Blessing of the Animals

This morning was the Blessing of the Animals service at my church, and it was everything I had hoped.  For one thing, everyone there (including me) was straight out of the Preppy Handbook - never have I seen so many Chocolate Labs and King Charles Spaniels.  There was also an array of rescued Greyhounds, some with missing limbs and others with surgery scars, but all of whom were happy to be in a crowd of animal lovers.  It was standing room only, so we sat on the floor at the back, and Mollie lay down quietly amid the cacophony.  The woman next to me had a Pointer puppy named Pinto who alternated between leaping around and sitting on me.  She said, "Thank goodness you're an animal lover."  Mollie was extremely well behaved, and she even stood up for the reading of the Gospel.  There were no parrots in attendance, alas, but there were some hamsters inside those plastic balls, and a few brave cats.  I was disappointed when I overheard someone saying that they had left their iguana at home.  The role of "escaped animal running crazily through the congregation" was played by a Jack Russell Terrier, who embraced the role with gusto.  He was eventually captured, and as his owner carried him away, he had an expression of doggie pride at a job well done.  During the Eucharist the priest went through the congregation to bless all the critters and those who care for them. At coffee hour we chatted with another priest who is heavily into cat rescue and was full of stories about Border Collies who have real jobs herding sheep in Colorado.  

Vote or Die

It was a glorious day in Atlanta today, so everyone went to the park to have picnics, play frisbee, and walk their dogs.  While walking mine I noticed that the voter-registration people were out in force, getting everyone signed up to make democracy happen.  A mother-daughter team approached me and asked if I was registered.  I said "Thank you for asking, but I'm not American." The mother said "Oh, I don't think that matters."  I suggested that it did, but she wouldn't take no for an answer:

Woman: Do you have a driver's license?

Me: Yes, but I'm not a U.S. Citizen.

(Woman consults clipboard)

Woman: Are you a legal resident of Fulton County?

Me: Yes, but...

Woman:  Well then you can vote.

Me:  I'm pretty sure you have to be an American citizen to vote.

Woman:  But if you live here legally you can register.

Daughter:  Mom, that doesn't sound right.

Me: I'm Canadian.

Woman:  Let's look at the list again...driver's license...social security number...over 17 years old...not a felon....

Me:  I don't want to get deported.

Woman:  Oh, wait, I guess you have to be all the things on the list.

(Daughter rolls eyes)

Me: Yes, I imagine so.  But thank you for your dedication.  Good luck! 

While this was going on, I was on my cell phone with a Canadian friend who works in the U.S. As she listened to this confused repartee, she found herself seconds away from demanding to speak to the woman herself and explain how citizenship works.

The irony is that if I had registered to vote, illegally, then that would be a felony.  Then I'd be a felon, and wouldn't be able to vote.

This made me reminisce about the time I got my Georgia driver's license and the woman at the DMV tried to register me to vote in spite of my Canadian passport and Ontario license because I "seemed American" on account of my clear English and blonde hair.

America is dying for me to get the franchise.  

Looking for Nothing

This weekend I visited the Shambhala meditation center, where Mick takes meditation classes.  As one might expect, it was a very peaceful place.  I took part in a class, and after we did a five-minute exercise where you sit quietly and become conscious of the feelings in your body, the instructor asked us what we had experienced.  

She asked "What was it like?", but then revised her question. 

"No, wait, I don't mean what was it like, I mean, What was it?"  

I thought, man, this is sooo Buddhist.  Afterwards, we had the universal experience of coffee hour, except that it was green tea instead of coffee.

To reciprocate, I'm planning to take Mick to the blessing of the animals service at All Saints' at the end of the month.  I'm planning to bring Mollie too!

Road Trip Cuisine

This weekend Mick and I made a road trip to Chattanooga for a swing dancing festival.  The festival was great fun - they had live bands playing in the park by the river, and we boogied on the very crowded dance floor. 

On the way we decided to try out a legendary form of food preparation - engine manifold cooking.  The idea is, you wrap up food in many layers of tinfoil, then place it strategically on the hottest parts of your engine (avoiding the moving parts), close the hood, drive for at least 2 hours, and then you have a delicious hot lunch.  I was in charge of the menu, so I did an internet search and discovered that there was a book on this published in 1989 entitled Manifold Destiny.  It is long out of print, and extremely difficult to come by, but I managed to get a copy through interlibrary loan - an elaborate process that involved my consulting with several Georgia Tech research librarians. 

When the book was finally delivered, I pored over it and devised my menu, which included marinated tofu, sliced potatoes and carrots with fresh rosemary, corn on the cob, and baked apples with sugar and cinnamon.  I used a whole roll of tinfoil to wrap everything up, studied the layout of the car's engine to figure out the best spots, wedged everything in, and off we went.  

Two hours later we pulled over at a Civil War battlefield, sat down under a monument, and unwrapped everything.  The food was perfectly cooked, and we are now planning more trips just so we can have an excuse to try new recipes.

   

DragonCon 2008

DragonCon is a major annual event in Atlanta's cultural life.  This huge meeting of science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts begins with a parade.  Here are some highlights:

I cannot explain this large multi-person cat.

Found-object artists/Star Wars fans in costume.  The central figure is Chewbacca.  My camera failed, (ok, I failed) to capture the Darth Vader made of Jack Daniels whiskey boxes.

Stormtroopers are scary, especially in large numbers.

Publish or Perish

At long last I sent my book proposal to a university press yesterday.  I had been agonizing over the wording for ages, but finally emailed it to the editor.  She emailed me back almost immediately to say "This looks good."  What?  That's it?  They should decide in a couple of weeks.

Movie Palace Encounters

At the beginning of the academic year, there are a string of receptions, luncheons and dinners to welcome new and returning faculty to campus.  Most of these events are, to be frank, dull and tense.  First, academics are not the most socially gifted demographic, and in the days before the semester starts they are all nervous and strained about getting their courses organized.  This combination of factors rarely makes for a good party.  Still, when my friend invited me to one of these events, I tagged along, thinking that at the very least I'd get a free dinner.  Against all expectations, I came away with much more.  

The dinner was at the Fox Theatre, an Atlanta institution that started life as a Shriners Temple, became a movie palace with an Egyptomania aesthetic, and now hosts concerts, parties, and the occasional film screening.  Early in the evening we went on a tour - it was great fun to hear about the Orientalist decor, the early air-conditioning system, the huge cinema organ, and the elaborate fire-control systems (since the building dates from the era when film was extremely flammable - explosive, actually).  If I teach "Intro to Film" in Atlanta I plan to take my students there so they will know how fabulous a movie theatre can be. 

After the tour I got in line for the bar, and started chatting with a guy who, like me, had been invited by a friend to come along for a free dinner.  He told me that he works for the local newspaper, but I soon discovered his real profession:  magician.   We hit it off, and had dinner together courtesy of Georgia Tech.  Since then we've taken Atlanta by storm - swing dancing, the drive-in, and this weekend we're going to a laser show about the history of Georgia.  He has promised to teach Mollie a magic trick so she can show up all the other therapy dogs.