Many moons ago I had the opportunity to read a number of essays written for a general music appreciation class. Because this class fulfilled a requirement and was geared toward non-musicians (or even to people with very little musical experience at all), and because the particular group of students seemed somewhat disinterested…the essays sometimes contained very interesting observations. On musical structure (like…A B A form…): “This piece is a ba ba ba. It is a beautiful pea.” On Chopin and his many nocturnes:… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Blog
The Pharmacy.
This is what I was thinking about the other day: The pharmacy: the city-acy the phlegacy the pharma-sky The pharmacist: the pharma-boil …that was pretty much it.
What’s in Your Purse?
I try to clean out my purse every so often because it’s generally full of garbage, but today I cleaned it out because I discovered, en route to work, that my metrocard was missing. Though I know that the staple women’s-magazine feature “What’s in YOUR purse?” is likely about as true to life as YM Magazine’s “Say Anything” column–which is to say, partially true and heavily edited–I always snicker/grimace when I think about what my response would be if someone… Read more »
Conversational
Overheard On the street: One guy to another: “It’s a lot of work, man–to pick an avocado.” Elderly woman to her elderly friend: “I share my birthday with Father’s Day this year…THAT SUCKS.” Someone catcalling me…I think: “Damn, red hair like Jesus!” Okay. In a high school: One student chasing another, shouting accusatorially: “They could have been twins! They could have been twins!” One student to another: “Oh? Incest? What?” Student to her friend: “I’m afraid to go on a cruise!”… Read more »
Camping
This weekend I’m camping in Pennsylvania. Russian Duolingo, accordingly, has been giving me the practice sentences “The forest is really close” and “I like sleeping on the floor.” (Other frequently recurring sentences are “My girlfriend doesn’t cook, but she can eat a lot,” “I like jumping!” and “Big Brother is watching,” so clearly it knows me well.) I spent a large percentage of my life believing that I hated camping, before sort out the data and realizing that all of the camping… Read more »
Overheard
In my house: “But I’m not a craftsman, you know? I’m not a maker of fine wearables. So I put the wings in a bag.” On the train: One woman to another: “The thing about time travel…” Other woman: ? First woman: “Is that even if you could go back and change something, you don’t have to go back and change something. You know?” Other woman: — From a middle-school student: Me: “Autotrophs create their own biomass, so… Read more »
Flash Fiction // 04
Before there was Johnny Appleseed there was Martin Luther, and he banged his thumb while hanging his 95 theses and thought about the end of the world. If he knew the end of the world was coming, Martin Luther said, he would plant apple trees. After this proclamation Luther retired into his brown robe and watched as King Henry VIII hybridized the church and saw how Gregor Mendel would hybridize the plants, and Luther’s theses fell into the ashes out… Read more »
Things My Students Have Said: Thailand Edition
I have to admit that most of these come from one student. His name was Tony (that was a nickname, which is standard; most Thai first names are 1-4 syllables and most last names are 4-6 syllables. My attendance sheet didn’t even list my students’ last names, only last initials, and on the first day of class everyone told me their nickname (some of them may have chosen new ones when they started college, but it wasn’t something done out… Read more »
When Your Hobbies Fade Away
While I was writing about widowed and orphaned paragraphs and blank lines, I was also watching a gymnastics competition streaming online, and Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” came on. Fitting! Between rotations the stream defaulted to a screen with the Pacific Rims logo and background pop music. My boyfriend says that the only time he ever hears pop music and the reason he recognizes most of these songs is that he watches so much hockey. The way he watches hockey: he records… Read more »
One-sided Conversations
Apropos of: not much–I had a dream recently in which “height” was not a measurable quality, and instead your upward appearance was measured by “vertical realness.” Things I’ve overheard: “I was throwing rocks into a metal dish. I apologize.” “Now would be a really good time to get back to the cup of blood and start drinking.” “Oops, it might have been me. I just ate something delicious and I may have sighed with pleasure.” “Oh, I was going to… Read more »
