The Theatre

On Wednesday I saw “Love’s Labor’s Lost”, a Shakespeare comedy that was new to me. Although there were a few more sonnets than necessary, it was fantastic. To top it off, the audience was excellent. An audience will either make or break a live production, and this was an audience that loved and understood Shakespeare.

Let me take a moment to say that I love live productions; sitting in an audience watching people perform can be a magical experience. There is an ability to engage with art that is missing from television, movies, and recorded music. This week began what will be my fifth and final theatre season at Notre Dame, and it was a glorious commencement. Given my general tendency towards sarcasm when it comes to the Notre Dame institution, I feel it is important to mention that I love our performing arts center. All six venues in the center are small and well designed; each has a separate foundation so there are no sound issues regardless of the number of simultaneous productions at a given point in time (check it out at http://performingarts.nd.edu/). To top it off, as a student, tickets are inexpensive, and access is all of a five minute walk from my office or a five minute drive from home. When I move, this is one of the things I will miss.

A new academic year

Next week the campus here at Notre Dame will be flooded with students with the start of a new academic year. This means that my students (a.k.a. ‘My Girls’) will be back. Along with the joy of them come 8,000 other undergrads. It also signals the start of another football season. Some of the changes about to take place on campus include:

• Parking lots being filled. The new challenge: beating all the off campus students showing up for 8:30 class.
• Gym being filled beyond capacity at my favorite times. Time to reorganize my schedule…but who wants to get sweaty in the middle of the day?
• All facilities (ok…specifically gym, pool, and restaurants) will be open longer hours. The next time I have to be in the lab at midnight and get hungry, I will have options beyond the vending machine.
• The many perfectly manicured lawns on campus will be filled with sunbathing girls and football playing boys. May the flirtation begin…better than TV.
• A higher energy level will begin to pulse through the air on campus in large part thanks to the combination of overly excited freshman. It is amazing how long freshmen look.
• I will refrain from all football commentary until a later date. Just know that we have not 5 or 6 home games this year, but 7.
• The finishing touches are being put on the lawns. Fresh mulch put down, grass fertilized, and flowers in full bloom. My guess is that there is a multi-million dollar endowment for the lawns. Here are a few pictures taken yesterday morning outside of my building.

At the Gym

I am a regular at the gym here several times a week. I come with my ipod shuffle and listen to my music when I am in the weight section or on the mats. I plug my headphones in while on one of the stair steppers or ellipticals so that I can listen to one of the four TVs while I become increasingly sweaty. It is a time for me to relax and enter my own little world; I come away refreshed. I say all of this not because I think you wanted to know my gym routine, but so that you can put my next statement in context.

If you ever see me at the gym or otherwise working out with a cell phone attached to my head, please take it from me, turn it off, and tell me to get a life. Better yet, smack some sense into my head. Twice in the past seven days I have seen a girl (not the same one) on an elliptical talking on the phone. Not a quick response or simply to take or give a message, but for an extended period of time. It is not as if I use my time at the gym as social hour or even a time to engage with acquaintances, but can we please, please, engage with the place that we are at when we are there?

Maybe this is the hidden beauty of swimming—you are forced to engage with the water.

Cinnamon

After a dinner characterized by the use of fresh basil and plenty of wine with friends last night, we moved on to dessert. We had my blueberry-peach cobbler that is topped with finely chopped pecans, oats, brown sugar, honey, spices and a bit of butter. Of course served a-la-mode. As we were eating this (delicious) dessert, the Italian in our midst makes a comment about the American use of cinnamon. His thought was that it was overused and in nearly everything. When I said ‘spices’ earlier, I meant ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and plenty of cinnamon. That got me thinking.

I love cinnamon. It goes in my pancakes, banana bread, carrot cake…most of my baking, some of my marinades. Sometimes it lands itself in my tea or on my toast. But the flavors blend so well—each complementing the next to be aromatically and sensually pleasing. Yet I was left with this question: Do I overuse this favorite spice thus neglecting others?

I would like to think that I use this spice appropriately so that it helps to build the flavor of the dishes I cook or bake while not overpowering and pushing out the other flavors. There is a long list of dishes that it has not worked itself into. Thus, I am hopeful that I have not fallen into this (apparently) American trap. However, I will certainly be watching my spice use a little more carefully in the near future to see what other patterns there that I might not have noticed so clearly.

I Fear

I fear that I am well on my way to becoming an eccentric professor. Yesterday I stopped by the department office to see if they had some packing tape on hand. I told the secretaries that they would laugh when they found out why I wanted the tape, and they did. You se, I needed to fix the cover of my notebook as it was about to fall off. Not just any notebook, but my large “Bloc-Note”, a type of notebook that I buy in Benin and rater love. It is filled with random work and is rather the prefect work notebook. Not to mention, the last large “Bloc-Note” I brought back with me.

As I was fixing the cover of this beloved notebook, my pen came to mind. I like the “Pilot Dr. Grip Gel”, and Office Max is kind enough to special order my “Very Fine Blue” ink cartridges at no extra cost. People argue for the look of black ink, but black ink disappears on the endless photocopies and print outs with which I work. My students know that “accidentally” taking said pen would be disastrous to my day.

Notebooks from Benin. Pens with special order ink cartridges. To think that I do not intend to be a professor—at least not soon…

As Promised

Nearly two months ago I promised that the blog would return in a new format. Here it is. Nothing particularly fancy or special, but it will be a piece of where I am and what I am up to. Though the coming months will largely be filled with work as I hope to finish with this stage of my life at the end of December, I am sure there will be enough to smile about that I will have things to share with you. If all goes well, I will update weekly.