Last night I took a break from not-working and obsessively refreshing CNN.com and took my computer downstairs (I was at Josh's) to sit on the basement steps and watch this one more time:
I watched it, and it made me tear up a little - yes we can, yes we can, we must, we will. And then I came back upstairs and found Josh's roommates watching McCain give his concession speech. I teared up several times during Obama's speech. Today is a good day. We won an election, and we're winning back this country.
I've been supporting Obama for four years, ever since he spoke at the DNC in 2004, but I never really believed we were going to pull this off. Up until the last minute I felt sure young voters wouldn't turn out or the GOP would pull some dirty trick. But we won. We won.
I'm so proud.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
A visit from the Second Philosopher (Part II)
Wow, I got all caught up in the drama of my Big Decision back there and completely forgot the rest of my story. By the way, since I have no internet at home, I'm in a Christian coffeehouse that's having a Reggae Night, and there are some fratboys a few feet away from me talking about abortion and how Obama is never going to be president, Americans are going to come to their senses any second now, so to counteract all that I have Steve Earle coming out of my headphones really loud. (No lectures please.)
Anyway, Penelope Maddy and I discussed my future and so that's all taken care of, I'm probably moving to New York. Then she gave her talk, which was really good. Since I'd read the paper it was based on and I'm knee-deep in her new book, I was able to follow the whole thing, which made me super happy. I'd prepared a few questions beforehand and when it came time for the q-and-a I raised my hand, but before I was called on a visiting professor (a super big shot guy) asked my question! And then before I was able to recover one of the other grad students asked my backup question!! I was so upset and couldn't think of a third question, so I didn't get to ask anything. Major drag.
After the talk we went to the fanciest restaurant in Bloomington, Tallent, for dinner. I was especially glad to have had a chance to talk to Maddy one-on-one beforehand, because the dinner was attended by some of the biggest personalities in the department and it was hard to get a word in. I had roasted beet salad with goat cheese and rabbit served on a bed of something absolutely delicious. The thing about this restaurant is that the menu basically lists each ingredient in the dish, and they're all things I've never heard of: walleye, bagna cauda, harissa, ham praline. (What do you suppose ham praline is?)
I had an espresso after dinner (which wasn't very nice and had no crema (as Jeffery Steingarten says, espresso without crema is not espresso) because in addition to being Penelope Maddy Day, yesterday was also Halloween and I had festivities to attend. (I'd been so focused on Maddy's visit I'd honestly forgotten about Halloween and kept being surprised to see people dressed in kilts and John McCain masks - a costume that made my beau rather annoyed.) I went home, put on my pretty new shoes and a dress, and went with Joshua to a square dance at the home of one of the members of the Fatted Calf String Band. We only stayed for one dance, which was not very good - basically all I got to do was be swung, which made me really dizzy, especially since Josh always likes to throw in a twirl after we promenade, for flair and because on this occasion I was wearing a twirly skirt. After that we went to Susan's for a little bit of her party - I brought gingerbread made with Laurie Colwin's recipe, which was a big hit as usual. It was not really as much party as I would have liked but it had been a very long day.
Today was Free Soup Day at the Farmers' Market, which is awesome - restaurants give free samples and recipes of their soups featuring local ingredients. We went pretty late and most places were out, but I got to taste three soups, which is not bad, and I got a recipe for a butternut squash soup that I might try.
Tomorrow I'm supposed to volunteer for Obama, which hopefully I'll actually do. There were tons of volunteers out today, which is good. Home stretch!
By the way, today I was looking at some of my old Action Girl comics and thought to myself: "Wonder what Sarah Dyer is up to these days?" Turns out she's cooking, crafting, raising a kid, and writing a very enjoyable (to me) blog.
Anyway, Penelope Maddy and I discussed my future and so that's all taken care of, I'm probably moving to New York. Then she gave her talk, which was really good. Since I'd read the paper it was based on and I'm knee-deep in her new book, I was able to follow the whole thing, which made me super happy. I'd prepared a few questions beforehand and when it came time for the q-and-a I raised my hand, but before I was called on a visiting professor (a super big shot guy) asked my question! And then before I was able to recover one of the other grad students asked my backup question!! I was so upset and couldn't think of a third question, so I didn't get to ask anything. Major drag.
After the talk we went to the fanciest restaurant in Bloomington, Tallent, for dinner. I was especially glad to have had a chance to talk to Maddy one-on-one beforehand, because the dinner was attended by some of the biggest personalities in the department and it was hard to get a word in. I had roasted beet salad with goat cheese and rabbit served on a bed of something absolutely delicious. The thing about this restaurant is that the menu basically lists each ingredient in the dish, and they're all things I've never heard of: walleye, bagna cauda, harissa, ham praline. (What do you suppose ham praline is?)
I had an espresso after dinner (which wasn't very nice and had no crema (as Jeffery Steingarten says, espresso without crema is not espresso) because in addition to being Penelope Maddy Day, yesterday was also Halloween and I had festivities to attend. (I'd been so focused on Maddy's visit I'd honestly forgotten about Halloween and kept being surprised to see people dressed in kilts and John McCain masks - a costume that made my beau rather annoyed.) I went home, put on my pretty new shoes and a dress, and went with Joshua to a square dance at the home of one of the members of the Fatted Calf String Band. We only stayed for one dance, which was not very good - basically all I got to do was be swung, which made me really dizzy, especially since Josh always likes to throw in a twirl after we promenade, for flair and because on this occasion I was wearing a twirly skirt. After that we went to Susan's for a little bit of her party - I brought gingerbread made with Laurie Colwin's recipe, which was a big hit as usual. It was not really as much party as I would have liked but it had been a very long day.
Today was Free Soup Day at the Farmers' Market, which is awesome - restaurants give free samples and recipes of their soups featuring local ingredients. We went pretty late and most places were out, but I got to taste three soups, which is not bad, and I got a recipe for a butternut squash soup that I might try.
Tomorrow I'm supposed to volunteer for Obama, which hopefully I'll actually do. There were tons of volunteers out today, which is good. Home stretch!
By the way, today I was looking at some of my old Action Girl comics and thought to myself: "Wonder what Sarah Dyer is up to these days?" Turns out she's cooking, crafting, raising a kid, and writing a very enjoyable (to me) blog.
A visit from the Second Philosopher
Yesterday was Penelope Maddy's colloquium talk, which I'd been looking forward to for ages because I find her work very interesting (though I don't think I'll ever be a Second Philosopher myself), but also because she teaches at UC Irvine, where I'm planning to apply. I signed up to attend the dinner afterwards, but Josh had the good idea of asking her to have coffee, as well, and happily she agreed.
Maddy and I had met before when she gave the logic lecture my senior year at Smith, and she read some of my undergrad thesis and said very nice things about it. She's incredibly smart and really generous - reading the thesis of a total stranger is a mighty generous move, as is giving advice and time to someone with no claims on her at all. Maddy and I sat in the IMU Starbucks and discussed my future, and she had a lot of good things to say.
For one thing, she pointed out that grad school doesn't last all that long (she called it 'a blip'), so it's okay if the location is less than ideal. How long until I have my PhD - maybe five, six years at the outside. I can endure a little discomfort for five or six years if I have to.
She also disagreed with Joan, who said that I might make enemies if I apply to CUNY and then turn them down a second time. Maddy doesn't think I should worry about this, but she also thinks that CUNY is where I need to be. Apply to CUNY and Irvine, she suggested, and if I get into Irvine they'll fly me out to visit and if I love it I can go, but really I ought to be in New York. And in my heart I know she's probably right.
It's been suggested that I really just want to go to New York and CUNY isn't really the right place for me. This is backwards; CUNY is one of the best places in the world for what I want to do, and the thought of living in New York fills me with dread. But people have done much harder things than spend five years in New York on a shoestring. So now I am devoting a few minutes a day to positive visualization: I'm picturing myself running around Central Park, studying in the library, wandering through grocery stores in Chinatown, riding the subway. I'm thinking about how close I'll be to my family, and maybe Andrea will be in New York next year, and I'm sure TMBG will have the occasional free concert.
I'm looking at apartments. I'm thinking about budgets and jobs. I can do this.
(If they'll let me.)
Maddy and I had met before when she gave the logic lecture my senior year at Smith, and she read some of my undergrad thesis and said very nice things about it. She's incredibly smart and really generous - reading the thesis of a total stranger is a mighty generous move, as is giving advice and time to someone with no claims on her at all. Maddy and I sat in the IMU Starbucks and discussed my future, and she had a lot of good things to say.
For one thing, she pointed out that grad school doesn't last all that long (she called it 'a blip'), so it's okay if the location is less than ideal. How long until I have my PhD - maybe five, six years at the outside. I can endure a little discomfort for five or six years if I have to.
She also disagreed with Joan, who said that I might make enemies if I apply to CUNY and then turn them down a second time. Maddy doesn't think I should worry about this, but she also thinks that CUNY is where I need to be. Apply to CUNY and Irvine, she suggested, and if I get into Irvine they'll fly me out to visit and if I love it I can go, but really I ought to be in New York. And in my heart I know she's probably right.
It's been suggested that I really just want to go to New York and CUNY isn't really the right place for me. This is backwards; CUNY is one of the best places in the world for what I want to do, and the thought of living in New York fills me with dread. But people have done much harder things than spend five years in New York on a shoestring. So now I am devoting a few minutes a day to positive visualization: I'm picturing myself running around Central Park, studying in the library, wandering through grocery stores in Chinatown, riding the subway. I'm thinking about how close I'll be to my family, and maybe Andrea will be in New York next year, and I'm sure TMBG will have the occasional free concert.
I'm looking at apartments. I'm thinking about budgets and jobs. I can do this.
(If they'll let me.)
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