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Oct. 29th, 2003 03:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelseagirlHah! Just found a fortune cookie in the cabinet; as it was wrapped and not too old, I cracked it open. "You would make a good lawyer." Sez you.
The verdict on productivity is still out -- did one of the two projects on the agenda for the day; think I'll get through the other one but not get to anything beyond that. Back to the library with me, tomorrow.
Last night went to an Italian restaurant in the neighborhood that I hadn't been to in awhile, with M. and friend John. M. was delighted to discover that he can still eat and enjoy Italian food, just not that produced by Evil Chain Restaurant. Two glasses of wine and I was too sleepy to make it through the episode of 24 we'd taped. . . . gettin' old.
Recent reading: *Fortress of Solitude* by Jonathan Lethem -- deals with difficult issues and doesn't always quite bring them off, but the sense of time and place is very well-imagined.
I've lived on either side of Gowanus/Boerum Hill (Cobble Hill, then Park Slope), post-gentrification, but I found myself imaginatively inhabiting the space. There's a certain discomfort in reading the book, which is partially a reflection of the discomfort that existed in NYC during the time of the boo, and partly a discomfort that racial issues often evoke. Is it merely stereotype that the black characters end up where they do and the white ones where *they* do? Or is it an indictment of racism? The text seems to imply the latter, but the first person narration and lack of any sermonizing leads to a sense of uneasiness. I assume this is deliberate.
*The Namesake* by Jumpha Lahiri -- Loved it. Read it much too quickly, and still formulating my thoughts.
The verdict on productivity is still out -- did one of the two projects on the agenda for the day; think I'll get through the other one but not get to anything beyond that. Back to the library with me, tomorrow.
Last night went to an Italian restaurant in the neighborhood that I hadn't been to in awhile, with M. and friend John. M. was delighted to discover that he can still eat and enjoy Italian food, just not that produced by Evil Chain Restaurant. Two glasses of wine and I was too sleepy to make it through the episode of 24 we'd taped. . . . gettin' old.
Recent reading: *Fortress of Solitude* by Jonathan Lethem -- deals with difficult issues and doesn't always quite bring them off, but the sense of time and place is very well-imagined.
I've lived on either side of Gowanus/Boerum Hill (Cobble Hill, then Park Slope), post-gentrification, but I found myself imaginatively inhabiting the space. There's a certain discomfort in reading the book, which is partially a reflection of the discomfort that existed in NYC during the time of the boo, and partly a discomfort that racial issues often evoke. Is it merely stereotype that the black characters end up where they do and the white ones where *they* do? Or is it an indictment of racism? The text seems to imply the latter, but the first person narration and lack of any sermonizing leads to a sense of uneasiness. I assume this is deliberate.
*The Namesake* by Jumpha Lahiri -- Loved it. Read it much too quickly, and still formulating my thoughts.
