Despite poor picture quality (note our vampire eyes!) I am posting this. It was taken on the evening of July 3, 2012, and I am the last person on the right. The first person on the right is someone I wrote about last week. And, despite poor picture quality again, I am posting this as … More Breaking pseudonymity, again, and spreading advice for the vain.
A large part of the problem, as a local friend points out, is the abusive environment. One could, theoretically, move about as freely as one does elsewhere and enjoy local delights, but one learns that it is not so simple — unpleasantness comes when you least expect it, but often, and “just avoid it” or … More Things I do automatically when abroad, and did here before Reeducation, but have a hard time doing here now.
The TSA employees do not understand that my visceral level reasons for not going through that airport scanner that takes and keeps the equivalent of your naked photograph is not shyness about the body, but the fact that to have that photograph taken, you must stand in the prisoner of war position, hands on your … More That airport scanner
On my job interview, we went to a bar to talk and soon realized it was too loud for a business meeting. We decided to move to a diner. I stood up and my prospective department chair said, don’t waste the drinks. We picked them up and walked with them outside. In the halls of … More Vignettes from then
In Mexico, they have the Japanese embassy and you can get real Japanese food nearby. That means, economical food actual people from Japan eat on an everyday basis. I was able to feed my dormant, and benign addiction to various kinds of donburi, an addiction I sometimes try and fail to satisfy with the teriyaki … More The Tin Roof Blowdown
1. Take a whole car, by myself, do go do something at a place I could technically walk to. 2. Use hot water and air conditioning at the same time. 3. Leave lights on indoors just for the sake of “safety,” when I am not using the light. 4. Leave plugs in sockets, even when … More Things I do in the United States, but not in other countries
Today I was describing to my child, who lives in Austin, Texas, my culture shock upon returning to Maringouin. Professor Zero: It is not that Mexico is not violent, of course… Post-Louisianian One: …but Mexico does not have that Southern hostility. And that is exactly it. I flashed on a conversation with my very first … More On “Southern Hostility”
So today, I: – got up at 8:30, late – arrived to school at 9:30 – graded and wrote writing prompts until 10:30 – taught until 12:20 – conferred until 1 – had lunch while reading for a Fall class until 2 – came home and mostly thought, while also planning and making lists for … More Heute, Freitag
I have gotten quite interested in the food ideas on this blog, and I have bought a small rice cooker for the fall. I will live mostly on brown rice, CSA vegetables, and miso, with the occasional raw fish, egg, ginger root or fermented dairy product. I will avoid most groceries, and drink expensive tea. … More Pork floss and more
De la musique, pour le weekend. Este es un famoso huapango veracruzano, coming from Tepetzintla in the northern part of the state. You can see that contre la coutûme I am quite taken with Veracruz; this is not usual for me since I tend to prefer mountains over tropics. Yet there it is. Axé.
