Welcome To Hampshire Post-Thanksgiving!

My friends, it is final paper season at Hampshire College. For those of you who think a school lacking both tests and grades must be a rather pleasant place to be toward the end of the semester, you are all kinds of wrong. I present you these lovely pictures of Jack and Katie working on the myriad final projects and papers that must be completed, and evidence of my own work.

In this picture, you will notice a very long color-coded list of notes on my wall. This is how I research things. Ideally, my wall would be a white board, and I could cover it with the various things I find in books and draw arrows and underline things and feel important. Instead, I make lists and try to pretend it’s enough. That list is for my WWWII paper, which is about Germans.

This picture shows an awful lot of books. These are the books I currently have out from the library, and I will give you a complete list, so that you may understand my life.
Left pile:
Ethnic Drag
A Traveler Disguised
Adventures in Yiddishland
Queer Jews
Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire
Eros and Jews
The Collected Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer
Queer Theory and the Jewish Question
Unheroic Conduct
People of the Body
Novel Gazing: Queer Readings in Fiction
(pile of papers is an article called Queer Yiddishkeit: Theory and Practice)
Another copy of the Collected Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer because I got confused once
The paper at the bottom is my Yiddish syllabus
Right pile:
Hitler’s War and the Germans
Tagebuchblaetter (Diary pages)
Ich glaube an den Fuehrer (I believe in the Fuehrer)
My planner
Copies of the Dybbuk and God of Vengeance
Shiksa: the Gentile Woman in the Jewish World
Books and Bombs in Buenos Aires: Borges, Gerchenouff and Argentine-Jewish Writing
The Jewish Gauchos of the Pampas
Outwitting History
The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism
Notebooks from 2 classes
A really giant pile of things I either have read for Yiddish or need to read for Yiddish because the general homework doesn’t stop in the midst of writing a paper
Also I guess there’s a copy or two of the Omen cause they got mixed up in there

Sure, I love my life. I’m 5 pages into my 15 page Yiddish paper, and have used exactly 1/3 of the notes I took from all my research, so I’m confident, if I can only find the time to finish the paper (and the mental stability). My WWWII paper is at 7 pages and needs to be 10, so there’s some editing to do there, but not until after Thursday (when the draft of the Yiddish paper is due). I will get through because I actually have way less work than most people (due to very good planning on my part) but giant piles of books scare and excite me. 

Hey Dog Lovers!

Do you have the sort of dog who likes to wear bandannas? Want me to make one for your beloved pooch? Just let me know how big Fluffy's neck is and I'll gladly knit up a pretty little bandanna just in time for putting under your Hanukkah Bush or Christmas Tree or Ramadan Shrubbery.

(My e-mail is oneseventy@gmail.com and I am totally serious about making a whole lot of dog bandannas, so let me know!)

The Gathering of the Gazlonim

Hotzmakh's Shpiel

So Emily took various exciting pictures of the Magic Mirror Gazlonim at our various post-performance parties, and I share with you, beloved readers, because you seem to enjoy looking at pictures of me.

I'm a Nerd

If your life had a soundtrack, what would it be?

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So, here's how it works:

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc.)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...just type it in man!

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Opening Credits: Shake Me Baby (Junior Senior)

Waking Up: Close to Me (The Cure)

First Day At School: Poison Pill (Raised by Wolves)

Falling In Love: Summer Cannibals (Patti Smith)

Fight Song: Support System (Liz Phair)

Breaking Up: Shake Me Baby (Junior Senior)

Formal: Hot Hot Hot!!! (The Cure)

Life: Robin & Marian (Nickel Creek)

Mental Breakdown: I'll Go Crazy (Andy Griggs)

Driving: Ordinary Love (Stew)

Flashback: Friday I'm in Love (Dryden Mitchell)

Getting Back Together: Someone Else's Star (Bryan White)

Wedding: Me and Mia (Ted Leo and the Pharmacists)

Birth of first child: Puerto Madero (Kevin Johansen)

Final Battle: Sunday Bloody Sunday (U2)

Death Scene: Bicycle Race (Queen)

Funeral Song: Wearing a Raincoat (They Might Be Giants)

Credits: Wave on Wave (Pat Green)

I'm so impressed by what my party shuffle managed that I am going to make this an actual playlist, and I will gladly burn a cd of it for anyone who wants.

This Shall Be Insane

BUT SO AMAZING

Come one come all!

Somewhere Only We Know

Wow it's been a while oopsies. But I've had a ton going on so I hope you're ready. Basically, I've been living at the Yiddish Book Center doing sound cues for the play. The amazing wonderful play put on by so many talented people who I love to death and directed by the most organized awesome person in the world Debi. Tuesday and Wednesday were rehearsals, during which I learned to hit the thunder button at the right time and got to sit around and watch these great actors doing these great hilarious lines and be in awe for a while. Then came the first performance on Thursday, meaning more of Kari being mesmerized and a lot of me standing around giving people a thumbs-up while they ran around looking really stressed. And then some hanging-out in the kosher mod because 4/5 kosher modites are involved with the play and we love the kosher mod anyway and they fed us food. Also I guess Thursday was Hampshire Thanksgiving so there was like turkey and stuff for dinner and it was fancy but I ignored most of it because of the play? Ummm I slept late Friday and was sad that I missed the guest speaker in world war ii class but I was sleepy and had been up late and I need sleep sometimes. And I did go to Sound Patterns and I wasn't sure what to do with myself on the night without the play, but then I remembered that I have friends and hobbies and I ended up watching Full Metal Jacket with Jack and Katie cause Jack really wanted to watch it and then I went and slept forever because I was still quite tired. Saturday brought a lot of hanging around while Jack and Katie did homework (but not me!) and also some going to Northampton to shop and finding out that it was "Bag Day" in which you go into any store with this special bag and you can buy one item for 20% off so I bought a hat and a book. And then came another performance of the play for an audience that was really awesome (love that audience) and it was taped and the Hotzmakhs were so on that night and it was great and I was mesmerized again. And we decided kind of spur of the moment that the cast party that had been planned months ago when Saturday was the last night should go forward in spite of the people who were hosting it not being at all prepared to host. But we put the party on hold to go look at a meteor shower first, except it was cloudy, so we stood in the bleachers at the soccer field and someone made an impassioned speech about Jewish Football (Abandonment!) and then it was cold and Debi said "Guys! Warmth and wine!" and so we returned to warmth and wine and Scottie tried to get us to play Props but she failed at finding interesting enough props although I did get a really awesome tree hat that I'm sure pictures exist of and maybe I'll find them soon. And then we played charades until like 4 in the morning or something because charades is pretty cool and I am pretty good at guessing things in Charades because I can read minds. I slid home at some ungodly hour and slept forever and Sunday meant sleeping and then heading over to the Bridge where I ran into Alex and we realized that we only ever see each other in food related contexts, which we are pretty okay with, except that we're taking Spanish together Jan term and Spring semester and that means that we're going to see each other in non-food contexts and we aren't sure our relationship is ready for that but I'm sure we'll survive. Umm I guess Alex made chili Sunday night and so we ate his chili (he makes chili a lot and it is delicious) and watched the last half of Robin Hood Men in Tights because it was on tv and then Jack and I did laundry and then Katie and Jack and I watched the Princess and the Warrior and then it was time to sleep again. Monday was spent sleeping in and working crosswords and packing and getting lots of books from the library for my Yiddish paper and then came the play and there were some intense worries when Austin didn't show up and didn't show up and then it was 5 minutes before the house opened and finally Nick found Austin (in Chinese class of all places) and Debi didn't have to play Bobe Yakhne and all was good. Jack managed to see the play Monday, in an audience that was more students than other people (as opposed to the other two nights) and we successfully got the audience to sing the magic song and when it was over we managed to get things cleaned up before 9. Then there was piling in cars and an attempt to go to the Amherst Brewing Company, only to discover that it is far too full on Monday night for our party of 15 or so. Some quick thinking by either Scottie or Debi or both meant that we adjourned to Chili's and then Scottie had to leave and we were sad and then a whole bunch of other people showed up and there were some sailors across the way and then Scottie returned and then all sorts of fascinating conversation happened and Debi ordered some brightly colored drinks and then we had the fun of getting the 20 or so people we were to all contribute to a single check and get enough money and then we did and we left because Chili's wanted to close so it was back to Debi's apartment (Scottie only got a little lost on the way there and we only mocked Dan a little bit when we thought Scottie was driving right and Dan wrong and then we felt a little ashamed and then we had a dance party in Scottie's car when we thought we were there before Debi but we weren't and so we felt silly again) for beer and playing with Debi and Nick's lizard and discovering that Dan knows most of the "Would You Rather" book and that some people come up with really disturbing "Would You Rathers" and then Debi and I had a conversation in Yiddish and German (she Yiddish I German) and then Sara and Noah and Debi and I and maybe some other people started planning to go see A Night in the Old Marketplace when it happens because it will be exciting and then Nick did his turtle impression and all sorts of other fun things happened and then Scottie had to leave briefly and then Dan and some folks left and then some flower vases fell over and then we thought Scottie was coming back a few times but it was Debi's drunken neighbors and then Nick told the story of their soundproof bedroom and getting locked out of his own apartment and having to pry the chain from the door while Debi slept and then Scottie got pulled over and we were mildly concerned for her but she persevered and made it back and picked up all of us but Sara and Noah, who claimed they would walk home, although I hear that they ended up staying up all night with Debi and only leaving when Nick got up for work. And I came home and was too wound up to sleep and finally I did (fitfully) at like 4 and then I woke up at 7:22 (unintentionally) and pulled myself out of bed and showered and had breakfast and met with Aaron and Katie's mom took me to the train station and I got on some tiny little one-car train with a lot of old people and they crammed us in at a lot of tiny train stations until we got to New Haven where we got a real train and they crammed lots of people onto it and it somehow managed to get an hour and a half behind schedule and I have no idea how and so I missed my first train in Philadelphia but I caught the one an hour later and got to Atlantic City where Aunt Barbara and Candice were waiting for me and we went to the mall and bought Candice a coat and now I am settled in here and I kind of miss Hampshire people already. Also I am really really tired but can't quite bring myself to sleep.

Happy Registration Day!

Today is Hampshire College Spring Semester Registration Day! By which I mean that every Hampshire College student is clogging the Hub trying to get into that popular class. My registration time was 10:30, which means I spent from 10:31-10:57 on the Hub trying to make it (a) log me in (b) find the classes I want (c) let me select the classes I want and then maybe MAYBE (d) actually register me for said classes. I had no issues getting Spanish and Meaning and Philosophy of Language and Mapping Jewish American Generations (this is a maybe class because I have like 13 other classes that I might want to take) but Ever Since Darwin, the NS class I want (and I have to take a Natural Science in the Spring) was full and already had 2 people on the waitlist and I was sad so I got on its waitlist and signed up for Adolescent Development, and I have since found out that Dulcey and Lianne are totally also in Adolescent Development, but I want to try to get into Darwin still. But whooo S07 classes!

I am taking Spanish this JanTerm, of course, and I found out that Alex is totally in my Spanish class, so we're both very happy about having friendses there.

Ummmm life proceeds. I was sick this weekend and basically didn't leave my bed or shower for 4 days except I did leave to eat except when Katie made me soup (I love Katie and don't love Jack cause Jack is not sympathetic at all) but now I have to continue with life cause I have a paper due Wednesday and Debi's play is this week (I am doing sound cues for it) so I'm busy Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday nights with that. So Hampshire people come see the Magic Mirror it will be great!!

Shadowboxer

We played Apples to Apples last night (after running around in the rain for a few hours so that I am now sick- although Alex apparently gave me the Sickness and the rain just made it worse) and I want to share a few highlights.

Adjective: chewy. Judge: Katie. My noun: milk.
Adjective: luscious. Judge: Jack. My noun: men.
Adjective: addictive. Judge: Jack. Katie's noun: steak and potatoes. My noun: having a baby.
I also pulled the classic "comical- Helen Keller" moment, and there were more than a few nice little Holocaust moments because the Holocaust always wins.
Quote (Katie speaking to Jack): "So you're saying Michael Jordan is more shallow than a chimpanzee?"

And so a normal evening with us passes. Tonight, I want to die a little because I am getting sick, but I'll get over it.

Also, I have a job in the form of counting cars and noting the race and such of the driver to help the Amherst police department figure out if they're doing racial profiling, and I'm going to sell my brain waves to science as well because that is a great way to make some cash, so I'm kind of excited about both of those things.

Pillow Fiiiiiight!!

So we had this big Dakin v. Merrill pillow fight on Tuesday, and it was really awesome. Like you have no idea how cool it is to go outside and beat lots and lots of people with pillows unless you have done it. And some people took pictures, I guess, so here are some for you to enjoy.

Pillow Fight

After the pillow fight, I went to a Decemberists concert, and the Decemberists dress like ninjas when you go to their concert on Hallowe'en, which is sweet. They also have a completely unfair and totally arbitrary costume contest, which was won by a really great chimney sweep (like so great) and also featured a Shankill Butcher from the wrong century, a crane, Jackie Kennedy and Jesus. I adore this town.