Category Archives: life writing

Maps, Photographs, and Other Things Useful to Homeland Security

02 Sunday Sep 2007

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Boston: Day Three

My computer is up and running . . . for the first time, ever, I have high-speed internet access on my own computer, in my own dorm room. I have finally arrived in the 21st century. Whatever Pixies, Nixies, Boggarts or Brownies saw fit to patch up my ethernet allowed their benevolence to run out when it comes to Anna’zOn, since I can’t get the page-editing software to work today. However, other aspects of my multi-media communication arsenal seem to be functioning, so here is what I can offer by way of showing you a bit about my new environs, one weekend in to the adventure.

1) Photos, as so many have requested. I have uploaded pictures of my dorm and its immediate environs to to Picasa, which you can view by clicking on the link below.

North Hall

I also have an album up of photographs from the going-away party my friend Cara hosted last Sunday (good lord, was it only a week ago??) so all my Barnes & Noble buddies could wish me luck.

2) Check out this Google map of Anna’s Boston, which I was created last night. I’ll be adding to it as I enlarge my world (a little each day) . . . for you map freaks out there (and I say this with all kindness because I’m one of them. My room decorations current consist of four maps: NPR stations in the United States, a map of the world, a map of Boston, and a map of the campus), hope you enjoy it!

Today, I’m sticking close to “home” (the dorm doesn’t quite feel homey yet), making headway in the organization of my life–both internal and external–and preparing for Advising/Orientation day on Tuesday, at which (according to the published schedule) we will drink a lot and sign away our lives (academic and financial) on various bits of paper. Tonight, I have a hall meeting at which I will get to meet some of those people whom I live with, whom–so far–I have only met as shuffling bodies headed for the showers in the morning. I’m not up for much socializing at the moment, but they’re all Graduate School of Library and Information Science, or GSLIS Students (pronounced “GISS-liss” with a hard G as in gambol or gabardine), so chances are I will have some of them in classes and every repetition of names and faces helps!

I had my first meal at Bartol Hall, the main dining hall on the residential campus. La-dee-dah! It’s like the most expansive breakfast buffet you’ve ever seen (waffles? pancakes? bagels? oatmeal? cold cereal? egga? bacon? grits? fruit and yogurt? hot chocolate? coffee? fruit juice?). Suddenly, the whole monastic-like system of bachelor dons and bluestocking lady professors living in University quarters and dining in the Senior Common Room makes so much more sense . . . except, of course, for the fact that it’s made possible by a whole regiment or two of waitsstaff who bear an unsettling resemblance to the Scouts in Gaudy Night, except for (thank heavens!) the absence of frilly aprons and caps.

More about people and courses when I meet more of the former and attend more of the latter . . .

For Labor Day, I am going to take the T (subway) to Wonderland and get a look at the ocean!

Boston-Bound

25 Saturday Aug 2007

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I hit the road on Wednesday to make the two-day drive to Boston (overnighting in Buffalo, New York and detouring to Ithaca for lunch at the Moosewood Restaurant). On Friday I get to move into my dorm. I’ve been re-assigned to North Hall on the residential campus, which doesn’t promise as much historical charm (alas), but is closer to campus and still promises a single room–the most important aspect of the entire affair! I promise photographs, etc., as soon as I get my brand-spanking-new PC up and running and fully connected to the world wide web.

Three weeks from today . . .

11 Saturday Aug 2007

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. . . I’ll be moving into my dorm in Boston and trying to orient myself to the new normal of life as a grad student. Orientation (which seems to consist mainly of alcohol and socializing) is on September 4th, and classes start September 5th. I’m having minor freak-outs, but they seem mostly to be due to the fact that my body hasn’t caught of with the fact that I’ve planned and prepared for the transition.

Last week, with the help of Maggie I dyed my hair auburn in honor of Ginny Weasely, who deserved way more presence in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows than she got, and also because messing with my hair is less drastic than getting a tattoo. It was either that or cut it short and dye it purple, which I am tempted to do, but thought perhaps wasn’t the best idea before starting a new job and life as a graduate student!

I’m spending the last few weeks, aside from working up until the 25th, cramming in as much fiction reading and friend-farewelling as I can. My friend Cara is throwing me a big going-away party for everyone at Barnes & Noble, which was sooooo sweet of her, and entirely unexpected. I don’t think I’ve had anyone throw me a party before, aside from my family (who count, but in a different way). When I’m not working, I have a heady schedule of luncheons and coffees and teas and dinners and movie dates to attend to. And packing will happen somewhere in there . . .

I’m equal parts thrilled and terrified . . . wish me luck!

Aww . . . My Very Own Succulent

31 Tuesday Jul 2007

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Joseph visited this past weekend, and we went to the garden store looking for a plant I could take to my dorm and keep alive. Unfortunately, I fell in love with this lovely succulent. Joseph says it needs lots of sun, so I’m praying to whatever deities may be listening for a south-facing window. Meanwhile, since Joseph pointed out it was hermaphroditic, I’ve named it Calliope after the main character in Middlesex.

Work in Boston: Addendum

28 Thursday Jun 2007

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So I actually bought a map of the City of Boston that was large enough for me to mark things on in red marker. So far, I have “school,” “home,” and “work” written in. More will surely follow . . . but that’s a good start.

Work turns out to be sandwiched between the Christian Science Center (left) and the Boston Public Library (below), a direct ride of the T (subway/train system) from both my dorm and the Simmons campus. I really couldn’t ask for a more convenient location.

Cleaning House

21 Monday May 2007

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As the end of May approaches, I’m cleaning out the bedroom in my parents’ house so that my brother–who begins student teaching high school art in the fall–can move in at the end of June. This is just the latest iteration of musical bedrooms that has taken place in our house over the last several years.

Yesterday afternoon, I was looking around at my bedroom walls and wondering what (if any?) artwork I ought to take with me. There’s the ornately framed Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments; vintage postcards from Aberdeen; family photographs; and the beautiful female nude, pictured here, by Henri Matisse that Mom gave me for my 25th birthday (thanks Mom!) whom I have become inordinately fond of in the past year. Unfortunately, it’s hard to imagine how these (and others) will find space on a dorm room wall–let alone how I will hang them. So they may have to go into deep storage for a year or two . . . sigh.

Housing Update!

09 Wednesday May 2007

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I am relieved to report that yesterday, I received my housing assignment: a single room in one of Simmons’ Beacon Street facilities. This means that I will not have to hunt for an apartment in Boston, worry about roommates, or the commute to campus. Hooray!

The move-in day in August 31st, the Friday of Labor Day weekend, which will give me a few days to get oriented before classes start.

Baby Steps

15 Sunday Apr 2007

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Two small bits of news that makes Boston and Simmons seem just that much closer:

(1) This past Wednesday, I sent off a housing deposit to the office of residence life at the college, which will put my name on a waiting list for the graduate housing (upper-class students go through room selection later this month, and following that first-year students are given housing on a first-come, first-serve basis), and

(2) The GSLIS program has finally published their academic calendar for Fall 2007. Classes begin September 5th (after the Labor Day weekend). This is good news for Dad & Mom, who are hoping to drive me out to Boston–Dad will be able to see the store through the worst of book rush before we leave town.

Ceilidhs & Tribes

27 Tuesday Mar 2007

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This Friday is my 26th birthday, and I am having some friends over for dinner. The usual tradition for my birthday has become that I will make my own birthday dinner and everyone else is responsible only for helping to celebrate. This year, with the enthusiastic encouragement of friends Cara and Megan, with whom I recently attended a brilliant concert by Scotch-Canadian fiddler Natalie Macmaster (six months pregnant and still step dancing!) and her band, I am hosting a very amateur Ceilidh (Scottish Dance Party), at which I have promised to demonstrate what I remember of Scottish folk dancing. On the menu is Beef Guinness Stew, Oatcakes, Neeps & Tatties, and pudding.

This has put me in a socializing frame of mind, and I decided to search out what Scottish dance societies exist in the Boston area. I am in luck! The Boston Branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society does indeed exist, and offers social events and lessons. If I manage to remember what “leisure time” is as a graduate student, it may have to include a few Gay Gordons, Reels, and Waltzes.

Meanwhile, my Uncle Lynn is visiting this week from Kentucky and rhapsodizing about Boston, his former (and still, at heart) home. He earnestly assures me that the people there are not at all cold–as some accuse New Englanders of being–and that I am certain to “find my tribe” there. I am expecting no miracles on that front, but enjoyed his enthusiasm nonetheless. He owes me a visit once I get my feet under me, and perhaps once I have acquired and air mattress.