Reasonably So

PUBLIC APOLOGY: I am sorry I forced you to look at Quasimodo constantly for the last week and a half.

My eye is better (my cough is not). I turned in my final thesis on Tuesday, so you can only imagine the kind of things I’ve been doing for the past thirteen days. It’s not the past days I’m concerned about so much as those to come. I don’t even know what to do with three free hours right now, let alone the rest of my life.

In order to fill up some of those new hours, I picked up a book at the library yesterday. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night. I picked it up because of the following quotation from an essay by David Hare “…on factual theatre.”

In a famous letter to the novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway expressed reservations about his friend’s great masterpiece Tender is the Night. Scott, Hemingway said, had taken elements of his own relationship with his wife Zelda, he had added in events which had befallen their mutual friends, Gerald and Sara Murphy, and then he had laid on top of this factual mélange a third layer, this time of pure invention. This was, Hemingway said, no way to write, because the reader was distracted by the question of what was real and what was not. In his reply, Fitzgerald pointed out that this was, actually, one of the means by which writers of fiction had always operated. Elizabethan dramatists, including Shakespeare, had regarded it as normal artfully to mix facts about people who had really existed with what these same people inspired in the author’s imagination. Hemingway had the perfect right to doubt Scott’s success with what he called ‘composite characters.’ What he had no right to do was question the method itself.

Hare goes on to discuss documentary theatre as a form, based on his own experiences:

Never for a moment has it occurred to me that such works, using verbatim dialogue, organized, arranged and orchestrated with proper thematic care should involve less labour, skill, or creative imagination than those dreamt up in the privacy of a study.

I bet you assumed I only thought about chicken wings, ice cream, and arts and crafts! Au contraire, mon frère! I wrote that whole damn thesis about documentary theatre, and although I have never wanted to think less about it, I am choosing to read Tender is the Night because of it. I didn’t actually include any part of David Hare’s essay in my thesis, but I found it fascinating. Even in my post-thesis mayhem, I am extending my study. CREEPY, right? Definitely didn’t think I’d be into that, but then I think about how much I like to think and learn, so why should I stop?

As I dive into this book (slowly… I dozed off after 5 pages yesterday), I look forward to being transported into another world. I look forward to immersing myself in that world and swimming around in it, but then getting out of it and thinking about the structure Fitzgerald created, and the amount to which it bothers or intrigues me that the characters are composites or the events are dreamed up. In short, I’m reading for the excitement of reading, but I’m also going to have a little book club with myself about my reading.

Maybe that’s just a way to fill up the time, but I feel pretty good about it.

——————-

Work Cited:

Hare, David. “…on factual theatre,” Resource Material. Talking to Terrorists.

By Robin Soans. London: Oberon Books Ltd., 2005. 111-113.

I feel you, brother. My nagging cough, sore throat, and clogged sinuses seem to have given my right eye their blessing to join the goddamn club. I, too, am wonky-eyed.

It’s that curse that I have (you might have it, too) that the minute I accomplish much hard work, my body says “OK, I QUIT” and gets sick. This time it started with feeling a little crappy, I was thinking “this feels like I might get sick.” So I upped my fluid intake, but still woke up the next day with a sore throat and feeling a little stuffy. Long story short, I am sick, and yesterday I’m puttering about my business when I notice oozing from my eyeball. OOZING FROM MY EYEBALL. (more…)

(more…)

I am a Red Sox fan. I have a hat, and a keychain bottle opener. I am also, however, an inconsistent fan. If you were a bully, you might call me a fair-weather-friend of the Sox because I only watch the post-season, but you would be wrong (sort of).

I only watch during the post-season because for the past two years, I have lived in two houses with no televisions and one apartment with a television but no cable. No cable means no NESN. No NESN means no regular season games (at least very few). The post-season is on network television, so it’s all I get. Even tomorrow’s game is on NESN. The opener? Really? Thanks, guys. However, I wouldn’t watch it anyway. NOT because I don’t want to, but because I just can’t think about baseball until after April 22nd (MY SHIT IS DUE IN TWO WEEKS??!?!!!!). And even then, I still won’t have a TV and cable until July at the earliest (even that is still up for debate…).

All that said, I’m going to be a real grown-up soon, and being a real grown-up means that if I don’t pick up some consistent hobbies, I will be subject to a swift kick in the head by Boredom. Grown-ups like baseball, right? Or do they only like to listen to smooth jazz and discuss nature documentaries while sipping on a glass of rosé. It will be more likely that I will watch the Sox with wing sauce all over my face and a cold mug of beer in my paw. Maybe being a grown-up isn’t so scary after all.

Another future craft! Depending on how well (if at all) you know me, you may have heard that, come July, my man and I will be moving into a new apartment. For the first time in years, I will be able to settle someplace for more than a mere 8 or 9 months–for my life as a student has been that of constant motion.

(SIDENOTE. I just ate a black jelly bean by accident and took it out of my mouth half chewed and put it on the coffee table… if you didn’t know me before, now you do, huh?).

Back to the apartment. The kitchen is cute, and would be considered an “eat-in” but it has neither counter-space nor drawers. None whatsoever. Nor is there a pantry. There is an open cabinet space above the stove and sink, and the two doors under the sink that will probably house cleaning supplies, and perhaps a trashcan. Those who know me know that I love to cook a lot. So with this kitchen in mind - take my love of crafty projects and couple it with my internal desire to be anywhere besides the academic world at this present moment, and what do you get? Kitchen solutions, naturally!

(more…)

This one’s a future project: I want to make a quilt. I have a great sewing machine that I would love to use more, and I have always wanted to make myself a quilt. The opportunity couldn’t be much better - soon I’ll be going through a large life transition (or a few), and it would be nice to commemorate that.

Fellow blogger, Snedapants just recently adventured into the world of quilts and did a really fantastic job that has only fed my desires for quilt-construction. I won’t have quite the same deadline looming as Snedapants did, so I might create my own pattern. I know this will be a much more difficult task in practice than in planning, as I have no experience with this kind of thing.

Above: Snedapant’s Quilt

(more…)

I am in high-stress mode. I have three weeks until my senior thesis work is due. THREE WEEKS. And only TWO DAYS until the performance I’ve been producing/directing happens. My back is in knots, I am weary no matter how much sleep I get, and my capability to speak in full sentences is incredibly diminished. BUT, for your sake and mine, I am trying to relax. I’ll tell you how.

1) Wednesday night, I will be getting a 1-hour massage. Hopefully that will reduce my physically manifested stress by a LOT.

2) I’m also trying to think of comforting things in general. I’m going to take you to one of my happy places…

We are sitting on the couch in our favorite comfortable clothes. We are drinking cold beers. Maybe a Red Hook ESB or Brooklyn Pennant Ale ‘55. (If you’d rather hold a cup of tea or water, that’s fine, too).

(more…)

I have spent a lot of the past few weeks thinking about arts and crafts projects that I’ll be starting once I’m finished all my schoolwork. My inspiration has come from several places. One of the projects, I have actually completed!

I like this idea of multi-post-topics, it’s working for my hectic schedule. SO we’ll have another short series! It may be inter-cut by other posts… I’m still trying to get the hang of patterns of blogging. You may have noticed some of the recent changes to the blog– new header picture, author picture, organization of widgets in the left-hand column, and also more logical use of ‘categories’ and ‘tags’ (because I didn’t understand the difference until recently). Feel free to offer comments that may aid in ease of navigation of Reasonably So!

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, check out what I made!!

(more…)

I believe there’s a general consensus that the book versions of things are better than the movie versions. I certainly agree, but this is a pretty good interpretation of one of my favorite books. You’ve heard of this one: Norton Juster’s The Dot and the Line. It’s not only the origin of this blog’s name, but it helps me live my life, in a way. Cheesy? Sure. Useful for me? Absolutely. I wanted to share and let it speak for itself.

Let me know what you think.

Hungry Mother. HUNGRY MOTHER.

Alon and Rachel Munzer, have stepped expertly and gracefully from Mom & Pop breakfast/lunch gem, the original Rachel’s Kitchen (RIP), to comfy chic full service bar and dinner. And they are no fools… they’ve got a great team, and they really know how to make earth tones and minimalism work in their favor.

Barry Maiden, a Virginian well-schooled in French cuisine, is a genius for the following three reasons.

1. I worshiped the Roasted Chicken with Sweet Potato Spoonbread and Red-Eye Gravy Jus (I am salivating just from typing that)

2. My hungry mother (seriously, she was there) was blissfully sated by the Cornmeal Catfish with Collard Greens, Cauliflower Grenobloise and Mustard Vinaigrette and…

3. My man gobbled up the Bourbon Braised Pork Shoulder with Creamy Grits.

For all three of us: Love at first bite. And second. And third. Barry-Maiden-Love is cooked into every bite.

John Kessen (I believe he’s manager? Correct me if I’m wrong) may have been nervous on opening night, but his comfortable chit chat and winning smile made us feel quite at ease.

All-in-all, it was a dining experience worth noting: From the familiar-Rachel’s-Kitchen-friendly smiles to the mouthwatering treats to the cookbook pages from “The Virginia Housewife” on the bathroom walls to way-reasonable pricing considering the caliber of the food to the excellent draught selection to the Ball Jar drinking glasses to the cast-iron skillet on the wall.

Good work, Hungry Mother. I am thrilled about our future together.