Elated!

Ok.

So no one wanted to help me out with Nell Carter. I'm shocked folks.

Not much is new here. Over spring break I had a massage, I went and heard a celebrated author who had been banned from Richmond schools but allowed in a Richmond church, and saw an exciting local theater production that involved a sorority girl playing the notorious Eva Peron.

Now I'm gradually re-entering the world of new research, meaning that I've been reading a good bit of Oscar Wilde. In my class, we've been watching some movies, including My Beautiful Laundrette, which the class actually liked, despite the shocking gay content. I guess people are willing to embrace homosexuality, as long as Daniel Day Lewis is involved.

Meanwhile, I've been dazzled by our country's turn towards fascism; I'm also elated about the new drilling in the National Wildlife Refuge. And hearing about Bush's nomination for the World Bank today made my skin tingle with anticipation. How much longer to we can surrender all our civil rights? Three years? Three minutes?

an unrelated request

On a slightly different note, I was struck by something watching the academy awards on Sunday.

Do any of you remember Nell Carter's performance of "Friend like Me" from Disney's _Aladdin_ in a former ceremony? Do any of you video/culture mavens know where I could find a video of this performance? It seemed really striking, especially because it sexed up the song which had formerly been performed by Robin Williams.

Is there a place where past academy award music number footage goes to die?!

Grrrr.

Hello all of you. Today is officially the start of spring break. Although I have a stack of papers to grade over the next week, I'm very, very glad that it's here. I think if I had another week like this, I'd go insane. Caution...bitching ahead. First, I fell down the hillside behind my house and hurt my leg, and then two nights ago I fell down the last five stairs in my apartment, hurting my back. I'm glad I've not broken anything, but I still feel like my body got replaced by one that was a defunct model. I also have the ambiguous flu-cold-malaise that really doesn't make any sense to me, and I have on my lips what may or may not be a cold sore. Finally, this is fellowship season. I was entirely organized in my submissions, but it seems the department got my materials confused, losing some of them and possibly submitting some of them to the wrong people due to staffing problems. Thus, last night I received a note telling my that one of my applications had been incomplete when in fact, surprise, it had been complete. I cleared this up today, but it doesn't look good...

Rather than descend into a fit of rage, I'm going to do the following things:
1) Get a massage.
2) Go to the French play that's all the rage in DC.
3) Drop a good bit of money on amazon.
4) and clean my house.

Retail therapy and reorganization. There you have it folks. At least there are cute guys in the library cafe where I'm writing this.

Homegoing in Leesburg

On Saturday night, I hopped in the car to do the two-hour jaunt to Leesburg, VA, about one hour from Washington, DC. On reaching this quiet town, I glimpsed a Penske truck pulled up in the parking lot of my destination, a cute little Lutheran Church. And there, ladies and gentlemen, I heard the Augustana band start out their 2005 tour.

Along with Carianne, Schmaus, and Schmaus's nice wife, Amy, I witnessed all the energy and verve of Jimmy James and the band as they did works by Alfred Reed, Philip Sparke, and others. It was a good concert, and, despite the drive (and the 45 minute Moody bible institute sermon on "holiness" I listened to on the way home) I was overcome with nostalgia.

Everything felt like a long time ago. It struck me that I was a much more well-rounded individual in those days. Oh well.

The week's not been too bad so far. I'm gearing up to watch Dirty Pretty Things with my students on Thursday, which should be a good prelude to spring break.