yesterday summer, today fall

photoshop=paintshop

santa cruz again. another fake painting.

And speaking of Doris Lessing, funny how Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse just popped into my head. Here is a link for a free copy.

santa cruz. I played with photoshop.

the santa cruz american

That's a nice house on the beach.
Oh.

give-get-nation

This website looks like a really good idea: www.givegetnation.net. It's a site that describes itself as a "gift and wishes pool". Anyone can create a profile and either offer to volunteer a service, action, or knowledge, or ask for assistance. Like this:
Make a wish when you're in need, give a gift when you've got something extra, share a thing that's not being used to the max.
We organize goods, services, people power, brainpower, and the indomitable human spirit and make them available to everyone for free.

the search is on

I was asked to forward this email, and I was thinking what better place than here? You'll have to cut and paste the email addresses at the bottom though, as all of my attempts at creating links failed.

HELP! Do you know America's Most Extraordinary Person?

Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson are two of Sweden's
most beloved TV hosts. From December 2007 to February
2008 they will travel the USA for a documentary show
on Swedish Channel 5.

Their assignment: Find America's most extraordinary
person (and the 99 that were pretty damn close).

These extraordinary persons might not be exactly
the first ones who come to mind. They don't have
to sing like Pavarotti (but we don't mind if they do),
they don't have to hold a dozen state records in
skateboarding, or have made a fortune selling
herbal products.

An extraordinary person might instead be the local
eccentric that knows exactly what everything costs
at the supermarket like a human pricerunner.com.
Or the guy who just for fun has built small replicas
of famous buildings in his backyard. Or the lady who
in her late years has found enormous pleasure dressing
like a 19th century cowboy.

Or, put in a few less words: Likeable people with
odd interests.

Do you know any people in your neighborhood that you
think fit our description of an Extraordinary Person?
Please, don't hesitate to drop us a few lines at
extraordinary@sto-cph.com We really appreciate your
help on this matter.

Thank you so much!

Magnus Samuelsson
magnus.samuelsson@sto-cph.com

yeah, I am happy for al gore too

All these people want Al Gore to run for president. I really don't think he wants to. I think when he lost the presidency to George W. Bush it was the universe telling him politics was not where he was supposed to be. This Time Magazine article is interesting.

more doris

I am on a couple of Doris Lessing mailing lists, and today there has been a flurry of emails. Usually I get an email about every other month. But now everyone is really happy. Happy intellectuals write cute emails.

There is a quote by Lessing that I sometimes put on a syllabus and use in class. It's from the foreword to the Harper Perennial 1993 edition of The Golden Notebook (a book that was originally published in 1962):

"I am writing volume one of my autobiography, and thinking about some of the people and events that went into The Golden Notebook, I have to conclude that fiction is better at the truth than a factual record. Why this should be so is a very large subject and one I don't begin to understand."

I just really like the idea that fiction will tell the truth, and facts won't.

(The photo shows her in 1962.)

my favorite mexican

I just think the movement in this photo is the coolest.

finally!

Doris Lessing wins the Nobel Prize for Literature. I never thought I'd be excited for a Nobel Prize, but this is so cool. I think if you haven't read anything by her you should start with with Martha Quest.

I had always heard that she was 'difficult', but when I discovered her novels I realized that 'difficult' means crystal clear. She talks about people, situations, society, and politics and she blends psychology seamlessly with social commentary. She has the sharpest eye for human communication. Just great. I am so happy.

manuel manuel NOW will you be my friend?

I did it. I got myself a myspace page. I am so cross promoted it's not even funny.

1o.1o.o7

flutter

I made butternut squash soup

half of a butternut squash
one potato
half an onion
5 or 6 garlic cloves
1 chicken bouillon cube
water to cover

Chop everything. Let the garlic and onion sweat on medium heat. Add the veggies and let them sweat too. Stir. Add water to cover, and the bouillon cube.

Grind up some salt with a pinch of cinnamon, and pinch of cloves, cumin, and black pepper. Throw that in the soup. Add a little finely grated lemon peel.

Let everything boil until soft. Blend. Add a squeeze of lemon to each serving and maybe some ground black pepper.

the proof: exclusive dual rubber compound. superior wiping performance. mounted by yours truly. I am just saying.

people are randomly funny. old ladies are cool.

It's very sunny and warm today, so I was actually wearing my sunglasses right now when I was out in the street attempting to put new wipers blades on my car. I've owned the car for almost 12 years and this is the first time I have replaced them. There is a storm coming in tomorrow, and the rubber on the old blades was glued to the windshield. So I figured it was time.

The old wipers had a nice patina, and given the fact that I bought the car from a lady in Santa Barbara where it hardly ever rains, they may very well have been original.

It was a sweaty half hour. When my patience was running out the first time, I got out the WD 40. When my patience ran out the second time, I tried to be rational. And I actually figured it out. The instructions said 'snap!' and that's how it happened.

As I was finishing up a couple in their 60's walked by.

- That's a nice Karmann Ghia, the man said. What year it is?
- -72, I said.
- My mom had a -65, the woman said. She was bad! She drove it 90 miles an hour. And she actually wanted to be buried in it, but I told her that would be an expensive funeral.

kind of only makes sense if you're swedish

Tipstack till Lena.

lou reed can just go ahead and play himself

We saw a preview for I'm Not There, the new movie about Bob Dylan, tonight. In the movie, six different actors will take turns portraying Dylan. One of them is Cate Blanchett. Lovely as she is, more than anyone she reminded me of Laurie Anderson. I am sure the movie will be great and everything, it was just funny. Double androgynously funny.

east meets west, part ll

For dinner I had rice, kimchee, and a fried egg, with sesame oil on top for flavor. And a root beer float for dessert.

And as I am reading about Jewish dietary laws right now, I realize it was actually kosher.

as I type: east meets west

Dan is making a Kimchee Quesadilla. He says it's a winner.

three blanket morning

It's getting colder over here.

it's coming up!

my car is so small

for that sugar and cinnamon fix

You can either heat up a tortilla, spread it with butter, sugar, and cinnamon, and roll it up. Or, you can heat up leftover rice with a little bit of milk, and sprinkle it with sugar and cinnamon.

Either way, you'll be pretty happy.

the heart of the game

I saw this movie tonight. Very cool! Any girl or woman or old lady who ever played a sport should see it. And everyone else too. (I am sure it's on Netflix.)

There is an almost 100 year old lady in the movie, who was a girls' basketball coach in the 1920s, shingle bob and all. In those days the objective of womens' sports was to protect the girls from over exercising.

Now, not so much... The movie tells the story of a girls' high school basketball team in Seattle. Those girls were tough. That's all I am saying. The rest will be a surprise.

links everywhere

I am all networked out.
Facebooked. (Look me up and be my friend!)

NaNoWriMo even loves me.
They are the National Novel Writing Month people.
How about it, Babs?

bridge (2)

bridge

the non-conformist

safe, unsafe

Last night at 1:30 there were loud bangs on our door, and strong flashlights shining in through the floor to ceiling glass walls. Three police officers were outside, demanding to see us. They asked Dan to step outside, "would you mind stepping out here, sir?", while they blocked the doorway to force me to remain inside.

Then one of them asked if I minded that he came in. I said I didn't. He put the flashlight in my face, and then let it play around my arms and upper body. I was wrapped in a blanket because they had woken us up and I hadn't had time to find any clothes.

He asked questions. Had we had a fight? Had we been on the phone? Did we have animals? Was there anyone else in the house? I said that we hadn't, we didn't, there wasn't. He repeated the questions. More flashlight in my face. I didn't like it. It made me nervous. I didn't understand what was going on.

All the while the other two officers were asking Dan similar questions outside.

Then they looked at each other, apologized for having gotten us out of bed, and said that they had had a call about something sounding like a woman being beaten up by her boyfriend and that they were checking everywhere. We said we hadn't heard anything. They apologized some more, and then they left.

Then I didn't go back to sleep for a long while. I have never had a flashlight in my face before. I have never been separated from my boyfriend by police department standard procedure before. It's not nice.

And I sure looked down our pretty, calm, and quiet suburban street in a different way today. Where was it? What is going on out there?

los gatos memorial park II

Behind those recent stones with Asian names there are older ones with older immigrant names on them.

so here's a little secret of comfort fusion cooking

Swedes eat risgrynsgröt, rice porridge, for Christmas. It's basically rice boiled with milk, and served with sugar, cinnamon, and cold milk. Sounds familiar?

Sounds like Arroz Con Leche, the sweet Latin rice pudding made and served in similar ways.

If the whole boiling rice with milk and keeping it from burning seems a little daunting, here's a tip: Next time you make sticky Asian rice, put a little in a bowl, add a pat of butter, sugar, cinnamon, milk, and salt (if you didn't add any to the water before.) Mmm.

And yeah actually the Swedish Santa Claus doesn't get cookies, he gets rice pudding. That's how good it is.

does al gore know? I am sure he would want to bring his offspring presents.

So yeah I liked 3:10 to Yuma a lot. I read a couple of articles about it this morning, and I came across the fact that Russell Crowe and I share the same birthday. So I clicked on the April 7 link, and guess who else was born on that day?

- 1969 - The Internet's symbolic birth day

3:10 to yuma

3:10 to Yuma is a great movie. I cried. It's kind of hard not to so I am sure you will too. The red horses are pretty and so is the yellow desert, and the blue mountains. The ending is really great and the actors are lovely. 10 out of 10 in my book.

yep, I have a thing for cemeteries

I went to Los Gatos Memorial Park today. This is half of the gate leading to the Jewish part of the cemetery. It has half of a star of David on it.
This is a row of military graves. Military tombstones are always shaped like that, rectangular with rounded tops. Sometimes they are placed together in rows. Sometimes they will appear mixed in with other tombstones. Those graves, the military ones mixed in with the civilian ones, remind me of how war is always present in the US, and in American families.
Look, someone left a beer for that guy. Sam Adams too. The good stuff.

waiting around to die

'I just didn't want no more whisky.'

his horse was fast as polished steel

come morning I'll be through them hills and gone

oh nostalgia

I read this article and got all homesick for my old hometown. Thanks to Monica for finding it and for posting the link in the first place.

1 month, 3 days

November is National Novel Writing Month. Sign-ups start Monday!

redhaired woman sleeping on the train to stockholm

I don't know why but

I just randomly thought of this lady. She is the mother of one of my former students. I met her once and heard her speak. It was something else. Click on the link here and read her bio.

Actually, here is an article too that another favorite kid wrote.

no, I am not a vegetarian. but let's not think of that now.

I like to go for hikes. That's one reason I like living close to the mountains. When I was visiting in Sweden this summer I went for hikes too. Up the street from where my parents live there is a very pretty forest, and on the fields next to it there are a bunch of sheep. Most of them were skittish and not very friendly. But one sheep seemed to like people a lot.
This is him in the pictures. Or her? Whenever I would walk by this sheep would come up to talk. Whenever I held up the camera it would pose. See that charming smile there?

more smugmugging

I am hooked on smugmug. It's too much fun. Anyway. In the interest of total openness I just changed the address to: http://charlottakratz.smugmug.com. If you made a bookmark, please change it.

grattis hasse på födelsedagen!

Bon Appetit!

new photos at smugmug

I am updating my smugmug photo site this weekend. There are several galleries up with new flowers, new places, but very few people. (I think it's hard to take photos of people.) And there is more to come.

Anyway. Click here if you want to take a look.

I am getting ready to sell prints too. It comes with the package at smugmug, wouldn't you know, so if you want you can order through the site.

I like smugmug a lot because the site is really pretty, but the browsing logic is a little weird. Or maybe I haven't been able to set it up right. Please let me know if it doesn't make sense to you.

strange fruit

I saw one of my former students be interviewed on CNN the other day. She had traveled from California to Jena, LA to be a part of the protests there against perceived racial bias in the judicial system.
When asked, the young woman said that racism and classism are present everywhere in the US, and has to be fought everywhere.

In Jena, six black teenagers were charged with attempted murder for beating a white classmate. One boy, fifteen at the time, was charged as an adult. (Which, actually, just brings us right back to Dave Chappelle, and his ideas about the differences in being 15 and black and 15 and white in America.)

Three months earlier, at the same Jena high school, black students had asked to sit under a tree that provided a shady gathering spot for the white students at the school. The next day, nooses hung from the tree. No charges were filed.

And, yeah, my former student is a white girl from southern California. The CNN reporter who interviewed her and a couple of others said that the white people he was able to find at the protest (there wasn't all that many of them), often were college students who had taken ethnic and gender studies courses.

I am just saying. Education is not a bad thing.

friday afternoon

look here, anne (2): orchid update

I was so hungry I didn't know what to do with myself

Lunch: Cold rice, yogurt, Vietnamese hot sauce. Not at all bad.

dan having dinner

thanks to adrianne we get to see dave chappelle talk about missing girls, and media coverage

Two minutes into this he talks about the differences between white missing girls, and black missing girls. And then he goes on to discuss the differences in being 15 years old when you are black and 15 years old when you are white.

So, yeah, it's Elizabeth Smart, or little Madeleine. Next time it's someone else.

mid-day madness in los gatos, calif.

I don't know why the photo contest people have to call their challenges things like "mid-day madness". I think that's dumb. Whose life is mad? Really?

Anyway. This is what it looked like when I came home from school today, after I had been to the post office and mailed off some zip lock bags for Åsa.