Guest Blog: PJ’s Notes from New England Monday, Apr 14 2008 

travel thisgaudygildedstage 8:47 pm

As you probably know, I’m away from Athens for a month doing a research fellowship at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts. I’m having a lot of fun with my research, getting to know the other fellows and the staff of the library, and staying in this big house across the street where some of the fellows live. Here’s a link to some pictures of the library, especially the pretty amazing reading room. Anyway, at the end of this month, I should have the raw material for a pretty good chapter for my book in progress. But enough about work!

One of the things I have been most looking forward to about this month in New England was being able to travel around the area seeing the literary sites that I’d read lots about but had never had the opportunity to see before. This past weekend I began that process on Saturday with a drive to Amherst, the college town where Emily Dickinson spent most of her life. It’s just a little over an hour away from Worcester. I began the pilgrimage at West Cemetery, where she is buried. In the picture of the grave here, you’ll see that Dickinson didn’t die, she was only “called back.” (Just click on the picture to enlarge it.) The rest of her family, buried in the same plot, merely “died.”

After, paying my respects, I drove around the block to the site of her house (where she was born and where she died–or got called back) and the house next door where her brother Austin and his family lived. It was wonderful to get some sense of Dickinson’s daily life (everything from the view from her window to the kind of plants in her garden). I especially liked the image the tour guide kept giving us of this little red-headed woman, walking her huge dog Carlo, a Newfoundland, around Amherst. It was a nice departure from the silly image of the house-bound recluse wearing a white dress that’s so often presented to students.

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Visiting the Portland Art Museum Thursday, Apr 3 2008 

museums and travel thisgaudygildedstage 9:58 pm

While in Portland for the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Conference, I took an afternoon off to visit the Portland Art Museum with my friends James and Nicole. As part of the conference, we were able to get into the museum for free. After eating lunch in the museum cafe, where I had a great tomato and cheese panini with a cup of roasted squash soup, we spent about an hour and a half walking around the museum’s exhibits.

As usual, I’ll spend this post rambling about my favorite works from the museum. The first is Jean Baptiste Greuze’s “The Drunken Cobbler:”

The Drunken Cobbler

I particularly like this painting’s use of light and color. While the eye is obviously drawn to the central action, I also like the details on the various pieces of woodwork. Not surprisingly, given my tastes and scholarly interests “The Drunken Cobbler” is an eighteenth-century painting. The museum notes that this is one of the most important works housed in the Portland Art Museum.

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Back from ASECS Tuesday, Apr 1 2008 

academia and travel thisgaudygildedstage 2:57 pm

Hilton PortlandI got back from the meeting of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies in Portland, OR, on Sunday. This is a picture of the hotel from the ASECS website. I arrived on Thursday afternoon and starving for something to eat. It was a great conference. I enjoyed all of the panels I attended, and the little sightseeing that I did while there was also a lot of fun.

Let’s start with the important part: the panel I organized on “Representations of Jews in the Eighteenth Century.” I had received a large number of proposals for the session but could only accommodate four papers. Ultimately, I chose to include scholars from four different fields: one from an English department, one from history, one from religious studies, and one from a modern languages department. All four papers were excellent, and I was really proud to have brought them all together.

The only problem with the session was that it was scheduled for the final time on Saturday evening, 5:30 to 7 pm. Since this was the last session of the conference and since people were either leaving to go home or going out to dinner, etc., we had a relatively small number of people in our audience: only about 8. Despite the low turnout, it was a really good session, and I hope we can put another one together for next year.

Maria EdgeworthMost of the other panels I attended ended up being about late eighteenth-century women novelists. On Friday morning, I went to the 8 am session on “Locating Maria Edgeworth.” I’m extremely pleased with myself for going to an 8 a.m. panel! The session was really good. I especially liked Emily Hodgson Anderson’s paper, “Maria Edgeworth’s Helen and the Limits of the Eighteenth-Century Novel.” (I think she might have changed the title of her paper, but I forgot to write down the new title if she did. This is the title in the program.) Her paper was a brilliant neo-formalist reading of Edgeworth’s last novel. Really smart stuff. (The picture to the right is a portrait of Edgeworth from Wikipedia)

On the flight out to Portland, I started reading Marilyn Butler’s biography of Maria Edgeworth. It’s been a fascinating read. (I haven’t finished it yet, though I also read it on the flight home.) Reading the biography made the panel even more interesting. I’m also working on an article on Edgeworth right now, so it was really stimulating to hear such good work on this novelist. I feel inspired to get my article done so I can join the ranks of Edgeworth scholars!

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Gone to Portland Thursday, Mar 27 2008 

academia and travel thisgaudygildedstage 8:45 am

Today I’m flying to Portland, Oregon for the meeting of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. I’m chairing a session I put together on Jews in the Eighteenth Century. It’s going to be a great panel, even though we’re literally the last session of the conference — on Saturday evening no less. But the papers are going to be interesting, so I’m looking forward to it.

I’ve been to his conference every year for the past 9 years. I guess I’m at a point where I want to figure out my relationship to this conference. Am I trying to be a networker and connect with people to further my career? Am I just interested in carving our more space for eighteenth-century Jewish Studies and networking with people in this field? Or am I moving into a different kind of career and therefore not really interested in ASECS? Maybe this year’s conference will help me to start figuring this out.

I’ve never been to Portland before, so I’m also looking forward to seeing it for the first time. I’ve heard from friends that it’s a great place for vegetarian cuisine. I plan on going to the Portland Art Museum and Powell’s Books. I’m taking my camera, so maybe I’ll get some good pics for the blog too.

Unfortunately, PJ’s not coming with me this year. Maybe I’m getting too reliant on him to be with me all the time, but I decreasingly like to go anywhere without him. He’ll be gone for the month of April doing research in Massachusetts, so maybe it’s good that I’ll be away for a few days and then we’ll be together for a week before he leaves for his trip.

Regardless, I intend to have a great time in Portland and will write all about it when I get back.

 

Back from New York Saturday, Dec 15 2007 

movies and museums and theater and travel thisgaudygildedstage 9:41 pm

PJ and I got back from NYC yesterday afternoon. We had a great time — even better than last year. I’ll blog about the specifics over the next week, but I thought that I would briefly summarize the trip here first.

We arrived in the city on Monday around 2 pm. We saw our first semi-celebrity in the Columbus airport — John Kasich, the former Republican representative from Ohio. He was on our flight to New York. After we arrived in the city, we checked into our hotel, which was in Hell’s Kitchen in midtown Manhattan. The weather was a little cold and drizzly, but it was fun just to see some of the now familiar sites, like Times Square and Rockefeller Center. We ate dinner at Yum Yum 3, a Thai restaurant on 9th avenue. After dinner, we saw Things We Want, an Off-Broadway play by Jonathan Marc Sherman and directed by Ethan Hawke. (I’ll review each of the plays later.)

On Tuesday, we ate breakfast at Pigalle, the only restaurant we ate at last year and returned to this trip. We then visited the Frick Collection. We also walked over to the Lincoln Center to look at it. We briefly considered getting tickets for an opera but ultimately decided not to — we were not familiar enough with the opera that was showing. We later found out that we could have seen Placido Domingo if we had gone to the opera. Oh well. Next time we’ll check out the opera before we go and maybe even plan our trip around seeing one. We ate lunch at P. J. Clarke’s across the street from the Center. In the afternoon, we went to the TKTS booth to get tickets for Spring Awakening. It took a lot less time than we thought it would to get the tickets, so we had to find something else to do for a couple of hours. We decided to walk downtown. We walked down Fifth Avenue and walked by the Empire State Building (we went up it last year) and looked around Macy’s. We had dinner at the Blue Point Creperie. Spring Awakening was great. We saw B. D. Wong in the audience; he and a companion sat a couple of rows ahead of us. He was our third celebrity of that day: we also saw John Tartaglia (so cute) walking in midtown and Bob Saget (also cute) arriving at the theater for his performance in The Drowsy Chaperone.

Wednesday started with breakfast at the Cosmic Diner. We the took the subway to the Whitney Museum. We had misunderstood when it opened and got there an hour too early. So, we walked over to the American Museum of Natural History. We then went to Bloomingdale’s. I wanted to buy a new pair of underwear, and the weather that day was so bizarre — kind of cold and kind of warming up — so I also decided to buy another jacket (a fleece) to wear. After doing a bit of shopping, we ate lunch (at The Brasserie 360) and then went back to the Whitney. The Seafarer was our top choice for a play that night, and we were glad we got tickets. We had dinner at a restaurant called Meson Sevilla on 46th Street and the went to the play. (Again, more about that later.) We only saw one celebrity on Wednesday: Michael Feinstein, who was walking in the Upper West Side.

Thursday was our last day in New York. The weather was supposed to be dicey — snow, slush, and icy rain. As PJ keeps saying, it felt like someone was dousing us with buckets of ice cold water most of the day. We walked over to Bryant Park and watched people ice skate as the snow started to switch over to icy rain. We then went to the Morgan Library. The weather just seemed to get worse — colder but wetter. So we decided to have lunch someplace warm and easy — Red Lobster in Times Square. We also decided to get out of the cold by seeing a movie, Juno. I’ll review it too sometime this week. We went back to our hotel room to warm up afterwards, and then ate dinner at Kyma, a Greek restaurant, and then went to see August: Osage County, an excellent new play by Tracy Letts. The full review will come later, but I can’t help but say right now that it is brilliant! It’s a great, great play. Our only celebrity that day was Jack Wetherall, who played Uncle Vic on the American version of Queer as Folk. He’s surprisingly sexy (PJ’s words), considering he played such a frail and sickly character on the series.

Friday morning we got up at 5:30 and hailed a cab to the airport. Despite the previous day’s weather, our flight was on time and we got back to Columbus in time for lunch and a little Christmas shopping. It was a great trip. Unfortunately, we probably won’t be able to go next December. Whenever we do go again, my goal is for us to get out of Manhattan. In the meantime, I’ll spend my time fantasizing about another week in New York.

 

New York, New York Monday, Dec 10 2007 

travel thisgaudygildedstage 11:02 am

PJ and I are off to New York — we’re currently sitting in the Columbus airport waiting for our flight. We’re hoping to see a few good plays, visit some museums, and eat well while we’re there. I should have lots to blog about when we get back. Last year, we had a great time during our visit. This year should be even better!

 

Eighteenth-Century Texas Wednesday, Nov 28 2007 

travel thisgaudygildedstage 12:26 pm

Last Wednesday, PJ and I were sitting in our favorite Mexican restaurant along the river walk in San Antonio, Casa Rio, looking at a publicity magazine while eating lunch. We were looking for something to do for an hour or two before having to go back to my sister’s house and hang out with our family and her in-laws.

My eye was caught by the brochure’s brief description of the Mission Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepcion de Acuna, which it simply described as the oldest of the eighteenth-century Spanish missions in the San Antonio area. The magazine wasn’t very clear on how far away the mission was, but we decided to drive over and see what it was. After all, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to see something from the eighteenth century in Texas!

First, we decided to pay another visit to the Alamo. We knew it was within walking distance of the restaurant, so we figured we should see it again before going back to our car. This is the pic we took of the front of the Alamo.

The Alamo

I have to admit that I’ve forgotten my Texas history. We had a whole year of it in seventh grade; I wanted to take a semester of it in high school but couldn’t fit it into my schedule. As a history major at TAMU, I wasn’t required to take Texas History, but I did take my senior seminar on the social history of the Texas frontier. I really enjoyed the class; we studied things like diaries of early settlers and how people made coffee on the frontier. If I had thought that there was a real future in it, I might have been tempted to become a Texas historian. But even then I realized that there couldn’t be that many jobs in the field.

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Home from Thanksgiving Monday, Nov 26 2007 

travel thisgaudygildedstage 8:28 pm

PJ and I made it home from our Thanksgiving travels without too much trouble. Our flight from Little Rock to Dallas was delayed by a half hour, which meant that we had to run through the airport to catch our flight to Columbus. From landing to takeoff, we were probably in Dallas for not much more than a half hour. The real miracle, however, is that our luggage also made it on the plane! So, we got home around 5 and are now spending the evening just enjoying being home.

We had a great time on our trip. I’ll blog about the main events over this week, but I thought I would quickly summarize them here. The highlight for me was our visit to two eighteenth-century San Antonio missions (in addition to the Alamo). I took lots of pictures. Next time I visit my sister, I definitely want to go back. We also saw a great movie, No Country for Old Men. I liked it so much that I immediately bought the novel and read it. I also read another great book, The World of Normal Boys. I’ll write reviews of all three of these works sometime this week.

We also met my sister’s in-laws, which was interesting. She had 12 people for Thanksgiving, 10 of which were staying at her house (everyone but PJ and me). We mostly watched football. The Arkansas-LSU and Tennessee-Kentucky games were both great (though they were both played after Thanksgiving day, of course). In Arkansas, we hung out with PJ’s parents, saw his brother and his family at dinner, and visited his grandmother a few times. The real highlight of that part of the trip was getting to have lunch with our friend Laura on Sunday as she drove through town.

Overall, it was a fun trip and was especially delightful since we now aren’t going home for Christmas. Instead, we’re staying here and having our own Christmas without all of the family obligations, etc. I’m definitely looking forward to it!

 

Gone to Texas Tuesday, Nov 20 2007 

holidays and travel thisgaudygildedstage 8:25 am

PJ and I are leaving for Texas and Arkansas in a little while. First, we’re flying to San Antonio. We’ll be having Thanksgiving with my sister. On Friday, we’ll fly to Little Rock and spend the weekend with PJ’s parents.

I’m so far behind on my blog. I’ve been meaning to start a section on cats — mine and other people’s. One of my favorite blogs, Kenneth in the (212), routinely writes about his cat. I want to do the same. In that spirit, here’s a YouTube clip of our boy, Marlowe, getting down from a tree. We’re constantly impressed by his climbing and jumping abilities.

The sad looking flower bed at the end of the clip is the result of Marlowe wallowing in the dirt. I have to get a new border for it someday — something more durable. Right now, Marlowe is engaged in a fierce territorial war with our neighbor’s cats. Our neighbor leaves out food for her cats, and Marlowe is desperate to conquer their yard and claim this food source as his own. We terribly embarrassed by his ambitions — I think he must be the reincarnation of some English imperialist. I have an assortment of other clips and pics (mostly of other people’s cats) I’ll add from time to time.

I might try to blog a little while we’re gone. I also want to write about the Asylum Street Spankers concert we went to on Saturday.

We’re off to the Columbus airport.

 

Weekend in Cleveland, Part 2 Saturday, Nov 17 2007 

food and museums and travel thisgaudygildedstage 11:09 am

Last weekend, PJ and I, as well as our friends M&L, went to Cleveland for the Conference of the Midwest Modern Language Association. I’ve already written about the first half of the weekend.

After going to the Cleveland Museum of Art, PJ and I met up with M&L and a friend of theirs from graduate school for lunch at Flannery’s Pub, where I had the corned beef sandwich, which was so tasty and succulent. I’m constantly on the lookout for a good corned beef sandwich here in Athens but haven’t found one to suit my taste yet. Often, they can end up too greasy, or the corned beef doesn’t have much of a taste. This sandwich was perfect. (Excuse me while I pause for a moment and reminisce.)

Next, we went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This is the second time we had been to the Hall of Fame. Consequently, we didn’t want to linger quite as much over some of the first exhibits as M&L did, so we went on ahead of them. In many ways, I find this museum overwhelming. There’s just too much to see and take in. So I spend most of my time search out Tina Turner memorabilia. I have to say that she’s not nearly as well represented in the Hall of Fame as she should be. Hopefully this error will be remedied by inducting her as an individual and not just as part of Ike and Tina Turner, which is how she is currently recognized.

The special exhibit this time was on The Doors. I have to admit that I don’t know much about them. We saw Jim Morrison’s grave while we were in Paris this summer. As part of the exhibit you can watch a video of a Door’s concert. I sat there for a while to see if I could get a little of The Doors experience. I eventually came to the conclusion that one really needs to be high on something to get the full effect. Their music seems to entice one towards drugs, which would undoubtedly augment the experience. Not being high, I couldn’t quite get into them while watching the video, but I was almost tempted to buy a CD of their music in the gift shop just to give them another chance. Almost.

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