tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-199416992024-03-14T11:40:10.213-05:00Stephanie LandStephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.comBlogger118125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-41147998836104744192011-01-08T12:00:00.004-06:002011-01-08T12:13:47.097-06:00Books I Read in 2010In no particular order...<br /><ul><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Random Family</span> by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">The Birth of Venus</span> by Sarah Dunant</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Divisadero</span> by Michael Ondaatje<br /></li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo</span> by Stieg Larsson</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">The Girl Who Played With Fire</span> by Stieg Larsson</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">The Big Short</span> by Michael Lewis</li></ul>I'm currently enjoying <span style="font-style: italic;">Waking the Dead</span> by Scott Spencer.<br /><br />Thanks for asking, Ciaran. It made me get my act together.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-77399195806639441842011-01-08T11:46:00.002-06:002011-01-08T11:56:55.736-06:00Books I Read in 2009: A Resurrection and a Partial ListAhem ... let's do the civilized thing and ignore the great gaping gap between blog posts, shall we? Moving on, I believe we have some business to attend to.<br /><br /><ul><li><span style="font-style: italic;">One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding</span> by Rebecca Mead</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">The Emperor's Children</span> by Claire Messud</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows</span> by J.K. Rowling</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Sharp Objects</span> by Gillian Flynn</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Dark Places</span> by Gillian Flynn</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">East of Eden</span> by John Steinbeck<br /></li></ul>Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-84563498505405632312009-01-08T20:43:00.010-06:002009-01-10T17:34:59.237-06:00Books I Read in 2008<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amazon.com/Looming-Tower-Al-Qaeda-Road-11/dp/037541486X"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJlF0cpBIeQ9lYqgST0DupOvyTwwBjKjx6v5z09lHWNquDNnr0UaEVAzrYK42IL3GbaoEb4Yrhdllsf8y1gmLZATHS65P5xH2WQ_0vX-Dog5q_VIqnPoQQ0QO_B1M1M218n21/s320/LoomingTower.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289128678513791346" border="0" /></a><br />It's been a while, but I can't forgo the annual reading list.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Books I Finished:</span><br />1. <span style="font-style: italic;">The English Patient</span> by Michael Ondaatje<br />2.<span style="font-style: italic;"> Middlesex</span> by Jeffrey Eugenides<br />3. <span style="font-style: italic;">East of Eden</span> by John Steinbeck<br />4. <span style="font-style: italic;">Brief Encounters with Che Guevara</span> by Ben Fountain<br />5. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11</span> by Lawrence Wright<br /><br />It's a shamefully paltry list, to be sure. I hadn't realized it would be so short. What it lacks in quantity, though, it makes up for in quality. Fabulous books all! If you read no other book this year, you should read <span style="font-style: italic;">The Looming Tower</span>. It's a masterpiece.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Books I Started:</span><br />1. <span style="font-style: italic;">Friday Night Lights </span>by Buzz Bissinger<br />2. <span style="font-style: italic;">A Fine Balance</span> by Rohinton Mistry<br />3. <span style="font-style: italic;">Tortilla Curtain</span> by T. Coraghessan Boyle<br /><br />I liked the first two of these. I just couldn't make it through all the football in the first and all the pages in the second.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-24448691527075477882008-09-12T23:39:00.006-05:002008-09-13T00:00:22.725-05:00McCain Gets What He Deserves on The ViewPerhaps McCain and Palin <span style="font-style: italic;">have</span> brought out the best in women after all. The ladies of <span style="font-style: italic;">The View</span> gave the straight-talking "maverick" a little more straight talk than he could handle today. I sensed genuine outrage at being underestimated as a gender. McCain's hosts seemed insulted that he would even offer Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a legitimate alternative to Hillary Clinton. Not even the famously conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck seemed willing to come to the senator's aid.<br /><br />One thing they failed to mention: You are where you are because of the "Old Boy Network," John McCain. You'd do well to remember that.<br /><p></p><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MCkgtisIz5A&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MCkgtisIz5A&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-22229941110045442762008-08-22T07:52:00.002-05:002008-08-22T07:57:48.127-05:00The State of JournalismHOT JOB!<br /><br />The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries needs an associate editor for their association magazine. The position pays $45K to $50K. See journalismjobs.com for more info. It's one of the few jobs posted.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-54205246614458417922008-07-30T19:33:00.004-05:002008-07-30T21:46:42.746-05:00On the ReboundIt's a rare and wondrous thing to remember the moment you fell in love. I knew Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon would forever hold my heart mere seconds into <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_More,_with_Feeling_%28Buffy_episode%29">Season 6, Episode 7 of his cult hit, otherwise known as Buffy, the musical episode</a>. It was the beginning of a torrid affair that ended in a long, <a href="http://www.darkhorse.com/Zones/Buffy">not-so-final goodbye</a> and, of course, the purchase of the seven-season DVD box set by as true and generous a friend as any Scooby, who bequeathed said treasure to me. <br /><br />And now, behold <a href="http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=39532032"><span style="font-style: italic;">Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog</span></a>, from who else but the master of fun himself and starring Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day, and Nathan Fillion. "All this talent got together in the midst of last year's Hollywood writer's strike specifically to produce something for the Web," according to an <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92678153">NPR All Things Considered story</a>. "They had no idea whether the project would be a success."<br /><br />I watched it today. I've fallen in love all over again.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-45259238509293975592008-06-06T09:24:00.004-05:002008-06-06T09:46:47.568-05:00Wonderful World of MarylandDude. I'm in a coffee shop in Annapolis, Md., and just saw a guy in full Revolutionary War dress (complete with brass buttons, gold tassels, and ribbon securing a gray ponytail) zoom past on a Segway. Bizarro.<br /><br />Correction 10:40 a.m.: Actually, in the interest of honest reporting, he's not zooming at all. I thought he might at any moment, but instead he continues to loiter outside, flirting with women and talking on his cell phone. OH! There he goes zooming at last.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-90410842349184240812008-01-31T21:39:00.000-06:002008-02-02T12:12:46.210-06:00Things I Kind of Love<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://rosaloves.com/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmI2f3BZkArQaW16FWLn4pJl6XsXeky_D1SSgpa-uepL2K3jUtpH_AV6djEj97_q0hcdnHv-wAfZ6WiOMrCMadEoWJ2eazcfwGS9PkB-IjnFZ67UQ8Cpmc-x3-yDjfLhG5IrwW/s320/rosaloves.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5161858772722982882" border="0" /></a><br />I was perusing <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.goodmagazine.com/">Good</a> magazine today, theoretically doing "research" for a story on steak (hard-hitting, I know), when I stumbled upon a service piece about T-shirts, which I tell myself I read because Steve has a T-shirt collection, not because I dig front-of-the-book fluff. They featured eight "T-shirts that make a difference."<br /><br />The shirt from a company called <a href="http://rosaloves.com/goods">Rosa Loves</a> caught my eye because it was both affordable ($25) and cute. When I went to the Web site, I fell in love with Rosa myself. The company offers limited edition shirts that support different causes (and by causes, I mean people, like <a href="http://rosaloves.com/stories/view/8">the Sharkar family</a> in rural Bangladesh who live in extreme poverty. "Mr. Girendro Sharkar lived with a growing tumor on his throat," the site says. "He fought this illness until he could no longer eat, drink or speak. Mr. Sharkar passed away leaving behind his wife and five young children in their thatch house with walls patched with newspaper and magazine pages." Rosa Loves stops selling the shirt once enough money is raised for each "cause." Find out more <a href="http://rosaloves.com/pages/info">here.</a><br /><br /><br />And I read about <a href="http://kiva.org/">kiva.org</a>, a microlending site, in <a href="http://www.dominomag.com/">Domino</a>. You can buy a gift card for a friend and simultaneously help someone in a third-world country start a business. Once the loan is repaid, the friend can lend the money to help someone else or cash out. I love that idea too.<br /><br />Here's another, and then I'll stop (I'm getting on my own nerves): <a href="http://www.heifer.org/">Heifer International</a>. Give the gift of a beast of burden. I mean, who doesn't want a <a href="http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.2663611/">water buffalo?</a> And at $250, it sounds like a steal.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-78381390760524601352008-01-06T19:26:00.000-06:002008-01-07T11:26:44.435-06:002007 Book ListThis is the yearly roundup to the best of my recollection. I clearly started more books than I finished. I went through a non-commital phase, but I will find my way back to many of the lovely novels I started but failed to finish. Others (like Don Delillo's <span style="font-style: italic;">The Names</span>) I gave up on two-thirds of the way through and have washed my hands of entirely. Despite the paltry list, this was fun. Shout out to Ciaran who lit a fire under my ass. Happy reading!<br /><br />Books I read in 2007:<br /><br />1. Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk<br />2. The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier<br />3. The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany<br />4. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson<br />5. Tex & Sugar: A Big City Kitty Ditty by Barbara Johansen Newman<br />6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling<br />7. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /></span>Books I started but didn't finish:<br /><br />1. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri<br />2. God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens<br />3. A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve<br />4. The Best American Travel Writing 2006 edited by Tim Cahill<br />5. The Names by Don Delillo<br />6. Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik<br />7. In the Eye of the Sun by Ahdaf Soueif<br />8. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides<br />9. Snow by Orhan Pamuk<br />10. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss<br /><br />Books I listened to on CD:<br />1. The City of Fallen Angels by John Berendt<br />2. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini<br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-38287724327082346092007-09-18T22:08:00.000-05:002007-09-18T22:13:56.659-05:00LunchI've started eating my lunch on the concrete banks of the Ohio River in downtown Evansville. Every day it makes me sad and every day I come back. I don't know why this particular kind of solitude makes me lonely. Maybe it's the ripples on the whole surface of the water reminding me that change is inevitable, that everything is in flux always and that the only thing you can hope to know for certain is yourself - and only if you're very lucky.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-79579000133499579632007-07-10T20:16:00.000-05:002007-07-15T16:23:02.589-05:00Call me Shakespeare<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.evansvilleliving.com/currentissue/july2007/feature2.html"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-O19EJtfNdkQcf06GzCADGRH3qSpIdHeCBvn8TQE71qA4UjfKjnaKfnESULhUpLRUyBWPrvUyuk1vcIaM_6oiZxRBHZzKwcy8-_EHum8Jw2Ksej0odqv9UFTRnCE6MzcbkbCM/s320/grafe.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5085743429978490050" border="0" /></a>Or not. The hits keep coming, though. Here's <a href="http://www.evansvilleliving.com/currentissue/july2007/feature2.html">something else to read</a>, if you are interested. It goes without saying that the FULL article is not available online, right? Check <a href="http://www.evansvilleliving.com/currentissue/july2007/feature3.html">this one</a> out too.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-12626963053254785482007-06-23T09:11:00.001-05:002007-06-23T09:26:31.715-05:00Cover StoryCheck it out if you're interested. Also, Mr. McBride (not you Trent, your dad), now you know <span style="font-style: italic;">two </span>professional writers.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.evansvillebusiness.com/"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP1_NWarVjMfgWsE94MA9QM9DO33hPXT3C_BNzWqk1CytnOs_Hirov2BJS0Fk0svRprDod9AyOsIunJFrczj0HBLVS8jnFAx8rNsw-PZTC4XJ_b0z-8h75_MQR8q8SuTN5sK5K/s320/csiphoto.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5079263921009211474" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.evansvillebusiness.com/"><br /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.evansvillebusiness.com/"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRljy5Ifm80ubJNiJ-HcVPnRrywIS5yA9rD9WuJ5G4XZ9jQsuahYz4LkPQCv2OzrQh1SItSRbl_LZkTDhZOBRdoy6m_kPRMpvVZdigPMkIWh600EnIvfoXdfNnZDXffew30RfE/s320/csiphoto2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5079264101397837922" border="0" /></a>Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-79484185895391249112007-06-03T22:30:00.000-05:002007-06-03T23:06:57.035-05:00Get that pencil out of your ear!Who is Elizabeth Weil, and why didn't I write <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/magazine/03kindergarten-t.html?pagewanted=6&ref=magazine">this story</a>, "When should a kid start kindergarten?," which appeared in today's <span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times Magazine</span>? It's a nuanced look at the effects of starting kindergarten late (being oldest kid in class) vs. early (being the youngest), education reform which is turning kindergarten into the new first grade and the gap created by socioeconomic status even at this early age...and how that gap could be about to get a lot worse.<br /><br />Here's the cutline:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">States want children to be a year older when they enter school. This could lead to better test scores — and more inequality.</span><br /><br />Read it and weep.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-34949600871755466922007-05-22T21:38:00.000-05:002007-05-22T21:40:46.599-05:00On WritingThis sums it up quite nicely, I think.<br /><br />"There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein." - Red SmithStephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-45306461647116062242007-04-30T21:31:00.000-05:002007-05-01T00:34:47.170-05:00Transcontinental call from Cairo to CairoI spoke to Steve on the phone today. He is in Cairo, Egypt, not to be confused with Cairo (pronounced like the syrup), the hamlet in which I am presently residing. It was one of our first telephone conversations using an international calling card to the Middle East, otherwise known as the bain of my existence. The conversation went something like this:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Him:</span> mumble, mumble, mmm, hmmmm?<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me:</span> What?<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Him:</span> MUMBLE, MUMBLE, mmmmmmm, hmmmmmm?<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me:</span> WHAT? I can't hear you. Are you talking into the phone mic? You have to talk into the mic!<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Him:</span> What. Else. Is. Going. On. Anything?<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me:</span> Oh. Nothing, really.<br /><br />It was mostly a series of exchanges like this one. Excellent.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-36246267881907474192007-04-26T23:57:00.000-05:002007-04-27T01:27:56.920-05:00Truth Be ToldI'm still working on my CSI-Effect story. I watched yet another episode today, and I will watch another before I go to bed. Truth be told, I kind of hate the show - the no-nonsense attitudes of the science nerd characters, the not-so-subtle theme that "Science is God" (when really we all know that the one true God is "the WORD." I believe the ancient philosophers and the early Christians called it LOGOS, hello?), the outrageous scenarios (although the CSIs did solve a murder in the last episode by matching a type of honey, which they referred to as the "purest of all honeys" to some honey at a crime scene. I thought it was great because I used to know the Arabic word for that honey). All that said, though, the show is strangely addictive. Can anyone explain this to me?<br /><br />And in other news, after <a href="http://stephanie-land.blogspot.com/2007/03/shouting-into-void.html">a traumatizing hiatus</a>, <a href="http://www.thecompanybitch.blogspot.com/">our Bitch is back</a>. For real this time.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-39946413623688277032007-04-14T12:18:00.000-05:002007-04-14T13:33:43.437-05:00What's your useless talent?In D.C. last summer I was bored and bitter (hey! you would be too if you had to live in a perpetual state of bad hair horror. step off.), but really did enjoy living with the girls. In our post-newsroom evening conversations we managed to cover a lot - the stinkiness of our living room, the filth of our landlady's basement abode, the conspiracy of the downward-creeping thermostat. During one of our chats I posed this question: What's your useless talent? I bring this up now because I just realized what my TRUE useless talent is:<br /><br />I can identify by name (common not scientific) the names of many plants and flowers and trees that I have no business knowing the names of, being a person with a decidedly brown thumb.<br /><br />My roommate K. says she has a talent for being an exceptional party guest, and N. extolls her ability to catch random objects when thrown in her general direction.<br /><br />LD did not live with us, but I asked her anyway.... she is a fashion afficionado, apparently. She does the same thing that I do with plants with fashion designers and clothing.<br /><br />I didn't ask Allison, but I'm going to speak for her. She can hear a rap song once and know all the words thereafter. Inexplicable. She does the same with numbers - phone numbers, social security numbers, house numbers, you name it.<br /><br />As for my other two D.C. roommates, well, they never did commit. Our stoic M-dawg momentarily considered this frivolous inquiry, and then, matter-of-fact and without a hint of humor said, "I don't have one. All my talents are useful." <br /><br />I thought her response lacked creativity.<br /><br />She is now living in Tokyo with a great job reporting for a well-known American media outlet.<br /><br />Sigh...it's just not a world for the creative or the uselessly talented.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-11782666917152563762007-03-15T21:37:00.000-05:002007-03-15T23:34:12.142-05:00A Deaf EarAnd...<a href="http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4294">this today in the American Journalism Review</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>Which leads to a wrenching dilemma: News organizations clearly need to build up their online offerings, big-time. But if they bleed the old-school core product in the process, that can cause problems both editorial and economic. <p> </p><p> Robert Allbritton, who launched the much-ballyhooed Politico, made an interesting point when explaining why he was starting up a newspaper as well as a Web operation. The Internet, he told Kathy Kiely for her <a href="http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4265">piece in AJR</a>, is "the future." He added, "It's not here yet." </p><p> </p><p> The key issue is not, as they say, the platform. It's the journalism. There's no reason why the Walter Reed exposé had to run on paper. True confession: I read most of it online. </p><p> </p><p> What matters is that however the field evolves, however the news is delivered, there are the resources and the will to do the kind of journalism that makes a difference.</p></blockquote><p> </p>It's what some of us (both students and faculty) have been telling administrators since this new 2020 rhetoric was first rolled out. If you have no idea what I'm talking about and want to know more (or are yourself a trouble-maker and need a new crusade), there's <a href="http://www.cjr.org/issues/2006/4/schulman.asp">this</a>, <a href="http://blog.weatherland.com/index.php?paged=2">this</a> and <a href="http://blog.weatherland.com/?p=118">this</a>. Oh and <a href="http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=6cf30c91-9b51-456e-aa38-e7acf8429a0b">this</a>, in case you missed it yesterday.<br /><br />At a March 2 meeting with students (and at least one alumna) in the D.C. newsroom, Lavine promised to have the new curriculum available sometime in April. An inquisitive reporter (guess who) asked where it would be posted, and he said, "We'll get it to you." So we shall see...but I'm not going to hold my breath. And while we're on the point, it seems shocking to me that there is finally a <span style="font-style: italic;">new</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">curriculum</span> when incoming students have been required to spend hundreds of dollars on computers and iPods and video cameras for the last two quarters at least!<br /><br />Loka Ashwood's article (which I have linked to above) touches on some of the larger issues that alumni, students and, yes, many faculty have with the new Medill, but she doesn't address many of the scary particulars. The irony here is that no one (including myself) has written the whole story.<br /><br />To sum it all up, though, I'll use the words a RECRUITER said to a classmate of mine: "It looks like you're getting out at the right time." Amen brother.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-89488830937753424582007-03-14T23:13:00.000-05:002007-03-15T22:08:38.427-05:00Ramsey the GreatLadies. <a href="http://www.blog.tesdell.org/?p=447">Meet Ramsey and his roommate Ed.</a> Apparently they visited Wadi Rum recently. As I am very busy missing Jordan these days, I've decided that this is my favorite short film of the year.<br /><br />Ramsey and I worked together at the Jordan Times. Ed and I shared one conversation about teaching school.<br /><br />I'll just tell you that I'm very jealous Ramsey can put something like this together. It's interesting to note that he's headed to j-school after his jaunt abroad and has decided not to be a lab rat in <a href="http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=6cf30c91-9b51-456e-aa38-e7acf8429a0b">the Dean Lavine experiment</a>. Smart boy.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-51844880265762588972007-03-13T18:01:00.000-05:002007-03-13T18:34:30.479-05:00SHOUTING INTO THE VOID!Freak out! The Company Bitch (my favorite anonymous blogger) is gone! To whom shall I turn henceforward for hilarious stories of workplace <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">hijinx</span> and domestic dysfunction? Tell me that, will you? How shall I proceed with my online <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">procrastinatory</span> regimen without Re-Boyfriend and the Company Bitch? <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Vae</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">mihi</span>, my friends, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">vae</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">mihi</span>!<br /><br />The worst part of the whole shocking turn of events is that she is not <span style="font-style: italic;">entirely</span> gone...some people can still read her blog. C. has made it viewable by invitation only, which is really, actually worse than disappearing altogether, I think. <br /><br />Except, unless, I can get myself invited...and this little scheme has been the recipient of far too much brain power even at this early date.<br /><br />Any ideas, though?<br /><br />Seriously.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-1170404582020093662007-02-02T01:53:00.000-06:002007-02-02T02:23:02.033-06:00Why I'm a FEMINIST in 200 words or lessI'm busy tonight with the posts, I know, but I can't sleep. My friend Cheryl at the Jordan Times posted <a href="http://cherylsaid.blogspot.com/2007/01/sad-reality.html">this poorly written story</a> on her blog, and it's just infuriating (the story, not the post). My favorite part is this:<br /><br /><em><blockquote>Police found the girl almost two weeks ago and handed her over to her parents after undergoing a virginity examination by government physicians, the source said. The examination showed the victim was not involved in any sexual activity, the source added. </blockquote></em>A virginity test by government physicians?!? It's bad enough that we live in a world where a father kills his daughter to protect family honor, but that's only compounded by the "virginity examination" administered by the GOVERNMENT!!! The crime itself is almost legitimized by the exam, not to mention the reporter's decision to include the results in her story, as if to say the 17-year-old victim didn't deserve to be shot in the head four times ONLY because her hymen was still intact. <br /><br />Women's lib Middle East style? Sorry. I think we can ALL do better.<br /><em><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></em>Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-1170402192348358762007-02-02T01:37:00.000-06:002007-02-02T01:43:12.360-06:00LOL FunnyHey! I'm funny too! Not <a href="http://gawker.com/news/unethicist/the-unethicist-i-see-ugly-people-218930.php">this</a> funny, though. Check it out.<br /><br />I. Love. It. You might too.<br /><br />N.B. (LD, skip letter numero deux. You'll think it's mean, which it is. But funny.)Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-1170220464872849412007-01-30T22:48:00.000-06:002007-01-31T01:28:05.973-06:00As Time Goes By<a href="http://thecuckoonest.blogspot.com/2007/01/my-friend-stephanie-hates-clichs.html">The Cuckoo's Nest has this to say</a> about the difficulties of going out in the world and coming home again. I love it, and not JUST because my charming friend leads with a story about me, rather because she perfectly captures what I've been feeling these last weeks, and does so with humor and grace.<br /><br />It's true. I do hate clichés. It's also true that I won't watch Casablanca because of this (peculiar?) aversion. I tried to watch once, but I just couldn't take it seriously. I mean, "Here's looking at you, kid." Honestly, who <span style="font-style: italic;">says</span> that?!?<br /><br />I felt a similar incredulity when I returned from Jordan. The top news stories in the U.S. were whether Donald Trump would fire Miss USA and whether rescuers would find three missing climbers on Mt. Hood. Meanwhile in the Middle East (where I had been less than 24 hours before), Gaza seemed on the brink of civil war in a bloody clash that still continues. <span style="font-style: italic;">Really? </span>I thought. <span style="font-style: italic;">Seriously?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">It's ironic that all the things we love about home - the safety, the security, the familiarity - seem offensive after a long trip abroad. T</span>he sameness is jarring, as if all of it - the traveling, the learning, the growing - had never happened at all, as if you'd never left home.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">But, I did, and I've tried to incorporate part of my journey into my life here. I tried smoking both of the arigilleh I brought home (one for my dad and one for me), I bought a Turkish coffee pot and tried to brew three tiny cups of the sludgy beverage, I spoke Arabic to an Indian clerk at an international grocery store...That all of my efforts have failed miserably <span style="font-style: italic;">feels</span> poetic. As LD said, "It's hard to hold on to your journey."<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;">So. How DO you hold on to what you know matters and not get swept away in the vast selection of soaps at the supermarket, for instance?<br /><br />I haven't figured that out yet.<br /><br />Recognizing the ways that home is the same is, of course, only possible by the act of going away and coming back again. They stand out in relief only because you have seen something else, just as I am only annoyed by the </span>clichés<span style="font-family:georgia;"> in Casablanca because I've heard them all before. I know I should just appreciate the movie for what it was in it's own time, but it's easier said than done. <br /><br />A famous Italian novelist disagrees with me (as do hundreds of thousands - I refuse to acknowledge there might be millions - of Casablanca fans, no doubt) . He says:<br /><br /></span><blockquote>Two clichés make us laugh but a hundred clichés move us. For we sense dimly that the clichés are talking among themselves, celebrating a reunion. Just as the extreme of pain meets sensual pleasure, and the extreme of perversion borders on mystical energy, so too the extreme of banality allows us to catch a glimpse of the Sublime.<br /><br /></blockquote>There's something to that, I'm sure of it. Anyway, who am I to argue with Umberto Eco?Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-1168576750701014042007-01-11T22:15:00.000-06:002007-01-11T22:39:10.716-06:002006 Reading ListHere's my annual list of books read this year. I'm a little late with this, but I've been out of town. Also, I moved three times in 2006, and I just found the list I started in Chicago last January. I may have left some off, but it's as accurate as possible. Like I said, it's been a hectic year.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Books I read in 2006:</span><br />1. All the Shah's Men by Stephen Kinzer<br />2. Brown's Chicken Massacre by Maurice Possley<br />3. Horseplayers by Ted McClelland<br />4. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote<br />5. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter<br />6. When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant<br />7. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene<br />8. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini<br />9. The Zahir by Paulo Coehlo<br />10. The Red Tent by Anita Diamont<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Books I started but didn't finish:</span><br />1. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kiss-Maddalena-Christopher-Castellani/dp/0752864130/sr=8-2/qid=1168575896/ref=sr_1_2/104-9988175-9507102?ie=UTF8&s=books"><span class="srTitle"></span></a>A Kiss from Maddalena by Christopher Castellani<br />2. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov<br />3. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls<br />4. The Washingtonienne by Jessica Cutler<br />5. Thebes at War by Naguib Mahfouz<br /><br />I won't be making predictions this year, because <a href="http://stephanie-land.blogspot.com/2006/01/listing-and-prophesying.html">you can see how well that went last year.</a> I didn't read any of the books I thought I would. Who knows where this year will take me - on the literary front and otherwise? Anything is possible.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19941699.post-1166825814483067072006-12-22T15:55:00.000-06:002006-12-22T16:16:54.493-06:00"Two out of three ain't bad"There are three things I love: NPR's This American Life, iTunes, Shalom Auslander and Muslims. Okay, four. I just listened to episode #322 Shouting Across the Divide of This American Life, courtesy of iTunes (download it there immediately for free!), and I cannot recommend it enough. Part I talks about a sculpture of Mohammad in the U.S. Supreme Court building. Part II will make you want to scream and gnarl and shake your fists in anger. But, Part III is a hilarious, insightful, intelligent discourse on racism by Shalom Auslander, whom you may remember from <a href="http://stephanie-land.blogspot.com/2006/01/blessed-be.html">this post</a>. I love his deadpan humor. Seriously. Download it.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11155365395320711505noreply@blogger.com0