Month: November 2009

Brown Like a Cougar’s Tail

Last night I went to our MAT Thanksgiving celebration that Sarah and Christine grandly staged. Moloko (from South Africa) was talking to Logan (militantly from Putney, VT, who’s doing his internship in SA). Moloko to Logan: You’re so handsome. You’re going to come home with a South African wife. Me: But he’s so white. Logan: I’m darker than you are. Moloko: You’re not white. This paper is white. Me: Logan, you’re pinky-yellow. Logan: I’m darker […]

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Whining Wildlife

In a classroom today I noticed an out-of-kilter folding table that needed its legs back at right angles. I gave them a few efficient, hard kicks. Tatiana (from Russia), standing behind me, said, “I can always tell a woman who lives alone.” Coyotes woke me up this morning just before dawn with their shrill yelps. I always feel as though they’re demanding something of me. —”Get up now, Allison. Bring us your leftovers.” They don’t […]

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Gloom and Doom

Early this morning as I slunk out into the dim, 23-degree morning and scraped the ice off my car windows, I thought, —”Ya think this is cold? It’s only going to get a lot worse.” As I shoved my unwilling mind through my first class I thought, —”This is the stupidest hour-and-three-quarters I’ve ever spent.” As I squirmed through a peer meeting I thought, —”I have no idea what I’m talking about. I shouldn’t even […]

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Men with Guns

I feel a boring post coming on. I’ll let the pictures do the talking. Anna was a wonderful guest.  I’m so relaxed around her. We do stuff like, while driving along, fake-laugh at the top of our lungs, and then experiment with what happens when we laugh in high notes and when we laugh in a bass voice. Here’s Anna cleaning out her pocketbook. And here’s what happened when she tried to drain the pasta. […]

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