Postcards from the Imagination

Nice work, my friend.

Posted by Ginger at 06:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I can't resist. This bit of autobiography is too fucking funny. With thanks to an anonymous little birdie. :-)

And to those of you waiting on the 3rd issue of The New Hampshire Review, I apologize. Flying solo, there haven't been enough hours in the day for months and months, but I hope to unhiatus it as soon as humanly possible.

Posted by Ginger at 12:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today's trip to the campus bookstore sorta blew my mind. I'm still all:
You're paying me to do what ‽

• Sarah Vap, American Spikenard
• Myung Mi Kim, Commons
• Kathleen Halme, Drift & Pulse
• Quan Barry, Controvertibles
• Brian Henry, The Stripping Point
• A.R. Ammons, Garbage
• Terrance Hayes, Wind in a Box
• V. Penelope Pelizzon, Nostos
• Greg Hewett, The Eros Conspiracy
• Daniel Nester, The History of My World Tonight
• Tracy K. Smith, Duende
• Karen Holmberg, The Perseids
  
• Cynthia Hogue, The Incognito Body
  
• Gabrielle Calvocoressi, The Last Time I Saw Amelia Earhart
• Peter Balakian, June-tree
• Stephen Yenser, Blue Guide
• Dan Beachy-Quick, Mulberry
• Andre Breton, Nadji
• Richard Humphreys, Futurism
• Thomas Mann, Death in Venice
• Matthew Gale, Dada and Surrealism
• Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art
• Bertolt Brecht, Baal, A Man's a Man, and the Elephant Calf
• Irmgard Keun, The Artificial Silk Girl
• John Berger, Ways of Seeing
• Anna Balakian, Surrealism: The Road to the Absolute
  

Posted by Ginger at 06:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

STEP ONE: Get one of these - Quiet shaft rotation and rabbit ears vibration for orgasmic action that won't wake the neighbours, with easy-to-use push-button controls put the power at your fingertips. Waterproof for shower-time pleasure, too! Yours for only £14.99 when you recycle your rabbit with LoveHoney Rabbit Amnesty!

STEP TWO: Pop in some of these - Solar-charged, reusable batteries

STEP THREE: Skip Confession (unless you're into that sort of thing). ;-)

Posted by Ginger at 09:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I can't afford to travel this summer, but I can take a mini-tour through my stat counter. Hello, New York, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco! Hello, Anchorage, Helsinki, Madison, Bridgeport! What's shakin', Shelby, Aurora, Grand Rapids, DeKalb? Pleasure to light up your screens, Coral Springs, Lincoln, Surrey, Bellevue! Yours too, Bloomington, Mountain View, Grass Valley, the Bronx! My dictionary says the etymologies of conjure and congeries are unrelated, but I'm not buying it.

Posted by Ginger at 01:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Existing public transportation is simply not feasible for taking my daughter to her dad's for the weekend, even when the alternative is a gas-guzzling, older car:

Greyhound
8 hours one-way + $194 (bus tickets)

1996 Pontaic
3 hours one-way + $40.17 (13 gallons of gas @ $3.09/gallon)

Newer hybrid car
3 hours one-way + $24.26 (7.85 gallons of gas @ $3.09/gallon)

The adult portion of Greyhound's fare is $149. If the bus holds 40 passengers, and we generously allowed for 50% of the seats to remain unsold, they'd be operating at $9.49 per mile. $9.49 per mile to run a dirty bus. Crazy.

I did think of a few other things for my list. First, finding myself without a can opener, I opted for manual rather than electric. No point in cluttering my small countertop and draining phantom electricity to save a few dozen wrist movements each month. Second, biodegradable trash bags. Third, as soon as I can afford it, I'm going to move my web projects over to a green hosting provider like AISO.net that runs on 100% solar energy. And I'm going to blog it all--not for pats on the back, but to share enthusiasm and ideas. For those of you, that is, who aren't already way ahead of me. :-)

Posted by Ginger at 12:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I finally saw Shortbus the other night. I was skeptical at first, because the scene that sets up the story--Sofia's therapy session with the two Jamies--seemed a bit amateurish. But in the end, I was completely charmed. It's about time someone made a film that pushes the moral debate outside the frame and focuses instead on the vastly more interesting psychological challenges bound up with navigating post-Puritan sexualities. The mini-documentary about the the making of Shortbus is a must-see too--particularly for anyone interested in how graphic sex can be visually depicted sans exploitation. Interestingly enough, for all its steaminess, I was neither turned on nor off throughout most of the film. Except for one scene. One scene was hot enough to rewind/replay a few times. But I'm not going to tell you which. ;-)

* * * * *

I met some of my new colleagues in the mightier-than-swords department for drinks the other night. After years of feeling like the token old lady in a room full of undergraduates, it was seriously nice to look around and see a few peers.

* * * * *

Scored a free room air conditioner through Freecycle yesterday. The first couple weeks here were incredibly mild, and I thought I could get by without one, but late last week both the heat and humidity climbed to 90+. Though I prefer fresh air and probably won't use it much, I'm glad to have the option. Other recent acquisitions: a free 19" color television and $25 Kenmore microwave oven, both in great shape. Keeping things out of the landfill while keeping more of my money is a pretty neat win-win.

* * * * *

Speaking of which, trying to green up my life has become a new favorite hobby of sorts. I began with a few things, and because those were so easy, the challenge of figuring out how to do more started to look exciting. So far I've stopped taking plastic bags from stores, started saving containers whenever possible (I needed tupperware anyway!), bought 100% recycled paper towels and only use them when a dishtowel or sponge absolutely won't do, started replacing some of my food purchases with local/organic/fair trade certified things, started printing on both sides of the page and recycling any paper that's full, use my double sink to cut down on waste water from dishwashing, and keep the blinds upstairs closed during the day for climate control.

On deck for the next 30-60 days: * replace the two remaining standard light bulbs in my apartment with CFLs * buy biodegradable, earth-friendly cleaning supplies * purchase power strips with on/off switches and turn them off when I'm not using whatever's plugged into them * buy solar-powered chargers for small electronics and reusable batteries * take my car in for a tune-up, oil change, and tire check * switch to 100% paperless bills and sign up to have junk mail stopped * purchase a reusable coffee filter * bike, walk, or bus to class * consolidate errands and keep my car parked at least every other day * purchase a reusable coffee filter * buy a rack and start drying at least some of my clothes without electricity.

The hardest and probably most necessary things are going to be cutting way back on the joy rides and keeping my thermostat low in the winter. This is where I'd love to see America get its collective ingenuity together to drive the widespread availability and affordabilty of alternative fuel sources. I hate a cold nose, and you can't sing your heart out at high speeds on a bicycle. That said, I'm going to try to be good...or at least better. And I'm going to needle my elected representatives until they stop making this harder than it needs to be.

I'll let you know how it goes. :-) 

* * * * *

Finally, it's nice to be walking uphill on my own two feet while the runaway train bounces wildly down the tracks. If I don't run after it shouting I'm not to blame for the wreck, I suspect most of you understand why.

Posted by Ginger at 05:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Decided to go for a drive last weekend. I had work to do and thought a quick trip north before I got started, through country I've never seen, with all the windows down and the stereo at full volume, might be invigorating. And it was...until, without the slightest prior hint of trouble, my brake line ruptured. Fortunately, I was able to avoid an accident--but I wasn't entirely sure where I was, and filling my gas tank had left me with $9 in the bank until Tuesday. Turned out I was near the midpoint between home and Canada--in Auburn, NY--and getting a tow wasn't going to be easy. First I had to have my mother wire me money (and thank the goddesses she happened to have cash on hand to lend me). Then I called a tow truck and waited. And waited. And waited. They'd forgotten to take my number, and I'd forgotten to give it, so there was no way for them to let me know that their driver had been detained by the FBI. He'd unwittingly picked up a mother and child the previous night for whom an Amber Alert had been been issued, and the authorities needed his help tracking them down. (Seriously. If I could make this shit up, I'd probably have a Pulitzer by now.) He did, and the little girl was safely recovered, but in the meantime, all I could do was sit on the curb, politely thank the Muses for their generosity, and kindly request that they turn their attentions to someone else. I argued that I had quite enough material by now to see me through at least half a dozen books--but they remained unconvinced, and sent along a driver who jacked the price of my ride up $40 to $189. (Bad cell phone connection when he obtained the original quote from his boss.)

Monday morning I learned the brake job would cost $715--extra if I wanted to make out first or cuddle afterward. A month ago that would have been devastating. This month it just means I'll have to keep looking for that elusive free/cheap dish drying rack to replace the towels on my kitchen counter. Things could be so much worse. ;-)

Posted by Ginger at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)