The Book of Joe — LiveJournal

01:37 pm - Hallelujah!

Happy Easter! He is Risen! Hallelujah!



For as much as our culture has used and abused this piece, I encourage every person to stop a moment and let these strains wash over you. (Be sure you have some good speakers or headphones.) Even if you're not a Christian -- this is one of the most powerful musical expressions of triumph and joy ever composed.

Also, I'm Catholic!

11:00 am - Gourmet

Okay, the coffee beans I bought yesterday at the Kaffeeklastsch totally redeem all the suffering. The difference between the grocery brands of coffee (even Eight o'Clock Coffee, which is the best) and these gourmet beans is dramatic. With the grocery beans, the coffee is hot, wet, caffeinated, and consistent — I used to say that was all I needed — but it does not excite me; it feels bland, and in a few days I'm drinking tea instead. But these — I merely smell them, and waves of pleasure and excitement flood me. To drink them is practically orgasmic.

Current Mood: ecstatic

07:42 pm - First Public Lecture

Last semester while working on my Civil War soldier project, I met and became friends with Susanna Leberman, one of the archivists in the Heritage Room at the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library. Dr. Kvach has apparently been pleased with my work and my enthusiasm (if not always my writing style), and since we share interests, he wants to help advance my career. A few weeks ago, he talked to Susanna about setting up a public lecture at the library for one of his Civil War students (me). He didn't tell Susanna who it was, and when I told him I already knew Susanna, and he told her, we were all overjoyed.

I'm going to be giving a public lecture at the library! I went to the library today to talk to Susanna and the other archvist, Ranee' Pruitt. It's going to be on Wednesday, March 18, at 6:30 p.m., in the library auditorium. They're going to put fliers everywhere, announce it to the local Civil War round table, even announce it on public radio! I've always listened with a little envy as other local historians have been announced on the radio; now that will be me!

I'm going to present my research on the Confederate soldier I researched last semester, Isaac D. W. Cobb (a cousin of W.R.W. Cobb). Thinking about it this weekend, I decided I would also give a presentation on my research methods, to teach others how to do the same kind of research. Susanna and Ranee' both thought it was a great idea. I'll give a PowerPoint, with lots of images of both my subject and its sources. It sounds like a slice of heaven to me.

Susanna e-mailed me a few minutes ago to tell me how proud she is of me. And I'm very proud of myself.

EDIT (8:16 p.m.): Ranee' also gave me a free copy of The Sword of "Bushwhacker" Johnston, the memoir of a Confederate partisan ranger colonel that's been very valuable to me in several papers. It's been out of print, but they've now printed a second run. I've been on the verge of ordering a copy from a rare bookseller for some exorbitant sum. I'm very honored to have been gifted it!

Current Mood: proud

08:18 am - My rocket

One time in tenth grade, my history teacher had us make a project with an egg. We were supposed to take an egg, decorate it with pictures of some aspect of history that we liked, and mount it on a base. He would then take the best eggs and display them in a case.

I was feeling creative. At the time, I was very much into NASA and the space program. In addition to decorating my egg with space images, I decided I would turn it into a rocket. After decorating my egg, I mounted it on a cardboard paper towel tube and put fins around the base. (This also gave me a lot more surface on which to put my space images.)

I thought my rocket was awesome. I was quite hurt when my teacher didn't display it in the case with the rest. I naively wondered why...

But unfortunately for my project, an egg mounted on top of a cardboard tube looks even more like a phallus than a rocket necessarily does. I furiously denied it, even to myself. "It's a rocket! It's a rocket!" I've never admitted to anyone that I realized what it looked it. I still have the thing somewhere... I've held on to it in shame all these years. If I could find it, I'd take a picture.

Current Mood: nostalgic

08:28 pm - Everybody's doing it

FaceInHole.com.

Current Mood: amused

01:07 pm - Bringing Cobb to Life

This week I wrote a paper.

If you've known me for any length of time, I'll allow a moment for that statement to sink in. This week I wrote a paper. And not just this week. This week I wrote a paper in two days. That's two days, emcompassing my entire period of research, formulation, synthesis, and writing. This is simply astounding. Never before heard of.

If you haven't known me for any length of time, my papers typically snowball into massive, unwieldy enterprises, explode into weeks and months of exhaustive research, never content to be finished, and perfectionistic, painstaking synthesis and writing. More often than not, they never see the light of day, or see the light too late to do me any good.

It helps that this one has been brewing for several years. That it all but burst from my head fully formed and armored. This is the paper on my man, my hero, one of my favorite characters in all of history, W.R.W. Cobb, the Huntsville area's seven-term antebellum congressman, portrait of Southern mountain democracy, and Southern Unionist. He's such a wonderful character; I admire him so very much; and I've been aching to write on him for so very long.

Cobb was the last congressman from any seceding Lower South state to withdraw from Congress, remaining several weeks after his state had seceded. He ran unsuccessfully for the Confederate Congress, but was elected the second time in 1863, as disaffection with the war increased, but he never ventured to Richmond to take his seat, and was finally expelled for "disloyalty" in November 1864. He was long reputed to be on Lincoln's payroll, and a few years ago a check from Lincoln to Cobb was uncovered in Cobb's estate records, for "for patriotic services as provisional governor of . . . Alabama," though the check was never redeemed. He died under very mysterious circumstances in November 1864, shot with his own gun while mending a fence, a mere two weeks after his expulsion from the Confederate Congress. I've always considered it very suspicious. This paper examines Cobb's sentiments towards the Union and Confederacy, and seeks to tackle the issue of what he was doing accepting a check from Lincoln and then running for the Confederate Congress, and if he indeed died accidentally or if he met with foul play.

I actually think it minimizes what I've done here to say that it "burst from head fully formed." The idea I started with in my head is not the one I finished with. In the course of writing, I uncovered a source that blew absolutely everything I had out of the water — even down to the date of Cobb's death. It was a document that contained testimony about Cobb from another of my heroes, Ephraim Latham, who raised a Union cavalry company from Jackson County, Alabama. His words really brought Cobb to life to me in a whole new way, casting light on his deeply held sentiments and character. I was so moved to find it. My paper here is my own attempt to imbue Cobb with life. Have I been successful?

It's a short one. Only seven pages. My dad says it's one of the best papers I've written. I happen to agree. Mostly because I love the subject so much. But also because I think it's well written, well argued, and direct. If you're interested in reading what it is I do, I've love for you to read this one.

"W.R.W. Cobb: A Recent Find and the Views of a Conflicted Unionist"

Though I wrote the thing in two days, I continued revising it neurotically for another day and a half, even up to this morning when I turned it in. Even after I turned it in, I wasn't able to let it go. I assert in here that there are no surviving records of Cobb's death to either allege or refute that he was murdered. But was this true? I realized that I hadn't fully researched it. So today after class I went to the Madison County Records Center and found, to my relief (but also vague disappointment) that no, there were no records here. I still should go to Jackson County one day to check there.

In separate, unrelated news, I've been living in Huntsville for almost six months, and coming here for my whole life, and up until now I had never tried the Kitchen Sink from Stanlieo's (a local and celebrated sub sandwich shop). I am hooked. This is the best thing since sliced bread or sliced cheese...

Addendum (5:38 p.m.): When I was at the library, I told the archivist about my paper, and she took a letter out of the display case signed by W.R.W. Cobb and she let me handle it! I've made an actual physical connection! After class I drove out into the county to try to visit his grave. I found the cemetery, but it was in the middle of somebody's bean crop (and what's worse, their house was right there). I'll go back after harvest. I did visit the graves of two of my Civil War soldiers for my other paper while I was in the area; now I'm exhausted.

Current Mood: proud

10:30 pm - Sarah Chapman

Sarah Chapman, a student here at UAH, was killed here yesterday when an SUV struck her bicycle. She was 20. I did not know her, though it's very probable that I had seen her around. And yet I see the outpouring of grief around me and I can't help but feel it, too. My dear friends middlemarching and theaterphantom both knew her and traveled to Germany with her. She was a popular member of the Kappa Delta sorority. A campus-wide e-mail was sent out, and the whole school is in mourning.

My heart goes out to all those affected by Sarah's death. My thoughts and prayers are with her friends, family, and loved ones.

Current Mood: sad

05:26 pm - Ratties

I love animals. But I've never really had a pet of my own. Muffin, our dog when I was in high school, was my mom's; we had family cats when I was younger (Napoleon was arguably mine, since I personally rescued him); but apart from them, my life has been sadly lacking in critter companionship. Especially so since I've been living on my own.

I am a dog person. I feel I relate to them most in personality and outlook; they are so loyal and so affectionate. I would love few things more than to adopt my own dog now. But I respect and accept the arguments of my family that I have neither the time nor the money for a dog. I am always coming and going, and am often gone for odd days and hours; and a dog necessarily entails high veterinary bills. I would feel morally obligated to spend much more than I can afford to care for a cherished canine.

But a few days ago at Stearns we were discussing animals and I brought up with middlemarching an idea I'd had. Dogs are prohibitively expensive; but what about a smaller animal, a rodent of some sort? How long do they live? Would I be morally obligated to exhaust my savings to care for an animal that had a more limited lifespan? Lizzi, to my delight, knew all about the subject. She told me about what delightful pets rats can make, and about how smart and how loyal they can be.

Lizzi recommended that I avoid pet-store rats, since they are typically severely inbred and have poor health and bad temperaments. She said to look up rat breeders. I don't know anything about rats, let alone about rat breeders; but I found one in Alabama. And I took one look at this website and fell in love with rats. They are so very cute and sound like such pleasant creatures. But I feel I need to a do a little research. And I'm wondering if any of you out there know anything about rats.

• Are there different kinds of rats? Different breeds? This site mentions "exotic" rats? Do I want an exotic rat?
• What about rat temperaments? What will be the difference between different breeds (if there is such a thing), or between male and female?
• Should I go with a local breeder, or can I (and should I) order them through the mail? I am willing to drive a good distance to reach a reputable breeder if need be.
• What do rats eat? What kind of cage do I need and where would I get one? Is there a rat FAQ or any good books or sites I should check out?
• What else do you think I need to know?

Current Mood: excited

02:46 pm - I have arrived.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have arrived.

I just cooked a lovely, fluffy omelette (with bacon and cheese), along with scrumptious cheesy grits, in fifteen minutes flat.

It was my first-ever omelette. I only watched my brother do it last night, and I improved on his technique (in my opinion). He said that it would take me a while to get it right, but I confidently asserted that no, I would get it right the first time. And I did.

And I think that's the key. I'm growing in confidence as a cook. I'm not afraid to improvise or modify. I'm not afraid to try new things or learn.

In a few hours, I begin another something new: my first serious photography job. I'm photographing my friend Heather's wedding. Tonight is just the rehearsal and dinner, but so it begins. It'll be a much-needed rehearsal for me as well as for the wedding party!

Current Mood: proud

09:24 pm - Adventure! A Grand Road Trip! And other updates

Yes, I do occasionally blog.

Last week I went on a vacation with my parents that shaped up, unexpectedly, to be a great adventure and a grand road trip. We were planning only to get away for their anniversary (thirty-two years!) and visit our cousins in Knoxville, and drive up into Greeneville, Tennessee to visit the home of President Andrew Johnson (my dad shares some of my historical interests, and has actually read more presidential biographies than I have). Mom's interest in it was visiting little East Tennessee towns and spending time in their antique stores. And she did spend a lot of time. Especially in Greeneville and Jonesborough, Tennessee (the oldest town in the state). I spent the time wandering around the towns, honing my photography skills with and experimenting with my newest equipment (a telephoto zoom lens and flash).

Through the graciousness of my parents, our jaunt into East Tennessee turned into a full-blown road trip, by a route cooked up by me. From East Tennessee, we turned southward into North Carolina, driving through Asheville and Hendersonville, and spending the night in Greenville, South Carolina. The next day we got up and continued south. We visited our ancestral village of Hodges, South Carolina, and witnessed the heartbreaking ruin of the family cemetery (ten years ago, it could have been saved). Further down that road, we reached Abbeville, South Carolina, from whence came my great-grandmother and her side of the family, and we spent several hours there. Mom loved it so much she spoke seriously of moving there.

From there we turned west, and before too long reached Athens, Georgia, where I performed reconnaissance on the University of Georgia, a brief walk about the campus before letting them know I was interested. I loved it. I can definitely see myself there.

We spent that night in Marietta, Georgia (a slight compromise to me for having to drive through Atlanta). I got up the next morning and talked them into letting me visit the grave of Mary Phagan, about whom I wrote a paper last year. From there, we headed home.

I took nearly 600 pictures! In a frantic effort yesterday, I whittled that number down to an even 144 and got them all edited, uploaded, titled, grouped, and tagged yesterday. I'm still working on descriptions. But I'm nearly halfway done now. By the time you look, I'll probably be further along.

Here is our grand route:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lonelypilgrim/collections/72157606339264207/

I love my new equipment. I had been wanting it since I got my camera, but was compelled (given the excuse, more like it) to rush the order by being asked to photograph the wedding of my dear friend Heather. I read a book on wedding photography while I was gone, and have been practicing, and now I'm psyched! The wedding is August 9th, in about two weeks.

In other news, I visited an older relative, Estelle Hunter Smith, in Hartselle, Alabama earlier this month and discovered an astounding haul of old photographs. I've been gradually releasing them to my genealogy cousins by twos and threes, teasing them and stirring excitement. There were photographs of people for whom no photographs were known to exist. The latest: a mysterious early photograph of an early cousin apparently proving that he fought in the Civil War, which is news to even his granddaughter. I can't even share the crown jewel — it's still top secret, until I announce it — but it promises to thrill. If you'd like to read the excited happenings, here's the archive.

Also earlier this month, in celebration for completing respective papers we were working on, my friend Leslie and I took a day-trip to Atlanta to visit the High Museum of Art. The mission was to see an exhibit of ancient artifacts on loan from the Louvre that Napoleon had captured, but I have seen ancient stuff before, and Leslie said the best items had already been sent back. (She had been there earlier this year with her husband.) Of the Louvre items, I was much more impressed by the Enlightenment-era sculptures by Jean-Antoine Houdon, including busts of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin (as seen on HBO's John Adams). But by far the highlight was the permanent collections of American art. I am an Americanist at heart, and though there were few big names to dazzle me (there were a few recently-acquired Mary Cassatts), I fell in love with what was there, mostly, I think, because I was able to stimulate my own artistic impulse while I enjoyed it: very uncharacteristically, the High Museum allowed me to photograph their permanent collections, as long as I didn't use flash and didn't attempt to profit from it.

We drove by to see the landmark Fox Theatre (and photograph it), and then, all-too-ready to escape Atlanta (for it was trying my nerves), we headed east. All our hard-fought battles had led to a delicious reward: we paid a visit to the very table of Valhalla: the Blue Willow Inn in Social Circle, Georgia, an all-you-can-eat buffet of Southern food to die for. Cheese grits, fried chicken, twice-baked potatoes, the best fried green tomatoes I'd ever tasted, and much more. And a dessert buffet to boot: coconut pie, chocolate pie, lemon meringue pie, and peach cobbler to name a few. I was granted a divine dispensation to enjoy five helpings and not be sick (a salad, two of the dinner buffet, and two of dessert). And I bought the cookbook. I am not a great judge of cookbooks, but both my Cousin Dana in Knoxville and my mom copied a lot of recipes out of it. My mom still has it, in fact, and wants to order herself one!

There is more going on, but I guess that's all for one helping.

Current Mood: excited

11:45 pm - Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Why am I always the last to know about these things?

(Answer: Because I never read anyone else's blogs.)

I just watched the wonder that is Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, mere hours, if not minutes, before it was to be taken down. If you read this before midnight of July 20th (midnight Pacific time I assume), it may not be too late. I laughed. I cried. I promptly bought it on iTunes. If you have a chance, don't miss this.

Many thanks to welfy and thrufireandrain for wheedling me to check it out.

Current Mood: impressed

11:18 pm - Improvising

I don't even know what to call what I just did, but it was tasty.

My cooking adventure has taken leaps and bounds this week as apparently I've broken free of the my strict dependence on recipes and begun to experiment. It all started last Thursday when I was feeling down. I knew I didn't want to eat crap; I didn't really feel like cooking; but I found the cookfire in my soul and decided I would enjoy trying something new. I searched for an hour or so to find a suitable recipe, but my friend Heather encouraged me just to throw something together, so that's what I did. She gave me some ideas, but I went to the store, bought what I needed, and went to work.

I was astounded to discover all at once how simple, and subtle, the act of creation was. It literally was as easy as throwing something in a skillet. The spices and seasonings I applied made flavor, and I either liked it or didn't like it. Thursday I made sliced red potatoes, layered them with cheese, and baked them with milk to make scalloped potatoes. And I baked chicken breasts in the skillet, covered with lemon and rosemary, with green beans and onions mixed in. I had no idea the degree to which the juice would flow from the lemon... My spirits soared; the heaviness in my heart melted like butter in a frying pan.

That was tasty. But I'd taken a few hints. Tonight the training wheels were off. I... what do you even call this? I put the chicken breast in the skillet, sprinkled it with garlic salt, and cooked it on the eye with medium heat. When it was clear the inside wasn't getting done, I sliced it into little pieces and cooked each individual piece. And then I ate. The whole process took about ten minutes, and it was very tasty. It tasted like... grilled chicken?

I have mastered grits and am getting better with bacon. My eggs are still a little sketchy. But through it all, I have tea.

08:57 pm - Alphabet Meme

welfy has been doing this and I like it a lot.

1. It begins with a list of all 26 letters of the alphabet.

2. Comment with something for me to talk about that starts with one of those letters. Make me babble about anything — TV shows, actors, actresses, food, etc. Be creative. (For example: for A, applesauce, anteaters, Adam Sandler — anything you'd like)

3. One topic per letter — it's like a claims list! I will cross off letters as topics appear. If you'd like to make more than one request (for different letters), go for it. Just don't steal all the letters.

4. I will post a new post talking about all 26 topics given to me!

(BE SURE TO CHECK COMMENTS TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE NOT DOING A REPEAT LETTER)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Current Mood: thoughtful

11:00 am - Operation: Grits — Update!

Debriefing: So I believe I have mastered grits and advanced to the next challenge. Today was my second attempt at cooking a full-scale breakfast.

My first attempt at cooking the bacon, early last week, went horribly awry, leaving the air filled with smoke and the bacon horribly burned and inedible. Consultation with experts indicated that the fault lay largely with my new, unseasoned iron skillet. Last Friday, I attempted once again to cook bacon, adding eggs and grits, with moderate success. Following expert advice, I allowed the bacon to simmer on low heat for thirty minutes to prepare the skillet. But once cooking, I still left the bacon on just a few seconds too long, not recognizing that it was done, and I burned it moderately. But it was still fairly edible. I drained the bacon grease from the skillet, but did not clean it, and then attempted to cook an egg in it (it was scrambled). The egg was good, but it had black stuff all over it from the bacon. The grits were successful, but it took me so much longer to cook them that everything was cold by the time I was done. I am still learning to multitask.

Today, I made another attempt at the full-scale breakfast. I started the grits early, at the same time I started the bacon. I let the bacon simmer on low heat for a few minutes, then cooked them at medium. It was done fairly quickly and I removed it and drained it. The bacon was a success! But I cooked the eggs in a different skillet today, a stainless steel one, and cooked them a little too long. The eggs browned a little and were not very fluffy, but still very tasty. The grits were once again a success. My mess was considerably less this time. And I did it all while also making tea. And overall, the whole mission took only about forty minutes — I am improving!

The next objective: To carry off the bacon, eggs, and grits, with complete success, in under thirty minutes. Other objectives: To learn to cook eggs in different ways; to try sausage; to eventually serve breakfast for someone else.

I also have plans to cook nachos tonight, and lasagna for Leslie and Jon as soon as Leslie is feeling well enough.

I believe my Granddaddy would be proud.

Current Mood: determined

05:29 pm - Eternity

(For photocontest)

10:54 am - Operation: Grits

This morning, I attempted to make cheese grits, and was moderately successful.

I at first took the endeavor to be a complete failure. As I was cooking it, the concoction was lumpy and unappetizing, and not gritty at all. But I managed to break down the lumps small enough that I could easily mistake the lumpiness for grittiness. And it was quite tasty, and nicely cheesy! Behold, the power of cheese, to make something disgusting a winner!

It was a learning experience. Today I've learned:

1. My "large, heavy-bottomed pot" is either not large and heavy-bottomed, or not a pot. Or my "medium-high heat" was too hot. It boiled over, but I managed to stop it in time to avoid the extent of the last grits disaster.
2. I did not know what "whisking" was. I do not own a whisk (it's now on my list), but once I realized what was happening (lumping), I improvised something like whisking by stirring with two spoons.
3. Read the recipe thoroughly before beginning. I should've learned this one the last time, but again and again I make this mistake.

I used Alton Brown's recipe. And I didn't read it thoroughly. I only glanced at the ingredients to see what I needed that I didn't have. It calls for "coarse ground corn meal." I went to the store to buy some corn meal, and didn't see anything coarse-ground, so I bought just the basic white corn meal (thankfully having the sense not to buy self-rising). I wasn't sure why I needed corn meal, and I didn't think about it. It never occurred to me that the recipe never calls for grits. It never occurred to me that the corn meal was supposed to be the grits!

The finely-ground corn meal started lumping the second it hit the heat, and I was only somewhat successful in breaking up the lumps after I realized what was happening. Finely-ground corn meal is not very gritty. What was Alton Brown thinking? Did he not go to school in Georgia and live there? He should know better. Corn meal does not equal grits, no matter how coarsely-ground; I'm sorry. Grits is bleached hominy. This is not. This is what you get for trusting someone from California.

I should've trusted the Quaker. He knows grits (despite being a Yankee). Seriously, y'all, which of these faces would you trust?

Look at the Quaker. Look at that kindly smile, those trustworthy eyes. And he's religious, for goodness' sake.

In any case, the cheese made it all better. It was yummy. And easy. Next time, I'll follow Alton's recipe, substituting in real grits for the spurious corn meal. The addition of milk, salt, pepper, butter, and especially cheese was spot-on.

Current Mood: good

11:46 pm - Another Minor Mystery (The Wright Side)

Last year, I posted about a minor mystery involving my Minor family. Well, you may recall that a few months ago, I went to the home of Opal Smith, an elderly relative, and scanned a bunch of old photographs. Among them were a couple of photographs of my great-great-grandmother, Gorda Wright Minor, looking very young, standing at the graves of her husband and her parents in the cemetery we call Friendship-on-the-Mountain (to distinguish it from the other Friendship). And standing with her was a very elderly man. I mentioned to my mother offhand, "I wonder if that could be her father." Gorda's father, Andrew Jackson "Jack" Wright, lived to be a very old man of 96, and she only outlived him by a decade (she was killed in the great tornado outbreak of 1932).

Immediately I rather regretted saying this, because my mom latched onto this idea and before I knew it was telling everyone that "we think this might be a picture of our ancestor Jack Wright." If I was within earshot, I would pipe up, "Now we don't have any hard evidence of that. It could be him. But it could also be an older brother. Gorda did have an older brother who was twenty years older than her. I'm not sure this man looks to be in his nineties." And she would point out that "he's carrying two walking sticks!" And he is.

Gorda is the small lady. We don't know any of the others in the photograph, but there is a family resemblance. The old man on the right is the Wright in question. Here they are standing at the graves of James M. Minor, Gorda's husband, who died in 1915, and her son Olen, who died of measles in 1918 while a soldier encamped in New York, preparing to go to war in Europe.

Current Mood: excited

11:01 pm - The World Is Just Awesome

I don't watch TV, hardly at all. But my friend Brecken sent me the link to this video this afternoon, and it made me smile so big. Boom de ya da, boom de ya da!

(Also, anodiel is just awesome. And I've been staying in my apartment for the past three nights!)

Current Mood: happy

09:29 am - Weary of the Public Life

I don't know what it is, but I'm becoming less and less comfortable with broadcasting my life to the world. I used to have some 200 friends on here. I've cut that drastically, but at around 90, I still feel like I'm speaking too loudly at a party. I consider many of you friends. But my life is changing. I'm becoming a more private person. I want to share my life, but I want to share it, and trust its intimate details, with only a select few whom I trust most.

So here's another call. If you don't feel any particular connection with me, then please, do me a favor and drop me. I may me making some more cuts, to bring this back to something I can hold in my hands. If any of you whom I drop do feel a connection with me, I am sorry; please let me know and I will add you back.

Current Mood: nervous

09:41 pm - First Video Blog - March 17, 2008

I made a video blog!

Current Mood: pleased

08:49 am - My ship comes in

Lately I've been setting my clock-radio to go off to NPR's Morning Edition rather than the alarm. It's not really as effective as the alarm. Not only is it not as good at waking me up, but I'm also often inclined to lie in bed for as long as hour listening just because it's interesting (and in many cases, I go back to sleep).

I had a bizarre dream this morning that I think was the fruit of this. I was at some country gas station, and I had somehow come into a large sum of money (perhaps the "large sum of money" I've saved to buy my camera translated to the dream world?) — somewhere around $200,000. And on the spur of the moment, buying gas at this country gas station, I decided I was going to invest in oil, thinking about how much the price of gas would go up with the summer. This gas pump somehow allowed this — spending $160,000 on a $30 tank of gas, and putting it on my debit card. As I did this, I felt anxiety over the safety of the oil tankers, whether "my ships would come in." I thought of Angelo from The Merchant of Venice.

But at that moment, as I'd just put a couple of gallons in my tank, the gas pump failed and lost my transaction. What had I just done? A gas pump normally only charges for the gas you've pumped — but I'd apparently just done something different. I went to the guy at the counter, who was very confused, and didn't know what I did or how to refund my money. I'd just blown $160,000.

I woke up to the most interesting news story about the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. That ship didn't come in. I remember this, but I was too young at the time to pay much attention. It's in the news again, with the Supreme Court revisiting the case after nineteen years, considering the limitation of punitive damages. Frankly, in this case, I think they were totally warranted.

I suppose I must have heard the news of the Valdez and appropriated it for my dream. It is amazing how the dreaming mind works.

Current Mood: thoughtful

05:42 pm - From the "Mine's bigger than yours" department

The Mother of All Telephoto Lenses. Only $100K.

(Via B&H Photo E-mail Newsletter)

Current Mood: amused

11:44 am - Slimming down

I'm trying to cut down my gargantuan friends page by slices. I'm dropping a good few journals I see to be inactive or abandoned. I may also drop some people I feel I've never connected with, whom I don't know, who've never shown any interest in me and whom, when I do have time to read this, I usually find myself skipping. The last thing I want is to hurt anybody's feelings, so if I drop you and you do care about reading me, please say so. It's not personal; I just have a shortage of time, and this has become unwieldy.

Also, if you don't care to read me, and would rather not, now's your chance to drop me. I won't be hurt.

07:41 pm - Mr. Cobb Withdraws from Congress

I mentioned yesterday my seminar paper, on the Alabama congressional delegation in 1861. Williamson R. W. Cobb, the congressman from the Huntsville district and a personal hero of mine, stood by the Union as his state seceded. He remained in Congress after all the rest of his colleagues withdrew; in fact, I believe he was the last congressman of any of the first wave of seceding states to withdraw. As he withdrew, he stood and made this stirring speech. It takes a brave man to stand up in the face of Secession, on the eve of the Civil War, and say these words.

My take on it after reading it: Parts of it may not be very politically correct these days, especially the reference to "savage nations yielding to the white man," but the man's heart was genuine. He stops short of condemning slavery, which surprised me — he insists that Alabama will defend her "constitutional rights" — and that makes me wonder: what were his personal views? Jackson County, by whose votes he was consistently elected, was not a heavy cotton producer, had relatively few slaves, and had little to gain by secession; but he also represented Huntsville and Madison County, among the largest slaveholding counties. Do his comments reflect his personal views, or did his politics reflect the views of his constituency? Did he himself own slaves? I know he had a small plantation, which means he probably did. I'll have to look into that, to answer these and other questions.

To what he said, was it still possible to save the Union? What could've been done at this point? The fire-eaters (those demanding secession) had convinced everyone that Lincoln's election meant an immediate affront to slavery, when Lincoln had no intention of doing anything of the sort. Could guarantees of the protection of slavery have calmed the storm? Or did they want expansion of slavery (the contentious issue for the past forty years)? This is the sort of thing I want to become an expert on. The most fascinating thing to me about this period of history is watching the train wreck over a period of decades, seeing intelligent men commit fatal blunders and suffer tragic misunderstandings, and noting all the points at which the disaster could have been prevented if things had only been very slightly different. In the long run, what needed to happen happened: slavery was morally unconscionable, and to boot was not a viable base for the Southern economy. But the South would have never voluntarily given up slavery. I love what Lincoln said in his second inaugural (would anyone be interested in reading that?) about the expatiation of slavery: that war might continue "until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword" — and he was right, I fear. Only baptism by blood could have cleansed the South of her sins.

If any of you read all of that, allow me to thank you humbly. And thank you, dearheart, for humoring me. ;-)

Current Mood: intense

09:17 pm - Sending large files?

What is everybody's site of choice for sending large files these days? YouSendIt used to be the one, but I know they require registration now...

Current Mood: curious