Eating Soul Food in Chicago
As I walked downstairs Sunday morning, the husband was furiously watching TV and typing notes into his phone. Now, those who know my husband personally (or who’ve seen any of my tweets about him) know that the fella is not prone to multitasking, especially while seated before the television: one thing at a time, folks, one thing at a time. But here he was simultaneously watching an episode of Chicago’s Best and giving his texting fingers a hefty workout. “What was he typing,” you ask? “Was it information about the Hancock Building? The Bean in Millennium Park?...
Read MoreGettin’ My Culture On: The Clarke House Museum (Chicago)
Over the weekend, the husband and I got our culture on at the Clarke House Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (more on the MCA later). According to the pamphlet and our tour guide, the Clarke House (right) is “the oldest surviving domestic structure in Chicago” (fancy way of saying “oldest house around these here parts”). Built in 1836 before Chicago was even a city, the Clarke House belonged to Henry and Caroline Clarke and their six or seven children (the reading material says they had six; the tour guide claims seven). The supposedly middle-class home...
Read MoreHere’s to George Strait’s “Baby Blue,” First Loves, and Tight-Rolled Jeans
This entry is part 7 of 12 in the series Pic of the Day.Sure, I have a few George Strait songs on my iPod. Who doesn’t? One is the classic “Amarillo by Morning” with its lovely twin fiddles at the end, and another is “Baby Blue,” a ballad that, when I hear its first twangy notes, immediately takes me back nearly 22 years. (For the love of God, am I really THAT old?! Also, who let me out of the house in that sweater, those bangs, and the whore-red lipstick?) In any case, “Baby Blue” recently surfaced on my iPod. I turned up the volume so that George...
Read MoreSo Long, Potbelly’s Chicken-Salad Sandwich: Why the Kentucky Derby Made Me Stop Eating Meat
I initially posted this personal account about the Kentucky Derby, PETA, and vegetarianism as a Facebook Note (a what?) on June 12, 2008, way before I began blogging here at Unmuzzled Thoughts. Honestly, I’d mostly forgotten about this write-up, but the impending smells of fresh sod, mint juleps, and huge pastel hats have jogged my memory (yeah, the Kentucky Derby is this weekend). As a result, I thought I’d move/repost it here… The day after the filly Eight Belles was euthanized on the track in front of everyone at the Kentucky Derby (above), I joined PETA (People for the...
Read MoreLive from The Texas Independence Relay
This weekend, the husband (along with nine other team members) runs the Texas Independence Relay — a race composed of 40 legs of various lengths, totaling over 200 miles. Yeah, that’s what I said: 200 miles. All participants start in Gonzales, TX, where the Texas Revolution began, and finish at the San Jacinto Monument (right), where Texas independence was won. Here are the husband’s 140-character accounts as he and his (crazy!) team work their way along the long, long path. (NOTE: His most recent tweets fall at the end of the post. Keep checking back for more;...
Read MoreWeird Ohio
Like most people, the husband and I generally tackle touristy stuff when we take trips. However, we also try to venture out onto the road less traveled. For example, during a 2008 trip to Oklahoma City, we meandered down the old Route 66 where we came across one of the country’s only round barns and a huge soda bottle statue, the latter of which “dances” at night for passers-by as its LED lights flicker on and off. More recently, a quick trip to New York City led us to The Museum of Sex, where “The Sex Lives of Animals” and “Sex and the Moving Image”...
Read MoreJon Stewart, Cremation, and Alcatraz: My List of Randomness from Facebook (Back in the Day)
I was just looking through my old Facebook Notes and came across this gem. Surely you remember the “25 Things about Me” list that went around about a year ago (mine is dated February 9, 2009). It was accompanied by these directions: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you. To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these...
Read MoreA Meager Salary, An Unemployed Spouse, and Large Classes: Why I’m Still Attending Conferences
For the past several days, Brian Croxall’s “The Absent Presence: Today’s Faculty” has been making headlines on Twitter, academic blogs, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. And rightly so. Coherent and convincing, Croxall’s argument is three-fold: First, humanities job candidates consistently lack the funds necessary to attend the very conference that will potentially land them a job. The massive MLA Convention is the conference to which Croxall refers, lovingly described by some as a veritable “meat-market” or “ant colony.” Second, the...
Read MoreMarley and (Not) Me: Why I Don’t Do Animal Movies
Generally within the first two weeks of the semester, my film students learn that I do not see many movies with animals in them. They also learn early on that I cannot handle Renee Zellwegger except in Bridget Jones’s Diary. I make an exception because of the delicious Colin Firth! (You may read more about my strong feelings for Mr. Firth in the post “Christmas with Orson, Meryl, and Colin.”) But I digress… “Well, what about My Dog Skip?” they ask. “Nope,” I quickly respond. “Okay, then Snow Dogs? Lassie’s films? March of the...
Read MoreThe Museum of Sex
This entry is part 5 of 22 in the series Reviews.Dedicated to the exploration of the history, evolution and cultural significance of human sexuality, advocating open discourse and striving to present to the public the best in current scholarship unhindered by self-censorship. — The Museum of Sex This is how the Museum of Sex, located in a relatively small building on a street corner in Manhattan, categorizes itself. Yeah, that’s right; it’s an entire museum devoted to the exploration of sex and sexuality. Since the husband and I have been to the Big Apple several times, we...
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Professor of film and Shakespeare. Advocate of social media. Lover of popular culture,