miller's crossing

I watched some curling last night in Seattle. It's a rather comical combination of graceful gliding, manic sweeping and a good deal of standing around. It's a game a woman or man can play competitively well into her or his sunset years -- finesse and strategy being more important than strength and speed. It's also a sport that you can watch while drinking cocktails. ... Not a bad night out I'd say.

Worked in the gardening today. We planted some starts and some seeds: beans, peas, cucumbers, zucchinis, corn, beets, onions, lettuce, spinach, cilantro, dill, wildflowers and probably other stuff I'm forgetting. It felt nice to get dirt under my fingernails.

I missed posting yesterday due to travel, visiting friends, and finally having a lovely cocktail at Zig Zag Cafe in Seattle. Murray is a visionary. He made me a Coin Toss to go with the Spanish coffee crème brûlée. Delicious. It seems the NYT would agree.

Madison activist, food critic and distinguished social provocateur Lea Zeldin died April 2, 2009. John Nichols wrote a thoughtful obituary for Lea. He knew her well. And I'm sure he, like many, many other Madisonians are feeling her loss.

I met Lea not long after moving to Madison. A woman of integrity and courage, I learned a lot from her. I haven't personally known many women as outspoken as Lea nor have I had known many elders as tirelessly committed to peace and justice. Sure, there were times when she drove you absolutely nuts, wasting your time. But the contrarian in me secretly loved her for it, and I more than once ended up questioning whether it really had been time wasted.

I will remember Lea for her energy to go out and report a story well into her late-70s. Although she never quite mastered the use of the iRiver for recording, she certainly tried to get it right. I'll remember her making risotto and telling stories of Italy. I'll remember her at the socialist potlucks, on-air at WORT and hanging around wherever there was free food. I'll remember her lending me a travel book on Tunisia and Libya, and since she'd visited both, she had recommendations on where to go. I'll remember her challenging me on my ideas about privilege. And so much more.

Thanks, Lea, for walking this earth, working to make it a better place and inspiring us with your dedication.

It's time to revive this nearly dormant site. To that end, I will post something everyday for the month of April.

I've been splitting my time between reading up on the finance industry, plowing my way through a thick pile of periodicals, and watching Dr. Who.

Two articles I recommend:

• "Infinite Debt: How Unlimited Interest Rates Destroyed the Economy," by Thomas Geoghegan, Harper's April 2009
• "The Quiet Coup," Simon Johnson, The Atlantic, May 2008

While Geoghegen, a labor lawyer, makes a few arguments in his piece that I don't feel are fully supported, I think he's really on to something linking the current financial crisis to the repeal of usury laws in the late 70s and earlier 80s. Johnson, former IMF chief economist, observes how the finance industry has "captured" our government. Read together, these articles illustrate the negative impact experienced by manufacturing and the US economy resulting from the ascension of the finance industry.

I'm gonna keep this short. So, that's it for now.

I've returned from my winter hiatus. There was snow. Lots of it. Enough to have me thinking about the nature of obstacles and my attitude towards them.

I think I'm part of a movement.

Blogger Todd Sieling's Slow Blog manifesto has recently been getting some attention. Word of it came to me via a New York Times article. (I'm such an un-networked blogger.) The article resonated. Then I googled and came across the lovely Ripple Effects blog -- another natural slow blogger. Here's what the author had to say:

It’s all about thinking through, reading and studying in depth, chewing and digesting, and finally putting something meaningful down in words.

Perhaps I'm not doing that exactly, but I do aspire to share a little bit of substance -- something of meaning. And I wish I had more time tonight to write about this. But it's the end of the semester and the night before Thanksgiving. I'll be away from my computer all weekend. And I've still got pie crusts to make.

Happy Thanksgiving!

At first, I thought it was just the time of year.

It's taken me days, maybe even weeks, to identify the particular flavor of malaise that's lingering in the fuzzy corners of my mind. It's homesickness. I can't remember ever being homesick before, but I'm sure that's what I'm feeling.

not a pet

I'm working on a story about urban crows -- ubiquitous, gregarious, loud and clever. According to University of Washington's John Marzluff, crows have culturally co-evolved with humans. We are woven into each other's lives, shaping each other's behaviors. As I think about our relationship with crows, it's interesting to reflect on what they can teach us about ourselves.

Transition to grey....

Those fall colors were nice. Now the rain will nudge the leaves to the ground and soggy piles will molder. Unlike Wisconsin, there is no looking forward to crisp winter mornings blanketed in fresh snow. There is only an increasing greying -- and greening -- of the palette to enjoy.