142 years ago today...

John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln. I wouldn't have cared, really,* except I just read Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. You should too. It's really good.

*that's not to say that I don't care that Lincoln was shot. An awful thing, obviously. But my historical fascinations tend to be more European in nature. I am slightly obsessive, though not to the same delightful extent as Sarah Vowell. Well, I suppose I might be if I had the means to travel all over Europe, tracking locations of royal killings (such as that of Mary, Queen of Scots who was unfairly deprived of her throne and beheaded by Elizabeth I of England. Unlike most authors of historical texts on the issue, I am firmly on Mary's side.)

I'm counting down the days...

There are 99 of them, by the way.

Eureka!

I finally figured out why my refrigerator has had a faint spoiled smell to it over the past few weeks. I checked to make sure everything was in date and cleaned it out twice, yet the smell pervaded and had gotten worse over the past few days. Finally, on a whim, I opened the bottom drawer... you know, the one most people use for produce but that I had never opened?

Well, turns out that while Ema was here, she, quite rationally, placed produce in the produce place. Unfortunately, it no longer resembles produce, in sight or smell.

I think I'll clean it out tomorrow; I have grand cleaning ambitions for the latter part of this week, including, but not limited to, my bathroom. I also think I'll reorganize my books. I have to be careful with that, though. Historically, book reorganization has been my favorite way to "clean" without really cleaning. It can take up quite a lot of time.

what I have to say about Don Imus

Racist, yes. Sexist, yes. And, indeed, I fully support firing/suspension or whatever. That's not a free speech issue, that's a free market issue, right?* People demand he be taken off the air because he is offensive. I fully support that. In addition to calling Rutgers' women's basketball team a bunch of "nappy headed hos," he has said he he hired a co-host to tell the "nigger jokes."

FAIR and others have documented numerous instances of Imus and his on-air colleagues expressing overt racism and other forms of bigotry. Imus himself has referred to African-American journalist Gwen Ifill as "a cleaning lady," to New York Times sports reporter Bill Rhoden as "quota hire" and to tennis player Amelie Mauresmo as "a big old lesbo." Imus called Washington Post reporter Howard Kurtz a "boner-nosed... beanie-wearing Jewboy," referred to a disabled colleague as "the cripple," and to an Indian men's tennis duo as "Gunga Din and Sambo." In Imus' words, the New York Knicks are "chest-thumping pimps."

Imus' on again/off again sidekick Sid Rosenberg was temporarily fired in 2001 for calling tennis player Venus Williams an "animal" and remarking that the Williams sisters—Venus and her tennis player sister Serena—would more likely be featured in National Geographic than in Playboy. Rosenberg insisted to New York's Daily News (6/7/01) that his comments weren't racist, "just zoological." In 2004, MSNBC had to apologize when the rehired Rosenberg referred to Palestinians as "stinking animals."

But I was just watching Democracy Now! and heard Al Sharpton suggest that the FCC needed to be involved in the regulation of this sort of racist/sexist speech over the airwaves. That I cannot agree to. I don't know where exactly to draw the line in terms of indecency regulation on public airwaves, but offensive humor is certainly within the realm of protected speech. I certainly did not find it funny. And I think CBS Radio should definitely fire/suspend him. But regulation... naa... that's starting to sound a little too Patriot Act for me.

*Please do not think I am a person who typically resorts to "free market" arguments. I only say that because when I tell people I am for firing Imus, I get asked, indignantly, "what about free speech? the first amendment?" My argument is that networks and viewers, according to the market, get to decide who goes on. People don't have an automatic "right" to be heard on CBS Radio.

today's lesson

You can spend hours looking through Amazon.com's recommendations. Not to mention lots of money. Evil and brilliant marketing strategy. Because they are so good at it.

the best feeling in the world

Despite having loads to do tomorrow, a recent spate of sleeplessness has caused me to do something I reserve for the most extreme of occasions:

I am about to go to sleep, and I am not going to set a single alarm clock.

I usually have three set on any given night.

See you in the morning! Or mid morning! Or early afternoon! Who knows?

What I've learned tonight

Procrastination does not equal free time. You have to pay it back later, with interest. And I'm in time-debt right about now.

I really do love the smell of libraries.

Completely unrelated: I love those "upside-down" maps with the South Pole at the top. They're really quite brilliant and I think I'll get one. Mostly I like how they weird people out and disorient them, even though it is completely due to cultural convention that most of our maps look like they do.

blogging on the fly

I'm using a computer that's meant to be used for the library catalog, so I can't say much. I'll only say that libraries are wonderful. Maybe I'll quit grad school and go to library school. I want to live in a library. Anyway, now I've got to drag the 15 books I checked out out of here. Adios!

add another one to the list

In addition to academic crushes, I also have literary and historical crushes. It's sad but true. This weekend, I have spent the better part of the time I should have been studying for my stats exam on Tuesday reading, or, rather, listening to, The Da Vinci Code. It's on audio, so I can't read quickly like I would have done with a book; I was stuck with the pace of the (rather good) narrator. Anyway, I've just finished it, and have now added Robert Langdon to my list of literary crushes. If you're keeping track, here's where the list stands, in order of preference. But this order can change on a whim and is often correlated with how recently I have read the book in question.

Remus Lupin, Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: werewolf, friend to James and Lilly Potter, protector of Harry, likely former lover of Sirius Black*, currently in a relationship with Nymphadora Tonks.

Robert Langdon, Professor of Religious Iconography and Symbology at Harvard University, foremost expert, looks like "Harrison Ford in Harris tweed." He's currently involved with Sophie Neveu.

Rhett Butler, general scoundrel, speculator, and surprisingly intensely loving guy who Scarlett will get back, in the end.

Henry Tilney, brilliant and sarcastic young clergyman, engaged to Catherine Morland, a silly girl who does not deserve him as I do

Atticus Finch, lawyer father in To Kill a Mockingbird

Theodore Laurence, aka Laurie, another funny guy who married a silly girl who does not deserve him, Amy March; he should absolutely be with Jo March--incidentally, I also have a bit of a crush on her

Edward Ferrars, another young Jane Austen clergyman; he's not quite so much fun as Henry T., but lovely nonetheless. And Elinor is lovely, too!

Edmund Bertram, not to harp on the JA clergymen, but, really, they're hard to resist

Gilbert Blythe, I read the Anne of Green Gables books only for him

Mr. Knightley, particularly hard to resist when played by Jeremy Northam

Pointedly not on this list is Mr. Darcy.

Historical crushes are irrelevant to this post, but include:
Sir Isaac Newton--he's hot, have a look
Sir Laurence Olivier
Mary, Queen of Scots
Lord Byron
Eleanor of Aquitaine
John of Gaunt--though this might qualify more as a literary than historical crush. I love him in Katherine, but he was not a nice guy in real life.
Prince Albert
George Washington

*it's true and i'll argue with you if i have to

Worse than Watergate*

After a lazy hiatus, I am back. Perhaps later I will tell you about my traveling misadventures, the new apartment I'll be moving into in May, or the week from hell, part 2. But right now, I'll tell you about my hair.

So, all this week, maintenance is going around my apartment building, adjusting or checking something in all the bathrooms. Yesterday they did mine. It was fine, everything worked properly before they came and after they left. So I don't know if what they did is at all related to what happened this morning.

This morning, after gloriously sleeping in until 10, I got into the shower and began to wash my hair. Just as I began to lather my hair with shampoo, the water began to spurt ominously, but I didn't think much of it and kept lathering away. Just as I was to begin rinsing, the water stopped all together. "Weird," I thought, and stood there for a few minutes, waiting for it to come back on. When it seemed clear that more water was not forthcoming, I got out, wrung my hair as much as possible (still, mind you, with the shampoo all in it!), and checked the other faucets in the apartment, none of which seemed to be working.

It was 10:30 or so. I called the apartment office, only to get a voicemail machine, which was curious since they are typically open on Fridays. Then I go back to yesterday's email and see that, due to repainting in the office, they won't open until noon today. Great.

I then heard maintenance people outside in the hall. I was sure they had to be working on the water issue, and I felt comforted. I decided just to sit and wait until the water came back on. I turned all of the faucets to the on position so that I would hear the moment the water started working again. I emailed some of the people in my cohort to get them to take notes in today's brownbag in case I wouldn't be able to make it.

By 11:20, I was giving up hope, so I decided to brave going out with the gross hair to go buy some bottled water to rinse my hair out so that I could try to make it to the brownbag on time. So I run to a convenience store. I get back and hear the water running. And then stopping. And then a trickle.

I just finished rinsing my hair with the bottled water. The water is back on now and has been for a while. Hopefully it's here to stay. But I missed the brownbag. And am probably going to take a real shower now. Today isn't starting off well.

*Sorry for the corny title. But get it? haha--Watergate! Anyway, it is a good book.

it's only a week.

Do you think it would be okay to leave some dishes in the sink over spring break? Before you start saying, "Hey didn't you learn this lesson over Christmas break, what with the eggnog in the fridge for several weeks?" remember that this does not involve dairy. I will, of course, be removing the already-dead milk from the refrigerator. The dishes aren't gross or anything... a cutting board and various pieces of tupperware that held non-messy things. It shouldn't start smelling in a week. But this reminds me that I need to remember to take out the trash. Yesterday I cut up a lot of veggies for stir fry, and those will smell pretty gross if I allow them to sit out for a week.

I'm not usually this lazy.* It's just that it's almost midnight and I have a whole lot to do before leaving tomorrow.

*That is, of course, a lie. I am usually this lazy.

I'll get it from the library, thanks.

Why in the world does this book cost $225.55 on amazon.com?

Luckily, if you get it from Amazon, you save $14.40, 6% off the list price! Goody.

not sure what this says about me

I love office sounds--keys clacking on a keyboard, papers shuffling, backpacks being zipped. There's something incredibly soothing about it to me. So much so that I'm about to fall asleep. I should go home to get work done, probably.

hey lefties

To people who supposedly hold values opposing Ann Coulter's recent comments, it's kind of hypocritical to respond by saying, "she looks like a man."

(sporadic series) super-cool ancestors: katherine swynford

In keeping with my recent interest in genealogy, I thought I would share with you one of my more exciting relatives. She's my great x 22 grandmother on my mother's mother's father's mother's etc. etc. side. She's got a famous novel and a whole society dedicated to her. I share her lineage with Luke and Travis as well as, probably, a nontrivial number of you.

She is Katherine Swynford, mistress to John of Gaunt (Plantagenet), the patriarch of the House of Lancaster, those of the red rose in the Wars of the Roses. The novel Katherine by Anya Seton, based on her life with John, is widely celebrated as an exemplar of the historical novel form and is consistently rated as one of the top love stories of all time. I haven't read this novel, but am thinking I should now. She's family, after all.

Her children with John, illegitimate until declared legit (when they were well into adulthood) by their half-brother Henry IV (who also included a clause preventing them from ever inheriting the throne), were given the surname of Beaufort.

nevermind waking up at 3am or so

I'm jealous of Soledad and Miles. Their work day just ended.

speaking of genealogy

I was excited to see that I was descended from Charlemagne. Until I found out that everyone of European descent probably is, too.

procrastination irony

In order to keep from doing real work, I've been getting back into genealogy stuff. And, just as I was feeling guilt over stalling on my homework, I ran across an ancestor of mine, Eadnoth the Staller (died in 1069). At first, I thought, "Hey! This procrastination just runs in my blood! I can't do anything about it!" Then I realized that "Staller" probably had more to do with horses than with stalling by doing other things instead of what you're supposed to be doing.

i love sociology...

but sometimes I feel I would be incredibly happy as a historian.