Esoteric reading for this week: Escrivania by Jesús Sepúlveda. Although I am not terribly impressed with this particular collection it is inspiring just by existing and by being complex. Someone had the ideas for it went so far as to polish them. And poetry is deep, and although classes have started I vow to make time to continue reading non school related poetry, poetry that is not famous, the way some people make time for church.
Utter relaxation reading, really easy reading, can be a mind expanding activity, too. I have been reading James Lee Burke’s crime novel Last Car to Elysian Fields, set in New Orleans and in the south Louisiana countryside, both of which Burke evokes without ringing false notes. It is difficult to do this since many necessary stock characters and settings have been so overlaid by now with hackneyed stereotypes that it is not easy to strike them truly. His character Dave Robichaux is dark and struggling in this story, and I appreciate this.
I have also been reading Barbara Ehrenreich’s Fear of Falling. It is very revealing and there is more in it than one could tell from the reviews I had read. It is of course now somewhat dated – it came out in 1989 – but it still explains a great deal. Had I read it when it was new I would have been less mystified than I have been these twenty years.
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Lagniappe on culture: I tried to become current by seeing 3:10 to Yuma on DVD. It took a very long time to realize that the reason the film did not fit the reviews was that it was the 1957 original.
I am now a member of Netflix, which has sent me the excellent Hable con ella, and this semester I am also the faculty advisor of a student film group. I will be seeing more movies than I can even blog about and my life is structured such that I will not fail in this resolution.
The resolution on recreational reading, however, is essential. I have added new resolutions to my list, to play more records and burn more candles. In the spirit of both, here is a clip from Hable con ella in which Caetano Veloso sings Cucurrucucu Paloma. It is divine.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
Wow. I loved that movie . The atmosphere, captured in that song. Now I’m sitting here in cold Seattle wishing I were in Spain.
I loved it, too. And I’m sitting here in cold Louisiana wishing I were in northern Brazil or Peru! 😉
I think you know I’m a James Lee Burke junkie. Though it’s a tad embarrassing on some level, I’m pretty sure he’s one of the main reasons (if not THE main reason) I wanted to move to Louisiana so badly. I felt as if I had been dreaming in Louisianne settings for years before I got here. I just finished a new collection of short stories by him and I swear, I think he just gets better and better. One of my fondest wishes is to have a fried oyster po’boy and a big sweet tea with him. :^)
You know, I think he would be up for that.