We'll always have Pluto

All the talk about Pluto no longer being classified as a planet reminded me Lou Reed's song "Satellite of Love" with its wistful background vocals (that's Bowie's voice in there). Even though it is in fact a song about jealousy, I never paid much attention to that. It just made me think about yearning, about how we are here on earth but sometimes some scientific image of space can send our imaginations flying through the solar system out into the universe. Then I remembered Breakfast on Pluto, a film by Neal Jordan. It's about someone who insists on choosing his own name, and the title comes from a song as well: "We'll fly to the stars, journey to Mars, and have our breakfast on Pluto." In the film, the song stands for Kitten's utter commitment to being who she is, in spite of how hard the world tries to make her be Patrick.

I looked for a video of Lou Reed performing "Satellite of Love" but couldn't find one. These are the two versions I found instead:

satellite of pook has the original music and is somewhat unearthly,
and a remix version--somewhat obnoxious, but I like the video!

Back to school

In 1974, I went off to college. What did I know? Pretty much nothing. I suspect that freshman today are primarily concerned, as I was, with the huge changes in their lives. I went along to football games with my new friends, even though I didn't really care about football, because it was great to be part of a group.
What thrilled me was the BAND and the amazing back-bending, high-striding, baton-flinging guy in the tall bearskin hat.

In a week I will begin teaching a freshman seminar, and I thought I'd try to imagine what it feels like to begin college today, in 2006. Probably my students are as blissfully unaware as I was of the Big Picture, and just likely to be more interested in the latest hit song or teen styles (I wore some stylin' elephant pants and super-groovy platform shoes), and fitting in. One of my goals is to help them feel more connected to their learning than I was. Are there any special ways to do this that I don't already do with my older, more experienced students? It's entertaining to read the Beloit College MindSet List for the Class of 2010, but it's also sobering to read some of the more vitriolic comments responding to the publication of My Freshman Year by Cathy Small/Rebekah Nathan. I'm not sure which is worse, the students who dismiss professors as chumps, the professors who dismiss students as lazy drunks, the non-academics who dismiss university life as "not real life," etc. I know I have something valuable to offer my students, and I'm humble enough to know that I'll need to work hard to face the special challenge of connecting with freshman in a meaningful way.

The author of this new book What's Liberal About Liberal Education? Classroom Politics and "Bias" in Higher Eductation available for purchase from the publisher, Norton, warns us that some people think that we perfessers are out to indoctrinate the youth of today. Oh, if it were only that easy!

State Fair Saturday

Parade...


Rides...
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Food...


A good time was had by all.

piano lessons again

I had some years of piano lessons when I was young, but I have realized that I don't remember when I started, or how long I took lessons. Did we have a piano when we lived in Japan? Now that I think about it I realize that I just don't remember; I know I was playing when I was in junior high school. I remember why I stopped: I had a teacher who would hit me on the head with a pencil when I made a mistake. But I loved playing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (that dates me!).

Finally, after all the years of SAYING I wanted to play the piano again, I am taking lessons. I have a wonderful teacher, a piano in the house (an old Kohler and Campbell upright), and I've just had my second lesson. I'm starting over at the beginning, because there was so much I didn't learn the first time around, or that I just don't remember. But my body is remembering a surprising amount, including the ingrained mistakes. This morning I sat down and really practiced for a long time, just scales, arpeggios and cadences. Some of it feels so familiar, but I'm an adult now. I've also spent some years learning to dance, and so I've had some more experience at thinking about how my body learns to move to music. As a child, I'm sure I had more facility and learned like a sponge, but I didn't practice much, and I wasn't well equipped to deal with impatience (mine or anyone else's). My hands are a little stiff now, but I better am acquainted with the varied pleasures of learning.

Accept no imitations, it's the Fair!

A reader might think that all I do is attend one festival after another. Yes, it is August in Minnesota, and there are certain traditions to uphold. I assure you that in between people watching and snacking among the crowds of festive folks in costume, I am hard at work, getting ready for the beginning of classes and a new semester. But I don't necessarily want to work all day and then write about work, so I'm writing about play for now.
And all that stands between us and the first day of school is the State Fair. When I first moved to Minnesota from California, I'm afraid I turned my nose up at the fair. Yes, I admit it, I was a fair snob. But I've now been many times, and each time I have a blast. Hanging around the llama barn with L who was showing one of his llamas was a great way to see behind the scenes. There was the time I got to the top of the ferris wheel and it stopped just when the fireworks began. The barrel riding at the horse shows, the fabulous sweet potato pie at that one stand I can never find except by accident, the crop art, the Kidway and the Midway, the talent show and the professional musicians I've seen by accident and on purpose, and yes, the food on a stick. I have not yet ponied up for the super bungee jump, but I have been on almost all the rides. No Zipper this year, thank you very much.
And I have my favorite Fair song, by Ann Reed. I'm not sure which days I'll be going, but I know I'll go at least twice. I need to pore over the schedule, check the weather report, buy my discount tickets, and round up my fair buddies.

But wait! It's a Web-log-on-a-stick! Yes, Brian has been blogging the State Fair since at least 2002! Are blog-years like dog-years? Dude, I bow before the master.

Obon: Japanese festival at Como Park

St Paul and Nagasaki are sister cities. Each year, a festival of Japanese art and culture take place in Como Park, next to the Japanese Garden there. This year we went with some friends. Like me, K had lived in Japan, but unlike me was there during high school, without her family, learning Japanese and studying Kendo.


We watched two of the three Taiko Drum groups that performed. I love the heartbeat of the drums, the way the players dance with the drums as they perform, and the happiness that always seems to be so much a part of Taiko.

The kids loved the experience of Saori, weaving on a small loom.



We ate great food, and did the same kind of people watching we did at the Ren Fest.
All the kids decided to roll down the hill as we waited for sunset.

As the sun went down, paper lanterns were lit, and set to float on the pond among the reflections.

Ren Fest

My first Renaissance Pleasure Faire experience was in 1972 in Novato California. I remember amazing jugglers, gypsy flamenco dancers, bawdy costumed characters hawking unusual food, handmade objects that seemed incredibly exotic. To my child's eye,it was pure enchantment. Today, I'm more conscious of how much it all costs, but I still enjoy it, and my daughter and her friends adore getting dressed up, and all the activities, including medieval bungee jumping. We saw the king and queen's court.


Opening day at the Renaissance Festival in Shakopee had a middle eastern theme, so there were quite a few belly dancers in the parade. We got dressed up (well, I wore a vaguely peasanty shirt, but the kids went all out) and had a great time looking at all the creative costumes on adults, kids, and even some animals, like this turtle dressed as a Scot. It was a perfect day; fluffy clouds in a blue sky, not too crowded, dusty or hot. We ate favorite foods (the giant turkey leg, the strawberry florentine ice in an orange, blackberry wine), checked out the fabulous costumes, and made wax casts of hands. I enjoyed the bagpipe jam. We didn't see the jousting this year, but last year we were amazed at the size of the draft horses they used, the whacking and thwacking of the combat, and astonished that nobody was maimed or killed. Next week: The State Fair!

Remembering Nureyev and SYTYCD.

A film that affected me deeply when I saw it at age 14 was the documentary about Rudolph Nureyev I am a dancer. I saw it in the theater in San Francisco when it came out in 1972. The critics and Nureyev himself were not happy with the film, and probably for good reason, but I was enchanted. Of course, the footage of stage performances was breathtaking, but what captured my imagination was how the film showed what a dancer does every day: the work at the barre, the ritual of the fundamentals, and then how the fundamental movements are integrated into a choreography, rehearsed, become part of a dialogue between choreographer and dancer, between dancers, until that moment when they become an offering to the audience. If I were to see it again today, I'd probably complain about the same things the critics did, but remembering my enchantment as a 14-year old, I can understand the incredible success of So You Think You Can Dance. People really connected to the dancers' passion, hard work, and spirit, in spite of the crummy camerawork and tiresome cutting to commercials.


I love this dance number. The 20 finalists of SYTYCD reprised their most popular group number on the last show of the season, the "zombie" routine.

We picked Benji to win, and we were right.

But we gotta get the TV producers to understand that, when you film dance, you have to show the whole dancer! None of this cutting off the feet!!! When Nureyev appeared on Dick Cavett's show, he complained that the clip they showed of him dancing had cut of his "tootsies,"

Cat rule #2

You must always help at work.

Pedro Almodovar films come to town

We will have the chance to see several films by Spanish director Pedro Almodovar in the theater instead of on DVD starting Sept 15 at our local Landmark theater, the Lagoon. Sony is organizing this retrospective, probably in order to lead up to the U.S. release in November of his latest movie, Volver, which won him an award at Cannes. I'm sure it is an effort to position him for the Oscars next year.
I relish the chance to see these films all together, with friends, and with folks who love film as much as I do. They'll be showing The Law of Desire, Matador, Live Flesh, La flor de su secreto, Women on the Verge, Bad Education, Talk to Her, and All About My Mother.


I had the chance to see Volver while I was in Spain, but I knew it would be shown here, so I went to see Rosario Tijeras, a film based on the novel by Jorge Franco, and a big hit in Colombia and Mexico last year. Muy fuerte.

The view south

Watching a house being built can also be a time to seek out stories of the land and how it has been transformed over time, both by the forces of nature and by human habitation. This place was shaped by glaciers. For many centuries human use had its effect on the land. But it is in the last few hundred years that this part of the Mississippi basin has been transformed by the intensive hunting, fishing, logging, agriculture and building practiced by European settlers and their descendants. The last several decades include the arrival of folks from other parts of the world, and efforts to conserve and live more sustainably as well.
Minnesota: A History of the Land is a four-part series on the geology, ecology and history of human relations to the land. I must buy the DVD because it is a rich, wonderful series that I want to see many times. It was created by folks at the College of Natural Resources a the University of Minnesota, in collaboration with TPT, our local public television station. One can buy it through the Bell Museum of Natural History. The story begins with the history of the land itself, the shaping of the land 0f 10,000 lakes by glaciers. It also has a long section on the history of native peoples with the participation of Winona LaDuke, one of my heroes for her work of advocacy for the people and land of White Earth.

The last part of the series talks about Lake Supererior as a part of an ecosystem. I learned that the concept of "ecosystem" came from the work of Raymond L. Lindeman, whose PhD research on Cedar Bog Lake here in Minnesota had a huge impact on the field of ecology. I also learned that ruby-throated hummingbirds that breed here in Minnesota fly down the Mississippi flyway, and then fly another 500 miles over the Gulf of Mexico to Central and South America where they winter. The Mississippi river valley is an enormously important flyway for all kinds of birds. What we do to the land up here affects life here and thousands of miles away.

This home is being built in the spirit of living lightly and in a relationship of preserving and sustaining the land around it, in awareness of that history and making choices informed by it.

so you think you can dance?

In our household, we have been faithful viewers of the last half of the season of So You Think You Can Dance? I am an enthusiastic ballroom dancer and I have always loved watching dance of any kind, even the watered-down Dancing With The Stars.
Although SYTYCD has its crass, reality TV aspects, the dancers are genuinely talented, and the choreographers and judges are seasoned pros, although they ham it up for the crowd. At least once per show, one numbers provides a genuine dance thrill, and others are fun to watch. Some of the dancers have classical training, others don't. Those with some ballet background can do many things well, but they sometimes look terrible trying hip hop styles. Some of the "street" dancers are amazingly talented but can't always do the moves that other types of choreography require. The judges make pronouncements, the fans cheer and boo, then the viewers call in to vote (as many times as they can get through on the phone). Will the winner be "the best" dancer, or the most popular?
Yesterday, the final four contestants performed for the last time. Each one did a solo, and each one partnered with all the other dancers. All of them are terrific, but our favorite is Benji. He and his cousin Heidi, one of the other four finalists, are West Coast Swing champions. Here is a video of Heidi and Benji's championship showcase in the 2005 Open Swing Dance competition. This is a number for which they chose the music, learned the choreography, and practiced the moves. And here is Benji dancing with another WC Swing star in a Jack and Jill competition. In a Jack and Jill event, the dancers are good, and may have danced together socially but they aren't partners. They do not choose the music, nor do they have a set routine; it's just lead and follow. The dancers have room to improvise, play, and show off their style. The folks watching SYTYCD are getting a great show, but they haven't seen anything like this. It's the real deal.
Update: here's a clip of Benji and his sister Lacey doing West Coast. Awesome.

Does your cat do this?

My friend MD sent this video link to me with the inquiry "Authentic cat poetry?" I say yes.

disambiguation (is that really a word?)

I had a hard time coming up with a name for this blog. Once I tried to come up with a middle name for myself (I don't have one) and it stumped me. So I decided to go with a name my daughter gave me when she was very little; she was writing messages to mama and it came out momo. She also sometimes calls me "mude" (mom + dude), but that means "tired" in German.
I already knew that momo means peach in Japanese because we used to have a book about the adventures of Momo-taro (Peach Boy), a Japanese folk hero. I also remember the song that goes with the story.

What are some of the other meanings of momo? Well, you can try to Google it, but going straight to the Wikipedia "disambiguation" page for momo is much more fun.

Eureka farm construction update

As you come up the driveway, you can see the barn, moved to the site from the old farm, and now being used as living space. Behind the barn, (not visible in this shot) is the garage. On the corner, we can see the two kitchen windows, the dining room window beyond that on the bump-out. Inside, the kitchen, dining area and living room will be open plan. The other wing of the L-shape, visible here as the tiny row of windows in the middle, is where the bathroom and bedrooms will be. A stairway leads to a basement level family room on the far side.

Oooh! I discover Photoshop.

Better late than never, eh? This is a picture from Spain, with the "watercolor" feature of Photoshop applied.

word games

I loved the movie Word Play, the documentary about crossword puzzles and the people who love to do them. The American Crossword Puzzle competition was as gripping as a horse race or the Tour de France without the testosterone. It inspired me to buy one of the Will Shortz crossword puzzle collections. Even though I love words and word play, I haven't been particularly good solving at the NY Times puzzles after Wednesday, let alone the harder ones at the end of the week, so I thought that if I practiced and picked up some tips, I could improve. I am now up to puzzle 15 in the book, and the satisfaction of persisting and completing a puzzle is getting me hooked! Today I learned that a 14-letter word for "crossword puzzle devotee" is cruciverbalist.

I stumbled across this word play site yesterday, and I think I'm going to add it to my Morning Coffee menu.

work in progress

looking south, before.

Pouring the foundation. The work started in late May, with a parade of machines and an amazing crew.















Now the view south has a frame.

"Tastes kind of like chicken."

At the Minnesota Zoo, we were able to get close enough to two giraffes that we could pet them. We fed them leaves and crackers that looked like Sesame Rye Krisp. Touching its neck was like touching a horse. A reticulated giraffe has a purple tongue that can extend almost 20 inches. The tongue feels kind of coarse, but soft. Standing so close to one was incredible!

Serendipity

How many times have I found something when I wasn't looking for it? I spent the day at the library hunting down books and articles about Frida Kahlo for a class. I found this snippet of film footage of Frida and Diego from the Tate Modern show last year. After all the paintings and photos of Frida immobile, it's a little uncanny to see her in motion.

Cuba on my mind

Cuba on My Mind, the book by Roman de la Campa, will be at the top of my reading list this month. I've read it before, but it has new resonance with the news from Cuba on the front page.

I'll be having lunch with a Cuban friend tomorrow. He always has a fascinating perspective on the complex relationship the US has had with Cuba over the last 150 years. So my homework assignment for today is to track down the best sites for Cuba coverage. I've been listening to discussion on MPR. Rox Populi has a great Castro Random Link Roundup as well. I'll also be checking out the Vivir Latino stories, and keeping an eye on the coverage in Global Voices Online. And I suppose I should dive into the AfroCubWeb site, although it makes my eyes cross.
Would it be too much to ask that coming change in Cuba be peaceful?

Leo the large

Watch out, or I'll use the eye-beams!