one-way street

today, i'm listening to radiolab while i do my laundry and look around at my house, thinking about how i should clean it. anyway, the show is about parasites. parasitic wasps, to begin with, and i'm fascinated--and creeped out.

the parasitic wasp injects drugs into a cockroach's brain to make the cockroach its slave. it then buries the cockroach alive, burrows (carefully, so as not to kill it) into the roach's abdomen, and lays its eggs. the eggs feed on the cockroach's body fluids, and the cockroach is alive the whole time. But when the baby wasps are developed and leave, that is when the cockroach dies.

i find it all a gruesomely ironic metaphor for dysfunctional relationships.

an.ti.pas.ti

mm-mmm! i've recently become something of a mistress of hummus--a hummustress, if you will--and i'm tickled to share some food photos showcasing my latest masterpiece, accompanied by its attending mediterranean fare. oh, to live in santorini. . . yogurt and olive oil for every meal, blue roofed, white stucco, and ocean just as blue. . .


for this particular batch, i mixed cannellini [white kidney] beans in with the chickpeas; i think they really did make for a more delicate consistency. here's my rough recipe:

just over 1 can of beans total,
a minced clove of garlic (or a clove and a half, depending on your relationship status),
atablespoon of tahini,
a couple teaspoons of lemon juice
a handful of fresh spinach
1/4 teaspoon of salt

i whipped it all together with the immersion blender, and yum, yum! it pulls a meal together.

clothesline, take me away

this poem, by lawrence ferlinghetti, and this article, in the new york times, have some lovely links. if eliot wished to be "a pair of ragged claws, scuttling across the floors of silent seas," then today i wish i was a freshly-laundered sheet, flapping in the october sunshine.

three minutes to chocolate cake

microwave chocolate cake: single serve

i was stunned and ecstatic when this recipe arrived on my humble cyber-step. it is way worth it--and the best part? very few dishes to clean up. perfect for the single ladies!

1 large coffee mug (Microwave-safe)
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract


Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

Pour in the milk and oil and mix well..

Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.

The cake may rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT ! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).

monday movie review: hiatus

the movie review is on a bit of a vacay. in its absence, enjoy the clips below.

and these, too. they seem to go together.

because. . .

i need another post this week, but i'm too tired to think of clever things.
i laughed with my girl ashe tonight.
we had wine, then martinis.
i miss my friends who have moved away.
i have way too many essays to grade.
i think poetry is the key to opening kids' hearts to falling in love with language.
i had a good day, and the blog is here to receive that.
i read some great list poems today, and this is my attempt.
i still believe God is listening, somewhere.
i am breathing through my nose, and i'm thankful.
my sister might read this, and i miss her.
tomorrow is sunday and the weekend may be salvaged yet.
it will be nice to sleep tonight.
so much in my life is going well, and i need to remember that.

monday movie review: the future is unwritten

perhaps it is a tribute to the universal influence of the band that i first heard of the clash on the cw's long running dramedy, the gilmore girls. but regardless of the way in which they came to me, i have never been sorry, and i realize my musical education would be incomplete without them.

though i have a special affinity for the title of this film, beyond that, it turns out to be a pretty good documentary of the life of joe strummer, lead singer of the clash. it also turned out to be one documentary my music junkie friend, andres, had not yet seen.

the film is composed of conversations and archival footage. it's unique because the conversations take place around campfires among groups of people who have history with strummer, or who have felt his influence and made it known in their own art. the campfire conversations alternate between the shores of the thames and the hills above hollywood, and highlights include johnny depp, bono, strummer's wife, bandmates, former friends, john cusack, and the guy from the red hot chili peppers.


i like the conversational feel of this film, as compared with the educational-talky feel of some documentaries. there's tons of archival footage--both of the band and the historical events that developed them. it's pretty long, but nice to have on in the background while doing other mindless work. it weaves in excerpts from strummer's radio show, so it's fun to see the musicians to whom he pays tribute, and they are wide-ranging. it was cool to see more clearly the foundation for punk music that was laid by the likes of woody guthrie and other folk-revolutionaries. the clash's songs are universal, partly due to strummer's global upbringing, and they are sung just as easily around the campfire as they are screamed from a stage to [righteously] angry crowds. my personal test of punk music that i like is whether or not i can hear it sung by an a capella choir in eight-part harmony, and most of the clash's music passes that test as well. the medium may be the message, but this message holds up in various mediums and is only augmented by the experiment.

zyrtec junkie

clean house: dishes done, rug vacuumed, laundry drying and waiting to be folded. all in all productive, except that i've also spent a lot of time on the couch. woke up stuffy with a 60% chance of sneezing, so i took an allergy pill with breakfast. it had the desired effects; i'm clear, and not sneezing, but i'm drowsier than a baby who just finished a 2 a.m. feeding. can't. . . get. . . going.

i have plenty to do, but i wander aimlessly, not wanting to do any of it. i did start a book i've been needing to read and pass along, the adderall diaries, by stephen elliot. i joined a network of people who all agreed to read and mail advance copies of the book around to each other, to get the word out and get conversation generated before the book's release. so the day has not been entirely unproductive. but i feel avoidant. reading makes me sleepy. and the big jobs still loom large.

none of the items on my list will get done, unless i do them. not the freshmen narratives or the AP timed writings, or the Major Works Reviews, or the Ancient Lit Found Poems, or any of the preparation for the coming days: memoirs, The Handmaid's Tale, wisdom lit. all great stuff, that theoretically, i look forward to reviewing and planning, just not from a drug-induced coma.

there's also just a tiny bit of resentment, which i am only starting to overcome, that there is so much more work to do than is ever humanly possible inside of the teacher's contracted working day. why is it that we will work for so little at a profession that demands so much, where we feel constantly overwhelmed and behind the curve, where job is piled on job, in addition to the simple responsibilities of planning and grading? am i crazy? or is it just the fifth week of school? is it only the fifth week of school?