booker street: 3/1/05

3.31.2005

the tree that owns itself

apparently another mr j, colonel w.h. jackson, also felt a great affinity for trees - and one in particular. he loved this tree so much he deeded 8 feet of land around it - probably the diameter of the trees roots! - to the tree for its eternal (self) preservation. sigh...

the "tree that owns itself" is a white oak (quercus alba) located smack dab in the middle of the intersection of finley and dearing streets in good ol' athens ga.

this tree should really be called "the tree that owns itself #2" as it is the descendant (from acorn to oak...") of the original tree loved by colonel jackson, which perished of heart rot (god that sounds awful - i think i had that when i first left athens) and high winds in 1942, or so.

i understand tree love.

flora, pt. 1

it's not often i express affection for my town. in fact, i often express extreme loathing for it.
it's too expensive, overflowing with snotty, over-privileged university students, flooded with over-educated university graduates who compete rabidly for the few interesting and rewarding jobs, and - did i mention - too expensive.

but there are one or two things i do love about CHO, one of which i was reminded of today. this town is blessed with the perfect growing conditions for the most beautiful flowering trees and spring bulbs. the flowering trees are truly my favorite thing in this landscape and every year i promise to walk around town and photograph the trees in full bloom. perhaps writing about them will make me do it this year.

so this is part 1 of my musings on the flowering trees. i will write additional parts as the different types of trees begin to bloom. i think the cherries will be next, then the dogwoods, then the redbuds, and later in the summer, the crape mrytles. can a girl be more lucky?

right now the magnolias are in almost full bloom. they are the first of the flowering trees to bud out, and bloom closely in time with the pear trees (which i care for much less). i believe that the most beautiful magnolia in the world grows in CHO, on the grounds of our venerable university. it most have been planted when mr. j was still living up on his little mountain because it is ENORMOUS.

i think this is a deciduous magnolia (magnolia denudata), as opposed to the evergreen, and more common magnolia grandiflora. the magnolia denudata loses its leaves in the fall and remains bare until after it has bloomed out. the blooms on this magnolia are like giant white dinner plates and their color is luminous cream graduating to green centers. the blooms on the magnolia denudata are similar to those of the magnolia grandiflora (called "southern"), but are a million times more striking and exciting because they bloom on bare branches. our particular denudata must be 50 feet tall with the branches easily stretching out 10 to 15 feet. some of the branches grow just inches above the ground, but begin far up on the trunk - so you can get underneath the tree and be engulfed by its enormity. i LOVE this tree.

sometimes this magnolia is thwarted by a late freeze which turns the still-closed buds to turn brown and fall off, but i don't think that will happen this year!

the blooms on the tulip magnolia, also known as "japanese" or "saucer" magnolia (magnolia soulangiana), equal that of the southern evergreen and deciduous magnolias in beauty (and sometimes size), but the tree's habit is much different than its larger cousin. the branches of the tulip magnolia grow very upright on multiple trunks, not spreading and stretching far and wide. so when they bloom, the trees look like multi-pronged tridents covered in the richest pinky-purple flowers. this tree is shocking to see when it first blooms because the colors are so bold and striking. to me, the tulip magnolia really exclaims the arrival of spring.

the star magnolia (magnolia stellata) is different all together, typically remaining very petite in size and blooming small, pure white or barely pink star-shaped flowers. these blooms have tons of tiny delicate petals, whereas the southern and tulip both have fewer, waxy thick petals. the star magnolia is truly beautiful too, but somehow doesn't capture my attention like the larger varieties of tulip and denudata.

thus concludes flora, pt. 1. thinking about trees in CHO also made me think about one particular tree in a town i truly love. this tree is called the tree that owns itself. i don't really know the history of it, so i will see what the internet will teach me...

still hating....

as i am very interested in the thoughts of my friends on the subject of popularity, i thought i would post the comment made by my dear australian friend regarding his thoughts on my "we hate it when our friends become successful" post:

"Anyone with any experience as a music consumer would also appreciate that once the talons of the music industry get a grip on musicians there is often a decline in quality. This is not across the board, but it's very often the case. It's probably like watching your child get swept up in peer group pressure. So it's not just a change in the fan base etc, often the actual product is altered and becomes worse."

he is such an academic!

two words

there are two words that are really beginning to irritate me. perhaps it's because i have had nothing better to do at work than read the music rags in which they over-use and over-print "hipster" and "indie" way too much. i realise this is an unfortunate luxury for me - that i have so much free time as to be annoyed by such small matters - but from this day forward i refuse to ever utter those two most ridiculous and meaningless words again.

i am embarassed that they may have ever passed my lips before.

3.30.2005

jesus is my homeboy and other such nonsense

so i read this article in the ny times fashion section about the popularity of gear with the likeness of jesus - like the tshirt which reads "jesus is my homeboy." it is laughable the level of sincerity and seriousness with which this article approaches the topic. i mean, does the fine reporter really believe that joe trendy wanders on down to the local urban outfitters and purchases a "jesus rocks" tshirt in order to proclaim his faith? eh, no...i don't think so! it is far more likely that joe trendy, in his 200 dollar wranglers and "trucker" hat - also purchased at the local style mecca that is urban outfitters - found that tshirt on the rack of other ironic tshirts and thought to himself "man, isn't this cool and edgy. won't i stand out at the next rock show i attend?" and proceeded to purchase the latest addition to his uniform.

another sentiment expressed in this article is that wearing the likeness of jesus or proclaiming your hipness to god is somehow making religion modern. oh wait, i think wearing a tshirt that shows jesus on the turntables and reads "last night a dj saved my life" is making a mockery of religion. mockery not modern.

perhaps i really shouldn't even care, but i find it so offensive that the ny times would even publish such crap, fashion section or not. sure, sure, the times wants to stay abreast of trends among the man on the street, but this is really stretching that philosophy a bit too thin.

3.29.2005

why, hello little lamb

spring has sprung. it's 60 degrees and sunny, the trees are blooming and i am a happy girl.

merge rec

man, that merge records has to be the best thing to happen to me this year. not only have they provided a stable home life for my all-time favorite band, now they announce they will be releasing the new teenage fanclub record in june. holy cow!
this is really gonna be my year, thanks in part to our dear friends in chapel hill. thanks guys!

3.28.2005

rain, rain, go away

c'mon now, up until a week ago we'd had the snowiest march and now we've had rain for 5 days. can't spring just spring already?
it's time for the lamb to strike the lion down.

3.25.2005

we hate it when our friends become successful

so i queried my hubby about why we want the bands we love to remain obscure and not gain popularity. again, he came up with an interesting and sharp reply. he's a smart one, my hubby...

he suggested that popularity somehow cheapens the experience of the band for the fan who has loved them for so long. that it makes the music a commodity in some way, whereas before mass popularity it was art. i know, i know, it was a commodity to begin with, but before mass acknowlegement it was an obscure and rare commodity shared among a seemingly chosen few.

it's not that we wish the members of our favorite bands lives of obscurity and poverty. this is not the case at all. i think we want our favorite bands to be treasures shared among only a few who's love and dedication have been tested through many releases, long periods of time between those releases, travelling to remote locations for shows, etc. there is a comradery and solidarity among those fans and when the fan pool is corrupted by the lowest common denominator (read "modern rock" radio listeners, VH1 and MTV viewers) it begins to be difficult to support your band. i don't want people making spoon the flavor of the day. they deserve more, and better, respect than that.

(the nature of the flavor of the day is something i have still to work out)

i am still processing all of this - it's tough to figure, i'd say.

today is an important day in history

pecan day (u.s. i presume)
annunciation (celebration of the date when the angel gabriel appeared unto the virgin to announce her immaculate conception, christian tradition)
bandaged bear day (those wacky australians!)
commemoration day of victims of the communist terror (latvia)
good friday (christinan tradition, lunar calendar)
independence day (greece)
anniversary of the arengo (san marino)
waffle day (sweden)
maryland day (u.s., duh)
purim/feast of lots (judaic tradition)

on this day in history:

708 - Pope Constantine is consecrated.
1306 - Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scotland.
1409 - The Council of Pisa opens.
1634 - The first settlers arrive in Maryland (thus today is Maryland Day) led by Lord Baltimore.
1655 - Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christian Huygens.
1802 - The Treaty of Amiens is signed as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace" between France and Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1807 - The Slave Trade Act becomes law, abolishing slavery in the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1821 - Greece declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire, beginning the Greek War of Independence.
1865 - The Claywater Meteorite explodes just before reaching ground level in Vernon County, Wisconsin. Fragments having a combined mass of 1.5 kg are recovered.
1865 - American Civil War: In Virginia, Confederate forces capture Fort Stedman from the Union. you go johnny reb!
1894 - Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, departs Massillon, Ohio for Washington D.C. to protest widespread unemployment as a result of the Panic of 1893.
1901 - At the five-day "Week of Nice" race in Nice, France, Mercedes Benz wins its first racing victory.
1911 - In New York City the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire kills 146 garment workers.
1918 - The Belarusian National Republic was established.
1924 - Greece proclaims itself a republic.
1931 - The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with rape.
1939 - Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli becomes Pope Pius XII.
1941 - Kingdom of Yugoslavia joins the Axis powers.
1947 - An explosion in a coalmine in Centralia, Illinois kills 111.
1949 - The extensive deportation campaign was conducted in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Soviet authorities deported more than 92,000 people from Baltics to the remotest areas of the Soviet Union.
1955 - United States Customs seizes Allen Ginsberg's Howl as obscene.
1957 - The European Economic Community is established (West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg).
1960 - In London, Jacqueline Boyer wins the fifth Eurovision Song Contest for singing "Tom Pillibi".
1965 - Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King, Jr successfully complete their 4 day 50 mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery.
1969 - During their honeymoon, John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold a bed-in for peace in the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel (until March 31).
1971 - Bangladesh Liberation War: Beginning of Operation Searchlight of Military of Pakistan against East Pakistani civilians.
1972 - In Edinburgh, Scotland, Vicky Leandros wins the seventeenth singing "Après toi" (After you).
1975 - King Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by a mentally ill nephew.
1979 - The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Space Shuttle Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch.
1990 - In New York City, a fire at an illegal social club called "Happy Land" kills 87.
1992 - Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev returns to Earth after a 10-month stay aboard the Mir space station.
1995 - Ward Cunningham opens the first wiki, the Portland Pattern Repository.
1996 - An 81-day long standoff between the antigovernment group Montana Freemen and law enforcement in Jordan, Montana begins.
1996 - The European Union Veterinarian Committee bans the export of British beef and its by-products as a result of mad cow disease (BSE).
2004 - Air Holland files for bankruptcy after unproven allegations of abuse by the their pilots led them to bankruptcy.

a few birth highlights:
1252 - Conradin or Conrad the Younger, king of Sicily
1741 - Jean Antoin Houdon, sculptor of great thinkers: Diderot, Rousseau, Voltaire, Franklin, Jefferson, Washingtom
1867 - Arturo Toscanini, conductor
1873 - Ruldolph Rocker, anarcho-syndicalist (hmm, i'm intrigued...)
1911 - Jack Ruby, killer of Lee Harvey Oswald
1918 - Howard Cosell, sports journalist
1925 - Flannery O'Connor
1935 - Gloria Steinem
1942 - Aretha Franklin
1947 - Sir Elton John
1965 - Sarah Jessica Parker
1976 - Juvenile
1977 - me

it always rains on 03-25

flirting

i had the sweetest interaction with a guy at the gap last night. i was buying a number of these practically boring camisoles and he commented that i must be stocking up. to which i self-conciously replied " why yes i am," thinking that he was going to leave the small talk at that. but instead he continued to engage me about my purchase. so i told him how great they are as bra alternatives and how these particular camisoles are a perfect fit for me because they are actually long enough to fit my torso. and he was like, "yeah, and if you get hot then you have a lighter shirt to wear." he was so cute and sweet, and i am sure not gay. gay boys flirt all the time. he was not an experienced flirter, but nonetheless, what a sophisticated flirter - to engage a girl about her purchase and make her feel that she is so smart for making it. and executed in such a way... he made me smile. in an otherwise vapid environment that is the gap i was thrilled. not only with my purchase but with my flirting salesman.
i also bought cute new shoes... happy birthday to me!

3.24.2005

in which i vent about bad rock writing and the band i love

kexp has been playing new spoon tracks for the last few days. my reaction is that i don't want them to play the new record too often. they never played the old albums much.
what is it about us that makes us want to keep bands to ourselves?

i read an annoying tiny mix tapes article about the spoon/interpol pairing for the upcoming european tour. the gist of the article is that spoon supporting interpol is an odd pairing. now, the hubby and i had this conversation when i told him that the clientele is supporting spoon in the us. his contention is the combo of two more unlike sounding bands (spoon/clientele) is sometimes a better one than a combo of two bands that may be more similar sounding. his thought is that the clientele will only make my mouth water more for spoon than would a band who was trying to sound like them. in this situation, i assure you i will be salivating, clientele or not. but in general, i have to say, i have come around to his thinking.

with that said, however, i would love to see interpol.
i do not, however, believe that spoon should be opening for anyone.

anyway, the tiny mix tapes article was annoying for so many reasons:
"light indie rockers Spoon" AHEM, are you an idiot? what on earth is a "light indie rocker" and what does it have to do with spoon?

"Spoon plan to spoon it up with Merge labelmates The Clientele in June" i ask again, idiot?

"Britt Daniel and the Spoon crew will play disheveled hair and cowboy shirts to Interpol's dapper assassin. Maybe they'll have a showdown: super sleek NYC hipster vs. everywhere else hipster. Could you be more stoked?" holy cow, what is wrong with this guy? what the fuck is an "everywhere else hipster?"

and lastly, "Interpol released their latest, Antics, last September. According to SoundScan figures from a recent Billboard article, Antics has sold a whopping 287,000 copies thus far, meaning that even you probably own it." and why the fuck wouldn't you, it's a great record.

mrboots, you're a buffoon and you certainly don't deserve to be writing rock commentary! you can not possibly represent a group of people unified in their obsession with jim o'rourke. i won't accept it.

reflections on blogging

so having blogged now for a week or so - or has it been two weeks - i must take a moment to reflect. this is prompted by shumai's comment that she likes my blog because she can learn things about me that she wouldn't think to ask.
i like blogging. i think it is a valuable exercise for someone like myself who often questions whether or not to offer certain thoughts, and, as a result, feels burdened by those thoughts piling up in her head. i always feel overwhelmed by the constant noise of my voice in my head. i must preface every comment i make outloud with the words "i wonder..." or "why do you think...," and the number of comments i make outloud is far fewer than the ones that go though my head.
so as an exercise in self-reflection, i think blogging is great. with that said, i feel terribly self concious of my blog and haven't recorded nearly as much as i thought i would. maybe that is a result of having given my blog address out... too late now, i suppose.
did you know that world trade center towers were the first buildings in NYC to surpass the empire state building, which was erected almost three decades prior to them? a piece of architectural history trivia for you. it will be nice to work in my field again - not that i particularly care about the trivia - but i do find buildings endlessly interesting.
shumai responded to my accent comments that she now thinks the working-class boston accent sounds much less cultivated than a southern accent. i don't know if i disagree or agree, perhaps because i have not transplanted myself from the south to north. i do know that i think northerners in general sound very coarse. don't get me wrong, i appreciate someone who is direct and succinct when making a point. but i think northerners have not perfected the art of communicating that way with grace and tact. they just sound coarse and rude. and that opinion is not based on any stereotype of northerners, but on my personal impressions.
i am nothing, if not opinionated.
i have a friend who is saving his pepsi caps with free ipod songs for me and one that he just gave me has the code rubbed out. lame. he drinks a lot of pepsi...

3.22.2005

beast and dragon, adored

wow, spoon touring with the clientele. while i am excited to see both, i'm not sure there could be a more strange billing. i wonder how that came to be. i'll imagine that spoon really likes the clientele and wanted them to open for the tour - rather than thinking merge forced the coupling. holy cow, i can't wait to see spoon.

i read a funny article yesterday about a series of sneaks considered a new classic. i am a little embarassed for ms. hodges who, while believing she is composing an "intimate look" at the record, can't even get the singer's last name correct. hmm, how hard is that? and while i applaud her attempt to define what it is about the band that makes them so remarkable ( like i said before, that's a difficult task) she really comes across as a tyro. it is hard to take her seriously when she doesn't take the band seriously enough to learn the singer's name. oh well, not everyone can love the band as purely as myself, i suppse. or maybe she's just not as consumed as i am.

i also read an (old) interview with bd yesterday. the interviewer asked him why he doesn't have an accent if he grew up in texas. he responded that smart people don't have accents. i would contend that he is wrong. while an accent, be it southern or not, may carry with it certain negative stereotypes (especially southern), it does not necessarily indicate that one is not bright or educated. although i do not have an accent myself, as an adopted southerner i must defend my compatriots.

3.21.2005

holy cow

maybe it's this one, but i dont think so. bold jumping spider however, i did not get that close.

a new species

i am not able to find any photos of the spiders i found in my garden. perhaps i have found a new species? figures, it would be in my yard!

my life as list.

i don't know that i can write narratives anymore. it feels like i am writing for others and i don't think that i am.

i have the new spoon record, thank you dominic. holy shit, it's awesome.
have i ever said that i LOVE this band? i also love dominic for giving me a copy, although selfishly i wish he would have given me the original.

i know, i am selfish.

when i drove to my first day of work on friday i paid $2.05 for gas. i have never paid so much for gas. i also had to pay for parking.

my first day of work on friday was odd. i think i will love it if i can just get over my apprehensions.

i sequenced my first publication for my new job on friday. it's called on wall street and should be out in spring 2006. check it!

i saw numerous large black spiders in my garden this weekend. this discourages my desire to garden. i have not been able to identify them yet and looking at the websites makes me almost as nauseated as seeing them in the garden. ugh.

i love the new new wave.

we are now a one car family.

saturday i helped out with VAFB (virginia festival of the book). i left with these impressions: publishing professionals are not very nice and writers are whiny. why am i in publishing? hmm, good question.

sunday i read this in the Washington Post. i think everyone should read it, and it's predecessor.

christ, the new spoon album is GENIUS!

3.16.2005

i worry that i am worrying my life away

i am sore from gardening. i actually moved a tree stump. do i have super hero strength? no, it was mostly rotten and i only wanted to break off one of the roots but with will and determination i ended up moving the whole damn thing. amazing! perhaps this is why i am sore.

i don't just have clematis, i have a clematis jungle. it is unlike anything i have ever seen before. three hours yesterday i spent staking those buggers and hardly made any progress. i will also try to transplant a few, or twenty.

i think i think itunes sucks.

friday is my first day at my new job. well i guess it isn't my new job until i quit my current job and actually get paid to work at my new job five days a week, but still. it is the first day that i will be at my new job. i am excited.

i am not excited about having to drive 45 miles to my new job.

i am a stress monger.

i wonder if i should publish my spoon confessional.

i now need to wear reading glasses. i am too young to wear reading glasses. why can't i find any cute reading glasses?

3.15.2005

miscellany

easter candy will be the cause of early-onset diabetes for me. cadbury's chocolate should be illegal.

it is a funny thing that i like to garden: the bugs scare me out of my pants and the technicalities of soil composition make my eyes cross.

i need pallets to build a compost bin. should i gank them from the loading dock of a super store?

spell check suggested i change cadbury's to cadaverous.

i need a new job.

the greyhound people have not responded to me re: not adopting. they must hate me. i think that's shitty.

i still don't understand the ins and outs of my ipod.

i really like these two blogs: the last nail and 15-minute hipster

blogging may be more fun than i anticipated.

i am not ashamed

i suppose it is time to confess: i confess that i am so overwhelmingly in love with spoon. really, it's distracting. i have never, NEVER, never been so taken with a band as i have with this one. and i have had a long relationship with many bands. no band has ever hit me so hard. this is not a new love - it has been filling my heart now for many years. this is why i am so impressed by the depth and breadth of my love.

at the moment, however, i do feel like an unrequited lover since i don't as yet have a copy of the upcoming album, gimme fiction. i feel as though i should get a complimentary copy of the promo from merge just because i am so committed to the band. although how would they know that? i refuse to participate in those message boards. although i do look at them for tidbits every now and again.

alas, i must wait for my connections at the record store to pass me a copy.

i do feel a little less unrequited today after the shockingly clear recall i have of a dream i had last night... see that's how stupidly i love this band. really, i am not a 14 year old.

i wish i could articulate what it is that makes me so devoted to spoon. in a pitchfork review written when girls can tell was released, nick mirov said "their music just seems to possess this attitude that's both fresh and rooted in the origins of rock 'n' roll, an anger that's at once stylish and direct, a compassionate ache that's as oblique as it is palpable." palpable is right, all those perfectly timed exclamations! holy cow.

nick's right, and he has been right in just about every other review of the band's releases. except maybe his only moderately postive review of love ways. still, i think we should be friends.
speaking of pitchfork, i think this is one of the funnier reviews i have ever read, and also sad.

so there, i've come clean. i love this band. i am obsessed with this band. i am very sad that i am not in austin to see them play two nights in a row. i think i should move to texas.

3.14.2005

gardening

i think this may become my new past time, as i said in the previous post. is that correct "past time"? or maybe it is one word "pasttime." certainly it isn't "passtime," although that seems to be more accurate. i am not sure. anyway, maybe gardening will be my new hobby.
i did garden a little when we lived on chesapeake street, but mostly in containers. i am sort of fixated with flowering vines. i think they are the best thing about gardening. when i was clearing out some junk from our yard i found many many many vines which i believe may be clematis. i am pretty sure they are clematis. i can't communicate how excited this makes me! the clematis is one of my faves. this clematis almost seems to be spreading on its own. not that i think it is incapable, but i didn't realise it would spread out quite so significantly. i am sure the former gardener planted one or two or maybe more vines, but certainly not this many and not this randomly! still, it seems like kismet that we bought a place where someone planted these vines that i adore. i can't wait to see them when they bloom! i have no idea what color or variety they are.
i am also obsessed with scented pelargoniums, also known as scented geraniums. i kept 6 or so in containers in the house (they are tender perrenials and too tender to be overwintered outside!) but they did not handle the move to our new house. i think it is too cold in the house. i will have to replenish my collection!
other plants that are on my mind: flowering quince (i think we may have two of these!), passion flower, elephant ears (or, i just learned, colocasia), and flowering bonsai shrubbery.
spring can't arrive soon enough!

things that happened over the weekend

ugh, it seems like it was such a stressful weekend. i am sure that it was only stressful because i let such minor things stress me out. but minor things in volume make for major stress. the first stressful thing was going to GLO to visit my 'rents. this is always a production because they are such stress mongers themselves. when the three of us are together the tension is higher than a kite. adding the husband to the mix makes the visits even more difficult for me because he does not function well in high tension situations, so i am hyper sensitive to him and making him comfortable. it was good that he went, by himself, to moldy oldies to look at records while i spent time with the stress mongers. the visit was also stressful for me because i felt obligated both to spend time with my mother and to visit my grandmother. i didn't particularly feel up to visiting my grandmother so i spent the time with my mother. spending time with my mom is hard - that is really all i can say about that without writing a psychological profile.
the highlight of my adventure with mom was the visit to a nursery which had amazing plants on which i am now obsessing. see passiflora for example. gardening in my new yard may become a serious past time.
so that was saturday. thank god the overnight guests that we thought were staying with us decided to return home. i don't think i could have dealt with them.
sunday the greyhound adoption group visited. we had a wonderful visit with them and the dogs, but decided that it is too soon to adopt and that we need to complete more of the home improvement projects that we have planned before adoting. it makes me sad not to be adopting, but i also feel some sense of relief. i think it is pretty clear here that i can only handle one or two stress-inducing issues at a time, and i havent even begun to document them all here. i do feel embarrased to have to tell the group that we are going to wait. i am sure they would rather have us make that decision now rather than after getting the dogs. but still...

3.11.2005

Intro to blogging 101

hot on the heels of creating a blog for my neighborhood association, and having little to occupy my time at work today, i thought i would indulge myself and my anxieties by creating a personal blog. i feel a bit weird about making a personal blog, like it is arrogant to publish my ideas so that others can read them. but i have no notion that this is for anyone else except myself, and so that is how i justify it.

"to publish" seems like an interesting way to describe what we do when blogging. i am certain that blogging falls within the definition of the word "publish," and so, as an aspiring minion in the field of publishing, i will also look at my blog as an exercise in the changing world of electronic publishing.

blogging also seems useful for someone like me who is so cerebral and hypercritical. i suppose those characteristics will come out as the blog matures.

so this is it - my blog - booker street. i named it after the street on which i live; the street on which my new husband and i bought our first house; the street that i never knew existed until we saw our house; the street on which has two teeny tiny shotgun cottages - which may be the only two left in our rapidly growing hamlet; the street on which two retired greyhounds may come to live in our house; the street on which there are really too many stray cats.

now, don't misunderstand - i LOVE cats. maybe to the point of absurdity - like that cartoon character that was on animaniacs (is that the name of the cartoon?) who terrorizes them out of an over abundance of love. we have two cats of our own and we are really stupid over them. so much so that i am freaking out that the two greyhounds that we may be adopting are going to ruin their lives. but these stray cats really seem to be a problem. there are at least six of them and i have no idea if they are altered. if not, the population of strays will triple pretty soon. it's really a tough situation - i would enlist the help of a trap and spay program in an instant if these cats were not *living* in someone's house! by *living* i mean that a door is always left open at the back of the house and the cats go in and out at will. i know, this seems to indicate that they are pets and not strays, but i think they are stray cats who have just taken up at this house. we aren't even sure that anyone actually lives in this house! still, this creates some grey area and prevents me from just having them trapped and spayed/neutered. my *progressive* city has no laws about unaltered animals so there is no beuracracy to call on. it's shameful.

wow, i am amazed at how much i have actually put in this first blog. as i said, i am very cerebral. i think a lot about a lot of things.

booker street