Stovetop

Some things I have on the front burner today:

1. Beijing: With the opening ceremony a little over a week away, the media is squeezing out different angles on this...from national policies like drastic measures to contain the pollution to the cultural overspill, everything is soaked in this algae tainted water. And I'm sopping it up!

• Beijing in Flushing
• lady artists

2. Bacon: Lately, I'm been compelled by the power of pork. I'm seeking out ham sandwiches, BLT's, pork milanese at Shorty's.32, Kimchee chigae. Um, why?! Maybe to help detract my attention away from bacon and give other foods a chance, I'm going to look into other things, like fancy restaurants that I can't afford...but reading a review on Scarpetta is justifying this current obsession with pork! Chef David Chang is with me on this (his pork wraps are also so good). I think I just gained 10 pounds from this post. Who cares though...bacon, good.

3. Justice Department: More alarming than clogged arteries: the clogging of the justice system with politically motivated hiring practices in the justice department. the latest take on that story here.

4. Vladimir Mayakovsky: Night wraps the sky, a book on him and his work. a sound clip of that poem here.

5. The Superclass: My ideology tells me to hate elitists, the superclass. When I'm making bulk dinners to have leftovers to take to lunch or feeling overlooked and ignored, i can't help but feel seduced by the possibilities this superclass world has access to. Fortunately, as I dig deeper into the complexities of the global economics, I'm brought back to my original stance; however, not so much a hatred, but--to risk sounding like a bleeding heart liberal--a stronger adherence to a the notion that metrics for progress is not measured by economic gains. And then sometimes, I feel compelled to travel and see the places I'm reading about while sailing less chartered waters with a small and modest crew (my neurosis tells me to include in my fantasy that they are super competent) while I'm sipping champagne.

Anyway, to add to my long list of books on this topic: Superclass

Then the stuff on the back burners...

6. People of interest:

Roger Ailes,


Abraham Lincoln (an eloquent and progressive hero but also an intriguing character, who was melancholy and conflicted).

"There are no accidents in my philosophy. Every effect must have its cause. The past is the cause of the present, and the present will be the cause of the future. All these are links in the endless chain stretching from the finite to the infinite."
--Abraham Lincoln Herndon's Life of Lincoln by William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik (New York, Da Capo Press, 1983), p. 354.


Louise Bourgeois: The Guggenheim has an exhibit going. There was also a documentary, The Spider, The Mistress, The Tangerine, which was pretty good.

"Everywhere in the modern world there is neglect, the need to be recognized, which is not satisfied. Art is a way of recognizing oneself, which is why it will always be modern."




7. I need to gear up for winter...does anyone have good recommendations for sturdy, waterproof boots, like Frye? Plain ones, I'm going for minimal chic.