The Bookity Book & Tall Grass Salon

Kylabelle: I have had it twice in a span of ten years. Not recurring but shows some nerviousness that is always present.

Maryn: Same thing happens to me with John Kennedy Toole. ACOD is one of my all-time favorite books.

Good morning.

The Writer's Almanac for March 26, 2015

Today's poem is an odd little bit by Robert Frost, whose birthday is today. Wonder what kind of "equalizer" he meant?

The biographical sketch of Frost has some intriguing moments: his rejection as a poet because of mud on his boots (perhaps metaphorical mud); the story of how he came to write "A Road Not Taken"; and his opinion of the worth of poetry as the first resource of truth in the human world.

It's also the birthday of Tennessee Williams, A. E. Housman, and Erica Jong. And it's the anniversary of the date Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise was published, a career-maker for him.

Good morning.

The Writer's Almanac for March 27, 2015

Today's poem is one of those amazing ones, solid and yet it drops the floor out from under by the time you finished reading.

It's the birthday of the poet, Louis Simpson, who wanted to write novels and stories, but the PTSD he incurred during World War II prevented that; he said he could only hold poems in his mind.

Also cherry trees got planted, the Washington Metro got begun, the woman who wrote "Happy Birthday to You" was born -- the story of which is pretty confusing if you ask me, but anyway, the sisters won their copyright battle so all is well in the end.

I want to write novels and stories, but being a grad student is preventing that; I can only seem to hold poems in my mind.

Good morning.

The Writer's Almanac for March 28, 2015

The poem today is about a kind of ambush we've all experienced, I imagine. Beautifully done.

Nelson Algren whose birthday is today said “A certain ruthlessness and a sense of alienation from society is as essential to creative writing as it is to armed robbery.” Having always been a writer of some kind or other, I have no means of comparison or knowing whether this is true for me.

Also noted are birthdays for Russell Banks, Lauren Weisberger, and St. Teresa of Avila.

Good morning.

The Writer's Almanac for March 29, 2015

The poem today is pretty close to deadly.

Today is the anniversary of the end of US military engagement in Vietnam, the date when the last combat troops left the country. I remember bells rang. I remember a good friend grabbed me and my then-husband and dragged us out onto the front stoop to stand outside and listen as he wept. I remember knowing it wasn't as much of a victory for the human spirit as he needed it to be, that it would turn out not to be much of a change, the kind of change we'd all been working for. But I stood there and didn't say any of that, out of respect and maybe love.
http://writersalmanac.org/?elq=4a0f...1&elqTrackId=5479bac6d126482aa35c50a35bd8bb0b

Wonderful poem! Especially the remark that people who don't care about the Balkans can talk so much about chocolate. All politics is local, huh?

Greetings from beautiful Lilongwe, Malawi! I'm here for a job interview, and the airlines lost my luggage! I think I was supposed to get my bags in Chicago, and recheck them for the international flight, but the guy who checked the bag when I left said I didn't have to because it was checked all the way through. The online baggage tracking said it never left Chicago. I'm hoping I can rent a suit in town, but there's no way to know until I go look.

Lilongwe is beautiful, very clean, and lots of green space. When the taxi driver (his real name is Biscuit, pronounced Bis-qwit here) told me we were in the city center, I didn't believe him because there were so many trees, so few people, and it looked like a rural college campus with tall buildings among the trees. The people are as you'd expect, and so far not a single panhandler and no harassment beyond the occasional expected and harmless remark of "muzungu!" (white person). So different from Kampala! I'll go to the old town today to look around and maybe buy some cheap clothes (I've been wearing the same clothes since Friday morning, washing my socks in the sink and drying them with the hair drier). The interview is tomorrow. As for the job, it would be an okay job but I'm not ready to live in Africa again. I feel like I haven't been able to enjoy the American life I was so homesick for in Uganda. The Sig-O isn't opposed to living overseas with me eventually, but not until she's paid down her medical school loans more. If this was the perfect job tings would be more difficult.

Also about Lilongwe, my WIP Nyasaland takes place in Malawi, with several scenes taking place in the city. Wow, did I get some important stuff wrong! Especially on a rather crucial plot point. Later on in the book, the MC makes a mistake that complicates him reaching his goal. But now that I've been here, there is no way anyone would make the mistake he made, so now I have to find a way for him to make a mistake with the same consequences based on different evidence. Hmmm, the plot thickens!

Good morning.

The Writer's Almanac for March 30, 2015

The poem Chris read was this one for March 30, by Louis Simpson, and sadly it looks like no one made it in here in time to catch the awesome poem from March 29. You might want to go to the Almanac online and check the archive for that one. Or maybe folks read it and didn't say. Or maybe you were just, yanno, eating chocolate, so to speak.

Today's poem is wonderful in an entirely different way. My mother used to use the word "unusual" in exactly that manner.

Chris, what a great little update and travelogue from you! Er, I hope you don't get the job? (Sounds like two good reasons that would not be the desired outcome.)

Today is Vincent Van Gogh's birthday. It's also the birthday of Anna Sewell (Black Beauty), and playwright Sean O'Casey. And on this date the pencil with an attached eraser was patented, and the US agreed to buy Alaska.

Ever had chocolate covered bacon? It actually tastes like salty chocolate, and is even better with the ground up chili powder in it.

Nobody in Malawi takes credit cards, so I had to buy the cheapest, crappiest suit I could with the cash I had. It's that color that could be dark blue or black, and it's shiny! They only had pastel ties, and the only one that looked even remotely good was robin egg blue. And by the time I bought that, I didn't have enough money for shoes, and the other stores literally laughed when I told them my shoe size. I had the same problem in Uganda. Africans are little-footed people, apparently. So I'll be doing my interview in my tennies. My local credit union ATM card won't work in the ATM machines, either. But I'm getting pretty fed up with my hosts. Of course I can't blame them about the bag, or the money, or the suit, and I've lived in Africa before and can take care of myself, but I practically have to beg to get them to give me any info about the interview, such as when it will be and if they are getting me or if I need to find my own way to their office. Calls and emails go unanswered. Never before have my hosts been so unresponsive; not even a "Hey, how are you liking Malawi?" check in. I was kept more in the loop when I interviewed for a job where they already had someone picked out and my interview was just a required formality. If this is the level of support they give when they are trying to impress me, I really wonder if this is going to be an ongoing thing if I worked for them. I kind of want to pull a 'tude and raise a stink, but that's not the kind of professional I want to be. There will be a time to tell them how I feel, and a way to do it in. So yeah, there's no way I'm taking this job.

/end rant

Interesting! And, kind of a drag. Keep us updated! I hope it turns out more enjoyable than not, but if they give you so much as a raised eyebrow about your garb, I would let them have it right between the nostrils.

Well, the bag's in Zambia, and I should get it...30 minutes after the interview

But hey, I got me a nice shiny blue/black suit and robin egg tie....

Now to do a home hem job on the trousers with the little hotel repair kits. I don't quite know how to hem, but there's no better way to learn!

Good morning.

The Writer's Almanac for March 31, 2015

This morning I'm more interested in Chris's interview than in the almanac which starts with a Ferlinghetti poem about his cat. I always suspect Ferlinghetti's line breaks and formatting of carrying too much weight.

Big day in computing history: Rand corporation contracted to deliver a UNIVAC computer to the US Census Bureau. Also big day in censorship history or maybe movie history: the Motion Picture Production Code, or the Hays Code, was put into effect.

Nikolai Gogol was born, a humorist to whom religion did a bad turn, it seems.

Chris! Did you have the interview?

Yeah, I couldntw read the poem without hearing it in a computer voice due to the line breaks.

Thanks for thinking of me on the interview! It went okay, but you never know. Their questions opened up some deficiencies in my background, and my questions opened up some vagueness on their part, and limitations of the job. For example, I had never worked in the specific sector (seed distribution chains) and didn't know some of the finer points of such programs. They want a science-based PhD level coordinator (which I am) for an administration job that isn't scientific. IITA is a research organization and there's no opportunity for research in this position. It's a three year position, and when I asked them what they wanted to see accomplished in three years, basically how we would know if the project was a success, they didn't have an answer. "If the donor is happy." The donor in this case is the US government, who, as fickle as Uncle Sam can be, is unlikely to accept such a vague answer in three years. But the research farm was beautiful and impressive, and if I was convinced I wanted to live overseas this would be a good opportunity. They all laughed when I apologized for my tennis shoes. My bag is supposed to be at the airport right now, and it's supposed to be brought round at any minute. I will not, by any means, be surprised if it's not mine. I fly back home tomorrow and Thursday.

Thanks for listening! I kind of wonder if I should have blogged this somewhere.

Hope it went well, Chris!

Last night I had one of my few recurring dreams: I find myself wandering through the streets late at night trying to find a safe place.

Are these stress dreams, Max, or nightmares?

I have recurring stress dreams where I'm trying to find a restaurant in New Orleans. Nothing threatening, but frustrating that I can't find the place. None of the scenes in the dreams recur, just the idea of trying to find a restaurant in New Orleans.

Stress dreams, I think. The only thing they have in common is the setup: For some reason I end up stranded in the middle of the night somewhere in my hometown and need to find a safe place to wait for the morning.

Looks like my bag *might* get here around 1:30 am tonight. I fly out at 10:20 tomorrow morning. The only flight from Lusaka to Lilongwe today was canceled, so no bag for me. I've been in the same clothes since Friday, slept on the floor of the Nairobi airport because it didn't occur to them when they booked my flights that it was an overnight stay and ignored me when I pointed it out (did I mention that part yet?) washing the clothes in the bathtub and drying them with an iron while naked (NOT FUN!!!) and spending $$$ on a funky out of style suit I don't even want (I might use it for cab fare just to be rid of it) all for a one-hour interview for a job in a place I don't want to live (especially not now). If the bag doesn't come tonight, they'll have to find some way to get it to the US. And there's no guarantee that the bag that's coming is even my bag!!! "There might be a way to get it to an airport you will be at, then you can pick it there and take with you." No. If we're going to do that then send it all the way home. I ain't foolin' with it.

Max, is South America as dysfunctional as Africa? Africa's sure not making a good case to convince me I want to work or live here.

Don't get me wrong, folks. Lilongwe is the nicest African city I have visited, and IITA and all of the CGIAR members are great organizations doing top-notch work. Very little separates this from a dream opportunity. I'm just dealing with a rare situation of a lost bag, a deadweight is handling my travel arrangements, the job is not quite what I'm after, and for personal reasons I'm not as interested in working overseas as I was when I applied. I'm not dealing with anything extreme that doesnw happen to others, nothing is threatening in any real way, and by Frday I'll be home and hopefully my bag and the $500 worth of suit and shoes will be with me and no harm no foul.

I say that now, but it's not Friday yet...*fears*