O Brave New World...

Such a nice day. Devlin seems all better. R. and R. came over to make applesauce cake with Grandma's mother's recipe (tweaked, I am convinced from one in the Kansas City Star, or a magazine of the time... with added cocoa) and also a mince pie; we chatted, watched some short videos, ate cheese and crackers, drank masala chai, and put my presents under the tree for literally a hot second, so I could take a photo. Then they packed them in a box to take over to Damuth.

We looked up Frederick Demuth, Karl Marx's illegitimate son with Helene Demuth, the Marx's housekeeper.

Around 5:30 PM, RQ and T. came over. RQ made a delicious peasant winter dinner of fried cabbage-onions-and-butter, roasted potatoes, and fried kielbasa sausages. I was unconvinced because of the kielbasa, but in fact fried, it was delicious.

I have a lot of dishes to do, but I don't mind dishes.

We watched Kneecap (which RQ and I had already seen, as I wrote about a couple of months ago), and then after dinner, we watched It's a Wonderful Life, which was the first time RQ ever watched it all the way through, and the first time T. ever watched it at all.

I'm due over there tomorrow morning for presents and bagels and lox and cream cheese at 10 AM, so I cannot stay up that much longer.

You know, I was not aware that the Bay Area, including my county, Alameda, was the first place in the US to declare Shelter In Place, and send everyone (almost everyone... not essential workers) home. I thought it had already been done elsewhere. It's already a little hard to remember every step along this path. That was... March 16th. [NB -- I am going to put photos in here, but not until it is posted on LiveJournal. I can't stand the finicky way I have to do it here.]

Six weeks later. Like a lot of my friends on here, I am lucky in this lockdown. I'm a teacher, so I am still being paid, and am working from home. I live alone, but with my cat, Devlin (thank fuck, man it would suck to be completely alone) -- no kids to teach, entertain, feed, reassure, keep from climbing the walls, etc. I have a nice apartment and a huge balcony, so I don't feel claustrophobic at all, though I don't really have much that is green, except on that balcony. A big jade plant. Some not terribly healthy rosemary and lavender. I have literally not been outside since March 16th... I've got enough of the underlying conditions that I am not doing that, and I am making about as much use of delivery services as I did in the Before Times, since my mobility is not the greatest. The luckiest thing for me is that my sister and nieces have (after at least three weeks of being symptom free, and no new contacts) visited me despite the quarantine (cannot decide between those three terms -- Shelter in Place; lockdown; quarantine). Ruby and Rosie have together and separately slept over several times, especially during my Spring Break, which was very late -- it ended April 19th.

Teaching from home is weird. In some ways, there are things that are easier (and, hilariously to me, our district superintendent referred to the main one of these on his becoming-routing video broadcasts... today he looked like a slightly younger Elijah Mohammad of the NOI, bow tie and black suit and all. No fez, though. -- anyway, he talked about how we should count our blessings [as he does each time] and mentioned a teacher who said that something she hadn't thought about as a positive was that... and here he goes on a long aside about disruption in the classroom that interferes and requires teachers to redirect students and waste instructional time... "now if a kid gets off topic in a disruptive way, you can just mute them on Zoom!") -- my version, since I am only doing my first live Zoom class meeting this coming Thursday, is that there is no face-to-face student antics. The same kids who were horrible to deal with all year long in the classroom are the same kids I have completely failed to be in contact with despite emails, phone calls, etc. I don't know what etc. is... I guess posts in Google Classroom, and zeros in Aeries, our grading platform. Of my 81 students, 17 of them are AWOL, and nothing I am doing is managing to reach them. I've talked to the parents of about four of those students, and that has made no difference either. So classroom management is basically unnecessary, and that is delightful.

Other positives: I have so much more time to give detailed, granular feedback on student writing, often in comments on Google Docs, but also on Social Studies assignments which my workmate and I figured out a way to assign in the form of editable Google Slides. And I am in really really frequent touch with a lot of the other 64 students, mostly via email. A LOT of email. Luckily, I like writing emails, and I respond very very quickly, if I am not in a work meeting or a PD (Professional Development... these days mostly on using endless new varieties of tech... new to teachers who have been reluctant adopters.) I am somewhere in the middle of the range of tech adopters... I've used Google Classroom for several years now, but more as a supplement with instructions and models and resources to help kids when they were at home working on stuff we'd started in class, especially projects... I didn't really use the Classwork settings -- with actual assignments to be turned in that way -- until now. And video delivery is new to me, as is Screencastify and its ilk... I was even slow to use Kahoot, but am now trying. But believe me, I'm in the top ten percentile compared to most of the teachers at my site. Only half of the teachers at my site even have teacher pages on our school website, so far. We were asked to do that last week (the half that didn't have one). I hadn't even known they existed, but I have one now. It's strange, because I had a fancy individual one for years on, I think, Wordpress? But I didn't know we had a clunky version by Edlio on our site. We've also had to learn clunky new platforms for reporting data (ugh) such as which students have NOT done something, week by week. I am blocking with my fellow teachers and only using "No" for students who have never, not once, been in contact in any way. I'm not making that "No" mean no work turned in that week, fuck that.

The bad side of it is, so far, more meetings than ever, endless PD, and truly gargantuan amounts of emails and grading and lesson planning. I work pretty closely with two other colleagues, one of whom teaches the same thing I do, and we plan together a lot. We were both working last night until 10:30 PM, I kid you not. Twice last week, I was working full on until 7:30 PM. I try to be sure I log out of my work email sometime after 4 PM and that I do not log on during weekends, but it's hard not to.

I haven't had any negative parent stuff since this all began, even though I am not yet doing Zoom classes... our union's Memorandum of Understanding rider to the current contract does not mandate doing live/synchronous teaching at all -- just lists it as one of a variety of ways to deliver instruction. I really don't want kids freaking out and feeling stressed by school. The MOU also wants to "hold students harmless" and is therefore only binding us to Pass/No Mark grade for this quarter. So far that (it's visible in my electronic gradebook) has not led to any diminution of work turned in... I hope it doesn't. I'd love to wean kids from this market economy of grades where they feel that an "A" is more money as a reward for their work, rather than that their work is intrinsically at all satisfying, in itself.

I am watching less than I thought I would in these circumstances? I made a long list (some of which is, I think, in my last entry?) but have not checked a TON of it off. But I added some beyond that, and have watched stuff I didn't know about, like Unorthodox and Repair Shop... and VillageCharm found Passport to Pimlico on The Internet Archive (which I guess is like the Way Back Machine?) so I was able to watch that! It was as enjoyable as I thought it would be. Will someone else take up the challenge of finding the 1950 Brit comedy The Happiest Days of Your Life??? Pretty please?!

I'm reading at least as much as normal... reading and re-reading. Right now I am working my way through Philip Kerr's Bernhard Gunther German noir mysteries, which hop back and forth from the beginnings of Nazi Germany in the Weimar Republic, through WWII, to the postwar shadowy struggles of Argentina, Cuba, Germany, and Greece, in the second to last novel he wrote before he died two years ago. These are a re-read... maybe my fourth or fifth time through? Maybe more. Except for Metropolis, his last published novel, which is a prequel set in the Weimar republic, and which has many atmospheric things in common with the German series Babylon Berlin, which I am rewatching for a third time "with" a friend in Evanston, Illinois. I guess what we do is like a Netflix watch party, which he and I should try. The way I do it, I have to make the main window small enough that I can have an even smaller, taller Facebook window open to chat in.

Cooking report: much bread, but all of it made by my niece. Some large pot cooking -- lentils and fennel and sausage stew, cabbage-bean soup, vegetable curry, split pea soup... but a lot of delivery and eating from my newly reorganized pantry shelf (done by my younger niece Rosie, who is fucking amazing. They're both amazing and in very different ways... older niece Ruby is reading State and Revolution FOR FUN, and asked me seriously what my favorite Marx writings were. Apart from The Communist Manifesto, which I think she read when she was 14 or so. Actually, I think she still has my Marx for Beginners by Rius, which I read when I was 12. I want that back! Anyway, it wasn't hard to reel off the Marx titles: The German Ideology, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon, The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844... and Engels' The Conditions of the English Working Class. That should keep her going for a while, anyway. A little while. She just finished War and Peace for her second Slavic Lit seminar. She hates distance learning (so does Rosie... Rosie is 16 and Ruby is 19) and plans to take off at least a semester if that's what Cal is doing come the Fall.

On politics and the 'Rona (thanks, VillageCharm). I hate Trump more than I can say. No, people probably won't actually ingest bleach or swallow UV lightbulbs (are there such things?) because of his pig ignorance, but yes, he is dumb enough to think there could be some sense to it, jerked by whoever his most recent right wing puppetmaster is... I guess, in this case, some Evangelical scammers with a fake church who promote drops of bleach in water to "cure" autism. His dogwhistles to Astroturf groupings to protest quarantine policies also make me ill. And the glee with which this administration takes advantage of the crisis to further gut environmentalist policies, to demonize and demolish the USPS, and to scapegoat people of color whether they're African Americans, Asian Americans, the Chinese, Central Americans and Mexicans, whoever. Oh, and that whole ring-around-the-rosie Death Cult Texas lieutenant-governor thing about letting the Old sacrifice themselves on the pyre of the economy, er, I mean, to light a bonfire that re-ignites the economy? Something like that. I hate him. I hate them. I am terrified that Biden is such a worthless candidate that he won't be able to beat Trump.

Last... how many of you cannot stop checking the numbers to see how cases and deaths mount, day by day? I can't stop. It's horribly compelling.

My mom is hanging out at my house this evening, and I decided to actually cook (because I hate cooking just for myself -- so boring).

I made linguine with clam sauce, as below. It was hella delicious. (Normally I use wine, but I didn't have any, and omitting it... I think I actually liked it better.) Be warned: it was also extremely rich.

Put a huge pot of water on to boil

Dice three large cloves of garlic and one gigantic sweet onion

Cover the bottom of a big frying pan with good olive oil

Sauté the onions first, and when they start to get brown, add the diced garlic

Drain three cans of good chopped clams -- the larger the pieces the better; reserve the liquid

Add a palm-ful (or to taste) oregano and thyme. If you can get fresh, do it (I couldn't and it was still good)

Add the chopped cans, and fry with the onions and garlic for a few minutes, until it sizzles a little

Add about half of the canned clam liquid and about 1/4 cup full cream. Yes, that's what I said.

Stir and mix and let simmer

Add the rest (another 1/4 cream or to taste) and clam liquid.

Put a wooden spoon over the pan so it doesn't boil over (this really works; I had no idea)

As soon as the linguine is done, drain it, add the clam/onion/cream etc. sauce, mix, and sprinkle some shredded parmesan.

See, now, this is a topic I can get behind. I love soup, though I don't want to choose a favorite.

Of soups I don't make myself, I like French Onion soup, New England style (creamy potato-ey) clam chowder, and tomato soup (especially Trader Joe's tomato-and-roasted-red-pepper soup).

Of soups I make myself, I love pea soup with ham shank (and carrots and onions and potatoes and a bay leaf); cabbage-bean soup, which is a family recipe reworked several times... mine has cannelloni beans, ground turkey, cabbage, chicken broth, and a bagheer of cumin seeds sizzled in olive oil, then poured over and mixed in before serving; mushroom and barley soup; and a chicken noodle soup with rosemary and carrots and onions that I haven't made in a long, long time. And leek-potato soup, though I also haven't made that in a long time. Mmm, soup.

I cook this all the time, but whenever I look for it over here in my LJ, I cannot find that I've written it down. Despite referring to it as recently as a few weeks ago.

One of my favorite recipes from Madhur Jaffrey (whom I adore -- I recall someone recently not being into her -- was it you, florence_craye? -- but I forgive her elite background in India, and in fact really liked her autobiography...) is extremely simple. When I was younger, I liked best her kheema mattar, which is ground lamb and peas in a really nice, oniony sauce. That was a long, complicated recipe. Now, though, my favorite and virtually foolproof dish is masoor dal.

This set of directions is taken off the internet, because I don't have my beloved cookbook with me. But it's accurate. I usually double the amounts, because I love this as leftovers. And I triple or quadruple the cumin, because I just like that.

So.



Masoor Dal




• 1 c. red lentils (masoor dal), picked over and rinsed. You don't need to soak them at all.
• 1 slice unpeeled ginger, about the size of a quarter, each.
• 3/4 tsp. turmeric
• 1 tsp. ground coriander (I think... now I am not sure about the presence of this ingredient, but I think it would be good anyway -- can't hurt)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 pinch asafetida (I omit this, even though it's supposedly great as a digestive aid...)
• 1 tsp. whole cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne powder
• fresh coriander to garnish




So. Add the rinsed/picked over masoor dal to 4 c. of water in a heavy pot. Bring to a boil and skim off all the scum that collects at the top. Your stomach will be sad if you don't. Add the ginger and turmeric and ground coriander. Turn the heat down and leave the cover slightly ajar. Cook for 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours until the dal is pretty much turned into mush. The dal will thicken as it cools... it may actually sort of separate, and you can take out some of the water. Make sure to stir every few minutes during the last 15 to 20 minutes, so it doesn't stick.



Second stage, near the end: heat the vegetable oil in a small skillet -- medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the asafetida, the cumin, and the cayenne. As soon as the cumin sizzles (about ten seconds -- careful, because it will burn fairly quickly) take the skillet up and pour the contents into the dal. Stir it in and cover the pot for at least another five minutes.



Serve with basmati rice. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Still limping and easily tired of walking on this fucking knee. My mother (redlibrarian39, by the way) is hanging out with me -- have I mentioned that she's trying the Bay Area on for size by subletting a room over near Highland Hospital for two months? One of those months is already gone. It's going quickly. It's so nice to have her here, though. She should come back for mid July to mid September, that's what I think. When it's sunny and hot.

We're going to a play that will probably suck tonight -- this season of the Berkeley Rep has been greatly underwhelming. This one is Zorro, and my friend Regina, with whom I bought these season tix, refused outright to subject herself to it: she was horrified last year by the more farcical of the plays we attended. Anyway, the experience of going to a play is usually nice, so who cares if it's not earthshakingly good. I feel like I've been spoiled over the last couple of years with really GOOD pieces, from Homebody/Kabul by Kushner to Leonardo's Notebooks (it might have been Da Vinci's Notebooks, but I'm avoiding that title, for obvious (Dan Brown) reasons) by Mary Zimmerman, and The Story of the People's Temple, by I forget whom. And lots of little gems, too -- including a hilarious two person farce with crossdressed virtuousos -- The Mystery of Irma Vep. I guess the BRT is due some boring plays, too.

Anyway, what I've been doing all weekend before this evening and the play is household stuff, in a very happy way. The dresser of my dreams that I've been waiting and waiting for and hunting and hunting for, on Craigslist, finally showed up a few weeks ago, but scheduling pick up (and help in carrying since I can't do it with this knee) has been awful. It is six drawers -- three next to three, so low -- and stained a dark brown. It's pretty. It's got a long sweep of a bare top that looks nice, though I don't know if I'll be able to keep it bare. I tend to clutter things with books, at the very least. It cost $20.

But I got it yesterday -- my sister and brother-in-law picked it up with their family van, and finally I have somewhere for CLOTHES besides clothes baskets. God, what a relief. I have clear floor space in my bedroom! I have enough clear floor space that I could potentially do yoga there.

Then my friend kaleidescope and I did errands like going to the FarMar, where I bought herbs to pot and cut flowers and turnips and lemons and little potatoes and strawberries. We picked my mom up and went on to Trader Joe's and other errands too boring to mention (because they weren't mine), including getting biodiesel for her car. Then babysitting and Mulan, one of my more favorite Disney films. And today, cleaning, laundry, and dishes and cleaning out the refrigerator (my mother actually did that, while I was washing dishes -- she's a fucking SAINT) kind of miniature gardening.

I've wanted to do this forever, since moving out here: have an herb garden. I haven't had one since Missouri, and I miss it. I don't really have a yard, just a few feet of space outside my ground floor apartment's living room windows, alongside a long driveway. I think it gets enough sun, though this Spring in Oakland there's been hardly any, so who knows how they'll do. I got lavender (which I've been wanting forever, two kinds, French and some other kind... maybe English. I got three rosemary starts, English thyme, French thyme, Italian oregano, and marjoram. I didn't see any basil, but I'll probably get another big planter (they're that terra cotta colored plastic, in a low round wide style) for it and for some sage, some chives, and maybe some dill. I don't know about the dill. Do I need dill?

Anyway, I'll post pictures soonish, once there is some goddamn SUN.

EDIT: Actually, Zorro in Hell, by the Culture Clash, a Chicano comedy ensemble group that's been around since the mid 80s, was damn good and funny. Some improv, a good framing plot, a funny cultural musing on the meaning of Zorro, from the Scarlet Pimpernel rip off in Chicano clothes, of the original author, some white guy whose name I've already forgotten, to the "Somos todos Marcos/Spartacus" of the Zapatistas. I'm really glad we went.