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May 13th, 2008
lmbujold
[filkferengi]
 | 12:04 pm - Sharing Knife--Affinities
[I've written the subject line with a dash rather than a colon, to avoid raising expectations of another book. Of course, if Lois were to feel so inclined, she should feel fully free to use that as a title *at any time*. Iow, W, L, W!]
While it is a truth universally acknowledged that I've been a vehement, vociferous, rabid [see the ears?] Bujold fan for lo, these twelve-plus years and more, it is rarely known that in all that time I haven't actually read the books that many times. I've read all the Vorkosigan books maybe 3-4 times, _Chalion_ twice, and _Paladin_ and _Hunt_ once each. It hasn't really been necessary to read them more than that. They made such vivid, visceral impressions, it's as is I'm still having an ongoing conversation with them, like yeast bubbling and working away, in the back of my mind.
Yet, here's a thing. I've read the Sharing Knife books as much as the others in 12+ years. This year alone, I've read book 3 at least three or four times. I've been trying to figure out why, and I think Lois writes truer than even she knows sometimes; it all comes down to *affinities*.
These books are sheer comfort to slip into, like slithering around on satin sheets, snuggling into bed under warm coverings on a cold night, savoring chocolate, or getting intoxicated breathing wisteria.
That they're set in my own country certainly gives a geographical affinity, but that in itself is insufficient. There are admittedly affinities of topography and climate. [Of course, my own state, Georgia, is more diverse than most. From friendly foothills {aka, "mountains"} in the north, to piedmont, flatlands, swamplands, and beaches, we have a wide variety of climates right handy, so to say.] I've driven extensively through Ohio and Pennsylvania, en route to some of the best times of my life [OVFF and Confluence], which adds a certain luster to the scenery. These last few years, we've begun to take walks several times a week at the nearby nature preserve. I'd be able to see what Lois is writing about, often the same day as reading it: cardinals, bluejays, robins, lizards, turtles in the sun, various ducks, thuggish geese, cattails, dogwoods, redbuds, blue herons. Still no water lilies [although the fire lilies were exquisite last year], but that's enough to be going on with, surely. I've shared delightful snippets of physical description with ze spouse. Lois turns a phrase the way Chihuly blows glass: liquid, creative fire.
We southerners like folks from the midwest, because they almost talk right, close enough to be real comfortable. It does make it hard for me to appreciate all Lois' linguistic efforts properly, however; familiarity blurs details so.
Culturally, I can identify with both Farmers and Lake-Walkers [minor pet peeve: if reviewers, et. al. are going to capitalize one culture, they should capitalize the other]. My great-grandparents were sharecroppers, & I had a great-uncle and -aunt who didn't get indoor plumbing until I was seven. They made their own butter [I still have a butter mold]. My grandma plowed her own garden up until the year she came to town for cataract surgery and stayed for a stroke [they took her off her blood-thinners]. I've gotten up at dawn to pick field peas and shelled butterbeans until all fingernails were green. I've also been far too tightly owned by some things and completely baffled at the things some other folks are owned by [none of them written by Lois]. It could almost be said I travel Lake-Walker-lightly through the world [except for all the books and music--more like, I Marley merrily. ;)].
The romance tropes are comfortably familiar, too; I've always said I owed that high verbal score on the SAT to having started reading Harlequins in the 5th grade, back when they were written with big words, plot, and character development. Given how many of the best authors [hello, Jane and Georgette!] have heroines between 17 and 20, and heroes of 35-40 and higher, the age difference never bothered me.
Having never procreated, I never joined the adult conspiracy. Inside my head, I'm still somewhere between 18 and 23, so coming-of-age stories still resonate, even when one is coming-of-age at 56 [hi, Dag!].
These books have everything, the very stuff of life itself: wit, wisdom, bafflement, betrayal, puzzlement, poignancy, goodwill, malice [both kinds!], with hearty guffaws and primo snark. I want my life written this intelligently by an author this insightful.
Colossal kudzu kudos, Lois; brava!
Also, Write, Lois, Write!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/idea.gif) artistic
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pegkerr
 | 10:54 am - Jane Bennett and Barack Obama
Interesting: Over at Peace & Wisdom (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) peaceandwisdom) is a series of articles discussing the similarities between our modern response to Jane Bennet and Barack Obama’s New Politics.
(See other articles at the same blog re: Jane Austen, considered in the light of other philosophers, at Peace & Wisdom here.)
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matociquala
 | 06:15 am - i am the eggplant. i am the LOLRUS. Koo koo katchew.
The hideousness of the death toll in Myanmar and China currently just boggles me. It is horrific and terrifying, and I'm sort of at a loss for words about the whole thing. Not that there's anything I can say about it, other than--if you have a few extra dollars, it wouldn't be a bad week to chip in to Doctors Without Borders.
and in the department of things-that-are-shatteringly-trivial-by-comparison, but-life-must-go-on:
Another bad climbing night yesterday. I managed two 5.7s I'd done before (One of them is overhung and I spend the whole damned time dogging on the rope, but I get there.), but my left big toe has been giving me trouble, and the damned thing started to hurt so badly after two routes that I bailed on the third one about ten feet up. Also, the left shoulder is not giving me the love, and my ankle is a little sore, I think from favoring the toe.
Blah. I really want to go for a run this morning, as it's still cool and pretty out there. But the smart thing is to stay home and give my foot and ankle a break. Blah!
I think I need to step up project less-of-me, because it would not hurt my joints to get an extra forty or sixty pounds off them before I expect them to manage this stuff I'm throwing at them. There's some sort of delicate balance between exercise, joint pain, serotonin reuptake, caloric intake, and how much owie I can reasonably expect my body to absorb with in the process of trying to keep it healthy that I need to strike here.
Hmm. I wonder how stupid it really would be, to go for a run. Screw it, we'll give it a try, and if it hurts too much, we'll stop.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://www.elizabethbear.com/moodtheme//frustrated.jpg) frustrated
Current Music: NPR - Morning Edition
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bikepirates
[theholymac]
 | 01:03 am - Bike build
Hey guys, a few weeks ago I finished my first bike build; a rough city commuter for daily riding to and fro up here in Minneapolis. Pictures of the build can be found here, below is the finished product.
I'll admit right off that bat that it's an odd bike. I wanted high gears for city riding, but I also wanted the bike to be able to take a hit, which drove me towards mountain bike rims and wide slicks, thus a mountain bike frame. In the end, I grabbed a cheap steel mountain bike frame from Nashbar and outfitted it with some old Shimano Ultegra 600 and Deore XT components. The front is set up with 53/39 chainrings, while the rear cassette is a 5-speed 12/15/18/21/24 setup. The shifters are ancient pre-XT M700 Shimano friction units, which are honestly the best friction shifter I have ever used (I swear by them)
The end result is rough, tough, and more than fast enough for what I do. Although it seems strange, it's a blast to ride, and one of my bike friends is now in the process of converting his beater mountain hardtail into a similar setup.
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booksellers
[topaz_]
 | 12:51 am
I had this random question from a customer tonight, and was curious to get people's thoughts:
Do people look like their purchases?
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May 12th, 2008
sarahf
 | 09:41 pm - Teaching
This post is going to be all about how I suck as a teacher. So let's get this part of it out of the way right away: yes, I know I'm a good teacher. I know I'm a lot better than other teachers/professors out there. I have an enthusiasm for my subject matter, I have convictions about the skills I teach, and I'm very very good at imparting both to my students. I know that. But remember that thing about competent people not thinking they're competent and the idiots thinking they're all that? Well, this is one of those posts, okay?
Because while I am good in general, I suck donkey's balls in the specifics.
I don't grade. Not I don't like to grade. I just don't grade. I hate the time suck it represents and I hate being confronted with my students' low education level and complete ignorance, so I just don't do it. And that's just so not helpful for the students. How can they improve in a writing class if they don't get anything back from me?
I don't do the readings I give my students. I usually go with what I remember about the text from reading it years ago and add a quick skim if I need to. I certainly don't do background research. When my students don't know that England is a monarchy and then I have to explain what a monarchy means, researching the finer historical points of whatever text I assign them is pointless.
All my lesson plans are by the seat of my pants. I don't have an overall scheme. I rarely have a complete calendar on my syllabus. I write the paper prompts days late and just before class when I do get to them, so they're not as step-by-step comprehensive as they need to be. I don't include a rubric, which I have to start doing to justify my exasperation with the papers I get and the grades I then give them.
I'm not actually good at teaching literature. I've got this conviction about teaching my students how to be literary critics, because that's not something anyone ever overtly taught me, but I don't actually know how to go about doing it. I've got this conviction about using one third of class time in literature courses on paper writing, but I resent it and so drag my feet on actually doing it, so the papers I receive suck. If I would just do what my convictions lead me to do, things might get better, but that requires forethought and planning and that's hard, dammit.
I need prior planning. I need to read the assignments. I need to put thought into the prompts I give out. I need to GRADE, dammit. I need to believe in my students again. I have a vague memory that at the beginning of the semester, I loved my students. Right now, I'm so frustrated with them and their inability to GET what I thought I taught, but I don't know if it's them or me, because I wasn't actually a very good teacher this semester.
I'd like to recommit myself to getting it right next semester. I used to put more time and thought into it, but that was when I was teaching one class a semester, with 18 students. The 4/4 load, with three preps, plus ALL the other work I'm doing, is a bit overwhelming, and everything suffers because of how I procrastinate my teaching and grading.
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ellen_kushner
 | 06:01 pm - Salon, Salon . . . Jewelry!
Despite kind encouragement from the world's greatest auctioneer, I really can't say it any better than our esteemed colleague the multitalented Ms. Bradford. And now my jaw is a-drop at the amazing conversation about Beading as Interstitial Art that is happening amongst crafties and IAF Auction contributors ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) elisem, ktempest, copperwise, (moderator) krismcd59 and others on our third IAF Online Salon. You should go join them.
I'm just going to go take a hot bath and let everyone else be articulate and talented for awhile.
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bikepirates
[helenhelen]
 | 03:34 pm
I have a question about a clicking noise my bike makes when I'm pedaling. It's a single speed that I fixed up at the bike project here. It was originally a 3 speed. I didn't change any parts from the area, I only took off the gear shifter. It's not bugging me too bad, I'd just like to know what it is. It sort of sounds like I have a ticking bomb attached to my back wheel.
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pegkerr
 | 02:03 pm - The suffering, a world away
I don't know anyone personally in Darfur, Iraq, Myanmar or China.
I don't know anyone personally (to my knowledge) affected by the tornadoes that have ripped up several communities here in the states.
Here on LiveJournal, we natter on (and on! and on!) about our various concerns, but to me today, hearing the news of war, cyclones, earthquakes and tornadoes, they seem just so trivial and petty.
I just want to light a candle today for those who have lost their entire world, who are struggling for survival.
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matociquala
 | 01:18 pm - you made your son joseph a dangerous man
Five random things make a post:
1) We saw a pair of red-bellied woodpeckers nesting in a dead snag, yesterday. I have never seen a red-bellied woodpecker before. The male and female had somewhat different cries, which was interesting, and the male's head (I assume it was the male, because he was outside the nest and the other bird was inside) was a brighter red.
2) Abby Irene just gave me a motivation. Thank you, Abby Irene. She is such a joy to work with.
3) Snippet from Seven for a Secret, because I rather liked this bit:
Abby Irene folded her aching hands. "It is just possible," she said softly, "that this is the opportunity we have been waiting for."
Sebastien's thin mouth tensed. He had known before he spoke to her of it, she saw. And he was too much the gentleman, still, to point out that we in this case meant Abigail Irene Garrett, and the wampyr who indulged her insane schemes. 4) The cat just totally fell asleep sitting up. Yes, I pushed her over. What do you take me for? (Apparently, she was exhausted by sleeping on my head all night. Hard work, that!) New indoor sport: cat tipping.
5) *toil, toil, toil*
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://www.elizabethbear.com/moodtheme//optimistic.jpg) optimistic
Current Music: Jethro Tull- March the Mad Scientist
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pegkerr
| 12:18 pm - Weekend
My Mothers Day was excellent. All day long, I meant to get online and compose a touching and heartfelt paean, not only to my and Rob's mothers, but to all mothers and their children, all caregivers, male and female, to those who had lost their mothers, to those who have lost their children, to those estranged from their mothers or children, to adoptees and their birth and adoptive mothers and their families, to all those trying to become mothers and/or adopt, to mothers-in-spirit, and end with a rhetorical flourish, invoking Mother Earth.
But somehow I never got around to it. Sorry. Consider yourself all honored anyway.
You are invited to fill in the blanks, making it as touching and profound as you can.
We ended up at Old Country Buffet, a restaurant we prize chiefly because it offers many things that all of us will eat. We stopped at Target and got a bunch of old movies, mostly from the 80s, that we though the girls would enjoy (Splash, Dirty Dancing, Footloose, etc.)
Delia is still somewhat sore, particularly in her feet and knees (I suspect she may have broken some capillaries in her feet during back leg thrust kicks to the pad) and was just generally a little wibbly and vulnerable all weekend, probably understandable after her huge physical blowout Friday night. I hope to learn tonight whether she passed the screening.
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matociquala
 | 11:25 am - so you place your final burden on your half-dressed next-of-kin
I only got 500 words on Sunday, because of climbing at Ragged Mountain and personal obligations. Still, it's 500 words I didn't have before.
The climbing didn't go so well. We were having an extraordinarily bad rigging day, and only managed to get one route set up properly over the course of pretty much the whole afternoon. (Don't ask. *g*) Anyway, I did about thirty feet of it (a 5.8) before I hit a patch I couldn't get over. Or, I might have been able to get over it if I were stronger and less terrified. Which is the same as saying I couldn't get over it.
It shames me to admit it, but I am discovering that, so far (and unlike everybody else I know, real and fictional) I don't really like climbing outdoors. This may change as I get more confidence, but I currently find it entirely too scary to be fun. It's physically much easier than climbing indoors, but the adrenal response kicks my ass, and I find it very, very frustrating. (I'm not big on adrenaline, honestly: a little bit is okay, but large quantities make me feel like crap for days afterwards.) And then afterwards I'm very ashamed of being so scared of the whole production. Also, I'm a bug magnet, which I don't mind so much while hiking, but there's a lot of sitting around in this endeavor.
So today I'm tired and don't want to work and I didn't even accomplish much of anything yesterday.
Also, because the Yellow Face Burns Us, I picked up a sunburn, and today I have a sun headache. Because we were hiking up and down the damned rocks to try to rig and re-rig the ropes, though, I did get about 3.5 miles closer to Lothlorien.
If the weather isn't completely terrible, I'm going to try some indoor climbing tonight. Which means I should dose up on naproxen now, and hopefully the headache and neckache will go away and leave me be. And I'll keep plugging away at the outdoor thing, though it's mostly a time-eating pain in the ass right now. And you know, a thoroughly humbling experience, but pretty much everything in my life (guitar, work, relationships, the self-education of the writer) is that.
Art.
Man. Is there anything in the world, this side of raising children, that's a more humbling experience than making your living as an artist? It's so amazing to watch people respond so very differently to the exact same piece of work. One will call it cold and distant, another emotionally manipulative, a third sentimental, and the fourth will write to tell you that you have captured their experience exactly, and rain blessings upon your head for putting that in words upon the page.
It's enough to make you shrug your shoulders and write to please yourself, I tell ya. And yet, when I think about it, I have a pretty nice life. I get to spend my workdays in front of a picture window and eat garlic for lunch without my cubemate complaining. (She complains about everything else, but not my garlic breath.) And it's a nice job, making things. It feels like contributing, a little.
And now, I have to make bread and cook this pork roast before it goes bad, and also go write some pages.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://www.elizabethbear.com/moodtheme//grumpy.jpg) grumpy
Current Music: Jethro Tull - The Chateau D'Isaster Tapes
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bikepirates
[robotar]
 | 09:29 am
hey, so who are the artisan frame builders besides rivendell? i used to have a whole list of them in my head but have recently forgotten nearly every one. i could never afford one, but bike pr0n is bike pr0n.
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bikepirates
[mcb78rpm]
 | 09:18 am - From marriedtothesea.com...
marriedtothesea.com
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theinferior4
[paulwitcover]
 | 06:46 am - Getting the science right
New Scientist online has posted a list of five science fiction films that they feel get the science, if not right, then at least righter than most films in the genre. The list does not take artistic considerations into account.
It's a curious selection.
The first film on the list, 2001, would seem hard to quibble with in terms of its straightforward presentation of scientific matters. HAL of course is pushing the envelope, and there are those who believe that AI will never be possible, but to me, the suggestion of a coherent science behind HAL, which we see most clearly in the sequences where the computer is shut down, carries the day.
It's more of a stretch, it seems to me, to praise the scientific accuracy of the other films on the list.
The very question of what constitutes scientific accuracy in a work of art reminds me of the mundane sf movement. But as a writer and a reader, and a viewer of movies, I've never felt any need for strict adherence to scientific understanding, either contemporary or extrapolated. All that really matters to me is some kind of internal, logical consistency in whatever science or pseudo-science is present. Films like Dark City and Primer, and even the first Matrix movie to an extent, all possess this quality.
It's a quality that seems ever rarer in films and in novels. Is this just a matter of taste? The privileging of a kind of a gaming sensibility over a more traditional approach to narrative and structure? Help me out here, Darryl!
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May 11th, 2008
sarahf
 | 10:46 pm - Mother's Day
One of those wonderful days that is just soul-satisfying, although not really amazing for any obvious reason.
My mother watched the boys last night (in which my baby is possessed by screaming hissy-fit demons) while we were in Raleigh. We get back around two in the morning and fall into bed at my mother's house. We wake up in the morning and bring a cold boy to bed with us. It's pouring rain so we have a slow breakfast of waffles and sausages. After it clears up, we start lopping branches off my mother's trees, under her direction. Then it clears up a bit more, so we go out to buy some plants, take out her misshapen box bushes, replace them with cool plants, and then eat her amazing dinner. Then we come home.
See? Nothing really interesting or exciting or noteworthy. But a wonderful time with family and good hard work and fabulous food.
So that was my Mother's Day. Oh, except that Theo MADE me a card that has three hearts with arms and legs and faces on the front, the big one labeled "You," holding the hand of a smaller one labeled "Me," which is holding the hands of a smaller one labeled "Isacc" (yeah yeah). And inside the card read "I hope our hearts are always conected. Happy Mother's Day." Made and written and illustrated completely by himself. Amazing child.
Oh, and I got a Garden Rocker and a box of jasmine tea. :)
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bikepirates
[ericthemage]
 | 10:43 pm - Teenage pirates.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/05/student-environmentalists-protest-anti-bicycle-policy.php
Fortunately, these enterprising high schoolers didn't just sit on their heels. No, they came together and organized the following protest: "more than 50 students rode their bikes to school, commuting in pairs and groups. After studying up on state biking laws -- and carrying copies with them -- the students legally tethered their bikes in conspicuous clusters around lamp posts, trees and other poles dotting the circular drive in front of the school." The students also delivered a letter to the principal. So what was his response?
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ellen_kushner
| 07:53 pm - we love Holly Black, but . . . .
. . . that doesn't mean we're going to let blackholly just walk away with krismcd59's fabulous "Rainbird" earrings (inspired by Holly Phillips' "Queen of the Butterfly Kingdom") for a mere lowball offer of $20.50 over at the Interfictions Auction in the next 12 hours, now does it?
(Hey, klages, how'm I doing?)
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ellen_kushner
 | 02:59 pm - KRIJTJES
I bet you didn't know that there were this many varieties of licorice in Holland alone . . . .! -- found while looking for a source for my favorites - I'm down to the last few in my little bag of "Oudhollands" brand from De Tuinen (hoarder? me? just because these are from, um, the same bag that got me through our move, which I am carefully eking out until...); I feel that they are inadequately described on the site as "Krijtjes drop white licorice pastilles" and "Krijtjesdrop (licorice crayons): peppermint shell with a licorice paste inside. Taste: sweet, peppermint." - to me, they're more like a salty licorice with a streak of menthol. ?? I'll give you the powdered white outsides, though - they look a bit like giant white pencil erasers. I guess.
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![[mood icon]](http://www.elizabethbear.com/moodtheme//happy.jpg)
happy