Saturday, July 28, 2012

Summer Cold

The end of my summer semester has brought me a lovely little summer cold. I think my body held it off until I was finished teaching my class and had a couple of days without any grading to do so I could just lay about the house, a sneezy, lumpy mess. My students still need to take their final placement test next week (three of them took it after class Thursday and passed with absolutely no problem [yahoo!]), but our official class meetings are over. Here are my fantastic stus:

These are nine of the hardest working students I've ever taught
So next week I'll be on campus, organizing my god-awful mess of a desk and waiting for the remaining six students to come in and tell me how they did on the test. They need to score a 6 but I told anyone who scored a 7 (the highest possible score) that I'd buy them a soda (I already bought a Dr. Pepper for Ali, lower right, blue shirt)

Next week also brings the end of my summer's session of volunteering with Open Books, the fantastic literacy organization I've volunteered for the past two years. Since May, I've been helping out in the office with typing students' stories and poems, putting together maps for a flyering campaign, and doing some data entry. I've really enjoyed going there, just for a couple of hours a day twice a week, because not only is the cause worthy, the people wonderful, the work quiet, soothing, and tidy, and the most common water cooler gossip about what books are on everyone's nightstands, but I am also forced to walk past the amazing Open Books book store on my way to the office and spot something I need (want) to buy. Here are my two most recent purchases:
 Three weeks ago, in addition to helping out in the office, I started the Buddies program, which is a program that assigns big buddies (me) with little buddies (the two lovely ladies below) to be reading partners.

My little buddies
I helped with this program last summer and fall, too, and I hope to keep doing it each summer for the future. It's so much fun to hang out and read with kids who are excited about books and reading.

Me and my buddy Ajani
I'll make sure to take a picture of the whole group when we meet for our last day next week.

To cap off this week, we went to Greg & Paula's house for a bbq to celebrate Bosco turning 2 years old. It's kind of nuts that he's already this old (remember when he was this small?) Look at him now!

Hi, Grandma!
Bo and Cousin Jack (and Jack with his eye on that cake...)

Oh, I'm just reading my new book. Ain't no thang.



And now it's the weekend! Trevor is riding the bike out to Elk Grove with his friend Sarah while I continue to sink into the couch and use up our household supply of Kleenex. I might scrape myself together to leave the house later, but in the meantime, a nap sounds good.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Get Outta Town

Trevor and I decided to hit the road this past weekend and drive up to Sturgeon Bay for a preview of our longer getaway with the Power Clan in a couple of weeks. We visited with Jim, Grandma and Grandpa Madel, Uncle Doug and Jean, and we had an all-around lovely time.

One of the most significant things we did was visit a "new" bookstore (it's been there about a year, so we hadn't seen it yet) in downtown SB. It was fantastic. We walked in, quickly realized that we'd need to spend at least an hour there, so we left to get a beer at Poh's Corner and prepare ourselves. We returned thirty minutes later, refreshed and ready to browse.

Heaven


T, checking out some art books

They also sell vinyl, but I didn't have time to go through this: another day


Clementine, the cat, hanging out with her books
 We ended up with a total of five books: T got one, I got the other four (surprise, surprise). I'd found a lot more than that but had to sit down, spread them all out, and decide which ones I really, really, really needed. It was not an easy decision. These were my spoils:

New members of our biblio family
The I Am Legend is not only an excellent book and a great cover, but it's also the book T and I read together, listening on dual headphones, while we took the train ride from Madrid to Barcelona on our honeymoon almost five years ago. The Cujo is my newest King (I collect his hardcovers--really just the ones I read as a kid--and try to get as many first editions as I can), and because I found this one I can get rid of my paperback copy, so it's an even trade and barely counts as an additional book (although since the paperback is a tiny mass market, I might keep it around until I need the shelf space [or I'll take it to campus and use it as an example of "frequently banned and challenged books" for my annual celebration of the ALA's Banned Books Week, and then it'll count as a teaching tool!])

Cujo's new friends

And yes, I did just get a copy of Paco's Story a few weeks ago during my book filled adventure to Evanston, but this one is another first edition in great condition, and because it was only $10, it practically doesn't count at all.

The Rendell was just a great cover by a great writer and I can't wait to read it as soon as I've finished the Rendell I'm currently reading, The Bridesmaid. Although I first have to read the books Grandpa Madel loaned me, two short story collections from Roald Dahl. Thank goodness I still have two weeks until fall semester starts. I have a lot of reading to do.

T already put his spoils away, so I will find them this evening and show them off in a separate post.

All in all our mini-getaway was great. We're already making a list of things we have to get done when we go back in a couple of weeks. And I might have to add another trip to the bookstore.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The Barn

I've been on campus each Tuesday and Thursday this summer to teach one class, and it turns out that this is just the right amount of time for me to be on campus working and still on "break."

While I was at the college yesterday, a student from my Spring 2012 creative writing class stopped by to pick up her journal (they'd worked on them all semester long and turned them in the last day of class). Well, this student was a favorite of mine (but as teachers, like parents, we never pick official favorites, so forget that you read that, and just never you mind...) and she was an excellent student all around. In addition to being a dedicated and talented writer, she is also an artist, and during the semester, unbeknownst to me, she was working on a painting inspired by our class.

One day last semester for an in-class writing activity, I adapted an exercise from our book and asked the students to describe a barn using the third person point of view of a man who had just lost his son, a soldier, to combat. But the description couldn't mention the son, it couldn't mention death, and it couldn't mention war. It was an exercise in setting and atmosphere, and the passages turned out quite well. But this particular student was so inspired that she decided to paint a barn during her campus studio time. And yesterday, she gave it to me as a present.


It's small--only about six inches squared--but I think it's marvelous.

I have, occasionally, gotten gifts from students at the end of a semester, usually gift cards that are in low denominations, very thoughtful, and always appreciated (who'd scoff at a free latte from Starbucks? No teacher ever, that's who). But I've never had a student spend such time and effort to produce something that is so lovely and so connected to our class. And although this is the barn seen through the eyes of a grieving father, I see no death or war in it. I see life, work, family, and tradition.

I kind of love my job.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Thrifty Friday

The owner of my regular hair-cutting spot, Salon Moda, went east to live with her parents in Philadelphia. This left my hairstylist, Mike, salon-less. So he is, for the time being, cutting hair out of his adorable house in Evanston. I used my appointment yesterday as an excuse to have an Evanston Adventure, and it was was hugely successful.

Here's what I got for $120:

A new haircut and the promise of a photocopy of a rare J.D. Salinger chapbook of previously unpublished stories ($60 for the haircut [including tip] + nothing for the copy)

A benefit of having my haircut in Mike's house is that I got to meet his dog, Augie (cutest face since Henry) and his partner, Andrew, who's an anthropology professor at Columbia College and offered to send me a photocopy of a chapbook he'd had as required reading in college. The price, written on the cover in pencil, was $3, and the book itself was saddle stitched and apparently unauthorized. Andrew said he's going to mail me a copy of it and I cannot wait.

A vegetarian sandwich at The Cross Rhodes diner ($5.25 + tip)
The sandwich came within three minutes of me ordering it so I only got to read about five pages of my book (Life by Keith Richards [for book club]). I ate well and cheaply.

A skirt, scarf, and soccer ball throwing device (for Trevor...) at the Junior League Thrift House ($10)
 The Thrift House is across the street from Cross Rhodes, and I was compelled to stop in. I was rewarded with a great second-hand JCrew skirt ($6), a little red scarf ($2.50), and a soccer ball on a string ($.50).


A butterscotch shake from Andy's Frozen Custard ($5)
This shop and Cross Rhodes were both recommended by Mike and Andrew, and I say a hearty "Thank you" to them for the deliciousness and the three pounds I surely gained.

A paperback copy of Geek Love by Katherine Dunn from Market Fresh Books, where they literally sell books by the pound (they're $4.99 per pound, but my book was just under an lb so I got it for $4.25).
The only reason I didn't get more pounds was that I had to feed the meter (another reason to adore Evanston: they still take nickels and dimes for their parking meters! quarters, too, but I used my spare change all day and parked for less than $3 for three hours!)


Some treasures from Bookman's Alley, which is closing and selling everything at 50% off. So I got these four books ($35):
  • A first edition of Paco's Story by Larry Heinemann, who was the best professor I had during graduate school. I already have two first editions of this fantastic novel, but this copy is in immaculate condition and it was only $12.50 (after discount)
  • An early book club edition of Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger, and yes, I already have two hardcover copies (a 35th and a 37th printing) and three paperback copies, but it's one of my favorite books and it was only $12.50 (after discount)
  • A 1984 paperback copy of The End of the World News by Anthony Burgess ($3.50 after discount)
  • A first edition of The Bridesmaid by Ruth Rendell ($4 after discount)

 But my adventure wasn't over. After Trevor got home we had another suburban adventure, though this one was a bit more serious. We desperately need a new water heater (we fear that our twenty-year-old water heater will go the way of our upstairs neighbor's: splitting open and flooding our apartment [but because our neighbor has two units below her own, her heater also flooded our next-door neighbor Sarah's unit and a bit of ours]) and had made plans to venture out to Glenview and Abt Electronics to do some recon and possibly make a purchase. Within twenty minutes we had found a great deal at Abt and scheduled a delivery for new heater next Saturday.

But our purchase was so easy and quick that we had to get our money's worth out of the trip so we wandered around the store for another half hour, playing with satellite navigation units, car speakers (there were three teenagers trying out sub-woofers and I wanted whatever they were getting), stationary exercise bikes, adjustable kettlebells (I want them), and irons. It was very exciting stuff.

We eventually got hungry and left Abt for our final adventure: dinner at Red Lobster. Trevor had two gift cards to the restaurant from my Aunt Irene (two Christmases worth) so we decided to put them to good use. We ate our fill of cheddar bay biscuits (OMG they're good and each tastes like it's make with five sticks of butter), rainbow trout (Trevor) and king crab legs (me and Trevor). And all of it only cost us $26 (with tip). Trevor documented some of our dinner experience.

Waiting for our table

Lobster beer

Lobster powder

So this dinner put me over the $100 mark for the whole day, but it kept me under $120.

And it was all worth it.