The Syndicate

I like you, Wilgy. Your answer about the dog was way off base (OBVIOUSLY my black lab(-ish mix guy), Kenobi, is the best dog thathaseverlivedeverintheworldevenbetterthanLassiehesthatgood, but I appreciate your devotion to your pooch, however misguided it may be

), but I like you nonetheless.

What does sunrise smell like where you live?
How many times have you been in love?
Whose dog is the cutest, best, most lovely dog in the whole wide world? (Spoiler alert: there is a correct answer to this.)
What is the most isolated/desolate/wild place you've ever been?
If you could have lived during any period in history, when would you have lived and why?
Who do you think is the most handsome man on earth?
Is there anything (cause, person, object, belief, etch) for which you would willingly give your life?

I regretfully revoke my previous offer of best buddy-ness. We can obviously never speak again.

Just kidding, of course! :P More Shakespearians and lovers of pre/early modern things around here is always a good thing.... even if they do unironically confess to liking Branagh.

Is Grad School in your future? If you're considering it and want some Real Talk from inside the bubble, just lemme know. Always happy to bitch and moan share my experiences with unjaded and unbroken potential future colleagues.

There are correct answers to these questions.

Tread carefully, padawan.

What is your favourite Shakespeare play and why?

Which not-named-Shakespeare early modern playwright is awesomest and why?

Julian of Norwich or Margery Kemper?

Chaucer or Langland?

Best modern adaptation of Shakespeare (in any medium)?

What non-life-destroying and world-contributing thing do you plan to do with a degree in English? Asking for a friend....

Sloonei wrote:I realize that no one here knows what collegiate thangs I be studying, and I probably should have answered that as well. I'm an English major. I've mostly concentrated on old things and classics. LOTS of Shakespeare, a fair amount of Ancient Greek and a good deal of medieval stuff. I am mostly interested in the development of human cultures dating as far back as records will go. And Shakespeare.

We's gonna be bestest buddies.

I dunno if this is the same in music, but as a dancer, I found that the ability to improvise confidently and authentically made me an infinitely better technician in my classical work, and an infinitely better interpreter of choreography. Before I was introduced to contemporary movement vocabularies and improvisation, I was the bunheadiest bunhead that ever donned a pair of pointe shoes, and the idea of doing anything, EVER, that wasn't "right" or "correct" or identifiable as a classical movement literally sent me into fits of panic. The first time my modern dance teacher asked us to improvise, I burst into tears and walked out of the studio (I was 16.

). I was just so terrified, and so beholden to my classical technique and training. But what I didn't realize until much much much later, was that improvisation is the only way to really understand what your body can do, where it can go, and how far you can push (physically, mentally, emotionally) before you can't pull it back. Understanding improvisation opened up an entirely new world for me, and I became a VERY different dancer (and, oddly, a much better ballerina). I am a fan of improv

I still love classical ballet. I still think it is excellent training. I still demand that any dancer I work with or teach has a solid classical foundation. I still think classical training is essential to becoming a great technician and athlete. But to become a great dancer, classical or otherwise, you need to understand your own body, and EVERYTHING that it can do, and all the weird niggly ugly scary places that your physicality can go to that classical ballet doesn't allow for. Even if you never do those things on stage, understanding exactly where the boundaries are, and how porous they are, is what turns a technician into an artist. One of the things I miss most about teaching ballet is seeing that so-familiar terror in the students' eyes when I ask them to improvise for the first time, and watching that (over time, and usually not without outbursts of some kind) slowly turn to awe at the capacity of their own instruments, and watching that confidence and expansiveness seep into their classical work. It's incredible.

Sorry, that was pretty rambly for an analogy that is maybe not that applicable to music.....and not at all related to the interrogation theme.

So, Rico.....do you like to dance?

Yikes! I got behind!

Epignosis wrote:
Canucklehead wrote:
Epignosis wrote:You're at Duke?

Elohcin and I live 90 minutes from Durham.
North Carolina represeeeent!
Are you guys from here originally, or are you transplants?
I am from Fayetteville, born and raised. Eloh is from Orlando. I met her online in 1999.

Would you be interested in meeting up at some point?

Fun! Sometime after I've passed/failed my prelims would be ideal, because I'm essentially resigned to a life of zombiehood until then....

bea wrote:So many NC peeps around these parts! I have an auntie that lives in Boone.

Cannuck - thank you so much for your long and detailed answers to mine and svs's questions. I appreciate the amount of thought that went into them.

What writer do you think is under appreciated by most general readers? By most students of literature? Why?

(I am not the hugest Cleopatra fan myself....*shhhh* tell no one!)

What modern writers do you enjoy? What was the last book you read for fun?
Favorite TV shows? Movies?
What kind of music do you like to rock out to when no one is around?
What would I be surprised to learn about you?
Pic please?

I know you said you have no desire to run a game, but what theme would you *like* to see become a game that you've not seen yet? (Sometimes the idea well runs a bit dry....)

- I don't think Thomas Traherne gets much of a fair shake, certainly not by general readers and he's only slightly more read among scholars (though that's starting to change). I think it's because he's an incredibly odd poet, like some sort of weird hybrid child of George Herbert, Margaret Cavendish, and a precocious five-year-old, and people don't know what to make of him. He's not easy to shove into a box, either by period (he reads at times like an early 17th C devotional poet, but temporally he's right smack dab in the middle of the Resoration, but he also often sounds like some sort of proto-Romanticist), genre (his poetry is simple and childlike and formally inventive and irregular, his prose is verse-like and ecstatic, and none of if really reads like anything else being written during the period), or confession (his theology resembles uber-Protestant Herbert's valorization of the simple and the unadorned, and he wrote more than his fair share of anti-Roman polemics, but he also writes ecstatic/visionary prose and poetry that at times is more akin to Julian of Norwich than George Herbert). He's really fun! And a total nutbar! I like him.

- I haven't done much leisure reading in the last few years, but I adore Hilary Mantel with the passion of 10 billion suns. "Wolf Hall" and "Bring Up the Bodies" are my very favourite novels, contemporary or otherwise. I also have literary crushes on Michael Ondaatje, David Markson, Anne-Marie MacDonald, and J.M. Coetzee. I also loooooooove Faulkner, but he's obviously not contemporary.

- Movies: Shakespeare in Love, Star Wars, The Thin Red Line, Snowpiercer (I actually have a really hard time remembering what movies I like,

)
TV: The Wire, Sherlock, Wolf Hall, Top Chef, Dance Moms (don't judge!), Downton Abbey (don't judge!), MASH, Blackadder, Are You Being Served?, Vicar of Dibley, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones

- My private kitchen dance parties inevitably take place to classic MoTown, and they are a sight to behold (or so the bf tells me, the sneaky spying git)

- People would be surprised to learn that I do not like chocolate, and that I'm incredibly shy.

- This is me on top of a mountain:

This is me (bright green dress) doing the chicken dance at a wedding:

This is me being attacked by a sleepy boyfriend monster after a baseball game:

- Long, long ago I considered the idea of doing a Human Body mafia, where all the roles were body parts, and the mafia was diseases/viruses/whatever, and the Indy was a Big Yellow School Bus or something.....but I (obviously) never finished or hosted it. I still think it would be funny as fuck, though!

Roxy wrote:Canuck - have you eaten a Hostess product in the last 12 months?
If yes what was it and why.
If you do ever Host a game do you remember that I have dibs? (Remember the convo in TP? lmao)
Beef stew or rabbit stew?
Is 3 a magic number or is there no magic left in the world?
Chocolate chip or Oreo?
Saltine or Ritz?
Pepsi or Coke? Or the only correct answer - A&W Rootbeer?
Stones or Led Zepp?
Happy Sunday!!

- Nope! I don't think I've ever eaten a Hostess product actually....

-Lulz!

- Beet stew!

- 3 is not particularly magic for me, but 11 is. There is LOADS of magic in the world, it just doesn't look anything like it does in the movies.

- Oreo, but only the middle.

- Saltine, but not anymore (stupid GF-ness)

- I'm a recovering Diet Coke addict, so none of the above.

- Beatles

Epignosis wrote:You're at Duke?

Elohcin and I live 90 minutes from Durham.

North Carolina represeeeent!

Are you guys from here originally, or are you transplants?

nijuukyugou wrote:
Canucklehead wrote: Born and raised on Vancouver Island, so I come by my unfortunate fandom honestly.

I'm at school in the lovely/very strange little town of Durham, North Carolina. A very different place compared to Toronto, from whence I came here.

I'm not sure how much time I have left on the planet (probably not much, at the rate that this program is rapidly anxiety-ing me to death!), but I should have no fewer than two and no more than 4 years left in my program.
Whaaaaaaaaat I went to UNC-CH!! And I'm moving back to Raleigh! This is excellent happenstance!

North Carolina represeeeeent again!

nijuukyugou wrote:Also:

Who is your favorite Shakespeare heroine? Least favorite?

In your opinion, what is the most disgusting popular American food?

What is your favorite swear word and why?

Cats or dogs?

Coffee or tea?

Carolina Blue or Duke Blue? (there is a correct answer to this. Choose wisely )

Favsies: Rosalind; Least favsies: Cleopatra (I will probably be tarred and feathered by my professional society for uttering this. Tell no one!

)

Macaroni salad.

Fuck, because it comes most readily and speedily to hand whenever I am in need of it, and is a malleable repository for varying levels of force, nuance, and duration.

Dogs (but please don't tell my cats I said that. They're already plotting to kill me, they don't need more motive

)

Coffee. Black.

I am positive this is the incorrect answer, but I gotta go with the Blue that pays the bills, so it's Blue Devils for me.

...

*backs slowly out of the room...*

*runs away*

juliets wrote:Very interesting story about being vegan. I am sliding toward vegetarian but I don't think I could go full vegan.

Are you from Canada Canuck or are you an American Canucks fan?
What part of Canada?
And where are you in school?
How much time do you have left?

Born and raised on Vancouver Island, so I come by my unfortunate fandom honestly.

I'm at school in the lovely/very strange little town of Durham, North Carolina. A very different place compared to Toronto, from whence I came here.

I'm not sure how much time I have left on the planet (probably not much, at the rate that this program is rapidly anxiety-ing me to death!), but I should have no fewer than two and no more than 4 years left in my program.

All of our animals eat regular animal food (though we do splurge and get the the fancy schmancy grain-free super duper healthy stuff, because I am easily swayed by branding and advertising

), so they are all meat eaters. Kenobi, in particular, has a minor addiction to this fancy beef jerky treat and to Himalayan yak chews (Damn you Bark Box and your insistence on continually introducing my dog to super expensive treats!) I, too, have had some experiences with people being piously vegan and shaming me for "allowing" my animals to take part in the meat industry, and while it really bothered me at first, I'm now very much at the point where I say to such people "Fuck you. Part of the reason why I'm vegan in the first place is that I care about the well-being and humane treatment of animals. Banning my dog and especially my cats from nutrient sources that are a vital part of their natural diet is not congruent with those concerns. I don't feel confident that I can ensure their health, well-being, and quality of life on a plant only diet, so they eat what keeps them healthiest and happiest. I chose to be vegan, they did not, so get your nosy snout out of our dinners."

I'm the first to admit that there are obviously some logical inconsistencies and hypocrisies in this practice, but the bottom line is that I love my animals and want them to live the healthiest, happiest lives I'm capable of giving them. That involves feeding them meat and other animal products. I have heard of people "successfully" feeding pets vegan diets, but I don't know what the metric for success in such a situation is. Not starving?

That's not really good enough for my pampered fur babies, and I don't know enough about canine or feline nutrition to feel confident that I could do it right. Even the study of human nutrition is basically only as scientifically sound and as epistemologically stable as alchemy, so I don't even want to begin to mess with my pets' diets.
For me, it comes down to the same philosophy which allows me to live with and love an omnivoire: I chose this, they did not.

Vegan zealots can be a particularly bitchy and self-righteous lot. There are even groups of super hard core vegans who believe that the ownership of animals in any capacity (whether as pets, livestock, workers, whatever) is just as bad as factory farming and wholesale slaughter. I, obviously, believe this is bullshit....but they're out there, and they're kooky, and they love nothing more than to tell other people that they're doing veganism "wrong". There are no belief structures, religious or otherwise, that are without their zealots and their witch-hunters. I work very hard to smile and walk away....but sometimes a good "fuck right off" is in order, methinks.

I have never had a reptile or amphibian, except for about 4 hours when I was a kid and I found someone's pet turtle wandering in the ditch on my street and I took him home and filled my Cabbage Patch Kids stroller with water and a few rocks and fed the turtle pieces of sliced ham until his owner came looking for him.

My ideal pets are more snuggly/playful/romp-around-able than pets that need specialized environments to live in, so I would probably be a terrible reptile/amphibian owner because I would constantly be taking the poor thing out of its aquarium and trying to make it fetch or cuddle or some such thing.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:

What was your favorite part of Disney World/Harry Potter World? My family is there right now as well.

What sort of physical activity do you partake in?

Canucklehead wrote:(Guinness, for example, is not vegan)
What? That will make me think twice about drinking one of those.

1) Disney: The "Good Morning/Welcome" show that happens every morning at the opening of the Magic Kingdom. All the characters and princesses ride in on the trolley and do a big song and dance number, and then open the gates and greet the hoards on the way in. I had no idea it happened, and it was such an adorable and lovely way to start the day. My nieces lost their minds, and I think if anyone had snick a glance at me they would've seen a big silly grin on my face, too. Say what you will about Disney, they know what the fuck they're doing, and they do it exceptionally well.
WWoHP: So hard to choose! The new "Escape from Gringotts" ride was amazing, as was the Hogwarts tour/ride (no way to describe it other than "magical"...unless, of course, you happen to be there with your programmer/techy boyfriend who proceeds to describe exactly how all the effects are achieved and thus bursts your bubble of wonder), and the "Dragon Challenge" roller coaster is a fun one. But I think overall, the best part of WWoHP is just wandering around completely immersed in the incredible level of detail and genuine affection for the IP that went into the creation of the place. It's absolutely incredible.

2) I run, I cycle, I dance, I climb, I hike/backpack, I do yoga (though I do all of them less often than I should or want to), and I'm getting into lifting a little bit.

3) Guiness uses a product made from fish in the production of their beer (as a filter or something?), so while there's no animal products actually in the beverage, it's not really a vegan product. I've heard rumours that the stuff produced in their Canadian plant doesn't use the fish thingy, but

I don't really like stout anyway, so it's no biggie.....but I did spend an entire weekend in Dublin subsisting only on Guinness a few years ago before I was aware of this fact, so my purity is tarnished.

zeek wrote:Who is your favourite 17th century English lyric poet?

John Donne or, as he is known among hip Donne scholars, the Donnester, Jacky D, J-Dizzle, Dr. J, DJ Johnny D, the Dean of St. Awesome, Doctor Donne-credible.

(Ok. I'm the only one who calls him those things. But just wait! When I'm a famous professor, I'm going to make this a Thing. For realz.

)

Runners-up awards go to Messers G. Herbert, R. Crashaw, and (if we're willing to be generous with our definition of 17th century) R. Southwell SJ.
Miton was not considered in this hierarchy because I arbitrarily decided to grant him his own category in order to make choosing easier.

S~V~S wrote:William Blake: insanely brilliant or insanely insane?

I think both are true, and not mutually exclusive.

I love Blake, though I'm by no means an expert. He was a mystic and a kooky Miltonist and kind of a Spinozan and pretty obsessed with the English Renaissance (I think.....but I know next to nothing about the Romantics), so he ranks highly in my books. His illustrations for Paradise Lost are among my favourite drawings on the planet.

thellama73 wrote:I don't tell other people how to eat if they don't tell me how to eat (you'd be amazed at the harsh, unsolicited criticism my diet of Flamin' Hot Cheetos and Peanut Butter M&M's receives) so more power to ya, Canuck!

I'm pretty sure this diet covers all the food groups that are most important to me (spicy, crunchy, peanut butter, and salt), so I think you're doing swell. The only thing I'd suggest you add are pickles, to fulfill your sour/vinegar requirements.

Epignosis wrote:THANK YOU.

Your post has made veganism a realistic lifestyle choice for me. From this moment forward, I will only wear vegan socks and use vegan nail clippers.

bea wrote:have you always been vegan?
Nope! I became a vegetarian when I was 11, and didn't go full vegan until I was about 19 or 20.

If not - what do you miss most about not being vegan? (In my mind I can give up meat I think. I've mostly done it for years at a time except when eating at other people's houses - but omg - I can't live without cheese or ice cream!)
I don't really miss many specific things, since it's been so long without them (10 years!) that any sort of cravings and desires are long since gone. I DO, however, still miss the ease of being able to order and eat anything/anywhere. I'm pretty adept at knowing where animal products might be hiding in dishes, and very used to being very patient and specific with waiters and restaurant staff who may not be familiar with my needs, and am very resigned to "dining out" in many situations being a long string of iceberg lettuce salads with no dressing. But, for example, Disney World and Universal were challenges (no butterbeer for me ). I can (and did) plan ahead and pack my own food, but this weekend I definitely missed the ability to just not give a shit and eat a pile of shitty park food.

Why did you decide to live a vegan lifestyle? Do you find that you feel better health wise for doing so?
This is a long story, but the short version is that my original choices to go veggie and then vegan were made for reasons that were neither healthy or focused on ethics. However, since becoming vegan, I've learned a great deal about the ethical and environmental aspects of food culture and food production, and these are the reasons why I've persisted, despite the challenges. So, while I didn't become a vegan for anything resembing a "good" reason, I've stayed one for (what I think are) good reasons.
"Health" was never really a part of it for me. Veganism is not inherently more healthy than an omnivorous diet, and one can certainly be a vegan and eat only shit foods. Oreos, most potato chips, and Cool Whip are all vegan, and I used to know a girl who built her diet out of those "vegan staples". Just like "regular" eating, veganism can be healthy if you make healthy choices, or it can be shit if you make shit choices. The difference is, that it is actually a LOT easier to make healthy choices as an omnivoire, simply due to availability of options and variety of nutrient sources.

How do you get your nutriments (so many non vegan and vegitarian people yell about protien - how do you do it? )
Protein isn't really too much of a problem for me. Nuts, nut butters, quinoa, beans, and legumes are all great protein sources, and I have at least one of these things with everything I eat. More probematic for me is vitamin B12, which does not occur naturally in plant sources. During periods of heavier-than-usual physical activity or stress, I'll often supplement with a vegan protein/nutritional powder....but yeah. I'm really bad about B12.

What steps do you recommend for people moving from a meat eating lifestyle to a vegan lifestyle?
I think the main thing is to do your research, and keep doing your research. There are animal products hidden in SO MANY processed and prepared foods where you might not expect them to be (Guinness, for example, is not vegan), and it can be really difficult (and often annoying) to be constantly reading labels or pestering your server with obscure questions about shrimp paste and oyster sauce and butter and whatever. I think when starting out, committing to cooking at home the majority of the time is really the best plan. Not only will you improve your repertoire of vegan dishes and really get to know how to build a satisfying plant-based meal, you'll spare yourself the hassle of being "that girl" in the restaurant until you're a little more confident with your options, and your justifications for your choices. I think one of the main things that de-converts new vegans is the scrutiny of peers and the stigma/hassle of being the annoying person who always has to ask a million questions about everything they eat. It can help to wait to face those challenges until you've got a good handle on the basics of living vegan.
The other thing I recommend is to set realistic expectations and limits on how far YOU want to take your veganism. Is it important to you that your partner/spouse/whatever also be vegan, or can you live with an omnivoire? Are you OK with them cooking meat in the house? Would you cook it for them? Are you going to veganise your wardrobe? Your household cleaning products? Your cosmetics and body care products? How quickly? Making these kinds of changes can be EXPENSIVE, confusing, and really limiting (trying to find functional vegan hiking boots, for example, is a fucking dead-end nightmare). Despite what shrill message boards and activist groups might want people to think, there is no "right" way to be vegan, and there is no "rule" that says you must be absolutely vegan in every aspect of your life. For example, I was a food-only vegan for the first 5 or so years. Then a few years ago I slowly began to make my consumer choices based on vegan criteria in other areas of my life as well. I no longer bring into my house any goods that contain animal products, or are tested on animals. The next step for me (which I'm doing research on right now) will be to stop buying things from companies who use animal products or engage in animal testing in ANY of their products (not just the ones I'm purchasing). But on the flip side, I'm not tossing out animal-based things that I already own. I have several pairs of leather shoes that I've had for years (my hiking boots, for exampe), and that I still wear. When they break-down, I will replace them with vegan versions, but I'm not going to throw away things I bought previously just to appease some sort of ideal of vegan saintliness.
The most important thing, i think, is to make the transition to veganism ACHIEVABLE for YOU, and that means understanding your limits. For me, while the food aspect was super easy (since I was already eating very little animal products), the other aspects have taking time and patience with myself. For some vegan purists, the fact that I live with an omnivoire would be utterly unthinkable for them. For other vegans, the fact that my partner has agreed not to cook meat in our house would be an audascious and draconian tyranny (he still brings cheese and dairy in, and eats poultry and fish if we're eating out). It's a super personal thing, I think, and the important thing for new vegans is that they are clear on what is important to them, and what they're willing to compromise on.

Wow. That was a long rambling answer!

Really - how do you live without cheese and ice cream???!!! OMG!!
Lulz. There are vegan cheeses, but they are generally TERRIBLE, but they're there if I'm desperate for pizza or poutine or something. As for ice cream, allow me to introduce you to the wonderful world of Coconut Bliss. That shit is legit more delicious than ice cream. For realz.

I'd like your wilde mushroom rissoto recepie. Because my mushroom rissoto recepie has chicken stalk in it - I'd like to learn the substitue - please pm me the recepie?
I don't really have a recipe....it's one of those things where I took a regular recipe and made some changes and substitutions and experiments. The biggest change is to use a really good vegetable stock instead of chicken stock (I like this one a lot, but if you're less lazy than me you could make your own), and skip the cheese that is in most risottos. I also up the wine content a fair amount (but that's more to do with me being boozy than being vegan ), and make sure that I'm using really good olive oil. I use a combination of fresh and dried wild mushrooms, and use the liquid from rehydrating the dried to "beef up" (lulz) the mushroomy-ness of the stock. I also add spinach at the stage when a regular risotto would add cheese, and top with toasted pine nuts, grated lemon zest, and a generous squeeze of fresh lemon. But the key thing, as with most vegan cooking, is just to make sure that the ingredients you're starting with are realy exceptional. Since there aren't any extra fats to round out the flavour, or any meat/cheese to take centre stage, the vegetables really need to shine. Because of this, I'm willing to spend the extra cash (which I'm not spending on pricey items like meat and cheese) for really, really good oils and spices, and spend the time going to farmer's markets and getting super fresh/delicious produce. It actually makes cooking way more fun for me when I can be like "This are the morrels that Joe forraged for and sold me this morning". Yumm!

what exactly isthe break down of all the animals in the cunuck household?
From oldest to youngest:
Lucifur (orange tabby, 16 years, originally my bf's)
Stephen J Dedalus (orange tabby, 12 years, originally mine)
Cassandra Geraldine (tortie cat, 5 years, originally my bf's)
Kenobi (black lab mix, 2 years, got him once we'd already moved in together)

Spacedaisy wrote:Canuck, what game that you've played did you most enjoy?

What was your first mafia game?

Who is your nemesis?

Do you prefer to be a civ or baddie?

Favorite role?

What did you enjoy most at the amusement parks?

LC/BR's first Recruitment Mafia at TP was the most fun I've ever had mafiaing. I had a great team, and didn't stop laughing the entire game, even though we ended up losing. I'd love to reread that game if The Piano ever comes back from the ether...

My first game was Lost at STV. I subbed in mid-game as Vincent, and had no fucking clue what I was doing. Not much has changed, really

I don't know if I'm enough of a threat to anyone to actually have a nemesis

I prefer to be a baddie, but I think I'm better as a civ

Whatever role I was in the first RM was my fave...I think I was like king of the evil jellies or something? I have a really terrible memory, even for things I really enjoy and appreciate

The parks were a LOT of fun, and I loved seeing the looks of absolute wonder on the faces of my neices. Highlights inclufed both the big Harry Potter rides (coolest fucking experiences I've ever had on a ride. Unbelievable!), picking a wand at Ollivander's and wandering around casting spells and seeing them work (!), and getting a big hug from Goofy

it wa such a fun weekend, and I'm super glad I'm enough of a giant dork/oversize child to really enjoy it.

Ricochet wrote:Are you male or female?

Female

Epignosis wrote:
I like this person.

juliets wrote:I'm totally in awe of you Canuck thanks for answering my questions.

thellama73 wrote:
Amazing choice. I love that word too.

Hooray!

Bonus fact: I am zealously covetous of the approval of others. Disastrously so.

Epignosis wrote:What is your favorite section of "The Waste Land?"

I can't remember what section it occurs in ("A Game of Chess", maybe?) but I have always loved the rhythms of the bar scene ("When Lil's husband got demobbed, I said, I didn't mince my words, I said to her meself" etc etc) with all the "Hurry up, please! It's time!" And the Ophelia call outs ("Goodnight, ladies" etc). I choreographed a piece for my company which used as its main sound score a recording of Eliot reading The Waste Land, and that scene was one of the major climaxes of the piece. I also love the "If there were water, and no rock/ if there were rock and also water" sequence from the final movement...and "These fragments I have shored against my ruins" is one of my favourite lines in all of poetry (and was the title of my piece).

And now I want to read The Waste Land again. It's been too long.

outside of 17th century lit, do you have any other favorite literary periods and why?
- If I wasn't an Early Modernist, I would probably be doing early 20th century. The "High Modernists" (Eliot and Joyce and Stevens etc) have always appealed to me, and I'm fascinated by literary responses to the calamity of the First World War.....there's also a chance I might have been a Medievalist in another life, and studied the writing of the female mystics (Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe) cuz those bitches be crazy.

What are your favorite forms of dance and why?
- Ballet, because it touches the limits of perfection of the human body in motion; modern, because it takes that perfection and deconstructs it into things that are more beautiful and eloquent than perfection could ever be.

What do you love to do just for yourself?
- Walk up mountains with a pack on my back, sleep in the woods, keep going.

What do you love to do to spoil other people?
- Write them notes that describes what I love about them; bake them cupcakes!

What is your favorite comfort food?
- My grandmother's blackberry pie, though I have yet to create a gf/vegan version that compares to her original. I'm working on it, though!

Do you cook at all? If so, what do you make for "company"?
- I cook lots, and I loooooove cooking for other people, and having people over to eat and drink and laugh (plus, making delicious vegan food for others is like subtle vegan evangelism

). I make a pretty fantastic wild mushroom risotto which is an easy go-to, but I also like experimenting with vegan versions of classic dishes. They don't always resemble their inspirations in the end (because I'm not a fan of using meat substitutes to mimic the animal products in regular recipes, and because I rarely stick to the rest of the recipie either

), but it's usually delicious. I'm especially good at soups. My take on french onion soup is to die for, I've been told.

What is your favorite boozey drink? Non boozey drink?
- I'm a gin and tonic girl when I'm feeling liquor-y, a cider girl when I'm feeling beer-y, and a coffee girl when I'm feeling anything else.

What did you want to be when you grew up at age 5? 10? 20?
- marine biologist, ballerina, choreographer

What would we be surprised to learn about you?
- I'm INCREDIBLY shy in real life. Like, ridiculously shy.

What is your favorite word?
- hoary.

What is your guilty pleasure?
- bad television (Shark Tank, Dance Mons, Top Chef, Master Chef)

What is a typical Thursday look like in your world?
-Wake up, walk the dog with the boy, feed the menagerie, go for coffee with the bf, work (either at home or at my library carrel) for 3 or 4 hours, take te dog out for a play in the yard, more work until 6ish, when the boy gets home from work we take the pup across the street to the park for a romp, then dance class at 7, dinner with the bf around 8:45/9, watch some bad television (or an episode of "The Wire", which we're currently makin our way through), walk the pup, feed the menagerie, get into bed, do a cryptic crossword or two until the boy falls asleep, mafia/random internetting until I fall asleep.

Epignosis wrote:
Canucklehead wrote:The 17th century is fascinating to me for many reasons, but I'm particularly interested in the way that the literature of the period (lyric poetry in particular, but also drama and other forms) wrestles with and thinks through notions of community, sacramentalism, and the hermeneutic limits of the (literal and metaphorical) body in the wake of a religious reformation which attempted to fundamentally disrupt people's understanding of and relationship to these things.
You don't have any idea what you're talking about, do you?

No, not really, which is why I'll be spending 6 years of my life reading and thinking and writing about these questions and trying to figure it out. What's the point of studying things you already understand?

Metalmarsh89 wrote:May I call you Canucklegoose?

(It's a combination of knuclehead and silly goose).

You may. In fact, I insist.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:Do you like baseball? Soccer?

What are your three favorite novels released in the last 20 years?

Where is the train taking you?

What's your favorite smiley here at the Syndicate?

Do you know any other Syndicaters in real life?

What part of Canada do you call home? (You live in Canadia right, or am I completely off the mark?)

Do any animals live in your home with you?

1) I enjoy watching both, but am not very knowledgeable about either. I'm especially fond of our local Triple A team, the Durham Bulls, who really know how to put on a fun ball game. Their mascot, Wool E Bull, is legit the greatest mascot in all of professional sports.

2)I'll caveat this statement by saying that I am waaaaay out of touch with contemporary fiction, but I think I'd have to say Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, and Wittgenstein's Mistress by David Markson are the three that come to mind first. They're all astonishingly good.

3)Home from Disneypottermagicwizardworldland!

4) This one:

and this one:

5) No one.

6) I don't currently live in Canada, since I'm working on my PhD at an American institution, but I was born and raised on Vancouver Island, and then lived in Toronto for ten years after I graduated high school.

7) Yes! I share my house (and bed) with the world's greatest black lab mix (Kenobi), a very fat and very old orange cat (Lucifur), a very skinny and insane orange cat (Stephen), and a cranky 5 year old tortie cat (Cassie), and my man friend (who is just as cute as all the pets).

juliets wrote:Canucklehead!

I've all ways wanted to know how your future career in 17th century lit (it is 17th century right? If not please correct me but my questions still stand.) will fit together with your dance career. How will you do both, or do you intend to do both? What is it about 17th century lit attracts you (as opposed to another century)?

The 17th century is fascinating to me for many reasons, but I'm particularly interested in the way that the literature of the period (lyric poetry in particular, but also drama and other forms) wrestles with and thinks through notions of community, sacramentalism, and the hermeneutic limits of the (literal and metaphorical) body in the wake of a religious reformation which attempted to fundamentally disrupt people's understanding of and relationship to these things.

I see my academic interests as overlapping with my artistic interests in oblique but tangible ways, and for me one practice really feeds and informs the other. At the moment, I'm focused mostly on getting through my program, and choreography is taking a back seat (both because I have no time, and because the dancers I want to work with are back in Toronto), but I do still occasionally create solo work for myself. Lots of stuff that will never see the light of day, and some stuff that I've presented at small venues and informal showings and the like.....but yeah. To answer your question, these are not really intuitively compatible careers.....if I continue to do both professionally once my degree is done, it will be because I work my ass off to make it work. At this point, it's all very up in the air, on both fronts.
On second thought, maybe I'll just open up a combination antiquarian bookstore/champagne bar.

S~V~S wrote:Canuck, do you still dance, or have you devoted your life to literature?

See above! I'm in the studio about 3 days a week usually, which is a drastic reduction from pre-grad school me, but is enough to keep my toes in the water and keep my technique at a not entirely embarrassing level.

Hihi, everyone! I'm super excited to answer all your probing questions! I'll be captive on a train for 13 hours very shortly, so fire away and I'll start spilling my guts as soon as I'm settled on board!

Ask anything. I have no filters and no boundaries, and I'm a chronic over-sharer.

zeek wrote:Who is your favourite 17th century English lyric poet?
John Milton

This is the second most correct answer.

How many different houses/apartments/tenements/dwellings/yurts have you lived in in your life? Which was your favourite?

If you could go back to being any age for one year, what age would you like to be again?

What scared you most when you were a kid? What scares you most now?

Who is your favourite Muppet? (Yoda doesn't count)

What single word do you think best encapsulates the spirit/nature/character of the country in which you currently reside?

Who is your favourite 17th century English lyric poet?

What is the best thing about your finacee?

Will your wedding be big? small? cheap and crazy? classy and formal? destination or back yard? Will you cry or hold it together?

What's the last novel that made you mad?

If you could only smell one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

What's the last novel that made you cry?

What's your favourite non-genital body part and why?

What one value/lesson/moral/thing would you most want to teach to a child?

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