Is this really December?

Two-at-a-time is de rigour at McSorley's Ale House

Any month that starts out like this is going to have to be good.

Days #192-196: A fruitful research trip to New York City.  Forayed into the Columbia University library, attended a conference on photojournalism during the Spanish Civil War at NYU, checked out the related and fascinating "Mexican Suitcase" exhibit at the International Photography Center (and bought the exhibit catalogue, which includes my new favorite photo of all time: a Republican soldier in the trenches on the outskirts of Madrid next to a giant black bear, courtesy of Robert Capa), drank beer, and ate cupcakes.

Day #199: Watched Almodóvar's Kika (1993).  Not my favorite.  Almodóvar's low period.  Now I understand why it's not even released on DVD in the US.

Day #201: Finally finished Roberto Bolaño's Los detectives salvajes, which, by the way, is 600 pages, 500 of which could have benefited from a good editor.  Not sure I can agree with his posthumous genius status, but I suppose I should read more than one of his books.

Days #204-206: In the interest of crafting an engaging multimedia presentation for my upcoming MLA performance, I spent hours ripping DVDs and tinkering with them in iMovie.  Hours.  For two clips that total less than 2 minutes.  Don't say I never did anything for you, MLA.

Day #205: Two rejections in one day!  An article is sunk and the NEH says no to my funding application.  It's not all wine and roses here in sabbatical-land.  Well, it's wine.

Day #207: Back to planning our 5 College symposium on war and historical memory in Spain, now even better for 2011!

Day #211: After a flight delay, I have extra time to re-grout my kitchen.

November: sabbatical stride

It's been over a month, and my careful record-keeping of my sabbatical activities has fallen by the wayside somewhat.  Here's what I remember...

Day #151: I had tea with J.A. González Sainz, who is the first published Spanish author I have ever had tea with.  He was delightful, and loved the New England colors.

Days #158-#160: St. Louis for the MACHL.  The what?  The Mid-America Conference on Hispanic Literature.  Also hung out with my two favorite Wash U econ professors who have 99 problems, but econometrics ain't one.

Day 161

Days 162-173: I read El violinista de Mauthausen, by Andrés Pérez Domínguez (who also has a blog), a 2009 Nazi spy novel that now becomes at least the second Spanish novel about violins and concentration camps (see: Violí d’Auschwitz or The Violin of Auschwitz, by María Àngels Angelada).

I watched two Spanish documentaries about Mauthausen (El convoy de los 927 and Lágrimas rojas) and corresponded with two documentary filmmakers from Spain, both of whom were kind enough to send me their films.

I watched Átame! (1990), which I confirmed is still my least favorite of Almodóvar's films, and Tacones lejanos (1991) which I'd never seen, but enjoyed, and not solely because Javier Bardem makes a brief appearance as "Javier."

Along with some far-flung colleagues, I got into my first conference on the Iberian peninsula, scheduled for February 2011.  ¡De puta madre!

Along with some near-flung colleagues, I had lunch with the Spanish Consulate of Boston.  He was... interesting.

Days 174-191: We warmed the house and put the TV on the wall and cooked a 16 lb turkey.  We saw Emmylou Harris and Aimee Mann and Christopher Taylor and I used my faculty ID to get us into a show at the Smith campus center ("You're faculty?  Um... I guess $10.").  We hiked and I biked and ran and namaste-ed.  The dog got a turkey-shaped cookie with frosting.  I looked up all those "-ology" words people are always tossing around.  I read theories about the Holocaust.  I started Juan Marsé's Si te dicen que caí but couldn't get into it.  I finished the Girl with a Dragon Tattoo trilogy and started Roberto Bolaño's Los detectives salvajes.  I watched a lot of The Wire.  I started writing my MLA paper.  I found a sweet apartment in Barcelona for the spring!