This summer, I made the move north to Minneapolis because I liked the city from the little I'd seen of it and I had a scattered few friends there, almost half of whom moved away within a few months of moving to town. One has come back and brought another friend, but the mutating social network is a different story entirely.
I have my own place, a full-time job with no end date, insurance, a retirement fund, and this lingering sensation that I am at once older than I expected to be to be sitting in my pajamas at 10:00am on a Monday and too young to be an adult in charge of the care and keeping of myself and a small furry critter. The job, while making me more financially comfortable and solvent than any job I've had before, has done less to make me fee like an adult that a few things I would like to share.
This year, I have become the proud owner of the following:
1. An iron*
2. An ironing board **
3. A vacuum***
And done these grown up things:
4. Had multiple dinner parties
5. Separated my darks from whites****
*I bought the smallest iron I could find. The face is hardly larger than my hand.
**I almost justified putting a towel on the floor and calling it good enough, but then opted for the half-size ironing board.
***It's a hand-held battery powered vacuum. But rechargeable! And larger than the one you're thinking of, I am certain; it's not some lame handi-vac but it is certainly no Dyson.
****Really I just looked for things that probably wouldn't show indigo that I was terrified would bleed from my new jeans and I couldn't bring myself to wash them on their own.
Monday, December 15, 2014
Sunday, April 6, 2014
I'm not much of a poetry writer, but I like it. And I like the people that come together over it. Just over a week ago, I had the opportunity to go to a poetry reading in Minneapolis and it just so happened to be curated by the Poet Laureate of Minnesota. I later found a collaborative work of hers in the vault of the Special Collections department at the Central Branch of the Hennepin County Public Library. Hand made paper and letterpress printing, it was in all senses of the idea a work of art.
Nothing I write much compares, but it is nonetheless fun to play with words and form in a way that prose doesn't have the flexibility for. So here I'll share the little idea I had as I walked from my temporary work to my temporary home through a short-lived and amusing flurry more beautiful than I had seen in a while. But with this I would like to declare that while I love winter, I am ready for it to be warm again. Warm and free of coats.
There is a world where the quiet
Hush
Is loud and rushing
It falls briskly
Battered north and south
Left and right
While a boy stands watching
At the corner of
Here and there.
He stands, watches
There is no globe to keep him
But the wind deceives
Mimicking a curious hand
Shaking the rushing quiet
Until it sends the world spinning
Flake by flake.
But leaves no trace
The warm ground drinks hungrily
And takes in the quiet
Drop
Drop
Drop
Nothing I write much compares, but it is nonetheless fun to play with words and form in a way that prose doesn't have the flexibility for. So here I'll share the little idea I had as I walked from my temporary work to my temporary home through a short-lived and amusing flurry more beautiful than I had seen in a while. But with this I would like to declare that while I love winter, I am ready for it to be warm again. Warm and free of coats.
There is a world where the quiet
Hush
Is loud and rushing
It falls briskly
Battered north and south
Left and right
While a boy stands watching
At the corner of
Here and there.
He stands, watches
There is no globe to keep him
But the wind deceives
Mimicking a curious hand
Shaking the rushing quiet
Until it sends the world spinning
Flake by flake.
But leaves no trace
The warm ground drinks hungrily
And takes in the quiet
Drop
Drop
Drop
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Eating
I like to go out. I like standing in a forest and feeling the space between trees; I like, on occasion, the oppressive crowd of a popular bar; I like to park in a coffee shop and share space with caffeinated clients and observing baristas. Spaces, and the objects and people within them, have different personalities fueled by the community in which they are situated. Every time I come back to Grand Rapids I think about who I am surrounded by where I live, not only in active friendships but also in the sort of off-gassed attitudes of everybody else out and about in town. The personality of a group of disconnected people reinforce the personality of a city and may possibly be part of the reason a few disappointing things, people, or experiences can drive a wedge between a person and a place.
I was out last night with my dear friend Rachel and she pointed out all the young men entering the bar when it dawned on me. Here in Grand Rapids, downtown on a Saturday night, there are young professionals out socializing. They frequent bars and restaurants and coffee shops that have emerged in response to the young peoples' interest in reasonably-priced food and drink that exceeds their college budget but matches their slightly more generous income garnered at the start of their career. Some food is more costly, some less so. Many offerings are swanked-up comfort foods or entry-level unusual. We shared a few small plates. A delicious poutine with stick to your ribs gravy and cheese curds from a local farm; a tasty mac and cheese with gruyere because why not; and kale chips, light and crumbly. Nothing particularly unusual, save that poutine has only recently begun appearing on American menus west of Pennsylvania.
Grand Rapids does food in a way that a young person wants to experience it. A little adventure, and lot of quality, and a middling amount of money. Champaign caters to the college, the cheap, the drunk, the disinterested in flavor. I, of course, am wearing rose-colored glasses in reflection, but the difference still stands. Champaign in many ways revels in the tradition of the college, the ability to buy alcohol young and drink it on the cheap, the draw of fried foods with the metabolism to keep the fattening effects at bay. For undergraduate students, this is exciting and fun, part of the reason they have come to central Illinois. In Grand Rapids, graduates stay and demand something else from the city. These people begin to grow up and have asked the city to do so with them. And I believe Grand Rapids has complied.
The next place I live I hope to find something more similar to Grand Rapids in personality and perhaps I'll even stay put for more than twelve months in one place.
I was out last night with my dear friend Rachel and she pointed out all the young men entering the bar when it dawned on me. Here in Grand Rapids, downtown on a Saturday night, there are young professionals out socializing. They frequent bars and restaurants and coffee shops that have emerged in response to the young peoples' interest in reasonably-priced food and drink that exceeds their college budget but matches their slightly more generous income garnered at the start of their career. Some food is more costly, some less so. Many offerings are swanked-up comfort foods or entry-level unusual. We shared a few small plates. A delicious poutine with stick to your ribs gravy and cheese curds from a local farm; a tasty mac and cheese with gruyere because why not; and kale chips, light and crumbly. Nothing particularly unusual, save that poutine has only recently begun appearing on American menus west of Pennsylvania.
Grand Rapids does food in a way that a young person wants to experience it. A little adventure, and lot of quality, and a middling amount of money. Champaign caters to the college, the cheap, the drunk, the disinterested in flavor. I, of course, am wearing rose-colored glasses in reflection, but the difference still stands. Champaign in many ways revels in the tradition of the college, the ability to buy alcohol young and drink it on the cheap, the draw of fried foods with the metabolism to keep the fattening effects at bay. For undergraduate students, this is exciting and fun, part of the reason they have come to central Illinois. In Grand Rapids, graduates stay and demand something else from the city. These people begin to grow up and have asked the city to do so with them. And I believe Grand Rapids has complied.
The next place I live I hope to find something more similar to Grand Rapids in personality and perhaps I'll even stay put for more than twelve months in one place.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Snow
Stunning and arresting in its massive presence on a day like today, I am caught staring out the window realizing that snow makes itself known by filling and covering a landscape with a blanket that imitates negative space.
How a garden or field can look simultaneously stuffed to the gills and silently empty is strange and beautiful.
But hmm. That is the nature of snow.
How a garden or field can look simultaneously stuffed to the gills and silently empty is strange and beautiful.
But hmm. That is the nature of snow.
Conversion
One year ago, I stubbornly refused to acknowledge that the laptop, the stalwart white steed that bore be through my undergraduate years and was my companion to many a coffee shop here and abroad, was not really worth saving.
I saved it anyway. At the time, I had killed the battery through neglect. In contrast to my shiny new desktop, the now lumbering laptop, incapable of running Chrome, was far less compelling. After returning from a coffee shop, the stalwart steed would remain in my bag and I would switch to working on my more ergonomic desktop (though my chair is nothing if not un-ergonomic). With all that time running but not off, I drained the battery of any residual charge and turned my laptop into a portable desktop, functional but always in need of being plugged in. I replaced the battery for much less than the cost of a new device of any kind and trudged through a year and a half of grad school without an easily tote-able device beside my Nook, which only worked to load some types of documents.
Things seemed generally fine until I started a new job this fall that requires me to work from anywhere between 1 and 4 different locations. Without an easily movable device, much of my work became extremely segmented and I could not functionally work without packing 20 pounds of notebooks and electronics into a backpack. When I discovered my faithful laptop had become too old to use Skype as anything other than a chat service, I realized it was time.
I had researched netbooks, chromebooks, tablets, and low-end laptops and found nothing in an acceptable price range than offered the portability and utility that I wanted. A year ago I had heard whispers about Microsoft's Surface device, I had even seen a few in the wild, but the reviews were bad and I was discouraged. But, while watching Doctor Who with a friend, I saw a commercial for this year's iteration. I was intrigued. In a moment of confusion, we decided to venture over to Best Buy and ask an actual human some questions and discovered that it was in fact as shiny as the commercial made it sound.
I hate to admit it, but I was loath to leave the Apple family. My desktop, laptop, and phone all share genetic material, but Apple simply did not offer what I wanted in any format at any affordable price. So I thought. I researched; I asked friends questions and came to Christmas morning knowing precisely what I hoped my mother would help me acquire.
Sometimes I feel outrageous in my gadgetry, but I do not acquire new technology lightly. I would have dragged out the life of my phone far longer if I hadn't smashed the screen and will likely still use my laptop for file storage/backup purposes. But, for portability and travel/work/fun, I am delighted to have a new shiny toy.
So here's to you, Microsoft, for making something of great utility at a very reasonable price point and endearing yourself to an Mac-lover. Cheers. Let's hope this is the beginning of a good relationship.
I saved it anyway. At the time, I had killed the battery through neglect. In contrast to my shiny new desktop, the now lumbering laptop, incapable of running Chrome, was far less compelling. After returning from a coffee shop, the stalwart steed would remain in my bag and I would switch to working on my more ergonomic desktop (though my chair is nothing if not un-ergonomic). With all that time running but not off, I drained the battery of any residual charge and turned my laptop into a portable desktop, functional but always in need of being plugged in. I replaced the battery for much less than the cost of a new device of any kind and trudged through a year and a half of grad school without an easily tote-able device beside my Nook, which only worked to load some types of documents.
Things seemed generally fine until I started a new job this fall that requires me to work from anywhere between 1 and 4 different locations. Without an easily movable device, much of my work became extremely segmented and I could not functionally work without packing 20 pounds of notebooks and electronics into a backpack. When I discovered my faithful laptop had become too old to use Skype as anything other than a chat service, I realized it was time.
I had researched netbooks, chromebooks, tablets, and low-end laptops and found nothing in an acceptable price range than offered the portability and utility that I wanted. A year ago I had heard whispers about Microsoft's Surface device, I had even seen a few in the wild, but the reviews were bad and I was discouraged. But, while watching Doctor Who with a friend, I saw a commercial for this year's iteration. I was intrigued. In a moment of confusion, we decided to venture over to Best Buy and ask an actual human some questions and discovered that it was in fact as shiny as the commercial made it sound.
I hate to admit it, but I was loath to leave the Apple family. My desktop, laptop, and phone all share genetic material, but Apple simply did not offer what I wanted in any format at any affordable price. So I thought. I researched; I asked friends questions and came to Christmas morning knowing precisely what I hoped my mother would help me acquire.
Sometimes I feel outrageous in my gadgetry, but I do not acquire new technology lightly. I would have dragged out the life of my phone far longer if I hadn't smashed the screen and will likely still use my laptop for file storage/backup purposes. But, for portability and travel/work/fun, I am delighted to have a new shiny toy.
So here's to you, Microsoft, for making something of great utility at a very reasonable price point and endearing yourself to an Mac-lover. Cheers. Let's hope this is the beginning of a good relationship.
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