it turns out everything that needs to be said about the beach, and what it means to me, I wrote back in 2009. I truly cannot wait.
July 13, 2011
to the sunset
in a few hours I'll take a red-eye to wilmington, nc. I'll arrive tomorrow at 8:30 in the morning, and my aunt and uncle will pick me up from the airport and drive me to the beach house on sunset beach. I'll be there for two weeks, the longest time I've spent there since 2006. spending time with me there will be two aunts, one uncle, four cousins (and three of their children), a cousin's friend, my mother, and my youngest brother and sister. there may or may not be a pet hamster in attendance.
it turns out everything that needs to be said about the beach, and what it means to me, I wrote back in 2009. I truly cannot wait.
it turns out everything that needs to be said about the beach, and what it means to me, I wrote back in 2009. I truly cannot wait.
July 11, 2011
#19
19. do the fruit loop
hood river's fruit loop is 35 miles of roads that wind around orchards and wineries and fruit stands. I've been to hood river a few times -- to swim across the columbia and to hike -- but have never traveled through the loop. although most people DRIVE the fruit loop, I got the idea that it might be fun to bike. I couldn't find very much about biking the route, with the exception of a forum posting a few years back that talked about a group ride there. it seemed totally doable, so a certain someone and I decided to do it this past weekend.
scott talks a lot about all the bike trips he's gone on, and has often suggested that we could do one together. secretly I have never believed I was up to the task, because I hadn't biked in so many years and because biking on the road has scared me for so long. cars! they are fast! shoulders are small, and my absolute most petrifying bike fear is of losing control of my bike and crashing into the road in front of a car. also, I still lack finesse when it comes to turning, and I've always been afraid of going at high speeds down hills. but recently I've been commuting pretty regularly in traffic, and we've even gone on a couple of bike dates where we've just meandered along from one place to another. on roads. without spending two hours scrupulously finding the safest bike route possible.
so: the fruit loop.
we followed this route from hood river, south to parkdale, then back north. we stopped at a couple of fruit stands along the way but didn't choose to detour to any of the ones off the main course. (although we did leave highway 35 for a couple of miles in order to bike on a less-trafficked road).
mt. adams through the orchards. we were there last summer!
a certain someone on his bike
mt hood looming close by
a paraglider! he/she was SO HIGH UP. presumably they'd ridden the air vents. insane. there were two of them; the other one was much lower.
making it look easy
fortunately you can't see the steady trickle of sweat on my face in this photo.
the ride was the hardest I've ever done -- a lot of climbing (for a novice), a lot of fast cars going by, a rough road. there was one hill -- the last, not long but on the steep side -- where I thought, "if I can't see the top soon, I'm gonna cry." but I made it! at several intervals on the climbs scott very kindly waited for me to catch up (and catch my breath) before we continued upwards.
he also tells me that the conditions were probably about as bad as it gets on a bike ride, so I guess I'm ready to go on bike rides now! look who's all grown up.
hood river's fruit loop is 35 miles of roads that wind around orchards and wineries and fruit stands. I've been to hood river a few times -- to swim across the columbia and to hike -- but have never traveled through the loop. although most people DRIVE the fruit loop, I got the idea that it might be fun to bike. I couldn't find very much about biking the route, with the exception of a forum posting a few years back that talked about a group ride there. it seemed totally doable, so a certain someone and I decided to do it this past weekend.
scott talks a lot about all the bike trips he's gone on, and has often suggested that we could do one together. secretly I have never believed I was up to the task, because I hadn't biked in so many years and because biking on the road has scared me for so long. cars! they are fast! shoulders are small, and my absolute most petrifying bike fear is of losing control of my bike and crashing into the road in front of a car. also, I still lack finesse when it comes to turning, and I've always been afraid of going at high speeds down hills. but recently I've been commuting pretty regularly in traffic, and we've even gone on a couple of bike dates where we've just meandered along from one place to another. on roads. without spending two hours scrupulously finding the safest bike route possible.
so: the fruit loop.
we followed this route from hood river, south to parkdale, then back north. we stopped at a couple of fruit stands along the way but didn't choose to detour to any of the ones off the main course. (although we did leave highway 35 for a couple of miles in order to bike on a less-trafficked road).
mt. adams through the orchards. we were there last summer!
a certain someone on his bike
mt hood looming close by
a paraglider! he/she was SO HIGH UP. presumably they'd ridden the air vents. insane. there were two of them; the other one was much lower.
making it look easy
fortunately you can't see the steady trickle of sweat on my face in this photo.
the ride was the hardest I've ever done -- a lot of climbing (for a novice), a lot of fast cars going by, a rough road. there was one hill -- the last, not long but on the steep side -- where I thought, "if I can't see the top soon, I'm gonna cry." but I made it! at several intervals on the climbs scott very kindly waited for me to catch up (and catch my breath) before we continued upwards.
he also tells me that the conditions were probably about as bad as it gets on a bike ride, so I guess I'm ready to go on bike rides now! look who's all grown up.
July 6, 2011
summer, so far
item #1:
today I biked 3 miles home in flip flops; with a bag not designed for biking slung VERY awkwardly over my neck/shoulder, messenger bag style; holding on one wrist a half gallon container of milk in a grocery bag, which I bought forgetting that I'd be biking home and which wouldn't fit in my shoulder bag. the headwind was atrocious, and my shorts -- not really bike friendly -- kept blowing up my leg high enough to give people a show. BIKE COMMUTING SKILLS: ACQUIRED
item #2:
sayonara, number 23. we've had a string of nice weather FINALLY OMG THANK YOU PORTLAND so I drove over to sellwood pool, brought a book, and lounged for a few hours. they heat the water to 84 degrees, so despite the fact that it's only now gotten warm outside, the pool was the perfect temperature. there were about a hundred thousand kids there. I ate an ice cream. pool admission cost me four dollars. everything about this story is awesome, guys.
item #3:
the pea trellis fell over.
it happened sometime between monday morning and yesterday. we've had a pretty steady north wind these past few days, and the pea trellis is, as I have mentioned, super janky. two of the wooden supports simply snapped from the weight of the peas. this comes literally on the heels of my thinking dreamily on monday, these peas are the most successful thing in the garden so far. go figure. I had to leave them when I discovered them yesterday, but today I bought a couple of heavy plastic stakes and tried to wire them to the existing supports. it's hard since the stand of peas is so thick. I have a suspicion their season is beginning to wane, so hopefully the thing will hold up long enough to harvest the last of them.
it was a good run. we have probably a 3 or 4 pound bag of peas in our fridge right now. I love eating them straight off the vine, but we have so many that I'm going to have to can them or pickle them or feature them in several recipes this week.
item #4:
the rest of the garden hums along.
italienischer lettuce heads, bigger than dinner plates
the whole greens bed. salad 4eva
herbs. the fennel is spreading everywhere, including into neighboring plots, oopsies. and it's like 4 1/2 feet tall
strawberries & their runners. they, too, are beginning to take over
one tiny successful tomatillo. there are three other plants, but none with flowers, and since tomatillo plants flower each other in pairs, I may not get any this year. HURRY UP DUDES
peppers. right now they don't look so good so somebody remind me to google pepper problems, k?
the pole beans are climbing very enthusiastically up the trellis.
the edamame is bushy. but not yet beany.
teeny tiny sunflowers! they need to be fertilized. hell, everything needs to be fertilized.
item #5:
I cooked the first of the chickens from the slaughter. I made the marinade from smitten kitchen's thai-style chicken legs, plus the accompanying mango slaw, and I pretty much want to eat that dinner forever and ever. In fact, although I've already had dinner, I now feel compelled to go pour some hoisin sauce on some peas and call it good.
official portland summer: so far, so good.
today I biked 3 miles home in flip flops; with a bag not designed for biking slung VERY awkwardly over my neck/shoulder, messenger bag style; holding on one wrist a half gallon container of milk in a grocery bag, which I bought forgetting that I'd be biking home and which wouldn't fit in my shoulder bag. the headwind was atrocious, and my shorts -- not really bike friendly -- kept blowing up my leg high enough to give people a show. BIKE COMMUTING SKILLS: ACQUIRED
item #2:
sayonara, number 23. we've had a string of nice weather FINALLY OMG THANK YOU PORTLAND so I drove over to sellwood pool, brought a book, and lounged for a few hours. they heat the water to 84 degrees, so despite the fact that it's only now gotten warm outside, the pool was the perfect temperature. there were about a hundred thousand kids there. I ate an ice cream. pool admission cost me four dollars. everything about this story is awesome, guys.
item #3:
the pea trellis fell over.
it happened sometime between monday morning and yesterday. we've had a pretty steady north wind these past few days, and the pea trellis is, as I have mentioned, super janky. two of the wooden supports simply snapped from the weight of the peas. this comes literally on the heels of my thinking dreamily on monday, these peas are the most successful thing in the garden so far. go figure. I had to leave them when I discovered them yesterday, but today I bought a couple of heavy plastic stakes and tried to wire them to the existing supports. it's hard since the stand of peas is so thick. I have a suspicion their season is beginning to wane, so hopefully the thing will hold up long enough to harvest the last of them.
it was a good run. we have probably a 3 or 4 pound bag of peas in our fridge right now. I love eating them straight off the vine, but we have so many that I'm going to have to can them or pickle them or feature them in several recipes this week.
item #4:
the rest of the garden hums along.
italienischer lettuce heads, bigger than dinner plates
the whole greens bed. salad 4eva
herbs. the fennel is spreading everywhere, including into neighboring plots, oopsies. and it's like 4 1/2 feet tall
strawberries & their runners. they, too, are beginning to take over
one tiny successful tomatillo. there are three other plants, but none with flowers, and since tomatillo plants flower each other in pairs, I may not get any this year. HURRY UP DUDES
peppers. right now they don't look so good so somebody remind me to google pepper problems, k?
the pole beans are climbing very enthusiastically up the trellis.
the edamame is bushy. but not yet beany.
teeny tiny sunflowers! they need to be fertilized. hell, everything needs to be fertilized.
item #5:
I cooked the first of the chickens from the slaughter. I made the marinade from smitten kitchen's thai-style chicken legs, plus the accompanying mango slaw, and I pretty much want to eat that dinner forever and ever. In fact, although I've already had dinner, I now feel compelled to go pour some hoisin sauce on some peas and call it good.
official portland summer: so far, so good.
June 22, 2011
the right to be a carnivore
on tuesday, I drove down to help friends keith and rachel, who own provenance farm, butcher some of their broiler chickens, to be sold in stores and restaurants around the corvallis/portland area. once a month during the season, keith and rachel invite friends to help them process the birds. I've wanted to go out there since I met them last summer, but since they butcher on tuesdays and I am usually working, I haven't been able to make it until now.
it was a picture-perfect first day of summer, abundantly sunny and warm. the processing facility is at afton field farm. it's a nearly open-air building based on the designs of joel salatin at polyface farm in virginia, whom you may have read about in michael pollan's the omnivore's dilemma or seen in food, inc.
the chickens are brought over to the farm in crates, in the back of a pickup. the kill area consists of a stand of six metal cones, into which the chickens are inserted, head-first, so that they're hanging upside down. the corotid artery is severed -- by hand, with a knife -- on both sides of the neck, and then the chicken bleeds out for a minute or two before being transferred to the scalder. the scalder is a tub of water, lightly soaped and heated to 140 degrees. inside it is a rotating drum that rolls the slaughtered chickens through the water, which helps to loosen the feathers. then the chickens are tossed into the plucker, which is a metal tub with rubber knobbies that spins the chickens and pulls their feathers off.
the heads and feet are cut off the body, and then the bodies are transferred, through a window, into the processing facility, where most of us spent the day. the facility is equipped with tons of hoses, and rows of stainless steel tables. everything is washed down thoroughly before the processing begins, and water runs constantly as the chickens are cleaned and prepped for sale. the whole place is designed to be hosed off! pretty cool. it's almost entirely windows, so although you're inside, it feels very close to the rest of the farm.
I spent most of the day at the evisceration table. evisceration consisted of the following:
1. make a cut at the base of the tail to remove the oil gland;
2. cut halfway down the neck; remove the trachea and loosen the crop, which is a soft tissue sac where food gets softened and awaits digestion;
3. open up the back end and stick your hand inside the chicken, which, by the way, is quite warm. reach under all the innards and pull them out. if you're good you can do this in one handful but I didn't quite master that.
4. separate the liver, heart, and gizzard from the rest of the innards. discard innards. separate gall bladder from liver (and be careful because if you explode the gall bladder on any meat, that meat will taste like bitter garbage and will be BRIGHT GREEN). throw liver in the liver bin and heart in the heart bin. and gizzard in the gizzard bin. GIZZARD BIN: great band name
5. cut off the vent, which is essentially the chicken asshole.
6. rinse out the bird and pass it to the lunging station.
the lungs are removed with a special scrapey-looking tool, since they are attached quite firmly to the ribs. you know, I always think of lungs as balloon-looking things that are hollow on the inside, but of course they are not! they are spongy membranous tissue that happen to hold oxygen.
after lunging, the chickens are passed to quality control, where they are thoroughly rinsed. they're then checked and double-checked for bits that should have been removed already, like feathers, and also vents and crops, which we occasionally forgot to eviscerate. the birds are also checked for broken wings and legs, for bruises, and for other anomalies. if deemed acceptable (all but 3 or 4 were), a slit is cut in the rear of the bird, the drumsticks inserted neatly into the slit, and the whole bird put into an ice bin.
that process, done to 276 birds, took us from 8 AM to about 1 PM. then we ate lunch.
you are probably wondering why on earth anyone would volunteer for this job. I suspect we all had different reasons. one family is beginning to raise their own chickens and wants to learn the butchering process so they can do it themselves. several folks work on farms, so this was already something they were already familiar with. some folks might have been working in trade for food -- we each got to take home several chickens and a dozen eggs at the end of the day. my personal reason: I felt very strongly that if you can't bring yourself to kill the animal you're eating, then you haven't earned the right to eat it. barring fish -- which feels very hands-off to me in this respect -- I've never before had the opportunity to kill an animal. nor have I sought one out. but when the chance presented itself, I realized how much I wanted to know if I could bring myself to kill a chicken, and I knew that if I couldn't do it, I'd have to change my diet.
most of the volunteers did not seem to have any desire to try their hand at chicken butchering, although they understood why I wanted to. I waited until we had about 80 live birds left before going outside. I had watched the very first kills of the morning and experienced a lot more sadness than I expected. I sincerely respect the feelings of my vegetarian friends, but personally feel that there's nothing inherently wrong with eating meat provided that the meat is humanely raised and killed. the idea of killing chickens didn't bother me. but standing there, with the crates of chickens next to me clucking madly, was a different story. watching steve, who worked the cones most of the day, carefully carry a chicken over to a cone, stuff it in (for obvious reasons they resist going in, and will try and get their feet in to prevent their heads from dangling out the bottom), and then hold its small helpless head between his thumb and forefinger to make the cut -- it was really sad. the chicken's process of going from crate to death was fast and without ceremony. the chickens relax once they get into the cone, and the death is instant, but five to ten seconds after the cut, the body begins to twitch violently as it bleeds out. it's not easy to watch.
but. I did it. steve very patiently walked me through the whole process, and then I went through every step. I apologized to the chickens as I picked them up. my first kill wasn't as clean as I would have wanted, because I wasn't sure how hard I had to push the knife and didn't want to cut the whole head off. but steve gave me some pointers and the next several chickens were very clean kills. I took their bodies to the scalder, and then to the plucker, and then I had experienced the whole process.
not for the squeamish:
after lunch, we came back inside to bag 1-lb bags of hearts and livers, to open up gizzards, and finally to bag, tie, weigh, and store the chickens. the whole process was finished just after 3 PM.
it was a long day, full of hard work, but it was incredibly satisfying. I am feeling homesick lately: I haven't been home to maryland during the summer in two years. I love portland but, as you all know, the weather at this time of year is so hard on me. I grew up in a place where in june it is humid and sticky and warm, and there are great fields of grass and muddy rivers to tube down, and iced tea in the fridge. afton field has a farmhouse and a second building which houses their interns. the intern house is where the bathroom was, so I walked there a few times. the covered cement walk from house to house opens onto a small backyard area which overlooks the property. it's shaded and lightly landscaped. as I passed it the first time, I paused to take in the view and thought sincerely that I could have stood there for the rest of the day, or maybe all summer. something about the gentle clutter of the farmhouse and the sense of small-town community between the volunteers (some of whom were k & r's church friends), coupled with that beautiful day -- I'm not sure I can explain how it felt. it reminded me strongly of my favorite place to be as a child, which was my aunt and uncle's five-acre property, where every summer I would roam the woods and pond and long gravel driveway with my three cousins. I kept thinking, I kind of wish this was home.
for more details on how to butcher a chicken: http://butcherachicken.blogspot.com/2007/09/introduction.html
for a partial shot of that beautiful backyard: http://highheelsinthebarnyard.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/peaceful-morning/
June 10, 2011
the list.
30 things to do while I'm 30.
1. bike to the island.
2. lookout.
3. finally start wearing my new glasses.
4. go by rail!
5. throw a surprise party.
6. hug.
7. renew my passport and
8. leave the country SERIOUSLY THIS TIME GUYS
9. pay a debt.
10. rehab.
11. worship at the church of elvis.
12. go to the desert.
13. make elaborate homemade ice cream.
14. get to 250 hours.
15. more boozetues!
16. float.
17. 50 books.
18. go chinese and japanese.
19. do the fruit loop.
20. go see the rollers.
21. watch a movie outside.
22. naked bike ride! *
23. head to the pool.
24. ride horses on the beach.
25. bridge pedal.
26. shanghai.
27. see the planets!
28. brave the nude beach.
29. plant a letterbox in forest park.
30. climb mt. st. helens.
1. bike to the island.
2. lookout.
3. finally start wearing my new glasses.
4. go by rail!
5. throw a surprise party.
6. hug.
7. renew my passport and
8. leave the country SERIOUSLY THIS TIME GUYS
9. pay a debt.
10. rehab.
11. worship at the church of elvis.
13. make elaborate homemade ice cream.
14. get to 250 hours.
17. 50 books.
18. go chinese and japanese.
20. go see the rollers.
24. ride horses on the beach.
26. shanghai.
27. see the planets!
29. plant a letterbox in forest park.
30. climb mt. st. helens.
June 4, 2011
"superbly situated," robert hershon
you politely ask me not to die and i promise not to
right from the beginning-- a relationship based on
good sense and thoughtfulness in little things
i would like to be loved for such simple attainments
as breathing regularly and not falling down too often
or because my eyes are brown or my father left-handed
and to be on the safe side i wouldn't mind if somehow
i became entangled in your perception of admirable objects
so you might say to yourself: i have recently noticed
how superbly situated the empire state building is
how it looms up suddenly behind cemeteries and rivers
so far away you could touch it-- therefore i love you
part of me fears that some moron is already plotting
to tear down the empire state building and replace it
with a block of staten island mother/daughter houses
just as part of me fears that if you love me for my cleanliness
i will grow filthy if you admire my elegant clothes
i'll start wearing shirts with sailboats on them
but i have decided to become a public beach an opera house
a regularly scheduled flight-- something that can't help being
in the right place at the right time-- come take your seat
we'll raise the curtain fill the house start the engines
fly off into the sunrise, the spire of the empire state
the last sight on the horizon as the earth begins to curve
right from the beginning-- a relationship based on
good sense and thoughtfulness in little things
i would like to be loved for such simple attainments
as breathing regularly and not falling down too often
or because my eyes are brown or my father left-handed
and to be on the safe side i wouldn't mind if somehow
i became entangled in your perception of admirable objects
so you might say to yourself: i have recently noticed
how superbly situated the empire state building is
how it looms up suddenly behind cemeteries and rivers
so far away you could touch it-- therefore i love you
part of me fears that some moron is already plotting
to tear down the empire state building and replace it
with a block of staten island mother/daughter houses
just as part of me fears that if you love me for my cleanliness
i will grow filthy if you admire my elegant clothes
i'll start wearing shirts with sailboats on them
but i have decided to become a public beach an opera house
a regularly scheduled flight-- something that can't help being
in the right place at the right time-- come take your seat
we'll raise the curtain fill the house start the engines
fly off into the sunrise, the spire of the empire state
the last sight on the horizon as the earth begins to curve
April 8, 2011
a dirge
earlier this week, the SSO filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Syracuse Symphony Orchestra will file for bankruptcy, board announces
I managed to only read one page of the comments before I closed the window. because what is the point.
so, now back to our regularly scheduled garden photos, horse angst, random musings, and occasional opera talk.
Syracuse Symphony Orchestra will file for bankruptcy, board announces
I managed to only read one page of the comments before I closed the window. because what is the point.
so, now back to our regularly scheduled garden photos, horse angst, random musings, and occasional opera talk.
April 5, 2011
rant, part 2, plus more info about the SSO
I've momentarily recovered from my rage-induced blackout and have remembered something I really want to say: part of what makes me so angry is that there are so many people who think the symphony is comprised of a bunch of rich stuffed shirts who snootily believe that classical music is better than anything and that the general public at large should be responsible for paying their exorbitant salaries. except nothing could be further from the truth. the SSO musicians make less than $30K a year. I'm sure most members of the SSO staff make the same, or maybe just a fraction more. they are not buying mansions or big-screen TVs for every room. they are likely working a second job or teaching on the side. they are probably tired a lot.
I resent the mistaken notion that musicians are somehow rich because, once again, I am one of them. and let me tell you something. I might like to garden, but I grow my own food because I have to. I might have incidentally enjoyed mucking stalls for the last three years, but I shoveled that poop because I had to in order to keep my horse. I don't have cable TV, I don't have home internet, I spend ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS A MONTH on groceries. I squeak by. I keep coming to my job at the opera because I love what I do. and because I am surrounded by people who, on most days, love what they do. they are a joy to work with; I have nightmares sometimes that I am leaving them. like the SSO musicians, and like me, my coworkers and colleagues both here and across the country have made a financial sacrifice to do what they love.
I have two bachelor's degrees and a master's degree. there are a lot of other things I could have done with myself. likewise with these musicians, who chose their profession not because they had no other talents but because they so loved to be a part of the orchestra. with the exception of just a handful of orchestras in this country -- cleveland, cincinnati, new york, probably L.A. -- being a symphony musician is a financial sacrifice. but the passion that produces great musicians is not, as so many would like us to believe, a crime.
what has happened in our culture? why are libraries fighting to stay open? why do teachers -- teachers?!?!? -- have to so adamantly fight for every penny they so rightly earn? why do we think that learning isn't important? since when is an institution only worth something culturally if it's for-profit? why are people so mad at the perception that taxpayer money has been wasted on the SSO, and yet aren't mad that huge corporations, who rake in billions -- BILLIONS! with a B! -- of dollars in profits don't have to pay taxes on those profits?
I don't want to get into politics on this blog, although of course all of this is about politics. it's just ... I just don't understand, I really don't. how can we justify the vilification of teachers? how can we pooh-pooh the existence of libraries? how are we possibly supposed to progress as a nation when education is being cut across the board? how can we be proud to have a major league soccer team in portland but not feel the same about the ballet? how can syracuse spend over a decade trying AND FAILING over and over again to create the next fucking mall of america, which is supposedly going to be the crown jewel of the city, and not care about its orchestra? when did our priorities go so far astray?
because you know, there is one other important thing I forgot. as part of the SSO, the SSYO -- the syracuse symphony youth orchestra -- is no more. the kids played their last rehearsal on sunday afternoon. many of them played through tears. my old orchestra director, graduate advisor, boss and friend conducted them. they were rehearsing for a concert in may. the SSYO, like many other youth symphonies, is a top-notch orchestra that kids work very, very hard to get into. there are rigorous auditions and they are expected to know their music just as the adults in the SSO are. for many of these kids, playing in the SSYO is the highlight of their grade school lives. but who cares, right? after all, it's just band camp.
I wish that every person who wrote a jackass derogatory comment on the post-standard's article could just once, just once sit in the middle of a 60+ person orchestra as they are playing the saint-saens organ symphony, as I did as a young twenty-something in college. I wish they could, as I did, watch the violins sawing away and feel the floorboards shaking with the force of sound from the low brass, and grin in sheer, utter, complete and total delight as the organ pipes open and rock the shit out of a concert hall. I wish they could know the elation, as I have, of spending 6 hours a day in a practice room, wood-shedding a section of music, only to finally play it flawlessly in rehearsal. I wish they could feel the overwhelming pride of watching a beloved friend and colleague play her last recital. I wish they could understand how I felt, one day in early 2000, when I sat at a concert in the darkened setnor auditorium and thought, 'if I didn't have this, who would I possibly be?'
More information:
SSO board votes to suspend operations; season canceled, no refunds planned
Final concert for Syracuse Symphony Orchestra?
A swan song for a shortened season: The Syracuse Symphony plays once more, with the future uncertain
Making Music: The work of a Syracuse Symphony Orchestra musician isn't as effortless as it sometimes seems
Diminished: Syracuse without a symphony is hard to contemplate
Symphony shutdown: Young family really wanted to stay in Syracuse
Symphony's collateral damage
it was this darkened concert hall, for the record:
I resent the mistaken notion that musicians are somehow rich because, once again, I am one of them. and let me tell you something. I might like to garden, but I grow my own food because I have to. I might have incidentally enjoyed mucking stalls for the last three years, but I shoveled that poop because I had to in order to keep my horse. I don't have cable TV, I don't have home internet, I spend ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS A MONTH on groceries. I squeak by. I keep coming to my job at the opera because I love what I do. and because I am surrounded by people who, on most days, love what they do. they are a joy to work with; I have nightmares sometimes that I am leaving them. like the SSO musicians, and like me, my coworkers and colleagues both here and across the country have made a financial sacrifice to do what they love.
I have two bachelor's degrees and a master's degree. there are a lot of other things I could have done with myself. likewise with these musicians, who chose their profession not because they had no other talents but because they so loved to be a part of the orchestra. with the exception of just a handful of orchestras in this country -- cleveland, cincinnati, new york, probably L.A. -- being a symphony musician is a financial sacrifice. but the passion that produces great musicians is not, as so many would like us to believe, a crime.
what has happened in our culture? why are libraries fighting to stay open? why do teachers -- teachers?!?!? -- have to so adamantly fight for every penny they so rightly earn? why do we think that learning isn't important? since when is an institution only worth something culturally if it's for-profit? why are people so mad at the perception that taxpayer money has been wasted on the SSO, and yet aren't mad that huge corporations, who rake in billions -- BILLIONS! with a B! -- of dollars in profits don't have to pay taxes on those profits?
I don't want to get into politics on this blog, although of course all of this is about politics. it's just ... I just don't understand, I really don't. how can we justify the vilification of teachers? how can we pooh-pooh the existence of libraries? how are we possibly supposed to progress as a nation when education is being cut across the board? how can we be proud to have a major league soccer team in portland but not feel the same about the ballet? how can syracuse spend over a decade trying AND FAILING over and over again to create the next fucking mall of america, which is supposedly going to be the crown jewel of the city, and not care about its orchestra? when did our priorities go so far astray?
because you know, there is one other important thing I forgot. as part of the SSO, the SSYO -- the syracuse symphony youth orchestra -- is no more. the kids played their last rehearsal on sunday afternoon. many of them played through tears. my old orchestra director, graduate advisor, boss and friend conducted them. they were rehearsing for a concert in may. the SSYO, like many other youth symphonies, is a top-notch orchestra that kids work very, very hard to get into. there are rigorous auditions and they are expected to know their music just as the adults in the SSO are. for many of these kids, playing in the SSYO is the highlight of their grade school lives. but who cares, right? after all, it's just band camp.
I wish that every person who wrote a jackass derogatory comment on the post-standard's article could just once, just once sit in the middle of a 60+ person orchestra as they are playing the saint-saens organ symphony, as I did as a young twenty-something in college. I wish they could, as I did, watch the violins sawing away and feel the floorboards shaking with the force of sound from the low brass, and grin in sheer, utter, complete and total delight as the organ pipes open and rock the shit out of a concert hall. I wish they could know the elation, as I have, of spending 6 hours a day in a practice room, wood-shedding a section of music, only to finally play it flawlessly in rehearsal. I wish they could feel the overwhelming pride of watching a beloved friend and colleague play her last recital. I wish they could understand how I felt, one day in early 2000, when I sat at a concert in the darkened setnor auditorium and thought, 'if I didn't have this, who would I possibly be?'
More information:
SSO board votes to suspend operations; season canceled, no refunds planned
Final concert for Syracuse Symphony Orchestra?
A swan song for a shortened season: The Syracuse Symphony plays once more, with the future uncertain
Making Music: The work of a Syracuse Symphony Orchestra musician isn't as effortless as it sometimes seems
Diminished: Syracuse without a symphony is hard to contemplate
Symphony shutdown: Young family really wanted to stay in Syracuse
Symphony's collateral damage
it was this darkened concert hall, for the record:
April 4, 2011
the death of a symphony
last week, syracuse symphony orchestra announced that it was canceling the remainder of its 2010-2011 season performances and laying off all 60+ musicians and most of its 20 staff members, effective yesterday. this came after several months of attempting a "save the music" campaign, which they hoped would close a financial gap of about $700,000. as of the shutdown date they had raised close to $600,000.
I have so many things to say about this, but most of my thoughts are incoherent. most importantly, the news is devastating. the SSO holds a very special place in my heart. in college, student rush tickets cost us $5. I went to easily half of the concerts in any given season. my friend tami and I felt like their biggest fans. we knew all the musicians by sight, including the section string musicians. we joked about how we wished there were trading cards we could buy. we were desperate to be better performers; we would leave and half-jokingly exclaim, "we're running out of time!!" as in, we're running out of time to get better, to practice, to make something of ourselves. very often we would go straight over to crouse college, the music building, and lock ourselves in practice rooms.
it's devastating, also, because I know many of the musicians personally. they were my teachers in college. in some cases, they were my friends. the librarian there, also a violist, is a colleague of mine. now all those people are out of their jobs, at least for the remainder of the season, if not forever.
I don't know what happened in the SSO to get to this place. management has been in negotiation with the musicians for months, but up until very recently those talks seemed like they were pretty successful; the musicians had agreed to a number of concessions, including a pay cut and a decrease in the number of full-time contracted players. the media reports that the cuts added up to about $700,000. yet somehow those concessions weren't enough. management came back and requested further cuts, and now they're blaming the SSO's fate on the failure of the musicians to accept the newest proposal, coupled with poor fundraising this season.
I don't care to get into the business of accusation, although I do think it's notable that in this case the musicians understood that they needed to make sacrifices and seemed to do so willingly in order to save the organization. I don't know what's happening in the books that made those sacrifices so inconsequential. I'm sure in the next few weeks a lot more information will come to light.
but there is something really important happening in this discussion. I'm sickened by it. I'm absolutely disgusted. it's this:
SSO board votes to suspend operations; season canceled, no refunds planned
April 02, 2011 at 9:39PM
solverx wrote:
c-ya!
April 03, 2011 at 7:42AM
bored329 wrote:
Taps" is a famous musical piece, sounded by the U.S. military nightly to indicate that it is "lights out".
Bye Bye
April 02, 2011 at 11:01PM
Slingblade wrote:
Bye Bye !! Get more funding from the limousine libs that listen to it
March 29, 2011 at 11:00PM
59 Bluesman wrote:
As I said before, who the hell decided that "classical" music was the only music anyone should hear? Who said it was better than rock, jazz, country or blues??? There is your elitist attitude. We don't "deserve" to listen to the SSO??? YEEE HAAAA!!!! Why should anyone that doesn't care about it have to pay for it??? SSO, go fund yourself!
April 04, 2011 at 6:17PM
Upstate_guy
time to give it up the FAT Lady has sung.
Bye bye.
March 30, 2011 at 1:24PM
acuser wrote:
Hey SSO, thanks from stealing from the people you so desperately begged for loose change. Time to find real jobs like the rest of us, band camp can only go on for so long.
March 29, 2011 at 9:46PM
2muchtax wrote:
SAD but it's all about the money - no union concessions. Maybe they should form a volunteer SSO and play for the gate or pass the hat since they want us all to have culture. No refunds - sounds like a last minute hit and run - maybe the State Atty General will investigate refunds. The eulogy reads "The Fat lady has Sung"?
.
I'm sorry I'm going on and on with these, but I can't help it. there are currently 279 comments on that article and I've read every single one of them. I want to tell myself that people who comment anonymously on the internet are pretty universally assholes, but in this case I know better. the majority of the comments on this story read like the ones above. people are fucking RELISHING the collapse of their wonderful arts organization. why? because of attitudes like this:
March 31, 2011 at 10:56AM
tonyb wrote:
Give it a rest. They can't support themselves because there aren't enough snooty people left to dress up in their finery and show themselves off. The rest of us don't want to pay for your overpriced toy. If you want to listen to classical music buy your self some CDs and sit down and listen to them, but please sit down and shut up give everyone else a break.
I read every single comment partially because I couldn't stop; it was like picking a scab. but I also did it because it feels important for me to understand this mentality. these beliefs are the enemy of organizations like the SSO -- and like mine. and they are everywhere. they permeate everything, particularly our politics. and it's a belief system that's self-sustaining. it goes something like this: intellectualism = elitism = you think you're better than me = bad. it's attitudes like this that are responsible for the loss of arts programs in schools, and the closure of libraries, and the collapse of orchestras like the syracuse symphony and baltimore opera. and without exposure to those libraries and music classes and arts institutions, young people don't experience what those institutions offer, don't understand them, and don't appreciate them later in life. they don't see the merits of those institutions, and so those institutions don't get funded.
I am struggling so hard to write about this. like I said before, my thoughts on this are really incoherent right now, and colored by emotion. after all, this is also what I do. there but for the grace of god goes my job. and these are people I love.
I get so mad I find myself near tears. the idea that people think these musicians are snooty and elitist, the idea that the symphony is like an overpriced toy; the forgotten reality that there are over eighty people losing their goddamned JOBS. there's this infuriating notion -- one I encounter a lot -- that if you love your job then you should be happy making less money, because after all that's so important! that's worth more than money, right?
I'd like to clue those people into something: Safeway doesn't take warm fuzzies as payment for your fucking groceries.
I have so much else to say on the subject but I just cannot. get. past. stuff. like. this.
March 29, 2011 at 11:13PM
tonyb wrote:
At least there will be one less group looking for taxpayer handouts and that is good. Did the country already kick in their part? The "no refunds" is the last "screw you" message from this arrogant group. Bye, bye. Don't get your tux tail or fur coat get caught in the door on your way out.
so thank the lord for people like this--
March 29, 2011 at 11:20PM
whatevernoway wrote:
Yeah I'm sure the $0.50 a year per citizen, or whatever it would have taken, that we won't have to spend collectively to fund a priceless cultural institution will do all us a great good during the recession. I would have driven out to give you two quarters to listen to a single concerto.
March 30, 2011 at 9:45PM
KJM2000 wrote:
You have just showed everyone more than you can possibly understand about yourself. How many hours a day do you practice after you come home from your "real job"? I'm sorry for you if you can't appreciate a symphony, but if you can't take time to enjoy it, why do you take time to put it down? They didn't "steal" from anyone. Remember those bailouts and bonuses in what was it...2008? Those are people with "real jobs" stealing. These ARE people with real jobs who work harder than you can imagine. Whatever your "real job" is, no one would care one bit if you were laid off, and I'm sure whatever you work on can be funded by something else. If whoever hired you went under, you wouldn't say the salary they paid you so far was "stealing" because you didn't continue your job without pay. I feel sorry for you that you can't appreciate art, I know you won't care one bit about that, and I'm sorry that, from the way you commented, you don't think you should be able to enjoy a "real job" as you seem to think that an orchestra musician's life is fun and games of "band camp". However, I can say that there is a good chance that I don't care one bit about the things you enjoy as we seem to be very different (what do you enjoy? Sports? Cars? are you a "music lover" of pop?) and, not that this would ever happen, if those things needed funding to stay afloat and were resorting to fundraisers and drives, I probably wouldn't help them. However I would at least have the common respect to understand that there are those who do enjoy them and because of that, their jobs are indeed "real jobs", even those of the football players you probably love to watch. I don't say that they are "stealing". Someday I hope you borrow money from a good friend and just don't have means to return it. If that friend is anything like you, you'll have lost a friend, and from what I can tell I fell even sorrier that you probably won't care.
March 30, 2011 at 6:42AM
cusegrad00 wrote:
They did give concessions and offered more. I think you were the one who said something about the blood content of stones. I love the thoughts of folks on here who think they should just play because they love music. They do love music; but love doesn't pay the bills. They are highly trained and skilled workers. Obviously right now, the support is not there. They should not be expected to support their family on puppy dogs and moonbeams. Anyone who ever dedicated to their life mastering a craft should at least be empathetic to their stance.
I have so many more things to say but my head is a jumble. let me just say this: last year, companies like GE and Bank of America managed to cook their books in such a way as to avoid paying US taxes altogether. The tax bill that Bank of America deferred is estimated at 1.9 billion dollars. The money from just that one year of taxes would fund my beloved opera company at their current yearly operating budget for 254 years.
I have so many things to say about this, but most of my thoughts are incoherent. most importantly, the news is devastating. the SSO holds a very special place in my heart. in college, student rush tickets cost us $5. I went to easily half of the concerts in any given season. my friend tami and I felt like their biggest fans. we knew all the musicians by sight, including the section string musicians. we joked about how we wished there were trading cards we could buy. we were desperate to be better performers; we would leave and half-jokingly exclaim, "we're running out of time!!" as in, we're running out of time to get better, to practice, to make something of ourselves. very often we would go straight over to crouse college, the music building, and lock ourselves in practice rooms.
it's devastating, also, because I know many of the musicians personally. they were my teachers in college. in some cases, they were my friends. the librarian there, also a violist, is a colleague of mine. now all those people are out of their jobs, at least for the remainder of the season, if not forever.
I don't know what happened in the SSO to get to this place. management has been in negotiation with the musicians for months, but up until very recently those talks seemed like they were pretty successful; the musicians had agreed to a number of concessions, including a pay cut and a decrease in the number of full-time contracted players. the media reports that the cuts added up to about $700,000. yet somehow those concessions weren't enough. management came back and requested further cuts, and now they're blaming the SSO's fate on the failure of the musicians to accept the newest proposal, coupled with poor fundraising this season.
I don't care to get into the business of accusation, although I do think it's notable that in this case the musicians understood that they needed to make sacrifices and seemed to do so willingly in order to save the organization. I don't know what's happening in the books that made those sacrifices so inconsequential. I'm sure in the next few weeks a lot more information will come to light.
but there is something really important happening in this discussion. I'm sickened by it. I'm absolutely disgusted. it's this:
SSO board votes to suspend operations; season canceled, no refunds planned
April 02, 2011 at 9:39PM
solverx wrote:
c-ya!
April 03, 2011 at 7:42AM
bored329 wrote:
Taps" is a famous musical piece, sounded by the U.S. military nightly to indicate that it is "lights out".
Bye Bye
April 02, 2011 at 11:01PM
Slingblade wrote:
Bye Bye !! Get more funding from the limousine libs that listen to it
March 29, 2011 at 11:00PM
59 Bluesman wrote:
As I said before, who the hell decided that "classical" music was the only music anyone should hear? Who said it was better than rock, jazz, country or blues??? There is your elitist attitude. We don't "deserve" to listen to the SSO??? YEEE HAAAA!!!! Why should anyone that doesn't care about it have to pay for it??? SSO, go fund yourself!
April 04, 2011 at 6:17PM
Upstate_guy
time to give it up the FAT Lady has sung.
Bye bye.
March 30, 2011 at 1:24PM
acuser wrote:
Hey SSO, thanks from stealing from the people you so desperately begged for loose change. Time to find real jobs like the rest of us, band camp can only go on for so long.
March 29, 2011 at 9:46PM
2muchtax wrote:
SAD but it's all about the money - no union concessions. Maybe they should form a volunteer SSO and play for the gate or pass the hat since they want us all to have culture. No refunds - sounds like a last minute hit and run - maybe the State Atty General will investigate refunds. The eulogy reads "The Fat lady has Sung"?
.
I'm sorry I'm going on and on with these, but I can't help it. there are currently 279 comments on that article and I've read every single one of them. I want to tell myself that people who comment anonymously on the internet are pretty universally assholes, but in this case I know better. the majority of the comments on this story read like the ones above. people are fucking RELISHING the collapse of their wonderful arts organization. why? because of attitudes like this:
March 31, 2011 at 10:56AM
tonyb wrote:
Give it a rest. They can't support themselves because there aren't enough snooty people left to dress up in their finery and show themselves off. The rest of us don't want to pay for your overpriced toy. If you want to listen to classical music buy your self some CDs and sit down and listen to them, but please sit down and shut up give everyone else a break.
I read every single comment partially because I couldn't stop; it was like picking a scab. but I also did it because it feels important for me to understand this mentality. these beliefs are the enemy of organizations like the SSO -- and like mine. and they are everywhere. they permeate everything, particularly our politics. and it's a belief system that's self-sustaining. it goes something like this: intellectualism = elitism = you think you're better than me = bad. it's attitudes like this that are responsible for the loss of arts programs in schools, and the closure of libraries, and the collapse of orchestras like the syracuse symphony and baltimore opera. and without exposure to those libraries and music classes and arts institutions, young people don't experience what those institutions offer, don't understand them, and don't appreciate them later in life. they don't see the merits of those institutions, and so those institutions don't get funded.
I am struggling so hard to write about this. like I said before, my thoughts on this are really incoherent right now, and colored by emotion. after all, this is also what I do. there but for the grace of god goes my job. and these are people I love.
I get so mad I find myself near tears. the idea that people think these musicians are snooty and elitist, the idea that the symphony is like an overpriced toy; the forgotten reality that there are over eighty people losing their goddamned JOBS. there's this infuriating notion -- one I encounter a lot -- that if you love your job then you should be happy making less money, because after all that's so important! that's worth more than money, right?
I'd like to clue those people into something: Safeway doesn't take warm fuzzies as payment for your fucking groceries.
I have so much else to say on the subject but I just cannot. get. past. stuff. like. this.
March 29, 2011 at 11:13PM
tonyb wrote:
At least there will be one less group looking for taxpayer handouts and that is good. Did the country already kick in their part? The "no refunds" is the last "screw you" message from this arrogant group. Bye, bye. Don't get your tux tail or fur coat get caught in the door on your way out.
so thank the lord for people like this--
March 29, 2011 at 11:20PM
whatevernoway wrote:
Yeah I'm sure the $0.50 a year per citizen, or whatever it would have taken, that we won't have to spend collectively to fund a priceless cultural institution will do all us a great good during the recession. I would have driven out to give you two quarters to listen to a single concerto.
March 30, 2011 at 9:45PM
KJM2000 wrote:
You have just showed everyone more than you can possibly understand about yourself. How many hours a day do you practice after you come home from your "real job"? I'm sorry for you if you can't appreciate a symphony, but if you can't take time to enjoy it, why do you take time to put it down? They didn't "steal" from anyone. Remember those bailouts and bonuses in what was it...2008? Those are people with "real jobs" stealing. These ARE people with real jobs who work harder than you can imagine. Whatever your "real job" is, no one would care one bit if you were laid off, and I'm sure whatever you work on can be funded by something else. If whoever hired you went under, you wouldn't say the salary they paid you so far was "stealing" because you didn't continue your job without pay. I feel sorry for you that you can't appreciate art, I know you won't care one bit about that, and I'm sorry that, from the way you commented, you don't think you should be able to enjoy a "real job" as you seem to think that an orchestra musician's life is fun and games of "band camp". However, I can say that there is a good chance that I don't care one bit about the things you enjoy as we seem to be very different (what do you enjoy? Sports? Cars? are you a "music lover" of pop?) and, not that this would ever happen, if those things needed funding to stay afloat and were resorting to fundraisers and drives, I probably wouldn't help them. However I would at least have the common respect to understand that there are those who do enjoy them and because of that, their jobs are indeed "real jobs", even those of the football players you probably love to watch. I don't say that they are "stealing". Someday I hope you borrow money from a good friend and just don't have means to return it. If that friend is anything like you, you'll have lost a friend, and from what I can tell I fell even sorrier that you probably won't care.
March 30, 2011 at 6:42AM
cusegrad00 wrote:
They did give concessions and offered more. I think you were the one who said something about the blood content of stones. I love the thoughts of folks on here who think they should just play because they love music. They do love music; but love doesn't pay the bills. They are highly trained and skilled workers. Obviously right now, the support is not there. They should not be expected to support their family on puppy dogs and moonbeams. Anyone who ever dedicated to their life mastering a craft should at least be empathetic to their stance.
I have so many more things to say but my head is a jumble. let me just say this: last year, companies like GE and Bank of America managed to cook their books in such a way as to avoid paying US taxes altogether. The tax bill that Bank of America deferred is estimated at 1.9 billion dollars. The money from just that one year of taxes would fund my beloved opera company at their current yearly operating budget for 254 years.
February 25, 2011
snow day
I had been jonesing for a snow day all winter. there is nothing like it: the eager early-morning peek out the window; the hopeful phone call (or email check); the giddy exhilaration of hearing "the office is closed for the day." then you shuffle out into the living room in your pjs, create an elaborate blanket nest on the couch, make sure the cats are cuddled in, and watch vapid daytime TV for a few hours. there is coffee. sometimes, there are pancakes. total. bliss.
we don't get much snow on the valley floor, though, because we're at such a low elevation and in such a mild climate. did it snow at all in portland this winter? I don't think so. scott & I spent several weekends in the snow on mt. hood, sure, and we got some when I was back in maryland, but it's not the same.
they had been calling for this BIG STORM! all week in portland, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything because the newscasters pretty much pee themselves at the very mention of snow. portlanders, likely conditioned by the same news anchors, had by wednesday totally cleaned out my local grocery store. but by mid-day on wednesday there was still no precipitation, and the forecasts were beginning to be downsized. five inches? okay, actually maybe just an inch. and not so cold. and it'll be 50 by the weekend.
*sigh*
so I'd pretty much resigned myself to a winter without snow days. I woke up yesterday morning, 5 AM or so, and there was the tiniest dusting. I was bitter! I was sad. I wanted the snow day magic and instead I was going to have to go to work. I resolved to show up to the office in my pajamas.
at 7:15, scott texted. "snow!" he said. I looked out the window. more snow than before, but still not much. the tree branches looked pretty but it didn't look promising. I pulled up my work email. as I was waiting for it, scott texted again. "portland schools closed!"
and then! oh, dear readers, those magic words: OFFICE CLOSED.
it was 7:15, so I followed standard snow day protocol: I gathered up my pillows, put on my comfiest around the house pants, and went out into the living room. I had a bowl of cereal! I turned on PBS. I crawled under the 5 fuzzy blankets on my couch. the cats couldn't believe their luck. then I fell asleep to sesame street and woke up again at 11.
it was magnificent.
by the time I got up again (to make second breakfast, obvs), the snow had melted. that felt kind of weird, like cheating. what was I supposed to do now? the road was dry; if I wanted, I could even go out. but ... it was a snow day. the whole magic of the snow day is that you're in, and everyone else is in, and you can't really get out. you're stuck! you have to loaf around because you don't have anything else to do, except maybe go outside and make snowballs. and you can't feel guilty about it.
so I decided to studiously avoid looking out the window, by doing the following:
cleaning all the dishes
putting all the dishes away
vacuuming
wearing the cat on my neck
(not my most photogenic moment but look at that cat perch! so proud)
cleaning the bathtub
making curried sweet potato soup with accompanying GOAT CHEESE BISCUITS which incidentally I have been craving all day
planning out my entire garden, which took three hours, and included finding every seed to order and drawing a detailed diagram of planting
writing some blog posts (ahem)
taking pictures of cats in boxes (part of an ongoing series)
then I finally ventured outside to do laundry. and it was SNOWING AGAIN! *rejoice*
I was finished with all my household-y things by early afternoon so I got to spend the remaining part of the day doing as the universe intended: eating soup and biscuits and watching really awesome, really bad TV.
[alicia also has a wonderful write-up (with photos that are way lovelier than mine) over at her blog. incidentally she's the one who turned me on to the soup.]
January 12, 2011
books 2011
1. betty smith: joy in the morning
2. jean thompson: who do you love
-
3. cory doctorow: down and out in the magic kingdom
4. p.g. wodehouse: my man jeeves
5. d.h. lawrence: the rainbow
6. david grann: the lost city of z
7. isaac bashevis singer: shosha
8. karen pryor: don't shoot the dog! the new art of teaching and training
9. jason tesar: the awakened: part one
10. laura whitcomb: a certain slant of light
11. thich nhat hanh: true love
12. george r.r. martin: a game of thrones: a song of ice and fire
13. mike foster: gracenomics
14. malcolm gladwell: what the dog saw, and other adventures
15. suzanne collins: the hunger games
16. suzanne collins: catching fire
17. suzanne collins: mockingjay
18. stieg larsson: the girl with the dragon tattoo
19. malcolm gladwell: blink: the power of thinking without thinking
2. jean thompson: who do you love
-
3. cory doctorow: down and out in the magic kingdom
4. p.g. wodehouse: my man jeeves
5. d.h. lawrence: the rainbow
6. david grann: the lost city of z
7. isaac bashevis singer: shosha
8. karen pryor: don't shoot the dog! the new art of teaching and training
9. jason tesar: the awakened: part one
10. laura whitcomb: a certain slant of light
11. thich nhat hanh: true love
12. george r.r. martin: a game of thrones: a song of ice and fire
13. mike foster: gracenomics
14. malcolm gladwell: what the dog saw, and other adventures
15. suzanne collins: the hunger games
16. suzanne collins: catching fire
17. suzanne collins: mockingjay
18. stieg larsson: the girl with the dragon tattoo
19. malcolm gladwell: blink: the power of thinking without thinking
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