Sumit’s Seattle Scribblings

Many of  my local friends will recognize this, or at least have heard me yakking about it incessantly :)  This is my halloween costume, and it’s taken me all week to make it…  you can click on the image for a larger version.   So what am I?  My most common answer was a wild thing from "Where the Wild Things Are."  I also liked saying I was an undomesticated teddy bear - before they file the horns off to make me safe and acceptable for the children of the bourgeois.  I’d originally planned to be a rabbit and then a monkey, but I’m too skinny to be a good rabbit, and I didn’t want to ruin this lovely jumpsuit with a long annoying tail.   I can also carry around a string of leaves and call myself a tree!  So versatile…

It’s a one-piece furry jumpsuit that I made from a new material I found at Jo-Ann (at crossroads, surprisingly, the best fabric store in the area).  Unlike most fake fur, this stuff is incredibly soft on the outside (it feels like a super-soft teddy bear), but very smooth and comfortable on the inside.  Typical fake fur is horribly rough on the inside, so you end up having to make a lining - which would have been a huge pain for a suit of this size/complexity.   Unfortunately, while comfortable, the inside is also super-slippery, which makes sewing with it an incredible pain.  Of course, as with other fur, the long strandy hairs keep getting caught in the machine as well, which made the making of something less than a joy.

As for how it’s put together, the body is a narrow tube construction with pockets added in later.  Since pants are generally a V-construction and I wanted to save material (this stuff is expensive), this made the crotch area something of a bunchy mess.  Thus I made a little flap panel from back to front (an H-cut) to fit that area and then closed the leg tubes.  This left a small gap in each inner thigh, which I was initially going to cover up with more fur, but the suit is so warm I left them in for ventilation.   The top is fitted with three velcro closures, which worked very well for this material.  The arms are separated tubes.   There are also pockets, which are from a different material.  By mistake, the right pocket ended up around the knee, which I was initally really unhappy about it, but it turned out to be super-convenient - when I’m driving, it’s really difficult to access ordinary pockets, since the seat belt is strapped over them, but the knee pocket works perfectly

I’ve worn this to parties the last two nights, and may actually wear it to work on monday (Halloween).  I realized that I’m teaching that day - but maybe that’s all the more reason to wear it!  If you think I should/shouldn’t, drop me a comment, perhaps you’ll motivate me…

This is the new album from Death Cab for Cutie.  I’ve been meaning to write about it for a while but right now just seems particularly appropriate.  It’s beautiful and haunting, in many ways similar to Transatlanticism (chord patterns, instrumentation) but in many ways different (themes, lyrics).   This represents the band’s first work under a major label - they’ve signed recently with Atlantic and were for many years with Barsuk, a local Seattle label.   For those of you who don’t know, Death Cab is in fact a Seattle band.  In fact, their lead singer is also the voice of The Postal Service, who was with (also) local label Sub-Pop, whose offices used to be just a block from my apartment. 

But back to the album.  I was most touched by the brave themes of some of the ballads - "What Sara Said," about being with someone through an extended illness and watching them die, "Brothers," about how love may fade as we get older, "Someday," trying to console a lover that has been left behind.  But tonight I’m thinking of the very first track, "Marching Bands of Manhattan," and in particular the refrain, which starts half-way through the songs and repeats about twelve times, which sounds as though it would be ridiculous and repetitive but is in fact very powerful - at least to me:

"Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole
Just like a faucet with a leak but there is comfort in the sound
And while you debate half empty and half full
It’s rising up; your love is going to drown."

You can preview the album at http://music.msn.com/album/?album=44208826 .  May it mean as much to you as it has to me. 

Wow, I came across something today that really surprised me with its unexpected beauty.  I’m pretty particular about my musical tastes, and when someone start with a techy-twerpy concept and tries to build from there, I’m generally not too generous with my praise.  But this guy, Jim Owen, sent this out to a musicians’ list at work.  He called it a "duet for piano and windows."  This was enough to make me click on the link and gave it a listen - and I was floored.  It starts off in such a geeky place, but then is so thoughtful and contemplative, then spry and full of energy, then… well, I’ll let you listen for yourself:  http://www.songfight.org/music/welcome_to/jimofseattle_wt.mp3 

If you like it, vote for his song!  It’s on a competition site, http://www.songfight.org , and I haven’t heard all of the other pieces but I think his is really the best up there.  Wow.

Recently it’s been bugging me that I say "guys" to refer to a mixed-gender group of people.  It’s a small thing, perhaps, but little things like this make a difference, and add up to big biases (consider the "boy and his father get in an accident" story - since you probably don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll blog about soon).   I remember when I was about ten years old watching "Star Trek: The New Generation," and laughing that they had changed "where no man has gone before" to "where no one has gone before."  My mom tried to explain why these little things were important, and when I told her I thought it was silly, she actually cried (one of the very few times I’ve seen her cry) and said that if I couldn’t see the small things, there was no hope of my really understanding what equality meant.  It broke my heart to see her cry, and it really made me think.  Since then I’ve had similar revelations, usually originally pointed out by friends - such as referring to women as women and not "girls" ("girl" is not at all the same as "guy"; "girl" maps to "boy," whereas "guy" is age-independent - no such term exists for women). 

As for referring to groups, a friend of mine says "folks" (it was his saying this that really made me start thinking about this) but I find this too "folksy;" "you people" sounds too Ross-Perot-sticking-his-foot-in-his-mouth; "ya’ll" sounds too Southern.   Can anyone think of a good one? 

I was coming home across the 520 bridge around 12:30am (still working on a paper) and heard this interview on NPR with this 82 year-old woman in the Philippines who is singlehandedly revolutionized the book sales industry there, and has gone to great lengths to get textbooks into the hands of children all over her country.  She’s even gone so far as to broker deals with Western publishing houses to let her reprint texts for a small royalty fee.  When the interviewer asked her, as politely as he could, whether the fact that she now essentially has a monopoly on book sales in the Phillipines has made her complacent, she reacted with genuine surprise: "Why no!  Every day is a learning experience, there is so much to learn, and so many more books coming out every day."  Wow.  She wasn’t even thinking about competition or business, she just wanted to get the books to the people.  "What if I wanted to open up a bookstore?  I’d have no chance against you, right?"  the interviewer asked.  "No, no!  I’d sell you the books wholesale, so you could open up your own store and sell them at the same price as me!"  I got teary-eyed just listening to her.  What an amazing woman.  I wish I could just listen to her tell modest stories and talk about the world, all the while recognizing that she is one of the most impressive entrepreneurs of our time.

So why is the title about my Mom?  Well, my mom is this kind of person.  She has that special brand of goodness in which one gives without even thinking of it as a gift.   She changes the world every day with her hope and her optimism, her sincere desire to help people.  I’ve found myself getting frustrated sometimes in the face of her eternal optimism, telling myself she’s naive, but when I think about it I realize my frustration is with myself at not having the pure trusting and giving spirit that she has.  She doesn’t try to see the good in everything; she does see the good in everything.   That’s why she’s my amazing mom, and I hope I can learn to be more like her.

For some reason, unlike last year’s tsunami and this year’s North American hurricanes, the earthquake in South Asia is getting very little publicity.  The sad fact is that they are far, far, far behind of what they need in terms of international aid.   I know it’s been an expensive year with the tsunami and Katrina, but please, if you can, try to give something (and try to get your company/organization to match your funds).

Here’s a document detailing what is still needed in terms of aid:

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KKEE-6HDM3S?OpenDocument

And if you’d like to contribute while experiencing some great food and culture, check out Tasveer’s events for the next week: http://www.tasveer.org/  Tasveer is a group organized around independent south asian films, and this weekend they’re doing a benefit dinner where they’ll be screening a bunch of shorts.   I’m not sure if I’ll be able to go due to a paper deadline, but let me know if you’re thinking about it and I might be inspired to work hard and finish early

I just heard about this from a friend - there’s a group called the World Affairs Council based in Seattle that is all about raising awareness and having discussions about global issues.  It seems like a great organization with an important purpose, as well as a deeply caring and interesting group of people that I’d love to spend more time with.  More information is available at http://www.world-affairs.org/home.html

Once in a while I run across a site that’s trying to increase the going-out energy of this oft-sleepy town, and I greatly appreciate the effort.  Here’s one I just came across today that has an eclectic mix of interesting links, from raves to poetry readings: http://www.exploitseattle.net

Other favorites of mine have been

• http://www.nwtekno.org which covers dance-oriented events (big surprise)
• http://www.bookstore.washington.edu/ , the UW bookstore site, which often has interesting readings posted
• http://www.elliottbaybook.com/ , which also has a lot of local readings and events

Are there other good ones I should add to the list?  Please let me know!

Well everybody is pretty worried about Bird Flu, or H5N1 as the l33t kids call it, and we probably should be.  A 50% mortality rate, no vaccines, and all kinds of other fun facts make the outlook less than pleasant.  But we have to keep our chins up, now, don’t we?  So I’ve decided to make a little FAQ to help people with their Bird Flu questions:

.

1.  I’m not a bird.  Should I worry?

Yes, even humans can get the bird flu.   That’s the irony of it. 

.

2.  I don’t have sex with birds.  Should I worry?

Yes.  Bird flu is not an STD. 

.

3.  I do have sex with birds.  Should I worry?

Yes.  For all kinds of reasons.

.

4.  What’s wrong with turning into a bird?  Big bird is pretty cool.

Bird flu does not turn you into a bird.  It turns you into a corpse.  Not cool.

.

5.  Will I be able to fly once I get bird flu?

No.

.

6.  Doesn’t John Stewart have something funny and lighthearted to say about this?

Yes, but even his take is kind of depressing.  It’s linked from boingboing at http://www.boingboing.net/2005/10/17/daily_show_on_bird_f.html

The BBC will soon be distributing p2p software to allow UK residents to watch broadcast shows within a week of broadcast.  It seems they’ve done a careful job with the DRM/etc. to keep all the content providers happy.  I just wish there was a way to run the client here to watch the broadcasts locally!

I’ve long wished that NPR would have something similar.  Currently, there’s a hodgepodge of podcasts, RealAudio, WMV, and other streams for each program/show on an individual basis.   Having one place where you can get all the material makes it worth paying for (though note the BBC one is free)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/imp/

(Note: I heard about this to gizmodo, so props go out to the gadget people)