longing

I have a sudden, piercing desire to know how to skateboard.



Estimated year in which I will grow up: 2016

PS (Since I know not all of you get to Overheard every day):

In a New York State of Mind

Woman #1: Don't you hate taking the train so early in the morning? I take it every day.
Woman #2: Could you not talk to me?

--A train

God: There's a good way?

Teen boy #1: Hey mister, does this train go to Manhattan?
Man: I think it's supposed to, but the N's messed up right now.
Teen boy #2: Yeah, the N train's totally gay.
Man: Yeah, and not in the good way.

--Queensboro Plaza station

celebrity look-a-likes

If you go to this website you can upload a photo of yourself, and it will use a digital feature matching thing to tell you what celebrity you most resemble. You are going to be really really entertained by my results. Are you ready?

1. Kate Beckinsale
2. Michelle Rodriguez
3. Imre Kertesz (77 year old Jewish novelist from Budapest, male)
4. Michael Jordan (yes, that's right)
5. J. Lo
6. Molly Ringwald
7. Shahrukh Khan (41 year old Indian movie star, male)
8. Sinead O'Connor
9. Monica Bellucci
10.Grace Kelly

Now. Ok, now of course I don't resemble any of these people any more than they look like each other [except they did get the Molly Ringwald thing, which I am going to concede to them may not be completely off base].

But I think it's really interesting that they don't base this on hair, or gender, or skin tone. If this is actually based on matching features it's kind of intriguing that all of these people might get grouped together by a computer. Because it's a group that definitely belies racial categorization. And, I have big lips, and big cheeks, and going face by face in this group I can see the matchiness. I may be pale as anything and one of the only WASPs from New Rochelle but one look at my hair and you know I'm not the whitest page in the book.

I think if we could all find out our racial heritage by magic anyone who thought they were part of one "race" would be in for a surprise.

spring break!!

Vacations are amazing. I wish this one would never end.

Texas Film Hall of Fame news:
* Ann Richards, we are rooting for you so hard.
*Matthew McConnaughey, you gave the longest speech in the history of the world. Did you really need to start with your conception? (P.S. "One fertile night in Plano..." is not a story. "Christmas Eve, 1979. My parents are hosting a party." That's how a story starts.) I still love you, though. Your pops sounds cool.
*Lyle Lovett, when I was a little girl and I read about your marriage to Julia Roberts in People magazine I wondered to myself, now how did that man get her? Now that I am a grown woman I wonder, how did that woman get him.

I spent the past six days in La Jolla and it was awesome. We were all, what do you want to do today? Go to Walmart. Wash the car. Go to Barnes & Noble and get lattes at the Starbucks cafe (twice--and it's a half an hour drive--I am ashamed). Go to HEB. Get the oil changed. Grill some steak. Read our books for six hours straight.

We went to the Holy Spirit Catholic Parish's Peace and Justice Affirmation Night in McAllen to hear Sister Theresa Kane (from the Bronx! Yes!) speak about peace work and gender equality in the Catholic church. Later we got into a conversation with a woman from the parish and heard about the struggles they are going through. They have a blog, because they are down like that. I think you all are brave, and we are holding you in the light.

ABC is making a US version of Betty la fea? I'm not sure what to think, except that I love America Ferrera. But I'm not sure Ugly Betty really has as much of a ring to it.

What would the world be like if Paris Hilton were still a brown-eyed brunette? We may never know. Actually maybe you are really high-minded and never wonder about things like that, but I am not high-minded. Oh, and you're right Laur, she does have a chihuahua. I still love Ginger, aka Luv Bug, aka the flea machine who kept you up all night barking for eight months and peed on your car. I love you Ginger!!!

Iraq

Langley Hill Friends Meeting
"Tom Fox dies on a 'fairly quiet day' in Baghdad"

Now I don't particularly want to be tortured and killed and neither did Tom Fox seem to want to and neither, I'm sure, do the 133,000 U.S. troops currently stationed in Iraq nor the 26,000,000 people living there. I am tired of death--I am tired of this war. When I first heard about this kidnapping I mostly thought--please let them not die.

But I understand his work and I know he was not going there to die, even though he has, and I believe in it. Dude, I'm proud to believe in it.

So here are some links to event listings this weekend. I honestly did not think this war would see year three. Was I really naive?

AFSC
United for Peace and Justice

cowboy love story

Did you like Amores Perros? Do you care about Texas? Do you care about the border? Were you a little let down that, after all the cowboy hype, the guys in Brokeback were technically more like sheep hands?

I saw The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada last weekend and I really loved it. As it started I thought, ohh, it's a cowboy love story! Not gay, but definitely love. It's about two cowboys who are friends, and one of them is shot dead. One of them is Texan and the other is Mexican, but those are very fluid categories, huh. So the one who's left alive has to carry his friend's body back to Coahuila, Mexico, to be buried. And he kidnaps the murderer and brings him along.

I care about all of the things in the first paragraph [except the last one, because, ehh, semantics, right? When people say Brokeback is about gay cowboys, what they're really saying is it's about gay men] and also I've been thinking alot about grieving lately, and this is a pretty powerful portrait of grief. It's about as subtle as a sledgehammer, but it's cathartic as hell.

Maintaining borders is hard effing work, that's what it made me think.

some oscar notes

Fashion First
I love everyone who didn't wear black or beige to the Oscars this year, including J Lo. I know, her dress was pea soup green, but it was not beige. That being said, I thought Felicity Huffman in black looked amazing and I am listing her here as my number one, top favorite. Salma Hayek was bold and drop-dead as always, Michelle Williams chose this offbeat, kind of deco mustard yellow gown which I am coming down in favor of, and Amy Adams, who didn't get nearly enough screen time, looked gorgeous. Her dress was brown and quirky, which elevates it right out of beige territory, and it had pockets. When I was little my Dad told me designers didn't put as many pockets in women's clothes because it disempowers them and strips them of mobility. I mean, I was like 6. It made an impression on me at the time. I love pockets in women's formalwear.

Is it a coincidence that all my favorite dresses were on my favorite actors? No, the people I like just have good taste.










Oscar Highlights
* Dolly Parton's "Traveling Thru" performance

* George Clooney's acceptance speech (ok Mr. Suave, thank you for your unapologetic politics)

* Tsotsi director Gavin Hood's call and response "Amandla! Ngawethu!" with his actors in the audience, and his general enthusiasm

* Jon's "Oh no, Westerns aren't gay" montage, very fan mash-up inspired, I'm sure

Lowlights
*The other two musical numbers. Oh my God. The people walking around in slow motion among burning cars on the Crash number nearly killed me. "It's hard out there for a pimp" was a little better if only because the dancers weren't moving in slow motion. It did spark an interesting conversation for Elizabeth and me about what prostitutes wear/how prostitution is denoted in DC/Nashville, and whether, perhaps, there was any place in real life where they wear satin minis and afro wigs.

*Whenever one production partner talked too long during his acceptance speech so the other partner didn't get to talk. That sucks. And if you're a guy and you do it to your female partner, it makes you look like a sexist tool.

*Crash beat Brokeback. I would love to do a study of popular press coverage and see how much either of these two films triggered in-depth discussion of race and sexuality. But I think Brokeback was a stronger, subtler film. Interesting that both were made by those in a position of power in relation to the minority voices purportedly being represented, white writer/director for Crash, straight male director for Brokeback--and though I believe Annie Proulx is gay, no gay males writing/producing Brokeback that I know of. Even though Larry McMurtry is one bad-ass Texan.

big rock

Want to know what it looks like to be on top of a gigantic dome of pink granite in central Texas? From today's climb.

continuemos

I just found out that AISD has the same spring break as UT! I have a whole week off from work and school. I am thrilled.

I struggled a lot with a student today. He was very distracted, couldn't stay in his seat, couldn't stop playing with classroom supplies that weren't his, wouldn't clean up his work station. He was standing on his chair, and I started walking towards him sternly telling him to get down. He absolutely cowered, saying "don't hit me don't hit me don't hit me." Oh, guys. He's in second grade, you know? I talked to my supervisor and wrote it up and all that. It doesn't fix it though, does it.

ETA: I found the instructions for my faux proposal *tm megh. Media coverage of the 2002 attempted Venezuelan coup? Sound good? I was thinking about comparing it with coverage of the whatever the fuck happened to Aristide two years ago, but you know, I don't know if there was enough coverage of that to even work with. Unless I did, say, a close reading/comparison of maybe The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and The Agronomist. Is it okay with you that I am still working out my paper topic the night before the proposal is due?
__ Yes, and I love you
__ No, you ho