a bit of news

okay, I really need to be writing this paper on eikasia, which is Plato's word for the mental faculty we have for dealing with images . . .
actually, the word should look like this:

anyway, I have to present that paper at a conference in NYC in October, so I really need to write it . . .

but I just wanted to mention two or three quick things:

a) another paper I wrote, on Aristotle and natural virtue, has been accepted for this November's meeting of the Southwestern Philosophical Society, AND the society PUBLISHES all the papers given at the conference in their journal, the Southwest Philosophy Review . . . so I will have a paper published!! kickass

b) my sister, Merrica, has started posting things on her blog, which is pretty entertaining, especially since the current post touches on my favorite irony w/respect to Merrica, that she lives in Japan but doesn't much care for Japanese food . . . anyway, it's pretty good; to check it out, just click on her name, Merrica, either in this post or in the list of links to the right.

c) I've heard that Aaron Dopf, who's soon leaving for a year to study in Germany, may be in town soon . . . and so I want to tempt him with the promise of prodigious posts on this blog documenting his visit (with his approval, of course) . . . and speaking of Aaron, the St Louis nbc affiliate did a nice story on his recent (well, last december, but whatever) surgery; though I can't find the video for it on their site today, the write-up is pretty good; here's a link, if you're curious


here's a shot of Aaron when we visited him in Iowa after the surgery

cheers

ps, hope you're enjoying the new icon I've added to the bottom of the blog . . .

the one below, at the bottom of the page, is even linked to the apple website!

and the food

well, with things like tomatoes and peppers in season, eating at our house is at its yearly peak . . . after a salsa made with Emily's grandparents' tomatoes and a roasted (locally grown) habeñero, and then some fresh pasta sauce, we feasted Saturday on a great summery Thai curry, and then some dessert . . .

a simmering curry, with locally-made tofu, and tomatoes, onions, sweet peppers, basil, and thai chili peppers from the farmers' market


the beginning of our dessert: apples from the farmers market, waiting for the pie crust


Emily rolls out the crust--a homemade one, and extra flaky as lard was a key ingredient . . .


success! (& after less than 24 hours, we've nearly eaten the whole delicious thing)

as I said, it's been quite a week for eating, and I think we're only getting started . . .

on another note, the school year's going for real now, and so far it's been fun--two lectures delivered to the class of 250+ (no mic yet; we'll see if my voice can make the whole semester), and I'm already behind in my Ancient Philosophy class (that stuff is too damn interesting . . . oh well) . . . and, as promised, a door of my own:

my door

moonlight rambling

well, we just got in last night, back from our trip to St. Louis--we went to see Emily's grandparents, and to ride in the 41st annual Moonlight Ramble through St. Louis: a 20-mile bikeride that starts at midnight & goes through some of the city, even a little of downtown. The ride (which supposedly had 10,000 participants! (& it certainly seemed like it at times, like when we started out pedalling so slow walking would've been faster . . . though it did thin out once we hit a couple hills . . .)), benefitted some sort of hostelling organization, so that's cool I guess. You can read all about that org at the Moonlight Ramble website, and here's an article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about the ride.

Anyway, before we left I showed Mimi my newly (sort-of) decorated office (which is all mine! supposedly a name plate's on the way too!):

here's my at my desk; and over on my 2-seater couch (!), you can see my giant phd diploma sitting there . . .

so after enjoying Emily's grandparents' company Friday night, we spent Saturday with Todd & Brandy, who showed us Todd's apartment, took us to Broken Flowers (A+) and some tasty Greek food; then it was on to the bike ride


Todd shows us what's in his fridge


Todd's been working on this (surprisingly heavy) ball of rubber-bands for quite some time . . .


Mimi waits as our group gets their bikes ready (that's Todd re-inflating a tire)


one last smoke before the ride


getting ready to go, 12:05 am


Brandy and Todd, 1:27am


Yancy & Mimi, 2:31am, only about 4 miles to go!


beautiful scenery in downtown St. Louis


and a smoke to finish it all off, 2:56am--though I should mention that we probably didn't start until after 12:30, so it really wasn't 3 hours of riding . . .


& when we finished, they gave us beer!


our whole group, many of whose names I--being a bit scattered at 3am--have forgotten


the next day, we enjoyed talking with Emily's grandparents, Thelma and Larry Hughes, a couple of great people (and they gave us tomatoes from their garden!)

Dave & Diana II

well, though we worked pretty hard having fun on Saturday, we all (well, except Dave, I guess, who went running instead) found the strength for lunch at the India Palace on Sunday (now featuring Chicken Tikka Masala!); then Diana mustered up the will power to do a little more shopping, followed by a muddy round of frisbee golf ('at least we finished' would be my evaluation--though it was a beautiful day to be out walking around) . . . and then it was one final pitcher of margaritas (oh, and some food too)

Diana, um, savors her last margarita of the weekend, at La Parrilla


Mimi brings us closer to completing the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle . . . though we'll have to wait until next Sunday to see if 'complete' is the same as 'complete correctly' . . .


Deron, Emily, Diana, and Dave at the end of a long, beautiful weekend spent, really, at the replay


Yancy, Emily, Diana, Dave

until next we meet

Dave & Diana

Dave & Diana finally came back for a visit!

after a hasty but delicious table full of curries at zen zero, we spent a rainy Friday night catching up over cocktails (the "horsefeather" being the hit of the night (though I, it should be said, stuck to beer))


Dave & Diana enjoying the Bourgeois Pig


Diana likes them in tight pants


mmm


the lovely Deron Lee and the lovely Haley Harrison


Yancy & Emily

Saturday was mostly spent window-shopping and rain-dodging, though we did find time for margaritas at the jackpot saloon . . . then it was another rainy evening in downtown Lawrence


well, we stopped in the jayhawker after dinner at the free state & coffee at the prima tazza, but the scene was as pictured above, so we opted for the tap room instead


Deron, Dave, Diana, and Mimi at the tap room


Deron & Dave, low-lit


if only we'd had the fun of the girl behind Diana'a neck


and here's a close-up

but once the rain died down to a drizzle, we had to go to

the replay, where, on the inside, the blacklight makes normal things look funny . . .


look at Dave's shiny new shoes!


now that's a skirt!


Dave & Yancy


ah, Dave

reunion photos; Magen, Dave, & Braxton; etc

well, some of the more camera-ready kids at the reunion posted a few pictures online, and so I think I'll put a few of them up here . . .
first of all, though: for anyone interested (& who wouldn't be?) in that cool cat Braxton Iwanski, his equally cool mom, Magen, has started a blog with some pictures of Braxton & the rest of the Iwanski-in-Arizona family. To take a look (& you should, if for no other reason than the picture of Braxton at the beach!), just click on any mention of the name Braxton in this post or on the links list to the left. Enjoy! & Well done, Magen--it looks great!

maybe one small promo for Braxton: here are some pictures Alissa took when we were in Santa Fe this past June:

here's Magen, Braxton, Emily, & me at Alissa's


that cool cat, Braxton


Yancy & the lovely Alissa

okay, onto some pictures of the reunion:
[they're small, yes, and there should probably be less of me & more of other people, but whatever . . . ]

Emily & Yancy at the barbecue out in East Helena


a title's not really needed for this, is it?


here's the excellent Anne-Marie, with her husband, Don--one of the highlights of the weekend was seeing Anne-Marie again & meeting her husband . . .


Yancy w/Therese, who rocks


towards the end of the night: Emily Greene (who did a great job getting the whole reunion thing to happen!) with Therese


and this is the group (the 6 out of over 100) that made it to the top of Mt. Helena the next morning: Suzy Lloyd, Therese Tucker, Brett Schneider, Emily, Greg Wetzel, and me

(finally) back at home in Kansas

well, we just got into Lawrence this afternoon, after one hell of a reunion weekend in MT . . . it was a great time, but before I go into that, a few things: a) sorry if my tease about posting from Helena made anyone waste too much time checking this page—although there was abundant free wireless internet there (what a century—even in Helena!), we were so busy running around and/or having such a good time that all I did online was check the Times once a day to make sure nothing too important happened out in the world; b) on a related note: we failed to take the number of pictures I'd hoped we would, so what follows below doesn't really tell much of the story, though I'll try to "paint" some "word pictures" . . . some friends we saw there were better with their cameras, so hopefully they'll send some pics to me, which I'll post as soon as possible; and c) after leaving late from Great Falls (for undisclosed reasons), we missed our connecting flight and so were treated (that word may be a bit misleading) to a stay in the Salt Lake City Comfort Inn, with only our carry-on bags (fortunately, the rest of the bags were patiently awaiting us in Kansas City), so the final hours of the trip (or days, should I say?) left Emily & me tired & a bit frazzled . . . which is to say I can't guarantee well thought-out coherence in what follows . . .

that said

we really did have a great time this weekend, though we were a bit unnerved when the aircraft for our connecting flight to MT was so small that the usual boarding ramp was replaced by roll-away stairs, pictured below, with Emily boarding the plane:


once we landed, we took the rental car that my sister Marisa was nice enough to arrange for us down to Helena from Great Falls, a beautiful drive:

here's me at a scenic overlook off the highway between Great Falls & Helena, though the scenery we didn't photograph is even better, if you can believe that . . .

we got in, chatted with Marisa for a few minutes, had a delicious meal at the staggering ox, a great local restaurant, and then met up with about 15 people that I hadn't seen since high school for a tour of the recently renovated school (I could locate only one classroom I was sure I was in, but no lockers--I did, though, find what I'm pretty sure was the edition of the Brothers Karamazov that the librarian recommended (a terrific book))

here's a shot of the outside of the building's new science wing (the classrooms looked cool, but the doors were locked):


and here's this:

here I'm about to light a cigarette in about the same spot I was seen smoking by the vice principal so many years ago (reaction? Saturday school—though this time I got away with it)

one thing unchanged: you just can't leave bikes around high schools for too long:


that evening, we met up with 50 or more of my former class mates—of course, things being what they are, Emily & I only talked to my sister Marisa and her husband Ryan, Emily Greene (who put the reunion together), and a handful of others (one of whom reminded me of just how terrible we were in sophomore year geometry, but the past's the past, I guess . . . anyway, I finally called my friend Chet, as it seemed fitting to avoid my classmates in favor of older kids, just like back in the day . . . as we spent the evening moving from bar to bar in downtown Helena, it got a little easier to chat with some fellow 95'ers, but (especially as Emily & I had to get up at 3:30am to make our flight), we were glad to head out to Marisa & Ryan's awesome mountain abode.

here's a shot of the drive up there (it's like, I don't know 15 or 20 miles up there, mostly on crazy dirt roads . . . but quite scenic)

the next day, there was a barbeque in the afternoon (we slept until noon, so I have to start there), & Marisa & Ryan's new dog scooter was a big hit with all the kids (so many kids!):


their daughter Maraya, by the way, is adorable, and if I can find a picture of her somewhere I'll put it up here . . .

later, Ryan took us (along with Chet) up to folf out at the Scratch Gravel course north of town--I must of played there a hundred times in high school, though you'd never know it watching me last Saturday; but it was great fun--Ryan's a supercool guy, and it was a beautiful day (hot, yes, but not humid like the midwest at least)

so that afternoon, with the help of Emily Greene, we tracked down Mike Campbell, a friend I hadn't seen for at least 2 years; he looked great, & we had great fun seeing him.

here's shot of me w/Mike, on the deck of the house he's renting

then it was on to the big reunion open-bar party at the hotel that, yes, used to be the Black Angus . . . a nice room, free drinks, my friend Anne-Marie was there with her husband, they gave prizes for 1)most kids (5!), 2) longest trip to get back (from Germany), and 3) highest level of education achieved (that's me) . . . and then we (or, I should say, a small number of us) danced:

that's Therese Tucker on the right (unfortunately I forgot to photograph her face—but she's way cool, and was a lot of fun to talk to (she even recognized the design on my Ozomatli shirt!))

we saw a few more friends (Aaron & Mandy, who just built a house way out of town), stayed out until four, but managed to make it to the 10am hike up Mt. Helena (out of the 100+ alumni, six of us made it to the hike . . .) it was fun (a little tougher than I remembered) . . . Therese got the best pic, but hopefully I'll have a copy to share soon; here's a view from 1/2 way up, though:


after that, the reunion was officially over, and we drove all around town with some friends, and way out to see Aaron & Mandy's house, then met all of the family that was anywhere near the area (so like 14 of us were there—the best part was Ryan's explanation of his 2nd beer: "it's necessary")

here's Gina's daughter Eponine with Maraya

and here's my brother Aaron, with his wife Misti and their daughter Kayce (I'm shakey on spelling, but hopefully that's close)

well, after dinner we saw Mike & Chet (& Chet's younger sister, who is now unbelievably 25 . . .) for one last drink, then slept a bit & started trying to come home . . .

so this is the little bag of hygene products Delta gave us

and here I am in the hotel room in Utah . . .

all in all a great—if hectic—visit; glad we went, and glad to be home