Interesting Facts about Yams

"In yams, female plants are octoploid or hexaploid, males all tetraploid - a discrepancy that renders yams sterile."
- Matt Ridley, "The Red Queen"

"My mama loves me"
- Leroy

--Knock, knock

--Who's there?

--Dog.

--Dog who?

--Dog sitting on a banana peel.

[Courtesy of Sue Auerbach, Short Hills, NJ]

Proposed double feature

Two reccommended movies I’ve seen recently:

The cast of Portrait d’un Asssasin (France, 1949) includes Erich von Stroheim, Arletty (the freaky love-interest from Les Enfants du Paradis) and Latin bombshell Maria Montez, whose resume includes White Savage and Gypsy Wildcat. The opening could be by Camus: a motorcyclist shoots a woman he believes to be his wife because he fears his own death. The victim turns out to be a femme fatale who urges daredevils into deadly stunts, such as the impossible “double looping”. Elvis and Barbara Stanwyk remade the movie in 1964 as Roustabout.

Victimas del Pecado (Mexico, 1951) features two rival pimp/nightclub owners: one wears a zoot suit and employs Pres Prado, the King of Mambo; the other wears a white cowboy hat and has a mariachi band that follows him wherever he goes playing a mariachi train song. This may be because his club is called the La Maquina Loca, perhaps, though probably not, a reference to Witkacy’s Szalona lokomotywa. The zoot-suit pimp forces one of his girls to throw the child she had by him into the trash can. Suffering, redemption and some brilliant Afro-Cuban dancing follow.

THC Poisoning

The head of a local pot club brought in her dog to Juliana’s clinic. Apparently the poor dog was in a THC-induced coma. This seems strange to me, since I had always heard that THC is not effective when eaten raw, and dogs lack the opposable thumb necessary for smoking.

PS--I did consider the pot brownie possibility. But chocolate is more toxic to dogs than marijuana.

Sis Liked His Hair

Druid and Spartan, courtesy of Peter Norton and the St. John's alumni website

Out of Tune

Just an update on the Class of 1981 St. John's College reunion. Many people were there who had not been on the original list. I will probably forget some of the names, but I will try...
Dave Neumann (and friend)
Maggie Argent
Buffy Bowser Affsprung
Jessica Wasserman (with kids)
Lisa Cobb
Nick Kennedy
Matt Hartzel (and spouse)
Anne O'Malley Cullota (and spouse)
Warren Spector
Peter Norton
Kurt Schuler
Rachel O'Keefe (and spouse SF '82?)
Kathy Abrams (and spouse and teenagers)
Dan Van Doren
Ben Smith and Anne Kates
Honor Bulkley
Joe and Barbara Roach
us (Jim and Ellen)
I'm sure there were more but I am spacing it out.
We had a seminar on Antigone with Peter Kalkavage. It was fine.
The whole event was pretty nice, or at least I can say that everyone was very nice to me.
At the dinner the every-fifth-year classes give toasts. Anne O'Malley said a few things about how old we were, and I led an impromptu rendition of "St. John's Forever" from the back row. I had to teach Peter Norton, Kurt Schuler, Dave Neumann, and a few others the words. It seems that Evan Cantor and the members of the Spartans are the only people who realize that song lyrics are the true narrative of the human experience and should be retained. Evan was not there, so we were, perhaps as tradition demands, Out of Tune. In any event, it cannot be said that no Spartans performed.

I did not come back on Sunday morning for the "informal" memorial service for Brother Robert. A more formal service will be held in November, I believe. I will go if I can, and I assume that Warren and P. Gilbert will be there.

On the whole, I recommend attending these events, although that is easy for me to say since it is only a 30-minute drive. I personally consider the entire class of 1981 to be members of my family. Naked and mewling we came into this world, and all that.
2011?
peace,
jim

Mortality & Morbidity

Juliana has Mortality and Morbidity rounds this morning. I like it: it sounds like a 300-level Existentialism class or Jane Austen's lost goth novel.

Ice Cream for Crow

Was walking by the Gateway yesterday. A crow pecked at a stick of kulfi dropped and oozing slowly on the black asphalt. Its black beak was smeared with tan cream. I was momentarily struck frozen by the peculiar sight. As it cocked his head and eyed me defensively, "Ice Cream for Crow" ignited from memory.

I had hoped to get Back to Mono, the Phil Spector boxed set, for my birthday in 1991, but no one gave it to me and so I bought it used yesterday for $18. It has all the beloved Ronettes, Crystals and Darlene Love hits as well as obscurities like Darlene Love's version of “Chapel of Love”, “I Love How You Love Me”, covered of course on These Foolish Things, and a song a man accused of murder may regret having released, the disturbing, “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)”. The set only runs through the 60s, basically just past “River Deep, Mountain High”, so no “Imagine” and no “Rock & Roll High School.” However there is a bonus CD of the Christmas album, my vinyl copy of which diligent readers may recall was warped last Christmas.

It appears there is to be no Spartans reunion this weekend, although, as Paul Hartt would say, Maybe there should be.

These are the registered attendees from the class of ’81, pulled from the St John’s alumni website:

Paul Cree
Peter Norton
Jessica Wasserman
Daniel Van Doren
Elizabeth Bowser Affsprung
Kathy Abrams Bindert
Matthew Hartzell
Jamie Whalen
Joseph Roach
Barbara Roach
Margaret Argent
Anne Culotta
Rachel O'Keefe
Kurt Schuler
Robbyn Jackson
Warren Spector

Another day, another way.

On this day 223 years ago ...

Thinking About Brother Robert

Brother Robert was my essay advisor, and I remember how he elucidated a French term in Proust for me. When Mr. Swann first becomes involved with Odette, she is wearing a corsage of catleyas, which gets bumped in their carriage ride. Oh, he says, they’ve slipped, you’ll get pollen on your dress, here let me, and afterwards he uses the expression “faire le catleya” as a sexual euphemism. Brother Robert explained to me that the expression has a little extra spice because the catleya is a type of orchid that looks like the female pudenda, and then drew me a charming little pencil sketch.

Brother Robert did not give me much specific advice on my essay. What I remember him saying was, “This is fine. You just need to write some more.” At the time this seemed unremarkable. Now I realize he was right. I did need to write more.

Here's a hastily composed birthday poem for Tracy:

Tracy Tracy
She's our drummer
She's very fast
And even funner.

The monks’ residence was at the top of the hill, overlooking the vineyards. Peter rang the bell, and one of the brothers waved us in. “What can I do you for?” he said rather heartily. “I’ve come to visit one of the brothers here, Brother Robert” Peter said. “That rascal!” the brother said, pounding his palm with his fist. “No one is allowed to see him!”

“Oh”, said Peter. He had come by train from New Jersey.

“He died two days ago.”

Euler (again)

So what dirt was Mira able to find about the man on the ten-franc note? I work with a man whose first name is Euler. He pronounces it "Yuler", not "Oiler", perhaps because he is Phillipino.

Juliana's car was broken into right in front of our house. The thief stole her radio and left behind a Soy Jerky wrapper.

Found A Job

I'm working in the Financial Aid Office of the California Institute of Integral Studies. It offers majors in programs such as Women's Spirituality, Consciousness and Transformation and Drama Therapy. When I told my father about it, I could actually hear the sound of him shuddering over the phone.

Monsoon Flower

... the "sticky" feeling on your finger is the clutch of hundreds of tiny harpoons, each on the end of its own little thread...
- Richard Dawkins' "The Ancestor's Tale"

Arrow

Is his name because he's long and pointy.

His cry is piercing - yet pleasant.

He dives right into the heart of everything.

Sometimes it seems like he's trying to crawl up my nose.

Unemployed Reading

I've been reading "The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico" by Bernal Diaz, ca. 1557 since I have a little time on my hands while I'm looking for a job. I would call it easily as enlightening and far more entertaining than Thucydides (though that could be a translation issue).