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Meme that begins July
Jul. 12th, 2023 03:59 pm1. If you could have a conversation with one person from history who would it be?
I DO love talking to people for long lengths of time, and it is so hard to choose who I'd want to talk to in history. So I won't. Here are SOME of the people I'd love to be able to, say, stop at whatever the equivalent of a cafe was and just drink tea or whatever and talk.
Eleanor Marx
Lucy Parsons (even though I get the impression she might be a badass kind of rigid bitch)
Jane Addams
Florence Kelley
...maybe Frances Willard? I mean, yes, but the Methodist shell would be difficult
Rosa Luxemburg
Inessa Armand (WAS she -- did she perceive herself to be -- a Revolutionary Comfort Girl? She was a lover of Lenin's... maybe the only one? I dunno...)
Alexandra Kollontai (also on this list) wrote a roman à clef about Inessa Armand (also: Inessa was the name of the first black cat we owned when I was a kid; the second was Clio) and Lenin called A Great Love...
2. How many times have you seen your favorite band in concert?
I've seen Billy Bragg twice...
3. What is something you do every day?
Read
4. What was the last piece of candy you ate?
This particular kind of Ritter sports bar that has rum, raisins, and hazelnuts. Delicious! And mildly drunken!
5. Which wild animals are a common sight in your area?
Hummingbirds, raccoons, deer, turkeys, hawks, possums, mourning doves, pigeons, magpies, crows, seagulls, Canadian geese
6. What would be your perfect road trip?
I have liked all the times I've driven either from the Bay Area to Chicago and Lake Geneva, or from the Midwest (Evanston or Columbia, Missouri) south to Louisiana, East Texas, and then East to North Carolina and North to Connecticut and New York. I like long drives, though it's been a long time. I would like to drive to the Pacific Northwest, but then mostly just put my car on ferries in the San Juans.
7. Which possession would you not want to inherit from a relative?
None of my relatives have much to leave besides tchotchkes and books and papers. LOTS of books and papers. LOTS. It will kind of be a hassle to inherit any of those things, honestly.
8. Do you get a lot of visitors?
My sister, local friends. This week I will have visitors from Saudi Arabia! That is, my friend johnbcannon from LJ, his wife, and their one year old baby whose middle name is Marx! JBC teaches at a Saudi university on the East Coast. He's been an expat there for, god, at least 8 years now. Possibly more.
9. What do you consider good character traits for a friend?
"My rule is that you have to be either interesting or nice, and of course I prefer both." There isn't a better answer than this.
10. Have you ever been to a vineyard?
Yes, in Sonoma and in Napa counties out here, but also (and tbh I preferred this) on an island in Lake Erie, Put-in Bay? Which I think is part of Ohio? That was super fun, though the grapes in question might have been catawba. I don't care; I am the opposite of a wine person.
11. When was the last time your living situation changed in any way?
When I moved here to [redacted] terrible small Bay Area suburb after 20 years in Oakland, with my mother; then, when my mother died; then, when I got my main bathroom renovated maybe two years ago? Obviously moving in with my mother and then being with my mom when she died was somewhat of a bigger change in living situation.
I DO love talking to people for long lengths of time, and it is so hard to choose who I'd want to talk to in history. So I won't. Here are SOME of the people I'd love to be able to, say, stop at whatever the equivalent of a cafe was and just drink tea or whatever and talk.
Eleanor Marx
Lucy Parsons (even though I get the impression she might be a badass kind of rigid bitch)
Jane Addams
Florence Kelley
...maybe Frances Willard? I mean, yes, but the Methodist shell would be difficult
Rosa Luxemburg
Inessa Armand (WAS she -- did she perceive herself to be -- a Revolutionary Comfort Girl? She was a lover of Lenin's... maybe the only one? I dunno...)
Alexandra Kollontai (also on this list) wrote a roman à clef about Inessa Armand (also: Inessa was the name of the first black cat we owned when I was a kid; the second was Clio) and Lenin called A Great Love...
2. How many times have you seen your favorite band in concert?
I've seen Billy Bragg twice...
3. What is something you do every day?
Read
4. What was the last piece of candy you ate?
This particular kind of Ritter sports bar that has rum, raisins, and hazelnuts. Delicious! And mildly drunken!
5. Which wild animals are a common sight in your area?
Hummingbirds, raccoons, deer, turkeys, hawks, possums, mourning doves, pigeons, magpies, crows, seagulls, Canadian geese
6. What would be your perfect road trip?
I have liked all the times I've driven either from the Bay Area to Chicago and Lake Geneva, or from the Midwest (Evanston or Columbia, Missouri) south to Louisiana, East Texas, and then East to North Carolina and North to Connecticut and New York. I like long drives, though it's been a long time. I would like to drive to the Pacific Northwest, but then mostly just put my car on ferries in the San Juans.
7. Which possession would you not want to inherit from a relative?
None of my relatives have much to leave besides tchotchkes and books and papers. LOTS of books and papers. LOTS. It will kind of be a hassle to inherit any of those things, honestly.
8. Do you get a lot of visitors?
My sister, local friends. This week I will have visitors from Saudi Arabia! That is, my friend johnbcannon from LJ, his wife, and their one year old baby whose middle name is Marx! JBC teaches at a Saudi university on the East Coast. He's been an expat there for, god, at least 8 years now. Possibly more.
9. What do you consider good character traits for a friend?
"My rule is that you have to be either interesting or nice, and of course I prefer both." There isn't a better answer than this.
10. Have you ever been to a vineyard?
Yes, in Sonoma and in Napa counties out here, but also (and tbh I preferred this) on an island in Lake Erie, Put-in Bay? Which I think is part of Ohio? That was super fun, though the grapes in question might have been catawba. I don't care; I am the opposite of a wine person.
11. When was the last time your living situation changed in any way?
When I moved here to [redacted] terrible small Bay Area suburb after 20 years in Oakland, with my mother; then, when my mother died; then, when I got my main bathroom renovated maybe two years ago? Obviously moving in with my mother and then being with my mom when she died was somewhat of a bigger change in living situation.