The North End

Boston's North End is a unique part of the city. Not only is it older and more historic than areas downtown, it is also the area with the greatest concentration of Italian-Americans. The narrow, cobblestone streets are lined with Italian restaurants and pastry shops, and the Boston accents heard calling out across the streets are thicker than any others in the city.

In all my time here last semester, I never actually made it to the North End. So yesterday afternoon, Christina and I took of on a quick little adventure. Our main purpose was to go to a pastry shop. She wanted a lobster tail (very large flaky pastry filled with cream), and I had my heart set on a canoli. We hopped on the subway at Longwood Station in the nearby park and rode up to Park Street, where we had to change to a different Green Line train, because the D line trains never go far enough. We got off at Haymarket, and one block later were officially in the North End. We took the long way around to the pastry shop to get more of the North End experience. Tourists always go to Mike's Pastry, but the crowds and the prices aren't the best. So we went down the street to Modern Pastry, the shop frequented by the locals. Granted, there was a line there too, but what else would you expect in the late afternoon on a Saturday? I didn't really mind so much--standing in line gave me time to drool over all the different pastries and make up my mind for sure about what to order. The canolis there really are excelent. The cream is thick and delicious, and you can get several different types of shells, including chocolate-dipped (yum!).

Leaving Modern, we noticed that the Haymarket produce market was still set up. This event happens every Saturday, and this was the first time I had ever seen it. The street is full of stalls of vendors with any kind of produce you can think of. In fact, it sork of reminded my of an art festival, because each stall had a tent over it, like an artist booth. I hadn't planned on getting any produce--my meal plan covers me well enough that all I really need to buy is the occasional jar of peanut butter--but the first stall we stopped at had something that caught my eye. The man was selling kiwis 4 for a dollar. How could I pass up a deal like that? So I spent a moment picking out the four best kiwis I could find. He tried to rush me, but I wanted to make sure I didn't get any of the squishy ones. What I learned from this is that Haymarket is rather intense, but it'll be worth enduring the crowds to go there this summer when I have to feed myself instead of going to the dinning hall.

Now that I've finally spent time in the North End, eaten canoli and shoped at Haymarket, I'm starting to feel like a real Bostonian. Who knows, by summer I may even care about baseball! Red Sox relif pitcher Justin Masterson spoke at church today, and he's an athlete I can respect. If hall council really does organize a group outing to a game, I'll know who to cheer for!

-Kim

5 things that made me smile recently

1. Simmons has decided that the geese on campus are a nuisance, and have brought in a dog to scare them away. It's a friendly-looking black and white border collie, and I saw it on the residence campus yesterday afternoon with its handler, apparently having just scared away all the geese.

2. The geese were back again today, and just as calm as ever. Most animals make me smile, but for some reason, seeing a goose in the middle of a city just really brightens my day.

3. The electronic sensors placed in the swimming lanes for meets (or, in this case, the day before a meet) are made by Daktronics. I finished my laps today swimming toward that familiar name.

4. Last night I auditioned to play a concerto for this semester's orchestra concert. I have no idea when the decision will even be made, but I feel better for having tried. Also, the entire rehearsal last night was even more fun than usual, possibly because our director was "dancing" as the explained the mood of each movement of "Swan Lake." Plus, I had a pocket full of M&Ms, and coasted through the rehearsal on a constant sugar buzz.

5. In Collective Memory we have to do a final project, in groups and give a formal presentation. Our instructors made the groups for us, based on interests we submitted through email. I had been worried I would be placed with intimidating people and forced to work on a topic I cared nothing about, but was pleasantly surprised today. Our group, brought together under the subject heading of "dead white English men." The only other person in the class who I knew, Tiereny, is in the group, and our other member isn't intimidating at all, and we ended up, after quite a bit of discussion (mostly on literary subjects), deciding that we want to do our presentation on King Arthur. That's right--we are going to trace the historical significance and societal remebrance of a fictional character. But it's going to be fun! The point of this class is to see how groups of people remember things, and how those memories change over time, so why not explore one of the most enduring legends of our time and see just how interpretations have changed over the centuries. With all the different versions available, we'll have more than enough material to trace the developments. Quite frankly, the most difficult part is going to be nailing down what the original memory was, since it's debatable how old the legend really is. So, it's time to dive into some research, but at least it's research on a topic I love!

-Kim

so it begins

The semester is off to a running start. Already I've been working through daunting reading assignments and wondering whether I really will have time to complete everything I have for every class. Last night I was finishing a 100 page book and reading three chapters of another so that I could write a one page response and post it on the class wiki by noon today. I stayed up past midnight to get it posted, and I really hope this doesn't become a norm (I have a response due every week in that class). It might have gone more quickly, but we're still in the theoretical discussion of collective memory. Once we begin discussing concrete examples, the readings should be easier to get through. At least I hope so. On the other hand, at least I can do the reading. I have thus far been unable to access the list of reserve readings for my rare books class because they are not available through the library website. Hopefully that changes, but it has been a good excuse not to worry about that class this week while I was stressing over collective memory.

On an unrelated note, I've been having a lot of strange dreams since coming back to school. Very random people are showing up who don't even belong to the same realms in my real life, say, a mix of someone from home and someone from here and someone from USF. That may be common for people in general to have such confusing dreams, but mine are usually a bit more logical. But just the other day I had a dream that began on a sailboat, then passed through something resembling Little House on the Prairie, then ended up with me in a strange big house, panicking because my teeth had become loose and would all fall out if I opened my mouth. It was at the teeth bit when I woke up, and it really weirded me out. That sort of thing doesn't usually happen. Or at least, it hasn't happened in recent years. Is it a sign of stress? Or is it a reaction caused by my noisy refrigerator and mystery food from the cafeteria?

-Kim

east coast snow day

School has been canceled this afternoon. It doesn't affect me because I don't have Wednesday classes, but I find it rather entertaining. It was snowing lightly this morning, then it warmed up and turned to rain, and now that rain is starting to freeze. All classes after 2:30 were canceled because of expected poor driving conditions. I suppose I can understand that--the traffic in this city is bad enough without putting ice under the tires of people who aren't used to it. Even so, it seems surreal that a snow day could be called with very little actual snow, and temperatures hovering around the freezing point.

I have actually spent the entire day in my room so far. I'm not feeling the best, and I had no responsibilities today, so I took it easy. My breakfast was so late, I didn't feel the need to go out and get lunch, so I had afternoon tea to tide me over until dinner. And in the meantime, I practiced my violin for just under an hour and wrote 1000 words on my next novel (finally! that opening scene has been in my head for ages!).

The biggest problem concerning my writing has been the problem of inertia. After I finally finished writing and editing the first novel, I took a break, and never really got back into it. I wrote all sorts of other things in the meantime, but I couldn't make myself leap into another novel. I lost all momentum in that direction and just sat, waiting for a push that I knew I would resent needing. The last weekend before I came back to Boston I met with my writer friends in Sioux Falls. They've all been making good progress (Dale had a short story bought by a SFF magazine!), and I've produced nothing. Granted, my life is busier than theirs what with grad school and all, but I still felt guilty talking with them about my lack of progress. But amazingly, they all understand. They didn't lecture me, but they did give me an assignment. Dale wanted me to write a chapter, and Caleb bumped it up and said I need to finish multiple chapters before the end of the semester. If I can have a few more days like today, that might actually be possible, which is a very good feeling.

That was one of the things that helped push me to start writing again. Another is a book my parents gave me for Christmas (at my request) called The Writing Life, by author Annie Dillard. I haven't read much of her other work, but I very much enjoy this book. She writes very candidly about what a struggle it is to be a writer. And she writes about famous authors who *didn't* write a novel every month. I find nothing more depressing than hearing about people like Stephen King who write 2000+ words a day without fail and continually produce magic. For normal people, even "normal" writers, it isn't always easy and is more often a struggle attempting to produce something magical. One passage I read today was especially helpful:

"It makes more sense to write one big book--a novel or nonfiction narrative--than to write many stories or essays. Into a long, ambitious project can fit or pour all you possess and learn. A project that takes five years will accumulate those years; inventions and richness. Much of those years' reading will feed the work. Further, writing sentences is difficult whatever their subject. It is no less difficult to write sentences in a recipe than sentences in Moby-Dick. So you might as well write Moby-Dick. Similarly, since each original work requires a unique form, it is more prudent to struggle with the outcome of only one form--that of a long work--than to struggle with the many forms of a collection."

Well, that's a relief. I've been debating with myself for months whether I should try my hand at short stories again and have more material to submit. But I'm just not nearly as good at that form. Long works hold my passion, so I may as well dive headfirst into another novel if I'm going to write anything at all.

On a somewhat related tangent: I've been reading Genesis lately, and today I was reading the story of Jacob working for Laban to "earn" his wives. I worked close to 7 years for my first novel, do you suppose I'll have to work another 7 on Rachael?

One last thing to mention, though I know this is getting painfully long. My last piece of inspiration comes from the animated movie Kevin and Beth gave me for Christmas. Whisper of the Heart is about a girl who wants to be a writer and follows her dreams. I finally watched it last night, and thoroughly enjoyed it (even though the always-anticipated magical happenings never actually happened--I think this is the first movie Miyazaki has made without any). I've never been so influenced by the cartoons I watch, and now it's happened twice in one week. I suppose I should just be grateful that the anime I choose to watch for entertainment can inspire me at the same time.

-Kim

grad school geese

The residence campus has been invaded by a flock of geese. I find it hilarious, because so far they've only hung out on the quad and pecked at the ground for food. Well, and then I met these three walking down the street on my way back from church on Sunday. They were very calm and cool about it too, just strutting along at their own pace, even with a car behind them. At least one of my neighbors is actually afraid of the geese, and seems to think they will chase her. Personally, I doubt that part, but it is annoying that they are making a mess of our sidewalks. It will be nice when the city thaws and they can return to their parks, but for now I'll continue to laugh at the geese and their antics.

-Kim