Bob Marcacci

A Rose in the Desert?

2012-01-14T01:06:00.000+03:00

Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex

After the holidays, we returned to Doha enshrouded in fog. The night of our arrival, after sleeping most of the daylight hours away, we went to the 20th ExxonMobil Open and watched Jo-Wilfried Tsonga crush Gael Monfils in the final match. It was my first live tennis match, and I really enjoyed it. There was actually a fog delay at the beginning of the match, because the word Qatar, painted on the court at both ends, was too slick and was caused the tennis players to slip. You can see the stadium in the lower right of the photo and the city center with the moon peeping in the background. The tournament concluded with a dramatic light show during which a montage of winners from previous years were highlighted. In fact, some of the previous winners were in attendance to thrill the onlookers. Unfortunately, all the delay and hoopla made for a long evening.

I had to go back to work at the Academic Bridge Program the next day. It was only for a meeting, so I wasn't teaching, but regular classes resumed midweek. The jet lag was slight and, as we had been traveling for more than 24-hours, we weren't quite 100%. Vito's school had also resumed, but he stayed home another day to rest and regain his energy. Everything should be firing on all cylinders next week, however.

It has been foggy almost every morning since we've been back, which is quite nice and refreshing. It burns off by late morning, and then there's the usual sunshine. The weather is warmer now than it was before we left on our Christmas / New Year's adventure. We had run into a little cold spell before the holidays, which seemed a little colder than usual, although my perspective is limited.

Today, we were invited by some friends to go on an adventure with our kids to look for a desert rose, a kind of stone that forms its petalled appearance under the sand in certain places. After taking Vito to soccer practice and despite having a great deal of work to do to prepare for the onrushing semester, I threw caution to the wind and we all rode out into the desert together.

The quest certainly took us too some remote parts of Qatar. Among the many unusual things we observed, the baby camel pictured here was, perhaps, the most striking. It couldn't even walk yet. The way the other camels crowded around it was interesting to watch.

Ho, Ho, Hold Your Horses!

2011-12-24T14:44:00.001+03:00

Holiday activities are going as planned with one exception: the three of us have picked up a raggedy cough. We seem OK during the day, but last night, weirdly, Vito and me both woke up at 3AM with serious coughing fits that kept us going for a half hour. Vito has been receiving an aerosol treatment, and I'm utilizing cough drops.

Since we've been in Putignano, the weather has been ice cold. It rained a little and the sky has generally been cloudy. I tease Angela that it always rains here. A couple days ago, I thought it would snow, but it only hailed briefly. Today, however, Christmas Eve (or as they say here, La Vigilia), it is spectacularly sunny and warm outside. I went out this morning without wife or son to get some last-minute Christmas gifts and the stores were bursting with shoppers, the sidewalks were crowded with people, and the streets were choked with traffic. It put me in a great holiday spirit despite the various delays that such activity induces.

Time in the blogsphere moves faster than it actually appears to...

We got home about an hour ago after a huge dinner at Angela's sister's house, and Santa (Babbo Natale) had left his mark. It was just about midnight. There were a few gifts under the nativity (il presepe), namely a guitar. Vito was ecstatic. It wasn't the bass guitar that Vito had asked for, but I'm sure Santa did his best. We don't have a Christmas tree, either, but there is a large nativity scene, which is why Santa left the gifts there. To add to the post-Santa excitement, Angela's Aunt's family (celebrating the arrival of their daughter from England that evening) joined us and, after daddy tuned the guitar, listened to Vito's one-chord renditions of "We are the World" and "We Will Rock You."

With this post, I've exceeded my blog output in any year since 2007, which largely comprises the last four years in California. Clearly, living in the states and blogging (and writing in general) don't go hand-in-hand. We lived in California for four hard years made more difficult by simultaneously working two jobs and studying. Things got even more hectic last year when Vito started going to school and Angela started working, but we made it out. I didn't die and I feel stronger. Anyway, I'm happy to be blogging more and plan to ride the writing wave into the new year with a more emphatic return to greater poetic intentions. Wish me luck...

Happy Q Year

2011-12-14T23:27:00.000+03:00

The last week before a long holiday is busy. I'll spare you the business minutiae, but a vacation couldn't have come at a better time.

We're leaving the Q tomorrow night for three weeks. A cab (inshah'allah) will arrive at 11:15 and take us to the airport. Then, Turkish Airlines at 2:55AM to Turkey before a transfer to our final destination in Zurich, Switzerland. We really had no particular reason for stopping in Switzerland. Anyway, from there, we will meet Milanese friends and, after frolicking and fondue and fun, journey south to Milan with them for more of the same on more familiar soil. Then we'll catch a train even further south to our final destination, Putignano. We'll spend Christmas and the New Year with family there, and return to Doha on the 7th of January.

I still have four essays to grade in the morning, but that is the only deadline on the agenda tomorrow. Grades are due by 11AM so I should have plenty of time to get everything finished. Hopefully, there won't be too many distractions in the office.

Later on at home, we still have to pack, of course. As usual, we leave it until the last minute...

Season's Fleeting

2011-12-07T23:26:00.001+03:00

Vito displays his gold medal.

Winter's here. It has been windy outside, but also sunny and clear. In the throes and humidity of never-ending Summer, I didn't think it would ever get so cold here. We had a little rain spell in recent weeks and, since then, it has been cold. Our apartment is made of stone and tile, and we're thinking about picking up a space heater. Actually, Angela's not, but I am because I'm more delicate.

Vito had his final soccer practice of the season last weekend. Soccer practice happened two times each week: once indoors at Doha College on Monday afternoons (when Angela took him) and the second time outdoors on the Education City campus on Friday mornings (when I took him). I was never thrilled about waking up at 8AM on Friday mornings (which is the first day of the weekend here). Practices will resume again at a different location after the new year. It has been fun to watch lately. In the last few weeks, Vito has finally started to get the hang of it—chasing after the ball and running in the right direction instead of looking at the clouds or whirling dervishly. I suppose he takes after his father in that way.

We're friends with a German couple and their kids—the first friends we made here in Doha—but they are moving to Bahrain next month. They went out of their way for us at the beginning of our stay here, and we'll miss them tremendously. Anyway, they're packing and sorting through their things, and they asked us if we wanted a Christmas tree and their fish. We passed on the fish, but the Christmas tree is blinking and sparkling away in our living room right now. Angela found some colored bulbs and lights, and the three of us decorated it a couple nights ago.

Christas comes to the Q.

On Monday night, I wanted to celebrate Angela's first substitute teaching gig here, so we all hopped in the Honda and drove to Souq Waqif to try gelato at La Dolce Vita, a little gelateria here in Doha, and we came across these Christmas ornaments with Arabic imagery on them. We bought three, one for each of us, and added them to our little Chrismas tree when we got home.

Despite the lack of Christmas overkill that can usually be found in the states at this time of year, there is a festive spirit throughout the city. Qatar National Day takes place on the 18th of December. Apparently, a parade will march along the corniche. Flags and banners and bunting and lights and grandstands are being erected toward that end, and it looks it's going to be a nice party. Unfortunately, we depart on our Winter extravaganza on the 16th, so we will miss all of the holiday hullabaloo here. We're happy, however, that we will be able to visit family in Italy as we haven't seen anyone there in about 18 months.

It's hard to believe the school year's almost over. Today was the last day of regular classes at the Academic Bridge Program, too. Next week is finals week!

Vito's Prayer

2011-11-24T20:49:00.001+03:00

When we leave our apartment, Vito likes to interact with the echo. This is one of his recent efforts:

The Corniche, the Dhow, the Pearl, Oh, My!

2011-11-19T18:48:00.001+03:00

Busy weekend. Thursday evening we went to The Pearl to eat and, aside from the unusual customized cars waiting for valet parking, we were quite impressed. We had only driven around the exterior of The Pearl once way back in August when it was really too hot to get out of the car and do anything. So Thursday, after parking and walking to the interior, we weren't really prepared for what we found there: a gigantic promenade (we only walked half of it before we were exhausted and realized that we had to walk all the way back) encircling a harbor full of yachts, high-rise luxury accommodations (some buildings were still unfinished), lights, fountains, music, shops (many still unoccupied), restaurants (we ate at The Noodle House and were quite pleased on all accounts), cafés, and water taxis. It wasn't very crowded, but the restaurants were full. Vito was in heaven running up and down the exotic marble stairs and brick walkways and playing in the water. We didn't have our camera with us or we certainly would have taken some photos. In any event, we'll be returning there to discover more of the treasure.

Then on Friday night, we attended Doha's First Traditional Dhow Exhibition at Katara Cultural Village. There was much more traffic than we had anticipated, but that simply generated more excitement about the happenings. The exhibition was a display and events celebrating the old wooden Arabic boats that go by that name, and included food, artisans, and live music. People from many different Arab nations were in attendance, and, everywhere you looked, there were different groups of people wearing their traditional garments. The dhows were all anchored together close to shore, and visitors could actually board many of the vessels that were on display.

Later on the beach, we ran into an Italian couple we know and their kids amid all the mayhem and merry-making of the exhibition, and went with them for a gelato. The kids watched Tom and Jerry inside as the adults talked outside while the cars trundled past.

Doha City Center in the Background

Finally, today, while Angela was helping judge the Academic Bridge Program's debate competition, which was an all-day affair, Vito and I went to the Corniche to catch some of the hydroplane boat races that were taking place all weekend. Since we've been here in Doha, we hadn't really made time to stroll along the Corniche, which is a beautiful landscaped area along the bay here, so we were excited to find an opportunity to explore part of it. Unfortunately, after arriving, Vito vomited on me while we were waiting for the people that we were going to meet. That didn't deter me, however. A trip to the bathroom took care of most of the unsavory side effects and we stuck around to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

We met one of my colleagues at the park there, a neighbor of his (they both had two kids), and while us fathers sat on the grass and talked, the kids played together. Vito seemed to recover enough to play a little. Soon, though, as helicopters got in position above the water, the hydroplane heats started, and we all moved closer to the water to get a better view. The races were fun to watch, and followed by the French Air Force aerobatic team.

So, there you have our weekend of water-centered activities. Back to work tomorrow. Counting the weeks until the Winter holiday. In the meantime, next week, Arabian Thanksgiving considerations?

Down Came the Rain and Washed the Spider Out

2011-11-07T15:05:00.000+03:00

Young man of steel.

We woke up with rain this morning at 7AM. I went out to take pictures, and it rained fairly hard for about three hours. It has been dry for awhile, now, but the sky is still grey and threatening.

I forgot to write you about Halloween, but there was holiday action here. Initially, it was not clear how many people would be participating or if it would even be acceptable. Vito's school had planned to have a Halloween parade after school on the day, but it was canceled at the eleventh hour due to a misunderstanding by some parents that all students were required to participate. In any event, we kind of did everything at the last minute. Luckily, Angela found a nice costume and it all worked out.

Pumpkins and palms.

Earlier in the week, someone had forwarded a picture of a pumpkin to everyone at work and suggested that, if we wanted trick-or-treaters to stop by our residences, we should print out the pumpkin and put it on our doors. You can see in the picture below that some people even had real pumpkins. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pumpkins. When we priced them at our little neighborhood Lulu's, they were around $5 per pound! Maybe next year...

Anyway, there were roving bands of costumed kids and adults in our housing lot. Everyone was walking from house to house looking for the pumpkins (or other obvious indications of Halloween welcome) on all the doors. It turned trick-or-treating into a kind of mystery as we had to look for the residences that were participating. The weather has been splendid, and many people were out on their porches to greet the kids and parents. There was even a haunted house in one townhouse that was quite good. It scared Vito, dressed as Superman, irrevocably. After the haunted house, he wouldn't go near anything that was on the scary side. Loot was generous and Vito could hardly carry his treat bag at the end of the evening. All told, we had a great time, and it really made us feel like we were back in the states for a little while.

On Saturday, we went to the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al-Thani Museum with a friend and her two kids. The museum looks like a castle or a fortress with a large pond in the front complete and an old dhow or traditional wooden Arabic boat in the water. There appeared to be two main wings to the museum, although we only visited one on this occasion. Here, at left, is an unlabeled painting that I liked; however, there were dozens of others, equally unidentifiable, still on their easels. After viewing the old Arabic dress, jewelry, weaponry, furniture, doors, paintings, BSA motorcycles, carriages and children's toys, we thought it would be more interesting for the kids if we went to look at the animals that were rumored to be somewhere nearby. I had read that there were oryxes on the property but, after driving around and dodging all of the peacocks, we couldn't find any. I don't know if it will be in my best interest to say so, but there was a great deal of trash on the premises. Much of it, aside from the upturned snow-white styrofoam containers and blue plastic bags, was covered with dust, like everything in the desert, and difficult to see without close inspection.

As the Crow Writes

2011-11-05T09:09:00.000+03:00

Daddy woke up and made pancakes this morning. I should say that Vito woke us up and then demanded that the rest of us get out of bed, too. So I got up and made breakfast. Vito helped. He likes to mix the batter. In fact, he likes to cook. While I'm writing this, he is in the kitchen preparing a Play-Doh apple crumble.

We picked up our new car Thursday night, a Honda CR-V, on the last day before the Eid al-Adha holiday. No work next week! We called the rental company to return our rental car, but there was no answer yesterday. It can be tough to get through to people on Fridays since it's the holy day here.

Yesterday morning after Vito's soccer practice, we went to Carrefour and bought a few chairs, a cooler and a BBQ, and now we're ready to hit the beach. Can't wait to explore more deeply into the Q. We would start today, but we have to go to a birthday party this afternoon, and I have my last djembe drum circle meeting tonight. Otherwise, the weather has been wonderful lately. 9AM as the crow writes and the temperature is 84° F (29° C) with nary any humidity. I have been told that it will remain this way until March when it will warm up again. Caw!

My Arabic lessons have fallen by the wayside for various reasons, but Angela has been studying regularly at Carnegie-Mellon, an Education City university.

It is written that Vito will pursue a new ride of his own today, so we're heading out now to look at bicycles...

I Walk With Beauty

2011-10-29T00:16:00.000+03:00

A week or so ago, I attended an open mic on the Education City campus with one of my colleagues. It was being held in a place called "The Black Box" in the student center, and when I walked in it looked like a disco with green laser lights and a booming sound system. I felt a little out of place, especially as most of the crowd appeared to be about half my age, but I was determined to read the poem I had brought with me. As it turns out, there were about five other poets, and I really wasn't as out of place as I thought I might be.

Back on the 23rd of February, before moving to Qatar was real, I went to a poetry reading in San Francisco at the Sacred Grounds Café, which is an old haunt of mine. I lived very close to that café many years back, and met Frank, my former roommate, there. Returning to our old neighborhood brought back many memories. Weirdly, however, I had never had a chance to catch the open mic there when I lived in the neighborhood. Times were different then when I was a student and thought I could fritter away my time. Anyway, I finally made it, and that night one of the poets started chanting. I recorded his performance, and here it is:

The Reality of Bedtime

2011-10-20T21:44:00.001+03:00

Angela's in bed sick with the flu and Vito's asleep. The apartment is nice and quiet. When I'm done here, I'll go grade some papers so I don't have to do everything on Saturday night. Pretty domestic.

When I was putting Vito to sleep tonight, he said:
"Daddy, October's taking a long time."
"Why?" I asked. "What are you waiting for?" I expected him to say December because, earlier in the evening, we had been talking about Christmas as a time when he might get some more toys.
"May!" he answered without any hesitation.
"Oh! For your birthday, right?"
"Yeah!" He rolled over and put his feet on his pillow, contemplating our conversation or coming to grips with the reality of bedtime. "I'm hot."

Eight Legs a Week

2011-10-11T21:52:00.001+03:00

I got myself too busy, somehow, with activities five days a week. Arabic lessons three days a week after work started it all. Lessons will last until the end of November. Angela's going to start taking some lessons next week at Carnegie Mellon. Perhaps, then, we will be able to help each other and teach Vito, too!

I should be grading papers right now instead of, er, socializing with my blog...

In class tonight, I wrote my name in Arabic, which is a nice milestone in my writing progress, although I don't know why I never thought about doing it before today. Actually, I didn't even think about doing it. My teacher made me do it. I can handle the alphabet and I'm learning to join the letters. I'm far from the best student in the class, but I plug along happily. It didn't help that I switched classes a couple weeks ago, moving from a conversation class to a more formal writing and reading class. I had to switch classes because I started assisting with the ABP Debate Club on Mondays. I've never debated before, and I'm looking forward to learning about it. We also started the ABP Creative Writing Club, too, which meets on Wednesdays. A blog documenting our activities will be available soon.

Sculpture Maman by Louise Bourgeois.

It's good to be so busy. The weather is bearable, finally, and we're meeting people and staying active. The last two weekends were somewhat shortened due to special events. The first one (two weeks ago) was the TESOL: Putting Research into Practice conference at the new Qatar National Convention Center. This is the giant spider sculpture in the center of the building. It was a nice event, and I enjoyed many of the presentations, including one on Cooperative Development by my colleague Magda Rostron. The conference culminated in a Qatar culture party at College of the North Atlantic.

Last Saturday, it was Family Day at the ABP. Everyone had to attend a presentation by the Director and key staff members. Afterwards, we had to speak with the parents and guardians of our students. We were required to be in the office from 10:30AM until 1:00PM, and a lunch buffet was served at the end. It was nice to meet parents, of course, but it cut the weekend short.

Last night, Angela and me went to the Sheraton for an special dinner to celebrate the accreditation of the ABP by The Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA). We are only one of eight international schools outside the US that have received this distinction, so it was a big deal for the school. While I wasn't directly a part of the process, which spanned more than three years of preparation and scrutiny, it's great to be some small cog in it now.

We bought our Winter break tickets to return to Italy in December. We'll be stopping in Switzerland for a few days before returning to the homeland. More on that, later. I'll try to write more often, but I won't make any promises.

Forty-Oner

2011-09-27T22:29:00.000+03:00

Hectic work week with multiple observations followed by busy birthday business further followed by the first grading period of the semester. Mix in Vito starting school and soccer simultaneously, and it's clear where our efforts have been concentrated.

All's well, otherwise. Seems like we're not at a lack for things to do in Doha so far. Here I am (take two) last weekend at Belgian Café at the InterContinental Doha about to enjoy a chocolate mousse in a martini glass with this giant sparkler stuck in it. Angela is keeping herself busy, too. At least, for now, it's leading to considerable happiness. How long can it last, though? I may have bit off more than I can chew with Arabic lessons three days a week, but that's the way it is for the time being.

On Thursday, we've been invited to the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern of Art by the Faculty & Staff Life Committee (that's what is printed on the tickets) for a little tour and cocktails (certainly fruit, not alcohol) afterwards. Even though admission is free, we were given tickets. We went once before with Vito, but we didn't stay very long, so it will be nice to return to see a little more of the museum. To be fair to Vito, however, it was too close to dinner time.

And finally, I'm going to the new Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) this weekend for the TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) Conference: Putting Research into Practice. The new building basically looks like the one rendered above, but without the clouds, blue sky and green grass. We drive by it almost every day, and we can see the parking garage from our apartment. Anyway, many of the teachers from the Academic Bridge Program (ABP) will be attending (many from the English department, that is), and we'll get an extended weekend with Sunday off to attend conference activities, which is nice.

So that's some of the latest...

Ho Hum

2011-09-11T23:59:00.001+03:00

While typing away in the wee hours, I notice a sound in my apartment and walk around clicking off switches in an effort to eliminate it, but nothing works. They stay, denizens of this insistance. The refrigerator forges a path to nowhere in the dark corner of the kitchen, defying me. Orange rectangular eyes on the outlets--some off, some on--keep watch around the apartment; the neon green modem halo above the storage closet shows that we are ever connected to the greater e-world. iAm. Outside, streetlights, unblinking, star along the no-hill horizon, well on their way to another day of perpetuity. Hooray!

And there is also our constant hum here from all of the electrical suck taking place. During the day, it goes somewhat unnoticed but, at night, Ahoy!, beneath the whisper of traffic in the distance, the sounds come out of the great sea of sand that surfaces Qatar. How many, while updating their statuses, notice their hard disks flicker awake momentarily to scan whatever hot magnetized inner storage spaces remain? And what else calls in the social networking flatulence?

They're even more intrusive outside, the sounds, where they come out of nowhere, behind corrugated restaurants and shisha tents. Turning a corner between a giant generator and a mall, they gang up on unexpected passersby in gusts of hot AC exhalant. I was noticing them a few weeks ago during a muggy walk along the deserted Katara Cultural Village esplanade, massive air-conditioning angst machines marring the midevening.

Back at home, however, when I listen closely, I can pick out the layers or different registers of sounds: hums, ticks, buzzes, throbs, rattles, pulses, vibrations, whirs. The walls get nervous and my companions turn in their sleep. When will I turn in? What mulch in the humid hang-time? What song? New sounds blossom, envelop weaker ones. I stay to listen...

Follow Me...

2011-09-03T00:54:00.002+03:00

I added a link in the sidebar so you could follow the blog. I know there are lurkers and hangers-on from my blog days of yore out there, but now there is an outlet for you. I'm following myself for starters...

Shop Ahoy!

2011-08-31T17:37:00.001+03:00

For me, Eid kicked off with my fifteenth annual Junior Robert Football League (JRFL) fantasy football draft on Sunday (which is the first day of the week here). Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan, and we have to hold a re-draft this coming Sunday. On top of that, I caught a cold so I haven't been feeling too hot.

Father and son at City Centre Mall

I don't like shopping that much, but we have gone shopping every day this holiday despite my cold. It was a kind of shopping marathon. The quest for two sets of matching bed accoutrements, one for Vito's and one for ours, was almost never-ending, especially with Ramadan / Eid Al-Fitr interference making for late night shopping, but we finally found something that satisfied our desires. When we arrived in Doha, the beds were only made with matching comforter, flat sheets and pillow cases--Vito's a pink and yellow floral pattern on light blue and ours on pink. Not our colors, but enough to start with, and leaving plenty of room for improvement.

Anyway, we finished shopping for such pressing necessities today. Here is a picture of Vito and me at the City Centre mall in downtown Doha. I think there are five levels in this mall, which is, perhaps, the largest in Doha. We're pictured here standing above the ice rink located on the ground floor of the mall.

Car-R-Us

2011-08-17T23:11:00.003+03:00

The Shuttle Bus

Without a car, it is virtually impossible to get anywhere in Doha, especially in the heat, and especially with a young one among the three of us. The heat just crumples the tender. We tried taking cabs for a few weeks, but they have to be hailed well in advance for both coming and going, which can be a little tedious. We went back and forth about it for a while, but finally decided we should rent a car.

Unfortunately, I can't drive yet. Angela went to the traffic department a couple weeks ago, showed her Italian license, paid 150 riyals, and a temporary Doha license was issued. I have to make an appointment to take the driving test; however, Ramadan ends in the last week of August (or close to it), and I won't even be able to make an appointment until then. I heard a story that a sheikh went to the USA and was forced to take a driving test, so now USA folk have to take the driving test in Qatar, but I don't know if there's any truth in it. At least, I can take the shuttle to and from my office every day. It literally picks me up right outside my apartment and drops me off at the steps of the LAS building.

A Traffic Sign

Among the car rental shops that we called, Petra seemed to have the best deal, so we made arrangements to acquire one of their cars, a Nissan. I had heard that we could have a rental car delivered to our apartment, which was great. For whatever reason, though, we had to go down to their office to get it. Over the phone, Petra said that they would send a car at 9:30 the next morning. We met a German couple, and they laughed at us when we told them. "We waited around until 7PM or so," Jorg said. Well, that wasn't going to happen to us. At about 11AM, after a few disgruntled phone calls, a cab arrived to take us to Petra.

While we were filling out the paperwork, Vito saw a red Tiida in front of the shop, and that was what he wanted. Weirdly, that's what we got. We reserved a different model, but whatever. Anyway, it looks OK on the outside, but the engine makes a little whistling sound. The interior is not so nice, either, but the air-conditioning and the CD player work. So far, it makes grocery shopping much more convenient, but we haven't taken it into the heart of the city, yet. On the way home, we hoped that we would be able to find the way back to our apartment, but we arrived home without incident.

Muezzin Zzzzz...

2011-08-13T01:13:00.001+03:00

Every day, when it is time to pray, the muezzin's voices ring throughout every neighborhood here, broadcast from the minarets that can be seen everywhere. I've come to like the sound, but it is still a little unusual. Yesterday, I opened my eyes at around 3:30AM and Vito was standing in front of me next to the bed. He said, "Daddy, I don't want to pray right now." I took him into his bedroom and put him ito bed with the muezzin lulling both of us back to sleep. His bedroom is closer to the street, which means it is closer to the neighborhood mosque, and so the call to prayer has been waking him up occasionally.

Souq Waqif

The video above shows the Souq Waqif, also captured in the picture on the right, which is where we went last weekend for dinner. We were celebrating our anniversary, and we arrived in the evening across the street from the Islamic Cultural Center just as the muezzin started. It was terribly hot and humid, perhaps the hottest and most humid day since we arrived in Doha, and the streets were nearly deserted. As muslims here are fasting from dawn to dusk, this call to prayer indicated the end of fasting. During this period of fasting, people do not eat or drink, and eating and drinking are not permitted in public.

Anyway, this is my last weekend before school starts with its abbreviated schedule for Ramadan. I still have some things to get used to, but I'm about as prepared as I can be to start teaching. Things will feel more comfortable after classes get rolling, of course. This first semester, I will be teaching two sections of Academic Composition on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and another section of Academic Composition and an Academic Literature course on Mondays and Wednesday for a total of four classes. In addition to my courses, I have to serve a few hours each week in the Language Resource Center as an English tutor, which is one of the unique attributes of the ABP.

School's Cool

2011-08-05T14:11:00.000+03:00

The LAS Building in Education City

I work for the Qatar Foundation in the Academic Bridge Program (ABP) on the Education City campus. Education City is really a megacampus that hosts a number of different educational facilities. The campus continues to expand as can be seen by the tremendous amount of construction going on around here, and visible projects include the nearly completed Qatar National Convention Centre and the Sidra Medical and Research Center.

As a result of Ramadan beginning last Monday, we have shortened work days, which is a nice way to jump into the culture here. The day starts at 8:30AM and ends at 1:30PM, and we will carry on with that schedule until the end of the month when Ramadan ends and we have a week-long Eid or holiday. I haven't started teaching yet, but there are many other things to take care of before students arrive. Over the past three days, for example, we have been administering placement tests to our students. Actual classes start on the fourteenth.

My Office

The ABP is located in the Language Arts School (LAS) building in Education City, and the staff includes teachers and administrators from countries such as Australia, Canada, Egypt, England, France, India, Ireland, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestine, The Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Sudan, Switzerland, Tunisia, and the United States. A free shuttle picks me up right outside our apartment, and, about ten minutes later, drops me off at the front entrance of the LAS building. It's very convenient. The ABP shares the building with the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies.

In this region, among many other characteristics, the ABP is unique in that male and female students attend classes together, which is something that, up until this point in their lives, our students, predominantly Qatari nationals, have not previously experienced. As a result, in order for Qatari parents to allow their daughters to go to school with male students, all of the classrooms and offices had to have glass walls.

Here is a picture of my office. If you look closely, you can see a kind of geometric pattern on the window of my office, which mirrors the pattern on the outside of the building. The pattern is not actually on the window, however. It is an aluminum wall or curtain suspended from the ceiling, and appears throughout the interior of the LAS building. It almost looks like a veil. While difficult for someone new like me to get around, it makes for a striking panorama within the building.

Apartmental

2011-08-02T16:35:00.000+03:00

Kitchen

Our apartment, one benefit of my job with the Qatar Foundation, is quite pleasant. If we have to stay inside all day long because of the heat, at least we really like our living quarters. I can't speak in terms of square feet, but it is spacious and certainly an upgrade from what we had in Santa Clara.

We arrived with all of our clothes (even our Winter clothes as we'll be taking those to Italy during the semester break at the end of December) and many of Vito's toys, but we left all of our decorations and knickknacks in storage in Vacaville. Our apartment still looks about the same way as it did when we arrived, but, when we get around to doing a little more shopping, we will look for some things to personalize our living space.

We live on the second floor, which is great because there was no furniture to move in, but we also don't have anyone tramping around on the ceiling. The apartment is fully furnished, and came with all of the basic necessities for our survival, such as silverware, bedding, dishes, etc.

Vito's bedroom entrance and closet.

There are two bedrooms, both with walk-in closets, and two bathrooms, both with showers. Each bathroom also has a bidet, which makes Angela happy. All of the rooms have tile floors except the bedrooms, which have hardwood. The kitchen has marble countertops and plenty of cabinet space. Additionally, there is a large storage room, which is akin to a giant closet, and our own little laundry room with a washer and a dryer. All of the walls are made of stone, and we don't hear any of our neighbors. Even though it's so hot outside, we don't have to run the air conditioner 24-7. The apartment stays fairly cool.

Unfortunately, these pictures don't really do the apartment justice, but I'm not going to retake them and they give you the basic idea.

Too Hot to Trot

2011-07-30T15:42:00.002+03:00

That's our compound behind the yellow building.

It's hot here: 41°C (106°F) right now. We live in a compound called Education City Community Housing Lot 2. Right across the street from us there is a Recreation Center, which has a pool, a gym, a sauna, squash and tennis courts, a game room and a restaurant. Aside from the restaurant, we have free reign on everything else. There is a Lulu Express on the corner that sells groceries, and additional little shops that sell electronics, toys, coffee and baked goods. There is also a bank, a center for beauty products (restricted to women only) and a medical/dental clinic. Its placement is quite handy. We really haven't had a chance to explore Qatar, yet, beyond these places, but we're planning to adventure out on our own after dark tonight to explore Souk Waqif, a traditional Qatar market.

As we are still without a car, one of my colleagues was going to pick us up at 1PM yesterday and take us to the Villaggio Shopping Mall. Anyhow, at 9AM, we thought we might try to walk to the other grocery store before it got super hot. We were hoping that the supermarket might have a better selection and better prices for produce. There was no one else out walking around. Even though the distance was only one kilometer (about two-thirds of a mile), we never reached our destination. A nice man in what appeared to be traditional Qatari dress stopped to offer us a lift in his Land Cruiser, which I declined, and a few other cars slowed down to see if we needed any help. It was just too dang hot, and we could see the life running out of Vito, which also worried us a little, so we turned around and went back home.

Qatar Rhymes with Butter?

2011-07-27T05:35:00.000+03:00

After returning from a last gasp trip to Reno to visit my parents before moving to Qatar, our computer crashed last Sunday evening. We thought we had lost everything, but, even after telling us that they would not be able to recover our data, the miracle people at the Apple Genius Bar at the Valley Fair Mall in Santa Clara restored everything important. Anyhow, we learned that we can't underestimate the importance of a good backup.

In the midst of the computer uncertainty, we packed and moved our belongings into a storage unit in Vacaville on Thursday, getting the computer back on Wednesday evening just before our move. My parents met us in Vacaville and helped put everything in storage, otherwise, we wouldn't have finished in time to return the moving truck. After packing everything in our unit, we drove to Sacramento and spent the night there with friends.

With nothing specific on our agenda for Friday, one day before departing, we got up early and went to the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento. After that, we drove back to Vacaville to spend our last night in the states with my grandmother Ruth.

We woke up on Saturday morning, showered and breakfasted, put our luggage in the rental car, and drove to San Francisco International Airport. Despite the various hiccups during the week, everything had been miraculously working out until we tried to get our boarding passes. For some reason, Angela didn't receive a boarding pass, and we had to wait to see a United attendant. This is not a recommendation. After some dangling unattended in the self-check-in queue and huffing and puffing, we learned that we had to wait in another line to resolve our problem. In the meanwhile, our flight was getting closer and closer to its departure time. With 30 minutes to go, we were still waiting in line, and Angela, unhappily, suggested that Vito and I leave without her. As I was flying to Qatar to meet my future employer, we thought that it wouldn't look good if we all missed the flight. So Vito and I left without Angela!

We hustled through the security check and headed for the gate to catch our flight. At the gate, I asked if they could hold the plane for Angela, but the attendant informed me that we were going to leave on time. Vito and I boarded. Almost as soon as we were seated, the plane began to move. Vito's head snapped and he said, "Where's mommy? We're leaving our mommy!" Up until then, I had been cool, but hearing those words brought a tear to my eye, and I did my best to explain what was happening. And so we departed, heading to Qatar via a five-hour flight to Washington, D.C., where I hoped to get more information about what was happening to Angela.

Everything went smoothly in Washington. I called Angela and learned that she had arranged to depart on the same flight the next day. I was relieved, but we still had an almost thirteen-hour flight ahead of us, which would surely challenge my fatherly prowess. Vito, fortunately, slept almost the entire flight, and we landed without further incident.

We arrived on Saturday and were promptly taken to our apartment where, after receiving some instructions from the colleague who brought us to the apartment, Vito and I went to sleep. The next day, we went back to the airport and gathered Angela, and our happy family was reunited.

Have a Good Afterlife, Amy Winehouse

2011-07-25T07:45:00.000+03:00

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

2010-08-27T07:52:00.000+03:00

I recorded this story (with assistance from Vito) a couple weeks ago. I read it to him all summer. He had to have it every day before going to sleep. We didn't have too many English books with us when we were in Italy, but this one trumped them all.

Since we've been back, he hasn't asked for it nearly as much, but I suppose we go through such changes in a life...

After nearly three years in Vacaville, we're moving to Santa Clara this weekend!

Whiskey & Soda and Rock-n-Roll

2010-08-08T08:05:00.000+03:00

I got hooked on this song this past summer. Dig the drummer's gum-chewing...

Sicilian Something Or Other

2010-07-28T19:24:00.000+03:00

A newsstand in Palermo, Sicily.

As we have done for the past couple of years, we spend most of our summer in Putignano. Upon our arrival this year, we rendezvoused with my parents at the airport in Bari (they had been traveling from England) and, after spending a couple of days with Angela's family and recovering from the lag, and then left on a road trip for Sicily. It took some time for me to process our trip, which happened at the beginning of June, but, on the eve of our return to California, I'm ready to let go.

First off, everyone got sick except for me. That might sound fortunate for me except that, once we had returned to Putignano, it was my turn to get sick. And it seemed to last forever. I don't think I have been completely healthy all summer until about one week ago.

Anyway, we were in Sicily for seven or eight days with stops in Messina, Taormina, Catania, Agrigento, St. Anna, Corleone, Palermo, and Cefalu. I won't go into detail, but you can see more revealing photos of part of our adventure on Flickr. It was almost too much ground to cover in such a short time, but such is touring. For the ancient Greek temple ruins, the historic city center and the Chiesa di Santa Maria dei Greci, the panoramic locale, excellent food, and the wonderful accommodations, Agrigento seemed to be the place the all of us really enjoyed.

The trip was memorable for many reasons; however, back on Italy proper, to break up the long drive home, we stopped in a little town called Pizzo. Angela managed to find us a spectacular bed and breakfast (I believe we were its first guests), which was a short walk down a very steep hill to a little beach. The town wasn't overrun by tourists, and we felt like we had the place to ourselves. It was quite peaceful with the swallows circling throughout the day, and a much-needed relaxing conclusion to our vacation.

In the evening, there happened to be a festival in the little community, which was a welcome surprise. The people were out in force (although it wasn't crowded), le luminarie (lights) were hung above the street, a procession marched an icon through town and people followed in prayer and song, fireworks illuminated the cliff that overlooked the sea and the town's little houses, and karaoke music blared until well after midnight. I've included some audio of the procession here to more deeply immerse yourself in the experience.

Tartufo

Among the new food that I sampled during the trip, I tried some new modes of eating gelato. One, the typical Sicilian breakfast, which is basically a kind of ice-cream sandwich, is simply a roll with a heaping layer of gelato in between. The other, something like what is pictured on the right, is called a Tartufo. I imagine that there are numerous ways to make it. The one I ate was a ball of two types of ice-cream and rolled in chocolate powder. I also found chocolate syrup and a candied cherry in the mix—something like ice-cream with a surprise in the middle—but it was delicious!

Now, the three of us return to California to begin the next chapter. We'll look forward to seeing you there!

Carnevale Redux

2010-07-22T02:25:00.000+03:00

Since my last post, we have been going to the beach every morning. We take Vito to summer beach day-school, and then we Fiat to our little spot in Monopoli. After a couple hours of sunning and swimming and such, we head back for lunch with the fam.

Widening the focus a little, Putignano is famous for its carnival parade. In fact, you can find more information about it if you drill down. Anyway, a few years ago, those who preside over such matters thought it would be a good idea to have a carnival weekend in the summer, too, and revisit all the good times from carnival. Starting at the beginning of July, it kicks off an already festive month.

About two weeks later, our church here has a festival, Santa Maria del Carmine, which wrapped up on this year on Monday. The first week of August closes out the celebrations with the festival for the patron saint of the town, San Stefano. Sadly, we will miss San Stefano this year as we are leaving one week from today.

For those of you who knew, I am still without work, so our plan is to return to California and continue looking. If you didn't know, consider yourselves informed.

Taking a Walk

2010-06-30T10:03:00.000+03:00

It's Wednesday morning and I'm watching Vito ride his bike around the courtyard while Angela and grandma get vegetables at the market—every Wednesday to market! We purchased a little magic device that, inserted into a USB slot allows us to connect to the internet from here, otherwise I would have gone to town to use the internet café, which is what I have been doing.

We've been here in Putignano, Italy since the sixth of June, with the short exception of a one-week circuit in Sicily with my parents who were here for a little vacation. We're actually living in a countryside house located between Putignano and Castellana Grotte where Angela's parents have a trullo.

On Sunday morning, Vito and me walked down to the chiesetta or the little church. You can see that Vito's wearing a sweatshirt, because the weather has not been spectacular. We've actually only been to the beach once since we arrived. Vito will start to going to the beach every day starting tomorrow with his cousins and another group of students who are all attending a summer day-camp. He will take a bus to the beach every morning and returning by lunch time. Vito met his teacher yesterday and is very excited about going to "school." Mommy and daddy are excited about having a little free time in the mornings.

Other than that, the job search for me continues. I don't have any leads and we don't know where we'll be in September, but we're optimistic that we'll be somewhere...

Getting Ready for World Cup

2010-05-23T00:07:00.001+03:00

All your favorites...

The Elephant Song

2010-04-23T07:43:00.000+03:00

Ran into this great song yesterday.

What's Shakin'?

2010-03-02T09:38:00.000+03:00

Hard to keep up with time passing in the blogsphere. I don't have nearly enough time to keep up with such and such or so and so, much to my discredit. Nonetheless, in an effort to keep some kind of writing practice—one that fits my overly hectic lifestyle these days—I have started yet another blog, going strong for over a week now: Bob Marcacci's Scifaiku. It's really Hay(na)ku, but who's counting? Check it out if you're bored and looking for a better side of me.

"He did his work,—he did it nobly and well; and yet I sorrow that here he worked alone, with so little human sympathy. His name to-day, in this broad land, means little, and comes to fifty million ears laden with no incense of memory or emulation. And herein lies the tragedy of the age: not that men are poor,—all men know something of poverty; not that men are wicked,—who is good? not that men are ignorant,—what is Truth? Nay, but that men know so little of men."
- W.E.B. DuBois
"Of Alexander Crummell," The Souls of Black Folk

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-23T20:40:00.000+03:00

Hope everyone is having a pleasant holiday season. We are still busy as ever, here, but looking forward to a few more restful days before the new year. In the meanwhile, please, enjoy my holiday gift to all of you stragglers who still check here occasionally...

Vito Urinates!

2009-10-30T10:10:00.000+03:00

We tried potty-training this summer while we were in Italy, but the results were infuriating. Vito simply refused to try. He would sit on the vasino (the Italian word for it) shaped like a yellow cat and read or drink water, but he would never use it the way you would imagine. He could hold it for hours, make a show of sitting, and then walk around the corner or down the hallway and pee on his shoes. Argh! We eventually scrapped the idea chalking it up to being in an unfamiliar place.

When we returned to the states, my sister gave us a ring for the toilet, but Vito wouldn't have anything to do with it. Yesterday, we took him to Target, and he found a green potty in the shape of a frog. Beaming, he carried it into the house. He sat on it fully clothed yesterday evening, but wouldn't do any more than that. Tonight, after much coercion and trickery on Angela's part, she got him to sit on it in the buff. They read books together and talked, and after about one hour it was time for bed. When he got up, to our surprise, the potty contained the magical pee so eagerly sought after! There was joy in Mudville on this night, even if the Yankees won game two of the world series.

We're gearing up for Halloween this weekend. We will go to downtown Vacaville and trick-or-treat at the businesses, which is something they do for the kids every year. It's fun to see all the kids and grown-ups dressed up, too. On Saturday, we will hit a few select houses in the neighborhood. Should be a fun weekend, in between my grading backlog and writing papers for National.

Here's a little video of Vito doing his thing at the Silveyville Pumpkin Patch.

Moto GP

2009-09-07T00:47:00.000+03:00

I spent the summer in Italy with the family, as many of you already know. We stayed in the countryside with Angela's parents and didn't have easy access to the internet. When I did get to use the computer, it was mostly to complete coursework for an online course in which I was enrolled.

Trying to get my bloglegs back, now, despite teaching full time at Sullivan Middle School, teaching Writing for Comics and Sequential Images at the Art Academy University in San Francisco, taking another credential course this month, parenting and husbanding. There's not much time left for my fantasy football league, entering its thirteenth season, but the show must go on...

Anyway, almost every other Sunday, during lunch we watched Moto GP. Angela's brother is a huge fan, and after watching this race, I am too. Here's the final two laps of the race, if you missed it. Valentino Rossi!

Realia 4

2009-05-13T06:49:00.000+03:00


what     you dream
of     facing the hull of another wreck
it sailed off into the wild blue yonder     some
half-realized titanic with an emphasis on
iceberg     float in the fatal aqua
gah-gah     you still saw     see!
faux pas in guady gew-gaw     whee!
ooh!     ahh!     moored to the weird maw
of mine     pining the far beaches and outer reaches
without a flaw     no one on no horizon     one     fallen but freely
pink     all sun-swabbed and succulently
among palms as does late day downwardly     i know you
pretty town     you know my little city and what
bitter renown comes of trying     you must fly with no good-byeing
no sighing     no doubling up
bubbling over     troubling
stubbling up through the smooth sand and surface
to plant a kiss

All of April...

2009-05-03T09:20:00.000+03:00

...without a getting a word in. It hurt. Quite simply, THAT much is happening in my life and blogging has just taken a back seat!

I started another blog in the meanwhile, though. Wait! That's contradictory! That's a great @#$&% idea, Bob! You can't even update this one regularly. What are you doing starting another one? As you might imagine, my upkeep on the new blog has been lackluster, as well.

I suppose I could back-date this post if I really wanted to keep up appearances...

Things have settled down a little now that I know I will keep my job in the district next year and I won't have to look for one anymore. I still don't know if I'll be at the same school or not, though. In any case, I'm not looking for a job in Saudi Arabia, and I'll be able to enjoy my summer vacation in Italy. Two months all up in it! That's the light at the end of the tunnel...

Vito is excellent. Thanks for asking. He tried finger painting for the first time today. It wasn't even that messy...

I'd like to say more, but it's getting late...

March in a Nutshell

2009-03-31T09:35:00.000+03:00

I have to try and get something posted before the end of the month, which is nigh. I wanted to post something so many times, but I didn't. Actually, I did, but that's a secret, at the mo. All will be revealed in time. Anyhow, here's the past month cleverly encapsulated:

Work during the week, as per usual. Receiving a pink slip (should that be hyphenated?) added no additional stress whatsoever. I knew it was coming. Yeah, I'm fine. Really. It's not bother. I mean it.

Read Educational Psychology texts at night.

Bowl on Friday afternoons.

Complete Educational Psychology assignments on weekends.

Sleep as little as possible.

Write more poetry than I have written in months! I'm busier than usual and I write more than usual?! Go figure...

Sprinkle in liberal servings of husbanding and fathering, although with, unhappily, less on the former. The latter won't let me off the hook without a fight...

Star-Spangled Banter Revisited

2009-02-20T08:01:00.000+03:00

Just found out today that one of my chapbooks is being listed on a new online bookstore at Unlikely 2.0. This is what is written about the chapbook:

...now available for sale to the less masochistic or those otherwise disinclined to read chapbooks on a computer screen. Star-Spangled Banter is an extroverted passage into the psychological and spiritual American Self; a discussion of boredom, lust, greed, fury, self-righteousness, and other peaceful motives in wartime. Laid out in a wild, spiraling projective verse, Star-Spangled Banter is a controlled and organized wail, a study of the agony of the destructive nature in every nation's soul. It's twenty-eight pages, and we sell it for $5. The cover art by Nancy Victoria Davis originally appeared in Unlikely's July 4th Issue, 2004.

While you're shelling out the ducets for this one, and I know poetry is high on your list of necessities during these times, you might as well order Beijing Background, located on your left in the sidebar...

Look for a new chapbook from yours truly on Plan B Press this spring! Until next we sing...

San Francisco's Chinese New Year Parade

2009-02-09T11:31:00.000+03:00

Angela, Vito and two of our FSUSD bowling mates, Crystal and Nic, rode BART into San Francisco on Saturday. We arrived in the city at around 3PM, and the streets in the Financial District were deserted. It appeared that nothing special whatsoever would occur, but as we moved closer to China Town, we began to notice preparations for the parade: police gates along the sidewalks blocking off alleyways and side streets, bleachers, people sitting in chairs along the sidewalks, clusters of tourists standing around.

Angela had read about a street fair, and we wanted to wander through that prior to sitting down for a bite to eat before the parade. While we were approaching the R & G Lounge, the sounds of a drummer and a number of cymbal-beaters rained down on us, and raised our level of excitement considerably. We had found the action.

It's hard to believe that I lived in the city for thirteen years and never once thought about catching the Chinese New Year Parade. Better than I had expected, it was more than two hours long and, as Vito dictated our maneuvers to a certain degree, we had to leave before the festivities ended.

Anyway, enough preamble. Here is one of the highlights of the evening:

Realia 3

2009-02-07T21:46:00.000+03:00

Find the latest installment in our irregularly appearing series of La Princi's photos with poetry by yours truly...


there's a symmetry in our approach
in our nearness or distance

in air-conditioning Hong Kong
air thick and humid

trace patterns in chiaroscuro
wall window wire washcloth

whether we were welcome
to enter and eat tofu

there were more than two of us
contemplating corrugation

warehouse without virtue
we burn incense

stare too long at the window
on the upper floor

where something passed
our ghosts left us

Mmm-Mama

2009-01-21T09:26:00.000+03:00

I thought more time had passed between this and my previous entry, but it really hasn't been so long. We're watching the "live" Neighborhood Ball on television. The television has been blasting parades and inauguration reruns since I got home from work. I never watched so much inaugural yahoo before, but I think I'm exceeding capacity...

Speaking of television, while flipping through channels last night, Vito caught a glimpse of Obama and let me know by saying our new president's name. I wasn't surprised that Vito could recognize Obama, but that he could recognize him so quickly. He can't quite get the name out perfectly, though, and it sounds a little like Mmm-mama. I'm guessing that's a combination of Obama and his other favorite word: mamma. I use the Italian spelling for obvious reasons...

This morning, I brought my second period class to the library to watch the Inauguration and we arrived just in time! Aside from the star attraction, I was happy to see Elizabeth Alexander read the poem she wrote for the occasion.

Everyone seems to be discovering Facebook these days, and I'm realizing that there're only six degrees of separation from me and my high school acquaintances...

The New Year Moves On

2009-01-11T09:52:00.000+03:00

After a restful couple of weeks away from teaching, I'm back at it. All of our holiday decorations are packed up and stored away, and it's business as usual around here with papers to grade and lessons to plan. For once, the vacation didn't seem to pass too quickly! I'm not saying I was ready for it to end, but it felt just right...

And I thought we had a great holiday, too. A couple days before Christmas, I surprised Angela with tickets to see The Nutcracker in San Francisco, and, having never seen it before, both of us were impressed. She thought I was taking her to see a movie, so the surprise came off beautifully.

I knew Angela would be thrilled. We thought we would be late, actually, but arrived just as the music was starting! Neither of us had ever been to the ballet, and I can't say that it is my first choice in entertainment, but it was great and I would definitely see it again! In fact, we can't wait until Vito is a little older so we can take him and his cousins to see it! Now, I guess I know why there are performances every holiday season. It's a classic!

We rang in 2009 in Reno this year, and stayed with my parents for a few days in their new house there! The weather was perfect. We enjoyed blue sky and sunshine every day. A big storm rolled through right before Christmas, and then disappeared afterward, leaving great skiing conditions behind, which was great.

We took Vito sledding and had a blast playing in the snow. On New Year's Eve, after Vito went to sleep, Angela and me went down town and walked around for a few hours before midnight. The casinos were crowded and smokey, so we really couldn't stand to stay inside. It wasn't terribly cold, and we stood around in the street with a bunch of other revellers, even though there wasn't anything out of the ordinary scheduled. In years past, I read, there had been a fireworks display, but the biggest little city in the world didn't want to pay for it this year. The economic crisis is affecting everything.

Now, our next big plan is to catch the Chinese New Year's parade in San Francisco at the end of the month. We wanted to go last year, but the weather was horrible. Hopefully, it will be more accommodating this year!

Poetic Christmas Tidings

2008-12-19T11:05:00.000+03:00

There's so much happening these days, but I suppose that's not unusual for the holiday season. We're as ready as we're going to be, although we still need to brainstorm a Christmas brunch...

At school, today was the last day with students. I'll have to submit my grades before 3:00PM tomorrow, and there won't be any pesky students to distract me, either!

And the weather took a cold turn! It's wet and cold and, well, we need more water in these parts, so it's welcome. We're inside where it's warm and dray!

Finally, please, listen to my Christmas poem. It's unusual for me as I sing part of it. Now, you're warned!

I pretty sure you won't get anything else out of me before the new year, so I hope everyone has a happy holiday!

Realia 2

2008-11-29T18:37:00.000+03:00

This, aside from some formatting issues I just resolved, has been ready for a few weeks. I was waiting on approval from the photographer who lives in Hong Kong. As always, things tend toward the hectic around the holidays.

Here is the second in our irregularly appearing series of La Princi's photos with poetry by yours truly...


look back or down
behind            look
at what your hand touches
look in grainy hours after
after hours
look hurt   through hair
look well below
who held
who      hell
look but don't tell
swell in cartoon swerves
what nerves cure         look
pervs       look and shake
shellshook                 forsook
fake       all cake and too eating
look lamb
she bleating in the bleak
look geek        if at all possible
all's well that wends
looks trends          look
ends         no book
cooker

President-Elect Barack Obama & We Three of Orient Are

2008-11-05T09:59:00.000+03:00

I always love this time of year. The weather is changing and, with Halloween, it's the beginning of one long holiday season ending with the New Year. What a nice holiday gift we received tonight...

It was announced that Barack Obama had received enough electoral votes and would be the 44th president of the United States. Angela, Vito and me watched him make his victory speech from Chicago. Witnessing history, participating in it, I felt like had to write something...

We had been watching election results for the past few hours. After dinner, among his scattered mega-blocks, Vito watched the television with us and clapped when everyone in Times Square in New York cheered. We were all entranced. Except for New Year's Eve, I had never seen such a celebration, particularly for an election. It was unprecedented!

America has such an ugly reputation abroad. It's a relief to see that we will begin alter our image and heal some of the wounds of the last eight years. During most of those years, I haven't been living in this country, but returned last year just in time to drown in our recent economic depression with the rest of you.

We have taken a dramatic step toward change with this election, and it feels different. It feels positive. Now, we have to all work together to ensure that we continue to head in the right direction.

McCain / Obama Dance-Off

2008-10-25T17:54:00.000+03:00

Enough said...

Moon

2008-10-16T06:23:00.000+03:00

Vito has some special kinship with the moon. Day or night, if it's visible, he can locate it. He'll stand in front of the window and point at it, repeating its name over and over.

Driving along in the car, out of the blue, he will say, "moon." Angela and me will look out the car window and, sure enough, the moon is in the sky where he is looking.

He has a book titled: Goodnight Moon.

Occasionally, at night, if Vito is having trouble sleeping, Angela will ask him if he wants to see la luna. He gets very quiet and, as she approaches the window, begins to look for it up into the night sky. It has calmed him enough to allow him to return to sleep.

We also noticed that, while he understands both the English and the Italian words for moon, he only says it in English. Angela likes to say that he chooses the English word. Perhaps, because he already knows the sound that a cow makes, which is similar...

Anyhow, I'm not sure what brought about his fascination with the moon, but I like it. It's poetic...

Relatively Recent Recording

2008-10-09T07:12:00.000+03:00

From the 29th of September, Vito speaking. He is really fascinated by the digital recorder and the sound of his own voice played back.

He has a much larger vocabulary of Italian and English words than what is presented here, but he still goes off on such rants. This one culminates in one of his favorite expressions.

Is this enough of a post? I've been sitting here for fifteen minutes trying to add something else interesting, but there's not much of that. I guess I'm just avoiding grading papers...

Aren't You Voting?

2008-10-07T07:51:00.000+03:00

This is the most historic election in our country's history! Surely it has some impact on your life.

Who's the real maverick? What?! You know what's good for you, but does this country know? Don't be a pretender. Cast your vote!

I should be doing something productive, but I'm not. Well, I'm not preparing for school tomorrow, anyway. I've been sitting in front of the computer all evening.

About five weeks ago, I joined a bowling league. I'm on a team with another couple. Out of twelve teams, we're twelfth. My fantasy football team is 4-1, though.

Working on the next Realia poem. I think it's ready to go, but I like to let them simmer for a few days before unleashing them.

I've been in touch with many old friends recently, reconnecting after long absences. It's nice...

Realia 1

2008-09-22T07:28:00.000+03:00

This first in an irregularly appearing series of La Princi's photos with poetry by yours truly...


language remains
                 heartbroken
 awoken by null sound        not round
     distorted     it's downward evolution
   downturned         by the side of the ocean
     sad                            primate

                  this ghostprint
         this leftover latency
         streaked              spotty
           your reflection
                   your gloss
             leaky            rust-framed
             aimed                        not spoken
        when earth shook a lasting impression
        when dust         a longing     a lesson
       when cursed         nothing     a lesion
     when it's worst

Reporting for Duty

2008-09-07T16:33:00.000+03:00

Summer vacation ended about three weeks ago. That's when I started writing this post. We had house guests for the past two weekends and we were busy being tour guides so, aside from getting to work on time for the past two weeks, I haven't had much other spare time...

Additionally, this past week was a busy culmination for me. Football season started, which also meant that fantasy season kicked into gear, as well, and I can't wait to catch the 49ers game this afternoon. I joined the FSUSD bowling league and we play our first game next Friday. I enrolled in another course at National and, instead of blogging at this early hour on Sunday morning, I should be working on the assignments that are due tonight by Midnight tonight!

We had been ravenously watching the Olympics, as we always like to, and there were many memorable events. As we lived in Beijing for two-and-a-half years, it was really nice to see things with which we were familiar. Angela was unhappy that many of the events were being broadcast as "live" even though they clearly were not. It didn't bother me at first, but after a few days, it was just ridiculous for NBC to be blatantly erroneous. I got sick of Angela saying: "I already know what happened. Do you want me to tell you?" One other complaint that we had was that we didn't get to see many medal ceremonies! Maybe that sounds silly, but we like listening to the national anthems of different countries. The TV gods let us view a handful of them, but we really didn't get any for the first few days of the games, and that was a real oversight. We didn't have a sense of closure...

Vito is doing great, asleep at the mo, but bound to wake up any minute. Angela put him in his crib yesterday afternoon for his regular afternoon nap and he chattered to himself for two hours without sleeping. He went to bed early last night, though, which was nice!

2008-08-06T08:19:00.000+03:00

Check out some of my Dusie chapbook mini-reviews at Galatea Resurrects #10, a blog dedicated to chapbooks. That may be a little specialized for some of you, but it's never to late to start reading poetry! While you're at it, you might as well read my chapbook, if you haven't already, downloadable in an easy to manage PDF format on your left or by clicking here.

We finally made it to Yosemite! After canceling one reservation, it seemed as if forces were conspiring against us but, somehow, everything worked out in the end. Now that we're back, we only wish we could have stayed longer, but duty calls. Fortunately, the weather was gorgeous and, by car (gas was about $4.82/gallon in Yosemite), we explored almost all of the park, although we didn't spend much time in the valley. We didn't see any bears, but we had a great time, nonetheless. There were these signs everywhere, representing a place where a bear was recently hit by a car. I did get to see a few deer on the side of the road and lots of interesting birds. We can't wait to return for another visit...

Vito's arsenal of animal sounds continues to expand. He can replicate the sounds of birds, cats, cows, dogs, donkeys, frogs, horses, pigs, sheep and wolves. When driving in the countryside, something we've had occasion to do regularly in recent weeks, Vito attempts to communicate with the cows he sees from the car by mooing or, as close as he can get,"booing" them.

Besides his animal ensemble, Vito is beginning to imitate many of our other utterances and, while thrilled that his language experimentation is increasing, this worries me a little bit. If you don't know me, you might be surprised to learn that, behind closed doors, my language use may be somewhat more inclusive than it appears at first glance.

Post All-Star Game Pose & Mid-Month Flows

2008-07-17T08:20:00.000+03:00

I'm not much for social networking at the digital destinations these days. In fact, I can hardly answer old-fashioned e-mail with any regularity, so don't take it personally if I'm not responding to your inquiries in those places. Frankly, I'd like to do more of the old-fashioned face-to-face social networking—the kind many of us practiced before we were eBaying or role-playing or creating avatars or blogspotting or whatever.

Baseball's 79th All-Star game last night was the longest one of its kind in terms of both innings and minutes, and I watched most of it, aside from a quick trip to Baskin-Robbins for our usual Tuesday-night $1 scoops. Speaking of ice cream, I don't get too excited about all of the hybrid flavors named after cookies and candy bars. I still like Rocky Road and Gold Medal Ribbon. Whatever happened to rainbow sherbet?

Angela, Vito and Papacito have done quite a few things since the last post (at least, it feels like we have), but it seems awkward, now, to try and recap them all. Best to just move on...

Summer school is nearing completion and the three of us can smell a real vacation less than two weeks away. It's frightening to think how much money will be spent on gas, but we'll try to keep that under control.

The air is still a little smoky, but it hasn't been as hot over the past few days so we've been going outside for longer stretches, if only to walk around the block in the evening. Hopefully, the fires will continue to subside and the air will continue to improve.

Vito & the Giant Redwood

2008-07-01T04:00:00.000+03:00

From the fires, we had been trapped indoors all of last week due to the smoky air that has been suffocating Northern California. Before things got hot, we had taken a day trip down to Muir Woods and Stinson Beach, which was relaxing tonic. It was especially nice to escape the heat in Vacaville for a little while. We're planning a more serious adventure in nature at Yosemite around the end of the month. I haven't gone camping in more than six years so I'm really looking forward to it.

Thankfully, the weather has improved over the past couple of days, and we're hoping to make a visit to the neighborhood park this evening after it cools down a little so Vito can get a little swing time.

Speaking of Vito, he continues to develop and charm us. He likes to hide under the kitchen table and imitate animal sounds. Peekaboo behind chair backs and couch cushions is not uncommon. Books are among his favorite toys, which makes mom and dad happy! When he thinks of it, he hobbles to his little bookshelf, picks out something, and brings it to either his mother or myself. After reading a few pages to him, he leaves to get a different book. This can go on for hours until there are books in every room in the apartment.

Father's Day in America & Catch-Up

2008-06-16T08:59:00.000+03:00

My first Father's Day in America and, truth be told, my first real Father's Day. Last year, I was in Italy and Father's Day is celebrated on St. Joseph's Day there, which, if I'm not mistaken, is on the 19th of March. Vito was still a few months from seeing daylight so I didn't really have much of a Father's Day.

This morning, I woke up a little before seven, happy that I had awoken to a quiet apartment. Then I heard Vito's "Dadda" from his bedroom and got up to see what he was doing. He was just standing up in his crib with his arms over the side wide awake. I picked him up and he pointed to a kite hanging in one corner of his room and said: "Duhdah." Then he pointed to a picture on the wall and said the same thing. In the kitchen, he dubbed the light and the clock in the same manner with the same gesture. Despite the fact that he has a larger vocabulary and even though he can distinguish various different objects, he points and utters this variation on "Dadda" at nearly every opportunity. It's funny.

Anyway, aside from Father's Day, for which there was a BBQ at my cousin's, today is also Vito's onomastico or name day, as well as Angela's birthday. We all three had a reason to celebrate and, for good measure, I purchased a couple SuperLotto Plus tickets.

On a more mundane note, I enlisted to teach summer school and that begins tomorrow. *sighs* I probably should be working on lesson plans or something more preparatory than blogging, but I'm not.

With only one week off between the end of the regular school year and summer school, we drove up to Reno last Sunday and spent the next four days with my parents who recently relocated there. We had a great time visiting Lake Tahoe and Virginia City with Grandma and Grandpa Marcacci! One of the most memorable attractions I saw was the tiny Gambling Museum in Virginia City. Some of the old slot-machines awarded players gum balls or cigarettes instead of coins. Virginia City was also, for almost two years, the former residence of Mark Twain, and many of the local attractions were named after him.

Well, it has taken me nearly an hour to complete this post—more time than I had wanted to spend on it—but you're all caught up and I can rest easy until my next post.

Vito Walks

2008-05-08T05:38:00.000+03:00

Angela surfed across this clip a couple weeks ago. Obviously, with a baby around Jack-Jack's age, we thought this was hilarious. It might not make much sense, thought, if you're not familiar with The Incredibles, an animated movie about a family of superheroes.

Otherwise, on Monday afternoon, Vito started traversing the apartment on two limbs rather than four. Mama and me were excited. Vito looked pretty thrilled about it, as well, a big smile on his face as he plodded around the house with his arms held out.

Marcacci Progeny & the Apple

2008-05-05T07:35:00.000+03:00

I haven't been, obviously, posting as much since the joyful creation and discovery of Marcacci progeny almost one year ago, but I've been receiving many more comments on the blog, despite my lack of attention, which is nice. It could be that I receive just as many comments as I did before, but they're just not as spread out.

Before it slips my mind again, my Dusie chapbook, Imagining a Baby, which you can download and e-read by perusing your choices in the handy sidebar at left, was reviewed at Galatea Resurrects, a poetry review website.

The three of us took sick this weekend, starting with Vito who really only ran a slight fever for a few days and then seemed relatively fine. After that, Angela came down with a cold and, now that it has run its course on her, seems to have found new life in me who, at this moment, would rather be sleeping. Nevertheless, I'm not far from it, and temporarily sacrifice myself for the betterment of the blogsphere, if you can call this that.

Vito continues to do his growing thing. He can get in, perhaps, a dozen steps before hitting the turf or the waiting arms of parentage. Mama is also becoming a more distinct utterance in his lexicon, up till now largely comprised of its natural complement.

Tonight, Vito was playing quietly in the corner near his toy box when I started eating an apple. It's difficult to eat an apple without disturbing the peace, at least the way I eat apples, but he didn't seem to notice, so concentrated as he was on one or other of his blocks.

After a few more crunchy bites, Vito noticed what I was doing and crawled over to the couch, where I was lying, to investigate. He made loud attempts to acquire the apple and, seeing every effort thwarted, turned toward that old standby, the tantrum. "OK. You want some apple?" I asked, getting up from the couch and walking to the kitchen to get a knife. Feeling abandoned, he only increased his tantrum. "Come here," I said, cutting off a small piece of the apple and removing the skin, and he did just that, sensing, possibly, that he'd won.

Well, he wouldn't have anything to do with the little naked apple bit I presented to him. He indicated that he wanted the apple, just not the doctored bit that was in my hand. I held the apple near his mouth and he clamped onto it, really scraping off a piece more than taking a bite, but happy. He chewed for a while and then readied for a second take. He repeated the activity a dozen times, maybe, and then crawled off toward his mother when she entered the room.

Old Sacramento and Such

2008-04-22T03:55:00.000+03:00

We found out last week that our summer plans would be dashed against rocks of immigration and that we, to avoid any further strife or unpleasantness, should remain in this country until we have all the necessary documents in hand. We learned that we had failed to submit all of the proper forms for Angela to gain residency and, now that we know better, are welcome to submit the remaining forms (with the additional fees!) and await the merciful hand of bureacracy.

Part of our unhappy journey of discovery included a trip to California's capital, Sacramento, on a gorgeously cloudless Friday afternoon. I hadn't ever really explored Sacramento much, despite having grown up in the area and, before getting back on the highway to return to Vacaville, we stopped in Old Sacramento to look around, which was a surprise. Old Sacramento, designated as a State Historic Park, is a restored Gold Rush-era town along the Sacramento River with many shops, museums and restaurants to explore. A beautiful site, we were overwhelmed by the unusual architecture, wooden sidewalks and cobblestone streets, and plan to return soon when we are better prepared to spend more time there.

Anyway, we had been well into Spring here with teasing glimpses of summer, and then things took a turn for the cold this weekend with rough wind swirling pollen and dust into the icy mix, extending, unhappily, into today. The surrounding hills have lost their verdancy, and are beginning to take on a burnt hue as the sun continues to bake us, despite the wind and cooler temperatures. Spring's last gasp, perhaps, before summer takes hold completely.

School is winding down, though it can't get here fast enough for me. I spent most of the weekend grading papers, but we snuck out for a peep at the Fantasy/Medieval Festival taking place in downtown Vacaville. We took a quick stroll through the streets on Sunday, looking at all of the booths, strangely attired people and other oddities, and then went back home.

For all of you Vito-mongers, he is doing fine. His first birthday is approaching, and it's hard to believe that we have almost been going strong for one year with the little man. He is starting to throw things and get into more and more trouble on a daily basis, but we couldn't be happier.

Bubbles!

2008-03-27T08:29:00.000+03:00

The weather cooled down noticeably today. Rain had been predicted but there was none of the stuff. Still, it was a hot in the sun, while cool in the shade. It's windy now, outside, and colder than it has been in a while, but I can't really complain. I can't remember if the weather has always been like this during the Spring here in Vacaville, but it seems unseasonably pleasant. Living here again, after an absence of nearly 20 years, I'm continually struck by how beautiful are some of things around me, even though I grew up here.

We woke up today and discovered the photo of Vito and me pictured here on the front page of the local paper, The Reporter. It made our day! We received many calls and congratulations about it. This was one of Vito's first serious experiences with bubbles, having only dabbled in them a few days prior. The photo was taken by Joel Rosenbaum, Senior Staff Photographer for the paper. Additionally, the picture also appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for whatever reason.

Angela, Vito and me were at the park near our apartment, and I was on Vito duty while Angela was trying to fly a kite, something she had only tried, unsuccessfully, once before when we were living in China. I had surprised Angela with a couple of Chinese kites one day. After a few hours of failure, discussion and advice from neighborhood kite experts, and tree rescues, we gave up.

For Easter, I bought us a little mini dragon-shaped kite (like the one pictured here) and, we tried to get if off the ground, but it kept spiraling out of control. After a modification to the tail, it flew quite well, despite the thimble of string that was included which didn't really let it get too far up into the atmosphere. After this effort, we're going to try to get a serious kite and a long spool of string and really test our mettle!

Easter Eve

2008-03-23T08:22:00.000+03:00

Easter is such a different holiday in America with our Easter Bunny and egg hunts. Angela and I were immersed in Catholicism last Easter, spending our time with family in Italy, following processions and church-hopping. Seems like such a long time ago, now, particularly as Vito hadn't joined us, yet. This Easter season, so far, has been happily spent with family, as well, too, albeit on the American side.

My parents are in town for Easter, back from St. George, Utah (which is where they live, now), so we've been spending all of our time together. They'll return to St. George on Monday. As I had Friday off from school, an early start to spring break, we spent yesterday dyeing easter eggs at my grandparent's house in Vallejo with my sister's three kids and had a blast, the partial results of which you can see here. I don't think I have dyed eggs in more than 20 years! Angela had never dyed eggs before so it was quite a new experience for her. After lunch, Vito slept through the egg dyeing and missed all of that action.

Today, continuing the family activities, we went to San Francisco with my grandparents and my parents. The weather was spectacular. We took a ferry from Vallejo, another first for Angela, and played tourists at Pier 39, eating lunch, looking at the sea lions, riding the merry-go-round, and shopping a bit. I took some sun and feel a little worn out as I put this together, but it was a great day. We'll all meet again in Dixon tomorrow to celebrate Easter at my Aunt Sue's house and close out this Easter weekend. We usually Skype Angela's family in Italy on Sunday mornings, so we also have that to look forward to when we wake up.

Vito Update: Our son quickly mastered the crawl, which was the new move I mentioned in my previous post, and has since learned how to pop up on both feet and cling around the house, further endangering unsuspecting books and closet doors. He's excited about the change and, I suppose, it won't be long before he can do it without the aid of walls and table legs.

Crawling & Cybersprawling

2008-02-16T18:53:00.000+03:00

We're already halfway through February. My students wanted to know what I was going to do for Valentine's Day, a much more jittery tittering sugar-filled hormonal dream for them then for me. As we're being tight-fisted with our expenses, we didn't do much, although I did splurge on a bouquet of flowers for Angela.

The weather has been brilliantly clear and spring-like since my last post. The hills are green and lush, spotted here and there with pink and white blossoming trees. The fine weather should continue for, at least, another week. That's as far ahead as I've seen in the forecast.

Vito, a few days over nine months old now, continues to be the harbinger of curiosity and chaos. As teeth started descending, two dentini already well-sprouted for a few weeks in the lower gums, he began crawling last week. Every electrical cord is in danger! Alas, now we have to baby-proof everything within his reach as he can open cabinets, destroy plants and pull books off of shelves. In these days, it seems like we can see daily changes in his development. We were surprised to discover that he could even pull himself to his feet while in the crib!

I couldn't sleep anymore this morning, so I got up to read the newspaper and *gasp* tap out an entry for the blogpeople on this first day of the second consecutive three-day weekend. We're going to go to a few garage sales later today. We did the same last weekend and found a nice large oak bookshelf which we acquired for a measly $5. Now, we're looking for a desk as I've been planning my lessons and grading papers on the living room floor which, aside from being overly tempting for Vito, is uncomfortable.

Getting Back on the Horse

2008-01-25T17:40:00.000+03:00

It's hard to believe so much time has elapsed since my previous post. I haven't done this in a while. It feels strange, but I've come back, at least, temporarily. I don't anticipate being able to make more than one post per week in the coming weeks, but I won't make any promises one way or another and spare myself that potential failure...

Life is good. After a less than restful holiday trip to Italy for Christmas and New Year's, Angela, Vito and me have returned to the USA and moved into our own apartment, finally. We're getting settled in slowly, and I'm starting to reconnect with friends and such...

It's raining steadily here in the real California world now as I tap this onto the good old cyberskin. It has been raining incessantly all week and should continue through the weekend. I can't complain about it, though. After living abroad for so many years, I appreciate California much more. Since we returned here a few months ago, the weather has otherwise been splendid...

Being a father, a husband, a son, a grandson, a student and a breadwinner has kept me busy. Rewarding enough roles in and of themselves. All the juicy poetry stuff that was had come to a grinding halt, but I've been resuscitating that part of me a bit more, lately. I'm starting a poetry club at my school! The project may not sound glamorous enough to you, but I'm excited about it. It will take a while to get back to full speed but, with new priorities and a calmer outlook, things are moving back into place...

I added a translator on the sidebar over there <-- on the left. If you can read another language, check it out...

Holiday Verge

2007-11-21T18:13:00.000+03:00

We've been milking every ounce out of this Indian Summer here, surprised that it has been so nice for so long. Vacaville is quite beautiful in Autumn as the leaves change and fall as they always do. Seems a different place than the one in which I grew up. The weather snapped today, though, and I felt cold in the early evening. Time to get ready for Winter...

Hard to believe that Thanksgiving is already upon us. My life has been a whirlwind in the past few months. I haven't had any time for writing or reflection but, perhaps, this is a sign of more to follow. I've been spending every waking minute on either preparations for my English classes or assignments for my online class on The Diverse Classroom. I wink at my wife and son in passing...

Gone are the days of canned lessons and teaching assistants who really did all the work (as was the case in China). I'm responsible for everything in the classroom, now. It's challenging, but tremendously rewarding, as well. I'm enjoying the week off, although I've been working at home. Thanksgiving recess! You won't hear any complaints from me. I'm trying to get everything done by the weekend so I can have some uninterrupted family time before getting back on the horse for the stretch run to Christmas...

There should be a full house here this weekend with my sister's three kids and my cousin's daughter spending the night! We'll all be making the traditional excursion to the Silveyville Christmas Tree Farm on Friday to cut down a pine-scented decoration, and then returning home to turn the house into Christmas house! We live behind a street that's actually dubbed Candy Cane Lane at this time of year, because every house has a decorated exterior. So as far as Christmas in Vacaville goes, we're about as deep as you can get. Expect video!

That's all for now, folks. I don't know who reads this anymore, but I'm doing as much as I can at the mo. I need to pace myself...

Back to Basics

2007-10-29T18:59:00.000+03:00

I haven't forgotten you, but I've just been up to my neck in muck.

One month after arriving, I've finally found a job. I have been substitute teaching in Vacaville for the past three weeks, but now I'm an English teacher at Fairfield High School! I started today and I'm teaching 11th and 12th-grade English. It's been great so far and we're all much happier that I'm earning the daily bread. Unfortunately, I need to go back to school to get a teaching credential so I've enrolled in an online program at National University and started my first course this evening. Busy Monday! I'm up way past my bedtime...

The weather here in Vacaville has been superb! Indian summer in its full regalia. Vito is doing wonderfully. He has discovered that he can chew on his big toe! Angela and grandma have taken him to the library a couple times and we're getting ready for mom & Vito's first Halloween on Wednesday. We all went to the Silveyville Pumpkin Patch to pick out pumpkins. Trick-or-treat!

Now that I have a job, I'm hoping to get back on the blogging horse at bit more regularly. Obviously, with the new job and online coursework to complete, I won't have too much free time, but I'll try to squeeze a post in when I can. Glad you came back!

i-Outlaw 2.7 featuring Sheila E. Murphy

2007-10-07T18:13:00.000+03:00

powered by ODEO

We were away for the summer and, just reading all of the fan mail, I know you missed us. We moved about the globe and vacationed, (and you did it, too!) but we're back in the cyberslack and it's all true. You wrote it. i-Outlaw 2.7, as you can easily see from the title, features Sheila E. Murphy and her unique blend of poetry that will render you suitable for more, so check the score. We're not leaving without you.

If you're not in the loop, ripping from her Wikipedia entry, Sheila E. Murphy, born in Mishawaka, Indiana, is an American text and visual poet who has been writing and publishing actively since 1978.

Just there, I'll turn to the issue of disjunction, the ultimate expression of freedom in my writing, that is the beginning of discovery. It is almost as though something underneath all the activity pursued actively challenges me to put two things together and to find out how they match. Because, of course, they do. They fit together or at least work together in some way. I may not know how until they are there together. And when they are, and I learn how and maybe even why they fit or match or mutually enhance, then I've begun to learn something that ensures that I'll move forward in some way I do not know until I have.

- from an interview on Tom Beckett's e-x-c-h-a-n-g-e-v-a-l-u-e-s, 2005.

i-Outlaw version 2.7 also features fine poetry, in order of appearance, by:

Luc Simonic
Jill Chan
CA Conrad
Lenore Weiss
Matina Stamatakis
Joe Green
Christine Hamm
Mathew Timmons
Paula Grenside
Carly Sachs

Spread the word far and wide. Don't forget to enter our contest to win a free book of poetry! I have books by Sheila E. Murphy, Jill Chan, Derek Motion, Jordan Stempleman, Eileen Tabios, Mark Young & Bill Allegrezza. Listen to i-Outlaw now and find out how...

Flight to America

2007-10-04T17:36:00.000+03:00

Since my last post, we'd been busy preparing for our sudden departure from Italy and, afterwards, dealing with all of the new things which come with settling in California.

Pino, Angela's brother, drove us to the airport. It was a rainy, tearful and tense Tuesday morning, no one (including ourselves) completely at ease with our decision to leave what had become a comfortable life in Putignano. I had planned to say so many things to Angela's family, rehearsing and perfecting sentiments in Italian in my head the night before, but didn't end up saying anything at all. It's difficult to say much facing a line of sobbing family members without falling in line myself.

At the airport, we scarfed down a couple pieces of cardboard airport pizza, grabbed our bags and panini for the plane, dashed for our flight, landed in Milan after about two hours, took a short cab ride to our hotel and finally relaxed. Everything had gone smoothly and, if everything would have gone as smoothly on the the next day, we wouldn't have had anything to complain about.

Silvia, who lives in Milan, came to our little hotel and visited with us for about an hour before ducking out to make a dinner date. She was a breath of fresh air in what had become a depressing departure, excited about our future and wonderfully positive about our new beginning. After Silvia left us, the three of us headed out to meet Nicholas for dinner. We met him at a small Sicilian restaurant and enjoyed a fabulous seafood meal. A great uplifting end to this first leg of our journey.

The next morning, after a decent breakfast of yogurt, cornetti and cappuccino in the hotel lobby café, we cabbed back to the airport and checked our luggage with some difficulty. As we needed our stroller to more easily maintain Vito, we had to make special arrangements for its transport, but it seemed to take a long time. Nonetheless, we made our flight in plenty of time and boarded the plane destined for London without further difficulty, only giving up the stroller right before climbing the portable stairway into the plane. We were about one hour behind schedule.

We were worried that we wouldn't have time to catch our connecting flight in London, but we discovered that we had a bigger problem once we arrived there. Unfortunately, when we landed in London, our stroller, which was a combination stroller/car seat was not waiting for us. No one in London could help us. We learned that, if the stroller wasn't in San Francisco, our final destination, we could file a complaint there! Not only did we have to carry Vito to the next flight all the way across Heathrow Airpoirt (Angela actually carried Vito, while I carried our backpack, computer and the large carry-on bag we had brought) but, when we would arrive in San Francisco, we wouldn't have a car seat for Vito and didn't know if we would be able to get one at the airport.

Luckily, Angela's cellphone worked in London and, before taking off, I called my parents, who were coming to get us at the airport in San Francisco, and told them the story. They agreed to grab a car seat just in case.

We landed in San Francisco at rush hour on Wednesday evening California time but, for our biological clocks, it was really Thursday morning at about 3AM. Unhappily, our stroller was not waiting for us, nor did it appear on the baggage carousel. We filed a complaint for the missing luggage as we had been advised and then, despite the fact that my parents were waiting for us with a car seat, we could not leave without an attendant checking to make sure we had car seat waiting for us. My parents were waiting at the gate, they had a car seat, and soon we were home and safely asleep.

After a couple days, the stroller arrived, and even though an integral piece needed to attach the car seat to the stroller had broken off, the stroller was functional.

Since then, we've been busy almost every day with various activities. All of us have acclimated, although Vito seems to have come down with a cold and has been a little crabby all day today. Anyway, you're all caught up with our drama. We're fully open to and accepting positive vibes, prayers, mojo and any other magic you might be able to send our way so don't hesitate.

Road Trip to Naples

2007-09-15T18:47:00.000+03:00

Jobless.

Nearly penniless.

Leaving Italy soon...

Going back to California.

Not the cascade we had planned. Aside from the above, Vito is running a high fever and the three of us are feeling a little rotten.

After a few days of off and on rainstorms and cold temperatures hearkening a colder season than autumn, and coinciding with the downfall of the beginning of our Italian endeavor which made everything feel even bleaker than it really is, the weather has nicely mellowed a bit.

Drove to Naples on Thursday morning to get an emergency passport for Vito, which would facilitate our departure together. Naples is about 3½ hours by car from Putignano and, as our appointment was for any time between 8AM and 9AM at the United States consulate, we had to leave in the wee hours.

We woke up at 3:20AM, 20 minutes later than we wanted and, instead of leaving at 3:30AM, we hit the road by 4AM. No big deal. That should still have put us in Naples by 8AM and it did. About 15 minutes out of town, I realized that I had forgotten my driver's license! Already behind schedule, Vito, thankfully, sleeping soundly in his car seat, we opted to continue on and try our luck without it.

It was dark and the autostrada was fantastically vacant. We stopped once for gas and once more to soothe Vito who was clamoring for a change, but found ourselves crossing into Naples right around 8AM. It was rush hour then and so there was no avoiding traffic any longer. Angela began to get nervous. I was confident and reminded Angela that we had plenty of time.

The weather was spectacular and clear, but it quickly became unimportant. We took a few wrong exits, drove down a dead end street, backed into a post, and drove around lost for about 45 minutes! Angela used to live in Naples, notorious, as you may know, as being a city famous for its terrible drivers and traffic, but she had never driven there and found her knowledge of the streets somewhat lacking. We found a nice man who told us to follow him in his car, and he showed us the way to the consulate, weaving us through some of the most beautiful streets in Naples, although neither of us were in the mood to enjoy them.

We arrived unhappy because we had missed our appointment, and thought we would have to return next week, but we were admitted, presented with the passport, and were back in our car by 10AM. We had one more stop to pick up Angela's diploma, which didn't take long and, by 11:30AM we had completed everything we had set out to do!

Anxious to get out of the stressful traffic and chaos of downtown Naples, we started back toward home hungry, but willing to stop for something to eat on the way. We returned without much trouble (although Vito was restless and beginning to show signs of his illness) and, soon, all three of us were fast asleep.

The Latest from Putignano

2007-09-01T16:31:00.000+03:00

Deathly humid and hot during the day, cool and fresh at night. It sprinkled a little yesterday. There's your weather report. Not an incredibly creative beginning, especially when you compare this to my previous post...

We found a little grey Toyota Yaris like the one pictured here and will be picking that up next week after we get insured. The rest of our free time has been spent contemplating furnishings for our apartment. We found some nice things, but need a bigger vehicle to transport everything to our apartment. I think Angela's brother will let us use his truck, but it doesn't look like we'll make any progress now until next weekend. Aside from that, the gas was turned on this week and our mattresses arrived. Step by step...

Vito is growing and doing well. Everything's pretty regular. He sucks his fingers and splutters often. I was wondering last week if his first word (aside from mama or papa) would be in Italian or English.

Still Summer, Family Waves

2007-08-25T19:57:00.000+03:00

Not much out of the ordinary, lately, in what is left of this summer. The weather has been hot and humid during the day, unbearably still and sweat-inducing at midday, but it cools down nicely at night. Mosquitoes still roam the land with a vigor when the conditions are right. An ever-present wind has developed, as well. Not too strong, but pretty erratic.

Family time seems to come in waves here. It's impossible to escape. I can't complain much living in the in-laws apartment for the past seven months. Been spending a good deal of time out in the countryside, lately, to the neglect of most of my other interests, particularly the technological ones. I can't say I'm disappointed about it, though. I could be working and cooking my own meals...

Vito is doing fine. He seems to be doing all of the things he's expected to be doing. When he sleeps, he still sucks a non-existent nipple. He looks like a fish. When he's awake, he's captivated by all that is around him. He's learning to handle his rattles and is getting stronger by the day.

Our new apartment is cleaned and ready. We'll be moving in once we find a few more furnishings, such as a closet for the bedroom. Our car is on hold. We thought we found one that was serviceable, but it met with general disapproval. So the process begins again...

Making Tomato Sauce

2007-08-14T06:14:00.000+03:00

Busy busy. Barely keeping on top of certain things including this little blog that could, but here I am again with the latest.

After a little cooler temperatures and some wind, the weather has climbed up again. It's still cool at night, which is refreshing.

Went to Angela's parent's countryside house on Saturday morning to help them make tomato sauce. Here is the whole gang at work. You can view more pictures of the process here. Angela, Vito and me arrived at about 7:30AM, but the others had started at about 4AM!

First, the tomatoes were boiled in giant pots. When they were sufficiently boiled the tomatoes were transferred to a large, flat, sieve-like container to cool and broken with a large fork. The juice collected from this initial "pressing" was later added to the sauce if it was looking too thick. The tomatoes were then transferred to a large container and rock salt was added. From here, the tomatoes were scooped into a type of industrial funnel. Once in the funnel, the tomatoes were forced into a small hole with a kind of "plunger" or large pestle (this was also my primary job, although I had to take a break to feed Vito at one point). The sauce was forced out of a strainer into a large tub while the skins and seeds emptied into a different container. When a sufficient amount of skins and seeds had been collected, they were put through the strainer a second time and then discarded.

The sauce which had come through the strainer and was collecting in the large tub was then poured into bottles by using a tap near the bottom of the tub. Both Angela and me took turns operating the tap. The bottles had been sterilized beforehand and a few leaves of basil had been dropped into each bottle. After filling each bottle a cap was applied. Finally, the bottles were place inside large oil drums, the oil drums were filled with water and then boiled one last time. Once the bottles were set to boil, the process of cleaning up and putting everything away began and, well, you all know how to do those things.

A big messy job—my clothes were splattered with tomato sauce—but everyone had a good time. Angela's family has been making tomato sauce every August for many many years. I had never made tomato sauce before so it was pretty exciting for me. Almost forgot to mention that we sauced 214 kilograms (472 pounds) of tomatoes into about 150 liters (almost 40 gallons)!

More to follow. We procured an apartment today and will begin cleaning and moving into it next week, which is also when we should be getting the car we've been considering. Obviously, pictures and other interactive media to come. Most of Italy is on vacation now so we can't do very much this week.

The Festival of Saint Stephen

2007-08-06T17:51:00.000+03:00

The weather took a cold and windy turn here over the past few days bringing about a 20°C change in the temperature. It feels like autumn is upon us already, but I suspect things will heat up again soon. It's a welcome variation from the blistering heat of the prior week, though.

We were preoccupied with more activities last week and, happily, spent a good deal of time with the family. Take a look at this nice video of the procession for the festival of Saint Stephen, Putignano's patron saint.

Otherwise, I've been busy. Still having trouble finding the time to keep up with all of my activities. Vito obviously takes the lion's share of time these days and, I believe, my job search has come to an end, but I'll save any announcements until after I sign a contract. My fantasy football draft (I've managed a league for eleven seasons now) began a few days ago, also, and that has sapped some energy and time from me.

New E-Book

2007-07-31T19:02:00.000+03:00

Download my latest e-book, Imagining a Baby, part of the Dusie Kollectiv. I worked on this poem during the weeks leading up to Vito's birth and released a print version last week.

Santa Maria del Carmine, Tango & Etc.

2007-07-27T05:49:00.000+03:00

Hot and humid here. Not much out of the ordinary in that respect. It's really too hot to even think about using the computer during the day. In fact, I've been on relatively light computer rations all this week. When I do use the computer, I try to limit my session to no more than one hour. I don't want to melt this beast...

Vito received a couple vaccination injections on Wednesday. He seems completely recovered from the experience. We heard him cry more strongly than we had previously experienced, but I suppose we're in for many more firsts in both good and bad categories...

Last weekend started a two-week stretch of excitement and festivals in Putignano. On Sunday evening, we went out to celebrate the festival of Santa Maria del San Carmine with the town. If you go back to last year, you can read even more about it and find more photos of the happenings. The small picture on the left shows the lights for Santa Maria del Carmine and the small picture on the right shows the lights for San Stefano (Saint Stephen). Saint Stephen is Putignano's patron saint. I'm not sure why. Apparently, there is, at least, one of his bones (his skull?) here in town somewhere. I haven't verified this information, but let's go with it for now...

The highlight of Sunday's events was the climactic tango performance at the town hall by Hector Ulisses Passerella & Ensemble. Traditionally, a local orchestra performs in the small square near the church, but the event organizers thought they would try something with a little more pizzazz. The ensemble not only played tango music, but also featured a couple of dancers and a woman who recited poetry. Watch a short sample of the event now...

The name of the performance was Vi Racconto Il Tango... which translates to something like "I tell you the tango..." and presented a more historical and informative perspective on tango music and its origins and development. I don't think anyone went home displeased.

The Sound of Music

2007-07-20T19:21:00.000+03:00

Vito is starting to make lots of sounds. It's exciting as there're new sounds almost every day. Click on this icon and listen to Vito, recorded last week, in one of his lingual states. Angela and me are quite happy to inspire this kind of backtalk from our little man and do our best to respond in kind. If you've ever been a parent, you've probably experienced it. If you haven't been a parent, you can try now in the privacy of your own home!

My mother brought us the vase pictured here when her and my father were visiting a few weeks ago. It is a Marcacci family heirloom. The vase (although it doesn't really look like a traditional vase) was given to my grandmother Ruth, my father's mother, when my father was born. Ruth, in turn, gave it to my mother when I was born and now, my mother has passed it down to my wife at the arrival of Vito. A cool tradition. Apparently, it used to be quite popular to give vases when there was a newborn. I don't know if this happens anymore or not, but we'd be happy to hear about it...

Intolerable Humidity & Mother's Milk

2007-07-18T18:27:00.000+03:00

We've arrived among the days of unbearable humidity again. It makes vacuuming, one of my household tasks, quite unpleasant. This third floor apartment doesn't exactly cool down fast in the evenings.

I don't think Vito likes the humidity very much either as he resisted our best efforts to pacify him this afternoon. He's sleeping soundly now while Angela expresses her milk. When my parents were vising last week, my mom told her that's what they call it in America these days, expressing, but I have yet to verify the information. Seems strange, but what do I know. I'm not exactly up on the latest breast-feeding slang. Feel free to let me know if you know the score...

And, well, here I am, as usual. Sitting in front of a computer for very long doesn't exactly cool me down, either, but it's much more satisfying than vacuuming. Unfortunately, in the last two days, I've printed both sides of an entire ream of paper, which has not been enjoyable on this little ink-jet job. Better than nothing. The final pages are actually printing out as I type this.

In the Trenches

2007-07-14T17:16:00.000+03:00

Tonight is La Notte Bianca (The White Night) here in Putignano, a new event since last year, and many of the shops will be open until dawn. It's really the last hurrah for the carnival floats which normally debut every year in February. It also a nice lead-in to San Stefano, the festival of the town's patron saint, which begins next week.

Most of the time, Vito sleeps or eats pleasantly. When he's not doing those things, we play together, me imitating his sounds and trying to communicate in his special language, him smiling and moving his limbs spastically. That's basically my job these days: baby translator. Occasionally, dealings with Vito can offer much more than expected. Regurgitating of milk onto my shirt, for example, or drooling onto my arm and the floor. He makes messes and is likely to leave his mark at any time.

I took a hit from our little man today. While feeding him this afternoon, I noticed he was squirming around more than he normally does. That usually means one thing. I tried to reposition him and, really getting to the bottom of the situation, noticed a warmish sensation on my palm. Vito started crying and I passed him off to Angela (she handles the serious jobs). Then I had to disrobe. Vito's expulsion had tagged my shirt and my pants and I needed to get into something fresh.

More General Stuff / Poetry Update

2007-07-11T19:48:00.000+03:00

It hasn't been as humid here lately so it's possible to sleep at night without sweating ceaselessly. In fact, it was downright cool today with a strong wind blowing. A welcome change...

Mother and Vito are both well and good. Seems like I don't have a minute to spare these days. I can't imagine what will happen when I begin working again. Something will fall away... I suppose I will deal with that when the time comes.

A couple international publications this month. Read a few groups of poems about Italy, part of a slowly evolving series additionally featuring some of my photos, at an Irish publication called DeadDrunkDublin. You can also read poems in a New Zealand magazine called Junctures. There's even more work in Concelebratory Shoehorn Review and in the latest issue of Hamilton Stone Review. Last but not least, check out Sawbuck, in which a number of my poems appeared recently.

i-Outlaw 2.6 featuring Annie Finch

2007-07-04T15:00:00.000+03:00

You can now listen to i-Outlaw 2.6, the audio poetry show I host, produced by Josh Hinck. Lots of stuff interfered with our rapid release of this version, including the wonderful arrival of my parents for a stretch. Anyway, everything should be up and running now. Happy Independence Day!

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Her mother was a poet and doll-artist, her father a scholar of philosophy and religion. A practicing Wiccan, Finch's poetry is inspired largely by her relations with the natural world, especially the landscapes of Maine. The forms of Finch's poems are almost always complex and musical; their themes draw upon earth-centered spirituality, myth, sex, and childbirth. Uniting all of her work is a conception of poetry as essentially incantatory, performative, speaking to the body as much as to the mind.
- from the Annie Finch and Poets.org websites.

The role of the poet, as of every citizen, is to be first a fully engaged citizen, either of a family or a community or a subculture or a nation or the planet or of any other group that feels like the right fit.
- from an interview on Here Comes Everybody, 2005.

i-Outlaw version 2.6 also features fine poetry by:

Emma Barnes
Aaron Belz
Andrew Burke
Jim Goar
Lisa Gordon
Jill Jones
Lewis LaCook
Amanda Laughtland
Rebeka Lembo
Ashraf Osman

Spread the word far and wide. Don't forget to enter our contest to win a free book of poetry! I have books by Sheila E. Murphy, Jill Chan, Derek Motion, Jordan Stempleman, Eileen Tabios, Mark Young & Bill Allegrezza. Listen to i-Outlaw now and find out how...

Blog Losing

2007-06-23T19:53:00.000+03:00

Sweating horribly away in front of the computer. The weather here has taken a serious turn toward the humid, but I'm alive and well. It's hard to believe I haven't written in more than one week. Time seems to be slipping through my fingers lately.

I'm finding that I don't have enough time to give proper attention to the blog these days. A few behind-the-scenes projects are keeping me busy these days, as well, the results of which you should see soon. The blog won't go away, but life supersedes...

Vito caught a cold from, probably, his father (*#&@!), who caught a cold last week, and the doctor ordered us to administer aerosol medication, which is what is happening in this picture. Vito doesn't seem to mind and everything appears to be on the up and up. It's great because he's sleeping through the night again!

Otherwise, mom and dad are having a good time getting to know Vito better. He smiles often now and his vocal expressions seem to evolve daily. Amazing!

Birthdays, Casamassima, Etc.

2007-06-15T14:03:00.000+03:00

Today is my wife's birthday. Auguri Angela! Also, today is our son's name day or, as they call it here, onomastico. So today is a celebration for everyone named Vito! It's nice that Vito's onomastico and Angela's birthday fall on the same day. The name day actually seems much more important. It's easier than keeping track of everyone's real birthday! All the names are based on the names of the saints. I guess if a person is not named after a saint, that person never gets to enjoy an onomastico!

Went to Casamassima yesterday, a nearby town, for a job interview. Due to the train schedule, I arrived about 90 minutes early for the interview and had time to walk around. Here's a picture of the train station, which is not much to look at. The town was nice and the interview was promising.

More General Fodder

2007-06-13T18:47:00.000+03:00

I imagine Vito grows and cries and eats much like other one-month-olds. A source of continuing happiness for mom and dad...

Humid here. Flash thunderstorms. Mosquitoes. This kind of stickiness reminds me of Japan. I've had Japan on my mind lately.

Updated my list of poetry links on the left. There are still lots of other places to find my poems if you go looking...

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Check out the new audio show hosted by Joe McDonald, From the Vault of Antiquity, on i-Outlaw. Episode 1 features the writing of Basil of Seleucia with an excerpt called The One on Saint Elijah.

General Progress Report

2007-06-07T19:35:00.000+03:00

I had neither seen nor eaten a mulberry before. Should I say mulberry berry? I didn't know they came in, at least, three different colors, and I read some downright exciting trivia (does anyone use that word anymore?) on the the white mulberry wiki! I ate one of the white variety pictured here...

Vito seems to make new and improved expressions and sounds every day. He also seems to be smiling more often...

When Vito cries now, tears come out of his eyes. I was surprised that he dry-cried for the first few weeks...

All weight and rash issues have gone by the wayside and things seem to be rolling along smoothly in Vito's development...

2007-06-04T18:51:00.000+03:00

June snuck up on me. The desire is strong, but the time seems to be mysteriously lacking...

The days are mostly the same. I look for jobs until my neck hurts. Variations on Vito in A sharp & B flat. For the less musically inclined, the names of his parents would be sufficient replacements for this tune in the otherwise same key...

When telling my students about my son's name, I said, "My son, Vito..." and continued talking. I was telling a story about his birth. It didn't seem like anyone understood my story so I said it a few more times and my students began laughing. I asked them why. It turns out that they thought I was saying "Mai, San Vito..." which translates to "Never, Saint Vito...."

I can't get too carried away with my posts...

On to bigger and better dreams this night...

Poetry Television on Walt Whitman's Birthday

2007-05-31T03:43:00.000+03:00

Another poem for the fiends among you who desire such wordstuffs, not as few and far between as some might imagine. There are those of us who look for poetry, who feed. I am one of them. We meet on the abandoned baseball diamond and, in a neon glow, hurl our star wishes further...

2007-05-30T18:10:00.000+03:00

Still looking for a job. I wonder, sometimes, if what I put here negatively affects what could potentially happen elsewhere. Unfortunately, I'm not going to stop doing this.

I put a new e-book, with... con..., over there on the left. It's a wedding poem. The e-book is new, but it was first printed as a chapbook (in both Italian and English) last year when Angela and I got married. We gave copies to the guests at our wedding. I also have some new poems in Alice Blue. Stay tuned for one of my poetry videos...

Since Vito came home from the hospital, everything was sort of working in a well-oiled fashion. He was sleeping all night, at least, which is about as well-oiled as one could hope for with a newborn. Summer was also making a strong play to be the dominating season here and then everything snapped. It stormed a few days ago, dumping rain crazily down, and it has been windy, cloudy (I wrote cloudly, at first, which is nicer) and cool. The change in the weather coincided with a change in Vito's habits, as well.

He hasn't slept quite through the night in the past few days. Vito had a rash around his output and now has acne? around his input, mostly natural for babies, I am told. He also wasn't quite getting enough to eat from his mother, thus losing a little weight, so now he's on a half-and-half diet. Half from mom and half from the can.

Vito's Rattle & Daddy Rattles On...

2007-05-25T12:52:00.000+03:00

We went for a walk today and bought Vito his first toy. He didn't have any toys, yet! It looked something like the picture here. Apparently, the model we purchased is not available in the states (I ripped the picture from the English site, not the Italian site). That or we bought a discontinued model. In either case, it wasn't any cheaper. Vito can't do very much with toys, though, but we're pleased that he now has one. I'm sure there will be many more to grow bored with in his future.

If you've had a baby of your own, you know that just about all they can do for a while is sleep, cry, feed and expel. Even if you don't have a baby, you've probably observed this. My wife has a clear role in things. She has to feed the baby. I try to make myself useful. I can change the baby without making too much of a mess, but I avoid this. In any case, I don't think my wife likes the way I do it.

I can do one thing fairly well, though. On a daily basis, I must hold Vito. It's a good job for me. It becomes a quest for the best position in which to hold Vito, the position in which he magically stops crying. It has happened once or twice and, on those occasions, there's no one happier than daddy.

i-outlaw 2.5 featuring Charles Bernstein

2007-05-22T19:09:00.000+03:00

Ren Powell
Luis H. Valadez
Amy Bernier
K. Silem Mohammad
Amber Nelson
Steven Schroeder
Emmy Pérez
Erik Rzepka
Tim Martin
Shanna Compton

Spread the word far and wide. Don't forget to enter our contest to win a free book of poetry! Listen to i-outlaw now and find out how...

Charles Bernstein was born in New York City in 1950. In the 1970s, Bernstein co-founded the influential journal L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E. Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, Bernstein also serves as the Executive Editor, and co-founder, of The Electronic Poetry Center at SUNY-Buffalo and is also a member of the Poetics List Editorial Board.

Watch Neils Plenge's The Answer, a poetry video with Charles Bernstein filmed in Riverside Park, New York, 2003.

More Vito Gushing

2007-05-21T15:11:00.000+03:00

We put Vito to sleep around 11:30PM last night and he didn't stir until about 7AM this morning. We were pretty amazed that we made it through the night undisturbed.

Mom, dad and Vito got dressed this morning and went out with Vito. Not our first walk together (we walked home from the hospital, all downhill and quite pleasant), but this would be an adventure which involved a number of stops. Already raising the bar on the level of complexity in the daily routine.

It was too cold in the shade and too hot in the sun for his mother, by Vito seemed to bump along in the little carriage without too much trouble. As we crossed Via Roma, which is the main street in Putignano, Vito began crying and carried on for a few blocks. By the time we had reached our destination, he had stopped crying, but while waiting, he started again, hungry. Angela finished her business (she was choosing a doctor for the little man), found a bench in an out-of-the-way place, and began to feed him.

We were soon back on our journey and had to make two more stops before returning home for lunch. Nothing extraordinary happened. We bought taralli and diapers, and we returned back home without further incident. Were you expecting more?

Sleepless in Putignano

2007-05-19T19:22:00.000+03:00

I'm going to have to wean myself off of blogging for a while. I'll still post, but perhaps with less frequency or just less abundantly. Seems like I don't have much time these days, as you might expect with the arrival of a new baby.

Nonetheless, I risk the wrath of my wife to write something brief before she knows what I'm doing. Angela's on the bed rocking the restless Vito who, well-fed and changed, resists the subtle suggestions and nudges of his mother to sleep.

We were warned by many about the lack of sleep, and experienced it yesterday as Vito carried us through the early morning hours until 5AM. Exhausted after that, all of us slept soundly until 10AM this morning.

I'm expecting a similar occurrence tonight, but who knows...

Pre-Vito, Postpartum & the Sound of New Life

2007-05-15T20:55:00.000+03:00

The following is for my die-hards, best viewed near many bouquets of flowers.

Sunday evening, after Angela's contractions were coming about every seven minutes, we hopped in her sister's car and drove to the hospital. Angela was admitted and, as happens, the contractions increased in frequency and we thought Vito would be born that evening, which would have really been a proper mother's day gift! They continued at about that pace for a few hours. Eventually, Angela told me to go home, eat, and then return, and that's what I did. When I returned to the hospital, there was no one in the waiting room, and this is what it looked like...

Sadly, Angela said her contractions had subsided and weren't occurring as often. She said she was going to try to get some sleep and told me to go home and do the same, which I did, blissfully sleeping until 7AM the next morning.

About an hour after I left, the contractions returned more vigorously, and they moved her into the labor room where she labored until I arrived the next morning. The doctors let me visit with Angela, sent me out, let me back in, and so forth for the next three hours. At around 10AM the doctors sent me out and I waited in the lobby with Anna, Angela's mother as I had done before. A little after 10:45AM, the doctor came by and told us that Vito was born. I was crushed that I had missed it, but it turns out that there were some complications which required the assistance of other doctors and my voyeuristic presence was simply irrelevant. Details only Angela can explain well. Everything worked out, though, and everyone's happy and healthy now.

A doctor brought me in to see Angela, and I did, touching her arm briefly before whirling around to see my son wrapped in umbilical matter (part of the previously mentioned complications) underneath a bright lamp. Before I really knew what was going on, another doctor whisked me away to another room and asked me many questions while filling out some hospital form. I was still concerned about Angela and the baby, but happy to be doing something to contribute to the completion of this process. I could handle all of the Italian so that was a personal victory.

Soon, after we began, Vito arrived and the nurse began to wash him and do all of the mysterious things they do to babies when no one's looking, like testing the springiness of his arms and legs, measuring his length and weighing him. I was pretty tickled to see him in this situation and you can listen to Vito while all of this was going on.

The doctor asked me to go and get Vito's clothes so the nurse could dress him. I went to her room on clouds! Angela's sister and mother were preparing Vito's bed and both of them kissed me and, at that moment, it hit me. I returned with the clothes, beaming like a schoolboy, and then the doctor asked me to retrieve the results of my wife's blood test. I was ecstatic that I had another task to do!

Vito Sante Marcacci

2007-05-14T11:55:00.000+03:00

Our little man arrived at 10:45AM this morning. I realize that, at the posting of this message, it's not that late in California (or anywhere in America), but you can do your own math if you need to convert everything to your own timezone.

Born in the Saint Maria of the Angels (Santa Maria degli Angeli) Hospital in Putignano, Italy, Vito weighed in at 8lb. 10oz. (3.93kg) and stretched to 21in. (54cm). The only accurate numbers are the metric numbers as I did the conversion and, well, I'm an English teacher not a math teacher.

I came home to get something to eat, make phone calls and to catch up with all y'all. More coming soon.

2007-05-12T11:49:00.000+03:00

It's Saturday afternoon. My mother-in-law's canaries are going off on the balcony, and it's hot like Summer already.

Nothing new to report on the Vito front. He's still happily ensconced in wombage.

It's a little stressful, every day with no big change, taking notice of every alteration and contraction of the fetus that goes bump in the night. If he doesn't emerge of his own volition within the next two days, we're told that Monday will be the day of days.

It would be fun if he arrived tomorrow to throw a wrench into all of our Mother's Day plans. I don't know what those plans are at the moment, but I'm sure they involve going to the countryside.

Whatever happens, you'll be the first to know. Aside from those of you who are here in the flesh, that is...

Bob's Your Uncle

2007-05-08T10:02:00.000+03:00

Mild-mannered computer-goon soon-to-be-father by day, hooded poetry-wielding i-outlaw-in-the-raw by night. You know it's more than just alright. Use the force, wrywalker, and come on over to the dark source...

Baby Holding Pattern

2007-05-07T18:34:00.000+03:00

Still no sign of Vito. Many of you are coming here for status reports (and there will surely be some highly informative interactive mention of the forthcoming event in the future) and, as a result, my statistics have been jumping off the charts.

I hope nothing goes down tomorrow evening as I'll be heading out to work around 6:30PM...

I'm done making predictions about his arrival, though. Lacking a new magic number, I'm surprisingly worry free now that we've gone beyond the date we had fixed in our minds for so long.

Angela has to meet with the doctor tomorrow for a little looksee. During the last visit, which was Saturday, the doctor said he was still riding a little high and, visually, to my untrained eye, it doesn't look like much has changed. He also told Angela to get herself tired so she insists on doing all the housework. I don't mind.

Baby Red Alert

2007-05-04T12:50:00.000+03:00

Angela's snoozing blissfully at the moment. I haven't been able to lately, although afternoon naps are fairly regular occurrences in these parts for young, old and pregnant alike. The pregnancy has gone fairly smoothly, based on what little I know of women's pregnancies, and we've been happy for that. I'm sure Angela is happier about it than I am. I have been relatively unaffected aside from being on the receiving end of the mood-swings and other caprices of my better half.

We're just waiting impatiently for baby Vito to drop, now. We're hoping it will be tomorrow, which caps forty weeks of gestation and worry, but it's difficult to predict such things. All of us were certain it would happen after the next full moon.

Angela's sister's kids have been chicken poxed so they have not been coming over this week, and are unhappily quarantined in their apartment on the other side of town. Apparently, there's a serious risk to the health of newborn babies. It has added a layer of disappointment to things, but such is life. The chicken pox will fade away and everything will return to normal soon enough.

In the meanwhile, I'm ready to meet this event with all the digital technology I can muster. In case you were wondering, I'm ready to get involved with the parenting technology I was born with, as well, but more on that later.

E-Book Free-For-All

2007-05-01T17:54:00.000+03:00

For the next 13 hours, go to Poetry Super Highway and download these e-books for free.

Castellana Grotte's Festival for the Madonna of the Vetrana

2007-04-30T17:24:00.000+03:00

Busy weekend with local festival and the usual family activities. Angela's mother is from Castellana. This weekend marked the beginning of the festival which honors that town's patron saint, the Madonna della Vetrana, pictured here. Every town in this region has a patron saint and, on the appointed day, launches a particular celebration.

To mark the opening of the festival, there was a procession on Saturday evening which departed from the Castellana convent and finished in the center of town at Parrocchia San Leone Magno, which is the town's main church. Each year, Angela's mother joins the procession, and this year was no exception, so we went to watch. Angela, Vito (Angela's father) and me found a nice place to stand along the route of the procession and waited for Anna to pass. The procession was not very long, starting with the town's various brotherhoods carrying banners and lanterns as well as the Madonna della Vetrana, and finished with a long train of candle-bearing women.

One of the highlights of the festival is the exuberant adornment of lights (luminarie) on display in Castellana's historic center of town. Yesterday, after spending the day in the countryside, we returned to Castellana to have a walk around the carnival and along the old streets of the town (Angela's parents went to church). We all met up again before returning home late in the evening.

i-outlaw 2.4 featuring Catherine Daly

2007-04-26T20:47:00.000+03:00

It's finally here. Listen to the new show! It's not much different from the old show, but, well, every show is different! Let me know what you think...

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The Dalys, a family founded in 1963, designed Catherine Daly in 1966. She was introduced on January 28, 1967 (thus she is an Aquarius), though her name and biography are continually expanded. She is a fifteen year post-grad living in the center of Los Angeles, CA, USA, with her family surnames Daly and Burch. She published DaDaDa with Salt Publishing in 2003; that trilogy has now become the first portion of a long project entitled CONFITEOR. Tupelo Press published Locket in 2005.

Download Catherine's e-books:

Secret Kitty
Paper Craft

Episode 2.4 also features fine poetry by:

Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore
Linda Benninghoff
John Sakkis
Peggy Eldridge-Love
Jordan Stempleman
Kaya Oakes
Miranda Gaw
Andrew Lundwall
Larissa Shmailo

Spread the word far and wide. Don't forget to enter our contest to win a free book of poetry! Listen now and find out how...

Catching Up

2007-04-26T14:15:00.000+03:00

I got paid on Monday, which was nice. I had forgotten about it. Even though I'm only earning a pittance right now, it covers the little money I've been frittering away on sweets and other incidentals. Angela and me went to the movie theater in the evening (movies are only two Euro every Monday) and watched Bobby, not a hot new movie, but we enjoyed it. The speech at the end of the movie was particularly interesting following in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre.

Yesterday was Liberation Day here and so a holiday. The weather was grey and misty in the morning so we ate lunch in the apartment, but, by the end of lunch, the weather had cleared up spectacularly and the four of us rolled out in Vito's silver Peugeot to spend the rest of the daylight in countryside.

When I woke up this morning, it started thundering and began raining heavily. It has been off-and-on strong rain all day long.

2007-04-21T16:11:00.000+03:00

Days come and go. It's hard to believe we'll add new little dude to our family soon...

As the weather has been stunningly sunny and clear during the day with wonderful sunsets and brilliant stars sprinkled in the evening, it's hard to differentiate one from another. I'm fighting a little sickness, now, and spent the entire afternoon in bed.

On a more positive note, I think I've found another job here. I talked to one of the screeners yesterday (she's a friend of my current boss), and learned that I was the only applicant. I don't want to celebrate, yet, though. Additional applicants have a way of materializing. I'll find out more about it next week, although it won't be nearly enough keep me here. At least, it's a foot in the door and the pay is considerably higher.

Diligently working on i-outlaw with Josh Hinck, the new poetry show which should be released soon. Keep checking in for updates...

A Day in the Life

2007-04-18T13:07:00.000+03:00

There's not much out of the ordinary to write, but I find myself here forcing it onto the cyberveneer.

My usual day plods on in this fashion: wake up, make coffee, drink coffee with wife and television at kitchen table, greet mother-in-law, leave wife watching television and mother-in-law tinkering around in the kitchen to read e-mail in bedroom, zombie at the computer plunking down this or that in one virtual document or another, shower, return to kitchen table when father-in-law returns for lunch at 12:15PM, eat lunch, return to computer, work until dinner (a less well-scheduled meal), watch TV for a little while, hit the sack. Sprinkle in cigarette-breaks on the balcony at random intervals and conversations with wife.

There are some some regular deviations in this routine, for example, I work on Tuesday evenings. Wednesday is market day for Angela's mother and we usually meet her before lunch to help bring the groceries home. Saturday evening the in-laws hit the supermarket for supermarket stuff and I usually have to help carry something up the stairs when they return. On Sunday, the midday meal occurs a little later, usually around 1:00PM.

Aside from the relatively bland play-by-play of a-day-in-the-life above, I'm not depressed or bored or otherwise discontented, as some have back-channeled. On the contrary, I could happily plod on in this fashion until expiring, although the people around me might not think it such a wonderful idea...