Autographs — Nancy MacLean

This evening, I went to hear Nancy MacLean speak about her book. It's been on my reading list for a while. She gave an excellent overview, and I'm looking forward to reading the book.

(Index of autographs)

Dick and Jane recursion

I remember reading Dick and Jane books as a child. In particular, I have long remembered one red Dick and Jane book with a recursive cover illustration: Dick and Jane reading the very same Dick and Jane book whose cover shows Dick and Jane reading the same Dick and Jane book, and so on. 

But I can find no such Dick and Jane book cover. Did I imagine it? Did I dream it? If it doesn't exist, how in the world did I come up with that at such a young age? Maybe I really was born to be a math and computer software guy.

Update (9 March). Found it! Thanks to Richard Tamez. The cover is even red, as I remembered. OK, so it's not quite Dick and Jane. Published in 1948:

And, having found that, I now find this one, too:

And, probably finally, this:

That last was from a seller on eBay. I made an offer and bought the set of three books.

Autographs — David Kopay

In November, I read that Dave Kopay lived near Occidental and frequently walked his dog on campus. I bought his book and hoped to catch him and get his autograph. I had read the book when it first came out, but I had not bought it at the time.

I kept the book in my car. When I stopped by Oxy this morning to pick up several newspapers, I saw him and his dog; he was talking to someone. I hoped he would keep talking long enough for me to run back to my car and get the book. 

It all worked out. He said he had just mentioned the book to the woman he was chatting with, and here I was with it.

When his book came out in 1977, I was an officer of the gay student group at USC, and we arranged for him to speak on campus. I think it was his first public speaking engagement; I remember he was a bit nervous before the talk. It was an overflow crowd. Here is the ad:

(I always thought that was a great illustration, too. I don't know who the artist was.)

(Index of autographs)

Dixie School District

The Los Angeles Times ran a story last week about how some in Marin County want to change the name of the Dixie school district.  The controversy has split the community. I sent this letter:

If the name came from Mary Dixie, simply use her full name. Change the name from 'Dixie' to 'Mary Dixie'.

My letter was not printed, but another with the same idea was:

Here is a simple solution to the problem: The school district should take the full name of the person for whom it was named.

It would then be called the Mary Dixie School District, more clearly honoring the woman for whom it was named.

Susan Sherman, Covina

Autographs ― Judith Branzburg

I've known Ivy Bottini for years. She's now 92 and there is a new biography / memoir. Today at ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, there was a celebration of Ivy and this new book and a farewell to Ivy, who is moving to Florida to live with her daughter.

I bought the book and managed to get Judith Branzburg's autograph, but the speeches went on and on, and, since I already have Ivy's autograph, I didn't try to stay and get her to sign this one.

(Index of autographs)

Trump's border wall

My name is in today's Los Angeles Times. But it's not quite “my letter.” I'm only quoting an anonymous someone else.

Rodney Hoffman of Montecito Heights favors deception:

Recently seen on Facebook: “Trump should just lie and say the wall is already built. His supporters will believe him, and the rest of us will save billions of dollars.”

Getting legally stoned

Now that pot is state-legal, I've been experimenting for the first time in decades. Here's what I've done this year:

In February, I bought THC tincture. One dropper sublingually (Feb) did nothing. Two droppers (June) did nothing. Three droppers (July) got me very slightly "fuzzy".

In August, I bought a vaping pen and one cartridge. But in October, before I had a chance to try them, I was given a tin of THC-and-chocolate-coated blueberries. On Oct 18, I tried two berries got a very slight, short-lived buzz.

On Oct. 26, I had four berries and finally got high! After 2 hours, I felt unstable mentally and physically and had time dilation. I was also quite happy. All of this lasted for more than two more hours.

The other day, I noticed the tin has a Best By Date of 11/17/18, and they are berries, after all; they might indeed go bad. So I decided to use some more yesterday. I tried five this time, hoping for one more thing I remember from decades ago and still hadn't experienced since: the urge to speak or write some discoveries. It worked! I think 5 berries (25 mg THC) is the perfect ingested dose for what I was after.

Details (from notes written while high!) : 

• 10:50 am - early lunch
• 1 pm - five berries
• 1:10 to 2:10 - walk to Nina, walk with Nina, walk to park bench
• 2 - slightly woozy ... medium-term memory effects
• 2:15 - time dilation; easily distractable; thoughts jumpy; easy to "follow" a flock of circling crows ― pick out the leader(s), see the flight pattern
• 2:20 - colder wind, less sun on the bench; start to move indoors. Time dilation: walking home seemed to take a long time, but it didn't, according to my watch
• 2:30 - more loquacious [than last time]; unsteady; happy; mental maps falter
• 2:40 - further time dilation. This is probably the perfect dose for what I was seeking!
• 2:45 - The physical unsteadiness may just be a side-effect of time dilation: I seem to feel the various tiny movements of my body that I feel (!) must be always there, and it registers as unsteadiness.
• 3 - Might the same be true of thoughts?!
• 3:15 -  More of the same; nothing new. I think it's mostly time dilation that causes the rest.
• 3:40 - Can still play FreeCell (but probably not sudoku)
• 4 - continuing; intermittently, just a smidge euphoric; now I want to close my eyes, maybe sleep
• 5 - continuing
• 5:30 - continuing
• 6:30 - almost all gone
• 7:30 - slight residual wooziness. Also, I wasn't especially hungry during most of this time, but once I started eating dinner (around 6), I've been noshing since!

Reflecting the next day, I still think my stoned revelation was correct: I think most of my "unsteadiness" when stoned, both physical and mental, is a side-effect of the time dilation.

Addendum

I did it once more on 14 January. I decided ahead of time to find out what the effect of time dilation would be on listening to music, reading, doodling, and sex. I wrote these down so I wouldn't forget. I ate five berries.

From notes written while high, here are the results:

Music — At first, just background. Hard to focus on. Somewhat difficult to physically "keep time" (hand or finger or foot tapping) Music is too darn fast! But an hour later, it sometimes seemed too slow; different, in part, depending on whether I'm trying to physically keep time or not.

Reading — I can't read even a single sentence if it's a bit long; by the time I get to the end, I don't remember the beginning.

Doodling — At first, hesitation / indecision / reluctance (or is it only time delay?) No inspiration. But soon, the hesitation was mostly gone or, at least, different: No longer a reluctance to draw, just "Where now?". I'm seeing shapes / directions (more than usual) in the doodles that make me want to either change (if I don't like what I see) or reinforce (if I do) the design. Examples: Oh, that is beginning to look like part of an alligator / a dog / a person... but I don't want that here, so stop that line and go somewhere else. As time went on, my doodling simplified and worsened.

Sex (masturbation) — It seemed difficult to get a full erection, but maybe that was just time dilation. I did eventually come, in a usual amount. No heightened sensations.

One other thing: Quantitative adjectives and adverbs (very much, somewhat, more, etc.) are difficult while stoned: If I start one, I immediately interrupt myself: "Are you sure or just stoned?"

That's it for the berries. 

New-ish things in Mérida ― Dec. 2018

I travel to Mérida so often that I rarely write about it. Here are a few items worth mentioning.

Victor at the Palacio de la Música

Link to more photos

There's a new museum of Mexican music, Palacio de la Música. It's underneath a new music school. The museum is free, modern, interactive, mostly bilingual. and quite extensive. There are many exhibits; multiple visits would be necessary just to listen to more of the music clips. The link in the first sentence is to an excellent English introduction.

(part of) Paseo Verde

Paseo Verde, now at least 5 years old, is a 7 kilometer (!) linear park not far from Victor's house. I often see it from the air when landing in Mérida. We walk there frequently.  It includes separate walking and bicycling paths, soccer fields, exercise stations, and more.

La Playita

One long-delayed attraction along Paseo Verde has finally opened a little bit: La Playita, a large childrens' aquatic playground, was supposed to open three years ago. It's finally now open ― for all of three hours a week! There was exactly one family visiting when we passed by Sunday. I trust it will become more popular.

Gran Museo del Mundo Maya

Now several years old, the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya (Mayan World Museum) is definitely worth a visit.

Finally, along Paseo Verde, one house has some striking metal grillework. I suspect the owner is the designer and perhaps the manufacturer.

Left Turns in Juarez

This is just crazy:

Consider the intersection of two busy streets, Ave and Blvd. Both streets have three lanes of traffic in each direction and medians separating the two directions of traffic. On Ave, about 50 yards before the intersection, in both directions, there is a cut through the median where cars can make a U-turn, and there are traffic signals to stop the Ave traffic for U-turners. On both streets, about 100 yards before the intersection, there are signs showing drivers how to make a left turn. The intersection has the expected traffic lights, but no left-turn lights. 

This is the sign for left turns from Ave to Blvd. It tells the driver to be in the leftmost lane, go straight through the intersection, use the U-turn, then get into the rightmost lane and turn right onto Blvd. Whew!

And here is the sign for left turns from Blvd to Ave. Drivers must be in the rightmost lane, turn right onto Ave, then get into the leftmost lane and use the U-turn. Whew again!

Note that unless you're familiar with the intersection, you don't know until you see the sign whether to be in the leftmost or rightmost lane to begin your left turn! What a nightmare for the drivers who don't do this every day.

Visa: more damn delays

We are in never-exciting Juarez, where we expected to finally get Victor's visa. No such luck. 😒

Yesterday, even though I knew it wasn't needed, we had to visit the applicant service center, an appointment they gave us after I selected the interview date. This is for photo and fingerprints, which we already did. They checked and determined that, yes, we had already done that, and they put a small stamp on one paper.  An unnecessary extra day in Juarez and a waste of time. 😡

Today, when Victor went for his interview appointment, they said that his medical exam in May was now too old! I clearly recall the doctor in May telling us that it was important we complete everything within a year or we would have to re-do the exam. But now, they said the medical exam was only good for six months, and we would indeed have to re-do it. Now the conflict between the interview date they sent me mid-summer and my trip to Montreal and Quebec has become even more consequential! 😠

The minor mob scene outside the U.S. Consulate from about 6 am to mid-day every morning.

And despite his new chest X-ray showing the same damn spot that they previously determined was not TB, they have to determine that again! Yes, we have to stay an extra day in Juarez for Victor to give three days of sputum (again), and yes, we have to wait eight weeks for the culture results (again)! As before, that means discarding non-refundable flight tickets, buying new flights, an additional hotel night, and another trip to Juarez later. Not to mention months of delay in getting Victor to the U.S. 😠

This time, I'll make damn sure I don't schedule any travel until they send us the next interview date! When they send the date following a medical delay, it's generally about a month later. As I learned last time, when I have to choose a date, it winds up being many, many months later.

Every delay makes me more furious that they won't give Victor a tourist visa and that they can't handle fiancé  visas at the U.S. consulate in Mérida! 

As another applicant told Victor today, it seems that everything is set up to force applicants to spend more time and money and emotion than they ever expected to or should ever have to. The service centers, medical clinics, hotels and restaurants around the consulate just love this. Quite a racket. 😠