October 2003 Archives

I find language fascinating. Probably because I read (or at least used to) a lot of books and because I had the opportunity to grow up and think in three different languages. I find often that thinking about something in a particular language changes your perception of it--often simply due to the fact that a language may have a unique word that describes a concept that doesn't exist in another language. That's why we borrow such words and expressions, whether it's Shadenfreude or je ne sais quois.

The interesting thing is that you don't have to go between different languages to experience the same thing. Political speech often uses synonyms to convey a particular intonation. So we have "good" freedom fighters and "bad" insurgents. We have dedicated civil servants and obstinate bureaucrats. The words are interchangeable in their meaning, but not in how we (have been trained to) perceive them.

In an interview on how conservatives use language to dominate politics, UC Berkeley's George Lakoff talks about "framing" a topic. If you manage to set up a good conceptual framework for a topic, your opponent is pretty much powerless in discussing this topic within the framework. Lakoff's point is that the progressive side doesn't set up good frameworks and lets itself be forced to work within the conservative framework. He feels that they should frame topics in their own frameworks and gives a couple of good examples of what he's talking about.

I have noticed the use of synonyms before but have never really paid attention to the framework issue. I have only noticed it in the debate over abortion where one side talks in terms of a "women's right to choose" and the other side talks in terms of "saving unborn life". You notice that the sides never talk in terms of the opposite framework. This makes perfect sense, you don't want to be espousing your views as someone who want to "take away women's rights" or "kill innocent babies". It also limits the discussion to a certain extent (although really, it's difficult to see a middle ground in this debate).

I plan to pay more attention to this. Oh and I've added Lakoff's book Moral Politics : How Liberals and Conservatives Think to my wishlist...

After lots of planning and preparation, we had another successful pumpkin carving event. We had more than thirty people crammed in the house, half of which were small kids. At times I didn't know where to step without tripping over or stomping on a rug rat crawling around. It's great to have a new crop of toddlers every year, but it's really cool to see the older kids getting into it. Henry was really focused on what Tim was doing to his pumpkin.

Since we had just bought new furniture, Jfer decided that we should move the messiest part--gutting of the gourds--into the garage. She borrowed a couple of tables from work and I set up a saw-horse table and with my work light and the cool weather, the garage turned into the perfect workshop. Most of the carving was done in the living room, which is actually a big place when you move the furniture against the wall.

As usual, we had a ton of food, both prepared by us as well as contributed by the guests. Jfer made a delicious Camarão na Moranga--a Brazilian shrimp soup served in baked pumpkins--which turned out to be a hit. I did my usual potato mushroom soup which turned out pretty well, but it's hard to compete with shrimp. I also made three kinds of bread: Grissini (Italian bread sticks) shaped like bones, pretzel breads shaped like pumpkins and Weggli (Swiss rolls) shaped like ghosts. I felt a bit like Martha Stewart but the bones were a big hit with the kids and the pretzels with the adults.

I didn't have all that much time for carving my pumpkin--being the host and having to gut both my as well as Jfer's humongous pumpkins. So my jack-o-lantern as well as the one Jfer made were fairly quickie jobs. I've decided that next year I'll go with a big pumpkin eating a baby pumpkin--think of it as a cannibalistic Madonna and Child.

As usual, I took a ton of pictures. I think the best original pumpkin I like is Luca's Romeo.

I just finished reading Benjamin Franklin biography by Edmund Morgan. The book reads a bit like a fan letter to Franklin, but it sure is fascinating to see the birth of the nation through the life of this man. Even if you filter out the adolation, BF must have been one amazing person. I remembered the basics from school, the Boston Tea Party, Continental Congress writing the Declaration of Independence (the Declaration is hardly mentioned in the book), George Washington being the general, etc. But I didn't really know much about the particulars of the colonists grievances except a vague sense that it was tax related.

The book nicely describes the issues, growing resentment of the colonists and the different grievances against Britain and petty infighting between themselves they had. The Continental Congress comes across quite blundering. And although I knew that the French were in support of the Americans against their arch enemy Britain, I didn't realize how much the revolution was dependent on their financing, and how this money drain contributed to the eventual overthrow of the French King and the French Revolution. How the different personalities (we refer to them as Founding Fathers now) helped--and impeded--the revolution, war, and following peace is quite iluminating. It shows that not much has changed and that the loud nuts often prevail over the wiser, but quiterer, minds.

So I wonder what Franklin, the pacifist and negotiator would think about today's state of affairs. I haven't really written much about my disgust with how Austin is chopped up (link via TheChunk). Not to mention my feeling about the administration's machinations, incompetence and deceit as described by Seymour Hersh in his article Stovepipe in The New Yorker.

I don't think he'd be thrilled to see what's become out of his dreams and hopes. But he probably would not be too surprised, though saddened, to see that the corruption, mediocrity and near-sightedness that he fought against in London is now alive and well at home.

I finally booked our tickets to Switzerland for Christmas. I swear, every time I go through this I develop ulcers. I started looking at prices and consulting with my travel agent cousin in September and it looked pretty decent, flight- and price wise. But then travel plans got changed, and then they got changed again and sure enough, all the short and inexpensive flights are no longer so.

We ended up flying out of Austin as opposed to DFW (we better have a place for Homer here) and the flights aren't too indirect, so I take that as a consolation for the higher price we had to pay. Still, watching the prices on Expedia go up and down (and up, and up, and up) reminded me of the halcyon days of the dot-com stock bubble (and the hollow feeling in my stomach when it burst).

My photography class is over, and I think I'll sign up for some of the "advanced" classes next spring--definitely landscape and maybe natural light portraits. I like the Informal Classes format, it's about the right amount of time I want to invest (the advanced classes have field trips) and the price is right.

I think I got out of the class what I wanted. Most of the information I could have gotten out of an intro book but being in class made me think more about the concepts and got me to try out different things.

We celebrated our one year anniversary on Sunday. It was a quiet weekend without much planned activity, which was a nice change after the last few weeks.

I kept thinking of all the hub-hub that was going on a year ago at this time. Having all the family in town, desperately trying to finish the tasks that still needed to be done for the wedding, etc. And then actually enjoying our rehearsal dinner and the next day's wedding and reception.

The year has passed rather fast and I am happily ensconced in married life. I'm not sure whether I "feel" married, though (if there is such a feeling). After the wedding I did have a definite sense of change-of-state, but now it just feels like we're in the groove, the way it's supposed to be. I never had a "what have I done?!?" type of moment or any feeling of suffocation. I didn't really expect that to be a problem with Jennifer, but I certainly used to wonder whether getting tied for life with a person might bring some of that up.

We went to Fr. Cletus' church on Sunday and experienced another two hour mass (I get the feeling that we actually got off easy on our wedding). The sermon was aptly about marriage, but two hours?!? In the evening we unpacked the (by me) dreaded one-year-old wedding cake top. It turned out quite tasty and not at all stale--although the icing looked tired and the flower decoration a bit limp.

So here's to the next year and to the things it might bring us.

Jfer and her family did the Splash Triathlon at SeaWorld last Sunday. This has actually been my first visit to SeaWorld and despite suffering from allergies (I thought Allegra was supposed to be helping with this?) I had a great time. The reason? The place was virtually deserted!

I like the concept of amusement parks, but I always get quickly tired of waiting for hours in the Texas heat for a ride that's over in less than two minutes. Our trip to SeaWorld was nothing like that. Quickly striding through an empty waiting line past the "90 minutes to go from this point" signs and only waiting for a few minutes, as we did for the Rio Loco ride, is much more fun (and it's great when you avoid being the one who goes through the waterfall, too). It's even more fun when there is no waiting line at all. We did the Great White several times--and simple went from one row of seats to another, without even walking around the ride. The only time we had to wait (for one round) was when we wanted to ride up front!

So this is how an amusement park is to be experienced. With the temperate heat of late September and with hardly any other visitors.

I made it to the race next day a bit late. The directions were misleading and there is a serious lack of signage on San Antonio roads. Still, I was there to cheer Jfer on her (actually my) bike as well as on her run. And I got to cheer the rest of the participants, including Kathleen, Felicia, Michael and Rita.

I had a good time with my new camera. I especially like the very first picture I took (the sun is behind Cat's head). The fast shutter response is great for the sports pictures, but I definitely need a longer lense.