nichole's auxiliary storage

intro to Mel & Floyd

A great perk to living in Madison is the Mel & Floyd show on Fridays at 1 on WORT, 89.9 FM. If you live here, you've probably heard of them -- they ranked as the second favorite local radio show in Madison's free weekly's poll, despite being on only a fraction of the time the 1st and 3rd ranked spielers are. They remain defiantly off-line, leaving it to us fanboys (?) to create their web presence. Paul Hebble leads the way posting some good lines and now I'm jumping on the bandwagon, so if you miss the show, put on some James Brown and read aloud.

(Disclaimer: I'm just repeating this stuff, folks. Please don't infer too much.) Mel reads new slogans: Woodsy Owl says "Give a hoot, raise some loot." Smokey Bear says "Only clear-cutting in the Alaskan wilderness can prevent forest fires." Ashcroft and the war on porn: by going after the extreme pornographers -- the small-time, edgy ones -- they're doing what they always do: creating great monoplies. Hallibuton and Bechtel Porn, Inc.? Reader letter: list of possible Bush/Cheney bumper stickers Slogans can be longer since cars are so much bigger. BC 2004: Four more wars Bush Reloaded You're either with us or against us Apocalypse Now Because the truth just isn't good enough Compassionate Colonialism In your heart you know they're right No billionaire left behind Making the world a better place one country at a time Bush/Cheney 2004: or else! Over a billion whoppers served The last vote you'll ever have to cast. Mr. Smarty Pants on the Ten Commandments monument controversy in Alabama: the reason we don't allow religion in public spaces is because everone in these religions wants to kill each other. New action figure: "Elite Force Aviator  G.W. Bush" Good news? Taxi & limo commission (TLC) of NYC used to allow TVs in the back of such vehicles. "NYers didn't embrace these units like they could have," so they got rid of them. Hooray. On the pervasiveness of Muzak and advertising: grocery chain Copps plays louder music than Kohl's did, and Mr. SP is annoyed. [why does he still shop there?--ed.] Another bumper sticker: "Don't change Dicks in the middle of a screw -- reelect Bush and Cheney too." Mars: It was cool. When they finally turned the telescope to the skies, the neighbors were relieved. Urban sprawl makes Americans fat: 6lb. average gain when you drive everywhere. 2/3 of US population lives in sprawl. Where's downtown Fitchburg, WI anyway? Dr. Dave is not a doctor any more? Dave Zero's doing a country show this week. U of Nebraska bookstore has stopped giving away free beer coupons. Mr. SP only recently heard of 'Thirsty Thursday' as an early start to the weekend. Mel had a roommate that had rules about getting high: weekends were OK, Thursday included. Pretty soon Wednesday became 'Pre-bake day,' and then he needed help facing the cold harsh grip of reality on Monday, so Tuesday was the only weekday. "so what pizza place is he working at now?" asks Mr. SP. 13 day Krispy Kreme vigil ... Annie Lewis slept on the street waiting for the KK store to open. raised money for a playground project and awareness of autism for her son. Mom pleads guilty to attacking stripper: attacked a male stripper who failed to meet expectations during her daughter's bachelorette party. Head injusries, bruises and scratches after when he showed up late for a show in Crystal Lake, IL and was a stand-in for the dancer requested by the host. Ended his performance sooner than expected and didn't pay enough attention to the bride. [Couldn't find a link for this one.--ed.] Zippo snuffs web site featuring tricks due to complaints about safety. 10-city tour of the Zippo tricksters canceled. Phone book cover features the opium poppy flower. And that's it for now. We'll see how long I keep this up.

Peaches

It's another sunny Wednesday market, and I returned from my sortie with bread and the first peaches of the year. Peaches! From a new family farm south of Madison. I missed the name - Mor[something]. It looked like Dad was there with Son who was devastatingly tall and decorated with a pointy tattoo on his upper right arm. But it was the peaches that got me. I caught their scent from a good twelve feet away, but didn't buy a quart until my second pass. Ten smallish, red and orange, fuzzy, warm fruits in a bag. No, nine. Eight, seven -- between noshing and giving them away I'll be down to none soon. It's OK, though, without help I'd never finish them at this bloom of ripeness. I've got lots of links to peaches, the strongest of which right now is to Four seasons in five senses by David Mas Masumoto, "the country's favorite literary farmer." I agree with the reviews that the prose is a little over-the-top and repetitive sometimes, and at more than one point sank into foodie porn, but overall it's a sweet read. There's also the song by the same title by the Presidents of the United States of America ("Movin' to the country, gonna eat me a lot of peaches"). And Gerard Depardieu's line at the end of Tous les matins du monde, "I will feed you crushed peaches" -- after she's practically dead -- what a jerk! And the Joad kids who get the skittles so bad after gorging themselves on mounds of dumped fruit, rotting in the fields instead of going to market. Argh. Now I've done it. Do I categorize this entry as mmm...food or mmm..brain food? I just edited categories this morning. Oh dear. If I think about it too long it will have to go in librariana as well. That's it. I quit.

intro to jail library work

I work with the Jail Library Student Group at SLIS, and this is just as good a forum as any to recount stories from that experience. I'd be an advocate for the group keeping a community blog instead of the listerv path we follow now, but I lack the expertise... On with the stories. An inmate requested "Chicken Soup for the Prisoner's Soul" a few weeks ago, but it was out circulating and we just couldn't find it. She asked us about it this time and another inmate overheard her request, went to her locker, and lent her her own copy of a different Chicken Soup book. The first inmate was so touched she gave the other woman a hug. We continued with the rotation and "Chicken Soup for the Prisoner's Soul" turned up on the cart next door, so we ran it back to her pod. I didn't get to see her reaction but it's probably safe to assume it was a happy one.

MacGyver & jail

Yesterday's This American Life was episode 244: MacGyver. The most MacGyverish act, and my favorite, was "Prisoner's Inventions," which detailed some of the things inmates craft out of their scarce resources. At jail orientation (for JLG) the sheriff told us about a couple clever guys who fashioned a dartboard out of staples pried from magazines, t.p., and glossy paper. I don't think they had a dartboard, though, so it wasn't long before wacky hijinks ensued and the darts got confiscated. I have a whole pile of stuff I find on the jail book cart that I should send to found...

instant karma...

...by Mark Swartz. I might buy this one. 1. It's got a librarian in it. 2. It happens in Chicago. 3. It's diary fiction, heavily annotated. 4. It's not expensive. If only those McSweeneyoids would keep it off their wretched bibliographies...But as I've told who-knows-how-many, I can't talk about the fiction I read. It always makes me feel like I'm just not _getting_ it, whether it's pulp or lit'raturh.

midday foray

I picked up my first melon, an Athena canteloupe, today. Maybe she will make me smarter. Also: patty-pans and zukes for my attempt at a squash curry (drat! I forgot the greens - mayhap I'll freeze it, and add Snug Haven spinach in midwinter to raise my spirits); green peppers from Colleen and Sarah's stand (and Sarah's got her anthropomorphic veggie photos up at the downtown Post Office until Septemeber, must check it out); and Mark David's bread. Re: last week's party: imho, it was a good time. Should have tested the punch recipe first, though, it sucked, and too many people had bad memories of tequila for it to be appetizing. We adjourned early (Dr. Morrison: "Well, I must say, student parties are not what they used to be") when the transition from outside-party to inside-party aborted. Also a broad audience for this one. A major faction wants to use the garish basement for a 1950's party (not the sock hop kind), and Scooby recently reminded me of the creeping tradition of the wedding party fall reunion. and I'd like to think about starting a Church of Craft in my basement before we move into our own, probably squalid, and definitely less spacious, digs. So that's that.

Nonzero

Did I already write that I'm reading (slowly but surely) Nonzero by Robert Wright? His thesis is that civilization takes a step forward (evolves) when people figure out how to play a non-zero-sum game. That is, when both parties score by participating, rather than one profit by the other's loss as in a zero-sum game. I was led to this book by Howard Rheingold's "Smart Mobs" which waxed rhapsodic about human potential made manifest by new developments in social software. Two barriers to non-zero-sumness exist: the communication barrier and the trust barrier. One of the teens on the Montana trip brought up the Tower of Babel during the car trip back, and I realized that that particular non-zero-sum attempt to build a stairway to heaven ended with the players getting sent back to Go, with their communication channels clogged and trust probably decaying fast. But then, we all knew that that god doesn't like uppity humans.

Hooray for dahlias

I snuck off to the market during break yesterday AM -- "just for bread and lettuce" -- and came back with the bread and lettuce, but also blackberry jam and a bouquet of dahlias. Such a sucker. There's a flower store at 76th and Burleigh in Milwaukee, I think, that always has "bokays on sale." I'm reading "Going with the grain" by Susan Seligson. I'm really enjoying it. She's traveling all over the world looking for bread and its bakers, from handcrafted quasi-mystical, $20-for-a-5-lb-loaf "fire bread" to the Wonder Bread *bakery* (not factory, please). Her affection for bread really comes through in her writing. She laces her prose with warm, occasionally self-deprecating humor, and brooks no pretension from the foodie crowd.

August the first

Although Northwood Farm wasn't there and I had to put off the meat-buying frenzy for next week's party, I did get some good stuff this week. See below. And my sweetie came home from Montana yesterday -- hooray! He was building for Habitat in Bozeman and leading the St. D's yoot' group for a week of camping in Yellowstone. He brought back the first off-the-rack personalized coffee mug with my name spelled correctly that I've ever seen. And he left his beard out West too! I keep asking myself, "Who is this strange young man?" Suddenly I feel younger too. So here's the list: 0.4 lb each aged and fresh goat feta, for nibbly things for the party. Oakhouse wheat bread Green beans More sweet corn Mushrooms -- I had a chinwag with the vendor, who recommended the cream over the white for grilling -- after I opted not to experiment on any guests with portobello burgers. Next time, in a more controlled setting. And apricots. For two weeks now I've gone past Jim Schroeder's stand (Summer Kitchen) and eyed the quarts of apricots. They glow in the sunlight and remind me of some kids' made-for-TV movie I saw when we were living in Aurora -- sometime between 1983 and 1986 -- where a valiant-but-typical girl discovers a magic world where fruit like these apricots grows that could make her terminally ill mother well. I remember watching it in my friend Jenny's living room (Jenny whose grandma smoked a lot and used the phrase "Even Steven!" whenever she made snacks for us) and not liking the movie as much as she did. But there is a scene where a cut-glass bowl full of the magic fruit falls of a table or pedestal in slow motion that has stuck with me, and those apricots evoke it every time I see them.