The Lost Continent 2

One more, because this one deserves an entry of its own, haha!

...inside a Pennsylvania Dutch restaurant...
"We were ushered into the dining room with nine strangers and all seated together at one big trestle table.
There must have been fifty other such tables in the room...
I've never seen so much food. I couldn't see over the top of my plate. It was all delicious...I ate so much my armpits bulged. But still the food kept coming. Just when I thought I would have to summon a wheelchair to get me to the car, the waitress took away all the platters and bowls, and started bringing desserts--apple pies, chocolate pies, bowls of home-made ice cream, pastries, flans and God knows what else.
I kept eating. It was too delicious to pass up. Buttons popped off my shirt; my trousers burst open. I barely had the strength to lift my spoon, but I kept shoveling the stuff in. It was grotesque. Food began to leak from my ears. And still I ate. I ate more food that night than some African villagers eat in a lifetime. Eventually, mercifully, the waitress prised the spoons out of our hands and took the dessert stuff away, and we were able to stumble zombielike out into the night.
We got into the car, too full to speak...I felt as if I had eaten the contents of a cement mixer. I lay on the back seat of the car, my feet in the air, and moaned softly. I vowed that I would never eat again, and meant it. But two hours later, when we arrived back at my brother's house, the agony had abated and my brother and I were able to begin a new cycle of gross overconsumption, beginning with a twelve-pack of beer and bucket of pretzels from his kitchen and concluding, in the early hours of the evening, with a plate of onion rings and two-foot-long submarine sandwiches, full of goo and spices, at an all-night eatery out on Highway 11."

-The Lost Continent, Bill Bryson

The Lost Continent

Bill Bryson is amazing. I can't wait to read all of his other books. I'm not quite done with this one, but wanted to share so of the best passages so far. His wit, sarcasm, and ebb and flow in pace are ideal for a book like this. If you've ever taken, or ever WANTED to take a cross country road trip, please read it. Being someone that has done that, it was exciting to read how his take on various places, like the Grand Canyon, were almost my words exactly for describing the experience, suggesting something very undeniable and universally moving about the oddities and beauties of the United States.

"The last time I had been in New York was when I was sixteen and my friend Stan and I came out to visit my brother and his wife, who were living there then. They had an apartment in a strange, Kafkaesque apartment complex in Queens called Lefrak City. It consisted of about a dozen identical tall, featureless buildings clustered around a series of lonesome quadrangles, the sort of quadrangles where rain puddles stand for weeks and the flowerbeds are littered with supermarket carts. Each building was like a vertical city, with its own grocery store, drugstore, laundromat and so on. I don't remember the details except that each building was taller than the tallest building in Des Moines and that the total population was something like 50,000--bigger than most Iowa towns. I had never conceived of so many people gathered in one place. I couldn't understand why in such a big, open, country as America people would choose to live like that. It wasn't as if this were something temporary, a place to spend a few months while waiting for their ranch house in the suburbs to be built. This was home. This was it. Thousands and thousands of people would live out their lives never having their own backyard, never having a barbecue, never stepping out the back door at midnight to have a pee in the bushes and check out the stars. Their children would grow up thinking that supermarket carts grew wild, like weeds."

and in Vermont...
"One village I went through had about four stores and one of them was a Ralph Lauren Polo Shop. I couldn't think of anything worse than living in a place where you could buy a$200 sweater but not a can of baked beans. Actually, I could think of a lot of worse things--cancer of the brain, watching every episode of a TV miniseries starring Joan Collins, having to eat at a Burger Chef more than twice in one year, reaching for a glass of water in the middle of the night and finding that you've just taken a drink from your grandmother's denture cup, and so on. But I think you get my point."

and in Amish country...
"Travel articles and movies like Witness generally gloss over this side of things, but the fact is that Lancaster County is now one of the most awful places in America, especially on weekends when traffic jams sometimes stretch for miles. Many of the Amish themselves have given up and moved to places like Iowa and upper Michigan where they are left alone. Out in the countryside, particularly on the back roads, you can still sometimes see the people in their funny dark clothes working in the fields or driving their distinctive black buggies down the highway, with a long line of tourist cars creeping along behind, pissed off because they can't get by and they really want to be in a Bird in Hand so that they can get some more funnel cakes and SnoCones and perhaps buy a wrought-iron wine rack or combination mailbox-weather vane to take back home to Fartville with them. I wouldn't be surprised if a decade from now there isn't a real Amish person left in the country."

-The Lost Continent, Bill Bryson

Selfish self discovery?

The article linked below is a good one about a topic close to my heart.

All we have in this life is ourselves. I was not put on this earth to have children, to make a husband happy, or to find the cure for cancer. (I couldn't believe it when someone accused me of being selfish when I said I did not want to have children later in life. I don't even HAVE the children yet...how is it selfish? I am NOT HAVING them in part so that my pursuits to know and better myself don't take away from their lives. But they aren't ALIVE yet...how could it be selfish if their is no one to be selfishly affecting?) While I am here, I owe it to myself to make the most of my time here, as do you. In doing so, I have been told that I've touched others to do the same in their own lives, find their purpose, travel, make their own mind up about the way they want to live their lives in a way they never gave themselves the option or chance to do before. So, you see, if we all take care of ourselves, truly getting in touch with real happiness, not materialistic happiness, not happiness through power and control, that positive energy will emanate out to improve the world.

But it all starts from within. And its not selfish. My recent read of Eat Pray Love really hits this home as well, a huge theme being, when you set out to help yourself, you end up helping others.

http://www.srichinmoybio.co.uk/blog/life/is-self-discovery-a-selfish-act/

textbook excitement

Certainly can't recall ever being as exciting about a textbook as I was when I read this:

The old adage "You get out of it only what you put into it" aptly describes a cognitive perspective. Some students approach learning in passive and "shallow" ways, either failing to engage fully or relying heavily on rote memorization. Both cognitive research and our experience as educators tell us that the resultant learning is likely to be both superficial and transitory. In contrast, other students' attempts at learning clearly are aimed at deeper understanding; they relate new information to what they already know, organize it, and regularly check their comprehension.

-Cognitive Psychology and Instruction, by Roger H. Bruning (Author), Gregg J. Schraw (Author), Monica M. Norby (Author), Royce R. Ronning (Author)

So beautiful...

This song on its own is incredibly beautiful...if you have a chance, please find and listen...

But personally this week, my love was able to do this for me from a whole time zone away. He was able to make me feel safe, to make me feel like I could make it through the stress of uprooting my life to drive for 4 days through 3 time zones to reach an amazing but stressful destination which I had never before seen and now have to call home for 2 years. He was able to be so reassuring and supportive when I feared the change in circumstances may change us for the worse. He was able to show such faith in me, and his own pursuits inspired to continue my own. He was able to kiss away my tears, able to let me sleep in his arms...able to be the most amazing, beautiful, sensitive, understanding, patient, anddidisaybeautiful man who I am lucky enough to love.

Lay Down Beside Me (Alison Krauss featuring John Waite)
[John Waite:]
I've spent my life
Lookin for you
Findin' my way
Wasn't easy to do
But I knew there was you
All the while
And it's been worth
Every mile

So lay down beside me
Love me and hide me
And kiss all the hurtin'
Of this world away
Hold me so close
That I feel your heart beat
And don't ever wander away

[Alison Krauss:]
Mornings and evenings
All were the same
There was no music
Til I heard your name
I knew when I saw you smile
And now I can rest for a while

[Together:]
So lay down beside me
Love me and hide me
Kiss all the hurtin'
Of this world away
Hold me so close
That I feel your heart beat
And don't ever wander away

And hold me so close
That I feel your heart beat
And don't ever wander away

[she hums]
he sings
Love me and hide me

[both hum]
he sings
'Til I feel your heart beat

I'm not in Kansas anymore...

for more click here

thanks to Scientia potentia est

out of my mind...

....excited...a bluegrass band is performing on my campus tomorrow!

"Back-to-School with the Squash Blossom Boys

The Squash Blossom Boys, an eclectic bluegrass quintet hailing from Corrales and featuring UNM students, will perform the “back-to-school” UNM Greg Johnston Summer Concert Friday, Aug. 22, from noon – 1 p.m. on the University Honors Plaza.

Photo: The Squash Blossom Boys - 'Promoting Sustainability with a Twang'

The band combines elements of jazz, rock, reggae and traditional roots bluegrass to create a unique sound that explores the roots and boundaries of the musical genre.

Additionally, the band utilizes a carbon neutral solar trailer that uses energy from the sun through photovoltaic cells to power UNM events. Designed by Nate Campbell, a Sustainability Studies student at UNM, the inspirational trailer has the ability to reach a wide variety of audiences while appearing both inviting and professional. It is used as a means of education and networking in sustainability."

http://www.myspace.com/sbb

speechless...

...twice in one night...

Picture Tour from UNM Website

But really, please come visit for yourself!

Look Ma! No Hands!

Through much of Indiana, and certainly the rest of Kansas, there were no need for hands on the wheel. Thats not to say I drove with my knees or sans hands but its seriously different country out there. I saw signs boasting, "Lincoln County HAS jobs!", "Come see the World's Largest Prairie dog...only 60 miles to Entrance!" and in Colorado: "FREE LAND! We have water, we have land...we just need YOU!"

I was, however, completely charmed by the last 40 miles of Kansas and the first 40 of Colorado, as fields of sunflowers overflowed and the edges of the highway median held sunflowers rushing out to the cars flying by, "Thanks for coming! Thanks for visiting!"

Tonight I'm in Colorado Springs and I hope to get some good pictures of the Amazing mountains and Pikes Peak in the morning!

ROAD FOOD!

One of the best parts about a road trip, as everyone knows, is getting to eat all kinds of fun crap!
I got to stop at my beloved Hardees, and was able to hit up Jimmy Johns and Buffalo Wild Wings in Lawrence Kansas, along with a wonderful noodle shop called Zen Zero. Today was Red Robin's awesome Turkey, Bacon, Avocado sandwich on a croissant with bottomless steak fries, after starting the day off fittingly with a Colorado Omelette from IHOP...yum...

Word from the Wheel...

Left with nothing but profuse pondering from the wheel of my Mazda3, I reflected on the physical distance that will be between myself and my family and friends.
But especially one in particular...Life will not be the same without my museum buddy, my trad trawling, grateful dead devouring, ceramic swirling beer buddy; my tree hugging, road tripping, jet setting for China political advisor of a dear dear soul, Pete...
I raise this plastic glass of free Drury Inn white zin to you!

listen.

i love the expand and contract of his tummy
i love the rise and fall of his shoulders
i love the steady, solid beat i feel from his chest
i love the sexiness of his snoring
i love the linger of his lashes on his cheek

i love that a man like this could be alive.
and that i am lucky to listen to this life
as it lovely lies beside me.

Positively Priceless

SO GRATEFUL to be able to spend my last day with these 2 "shtunks."

yup.

"A few studies have examined full-time/part-time status and completion rates, but when it comes to actual student learning—basically nothing. This is not a standard of evidence that university professors would tolerate in their own research.

In other words, when it comes to the central enterprise of higher education—teaching students—we don't know if the reigning professional qualification system works, or how many professors we actually need. And this is true for all kinds of other basic elements of college teaching and learning—curricula, training, pedagogy, and much more...

The underlying cause of this remarkable information deficit is pretty clear: Colleges and universities don't really need to know—or want to know—the answers to these questions. They don’t need to know because student learning results are peripheral to the core incentive system in which they operate. University success is measured in terms of dollars raised, high-achieving students recruited, and prestigious scholarship produced—period. Even less selective institutions are highly influenced by these values. They may not have the research mission of the academic giants, but they share organizational models, practices, and ways of thinking, all of which cut against rigorous self-evaluation of teaching and learning."

from Kevin Carey's Where's the Data?

succasunna

this town feels so different
so sleepy
so quiet
paranoia probably the only one with its eyes on me
as i feel glares from the woods
tonight
instead of scurrying inside
i stood outside as the dusk fell
and forced myself to look around
proving to myself that nothing is amiss
-like forcing your tensed shoulders to relax in the harsh winter cold
and realizing you are warmer that way-
nothing to hide from
or lock myself away from
just sleepy
just quiet
just home

Eat Pray Love quotes

"...it is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection."
-reference to the Bhagavad Gita from "Eat, Pray, Love"

"To create a family with a spouse is one of the most fundamental ways a person can find continuity and meaning in American (or any) society. I rediscover this truth every time I go to a big reunion of my mother's family in Minnesota and I see how everyone is held so reassuringly in their positions over the years. First you are a child, then you are a teenager, then you are a young married person, then you are a parent, then you are retired, then you are a grandparent-at every stage you know who you are, you know what your duty is and you know where to sit at the reunion. You sit with the other children, or teenagers, or young parents, or retirees. Until at last you are sitting with the ninety-year-olds in the shade, watching over your progeny with satisfaction. Who are you? No problem-you're the person who created all this. The satisfaction of this knowledge is immediate, and moreover, it's universally recognized. How many people have I heard claim their children as the greatest accomplishment and comfort of their lives? It's the thing they can always lean on during a metaphysical crisis, or a moment of doubt about their relevancy-If I have done nothing else in this life, then at least I have raised my children well."
-Eat, Pray, Love

wiser time

No time left now for shame
Horizon behind me, no more pain
Windswept stars blink and smile
Another song, another mile
You read the line every time
Ask me about crime in my mind
Ask me why another read song
Funny but I bet you never left home

On a good day, its not every day
We can part the sea
And on a bad day, its not every day
Glory beyond our reach
Seconds until sunrise
Tired but wiser for the time
Lightning 30 miles away
Three thousand more in two days
-the black crowes

Massachusetts

The sun slid down behind the Tappan Zee, and I slid down the Atlantic Coast.
My GPS and cell phone batteries drained, as were my own.
One last beautiful 287 sky allowed me the peace of mind to reflect on my visit up north.
It was so great to see Grampa, and I had such a fun, liberating drive up; it was so great to see him with his two dogs who keep him young. But goodbyes get harder as loved ones get older, and the lump in my throat was forming the night before; the cold firm grip that reality has on my jaw, holding my face in place, so I have to look and can't squirm away from the examination of our eventual, inescapable, everlooming mortality.
Reading helps, of course - did you know "hobo" is short for HOmeward BOund? - in that its both a satisfying experience for my brain, in that its an escape, but also a productive commentary on the shadows cast over the day...

When you sense a faint potentiality for happiness after such dark times you must grab onto the ankles of that happiness and not let go until it drags you face-first out of the dirt - this is not selfishness; it is your duty (and also you entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight
-Eat, Pray, Love

home alone

I was surprised when the sadness didn't come as and when I expected.
Now I'm learning that it will come when it wants, and stay as long as it wants too, without knocking.
Goodbye to my family until Christmas, goodbye to my love until a time yet to be planned, goodbye to my dear friend until Buddha knows when...these are indeed transitory and transitional times for all of us.

off to embrace the alone time with a book...