Jan 28 2009
to tibet she thinks where it is quiet
i wish to sit in a little cell of stone and gold
my clothes and things would not be important
and i would listen to the birds in my heart
to decide
why i always choose the wrong man
to decide
if i want to recluse myself forever
but i’m not sure she thinks i want
to carry on searching to find
a little cell of stone and gold
inside me one day
one day she says i’m going to tibet
Jan 27 2009
what remains
is a certain feeling
an aridity a lawless guilt
some unsung heroes in the quiet
the midmorning after you
gunned me down with your love
took me in your arms
and pressed so tight
what was then
i;
the silent white smoke
from the tips of your fingers
you blew away with a smile
warmly you touched me
on the chest
when i got cold and shivered
at you
you spoke the last words
i will ever grasp
that is
what remains
Jan 27 2009
Between 1990 and 1995, I wrote poetry. Drawn to finding a creative outlet during a time of newfound English language proficiency, I stumbled upon a group of Cape Town poets organized by Peter Horn, then professor of German at UCT (where I was studying). Peter had impeccable political, academic and writing credentials, and had put together a poetry circle that met at his house in the Cape Town suburb of Lansdowne once every month or so. So, faithfully, my friends Rustum, Joy (an American exchange student) and I drove out to Lansdowne in my rickety white Golf with the 1.6 Litre Jetta engine and the bad brakes. On the way, we smoked cigarettes, listened to music and brought our own wine when we could afford it.
At Peter and Annette’s house, 6-10 writers regularly congregated as the “Lansdowne Local.” Originally conceived as a ‘local’ chapter of the Congress of South African Writers (COSAW), my memory now suggests that it may never have been formally constituted as such, probably because politics, though ever-present (these were heady times in South Africa), were never the primary reason to meet and read. I met a number of past, present and future luminaries of the South African literary scene and was lucky to have them listen to my often meager novice attempts at writing poems. I wrote and wrote and wrote… after realizing, through Peter’s thoughtful mentoring, that writing creatively was 90% sweat. You had to show up and do the work.
Reading in front of others was initially hard but became easier after the first few successes. Poets are a welcoming lot, and the encouraging words from people who wrote much better than I helped me a lot. I was published in a few “Landsdowne Local” anthologies, small publications created on Peter’s then cutting-edge personal computer and printed locally (university printers, undoubtedly).
In 1994, I moved away and stopped being part of the small community that supported and encouraged me. So I stopped writing poetry. Simple as that.
Lately, I have found a few of my old poems, dusty and hidden under layers of digital debris, strewn across the far reaches of the Internet. Two were posted by myself almost exactly 15 years ago in rec.arts.poems. The Wayback Machine has a few more, published by Peter on a no-longer-there version of UCT’s website. I must have 3.5″ floppy disks with many more on them somewhere. Of course, I don’t have a floppy disk drive anymore, so it’s anyone’s guess if I’ll ever be able to retrieve them (or whether the disks would still work after all these years in storage).
I’ll post one or two of the better ones from 15 years ago here. And maybe I’ll write some new ones one of these days.
Jan 26 2009
Starbucks has had these for a few months now: insulated cups that are made to look just like their regular disposable paper cups. The only thing it’s missing is a brown cardboard sleeve. I’m not completely sure what attracted me to this, but when I was in the market for another insulated cup and found myself at Starbucks, this was the obvious choice. I think I like the irony of it, and the unabashed branding. Like Microsoft in its company store, Starbucks has figured out how to make me want to pay for things featuring its brand.
Maybe I should be more conciously opposed to all this. There’s a fine line between irony and brand credulity… maybe I should get something from Pylones instead? When I lose this one…
Jan 25 2009
Heidi Swanson’s blog – 101 Cookbooks – is a daily must-read for the beautiful recipes and pictures.
Jan 22 2009
A review of Dwight Yoakam’s This Time (1993)
Even though I had Hillbilly Deluxe and Cadillacs, Guitars Etc. Etc. on vinyl in the 80s and liked them (really, they provided my first ‘country music’ experiences that weren’t related to the radio and didn’t result in fierce episodes of doubt and self-loathing), This Time occupies a special place in my heart. I believe it to be the pinnacle of Dwight’s output in the 90s, accessible hard Bakersfield honky tonk mixed in with fabulous, credible, truly sad weepers. I think “Two Doors Down” and “Home For Sale” are two of the loveliest country ballads ever recorded. All material here was written either by Yoakam alone or together with Kostas. The playing is top-notch throughout, and the Hammond B3 on some of the slower numbers is downright inspired – Hammonds this intense haven’t been heard since Jon Lord played Bach in Deep Purple. It’s a crime Amazon is currently selling this for $6.99. There should be an option to pay more, voluntarily.
Jan 21 2009
While her last album was unfortunately not very good (a case where reach exceeded grasp), Beyoncé has a lovely voice – and, evidently, genuine admiration for her new president. Singing Etta James’ “At Last,” she opened the first of many inaugural balls in Washington D.C. last night.
Jan 20 2009
(Barack Obama by Obama-Biden Transition Project, Creative Commons License)
It’s a big day in the US today. Even if it’s in the midst of an economic recession, Obama’s inauguration feels like a moment of hope becoming real. I’m not sure it’s any more specific than that for me: everyone (including myself) projects their aspirations, desires and expectations on the new Democratic President.
Most thinking people know that the United States (and the world) has suffered immeasurably under the Bush administration – in public life (the economy, the environment); in terms of personal freedoms and rights; and in foreign policy.
Obama’s presidency signifies the possibility of practical renewal. And while it’s reasonable to assume that many things will change quickly, some legacies will take much longer to sort out. And some may never be addressed by the Obama administration. But ultimately, today says that things we’ve known for years should be possible, are actually possible.
I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
As I write this, I have the inauguration ceremony on in the background, streamed over the Web. Those who are present in Washington D.C. are chanting, “O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma!” I don’t imagine that’s happened at a presidential inauguration in a few decades…
Jan 18 2009
Eating healthily and losing or maintaining one’s weight are hard things to do in a busy life. We’re surrounded by fast food options everywhere: the din of junk food has become deafening, especially now that so much of it claims to be healthy (for example, Subway claims to be healthier than McDonald’s, which is objectively true but still doesn’t ever make Subway a good option for someone who wants to eat actual food).
I struggle most with breakfast and lunch. Breakfast is characterized by little time and my ‘morning fog’ which I try to lift with two mugs of steaming hot coffee every day. The idea of actively making food in the morning, involving the application of heat to foodstuffs, often seems overwhelming. So I typically end up having instant oatmeal and a slice of toast with nut butter, or oatmeal and a sliced apple (the organic Ambrosias are particularly delicious right now).
Lunch, though, is the real struggle. I work in a part of town where healthy, vegetarian-friendly options are hard to come by. Here are my options:
The better places in the area are essentially cheap sit-down restaurants, and visiting them requires a little time and forethought, something I can’t always muster during a busy consulting day. As for the rest – if I try hard, I can pick out the ones where I can ‘make do.’ But I think lunch needs to stop being about making do.
So that’s my dilemma. If I want to eat well, I have to start packing a lunch every day, something I’ve never done in my life. I also need to find ways to snack healthily during the day when I get hungry because my new diet will have fewer calories than I ate before, so snacking will become a necessity (and the snack cupboard at work, kindly provided by my employer for free, is unfortunately a little house of horrors consisting of trans fats, high fructose corn syrup and all those other lovely things industrial food production bestows upon us).
Here’s what I’ll do:
Snacks
Healthy snacks can include:
Lunch
I think the point about lunch is that it has to be easy to pack in the morning, easy to carry around, easy to re-heat or eat cold, and healthy. While I love reading Vegan Lunch Box, I find the suggestions/recipes often a titch fussy and can’t really imagine doing the same amount of daily prep.
Mark Bittman, whose Food Matters I’m currently reading, suggests that the success of his suggested eating plan hinges on being prepared to ‘do the work.’ I think that eating vegetarian, and eating well as a vegetarian, requires a ton of prep work. You need to buy fresh fruit and vegetables, chop and store them, and remember to take them with you. Bittman suggests that this is “easier than you think, as long as you’re equipped with the right containers.”
Personally, I bring lunch to work about half the time, and it’s usually a soup (or something soup-link if not an actual “soup”), one that contains vegetables or legumes and grains, so it’s pretty substantial. They’re based on the same quickly prepared foods you would eat if you were home.
So, my lunch ideas include:
That’s it so far. The objective is to take the daily frustration out of lunch and to find ways of having good, healthy, simple food by doing the absolute minimum of weekly prep work. Let me know if you have any other ideas.
Jan 18 2009
If you’re like me and are always looking for low-fuss lunch food that can be pre-cooked and stored in the fridge for a few days, this is a nice recipe. I use a rice cooker for it. You can definitely make this in a regular stovetop pot, but the steps are slightly different (sweat the onions first, then add the grains and stock).
3 measures short grain brown rice
1 measure black beluga lentils
2 measures vegetarian stock
4 measures water
1 yellow cooking onion
2 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
1 small can of corn niblets
Get your rice cooker ready. Chop the onion into small-ish pieces. Add olive oil to bottom of rice cooker and add the onion. Add rice and lentis, stock, water and salt. Stir a few times. Start the rice cooker.
After 50 minutes (of whenever your rice cooker thinks it’s done), open the lid, stir the pilaf and add the corn (drain liquid from the can first!).
That’s it. Ridiculously easy! It makes a large amount, and it keeps well for about a week in the fridge. You can warm it up or eat it cold.
