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November 28, 2005

I could have danced all night...

Inspired by a rainy afternoon viewing of Shall We Dance, I picked up ballroom dancing. For the past month, I have been faithfully attending group and private lessons, working on my rumba, foxtrot, salsa, merengue, tango and samba.

Every chance I get, I will practice steps, be it in the elevator or my empty office. Once I get back from class, I run to my room, get my iTunes going and run through the steps I've just learned. Sometimes, I just stand and let the music take over and move, euphoric and so wound up that I can't go to sleep for a good three hours afterwards.

In ways, this class has allowed me to lose my inhibitions. People don't care if you don't know all the steps. Everyone is willing to help you out. There are those that joke around with you and before you know it you're moving aroung like you've been doing the foxtrot for ages.

This past Saturday night, I went to my dance studio's dance party. I was nervous, but looked forward to having some fun. The party started out with a samba group lesson and we bounced our way through the simple choreography our instructor put together. As I worked down the line, I danced with many gentlemen of a certain age, who were putting my generation to shame with their dexterity.

Overall I had a great time (well there was the avoiding of the chronic spinner ... another entry I'm afraid) and look forward to many more outings on the dancefloor!

Posted by eva on 1:22 AM

November 26, 2005

Libraries : lifeforce of our society

To commemorate the Sterling Memorial Library's 75th anniversary this past October, Yale University held a lecture entitled "The Heart of the University." The venerable David McCullough, the voice of American history, addressed a captive audience and expressed the importance of the library in his life and its role in our society.

Libraries are the hearts of our communities. They are beacons of knowledge in a world of ignorance. They support their neighborhood, offering a rock upon which programs are cultivated to nurture all inquiring minds.

Walk into any library, be it town or country, and you will see a group huddled over the daily newspapers and magazines. You'll probably see some little tikes, struggling with a pile of books as they are walking out, smiling.

The patrons who enter each day are the blood, seeking replenishment and sustenance. These readers leave the library, like freshly oxygenated blood exits the heart, entering the world with a new sense of purpose and direction. Without being aware of their actions, they become active members of our world and carriers of our history.

We must look at our past and be aware of our cultural identity. As David McCullough said in his lecture, what would you have if you took away all of our collective and personal histories? How would you describe yourself and others if you knew nothing about the past, asides from the fact that you exist? What would motivate you?

We must know our past in the hope that we will not repeat the errors of our forefathers. Without that hope, what will become of the future generations of world citizens? Are they doomed to continue the vicious cycle of ignorance and hate? Let's wish for a brighter future where humanity will coexist with better understanding of all creeds and cultures.

Posted by eva on 9:12 PM

November 13, 2005

Random Tales from Academia: Volume 2

As I bemoaned in Volume 1, I was on a quest to find a Spanish class to audit this semester. I finally got into a class without selling any of my unborn children. In addition, it turned out that a fellow colleague was also taking the class, so we can catch up on office gossip and tune up our Spanish writing skills.

As the semester has progressed, I can't say that I'm on my way to becoming the next Gabriel Garcia-Marquez or Jorge Luis Borges, but I can express myself coherently and have been exposed to authors that I had never read. It spread into my own writing and in my head I have a veritable nursery of ideas that are germinating into perhaps a short story, poem, or (horror of horrors) a novel. I have learned much about not only the intricacies of the Spanish language, but also of the untapped potential within me.

However, there is a downside to all this personal growth, mainly my precarious status in the class. There is something awkward about being an auditor in a room of disgruntled, stressed-out undergraduates. Technically, I don't have to do all of the assignments. In some ways, it is harder to be an auditor. I have to be more driven and motivated than the actual students. There is no final grade at stake. Hours spent in front of a computer screen churning out essays and caffeine-fueled nights of reading are done voluntarily because of my desire to learn and improve.

The tension between the auditors and the students make this situation uncomfortable. As the auditor, I sit in my seat and pay attention to the instructor and try not to participate too much, because I do not want to overstep my bounds. However, when the professor is staring at a class demanding a simple answer, it wears down on me, and up goes my hand, and out comes the answer. Relief spreads across the teacher's face but the underclassman with the crazy hair who sits across from me gives me a lethal stare. Yikes!

Having already gone through college, I have a different perspective and set of priorities. I don't have to take this to fulfill a foreign language requirement or because I'm a major. I'm there because I'm curious. I'm hungry for knowledge. I know that these students want to learn, but the resentment is uncalled for. I do not want to one up them or show that I'm better than them. I just want an equal opportunity to learn.

Posted by eva on 7:43 AM

November 9, 2005

Never fear! Wonderbra is here!

I love the BBC for these priceless little gems. Only the Japanese would think of this as a means of saving our environment. Enjoy!

Posted by eva on 9:26 PM

November 3, 2005

Trapped in the Closet ... with R. Kelly

This week, R. Kelly's urban soap opera "Trapped in the Closet - Chapters 1-12", hit stores. VH1 has decided to air this melodramatic saga today and yours truly has just sat through chapters 6-8 and must say it was delightfully horrible. It's hard for me to contain my mirth at the overly dramatized dilemma that is more tangled up than a bird's nest.

R. Kelly is Sylvester a two-timing husband cheating on his wife. When we first meet him, he has just woken up in another woman's home whose husband has just gotten home. Now Sylvester scurries into the closet but is foiled by his cell phone going off and inciting a jealous confrontation between spouses. As the drama continues, we soon realize that everyone is cheating on everyone and random characters become seriously interconnected. When Sylvester finally gets to his wife, Gwendolyn, (Chapter 5 or 6) he realizes she's been straying herself. She's been sleeping with the police officer who had pulled him in an earlier chapter!

The dialogue is half spoken word and half crooning. It's a bit grating were it not for the comic relief provided with some stellar lyrics like: "It was Rosy .... the nosy neighbor..." In addition, VH1 has commentary from each of the protagonists, giving insight to what the state of their mind was in each chapter.

No offense to the R. Kelly fans, but the man is off his rocker. This overwrought urban novela is well, overly ambitious. It's an interesting idea that had potential, but falls just short and is more camp than real.

Posted by eva on 3:19 PM