Tantas Veces Federico

Federico plays, La Argentinita sings, and the poem below is beautifully read.

El poeta pide a su amor que le escriba

Amor de mis entrañas, viva muerte
En vano espero tu palabra escrita
Y pienso, con la flor que se marchita,
Que si vivo sin mí quiero perderte.

El aire es inmortal. La piedra inerte.
Ni conoce la sombra ni la evita.
Corazón interior no necesita
La miel helada que la luna vierte.

Pero yo te sufrí. Rasgué mis venas
Tigre y paloma sobre tu cintura
En duelo de mordiscos y azucenas.

Llena pues de palabras mi locura,
O déjame vivir en mi serena
Noche del alma para siempre oscura.

Axé.

Shrimp Salad with Two Dressings

The bed of the salad is baby spinach, tossed with basalmic vinaigrette and chopped garlic.

The shrimp salad that you ultimately toss with it is initially marinated and chilled for an hour in white wine vinaigrette. The salad is composed of the following:

1 large ripe tomato, sliced and the slices halved
1 large ripe nectarine, sliced and the slices halved
2 hot peppers of your choice, chopped
4 scallions, sliced
1 small bell pepper, chopped
1/2 pound baby green beans, steamed
1 pound medium to large shrimp, boiled, shelled, and halved

This is really good, y’all.

Axé.

Mi Niña Lola

This is Concha Buika.

Axé.

Roque Dalton

Como Tú
Por Roque Dalton

Yo como tú
amo el amor,
la vida,
el dulce encanto de las cosas
el paisaje celeste de los días de enero.

También mi sangre bulle
y río por los ojos
que han conocido el brote de las lágrimas.
Creo que el mundo es bello,
que la poesía es como el pan,
de todos.

Y que mis venas no terminan en mí,
sino en la sangre unánime
de los que luchan por la vida,
el amor,
las cosas,
el paisaje y el pan,
la poesía de todos.

*

Like You
By Roque Dalton
(Translated by Jack Hirschman)

Like you I
love love, life, the sweet smell
of things, the sky-blue
landscape of January days.

And my blood boils up
and I laugh through eyes
that have known the buds of tears.
I believe the world is beautiful
and that poetry, like bread, is for everyone.

And that my veins don’t end in me
but in the unanimous blood
of those who struggle for life,
love,
little things,
landscape and bread,
the poetry of everyone.

Axé.

Adventures with New Faculty, Latest Edition

New Faculty: Person A is doing this and that to me, it is harassment and/or discrimination.

Professor Zero: I did not realize Person A engaged in this kind of activity. If you are as concerned as you say and you are not able to resolve the issue with her directly, you might ask the department chair for advice, off the record. This will alert her to the situation and she may be able to halt it. Keep a log of the behavior in case it does not halt. If it does not, you should report it formally.

NF: …

PZ: I am rather sure Person A has no ill intent, and I have reason to know she is under severe stress at this time. However, what you describe is serious and if it is real you should pursue the matter through channels, in a discreet way.

NF: Oh, no. I would never do that. I would never say anything bad about anyone to a department chair. That would make me look terrible. I just need to vent about person A. She is such a witch!

PZ: You have just met both her and me. I have been working well with her for years. I strongly advise you not to use that kind of language to talk about people here, especially not before you understand the lay of the land.

Comment by PZ: This person lost my support for his continued employment in that conversation. Be my guest, count the reasons. Keep in mind that his having “dissed” a colleague I know better than I do NF, and whom I trust at least to some extent is not one.

Axé.

A Question on Paranoia

Are paranoia and a marked taste for intrigue especially great in Spanish speaking cultures? Are these French and Italian characteristics as well? Mediterranean generally? Why is the Portuguese faculty the most reality based?

I realize I am suggesting very broad generalizations but I have reason to ask these questions. I will be grateful for all answers but I would particularly like an answer from a Romance Philologist.

If this answer indeed confirms a general cultural attitude, it will ideally, although not necessarily cite instances or evidence of this attitude in Medieval and Renaissance texts.

Axé.

Walking to New Orleans

Hurricane Katrina, five years on and still so many people are not home. So they can come home and stay, we need a coast, and for that we need among other things a United States Senator who supports coastal restoration.

Charlie Melançon won the Democratic primary last night and we truly deserve your contributions to his underdog campaign against David Vitter, R-BP, for the seat in the U.S. Senate Vitter now holds.

I do not agree with all of Melançon’s views but it is precisely his conservatism which makes him a viable candidate in this area, and he will stand for reason where Vitter does not.

Again, please consider supporting Melançon and, thereby, all of Louisiana as well as the entire United States, since what happens here DOES have an impact on what happens to the rest of you.

*

The other suggestion they are making on the radio is to support a musician to return to New Orleans.

Many of those who cannot afford to return due to the housing situation are musicians whose presence here would help ensure the continued existence of the important engine of world musical culture we are.

You can buy a good CD at a low price and otherwise support the New Orleans Musicians’ Relief Fund right here.

Axé.

Anniversary

Here is a Category 5 hurricane nearing the Louisiana coast exactly five years ago today. A few hours after this picture was taken, Katrina came on in.

The storm was on a Monday.  Saturday and Sunday were comparatively festive, the traffic moving slowly to and through Maringouin in contraflow. Monday classes had already been canceled. There was a pre-storm dance Sunday afternoon, with fiddlers.

We never feel these storms as much in Maringouin but the heavy atmosphere of the outer bands was here, and we were tense and worried about what might happen en ville.

We fed the ducks.

Then the storm had come through and it hadn’t been as bad as one feared, and we drank wine. Then the levees broke. I remember that for about six hours there were people unable to grasp the news. I had grasped it instantly and knew its meaning, which was the basis for my own state of shock.

Axé.

Black Dove

It is the weekend, so we must sing! This is Lila Downs.

Axé.

On Nutrition

What did you have for dinner?

I had a piece of marinated and grilled steak, grilled asparagus, green salad, papaya, and white wine. I should have had red wine, but I did not have any, and now I want chocolate mousse, but I do not have any. I am eating a bad Camembert.

Some of my favorite desserts, however, are miso soup with seaweed and tofu, steamed spring rolls, and sushi.

Last night I had chicken legs stuffed with onions and green peppers, and green salad with tomatoes. I had two entire chicken legs. I had not planned on that, but when I bit into the first one, I realized how hungry I was and knew that the second one was a goner.

I was too full after that. I would have done better to boil some egg noodles to go with that first chicken leg.

Which leads me to my question: do you who eat meat, plan balanced meals? I do not, but I am planning to begin. When I was a very small child, our dinner was: meat, fish, or fowl; shell macaroni or lima beans; a green vegetable; green salad. Then we moved up to meat and green salad only.

This was for a number of reasons but I believe we were in part celebrating not being in the Depression or in World War II, eras in which one could not have gotten hold of so much meat. I still tend to cook this way since it is Very Easy — you make the salad while the meat grills, and there you are.

However, I note that I feel much better if I cut down on the meat — way down — and eat one or two green vegetables and let us say, some brown rice. And fizzy water, green tea and miso soup do me far more good than do milk, juice, beer, or wine.

I feel heretical saying this — that I would reduce meat quantities and eat brown rice. I appear to have learned that not to be grateful for all the meat and dairy products is not to empathize with those who missed these items in the Depression, and had them rationed in the War.

Still I ask: am I the only one who, on just meat and salad, is either too full or too hungry?

Axé.