

September 22, 2008

As WaMu's new chief executive officer, I am writing to discuss the extraordinary economic environment for all banks in the United States and why you can count on us to continue to serve you safely and soundly.

When I was recently approached about the opportunity to lead this great company, I did my homework to satisfy myself that WaMu has the capital, the liquidity, and the business plan to serve your needs and protect your money through these challenging times. Let me explain why I felt good about joining WaMu.

All financial institutions have been affected by the turmoil in the mortgage and financial markets, but WaMu is very different from the investment banks, such as Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, that you may have read about. Those firms have very different sources of funding than we do. WaMu's business is funded largely through the deposits that customers like you put with us. We also borrow billions of dollars from the Federal Home Loan Banks system.

Most importantly, your deposits are insured to the limits established by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). (WaMu partners at your local WaMu store are happy to work with you to maximize your FDIC insurance coverage.)

Capital ratios describe the financial strength of a bank. Our ratios continue to be well in excess of the levels that government regulators require of "well capitalized" institutions. We also have an ample supply of funds on hand to meet your needs and the needs of our other customers and our day-to-day operations.

These strengths, combined with our tradition of superior products and services, are why we continue to welcome new customers every day.

I also expect that comprehensive and constructive plans recently announced by the government will shore up confidence in the U.S. banking system considerably. These plans, if approved by Congress, would remove up to $700 billion of troubled assets from the balance sheets of American financial institutions. There are also provisions to protect financial companies from disruptive rumors and speculation that are fueled by abusive stock trading practices.

Other government actions are already underway and are expected to lend even more security to the nation's financial system. The Federal Reserve announced that it will open its discount window to financial institutions to enable them to purchase certain assets from money market funds. This provides increased financial flexibility. The Federal Reserve also recently granted requests from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley that will allow them to take deposits, thereby increasing the resources available to both companies. A more stable national financial system is good for WaMu and good for customers.

I came to WaMu because I think it is a great bank with a strong franchise and a solid financial position. We take very seriously our role as the stewards of your hard-earned money. I want to personally thank you for your loyalty and the opportunity to serve your needs.

Sincerely,

Alan Fishman
Chief Executive Officer

I had to repost this here because it was of course taken down between last night and this morning. Hee. And yeesh. And ouch. And that's all I have to say about that right now.

Finally, on the victory garden front of the economic devastation, I would like to encourage you to make the following tomato sauce. It is like crack. Like delicious, delicious, addictive sauce of crack and tomatoes and garlic. I've made five batches so far that are now stored away for winter hard times. Didn't actually have much choice given how many tomato plants I put in this year.

Take a dozen or more tomatoes (they don't have to be the prettiest or ripest either), cut them in halves or quarters, squeeze gently to get the wateriness down slightly, and lay on cookie sheets (takes two) cut-side up. Take two or three heads of garlic, peeled, and scatter the cloves on the tomatoes. I also add about half a loosely chopped red onion, and then put salt, pepper, olive oil (don't skimp), a dash of balsamic vinegar, sprinkle of sugar, and any herbs you have lying around (I've used thyme, basil, parsley and some fresh oregano). Put it in the oven at around 250 or 275 for between an hour and an hour and a half. When everything looks soft and golden, crank it to 400 for about 10-15 minutes to fully set the caramelization. Remove. Blend or stick it in the food processor until creamy/chunky. Yum.

Books, Movies and History

This weekend I presented at a political science/law conference at the law school here. It was a useful reminder about both disciplinary boundaries and the purposes of interdisciplinary work. In short, I don't speak poli sci. I speak history. And I speak law, at least in a semi-legitimate way. One of the complaints I heard the political scientists make was that the election coverage on the news right now never has any political scientists, instead they interview historians. I smirked a little, since I tend to think history is what's missing from most poli sci (though the best work in that field treats historical context very seriously).

We watched Penelope last night, cute, a bit silly, kind of the fairy tale of a rich girl accepting herself. As you can imagine, I would prefer that she were not quite such a richy rich, but it was cute enough. Last week we watched Last King of Scotland, which I both hated and liked. I hated it for most of the film, especially when I had the impression that the audience is supposed to be empathizing with James McAvoy's absolute jackass of a character, who has no redeeming qualities. The idea of showing the story of Uganda from the perspective of this irresponsible, idiot white guy who I suspect is supposed to be "charming" just ticked me off. I liked it for the last fifteen minutes basically. Forest Whitaker (who is incredible in this role) gives a badass speech at the end that calls out the "white man's burden" and I imagine that for those who identified with McAvoy's character in the rest of the movie, it was probably - hopefully - a powerful moment of awareness. So, I'm still of two minds about the movie.

I got to read lots of novels on my recent trip to BC, and I have to give a mini-review of one here. The Road is very good. And I don't think you need to read it. Seriously, I loved Blindness and recommended it to people, but that book was haunting and depressing and dark. And it's like a Disney fairy tale compared to The Road. So, I guess that makes The Road an effective book, and it's certainly well-written, but why do that to yourself? Read something with some human redemption. The world is already depressing enough much of the time.

Finally, if anyone has an efficient use for two dozen purple tomatillos, I'd love to hear it!

Harvest and Tesh. Also, Bobcats Welcome!

It's definitely harvest time around here -- this is the haul from a casual picking this morning in the backyard, I got scared away from the broccoli, parsley, chard, and the other squash by the bees. (I'm helping bees! I feel absurdly happy about this. And, when I'm out there, I wish they weren't quite so all around me.) I've been drying cherry tomatoes all day -- pounds of them got picked on Friday, thanks to E -- so we can have tons of sun-dried tomatoes all winter without paying $10/ounce. I keep making plans for preserving things like the pears that are all over our yard or making and freezing batches of basil and parsley pesto. I'm clearly in squirrel mode, hoarding nuts for the cold season.

Last night, in a grad student experience that I cannot be alone in, I finished a paper that was due this morning (at 11:00 at night) and then decided to halve, seed and marinade my cherry tomatoes in preparation for drying them today. In awesome Saturday night badassery, I listened to the John Tesh show during my midnight tomato-gutting (a messy process). I learned so much important life information, people. Like, dress for the job you want! No flip-flops and miniskirts at work! Since at least 1/3 of the reason I went to grad school is a lifetime excuse for wearing tweed and professory clothes, I completely endorse this. I also learned that cars are expensive (!) and that the squatters in the foreclosed house next door are totally drug-dealers who you should call the cops on ASAP. Or, they could be bobcats. I'm hoping we'll get some bobcats in this neighborhood, maybe they'd like to eat some tomatoes. Plus, how cute? I promised kittens, and I deliver!

Summer Vacation = Over!

Obviously I took a little summer vacation from blogging -- no excuses, but now I'm feeling that back-to-school, autumnal, Virgo, Septembery, pumpkins and maple leaves, fresh sharp pencils and first day outfits vibe, so I'm back. Rather than try to summarize the finer points of summer fun, which I will get to in due time (for anyone who's still reading!), I just have to share a story from the last week of the daily summer US history class I taught. That class, by the way, was a large part of the delay in blogging and other areas (sorry garden!).

I assigned this book, which is an excellent, if a bit academic, history of corporate power moving intra- and inter-nationally in pursuit of cheap, young, nonunionized female labor. But more than that, it's about communities of workers in these different places -- Camden, New Jersey; Bloomington, Indiana; Memphis, Tennessee; and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico -- and how much they had/have in common with one another. Long story short, wouldn't it be nice if workers had as much of an international identification with others with similar interests as corporations do? Good lefty labor history type stuff. Of course only two students actually finished it, but whatev.

The real story is what happened when we had a discussion of the book. Since they hadn't read it, I quickly resorted to those sad teacher tricks, like asking "what IS community?" (groan) But, we do what we must. When I got blank stares for that, I tried to personalize it with an example. Here's the conversation:

Me: Are you in a community with other State Research University students?
Them: Yes! (emphatic)
Me: What about with the students at Other Big State University 50 miles away?
Them: Yeah, totally, sure!
Me: OK...what about other college students in other states? Nationwide?
Them: Hmmmm...it depends.
Me: Harvard? Penn? NYU?
Them: Yeah, we are!
Me: Uh-huh...what about with students at Small Local Community College?
Them: No, no. Not really.
Me: What about with the city of ____ (in which their university is located and which sucks up all life forms in its vicinity)?
Them: No. Nope, not a community with them.
Me: Discussion over. Time for another documentary.

That about sums up the problem. And they're not wrong. Like the corporations in the book, they have a clear understanding (if a bit inflated -- Harvard? Come now!) of their interests and identities rooted in class and educational privilege that span state and even national boundaries. And they were not at all concerned about not participating in the community whose resources they exhaust and whose residents clean their shiny campus buildings and serve them their turkey wraps. After this we never came back to the book because I realized it was a moot point. For them. Which they know well.

Future blog posts will be about sunshine, kittens and ripe tomatoes!

Go See It.

On a whim this weekend we went to see the movie "Young at Heart" at our friendly local indie theater. I had expected a light and enjoyable flick that provided moderate entertainment. In fact, it was the best movie I've seen all year (something all my fellow moviegoers agreed on). It's really just a documentary about a choir of elderly folks in Massachusetts who sing punk songs and rock songs and their quirky director. Seems simple, but it's the kind of movie that will make you belly-laugh-out-loud for 2/3 of it, and cry (while still laughing) for the other 1/3. One of the most beautiful scenes I've seen in a long time is set at a prison in the middle of the movie. And I don't think I ever really understood the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated" until I saw the choir's music-video-esque version of it. I know it's cliche, but it's one of those movies that leaves you feeling inspired and alive and profoundly moved as you walk out of the theater.

In other news, I cannot wait to finish grading these oral histories (after that it's the take-home final, but I'll take one beast at a time). And if anyone is going to be in DC between June 16-27, why, so will I, thanks to a nice cheap ticket on Delta I found this weekend. See you Capitol Folks then!

Movie and Smoke

Some movie reviews from the past week. Also, four hours of secondhand smoke (heavy smoke) exposure has made me sick for two days straight. Pathetic. I hope to kick the cough by tomorrow.

Once is as good as they say. Not even like a movie, like something else entirely. Just watch and enjoy. The music is awesome, but the way it functions as a not-movie is its own kind of brilliant.

Marie Antoinette was also really enjoyable, I was suspicious of it ever since it came out, but the history and the costuming were just fun to watch. On top of that, I actually ended up liking it. It took this figure who clearly profited from excesses in her lifestyle that depended on the deprivation of many others (the degree of excess might be debated, but when other folks are in breadlines, I think excesses is a safe word), made you sympathetic to her and made you enjoy watching the absurdity of the court, and then ended with a nod (not lingered upon too much) to the Revolution and the deposing of the monarchy. I liked that because I think it is a pretty accurate appraisal of how I feel living in this country most of the time. We are all a bunch of Marie Antoinettes running around, consuming in a desperate confusion, profiting from an accident of birthplace, and living excessively by the delegated deprivation of people worldwide. To the point that however nice and charming many of us are, whatever happens to us on a societal scale might go down in history as justice.

The Ground Truth -- wow. This documentary is the best thing I've seen, read, or otherwise been exposed to on the current war. The brutality of some of the cadences these soldiers are trained to (singing about killing kids while they're at prayer), along with their stories told so honestly, and with no sense of entitlement, it's amazing. It ends with a tearful apology to the Iraqi people that is completely self-implicating. And the song they use is Patty Griffin's "Mary," which will make you cry even in a happy setting.

I saw the new Narnia movie. I actually did NOT like the first one, mostly because everything felt so Jesus-related. I know, I know -- it's not like I hadn't read the books as a kid (and loved them) so I had full warning, but somehow twenty years has made me much more jaded about Christ allegories. This one was much less so, with a sassy Narnian dwarf nonbeliever thrown in (another point over the first movie, which had the low-level creepiness of Mr. Tumnus).

Not Blogging for a Month? Priceless.

It's really been a month? I...honestly don't know what happened to that month. I think maybe I should look under my bed. Or in my garage, which was cleaned out entirely by me in order to create a new, functioning craft room. Oh, that's where. That, and the garden, from which I ate a delicious radish seedling salad for lunch today. Snooty types call this "microgreens," I call it the only way I can bring myself to justify thinning seedlings that are otherwise perfectly healthy and happy. And apparently, nutritious and delicious. I realized today that I would be a terrible cheetah, I would never be able to bring myself to thin the herd. OK, so I did a lot of time-wasting things this month too, but overall it's been a very productive and efficient month except for the whole totally-dropping-the-blog-ball thing. Turning over new leaf...now!

Random run-down of stuff to report and/or endorse:

- Visited Eastern State Penitentiary on my most recent trip to Philly for the conference. This brings my number of prison audio tours for the last three month period to two, a number that makes me wonder if the universe is telling me something. The most priceless moment in this trip was when one of the wings of the prison was closed off (it almost looks like a Panopticon design, which made me absurdly excited, but alas, apparently it's slightly different or whatever). It was closed off for an Anthropologie catalog photo shoot. I do not lie. If you look at my pictures, you will see the crumbling, ruined prison cells that will eventually serve as a backdrop for $168 embroidered skirts.

- Beer is good. I've discovered I totally, sincerely (unlike when I lie and say a beer tastes "pretty good" every other time I drink one) love the house-made Flemish sour ale at a Belgian restaurant in Philly. Oh, I'm sure they have that on tap everywhere.

- Square dancing is awesome. And I'm so totally good at it. OK, "good" in the way I say most beers are "good." Square dances are becoming a Eugene hipster/old coot mixer tradition lately and I couldn't be happier.

- Glen Hansard and the Swell Season concert with some fine folks was a night of total fun. Glen Hansard is adorable. Tomorrow I get to finally see him in action in the movie "Once." I cannot wait.

- The Grocery Outlet. I'm finishing this post having just returned from a trip there, my second in a week. At most stores, you find the same things week in and week out, ever predictable. Boring! Where else but the Grocery Outlet would you find Smoothie Flavored Skittles, or Smoked Bacon Pringles, or "Factory Seconds" Almond Roca? You may not always like everything you find there, but you'll always find something you like, even if you never knew you liked it until that moment. Your favorite discontinued flavor of Haagen-Dazs or perhaps some chili-lime pistachio nuts? I feel sorry for those who have not enjoyed the good times of buying your groceries in outlet form. In my hometown, it's the only grocery store around.

- Books. I'm going to take a real stand and say, they're a good thing.