Latin Is a Dead Language

As dead as dead can be.
Latin killed the Romans
And now it's killing me.

-Per student writing on blackboard in Mrs (Cheryl) Meltzer's Latin class, 1976

As I recall, when I was taking Latin in high school, we were a class of five people, most of us in there for esoteric reasons, like the boy who wanted to become a monk and my best friend who went on to become a nun.  And, then, there was the boy who had a crush on the girl who wanted to become a nun and the boy's best friend who was being supportive of him by also taking Latin, but atop that, thought it would be fun.  I thought it would be fun, because it wasn't a required course, so it was out of the mainstream.  Also, I had thought about becoming a linguist, as I was fascinated by the origins and evolution of words and felt that I needed to know Latin.  Of course, I subsequently attended Vassar and forgot all about becoming a linguist, although I still love words and I guess it's never too late to start another career.

I just finished a new book, Bulletproof Mascara, which is being touted as a "spoof" novel. I would admit it is not great writing, but oh, is it fun to read about Thailand and gadgetry disguised as cosmetics and the author, Bethany Maines, gets to stick a few comments in about language, as the 25-year-old heroine is a linguistics major who has yet to find a job in the field she loves.  I also find it interesting that the heroine finds she must continuously tell people her father is Quebecois, but while I'm not an expert, I do believe the French spoken by the Quebecois is not the same as the French spoken in France.  The French have told me how ancient the Quebecois French is, that it evolved differently from France's French.  I think most of us agree that being cut off from the mainstream changes in their native language as well as having the fierce need to keep their language amidst English influence has kept the Quebecois French, if not quaint, then at least not modern.

Here is an item from NPR's All Things Considered that I have been meaning to share, about the change in language in China.  It is very common for Chinese in say, the United States of America or Hong Kong, even, to start speaking "Chinglish," using words from both languages in the same sentence while speaking or taking an English work and changing it phonetically into a Chinese word, like "taxi."  I didn't know there is a real term for "taxi" (= "hired vehicle") in Chinese until I went to Beijing to study.  Hmmn, so maybe it's the doing of those darn Cantonese people, doing the Chinglish thing.  However, the phenomenon of Chinese changing within China and in such a way as "passive subversion" is new to me.  In any case, language changes take root in new, different and uncontrollable ways, like adnascentia (Save a Word!).  I am intrigued to find that there's a "Word of the Year" in mainland China.  According to whom?  Who votes?

Now This is Wisdom

I was perusing the New York Times online and came across a brilliant interview.  I am not sure if what made me feel sympatico (you know, when you say, Yes! Yes! aloud as you read it)  were the questions by Adam Bryant or the responses by Guy Kawasaki.  My continual quest is how to be a good manager, discover and play one's strengths as well as those of your fellows.

In Contemplating Lent, College Basketball and the First Day of Spring

It is snowing right before the first day of Spring here in Dixon.

Yet, the promise is there.

NCAA basketball playoffs are in full swing, already in the 2nd round, with a couple of upsets, although the record of the first seed prevailing against the 16th remains unbroken. 

Additionally, Nichole Miller is coming up to one year of teaching NIA with her white belt at Dixon's Traditional Wellness Center, and will be teaching her latest acquired routine, "Passion," soon.

There are kids and lambs in the barn and we are all contemplating chicks (from McMurray's Hatchery) as well as Hampshire gilts (first-time pregnant sows) and piglets.  Larry has me reading this book from the Englishman Philip Hashieder.  The photos of the pigs are adorable, and the book has me wondering if every English garden also has a little pig grazing in it.

And of course, we are in the Lenten season, working up to Easter.  Brenda has brought in a lot of Easter books, but as the Cardinal preached, we cannot "trivialize" Easter down to bunnies and coloured eggs.  Nevertheless, Spring and rebirth go hand in hand.  And, besides churches, Catholics are really good at sacrifice, which goes hand in hand with Lent.

If you need to know more, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything has been a big seller.
I wonder how many people are buying it as a gift?

And, Chicago Vassar Club will have its Annual Scholarship Benefit on 10 April, which means I will be missing another Second Saturday in Downtown Dixon.

New Orleans continued, or Beignets, Anyone?

We arrived in the City of New Orleans on the train called The City of New Orleans ten minutes early on Friday.

For sleeping, we had not been able to find reasonable accommodations in the quiet part of the French Quarter and thus, happened upon the Henry Howard House on Prytania in the Garden District, which was not far from the train station. A 17-room Bed & Breakfast Inn (more like an inn with no front desk), it is a lovely oasis on a busy street. My only complaint, which works out to be the comment I have for most places, is that part of a luxurious or even good bathroom should include enough places & space for used/wet towels and toiletries. They are accepting reservations for the Jazz (& Heritage) Fest (23 April - 2 May 2010).

After our friends had arrived from Austin on a construction-obstructed I-110, and we had relaxed on the porch of the HHHouse for an hour or so, we went along Canal Street and waited at the stand-up bar in Mandina's for 45 minutes for a table.  It was already after 7:30pm.  It is known for the late-night family atmosphere, the stand-up bar and its Old Fashioneds, a drink I saw a bartender making a dozen at a time for a large party.  I am also told that Mandina's stand-up bar is featured in Elmore Leonard's novel, Bandits, along with the funeral home across the street.

Of course, we had to walk the French Quarter. Our friends pointed out all the apartments where he had lived, and all their favorite haunts -- Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, which used to be a quiet, jazz place (alas, no more -- young'uns with plastic cups spilled out in the street, probably to escape the roar of the music inside such a small place) and Napoleon's. Central Grocery Store, known for creating muffuletta sandwiches, keeps strict 9-5 hours, so we were not able to enjoy them then or for our friends to pick up the olive salad she loves. We stopped by Librairie Book Store at the juncture of the Chartres-Madison Streets "T." It's a used bookstore where one should always find time to do a little browsing. I enjoy going into independent bookstores selling new books, in order to get new ideas and talk with the owners (which we did at the Garden District Book Shop -- 34 years and going strong), but I really like used bookstores for the real finds (and I don't feel too bad about buying a book which I know I can't get from our wholesaler).

On Saturday evening, we went to the Sazerac Lounge in the Roosevelt Hotel.  The Sazerac Lounge created the eponymous drink, made of rye (replacing the later outlawed absinthe made of wormwood), two kinds of bitters and melted sugar cube.  Our friends were game, although they are more connoisseurs of Old Fashioned, and enjoyed the drink, which tastes simultaneously a little bitter and a lot sweet.  The Roosevelt has a long history as the most elegant hotel in the City, and that is reflected in the lobby as well as the understated Lounge atmosphere.  Her parents would have dinner in The Blue Room on special occasions. 

On Sunday a.m., we attended Mass at St Louis Cathedral which is also right there, on Jackson Square in the French Quarter. Despite the rumor that most New Orleanian Catholics go to Mass on Saturday at 4pm, the place was packed. Cathedral, singing by choir and soloist, and organ-playing were all calculated to uplift and they did not fail. Someone who has been having difficulty with the Church, because of its increasingly inflexible and ultra conservative position on some key issues as well as its actions and inactions of late was glad to have agreed to attend. In that regard, I give the Cardinal credit for a rather timelessly neutral sermon about the prodigal son, eternal life and eternal death. We were not threatened with fire and brimstone, or bludgeoned with anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality or anti-anything rhetoric. The agnostic amongst us simply said, "Say what you will about Catholics, but they sure know how to build a church."

Later that night, we went to Muriel's on the corner of Chartres and St Ann's Streets (again, near Jackson Square) and took our drinks up through a special stairway to the corner of its second floor balcony to sit in the dark, gazing out at the river and the street, watching a passing freight train (one of only a few nowadays) and guided ghost tour (more of those daily).


We had late night cafe au lait and hot beignets piled thick with powdered sugar at Cafe du Monde twice, on Friday and Sunday! High HDL cholesterol and glucose intolerance problems be damned! They were to die for (and I probably would if Books on First would serve them up!)!  That's a wonderful welcome and farewell to good times in a great city.

When the Saints Go Marching In

What a beautiful week it has been, weatherwise and otherwise. And, we experienced the most captivating (literally) St Patrick's Day parade ever. In the Garden District of New Orleans on Saturday, it started with a Mass at St Mary's Assumption and then, Micks and Wannabes (I can say that because I'm a "Mick") in morning coats and floats as outrageous as those for Mardi Gras started from Jackson & Magazine and walked in a square down St Charles and back up Magazine to end at Jackson & Magazine, effectively boxing in any car which happened to be within those couple of square miles of blocks for hours.

Brenda had let the cat out of the bag in her e-message to our loyal followers, about our taking the City of New Orleans from Chicago to New Orleans. I don't like to talk about where and when we plan to be away from home until after we have returned and of course, you know that he-who-shall-not-be-named just doesn't like the attention. There is a website which had been tut-tutting the constant updating of one's whereabouts. I agree with the espoused concept that the wrong people can end up knowing where you are and where you are not when you "overshare."

Tony & Beth Fiorini's visit coincided and excitedly, they got in touch. We spent most of Saturday night sending text messages to each other. Rather, Larry's phone kept beeping the "you got mail" beep and he kept handing it over to me to do something. I swear, "texting" is going to ruin language as we know it, simply because it takes too darn long to find letters (let's not talk about capital letters) and punctuation, and to write out, "Music is just so-so here and anyhow, by the time you arrive, the set will be over, so don't come here. Where are you now?" The message gets reduced to "no where r u." I figured, though, that in this case "texting" was the best means of communications, so as not to disturb the music audiences and still be "heard."

Print on Demand

As the existence of printed bound books continues to be controversial (cost of producing including death of trees, cost of transporting, cost of holding, not to mention how last century they are!), the Economist reports on a new gadget.  We have ordered through Ingram's Lightening Print more and more frequently, as it is definitely good for smaller, lower volume publishers.   As a bricks & mortar store, we are open to anything.  Heck, give us a chance to sell e-books, already!

Let us think about this article for a moment:  In a developed world, except for the cutting & binding, why would someone with an internet connection and a printer not want to do the printing off his own inkjet printer?

There also is an item from WSJOnline yesterday on how print magazines are fighting back with an ad campaign with several slogans, like "Surf the Internet, Swim a Magazine." Personally, I kind of think "Take a Bath with a Magazine" would work better, as I know of no one who would risk having a Kindle with him into the tub.

Another sensual point for the printed bound book: a customer who is part of a UK book-swapping site told me he with delight had just received some long out-of-print books from an elderly couple from Great Britain, saying "I just love the musty smell of old books."  So, feel, smell, look, heft,...

On a related note:  One of the products which Books on First is pulling back from are music CDs.   This is yet another area in which physical browsing is a lot of fun: looking at a colorful cover in a CD jewel box, pulling out a CD with an unfamiliar or a very familiar artist's name, turning the jewel box over and reading the title names of the tracks, deciding to splurge on this affordable luxury, taking it home, struggling with the cellophane wrapping, putting it in a player (or even a PC DVD drive), turning up the volume, sitting back, enjoying the art and reading the liner notes while listening to a found artist, maybe even ripping it for the MP3 player while simultaneously sharing the tracks with a roomful of people, drinking wine or peeling potatoes for an awesome New England-style clam chowder recipe,... the entertainment possibilities are endless.  Here's an online browsing you can do.  If you want to own a CD by one of NPR's 50 Great Voices, give us a call or drop us an e-msg; we are always still happy to order one in if it is readily available to us.

Last Call to All Local Writers - Phidian's Contest Closes 15 March

Time is nearing for the close of accepting entries for The Phidian Art Club's 22nd Annual Literary Contest. 

The members work hard to find great judges and are always looking for new and exciting local writers to enter the contest.  Books on First has been tapped for a number of years to sponsor Short Fiction, and does so with enthusiasm.  Winners (first, second and third) receive a small monetary prize presented at a luncheon. The perk for the first prize winning entry has been (and I hope still is) an in-depth analysis/review by the judge on why the piece was clearly above the rest.  I have found that more invaluable than the $$.  In some years, it's so difficult to choose, there are honorable mentions. Let's keep that up!  Entry requirements are available at Books on First and online.

Goodness knows where the Awards Luncheon in May will be held now that Colonial Rose in Grand Detour has closed.  The Phidians might see if Mark Framke will be up and running at the Rock River Country Club by that time.  We just heard he has signed on executive chef position there, but only the 19th Hole will be immediately open.  We look forward to sampling some of Mark's great creative culinary ideas when the dining room opens.  Hey, Mark, a great piece of art for the Club'sdining room would be that wonderful piece of you in the kitchen by your lovely wife Lisa's daughter Sydni Reuben, a fantastic painter (whose website I cannot find, but click here for some work she had done while at Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design).  It would showcase both the chef and the artist. 

Many Hands (and Minds) Lessen the Burden

Tonight is the night to discuss women's reproductive health.  First, I heard on PRI's "The World" (on NPR) about a study in Afghanistan on how birth control would help women who have astronomically high probability of death through pregnancy (1 out of 7, I think I heard) and how mullahs are helping to spread the word.  The Prophet was talking about timing of births being better for healthy babies, but what the he, 2 birds with 1 stone and all that.  Meanwhile, you can help here at home, by viewing this video online, and passing it on if you are inclined.  Women's reproductive rights is not just about abortion.  It's also about the the quality of life for woman and child.  I am not anti-life; I am pro-quality of life for everyone.