(no subject)

[ursula]

Questions from slysidonia. Comment if you'd like five of your very own.

***

1. Who are your favorite Poets and why?

Horace, for versatility, audacity, lyricism by definition . . . I'm taking a graduate poetry workshop right now, which makes me very aware of how much I don't know about poetry in English. One measure might be whose books are prominent on my shelves: Theodore Roethke, Ted Hughes, Elizabeth Bishop, John Donne. Another measure of allegiances is the list of poets I am meaning to read, or read more of: Pope, Milton, Louise Glück, Wordsworth, Alcuin, Venantius Fortunatus.

(If you wanted a poem, here's a pretty hilarious example of how *not* to critique poetry: assume that the poet means everything the speaker says, even when the speaker is a flower.)

2. Why did you join the SCA and what keeps you there?

Friends, men with long hair, excuses to make stuff; to which I now add, excuses to get weird books out of the library. I like the worldwide social network. I like being appreciated for my academic bent. I like meeting people who have nothing to do with academia.

3. What is your idea of a perfect evening out?

Good food, good drink, good conversation? And for true perfection, there should be absolutely no fretting about transportation: no people who want to drink but have to drive, no taxis getting lost, no anxiety about buses or trains which stop running at a certain time.

4. Tell us about the Hobbies you have.

Let's start with things that aren't hobbies: reading and cooking. To me the word "hobby" has this aura of extraneousness, a suggestion that, no matter how intensely you may be involved, you could substitute a different activity entirely without any real change in self. The hobbyist's approach to food, in particular, I find both fascinating and disconcerting: why, yes, for dinner last night we did make mushroom-lentil soup with chanterelles and organic carrots and garlic and sage and porcini flour (that powdery gold), deglazing the seared mushrooms with red wine, but then it was wet out & I'm sick & we had to eat something.

So what is engrossing and yet extraneous? Right now, knitting and the SCA, I suppose. In some ways, it's more fun to think of potential hobbies: embroidery and folding paper cranes have taken the same space in my life as knitting in the past, along with a bit of netting. Naalbinding? Sprang? Quilting? (Patchwork Ottoman silk star pillow-covers!) Weaving, if I had the space for a loom (tablet-weaving strikes me as privileging the annoying fiddly parts of the operation). Maybe spinning. At the moment, RPGs are more potential than actual hobby, but a good game with the right people could tip me back into obsessiveness, or I could get semi-serious about writing for games. I could edge further into artsy science-fiction fandom, too.

5. What one luxury item would you buy for yourself if you got an unexpected windfall?

I am actually expecting a windfall, in the sense that a substantial fellowship check ought to come my way sometime this quarter; part of that money is earmarked for a new, lighter laptop. So maybe I'd just buy a nicer laptop. Maybe glasseye and I would have dinner someplace unsuited to a student's budget. Or maybe I would buy a chunk of gold, since suddenly I'm in the market for a ring . . .

Comments

[katerinfg.livejournal.com]

Sure, why not.

[nobu.livejournal.com]

ring! you should get a moku gane one. but i'm biased cause of my own i guess ;) you probably want something with a gem in it, i imagine?

gimme questions! :P

[ursula]

Nah, I want something like this or this, only, you know, not thousands of euros.

Questions forthcoming.

[ursula]

1. So, how's the wedded life? And do you have a middle name now?
2. What's your current educational plan?
3. Would you rather have a kitten or a pony?
4. When are you going to come visit?
5. Fantasy novel of the moment?

[tejolote.livejournal.com]

Friends, men with long hair, excuses to make stuff; to which I now add, excuses to get weird books out of the library. I like the worldwide social network. I like being appreciated for my academic bent. I like meeting people who have nothing to do with academia.

Sounds like the reasons I'm attracted to the SCA. Although I might add that I love the camping, tents, campfires, noises of other people rustling around nearby, and tasty food. And looking at all the cool things people make.

[tejolote.livejournal.com]

Er, that was just a comment, not a request for questions. ;)

[ursula]

Yes, cool stuff in general is definitely right up there. And this area is great for food.

[kargashina.livejournal.com]

questions good.... that crit was um... something

[alsoelsewhere.livejournal.com]

Any recommended translations of Horace?

[ursula]

No. I haven't really looked, since I read him in Latin. And the big project of the Odes was putting Greek metrical structures into Latin, which means if you want to get the full effect you have to do the project yourself, not just translate.

Sifting my own files yields a very free attempt:

Integer Vitae
From Horace Odes 1.22

He who is pure in heart and free from crime
needs no gun, nor Mace, nor switchblade
nor up-to-date automatic
security system,

whether he wanders the Amazon jungle
or the trackless desert of Somalia
or the burnt slums of the
City of Angels.

For once when I went camping
I was singing of my Lalagy
and I saw a wolf run from
harmless me;

a sign like this cannot be found
in my hometown with its spreading oaks
nor in the far savannah,
home of lions.

Put me in the hot sand where
even cacti wilt in the hot breeze
and the stormclouds rush with
empty lightning;

put me in a rocket hurled
right up next to the sun itself
still I'll love my sweetly
laughing Lalagy.