fiesta

We hosted our Peace & Justice group's belated Christmas party last evening. I made one of our favorites, peppery chicken curry, from the best cookbook ever (sadly out of print). Friends brought wheatberry salad, wine, and other goodies. Good times as conversation veered from dogs to the spaghetti dinner we're doing next month to movies to home improvement stories. Our place, far from fancy, lends itself to parties. One of my resolutions: hosting friends and family more often. Between last night and the upcoming inaugural "ball," we're off to a good start.

In somewhat-related realms...what an enjoyable and productive week. Some solid writing (mostly at my favorite Caribou). Check. Syllabi for the term completed. Check. Essays rated for a MALS (liberal studies) program initiative. Check. E-mails caught up. Check. Meeting with new community partner for the service learning class. Check. House cleaned. Check. Made time to see "Doubt." Not sure what to make of Meryl Streep's campy, caricature-driven performance and over-the-top Bronx accent. I appreciated how the movie emphasized the relationship/power struggle between her conservative nun character and the enigmatic young priest played by P.S. Hoffman. If you see the film, notice how the latter, on one hand, has progressive learnings and on the other hand, enjoys the benefits of the church's sexism. Overall, though, the story seemed too impressed with its own cleverness and ambiguity. I left with the sense that the outstanding performances added up to something less than their I continue to champion "Gran Torino" as my favorite awards contender. Still on my list: "Milk," "Frost/Nixon," and "The Wrestler."

Finally...will blogs become dodos? Too soon to tell, but how about Facebook's rapid ascendancy? In (rhetoric and composition) academic circles in particular, Facebook has really taken a bite from blogging activity. I must admit, the Facebook update is a fun, fun genre. I think a combination of texting and facebooking has increased the instances of ellipses in my writing. See, for instance, this post.