Comments on: On Place

By: Booksquare

Booksquare — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 05:51:10 +0000

Okay, swoon, sigh, you have me! I am expensive and useless. Also totally abysmal when it comes to anything French. I do, however, have an amazing way with Danish pastry.

Don’t undervalue the midlife crisis. It’s a wonderful excuse for all manner of behavior. Old age is the only thing better. You can be rude and get away with it.

That’s meat????

By: Joan Kelly

Joan Kelly — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 08:18:11 +0000

This is not meant as one-up-womanship but as (uncontrollable, and, I undertand, irrelevant) flirting with Booksquare – I took five years of French (8th grad through 12th) plus two more in college. Wait. Maybe it was only one more in college? I loved my French teacher in high school and love Curious George. Not sure why I love saying “I hate the French” now that I’m older. Perhaps it’s a midlife crisis.

Cafe Allegro has the only chicken soup I’ve ever loved. And the worst lunch meat I’ve ever seen in real life.

Cheers,
Joan

By: Booksquare

Booksquare — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 05:04:07 +0000

Even Booksquare has a secret life. And a fondness for irrational behavior (ie, Cafe Allegro). The good news is that Booksquare has left the academic life behind. Homework is surely evil.

As I am an intellectual snob, I often fancied myself an expatriat. Four years of high school French plus two in college cured those delusions. Though I will admit that when communicating with Parisian taxi drivers, I suddenly spoke impeccable Spanish. This skill would have come in handy many times in my life before and since, but it seems to only manifest itself in taxis. Which are not as commonplace as you’d expect in my life.

By: Joan Kelly

Joan Kelly — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 23:31:18 +0000

Not surprised to hear that you didn’t love Paris. Although in fairness must admit to an irrational (as in, based on no personal experience) predisposition towards pooh pooh-ing the French.

Ah, Antioch… When one of my favorite professors, David Tripp, teaches his Imagining the Primitive course again, I supposedly will get to be a guest lecturer, about the inherent horribleness underlying the three movies made about my favorite ape, King Kong. I graduated (BA) last spring and am still not over missing it. We are dying to know what Booksquare is doing there?

By: Booksquare

Booksquare — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 22:35:31 +0000

I can’t help notice that you didn’t bemoan not being able to live in Paris. It was, oddly, surprisingly, one of my least favorite cities in the world. I so wanted it to be my soul-city. Sigh. Tokyo, much better.

PS — Book arrived, Antioch? Let me know the next time you’re at Corp Pointe…we’ll do Cafe Allegro!

By: Joan Kelly

Joan Kelly — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 21:00:42 +0000

Strange. I always think “dogshit everywhere” and “snails for food” when I think of Paris; rich teenagers trying (and failing) to bully me out of a cab when I think of New York; and “hey look, it’s the sun yet again” when I think of Los Angeles.

Signed,
Overly sensitive, and snotty, Angeleno

P.S. I love dogs so much that I don’t actually care where they shit, and I cried for weeks after my first visit to NYC, because I couldn’t afford to move there. But still.