By the light of the orange moon…

I am writing a post, but my eyes are riveted toward the window. Outside, a bright orange moon is staring straight at me. Why is that an enormous experience? It’s just a piece of rock suspended in the vacuous space. But it’s so beautiful! Am I programmed to believe that it is indeed beautiful? Or, was the day such that whatever I would see at this point would appear beautiful just because things felt so right?

I’ll not go back to the beginning of a good morning – after all, I WOULD THEN BE ACCUSED OF KEEPING A JOURNALISTIC BLOG (see post below). How wrong you all are, fellow bloggers, I DO NOT, DO NOT report on my days with any degree of detail, I DO NOT!

There, having set the record straight, let me proceed with a bit of a recount of the day.

…And jumping to the afternoon, I want to say a few words again about the foreign attorneys who are at the Law School for the Summer Program. I have grown to love this group as much as I love any group of students. It will be hard to let go of them next week as the Program comes to an end.

Today I arranged for a visit Madison’s Capital Brewery (rated no. 7 in the world and no. 1 in the country, or so the guide told us). I am posting a few shots from the tour because I know that a few families back home are logging in to check up on the participants. I could post more photos, but I am bound by my own slogan of “keeping it short and to the point.” I know, I know, nothing about this blog is short and to the point, but I do try.

The tour was especially interesting to the German attorneys because they learned that not a small number of ideas and ingredients are a direct import from Germany.

Afterwards, I took the two dozen or so of them to Hubbard Avenue Diner for the “typical all American dining experience.” Perfect. Listen, attorneys, this is what America eats! Yes, burgers, BBQ’d pork and PIE! [I loved how they shyly asked for doggie bags, having heard that this is the custom, though not one that is practiced back home.]

In a more serious vein, I spoke at length to the attorney from Colombia (he appears in one of the photos below). (I spoke to others as well, but I cannot expound on all that took place today.)
This man had a wonderful, wonderful perspective on his stay here (and his forthcoming year in the LLM program at Harvard). I asked if he would miss his family (mom, dad, brother – all attorneys like him) during his year away? Possibly, he told me. But he has said to himself that if he is going to do this, it will be with joy and an open mind. No sadness. No nostalgia. It is a challenge and a glorious one at that. I’m going to end this post on that thought – one which I’ve been mulling over for the past hour or two.

Okay, patience everyone else – let me have a photo run now:

the excuse that brought us together this afternoon 

special bonds 

sample beer, sample friendship 

these guys know their beer 

it's just a rock, it was just a day... a lovely rock, a lovely day 

A comment on the green-eyed monster play

During last night’s dinner (see post below) the topic of what to do with out-of-town visitors came up. I was asked if I had taken my group last week-end to American Players Theater. I replied that I hadn’t because they were performing Othello and I didn’t much care for Othello.

Dead silence. You could hear the proverbial grease sizzle on a hot platter in the kitchen 1 mile away.

Finally, The Question sprang to the lips of one shocked listener: “You don’t like Othello? Is there something WRONG with Othello? What the hell is the matter with you??” (perhaps I only imagined that last part).

I couldn’t think of a reason for my anti-Othello stance. I quickly went on assure everyone that I did like Twelfth Night and Macbeth alright, and blog readers have heard me rave about Romeo and Juliet (a bit déclassé these days perhaps, but what can I say, it’s the truth), just so everyone would resume eating and the dreaded silence-after-a-bombshell would cease to be (or not to be).

This morning, still burning with shame I clicked through my favorite online presses and lo and behold, what light through yonder paper shined if not an article in the International Herald Tribune (here) on Shakespeare-hate.

The author describes the waning popularity in England for the works of William S.. According to the journalist, this is for good reason, which can be summarized thus: boring and incomprehensible.

I wouldn’t go that far. Listening to the poetry of Juliet’s speech to Romeo is, in my opinion, unbelievably moving. Tear-jerking, in fact, in its loveliness. And how about Macbeth’s words:

“Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”

Whoa! That’s positively chilling!

But I am with the IHT writer when he says this about professed Shakespeare-love:
"There are those who believe that to sprinkle his words into a conversation shows how smart they are. Discussing politics, you might hear someone say: "A peace above all earthly dignities, a still and quiet conscience." You know it's Shakespeare because you don't have a clue what it means. But you feel obliged to nod knowingly."

I feel empowered after reading this. Suddenly I feel no compulsion to suck up to the Othello lovers amongst you. Chances are you don’t much care for it either but are afraid to admit it. What's wrong with it? Plenty! It’s depressing, it’s long and it gives us the green-eyed monster label to a perfectly normal feeling that every person in the world experiences now and then.

Convention notes: no, not THAT Convention!

The monthly convention of UW bloggers (A, B, C and F) took place last night at L’Etoile, pulling together for me different strands from my days into one tasty package.

Though blogging about blogger digestion (indigestion?) is proving less compelling now (as opposed to after the first such meetings some months back), I did want to offer a comment about the effect of regular convening on one’s awareness of the passage of time. Weren’t we just toasting the end of  Spring teaching? Heavens! How did we move so quickly into (almost) August, with its odd mixture of vacation days and Fall teaching preparations?

Last night’s dinner meeting had many more serious elements than in the past. We returned to the topic of challenges facing bloggers again and again. Perhaps for this reason, all* but one of the bloggers (I’ll let the readers guess which one) chose to end the evening with  a rousing spin on the hip hop dance floor.

All conventions should end with such a healthy discharge of physical energy.**

* Those that hip hopped late into the night were impressive. Really impressive. It just goes to show that you can’t judge a blogger by his/her blogger image. Sedate? Staid? Serious? Sedentary? Certainly not. 

** I could not resist this plug at physical activity, if only to live up to the pronouncements made last night about this blog. It was determined that “Ocean” ranks highest (of the 4 blogs) in terms of spewing forth mantra about good, healthy living (what with references to long walks and market foods, it appears to read like a column out of “Organic Lifestyle” or some equally virtuous, health-oriented magazine). “Ocean” was deemed also to be the most chronologically journalistic. Though I disagreed vehemently with this latter description (come on, this post is the exception!), I was glad that at least it did not get the “weirdest blog” award. No such prize was granted last night, but since “Ocean” was, in terms of awards and characterizations, on a bit of a roll, I was worried.