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Jitters

First day of school. If I was at my parents' house, we'd take a picture in front of the tree on the driveway.

Still, I get first day jitters, though no nightmares this year. Going to puke with excitement.

cookbooks / dinner parties.

last weekend i was in chicago hanging out with my mom. i was looking for a few books and odds and ends to bring out to iowa. my mom walked into the kitchen, where i was rummaging around. here is our conversation:

"what are you looking for?" my mom said.
"my cookbooks."
"i think i saw them on the bookshelf in your room, second shelf."

so i go upstairs to check, and the second shelf has no cookbooks but does have the publication for judy chicago's dinner party.

The Parthenon

Amber and I took a road trip to Nashville to do some research on Betty Rymer, the namesake of the Betty Rymer gallery at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where Amber received her MFA. We spent three days in the strange and wonderful city, which was made better by the lists we received from friends and acquaintances recommending different local spots.

The craziest thing we saw was the Nashville Parthenon, which is a full scale replica of the Parthenon in Greece. Neither of us knew it, but apparently Nashville is referred to as the Athens of the South (because of all the schools and all the colonnades probably). This Parthenon was built for the world's fair out of plaster and brick, and like most world's fair cities, the whole thing was supposed to come down shortly thereafter. But the city folks fell in love, and the original structure stood until the 1920s, when it was rebuilt in concrete (and covered in those strange pebbles that make it looks super weird). Concrete feels funny for this structure, even though we both know that concrete dates from classical times (yes, roman, but who is counting?). What is even funnier is that it isn't really a replica except on the outside (which really is stunning, flood lights and all). The inside is an art museum.

We wondered, upon leaving Nashville, how many other Athens there are in this country. I know I've heard of Boston referred to as the Athens of America (there are certainly enough universities there). Any more you've heard of?

Discovery

Rustel read me a poem when I saw him in Chicago a few weeks ago. It is by Richard Brautigan, or so he says.


Discovery

The petals of the vagina unfold
like Christoper Columbus
taking off his shoes.

Is there anything more beautiful
than the bow of a ship
touching a new world.


Beautiful might not be the right word, but lovely metaphor nonetheless.

windbreak

It is almost apple time, folks. The first early varieties will be coming in, and it looks like this year will be just as good as the last with all the rain we've been having. Amber and I took a trip down to Wolfe Farms in Monticello, Illinois recently. We brought Ron and Hope five baby apple trees grown from seeds of apples Amber and I ate last season. Ron and Hope have kindly shared some of their expertise (they have over 300 apple trees, mainly heirloom and antique varieties) to assist with our Johnny Appleseed projects. Early this spring we sent two grafts of a tree that was supposedly planted by Johnny Appleseed in Navo, Ohio. Next March, Ron will teach us how to graft so that we can propagate Johnny Appleseed's last tree across the country.

The five baby trees we brought down in 5 gallon buckets. Ron pointed to the windbreak of cottonwood trees and said, "I'm taking those down. I think I'll put your trees in its place." But wait, we asked. Aren't our trees going to be a whole heck of a lot smaller than those cottonwoods? Ron stunned us by telling us that apple trees grown from seed can get up to forty feet tall, and that there is no way of really knowing until they are full grown. Wow. It is pretty poetic and lovely to me that these seedling trees will act as a windbreak to the carefully manicured grafted trees of his orchard.

on vacation...

I've been traveling a lot and not talking about it too much this summer. Latest travel, leaving this afternoon:



The Ames Pyramid in Wyoming. Taking the train. Then renting a car and driving around conquering the west. Bringing on the road with me and probably some critical theory or whatnot. See you all in a week.

i spy something with my little eye

at the same time as i am moving into iowa city, heaps of students are leaving their apartments, and leaving their microwaves behind with them. i swear, i saw twenty-five microwaves today.

i also found in my first day exploring: two walnut trees behind my house, mint growing wild, an apple tree, and a pear tree. i think the apple tree is a seedling rather than a grafted tree, but that is based solely on look not on taste. they're not ripe yet.

i don't know a soul in iowa city yet (not really true, my upstairs neighbor seems great, nick and sarah and genesse are here, and i've met several of the fellow MFAs) so i'm sitting in a sea of boxes attempting to make it look like i know what i'm doing.

iowa, oh iowa.