austin texas

this is an extremely picture-heavy post. more specifically, it's a very food-and-beth-picture-heavy post.

my dearest roomie, beth cozz is going to grad school in austin, texas. i went down to scope it out with her because i am in love with austin and the food trucks and going on adventures and the aforementioned roomie, b. cozz. we hit up a sociology mixer (free fajitas! free beer! free awkward small talk with academics!), walked around UT Austin's ridiculously beautiful/huge campus (they have a turtle pond!), ignored the conventional three-meals-a-day rule in favor of eat-whatever-looks-good-whenever plan, hit up all the antique-y vintage-y goodness on south congress, watched the bats fly out of the bridge two nights in a room, drank beers like grown ups, walked until our feet threatened to fall off, split a gourdough's donut, ate fried avocado, venison hot dogs with goat cheese, roast beef with pineapple, and a million other things i still dream about, went to a really cool toy store, listened to live music, talked about how much we love austin, how much we love philly, how much we love our people, and made plans to start a jack johnson cover band (one person sings, forty people sit behind him and eat banana pancakes, everyone wears a straw fedora.)

austin is a terrific city. everyone seems to be walking around with a beer in one hand and a baby in the other. i'm so excited to see what the cozz does next and how she tears up the town.

anthony's pisano's home

i recently went to new york to interview anthony pisano for an upcoming fourteenth street article. we found out about him through the beautiful, ever-useful internet machine. his railroad style apartment is in a really busy area of the east village but he keeps his door wide open for anyone who may want to stop in and look around. the front room is stacked up with antiques - old drums, movie cameras, a fish tank, framed pictures, ornate mirrors - it's literally from the floor to the ceiling. all stuff. i had a few flashes of my future home while in there.

if you keep moving back into the space, you pass through his equally crowded office, then a very narrow bedroom, then his living room/dining room/kitchen. he has a HUGE grand piano in the middle of it all, where his cat likes to rest, and tons of crazy kitchen gear. (he used to be a butcher and still likes to cut up his own meat.)

i talked to him for two hours and he was amazing. i almost cried twice. (see post below for further examples of this new epidemic.) he's incredibly open and loving and told a million good stories. when the article comes out, i'll point you in that direction. in the mean time, here's my favorite quote from the interview:

(when asked what draws him to collecting things)
"A lot of people don’t realize but this is all man-made. And when you think about it, my god. We’re so creative in doing all this. And these are hands of many, many people that made them, you know? Machines of course too. But the ideas and all. I mean, I have so many friends here in a way.”

on jenga and crying

if you're in philly for happy hour, you best be trucking down to frankford hall. half a liter of german beer and a warm, bavarian soft pretzel with mustard that will make your eyes water for just $6. plus, an open courtyard, fire pit, smores making kits, killer burgers, ping pong, and jenga. set your alarm for 5pm tomorrow and go there. last time i went, i played THE LONGEST game of jenga ever. the last twenty minutes, everyone held their breath. whenever it was anyone's turn, they would begin with an apology speech, certain that their move would be the final move. our faces would all contort in anticipation of the pain and we would close our eyes only to find that another piece had successfully been removed. it was insane. total jenga high.

back to that watering eyes thing though - dudes. let me tell you - i have been nonstop water works recently. me, the iron lady, the tin woman if you will, who kept crying reserved as a once a year thing not because i didn't want to but because i never felt compelled to - i seem to have developed some sort of faucet in the corner of each of my eyes. everything sets me off - good news, seeing large crowds of people enjoying something, interactions with the elderly, a singing card from my mom, this video. everything.

the good part of this is it's all sentimental crying - no sad or angry tears. i cry the most when i (and bear with me on this one - it's going to get pretty sappy. i might even start crying as i write it and fry my computer and then you'll never have to endure the sappiness - we'll see how it plays out) think about the connectivity of humans and their capacity to love and be loved. looking at a fellow improviser and thinking about how much his mother must love him or the idea of her holding him as a child or the idea of him someday feeling the same love for someone else and that acting as an extension of his mother's love - it starts the tearing process. watching my mom's friends tap dance on stage and realizing how much they sacrifice to be mothers and how worthy they are of love gets me all blubbery. looking at a family of 10 in church on easter sunday and thinking about how the oldest was once the size of the youngest and wondering if they'll call each other when they're older has me doing that goofy happy/crying face (the one where you want to smile but you're frowning because you're about to happy cry?) even thinking about the love i've been so lucky to experience in my life and how i will turn the love that i have received into love i can give away, and in that way, will allow those close to me to remain always close regardless of physical or temporal limitations - that sends a few steady elephant tears rolling down my cheek.

i used to pride myself on not crying frequently. but i enjoy it so much now - crying has become my body's way to physically communicate emotions too large to mentally process. as of recent, i think i'm feeling more - i've become more sensitive to the world around me, particularly the people in it. this feels like my real rite of passage into womanhood. not menstruation or moving out on my own - but feeling this immense love for the very personhood of others. seeing everyone as a child and an opportunity for compassion. wanting to exchange comforting looks with everyone to let them know you recognize your shared human experience. i feel like that's the most important aspect of womanhood and something i've finally achieved. i've realized my capacity to love. not fully, but in a much larger sense than before.

or it could be because i'm a pisces. that might be a shorter explanation.

oh hey there

did you think i forgot about you? because i didn't. i have oodles of pictures (mostly of food) and stories (mostly about food) to share with you bloggy-boo. i'm just trying to do this whole 'college' thing right now so the timing doesn't always work out. but i swear - i got stories for you and posts on the way.

i graduate in less than a month and i'm trying to really soak up all the academia i can get. and by academia, i mean socializing. a lot of my nearest and dearest t.u. homies will be moving away and i want to see their glorious faces as much as possible. i want to sit on the beach and watch the stupid hula hoopers and acoustic guitar players. i want to grab beers after class and fail miserably at quizzo while surrounding by people i love. i want to procrastinate on a paper by going to dollar taco night and watching mrs. doubtfire. BIG PLANS OVER HERE. and i know i can do this all after i graduate. but it's not totally the same thing. i want to take advantage of this period of my life and i've only got a month to do it. so come over. bring your favorite robin williams movie.

ps - isn't that the stupidest hat you've ever seen? what dummy designed it? how did they manage to graduate from hat design college?

spent president's day weekend in pittsburgh with the family. my cousin's humongous (90 people!) wedding shower was the central event, but the whole weekend had a celebratory vibe. we ate lasagna and played with our little serious man baby at aunt teresa lynn's house on friday, then finished out the night with some surprise birthday brownies. saturday was the actual shower, and i had a chance to catch up with my hilarious great aunts (they're pretty rowdy and have amazing irish accents). afterwards, we went back to my aunt mag's house and celebrated aunt dee's birthday with 56 miniature gourmet donuts from peace, love, and little donuts. then we hit the town, hung out with more family, met up with high school buddy baby eric, and ended the night demanding chik-fil-a and settling for mcdonald's nuggets. my family has some amazing people in it and i'm especially fond of sitting around with my aunts, listening to stories. they're all exceptionally good story-tellers and i love seeing the bond my mom has with her sisters. this was just another wonderful weekend with the dear company of my steel city family.

temple smash is a student run, live studio sketch show at Temple University. I've spent the majority of my college career working on this wonderful, collaborative show. twice a semester, 60+ students get together, give up all their free time (and some of their money), to produce the show. it gives students hands-on experience with studio lighting, camera work, technical direction, audio equipment, directing for camera, acting for cameras, and working as a group to create something. it has contributed enormously to my growth as a student at temple, helping to shape my career aspirations, friendships, and personal attitudes.

recently the university denied temple smash studio space, thereby ending the live studio element that has come to characterize smash. help to keep this amazing production alive, by signing this online petition. it takes so little time, but would mean a lot to students at temple. specifically, this temple student.

falling in love with my hometown again

winter break was wonderful and 100% exactly what i needed. having three weeks off to hang out with my friends and family in the 717 was ideal. maybe because it was our last winter break of college, but a lot of my friends were around this break and not working jobs. which translated into a lot of hanging out. we went bowling at the alley by our old high school, hit up new coffee shops, utilized our new legality to go to bars and breweries, played a lot of just dance, went to the farm show (classic), and ate a ridiculous amount of good food. it felt really good to be around that group of people - people i grew up with, who understand all the same references, and who operate in the same frame of mind. it was also interesting to experience my hometown as an adult, with a bunch of old friends who are now adults as well. harrisburg is definitely not the most exciting city, but it's always good to me.