End of Class

My program rapped up our course-work this week with a five and a half hour marathon of essay workshopping. Knowing the limits of our attention and being profoundly immature, some of us had a cocktail hour before,(discreetly) during and after class. It turned out to be one of the Bluth's better parties.

New York

I have some time today because my Prof. is accepting an award for her book. Advantage: lazyness. Here are what few pics I took from our trip to the windy apple. Pictured: A cat that lives in a bar; an au bon pain which was the only way to get inside the Seagram Building; 5 Points street art space; Brooklyn Flea Market in an old bank; the apartment we stayed in. Not pictured: wandering into the Marcy Projects (wasn't bad at all, right next to the Satmar Hasidic Jewish neighborhood); S'Mac, the mac & cheese pop-up restaurant; this girl I bought a blanket from; many bars; and so forth.

Here's a link if the flash thing is broke.

Mashed Potato Mashers

(caution video is a little loud) I was at a great little basement bar called the Manx when this dude walked in with a tuba. We all wondered what was going on. Turns out he was a member of a local band called the Mashed Potato Mashers. They are made up of a dude on snare and various perc, a dude on base drum, and a bunch of horns. Every member can get up and walk with their instruments, and at one point they paraded around the bar. I would describe them as dixieland jazz marching band, but I have no idea what I'm talking about. They are super-energetic and a ton of fun. I think it might be the perfect drinking music.

Seeds

As I was bragging to Sockboy earlier, the local record dude sold me a copy of the new Hey Rosetta album today, even though it apparently isn't supposed to come out until Tuesday. I got turned on to the band when we went to see them in Burlington last summer. It poured rain and we had to put our smartphones in a shoe. It was a great day. Normally I would buy off itunes, but I'm glad I didn't this time, cuz look! The album comes with a homemade square of paper impregnated with seeds. An enclosed piece of paper says they are carrots, nasturtium and rapeseeds (!). It also says I should plant them, "outdoors in late spring, on a warm, windless day." But, I've got a south facing window and I'm going to try to grow them indoors. The only trick will be finding soil. It's all froze here.

Dan Savage

Sex columnist and inventor of the t-shirt, Dav Savage came to Carleton this week. He wasn't on a tour or anything, our LGBTQ (don't ask me why they have the Q) association asked him out and he said yes! He did a talk on the It Gets Better campaign, which is a place where adults from the LGBT community can post open messages to kids who are suffering bullying and discrimination at school and at home. I think he said the channel on Youtube has received 40million watches so far. His talk had some pretty sad content, but he kept the mood light. One good point he brought up was the insanity of Ontario's public funding for religious school; this was brought on by this story about how the Halton school board banned Gay-Straight alliance clubs. He also answered questions, and we had two pretty awesome ones, which I will not repeat here.

Skating to School

I've been wanting to skate to school so I can brag to people about it. As it turns out the only reasonable route I could take involves me crossing the 50ft width of the canal on my skates. So one morning this week I decided to skate to get coffee and then skate to school. Looking at a map, the circuity of my route was pretty absurd.

Skate City

Skating is everywhere in this city! Every community center and school sets up their own outdoor rinks with boards, and the canal is almost open end to end. You'd think a town that loves skating so much would have a better hockey team. Night skating on the canal is a riot. I got me some cheap-o used skates and I've already been out twice. Also, there is a Beavertail wagon on the ice, about five minutes from my house.