where i live
This beautiful picture (by pbinder) is of the Broadway Bridge. I live on Broadway for the next seven days or so.
That is all.
July 24, 2005
June 8, 2005
tornadic
From the OED:
Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of a tornado.1884 Amer. Meteorol. Jrnl. I. 7 Four series of storms of tornadic character have passed over the states east of the Mississippi River since the beginning of the year. 1890 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 13 June, These are tornadic conditions. 1898 H. W. LUCY in Daily News 18 Feb. 2/2 Mr. Orchardson's portrait..presenting the ex-Speaker in one of his not unfamiliar tornadic moods.
"Tornadic" is not a word I was familar with before moving to the American Midwest. Now I hear it fairly frequently. Tonight the local television stations pre-empted quite a bit of prime-time programming to keep us up to date on the weather. Talking heads and brightly colord maps do not make for exciting watching, let me tell you. A dramatic storm with golf-ball-sized hailstones passed over us about an hour ago. No tornados, though.
Has a tornado ever hit a big city downtown? Hmm.
May 28, 2005
hello boss coffee
"Hello Boss" canned coffee, which I bought at the new location for the Chinatown Food Market, a stone's throw from the City Market. It says it's made in Taiwan, but I think that's Vietnamese underneath the word coffee.
Click on the image for more pix.
May 1, 2005
it's funny because it's...no, it's not really funny
An entry from Kansas City Soil on local high school kids attempting to establish a student government:
Geoffery annd Leodis, and a couple of other kids, have been making some real progress. They've even come up with a preamble, which they submitted to the school's vice principal for approval. The text includes the word "totalitarian" -- as in "the totalitarian school administration" -- and when the vice principal saw this she demanded to know what it meant.
"Totalitarian," Geoffery replied, kind of shoocked. "You know, like total control."
Apparently, the VP didn't believe him. Or whatever. I'm not reallly sure. All I know is that she went to her office and looked the word up. And the next day, she demanded that the word be removed from the preamble.
I'm not sure if I need to offer more analysis here to convey the many levels of irony.
November 24, 2004
weather alert
We woke up to between 3 and 5 inches of snow. And it's still coming down.
October 29, 2004
reading, writing, and race in kansas city
I'll be teaching English 225 again in the Spring, an Honors Program section with an Academic Service Learning component.
I intend to focus the class on Kansas City history with special attention placed upon race and neighborhoods. Students will fulfill their ASL requirements by taking oral histories from current and former residents of the neighborhood(s) bounded by 49th Street, 63rd, the Paseo, and Oak Street. I don't yet have a full syllabus or a description, but I'll use my blog as a placeholder for relevant links as I work on the course design.
- The 49/63 Neighborhood Coalition
- The Western Historical Manuscript Collection in Kansas City
- The Center for Studies in Oral Tradition at the University of Missouri-Columbia
- Race, Real Estate, and Uneven Development: The Kansas City Experience, 1900-2000 by Kevin Fox Gotham (SUNY Press, 2002)
- A City Divided: The Racial Landscape of Kansas City, 1900-1960, by Sherry Lamb Schirmer (U of Missouri Press, 2002)
- The Huntsman, by Whitney Terrell (Penguin, 2002)
- Kansas City Soil, by Joe Miller
October 17, 2004
read this: race and education in kansas city
I met Joe Miller at the last KC Bloggers Meetup.. He used to write for The Pitch, Kansas City's alternative news weekly, but now he's working on his first book, "about the Kansas City Central High School debate team." His blog, Kansas City Soil, is one of the best around in part because of entries like this one.
placeholder for local artist
I've got to start seeking out the places where KC's creative people present their work. A friend sends along a link to Andrea Flamini:
Andrea creates generative video installations. At the core of his research is the development of random and generative methods of sequencing video and sounds, a process often called 'Computational Cinema' or 'Process Cinema.' His generative videos are designed to play endlessly, in an unlimited number of random variations.
June 24, 2004
kc bloggers meetup
I'm breaking my vow of once-a-week blogging in order to post links to things I mentioned tonight in coversations during the KC Bloggers meetup at Harry's Country Club in the River Market (which was a lot of fun):
- Ellen Ullman, The Bug (ISBN 1400032350)
- William Gibson, Pattern Recognition (ISBN 0425192938 )
- William Gibson, The Difference Engine (ISBN 055329461X)
- Steampunk
- George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London (ISBN 015626224X)
- Mike Watt, Hootpage
- Sonic Youth, July 31 at the Blue Note with Le Tigre
- Shelley Jackson, Skin: A Mortal Work of Art (See my previous entry.)
- Antiopic
To all the KCBloggin' Peeps: It was great to meet everyone, and I look forward to reading all your blogs and meeting up again some time in the future.
June 6, 2004
thanks for not being a zombie
A walk around the neighborhood on a Sunday morning between 9 and 10 a.m.
May 22, 2004
mike sits on giant cat...
May 10, 2004
my 12" world collides with the real one
It's kind of strange, in a good way, when my 12" world collides with the "real" one.
- Recognizing someone from the coffee shop.
- Realizing I was at the grand opening of the new location for Hammerpress at the same time as my favorite KC comic artist.
- Running into Heidi at said grand opening. We were standing next to each other for a good thirty seconds before I realized who I was standing next to. I would not have even known about Hammerpress were it not for Heidi's post and comment on the place.
- Singling out Brady Vest, Hammerpress proprietor, from the others in the impressive crowd because I'd seen his picture online in the Pitch article. We talked very briefly about the possibility of his involvement with one or more of my classes next year. Mr. Vest is very cool. I am a dork.
May 4, 2004
tornado anniversary
As the KCBloggers site notes, providing several relevant links, today is "is the one year anniversary of the worst tornado outbreak in US history, including nine twisters that tore through much of the western and northern portions of the Kansas City area." I wrote about it after it happened.
Weather forecast today predicts isolated thunderstorms with a high of 73. Right now outside my window it's bright but partly cloudy.
May 1, 2004
sparrow's fall
Last fall I started picking up the free copies of the locally produced comic "Sparrow's Fall" available at the Broadway Cafe. Somehow, I recently learned that the creator, Parrish Baker, has his own blog. You can read some of his work for yourself on this page and this page. I think it's great stuff.
April 28, 2004
independent bookstores, kansas city
If you'll look at the bottom of the sidebar on the right, gentle reader, you'll notice a little banner ad for Booksense, "a family of independent-bookseller websites." I am now a Booksense affiliate because, as I discussed earlier, I'd like to be able to encourage sales at places other than Amazon.com, even while recognizing that the Amazon site provides some very useful features. The publishing ecosystem needs diversity. Hmmm, maybe I should provide links to both. Becoming an affiliate allows me to link directly to a listing for a book on Booksense rather than on Amazon. Kathleen's done it, and you should consider getting on board, too.
Below the fold are the Booksense search results for independent booksellers in close proximity to my zip code.
April 16, 2004
webster house
I'm going to a university event at the Webster House this afternoon, and since there's a fancy-pants website, I thought I'd link to it.
April 11, 2004
i'm giddy with anticipation
As Heidi and BlogKC point out, the new downtown library opens tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. I'm pretty darned excited:
- Beautiful, historic building
- Free wireless
- Opens at 7:00 a.m.
- Cafe
- Rooftop terrace
- 5-minute walk from my apartment
I've never lived this close to a library before, much less one as grand as this. I know where I'll be spending a lot of time this summer. Oh, and this just cements my belief that development in downtown Kansas City is going to explode in the next decade or so. If you can afford to buy a condo, do so now.
February 20, 2004
finally, the punk rockers are taking acid
I've just learned that not only does Kansas City have an annual Mardi Gras parade, however modest, but at this year's shindig the neopsychedelic experimental noise pop band the Flaming Lips will be given a key to the city. What's the connection? I'm not sure. The Lips are from Oklahoma City, which, like KC, is in the midwest. Beyond that, though, I'm stumped. L's pronouncement: "I think you just file this under news of the weird."
February 8, 2004
yet more snow
We had a significant snowfall on Thursday, causing the university to cancel classes for the afternoon. As luck would have it, I had already driven in to work. Meanwhile, the snow had piled up outside, making the drive home tricky. The temperature has not risen above freezing in several days, and those places that do not get any sun, like the alley behind our apartment building, are now covered in about six inches of solid ice. It still looks pretty, though. Heidi has posted some more pictures of KC snow, this time from just a block or two away from the apartment. The second and fourth pictures are of a giant needle, thread, and button that commemorate the fact that this part of town was "the garment district" back in the day.
January 26, 2004
snow in kcmo
A couple of KC blogs feature photographs of the results of today's (and tonight's) snowfall. Nothing as dramatic as what fell on Washington, D.C. and other parts east, I'm sure. This view is close to where I live. I don't know where this is. I did a quick browse through the blogs listed at KC Bloggers but did not find more. Perhaps Heidi will post some pix, too.
Update: Yup. There they are.
December 31, 2003
kansas city cat sitter
While we were at MLA, our 17-year-old cat was looked after by CJ's Pet Sitting, and I can't recommend CJ strongly enough. She obviously loves cats, is very affordable, and leaves a detailed report for every visit that she makes. If you're a Kansas City resident in need of such services, contact her at cjpetsitting [at] hotmail [dot] com or 816-305-3694.
December 9, 2003
"severe weather alert"
From the National Weather Service. Looks like we'll be getting some snow tonight.
November 27, 2003
...later that same day
I had a very difficult, hour-long conversation with someone who's known me my whole life, though I haven't spent any significant time with him in person or on the phone in years and years. Alone on Thanksgiving, and after a few drinks, he decided to call me for company and solace. Hoo-boy. I think I felt full-strength doses of all the emotions in the human repertoire one by one, and I was drained after we were done.
So to get my mind onto something else, I took our out-of-town guest, L's sister R, on a tour of Kansas City. We went to the City Market and walked out to take a look at the Missouri River and the work that's just started on the Kansas City Riverfront Heritage Trail. We toured Columbus Park next, probably the most diverse neighborhood to be found here. Then we headed to the 18th and Vine district (check out these pix from the Kc Public Library), home of the American Jazz Museum as well as the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, a place I suspect Chuck will want to see when he comes to visit. From there, we drove through the Crossroads District, home to many studios and galleries of artists in KC's creative community, on the way to the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Community Christian Church; unfortunately, it's not really anything all that exciting compared to the other Wright buildings I've seen. Finally, we rented a couple of videos from SRO Video: Eddie Izzard: Glorious, and Thunder Road.
Whew!
So how was your day?
April 8, 2003
fountain day in kc
Civic minded entry this morning -- Kansas City Star, KC to turn on fountains for another season today: Kansas City, they say, has more fountains than any other city in the world except Rome. Today's the day they turn them all on.
March 8, 2003
get a load of the new guy
I moved here late last July. I guess I'm still getting used to it. Out on the highway somewhere today, I saw a sign that read "Kansas City, next 10 exits." For half a second I thought, "Kansas City? Wow, I wonder what it's like there."