Space in the American West

There was a piece in The New Yorker by Geoff Dyer about traveling around the West looking at land art (e.g., "The Lightning Field" by Walter De Maria in New Mexico and "The Spiral Jetty" by Robert Smithson in Utah). One particular passage in the article expressed a familiar sentiment and it made me feel kind of homesick (that seems to be the best word) for the West. I guess another way of putting it is that it resulted in me having a longing for the West and its terrain. Here is the passage:

Perhaps it is not the natives of Texas or Arizona who fully appreciate the scale of the places where they have grown up. Maybe you have to be British, to come from a country the size of someone's back yard -- as Lawrence contemptuously expressed it -- to properly grasp the immensity of these Western states. So it's not surprising that Lawrence thought that "New Mexico was the greatest experience from the outside world" that he had ever had. Unprepared for the "shattering force" of the landscape, "a new part of the soul woke up suddenly."
The paradox of England: a tiny country that is impossible to get around. You can imagine a prospective visitor from Arizona studying a map of England and deciding, "Yep, we should be able to see most of this puppy in a couple of days." But how long does it take to travel from London to Gloucester? Anything from two and half hours to...well, better allow five, to be on the safe side. On the second thought, make that the best part of a day.
In the American West you can travel hundreds of miles and calculate your arrival time almost to the minute. We turned up for our rendezvous in Quemado at two o'clock on the dot. From Quemado, we drove four hundred and sixty miles to Zion, Utah, and got there exactly in time for our dinner reservation at eight-thirty. Our itinerary was as precise as De Maria's measuring.

I do appreciate the scale of the place I grew up. Eagan and I, having both grown up in Western states with wide open spaces, have discussed this topic together before. Time-and-Space is different outside of the West. Out here -- due to the roundabout nature of the roads (lots of indirect and twisting roads), the amount of traffic, and speed limit differences -- you don't get as far when you drive. I can drive for 30 minutes and end up only 7 miles away from where I started (and that's when traffic is not bad). In Utah, it takes 30 minutes to go from the city of Logan to Brigham City. That's 30 miles away. In the West, you have more opportunities to reach 30 miles in 30 minutes. Travel feels more substantial. From Logan to Brigham City you actually drive through a canyon and end up on the other side of a mountain range. You don't just end up 7 miles down the road.

Although I can get so much further distance-wise in the West (i.e., a better time-distance ratio), I can actually cover so much more territory on the East (in terms of borders). This paradox is due to the small size of Eastern states in relation to Western states. In Utah, driving for four hours will get me from northern Utah to central Utah. I can get halfway through one state. Out here, in four hours I can drive through six states (parts of six states). To further illustrate, the county I grew up in is almost half the size of the state of Delaware (in terms of land area). In fact, the county that borders the county I grew up in is almost three times bigger than the state of Delaware.

It definitely is an adjustment moving from the West to the East (or from the East to the West than to the East again, more appropriately). In the West, if you drive for 30 minutes you're going someplace 'special'. You're leaving your town. You're headed someplace else. Here, people commute 45 minutes just to get to their office.

Cafe Rio

Cafe Rio, a fast-fresh Mexican restaurant chain from Utah, has finally made it to the DC area. Cafe Rio has mostly expanded to states bordering Utah, but they made the jump out here probably because there's a pretty decent population of transplants from Utah. A lot of Utah mormons come out here to work for the government, or to attend one of the many universities here.

Cafe Rio is affectionately referred to as Mormon crack (the pork salads with the creamy tomatillo dressing are considered the most addictive). And, speaking from experience, you don't actually have to be Mormon to enjoy the food (I swear it!!). Every time we would go back to visit family in Utah, Cafe Rio would be on the list of places we had to go. When we moved away from Utah, we found copycat recipes so that we could enjoy Cafe Rio-esque food when the craving called. Now Cafe Rio has finally joined us here! And we couldn't have been more ecstatic. It's a bit out in the middle of nowhere (i.e., nowhere near a metro line), but luckily it's only a 25-30 minute drive from where we live. That could be a lot worse.

We heard about the new Cafe Rio location here during its first week of business. We heard the news on a Friday and went on a Saturday. So we went when it was still fairly new. We wondered if it would be very busy yet. Cafe Rios in Utah always have a line. It's just expected that if you want Cafe Rio, you're going to have to wait for it. We wondered how busy it would be at this one -- obviously Utahns in the area would definitely go, but how many would that be and how long would it take for them to hear that a Cafe Rio was in town? I should have known the power of Cafe Rio and its cult status... We pull into the new Cafe Rio and the parking lot was packed. We saw a shitload of minivans and SUVs -- the automobile of choice for many a mormon family. We also saw a decent amount of Virginia license plates (when Utah mormons move to the DC area, they end up living all over...but, there does seem to be a larger proportion that choose to live in Virginia. I guess DC and Maryland are just way too liberal for them...). Coming from Virginia means they were willing to drive quite the distance to get themselves some Cafe Rio. (Oh and there was even a Idaho license plate in the parking lot. They probably were relieved a Cafe Rio opened up while they were in town or when they just barely moved to town).

Walking into the Cafe Rio I experienced two things I don't see much of in the DC area: Tons of little kids and all the customers were white. Walking through those doors, I stepped into a portal that transported me to Utah. It really felt like we were in Utah. That could be the Utah embassy. There were so many young couples with children. There were also a decent amount of young pregnant women. I heard Utah accents. The outfits were Utah-mormon (including girls wearing tank tops under not-that-revealing shirts and dresses, men in khaki cargo shorts with brown leather flip flops. I also saw plenty of undergarment lines). The hair was Utah-mormon. It's hard to describe exactly what Utah-mormon hair or clothing looks like, it's just one of those things you know when you see it. Only people that grew up in Utah really know what I'm talking about. Just know that it looked like Utah exploded all over the place.

Eagan is posing with my salad and his. He didn't actually order two salads...

You could tell which people were the Utah transplants and which people were just visiting this new restaurant called Cafe Rio. The Utahns were the ones that didn't need to look at a menu at all, and they ordered their meals and all the fixings really quickly. I even saw people pulling out Cafe Rio stamp cards. You can always count on Utah mormons to be thrifty. Cafe Rio has a card where you get a stamp for each entree you purchase, and when you get 10, you get a free meal (and when this happens, the workers shout out "FREE MEAL!" They also shout out "EXTRA MEAT" when someone orders that). This Cafe Rio is in its first week, so the odds are this is the customers' first time coming to this particular Cafe Rio. Which means these customers have collected Cafe Rio stamps at other Cafe Rio locations and they keep the card with them, ready for any chance visit to a Cafe Rio. I myself do the exact same. I have a Cafe Rio card in my wallet that I keep for when I go to Utah, and I'm glad that I can now use it here. One person even got a free meal at Cafe Rio the night we were there (I bet the owners didn't think they'd be giving out a free meal that early in their tenure). That's another way you could tell the Utahns from the non-Utahns, when the workers would shout out "FREE MEAL!" or "EXTRA MEAT!", the Utahns didn't flinch at all. The other customers looked very confused.

One thing that kind of weirded me out is that the line/prep line went left to right at this location. Every Cafe Rio I have ever been to the line goes right to left...with the ladies making tortillas to the right and the person that puts your completed meal on the tray is to the left. It was the opposite here. It just felt wrong...

Halfway through our meal, we noticed a couple of young kids playing on the patio out front by the parking lot, unattended, while their parents ate inside. The kids were walking/balancing on a raised railing, with a cement patch down below. Like I said, I felt like I was actually in Utah.

But guess what?! This Cafe Rio is actually open on Sunday! That's definitely the time to go. I bet the place will be nearly empty. A Cafe Rio open on Sunday -- I never thought I'd see the day! I will revel in this rare opportunity.

Things I Liked About 2010, Pt 2.

Barcelona

Despite the volcano in Iceland and the British Airways strike to worry about, Eagan and I made it to Barcelona this summer. We had a fabulous time there (and at Cadaques). We loved all the parks, the museums, the beaches, the architecture, the food. It was so great just walking around different gorgeous neighborhoods and stumbling upon cool stuff. It has become one of my favorite cities.

Tuck

My family got a new dog this year! He is very lovable, cuddly, and energetic.

Fenton Street Market

This year our neighborhood started a weekly arts and crafts market to complement the farmer's market down the street. Every Saturday, from Spring to Fall, local artists and vendors set up tents to sell and showcase their stuff. There's often live music and food vendors, as well. Along with the farmer's market, it has become a great Saturday tradition for Eagan and I. We've found some really cool stuff there and met some neat people.

(Photo by thecourtyard)

Sports

Between the Winter Olympics (in Vancouver!), the men's soccer World Cup (in which one of my favorite teams won!), Stephen Strasburg fever surrounding The Nationals this past summer (great while it lasted), The Capitals winning the President's Trophy/being the best team in the NHL (only to choke in the playoffs...), and interesting change-ups for The Redskins, this made for an exciting year in sports.

Food Truck Madness

DC keeps getting more and more awesome food trucks. They drive to different locations each day and tweet where they're stationed for the day. Oh, that beautiful food truck siren call. There's a food truck for just about everything: wraps, sandwiches, Indian food, Ethiopian food, Vietnamese food, Cuban food, Korean food, mac & cheese, BBQ, pizza, grilled cheese, tacos, crepes, lobster rolls, fries and poutine (yes, outside of the boundaries of Canada!), empanadas, cupcakes, pies, popsicles, frozen yogurt. On and on it goes. And this is not boring, average food. This is foodie food. The grilled cheese truck, for instance, isn't American cheese on white bread. It's brie, fuji apples, and honey on multigrain bread; goat cheese, tomato, and tarragon; goat gouda and caramelized onion.

This year they even had a food truck cook-off event. They had all the food trucks in one centralized location and you could hit up whatever trucks you wanted. Delicious overload!

(Photo by Mr. T in DC)

DC Events

I continue to love living in this amazing place. I love all the exciting things that happen here. This year we tried to continue taking advantage of all the great events (often free) that DC has to offer. We really enjoyed events like the Cherry Blossom Festival, the Embassy Tours, the 4th of July fireworks show (my first! I was out of town the previous year for my brother's wedding and I missed it), the Silver Spring Jazz Festival,  the Takoma Folk Festival, different neighborhood street festivals, The National Book Festival, The Book Arts Festival, The New Yorker discussion events, and all the great exhibits at the area museums (my favorites were the Running Fence exhibit, the Lego exhibit, the Lists exhibit, and the World's Fair exhibit).

(Cherry Blossom Festival, car decorating contest at the H Street neighborhood festival, National Book Festival, Lego exhibit at the National Building Museum)

Daily Show Events

When The Daily Show came to DC for a week, Eagan and I luckily snagged free tickets to a taping (I literally got the last two tickets)! We attended the first show of the week. It was a really fun experience.

Then a few days later was the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. It was really cool being there in person, and we had a really fun time. It was neat seeing so many people on the Mall (it was packed!). I really liked seeing all the witty and clever signs.

Finally, I loved being able to see my friends and family so much this year. I loved all the visitors we had this year. 

Things I Liked About 2010, Pt. 1

I'm just now getting around to making my Best of 2010 list. I might be a little late to the party, but here it is nonetheless. Without further ado, I present my list of Things I Liked about 2010 (a very incomplete list).

Movies:
The Fighter, The King's Speech, Black Swan, The Social Network, Inception, Carlos (the longer version), Made In Dagenham, Never Let Me Go, Toy Story 3, Illégal, Certified Copy, Winter's Bone, The Kids Are All Right, True Grit, Mr. Nobody
Documentaries: Les Arrivants (The Arrivals), Waiting for Superman, Freakonomics, Exit Through the Gift Shop, The Other City.

Items of Note:
I saw Casablanca for the first time ever. Luckily, I was able to see it on the big screen at the AFI theatre. I loved it.

This year Eagan and I took advantage of the many great special film events in the area. There were free screenings; advanced screenings; and screenings with discussions afterwards with the director, writers, and/or actors. This year we attended screenings that included Edward Norton, Sam Rockwell, Tony Goldwyn, Betty Anne Waters and Barry Scheck -- who were portrayed in the movie Conviction, Oliver Stone and the writers of South of the Border, the people involved with 8: The Mormon Proposition, Ambassador Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame -- who were portrayed in the movie Fair Game (the director, Doug Limas, was also there). And Neal Conan, from NPR, moderated two of the above discussion panels.
We also enjoyed the different film festival and film showcases in the area, including the Silverdocs documentary film festival, the European Union Film Festival, The Latin American Film Festival, and the Labor Film Festival.

During Thanksgiving break, the AFI was the host of a special road show of the full (uncut) version of Carlos. It was 5.5 hours long (with 2 intermissions!). That is definitely the longest movie I have ever seen -- and all in one sitting. It was a really fascinating film and didn't seem like 5.5 hours. Edgar Ramirez, the actor that played Carlos, did an amazing job.

TV:
Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire, Community, 30 Rock, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Parks and Recreation, Louie, The Walking Dead, The Ricky Gervais Show, Glee, Modern Family, Nurse Jackie, Dexter, The United States of Tara, The Big C, The Benson Interruption, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret

Music:
Rocky Votolato - True Devotion, Arcade Fire - The Suburbs, Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Girl Talk - All Day, Sarah Jaffe - Suburban Nature,  The Black Keys - Brothers, Matt Pond PA - The Dark Leaves, Stars - The Five Ghosts, Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People EP, She & Him - Volume Two, Broken Bells - Broken Bells, Jenny and Johnny - I'm Having Fun Now, Best Coast - Crazy For You, Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More, Justin Townes Earle - Harlem River Blues, Azure Ray - Drawing Down the Moon, Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me, Band of Horses - Infinite Arms, Midlake - The Courage of Others, Jakob Dylan "Women and Country", J. Tillman - Tillman Sings 'Tonight's The Night'.

Items of Note:
Aaron Neville played a free concert in our neighborhood! He played all his major hits and other great R&B/Soul standards.

The best concert I attended in 2010 was an intimate living room concert that Rocky Votolato played in Ogden. One of the best shows I've ever attended.

Books:
The Best American Magazine Writing 2009 by The American Society of Magazine Editors; Franklin & Eleanor by Hazel Rowley; Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs by John Bowe, Marisa Bowe & Sabin Streeter; Everything is Going to be Great by Rachel Shukert; American Voyeur by Benoit Denizet-Lewis; The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson; The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall; The False Friend by Myla Goldberg; The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender; I Curse the River of Time by Per Petterson

Items of Note:

I know it's not a book, but Eagan got me a subscription to The New Yorker this year as a gift and I love it dearly. Each weekly issue is usually 100+ pages, so it's pretty much like a book. Each issue is like a really great book of essays. There are great in-depth articles on politics, social issues, economics, science, pop culture, and profiles on interesting people.

We attended a lot of great book readings this year. My favorites were David Rakoff (for "Half Empty", Jonathan Franzen (for "Freedom"), Jonathan Safran Foer (for "Eating Animals"), Roxana Saberi (for "Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran", and Nell Irvin Painter (for "The History of White People").

David Rakoff and Jonathan Safran Foer (*swoon*)

Style

I read an article about how today is DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee's last day as the chancellor before she steps down. This is the picture included in the article:

Ok, that really is not helping the belief that people in DC are not stylish. 

Frankly, I do not understand this shirt. At all. If it's hot enough that you need to go sleeveless, you probably shouldn't be wearing thick sweater material, let alone a turtleneck. And if it's cold enough that you need this thick material, you probably shouldn't be going sleeveless. Either way, you seem very confused. 

How many consumers out there find that their chest and neck are freezing, but their arms are burning hot -- and they wish a thick turtleneck sweater without any sleeves existed? Apparently enough that this shirt was made. Unless Rhee made it herself. However, she doesn't really strike me as the knitting type. The knitting needle type, perhaps, but not the knitting type.  

What a Great Introduction

There's this crazy lady named Missy Smith that is running for D.C.'s congressional seat. She's trying to unseat the very popular Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has been DC's representative since 1991. But it's unclear whether Missy Smith is running because she actually thinks she can beat Eleanor Holmes Norton, or if she's simply running to get her message out there. And her message is pictures of dead fetuses ("anti-baby-killing", as she likes to call it). She's causing a stir because her "campaign commercial" is a long, very graphic commercial filled with pictures of dead babies and aborted fetuses. She's obviously taking advantage of the fact that she has to be given airtime (prime airtime) as a candidate. Eagan and I were eating dinner in a place that has a TV up in the corner. I was eating, looked up, and then saw these incredibly graphic images of dead fetuses on TV and I was like "what the hell is this?!" And the commercial lasted for so long. And then at the end of the commercial, creepy Missy Smith comes on and says to vote for her. I'm sure that campaign strategy isn't going to backfire or anything...

So creeeepy

Anyway, the latest news is that crazy, anti-choice activist Randall Terry (he founded Operation Rescue) has now officially become Missy Smith's campaign manager. Sounds like a match made in Disgusting Land. TBD, a local news site and blog, had an article on this and they had a great introduction for Randall Terry:

Randall Terry -- he of the "chain yourself to the sink of an abortion clinic, declare bankruptcy to avoid making legal payments to the National Organization of Women, run for Congress under the "Right to Life Party", hire a Bill Clinton impersonator to discredit your opponents, compare the University of Notre Dame to Judas, list your "three black foster children" on your resume [!], disown one for converting to Islam, disown another for becoming pregnant, disown the third for being gay [wow, he really picked 'em!], respond to George Tiller's murder by calling Tiller a murderer" style of politics -- is now official campaign manager for D.C. congressional candidate Missy Smith. 

That's pretty spot-on.

One of their first campaign strategies has been to target their offensive commercial to black people. On some shows considered "black", such as "Everybody Hates Chris", the ads are running multiple times. They're hoping this will get votes from the African American community, which they feel has been decimated by the "black genocide" of abortion. Once again, I'm sure that's not going to backfire... People love it when you target them and "their shows" because you believe they're having too much promiscuous sex and unwanted pregnancies.

I Heart Takoma Park

In a previous post I had written about a neighborhood in the area called Takoma Park that is known for being a hippie/granola/earth child neighborhood.  I had mentioned that Takoma Park has those little shops that sell stuff like "My Karma Ran Over Your Dogma" bumper stickers, Buddha statues, and incense. There's lots of free-flowing patchwork shirts and dreadlocks, as well as boobs not held down (or up) by bras and skin not held down by soap. There's a pet accessories store that is "for the socially-conscience pet" -- not the socially-conscience pet owner, but the socially-conscience pet. There's a toy store that specializes in non-competitive games. There also seems to be a building requirement that all businesses in the area must have a nazar (an amulet that protects against the evil eye) visible. I love Takoma Park; it's great.

Anyway, there was a news story recently about a guy getting arrested in Takoma Park for cocaine possession. The opening line of the article read, "What did a suspect allegedly carrying around $50,000 worth of cocaine in Takoma Park first do to capture the interest of police?"

My answer: "He was in Takoma Park." Pretty much everyone walking in Takoma Park probably has drugs on them. I'm pretty sure "Being in Takoma Park" is admissible in a court of law as a legitimate form of probable cause.

I guess the correct answer was that he was publicly drinking, and a police officer noticed and chased after him. The guy threw his bottle at the officer, kept running, and then he threw a bag into the dumpster. When police returned to the dumpster, they found the bag was filled with 1.2 pounds of cocaine. Then they went and searched his house and found a gallon of liquid PCP and two guns.

I'm guessing Takoma Park has officially rescinded his Takoma Park citizenship for "being such a downer, man."

Eagan said, "Seriously. I heard they were making 'bummers' a capital offense."

I replied, "They've already made it a felony to have a bad aura."


*This blog post is approved by the Takoma Park Chamber of Tourism

Well-Said

Christopher Hitchens wrote a great op-ed piece about Glenn Beck's rally this past weekend and how this group of people are afraid that this country "will be submerged by an influx from beyond the borders and that it will be challenged in its traditional ways and faiths by an alien and largely Third World religion." He brings up the examples (all from just this summer) of the Arizona immigration law, the calls for amending the 14th Amendment (so that children born in this country to non-citizen immigrant parents cannot receive automatic U.S. citizenship -- we don't want "terror babies"! ), the fight over the "Ground Zero" mosque, and now Glenn Beck's rally this past weekend that called for a (Christian) religious revival.

I loved this part:

In a rather curious and confused way, some white people are starting to almost think like a minority, even like a persecuted one. What does it take to believe that Christianity is an endangered religion in America or that the name of Jesus is insufficiently spoken or appreciated? Who wakes up believing that there is no appreciation for our veterans and our armed forced and that without a noisy speech from Sarah Palin, their sacrifice would be scorned? It's not unfair to say that such grievances are purely and simply imaginary, which in turn leads one to ask what the real ones can be. The clue, surely, is furnished by the remainder of the speeches, which deny racial feeling so monotonously and vehemently as to draw attention.

I also loved how he said that Glenn Beck's rally this weekend was "large, vague, moist, and undirected: the Waterworld of white self-pity."

I don't really get what the message/point of his shirt is. Is it that if there happens to be black people around the world that own/owned slaves, that it's ok that white people do/did, too? Also, who could forget that wonderful country Mauitania?! I don't know if he just happened to forget to put in the "r", or if he thinks that's actually what the country is called.

Oh look! He had another wonderful shirt under his Mauitania shirt!

All You Needed To Know About DC

A local DC blogger pointed out a link to a Maine Tea Party website that is offering helpful tips if you happen to be coming to DC for the Glenn Beck/Sarah Palin rally this weekend. And I could not stop laughing at this helpful guide:

The author gives tips for restaurants in the area -- including restaurants in the Dupont Circle neighborhood, which he affectionately calls "Dupont Circle, gay area."

He also posts a link to a website in which a "Libertarianish Virginia economics professor extensively explores and reviews restaurants, especially Northern Virginia Asian fare." Because you just can't trust restaurant reviews from anyone on the non-Libertarianish scale. And is Asian fare particularly Libertarian friendly or something?

The author then writes:

DC's population includes refugees from every country, as the families of embassy staffs of third world countries tend to stay in DC whenever a revolution in their homeland means that anyone in their family would be in danger if they went back.

So you should assume that anyone living in DC that is originally from another country is a refugee. And the refugee policy in the US is that you are only grated asylum if you are the family member of someone that works at an embassy.

Most taxi drivers and many waiters/waitresses (especially in local coffee shops like the Bread and Chocolate chain) are immigrants, frequently from east Africa or Arab countries. As a rule, African immigrants do not like for you to assume they are African Americans and especially do not like for you to guess they are from a neighboring country (e.g., Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia) with whom they may have political or military tensions. It's rare to meet anyone who gets really offended, but you can still be aware of the issue.

First, for best results one should avoid Bread & Chocolate, local coffee shops (hell, pretty much just waiters in general), and taxis. Got it.

Second, I assume the man is speaking from experience when he says these African immigrants do not like it when people assume they're African American. Which I assume means he has expressed that assumption verbally. Does the author of this piece have a history of seeing a black person and saying something like "Look kids! It's an African American!" or "Are you one of those African Americans?" or "Are you proud to be an African American?" or "As an African American, what do you think about..."?

Third, a lot of these Tea Party types think all people from Latin America are Mexican. So I can't imagine too many are asking these African immigrants, "You definitely look like you're from Eritrea. Are you?" I doubt they could discern the physical features enough to recognize that this African immigrant is even from the Horn of Africa -- let alone pinpointing a single country. And how many of these Tea Party types have even heard of Eritrea? Or know that it's an African country? [Hell, how many 'regular' Americans even know Eritrea is an African country?] I would imagine a more accurate encounter would be "Oh you're from Africa?! Are you related to Shaka Zulu? Do you know Nelson Mandela? Have you ever seen elephants before?"

Then the author goes on to list a bunch of areas in DC that people should NOT go to because it's unsafe. This is pretty detailed and is probably only funny to people that live in DC and know the neighborhoods and streets well -- but the basic gist of it is that he pretty much says everywhere but the western part of Northwest DC and Northern Virginia is unsafe. Which is ridiculous. And he says to pretty much avoid the Green and Yellow metro lines completely (even in the day time)! This assertion is even more ridiculous. He says the only places you're safe to be on foot, in a cab, or on a bus is one neighborhood in Maryland, five neighborhoods in Virginia (and they even specify northern Arlington. As if southern Arlington is a ghetto because it has fewer Crate & Barrel stores...), only 14th and 16th street in NW DC, and only the 7 blocks near the Capitol. Then they say at the end "Or stay on the Mall and at the various monuments." Haha.

Avoid the Green and Yellow Lines of Death

Alright! My neighborhood got a shout-out as a "lovely place". But he says that visitors won't know where they are [I guess because I don't live on the Mall?], and so they cannot go unless the author goes with them. (Plus, good luck getting to my neighborhood considering the author said they shouldn't ride the metro north of Union Station!).

He also listed other "bad places". These are the places where Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Robert Bauer/Anita Dunn, and Tom Daschle live. And he lists their addresses (!!) and encourages people to protest there. Wow.

Overheard

I overheard both of these conversations yesterday:

Two twenty-something girls on the metro, talking to each other

Girl: I mean, he was looking at me like I had a third head!

I think a second head would be just as shocking...

---

At the Tidal Basin, which is right in front of the Jefferson Memorial

Twenty-Something Guy to Friends: Do you guys want to go to the Jefferson Memorial?

Twenty-Something Girl: Is that the one with the guy sitting down?

Twenty-Something Guy: Yeah.

I love that the guy said yeah. Now, I don't expect people to necessarily identify every memorial correctly. I know the Jefferson Memorial isn't as well-known (it's not right off the Mall like a lot of the other memorials; which means not as many people walk over there). Plus, both the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials have columns in front. That might get people mixed-up (and if so, they're going to be really confused about a lot of buildings in DC).

Jefferson Memorial

vs.

Lincoln Memorial

But, correct me if I'm wrong, I was under the impression that the Lincoln Memorial is kind of an iconic memorial; one that is ingrained in American minds from history class and history books (Martin Luther King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Marian Anderson sang in front of the Lincoln Memorial. To name a few). Not to mention the fact that the Lincoln Memorial is stamped on the back of the penny (with Lincoln on the other side; as if that's not obvious enough). Even more iconic is Abraham Lincoln himself -- both in terms of his historical impact and the way he looked. Ridiculously tall, skinny guy with a kind of funny face and a beard. So I would think the ingrained image in your mind of "that guy sitting down" would also include that ingrained image of that unusual looking president. And you would realize it's Lincoln sitting down -- and Lincoln would not be sitting down in Jefferson's Memorial.

vs.

Furthermore, these people were at the Tidal Basin, within eyesight of the Jefferson Memorial. From where they were standing, you can see Jefferson in the center of the memorial, and he is standing. Thomas Jefferson was also an iconic president (just ask the nickel!), but I know less people probably know what he looked like compared to Lincoln. But I can't imagine too many people get images of Jefferson and Lincoln mixed up.

vs.

Anyway, that's just my two cents (which would be two coins with the Jefferson Memorial on the back, right?)

Tai Shan

Tai Shan is the panda that was born here in DC and lived at the National Zoo for his whole life thus far. He was returned to China the other day, as he technically belongs to China. Tai Shan and his parents are only on loan to the U.S. from China. Tai Shan has returned to China to fulfill his breeding duties. The Washington Post wrote an article on his return to China, and quite possibly had the most depressing title: "For Tai Shan, voyage to China is a trip to obscurity and sex." That sounds like the tagline of a disturbing David Lynch/Lars von Trier/Darren Aronofsky film.

If I sufficiently anthropomorphize Tai Shan (which I always do), what I took from this depressing article is that:

1. He stress-ate all the way from the U.S. to China.

"As throngs of Chinese reporters and corporate sponsors mobbed him, he calmly stared through his bamboo-filled glass cage and did what he always does: He ate. In fact, Tai Shan was so busy chewing that he barely slept during the 15.5 hour flight, officials said. He munched his way through forty pounds of bamboo, three pounds of pears, and two pounds of apples as the plane made its way through Canada and the North Atlantic. He ate over Norway, into Russia and past Kazakhstan and, finally, into China. He was still chewing on the last of his food when Nicole Meese, the panda's main keeper during his 4.5 years at the National Zoo, handed off responsibility for taking care of Tai Shan to her Chinese counterpart Wu Daifu."

2. His child-star days are over.

"His primary job will no longer be to delight tourists; it will be to breed. In the United States, Tai Shan was special, the only baby panda to survive past infancy in the nation's capital. But at the panda center in the lush mountains of south-central China, he will be just one of 150. Gone are the days of custom-made birthday cakes, waterfalls, and fans cheering his every move. Chinese officials here say that they will feel no need to make special accommodations for Tai Shan in housing, food, or language. If conditions are not to his liking, he'll have to adjust."

3. He'll be turned into a sex machine and he is forced to watch porn.

"Tai Shan won't be put into the center's breeding program right away because the success rate is higher when males are [about] 7 years old, making 2012 the ideal year. But he will start psychological training, researchers said. He'll be shown videos of pandas mating and get to hear tapes of female pandas calling for mates."

Latin American Film Festival

Eagan and I attended some screenings of this year's AFI Latin American Film Festival. We really enjoyed all the movies we saw. I'm listing all the movies we saw as a way for me to remember the films, as well as to let you know about some great Latin American films to keep your eye out for.

[Movie summaries are from the film festival's website]

Lion's Den (Leonera)

[Argentina]

Julia wakes and prepares for work after a drink- and drug-fueled bender, barely noticing a man's motionless body in her apartment. Later tried and sent to prison for the man's murder, she soon discovers she is pregnant, and she gives birth to and raises a son in the prison's mother's ward over the next several years. A closely observed and constantly surprising film from accomplished director Pablo Trapero, anchored by the riveting performance of lead actress and producer Martina Gusman as Julia.

I thought it was a great story. It was interesting to see the dynamic and community of this mother's ward in the prison. It was very well-acted. The main actress, Martina Gusman did an amazing job. She gives an extremely committed and emotional performance. I give it 4.5 stars out of 5.

Lovely Loneliness (Amorosa Soledad)

[Argentina]

This quirky comedy from debut directors Martin Carranza and Victoria Galardi features a winsome and winning performance by rising talent Ines Efron. Twenty-something Soledad (Efron) has recently broken up with her boyfriend and doesn't want another one for at least a couple of years. A hypochondriac, she seems happiest seeking treatment for her latest imagined illness and shopping in pharmacies. But a chance meeting in a cafe with a new suitor may draw Soledad out of herself and into a new adventure.

I thought it was a really cute movie. And Soledad was an adorable, quirky character (wonderfully acted by Ines Efron). Not a whole lot actually happens in this movie (it's not very fast-paced), but I still really enjoyed it. I give it 4 stars out of 5.

That's It (Apenas O Fim)

[Brazil]

In this inventive romantic comedy by writer-director Matheus Souza, a young woman breaks up with her boyfriend and plans to leave town for good, but agrees to meet the man she's dumping for one final conversation before she leaves. This quirky and affecting first feature, which draws favorable comparison to the American indie "mumblecore" subgenre, was shot on the campus of Rio University, where nearly the entire cast and crew were film students at the time of production.

This movie was definitely inspired by Before Sunrise/Before Sunset. The whole movie is a string of conversations. And I loved it. The two main actors did a great job. It almost seems like a documentary -- it seemed so real and genuine. You feel like such a (fortunate) voyeur hearing them talk about their lives and their relationship -- from serious stuff like what they love/hate about each other; to silly stuff like what boy band is better Backstreet Boys or Nsync, and which Power Ranger would you want to be, and other pop culture conversations. Some of the conversations were scripted, some were improvised by the actors. It's an impressive movie considering it's made by film students, made for $4,000, and shot entirely on the Rio University campus. I give it 5 stars out of 5.

The Good Life (La Buena Vida)

[Chile]

The latest film from Chilean director Andres Wood follows a cross-section of Santiagans as they struggle for fulfillment in their lives. A hard-working social worker (Aline Kuppenheim) who educates prostitutes about safe sex discovers her teenager daughter (Manuela Martelli) has become pregnant. A salon owner (Roberto Farias) and the loan officer (Manuela Oyarzun) from his bank begin a promising romance, but discover that work and pleasure, as well as family, often do not mix. An aspiring clarinetist (Eduardo Paxeco) comes up short in his orchestra audition and settles for a gig with the army band. The criss-crossing narrative strands weave a portrait of modern life in the big city, where, despite the multitudes, loneliness and isolation are always present.

Interesting storylines (which were based on true stories) and great acting. It's interesting seeing how these different characters cross paths. The movie touched on a lot of social issues; though, in a more subtle way. The movie (the writing, acting, and filming) does a great job portraying loneliness and isolation, and other issues people struggle with. As it does such a great job portraying these themes, no doubt, it is a depressing movie. I give it 4 stars out of 5.

Oblivion (El Olvido)

[Peru]

A native of Lima, documentarian Heddy Honigmann returns to her hometown to explore the effects of years of political turmoil on the city's working class. Interviewing service workers and street performers, Honigmann draws out her subjects with simple questions -- "Do you have dreams?" -- that allow for full, moving portraits of lives struggling against circumstance. Lyrical, humanist and deeply empathetic, the film is both a damning critique of the destruction caused by official corruption and a moving tribute to the resiliency of those left behind.

This is a really fascinating documentary and is filmed beautifully. Heddy finds so many interesting people, that are often ignored and not given a platform, and gives them an opportunity to talk about their life and what they struggle with and what they love. There's a great cross-section of people that she interviews. It's really interesting hearing these people's life stories and where they live. It also breaks your heart to see people live in such poverty and how they struggle to make a living. I also found the discussion of Peru's political system/political leaders to be interesting. I give it 5 stars out of 5.

Things To Do: Book Readings

A bunch of different bookstores in the area have authors come and do book readings/Q&As. There's definitely a diversity of authors. From Toni Morrison to Christian Siriano from Project Runway (asymmetrical hair cut, "that's a hot tranny mess", "fierce", "farouche" -- that guy). It really seems like every author comes through at some point. What's great is that the majority of these events are free (unless someone huge comes and it gets moved to a bigger venue to house everyone; then it usually costs a couple of bucks). Sometimes the various Borders or Barnes & Nobles in the areas have authors come. Though the best authors usually go to either one of these amazing, locally-owned bookstores: Politics & Prose and Busboys & Poets. These bookstores seem to have the monopoly on awesome authors. And, if you ask me, Politics & Prose takes the top spot. And that also happens to be my favorite bookstore (a bookstore that has been around for 25 years).

Some of my favorite book readings have probably been (in no order):

1. Sarah Vowell, for The Wordy Shipmates

This was our first book reading in DC. Sarah is just as nerdy as I imagined (and hoped). And she is effortlessly super sarcastic; which I love. The crowd at the book reading was not the crowd I imagined. I think I imagined a much younger crowd. There were young people, but there were a lot of older people. But upon further thought, it did make sense. These were well-educated, public-radio-listening, history-loving type of people; of course they would like Sarah Vowell.

And these people were obsessed with Sarah Vowell. Several people brought her flowers. I have never seen that done before, and haven't since. These fans would ask really detailed questions --like, "On page 47 of Assassination Vacation you said 'this', and it reminded me of what you said in The Partly Cloudy Patriot on page 76...could you elaborate?" And Sarah would look at them dumbfounded.

A lot of the people that asked questions were super nervous and awkward in their question delivery (how many people get starstruck standing in front of Sarah Vowell?!). And I've got to say, there were some weird questions. On more than one occasion Sarah looked a little flustered because she had no idea how to answer these people. You could tell she wanted to say, "I don't know what to say, because that's a really weird question." Like one lady said, "I did some research on my family genealogy and [way too much information and background on her family], and I discovered I'm distantly related to Sarah Palin. But then I also did some research on this side [even more information and background on her family], and I'm also distantly related to Barack Obama. What do you make of that?" That was really her question. I'm not exaggerating. Her question was what Sarah Vowell makes of this lady's distant, distant family tree. I think Sarah ended up saying something like "uh, I don't know...that's interesting. Next question." You could tell Sarah wanted to be more cynical and sarcastic, but these are her fans...and they brought her flowers.

One person said, with creepy dedication, that she and her husband listen to Sarah every time she's on the radio. They never miss her. I was seriously expecting that lady to finish that sentence with,"...my husband and I make love while you're on the radio. It puts us in the mood." This totally was a couple I could imagine seeing on an episode of Real Sex.

After her book reading, we got to chat with her for a little bit. We expressed our love for all her books and talked with her about Montana/Bozeman (she lived in Bozeman, where Eagan grew up). She seemed really glad to talk about Bozeman, the way people are glad to talk about places they've called home with others that know exactly what they're talking about and can relate.

2. William Julius Wilson, for More Than Just Race

If Sarah Vowell's crowd was creepy fans and socially awkward history buffs, William Julius Wilson's crowd was our kind of crowd. Chock-full of sociologists and other social science academics. People asked really interesting and thought-provoking questions. A debate even started on the issue of whether African Americans should be critical of Obama or whether they should be more supportive of him. There were accusations from some in the crowd that William Julius Wilson wasn't being critical enough of Obama for the fact that he's not doing much for the African American community. And he responded that Obama IS doing a lot for the community -- and he gave examples; and that Obama does have a lot on his plate; and that the black community shouldn't be so critical of him. It was an interesting discussion.

I love this old-school picture of Wilson

There were a lot of great questions/comments, and people were bringing up interesting articles and studies that Wilson should check out. William kept telling people, "Oh that's great, will you e-mail me that information. My e-mail address is..." I thought that was neat. I left the event with my little notepad filled with things I needed to look up.

3. John Hodgman, for More Information Than You Require

This event had the young crowd that I had imagined would have been at Sarah Vowell's reading. Though there were some "usuals" -- older people that I think just attend every reading that comes to Politics & Prose, regardless of who it is. I can imagine their confusion, "A guy that writes a book on made-up trivia?! Kids these days!"

John was unbelievably hilarious. I was laughing so hard throughout the entire event. He was constantly on. He had the most awesome, random funny stories. He didn't read from his book as much as he told stories and went on hilarious tangents. He talked about being a "famous minor TV personality". He said now he's rich enough to buy a tux. He said most of us common folk have to rent a tux, but he owns a tux. He said this is in direct contrast to when he was just a lowly book agent and he had to rent regular pants because he couldn't afford clothes. And he just ate Ramen -- but he couldn't afford water so he just ate the noodle cake and snorted the powder.

This guy thought he was John's doppelganger...

You know how just about every book event (or any event with a "famous person") there is some fan in the audience that tries to let the "famous person" and the audience know that they are the biggest, most dedicated fan? And this usually involves the superfan just spewing random knowledge about the famous person. So this particular fan said, "You know, you sell yourself short. You're not just a minor TV personality..." and John interjected, "famous, minor TV personality." The fan continued, "...you're not just a famous, minor TV personality; you're also a famous, minor movie personality. You've appeared in movies and you have some movie roles coming up. Like you're going to be in [movie name] and [movie name] and [movie name]..." and John interrupted him and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, what was your last name again, IMDB?" It was pretty awesome that he said that. It was like when Chuck Klosterman said to one superfan, "Why am I not surprised you own bootlegs?"

We also got to chat with John Hodgman for a little bit after his book reading. And on top of being hilarious, he's a really friendly guy. I don't even remember how it came up, but we started talking about Simon Fraser University and he said, "Battlestar Gallactica was filmed there!" How many people have that trivia floating around in their head? It was a great book reading and I walked away with a mild, unexplainable crush on him.

4. Eduardo Galeano, for Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone

This event was super packed. There are obviously a huge amount of Galeano fans in the area. It was standing-room only an hour before the event even started! It was such a great experience to hear Eduardo Galeano read his beautiful, poetic essays. He's such a legend. He also talked about his life and his writing career. He talked about Uruguay and how he was imprisoned. It was a very fascinating talk.

Coordinating shirt, sweater, jeans, and eyeglasses case. Adorable.

As a side note, during the book reading, Eagan and I were standing by this guy that we run into everywhere. He just randomly appears wherever we are. We first saw him at a Politics & Prose book reading. Then we'd see him at another. And another. Either he goes to all of them, or we have similar taste in books. Then we'd see him at restaurants or stores. And we see him in different parts of town. It's not like we just run into him in the same neighborhood. One time we were downtown and there was a protest going on about getting rid of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". And guess who is participating in the protest?! He apparently was participating in the protest but decided to take a break from walking and holding up a sign (hard work), and took a breather on the very corner that we were walking by. He's like Kris Kristofferson and Eric Roberts...they suddenly appear everywhere you look.

5. AJ Jacobs, for The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment

This reading was actually the same night that Nick Hornby was doing a reading for, Juliet, Naked. There was a lot of back and forth before we decided to go with AJ Jacobs. Although I'm a huge Nick Hornby fan, I'd say I more closely follow AJ Jacobs. I've read all his books (which I love) and get them the first week they come out. I can't always say that for Nick Hornby -- despite High Fidelity being one of my favorite books. And I know there will be another opportunity -- Nick Hornby will come back. Plus, I knew that AJ Jacobs would be hilarious. I would definitely rather talk to Nick Hornby about music. But in terms of doing a book reading, I would imagine AJ Jacobs to be more entertaining. And that he was. He was absolutely hilarious and has the most awesome amount of trivia and pop culture knowledge.

He's such a dork, and I love him

He wasn't as socially awkward as he comes off as in his books. But I can't get over how some of my favorite authors have kind-of-awkward, weird voices (AJ Jacobs, Sarah Vowell, David Sedaris, I'm sure I'll think of more later...). Oh, and if you've read any of AJ's books, you know he is kind of a neurotic, germaphobe type of person (my favorite!)...Anyway, the coordinators of the book event left a glass of water on the table for him. It was sitting there 30 minutes before he even came into the room. I was thinking, "Is there any way AJ is actually going to drink that water?" It's not sealed. It's been sitting on the table for a while. What's the cleanliness quality of the glass? For most of the reading he didn't touch it, and I thought I was going to be right. But then during the questions, he did take a sip. Damn!

AJ talked about all his past experiments/books and what they were like, and what the aftermath has been like. And he said his next experiment is to live a healthy life. He tries different exercise regimens and diets. I'm excited to see how he will turn that into hilarity.

In addition to all the great book readings throughout the year, there's a really cool annual event called "The National Book Festival" on the National Mall. It's put on by the Library of Congress. It's an all-day event of book readings and talks with the author. There are several different tents set up based on different genres, and so several readings happen at the same time.

This year they had young adult author greats like Lois Lowry and Judy Blume. As well as several popular authors like James Patterson, John Grisham, Jodi Picoult, Nicholas Sparks, John Irving, Ken Burns, Gwen Ifill, Sue Monk Kidd, Azar Nafisi... Even Paula Deen was there. And, Holly & Davis will appreciate this, Rickey Minor! In addition to book readings and signings, the festival has different activities and book sales. Unfortunately we weren't able to make it this year due to a family situation, but we're looking forward to next year's.