another home movie
May 9th, 2007 | Uncategorized
I’m glad I read the comments to the last post through to the end–that was a bracing exchange on the French election, modern European history, and amnesia.
I also loved the range of responses to the first archive episode–the deeply nostalgic ones, and the ones from people who weren’t even born yet.
This evening I made a movie about the progress of the flora in my woods since my last report on April 27. My woods…I know, I know, that’s obnoxious. The woods. Is that better? I don’t know why I keep subjecting you to these slapdash video projects. It helps me decompress or something. From my fast-paced, stressful life in the woods.
Hey, Fun Home won a prize on Monday. The Publishing Triangle-Judy Grahn Nonfiction Award. It’s a pretty cool thing. You can read about the other winners here. Right now I’m reading one of the other nonfiction finalists, Different Daughters, A History of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Rise of the Lesbian Rights Movement. It’s fascinating. How did those women have the nerve to do what they did? In the fifties? I don’t know. But I’m glad they did.
30 Responses to “another home movie”
I bet that little flower thanks you for releasing it from its chokehold. I like your gentle nature home movies, Alison. And “your” woods? It’s your home; it’s only natural for you to hold it close by using the possessive. There’s nothing obnoxious about that at all, it just shows your love.
Speaking of nostalgia, I heard/saw you speak at Mountain Moving Coffee House in Chicago back in the late ’80’s. You signed my jean jacket (acid wash, natch!). Do I still have it? But of course!
And, um, you can link book titles to Women & Children First’s website, too, y’know….if you want…I mean, I’m just sayin’…
I don’t mean to be overbearing about that linking thing, Alison. This of course is your website. But…desperate times, desperate measures…
No, you’re absolutely right, Ginjoint! It’s done. Last time I tried to link through that Booksense interface, there was no way to do it. I’m happy that’s possible now. I might not always link to Women and Children First in the future, but will try to link to other women’s & independent stores. I just got in a rut with Powells because they made it doable before the Booksense people got it together.
Alison, your documenting spring arriving in your woods is a great idea! Aldo Leopold kept track of spring birds and flowers too, and his records have been used to demonstrate climate change in action.
“A phenological study of springtime events was made over a 61-year period at one site in southern Wisconsin. The records over this long period show that several phenological events have been increasing in earliness; we discuss evidence indicating that these changes reflect climate change… From 1936 to 1947, Aldo Leopold maintained records of spring events. After a lapse of 29 years, similar records were kept by Nina Leopold Bradley at the same farm for a subsequent 22 years, from 1976 to 1998, spanning a total of 61 years. The record includes 74 phenophases, focusing especially on arrival dates for migratory birds and dates of first bloom of spring flowers.”
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/96/17/9701
Dear Alison and everyone,
I’m stuck in an airport in the Czech Republic, which blissfully has internet for the price of a cup of orange juice. Somehow, this community feels like a good place to be reaching out to – y’all seem to have experience being stuck in airports.
Anyway, here’s the slightly more relevant aspect – I just finished a semester abroad in Prague, during which I lived in an apartment surrounded by incredibly straight, not particularly queer-friendly folks. It was a tough four months in that regard, but I think at least a couple of my roomates have learned a lot about being allies. I read DTWOF whenever I could get to the internet, and devoured the threads. I loved the feeling of having a portable portal to one of the coolest dyke communities I’ve ever seen, especially since I felt so completely alone and out there in a seemingly dykeless land.
Anyway, thanks for being there. Even when y’all are bickering your heads off about the right to post cake recipes on topical thread.
DykeLove,
~Dane
sorry, dane. that stinks. do you know yet when you’re supposed to be able to leave? if you’re bored and you still have internet connection i suggest you check out this game samorost (www.samorost.net). it’s a cool low-budget animated game that may keep you entertained for a while. and it’s somewhat czech… just an idea…
One thing that I loved about Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold was dykes who were out in the ’50s marvelling about dykes who were out in the ’30s.
Chuckles to the narration. You know your woods pretty well. I’d probably go, “There’s that leaf, and another leaf over there with that twiney thing.” Congrats on the prize, btw.
How long you have to wait for Spring in Vermont!
(Writing from Dutchess County, where the woods are too greened out to see into.)
“My woods” as originally noted – not a criticism, more a bleat of despair that if i want to see more trees than those in a park, I have to drive for an hour. Or, as a good citizen, take the tube (subway) for an hour to Epping.
But I do a round every morning of my estate – 50 pots of plants stacked high, every day there are changes. And I now have 28 tadpoles in my barrel-pond. I know it’s 28 because I moved them there myself. I spring-cleaned the barrel this week and the creatures at the bottom are straight out of Alien.
::doing the Snoopy happy dance::
Alison, I’ve made this same suggestion to some local bloggers as well, but you’re the first person to actually do it. THANK YOU! Totally fair to spread the wealth by alternating bookstore links. I read a quote somewhere from Linda Bubon (one of the co-owners of Women & Kids) which said something along the lines of how independent bookstores are a necessity in a democratic society. Ain’t it the truth?
My next purchase? Different Daughters, baby!
Hi Alison,
I love your movies. I miss the country and the woods so much! I get out of the city once in awhile, or course, but the joy of seeing things change and grow day by day is unmatched. Thanks for the video!!
Wild leeks! (Aka ramps!) I was introduced to them a few years ago and look forward to them every spring as a great treat. (Ate some last night, actually.) My understanding is that they can be sustainably harvested if you don’t take all of the plants in a cluster.
For cooks out there, ramps make a fabu springtime risotto. Use the bulbs and stems at the beginning when you’d usually use shallots; cut the leaves into thin strips (chiffonade) and add them right at the end so they wilt when you’re adding the cream, parmesan, and lemon zest. For me this dish is a springtime ritual. Ramps are also yummy sauteed with morels and other mushrooms. Love ’em.
I’ll throw my hat in with those who love the videos, and those who receive vicarious pleasure from someone who can actually refer to her woods.
Yes, ramps! Just had them two nights ago (I live in neighboring New Hampshire). I’m told by my Loved One, who bought them at the farmer’s market last weekend, that they’re kind of like a cross between a scallion and a leek. She made them with roast chicken and new red potatoes. Soooo good. Apparently they aren’t farmed; they have to be foraged. I’m a city person so all of this is pretty new to me. And while I was out of town last week spring finally arrived.
Alison-
Don’t worry Christopher Robin, “my woods” is completely acceptable as an affectionate term. 🙂 Those little hanging flowers aren’t Lilies of the Valley, BTW- we have them in our backyard, and those ain’t it. Lilies of the Valley have thier own special place in queer history, however- when Richard the Lionhearted was being courted by his boyfriend, he send him an entire horse laden with bushels of them. (I know, he was a really crappy king, but the story is romantic!)
sent him
Congratulations on the award, and thanks for the information about books. The publisher’s web site has literally a one-sentence description of _Different Daughters_, so it’s safe to say I would never have heard of it if you hadn’t mentioned it.
I hope the new book is coming along well, and I look forward to the next non-archive dtwof episode.
Very nice and congrats on the new awards. I like it when you pan to the mountain through the trees. It looks very much like Oregon that way………..the coast range actually. It’s nice you have all that privacy and beauty around you. I’d be out there every day.
About “my woods”. Is there actually as much similarity between that hill behind your woods, and Bald Eagle Mountain, as your video and Fun Home would suggest?
I don ‘t know why you make these little videos either, but I’m so glad you do. I’m sitting in a stuffy, noisy NYC apartment – your video fills me with such longing for the woods, birds, quiet – almost makes me cry (really). Thank you Alison. Maryann
for lily of the valley picture check out:
http://www.vandermeernursery.com/subpages/free/wallpaper/1024/lily-of-the-valley.jpg
I adore your birds-plants-trees-songs videos. You explore the way I like to, slowly and gently. Thank you for giving us these treats. The trillium is breathtaking.
The name “fritillary” popped into my head when I saw that hanging, narrow flower. But I’m a Californian, and know pretty much zip about eastern flowers, especially in deeply wooded areas.
I love your little nature videos, thanks. And congrats on the award. By the way, I made sure to purchase “Fun Home” from an independent bookstore, even though it would have been so much easier to order it online. 🙂
Those unidentified yellow lilies are probably in fact lilies — yellow Bellwort most likely. Uvularia perfoliata. As to ramps, I like to use them as a substitute for garlic on occasion. Alison, thanks again for the forest movies; they’re lovely. And also for the mention of “Different Daughters.” I’ve always wanted to learn more about the Daughters of Bilitis.
I just looked to see if my local public library had “Different Daughters,” and while they don’t have the book Alison is reading, they do have another of the same title, published by Cleis: “Different Daughters: A Book by Mothers of Lesbians,” which I might look at.
I’m glad to support independent booksellers too — we have one here in Bloomington, from which I bought Sara Paretsky’s sorta-memoir “Writing in an Age of Silence,” which I’d learned about from the Women and Children First website when Alison linked to it a month ago. It’s an interesting, frustratingly brief book, with a lot of good stuff on racism in the Midwest.
It recently struck me that “Dykes To Watch Out For” and Korean movie and TV-drama subtitles are the only places I ever see the expletive “Dang!”
Just getting caught up with my blog reading…
It’s so nice actually seeing Spring come into play somewhere. I think we bypassed Spring and went straight into Summer in NYC. So the trees don’t really have leaves yet and the windowboxes still hold last year’s dead flowers.
No, we have no real nature here! Just tons of human nature. I’ve come to terms with that. At least I can live vicariously through someone else!
An interesting article about artists cultivating/wrangling their fans and creative lives online:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/magazine/13audience-t.html
Oops. I allude to this in the next thread, but David has found the link.
Hi Duncan,
I read that Different Daughters years ago…it’s an interesting collection.
I actually bought it for my mom and ended up borrowing it and reading it myself. Can’t remember if she ever read it or not. I don’t think she did…it scared her…she didn’t even open the mailbag when it arrived…just let it sit there on the diningroom table.
Thankfully, we worked things out while she was still around…even though she wasn’t into my attempts to “share” informative literature.
David in Cambridge, thanks for posting the link. gives a pretty good idea of life from Alison’s point of view — I guess. her artistic medium is different, but maybe the fan dynamics aren’t?
I was struck by the generational differences for artists who promote themselves via the Internet. if AB could, say, call upon her 20-something boy self to handle the blog, maybe the 40-something dyke can get on with the other work . . .
yes, Alison, you still look like and adorable and very youthful guy. another twist on the cloning idea here!