September 2003

where is everyone?

2003 Sep 01

By common understanding, it is the last day of summer here. soon it will be cool when you go outside at night, crickets and cicadas will be a thing of the past. for now though, both are serenading me through the open windows drowning out the sound of cars driving up and down highland. it will probably rain again.

although every car in the world is here, no one is home. i wonder where everyone went, and why no one is here...it's a strange thing indeed to be alone in a house where 8 people live.

I went swimming for probably the last time this year, unless i get really lucky and get to go to blake's apartment pool, or sajjad really does hook me up with the U of M pool. But probably this is it. I really like just laying in the water and looking up at the sky watching the clouds drift by overhead.

ah i hear someone. it's josh.

Us pisces folk always feel a little more at home in the water...

I picked peaches on the way home. they weren't that great...underripe, and small, but oh well. better than nothing.

Spent most of the day making pickles, pickled okra, and pickled watermelon rind which is really more like a chutney from what i hear. I've never had it before, and got curious. it's easier to find a recipe for the stuff than to find someone who actually makes it.

For some reason we have indoor mosquitos, and they be tearin' my ass up.

In 11 days, I'm going to California...hell yeah. I can hardly wait.

California Days 1-3

2003 Sep 13

Day 1-MEM/ORD/LAX (558.3 miles + 2089.0 miles)

...pretty self explanatory...i flew to LA from here with a stop over in chicago. had the best view in the world because we swooped out over the city and I could see everything familiar...then we flew way out over the lake, and into Ohare. Kinda pains me to be in chicago and not be able to go anywhere though. once in LA we went to the rental car place, went through that whole crazy ordeal, and ended up with a phat minivan. took hwy 1 to cristin's and spent the night over there kickin' it with those two and eating cheap thai food.

Day 2-Hwy 1: LA, Santa Barbara, Morro Bay (222.3 miles)

Woke up and it was pretty smoggy. We drove on Hwy 1 up through Santa Monica, Malibu (where there were lots of people out surfing), and finally left the LA area behind. After awhile, we drove through some agricultural areas around Ventura and had to get on 101 for awhile. Then we started seeing mountains until we got closer to Santa Barbara. Elise always said she loved Santa Barbara better than just about anywhere. My friend Jonah is going to school there now, so I met up with him for a few minutes and checked out the campus. They have a real nice beach and we went and walked around on it for a few minutes, found some neat rocks, walked by the lagoon, then headed north. After Santa Barbara, there's nothing but coast line, mountains, some military bases. We made it to Morrow Bay and discovered that there was really nowhere to camp, so we just parked in a neighborhood and slept.

Day 3 Morro Bay, Moonstone Beach, Jade Cove, Monterey Penninsula, Santa Cruz, Ano Nuevo (about 230 miles)

Woke up to a foggy morning. snaked some power from a campground, and headed north to Moonstone beach. That was a cute little beach town. We found lots of really great rocks there. Then we drove up the coast and it was nothing but coast...miles and miles of rocky cliffs and inaccessible beaches for miles and miles. Stopped at Jade cove and climbed out on the cliffs across from the island, and watched a lizard moulting. Then we went down to the actual beach and I pickep up tons of green rocks, jade or not, I couldn't tell ya...we drove all the way up the Monterey Penninsula which is still one of my favorite parts of the state...because it's just so unbelievable. Once you pass Big Sur and get up into Monterey, it's just flat, and agricultural, although there's something funny about fields of brussel sprouts. I still wish there was a way to go out to the lighthouse that's by the navy base, it's sooo cool. We stopped in Santa Cruz so I could take brian to the saturn diner which is definitely one of my favorite places to eat because it's so funky. Couldn't find anything cheap around Santa Cruz so we headed north instead of staying there. We ended up at a super swank campground near Ano Nuevo that had all kinds of yuppified things, but since i was coming down with a cold, i wasn't going to complain about hot showers and the availability of orange juice, electricity, and such.

California Day 7

2003 Sep 17

Day 7 Ashland-Medford-Smith River NRA, Crescent City, CA (123.3 miles)

Met up with Hobbit and Soma in the park and hung out, then we had to hit the road. Once we got out of Medford we took the scenic route and it was pretty much nothing but scenery all afternoon. There were lots of streams. We stopped at a dried up creekbed to look for rocks and went through a town that had an antique police car sitting by the side of the road and a caboose. Later on in the afternooon we hit the Smith River area and started seeing redwoods. At the information area, there were these huge ravens walking around on the ground...never seen anything that big with wings in all my life. We were going to camp at Mill Creek but there were no amenities at all, so we ended up staying in the youth hostel. That place was really nice, and I was digging all the informational literature about the trees and clearcutting, and wildlife. From there you could walk across the highway to a beach. We watched the sun set over the ocean, and right about then the power went out. Oh well, it's nothing we haven't seen before in Memphis. We were sitting outside looking at the stars (it's so clear out there you can see the milky way even), and we heard something huge rustling around in the bushes. We scooted inside right quick and casually asked the owner if there were bears around there. "Bears? Oh yeah. We have bears. They're all out right now too...eating the blackberries". We ended up chatting with her somemore until it was time for some sleep.

One side of the state to the other-literally

2003 Sep 30

Day 8 North Coast Region (Klamath, Redwood National Park, Humboldt County, Arcata, Humboldt Bay, Eureka, Sonoma County, Berkeley CA 334.5 miles)

Smith River NRA, Redwood National & State Parks,

After waking up, we went to the beach for a little while, then drove down into the Redwood Parks on the scenic drive. Oh the trees…the trees.

I’m pretty into trees anyway, but redwoods are the undisputed kings of trees because they are so huge. They only grow in the mountains of the coast ranges on the Pacific coast and grow to be 300 ft tall or more which makes them look almost prehistoric towering above the ferns they share the ground with. They’re also so big around that you would need an entire party of people to form a ring around one. They are also the oldest living things, some of the biggest may be up to 2000 years old or more. Oh the things they’ve lived through, my friends. Because they are so old, they’re very different than most common trees having taken a different path of development and evolution. They tend to clone themselves and they have very thick rough looking bark that is practically fireproof. Sometimes they are so old they are hollow in the inside and you could actually live in one if you felt like it. Being a plant nerd anyway, I think they’re so cool because they’re so ancient. Standing in the middle of a grove of redwoods you can pretty much imaginewhat the earth might have been like back in the time of the dinosaurs…it’s real easy to forget about the 20th century because it’s absolutely quiet with the exception of maybe a bird call here and there. It’s a similar feeling to standing in the middle of a medieval cathedral…but anyway I was giddy all day being around these huge trees, and their spicy scent. I was quite thrilled by the information center where they had a display where you could take home seeds and plant them.

During the rest of the day we drove down 101 past redwoods and rivers and mountains, went along the coast of Arcata and Eureka, and ended up in the Sonoma Valley Region by late afternoon driving past vineyards and really awful traffic coming out of the bay area. Fortunately Emily and Mark were there, so we got to stop there and hang out with them. We took Brian to a Japanese restaurant because it was his birthday, drank a bunch of sake and stayed up real late kickin’ it and listening to Johnny Cash.

Day 9 Berkeley-LA and haulin' ass.

The next day was strictly all about getting the rental car back to LA, so we got on 5 and hightailed it out of the bay area and down through the desert and valley past some of the greatest corporate atrocities of unsustainable agriculture. We drove past the biggest corporate farms in the world, and maybe I’m missing something, but it doesn’t seem like a terribly good idea to me to spend all that time fucking up perfectly good rivers to be irrigating shit like corn and tomatoes to grow in the desert…there’s so many other places on earth where those things will grow much more effectively (like where I live) without the bother of irrigation. the grapes and almonds I can see though they dig that climate. But I don’t know…call me crazy, but my take on things is, if it doesn’t grow in your climate, don’t waste your time on it. The folly of attempting to subvert nature. sigh. The other comical or tragicomical thing is people who live in the desert that try to have lawns of green grass. Geez folks, give it up already. If you want lawns, move the fuck somewhere else. The desert is for cool rocks and rad succulents. Here you are, you could have some of the most interesting looking plants in the world in your yard, and you pick some fucking lame east coast grass and waste gallons of water trying to keep it alive in 100+ degree weather. I think there must be a real long waiting list at mental institutions these days. Sheesh.

Got back into the LA area around 3 pm but it took hours to get to the car rental place. Typical. Brian was disturbed, but I’ve seen this sort of thing before. It’s the sort of thing that makes me never want to drive in LA ever. I don’t know how y’all do it. But I know it ain’t for me. I can drive to the middle of other states in the same ammount of time it takes to get from one side of LA to another. insane.

The hotel we were staying in was hilarious. There were lots of Japanese sarariman so there were lots of japanese conversations and even japanese continental breakfast. needless to say i felt right at home.

Kekkon suru koto

2003 Sep 20

Porque soy un vagabundo en mi tierra en el mundo

mi camino "I've known her valleys, I've known her mountains her courtyards and her fountains The giant redwoods towering in the skies of her...I've wandered her farthest reaches Her deserts and her snow and, yes, her beaches A land that paradise could well be jealous of..." El camino mi camino

el camino del verano, y yo soy un vagabundo

yo me voy por este mundo

It's not late, no it's early...

"Say a prayer and ask the angel To guide and to watch from above Light a candle in the chapel

For the one you love" Siga tu camino delante

Mi corazon a ti te llama "Gratia plena Maria, gratia plena Maria, gratia plena Ave, ave dominus, Dominus tecum Benedicta tu in mulierbus Et benedictus Et benedictus fructus ventris Ventris tue, Jesus. Ave Maria Ave Maria, Mater Dei Ora pro nobis peccatoribut, ora pro nobis peccatoribut Nunc et in hora mortis Et in hora mortis nostres"

Before the fiddlers have fled, while we still have that chance, Let's face the music and dance, They're dimming the lights down, they're hoping we'll go,

The orchestra's yawning, they're sleepy I know

They're wondering just when will we leave, but till we leave, Save me the first dance in your dreams tonight...

places we are(not) in time, on time, no time

2003 Sep 24

woke up in a familiar place, it feels like a race, i went hop on over to run the marathon of finding myself thrust suddenly and abruptly back into the dizzy pace of real life in memphis. whew...

hold up...slow dow...wait.

nope that's not happening, ya'll. so i went into class like a whirlwind and found 13 folks in there. more people than chairs but there's always more chairs. always more chairs...books, handouts, and knowledge are all things that can be shared. i've got a lot of shit to get together before next week. i've got a lot of new names and faces to learn.

work was mainly spent at kinkos utilitizing the paper cutter. that occupied a good part of the day. i was glad to see that both the flyer, and la prensa latina and el grafico have articles on the freedom ride. yay! now if only i could get the commercial appeal to notice.

what a lovely day. this new weather concept suits me just fine.

midsouth fair pork butt on a stick

2003 Sep 25

today was a dud as far as making connections and getting anything done. it's like i fell into some kind of vortex and brian was crank deluxe because i snagged the powerbars. then one dumb thing after another.

i ran into valera going down a street i rarely go down. there was lots of drama between her, denny and renae right before i left, and apparently even more while i was gone. we talked about it for awhile. my two cents is that basically denny should have been more straight up with renae to begin with, and everyone is an adult here and needs to deal with the situation like an adult. there should be apologies, sensitivity and communication...

ultimately though, you can see these disasters coming even if they're a hundred miles away. this is a primo example of why it's generally not a good idea to live with significant others unless you are in a real solid and stable relationship. and sometimes not even then. when things go bad, they go really really bad...then you are stuck looking at each other because you still live in the same house. yep. that's what the PRC sez. don't do it, unless you're thinking long-term-might-as-well-be-married an' shit. separate lives are good...it's nice to have somewhere to go when shit gets ugly.

anyway enough on that topic.

i was supposed to meet brian to go to the fair but my damn phone was turned off, so i kinda missed the boat. we got there late, but late is better than never i guess. the rest is pretty self explanatory...at county fairs, you eat all kinds of unhealthy things like cotton candy and funnel cake and fried twinkies and ride on things that make you dizzy and go upside down, end up wasting lots of money on crapola and wonder if everyone from mississippi/arkansas really is as scary as their representative samples would have you believe. yep. that's the fair experience.

the scariest thing i think i saw besides multiple chins and the prolife tent, was a sign on a booth that said "pork butt on a stick". not sure how i should feel about that, but i'm twitching just the same. somehow, I don't think the pig in question was too happy about it. what a way to go...

all in all it's kind of another reminder that i'm getting old, but in a way i'm okay with it. i still like defying gravity...but i pay the price the next day.

Freedom Ride hits memphis

2003 Sep 28

Wow, what a beautiful day...who ever heard of such nice weather for a protest rally? I woke up and dragged around in first gear until noon. Once I got home, I got my superbag and poured into it, all possible solutions to all likely problems, then shoved off for downtown.

I had a time of it though, I had to ride fast, and against the wind the whole way there which was exhausting. First stop was catholic charities but nobody was there, so i took off down jefferson, and slowly worked my way west and south avoiding as much up hill and headwind as possible. By the time I got over to Vance, I ran into other people who were going to the civil rights museum and felt right at home.

When I arrived on the scene there were tons of people there but I barely had time to take it all in before being whisked away by josh back to catholic charities. ruth still wasn't there but i ran into joseph who needed directions. lucky meeting him since i was the only one who could have told him.

once i got back again, i found a ton of people i knew. luckily a lot of people were brave enough to come out and show themselves. it definitely takes balls to go to a big immigration rally if you are undocumented or in any way a good candidate for the friendly folks at la migra. the somali/bantu community and the sudanese community turned out and the afghanis were there although they were confused as to why. it was nice to see mansoor...i don't get to see him as much as i'd like since i work all the time, and don't get to babysit him anymore.

fortunately things went smoothly...i would have liked to see a little more press, but oh well, it's not like they didn't know. Fortunately there weren't any dumb racist hecklers, and not too many police, so people relaxed, and kids ran around, and the weather was great, and I think people enjoyed it. i spent most of my time running around taking pictures, but the times i did get a chance to really stop and listen to the speakers, they made me really proud. Judge Sugarmon really was awesome, Nabil was wonderfully blunt, and the pastor of Mt. Olivet really surprised me...I had no idea he was so progressive. I really dug all the United Farm worker's flags that people had made, and it's been a long time since I've heard anyone say "si se puede" around here (not since the imokalee workers were here last). it's sobering to see the crap people will go through just to come live here in this country. secretly i'd like to think that 20 years from now (or less inshallah) people will be amazed that folks were getting worked up over this dumb crap about "the mexicans" or "the pakinstanis" or whatever and just have gotten over it and moved on with life. it's always something...i think people worry too much about change, and don't realize that change can be positive...shit if segregation were still legal, just think of all the places i couldn't go...anyway, i'll just leave it at that for now...i figure y'all don't want to hear all of my philosophy about international relations and civil rights and shit anyway...

good night kids, i'm tired.