My mom sent us some chile de arbol from El Paso, and my brother sent us our blender so i was finally able to be productive this week. Sadly, productivity in the kitchen doesn’t fit into my grad school curriculum, but the enchiladas (of death, because it’s halloween and dia de los muertos) were tasty, and so picoso they almost made my wife cry. i know should have shredded some more cheese one top to neutralize the spice, but we ran out, so all the cheesy goodness is on the inside.
nuestra voz by rafael lopez
“I paint it for my young son Santiago as Obama represents the hope I have for his future. For my wife who teaches at San Diego City College, an urban
community college and for her students because Obama knows that education is the open door that changes lives and he will make it a priority. Both my
parents were born in Mexico and were architects and teachers who taught me to be a world citizen. I believe this nation is part of a global community and Obama can change the negative perceptions that cloud the future as he is a man of ideas who values and understands the social, economic and cultural issues of our time.”
–Rafael Lopez
I found this poster and quote from Rafael Lopez on designforobama.org. It’s a site I’ve been enjoying for the past few days. There are some good, and even some great, designs there. Sometimes though, the designers get too snarky and obsessive about the technical aspects of design. Discussions on kerning, centering and gradients are all common there. It was wonderfully refreshing to see this heartfelt piece amidst the “you had me at gotham” typeface geekfest (btw, i too love gotham). I think design is best when our shared sense of humanity is illuminated in the work. Regardless of what one thinks about the candidate (and I certainly support him), one cannot deny the artistic integrity and humanity of this piece. Gracias Rafael por su voz.
A classmate of mine recently said, “things in Boston aren’t necessarily the best, but they’re usually the oldest.” Today we went to the oldest public arboretum in North America. While I haven’t been to enough arboretums to judge whether or not this is one of the bests, it certainly was lovely. It is called the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and, unlike many things at Harvard, this place is very free and very open to the public. We had a wonderful day there with beautiful weather, gorgeous light and stunning foliage. Hopefully we can go again and see what it looks like in the winter.
Breakfast Tacos are a staple in Austin. They didn’t really exist in El Paso. There we ate burritos, which were also tasty, but not nearly the culinary and social phenomenon that they are in the Capital City.
Needless to say, breakfast tacos are a non-entity here in Cambridge. This is a donut town. And, while I don’t mind living in a place that so freely worships sugary fried dough, I occasionally miss those little rolled missiles of Tex-Mexy goodness. I made some breakfast tacos this weekend and have posted them here in all their glory.
I also made some cappuccino.
This week also marked the official mid-term of the fall semester–and what a busy mid-term week it was! Many of us in the Higher Ed program had papers due in more than one class. Hopefully, my professors and teaching assistants are kind in their grading, but if not, I’ll go into business selling breakfast tacos to the Harvard kids.
…and cold is still cold.
We got to see Oscar Winner, Nobel Laureate, and (oh yeah) former Vice President Al Gore this afternoon; although, it was hard to think seriously about global warming in the chilly October afternoon.
Harvard has taken an active role in pushing the green initiative and Gore graduated from here nearly 40 years ago so it was a fitting moment. Let’s hope we can all do our part to reduce our dependence on oil and other dirty fuels.
Whenever I have a paper due, everything else seems more important. Next week there are two papers due. Rather than write, I felt the need to chop the fresh jalapeños my mom sent me from home. Hopefully, now that I’m sufficiently spiced, I can get to work.
Ingrid and I had a fun Saturday Afternoon. We tried to find the Alewife Brook Reservation and while we couldn’t find the entry way to the foot path, we did find a few lovely photogenic spots along the way. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon and it made for more nice fall photos.
Although we missed the Car Talk guys, we were able to catch the end of the March Fourth Marching Band at this year’s OktoberFest in Harvard Square. After the fest we went to grab food with some school friends at a place called wagamama. It was a nice way to spend a Sunday evening.
There are some great photos from our weekend on tickledorange.com too. Actually, most of the good photos on this site are my wife’s too.
I’ll try and update these banners every one or two months, or as I get bored. This is my tribute to the fall and Dia de los Muertos. The Onion recently had a great video on the impending doom of the, “insanely brisk autumn,” and this reminds me a bit of their spoof. Here’s the video:
Extreme Weather Alert: Meteorologists Predict Intensely Brisk Autumn
Aside from the regular threat of falling leaves, the week has been relatively uneventful. School continues to move along quickly, but, luckily we haven’t had an onslaught of writing assignments yet.
There really haven’t been any surprises. The leaves are starting to change, the weather is getting cooler, and (since this is an election year) the campaign ads are getting more vicious. The third week of classes zipped by quickly and I barely noticed that we’ve been in Cambridge for a full month.
Margret Spellings, the US Secretary of Education, came to speak at the JFK school on Wednesday. She gave a fairly short talk on the state of education in the United States. Sadly, in the context of the presidential election and the current economic crisis, her major announcement didn’t seem so major. She unveiled a new, simplified FAFSA that should help reduce one of the hurdles many students face in applying for federal aid. Let’s just hope there will still be lenders and money available once the new forms get printed. There’s a short article about her talk in the Harvard Crimson.
HGSE has posted a short Q & A with professor Bridget Terry Long. Dr. Long is an expert in financial aid and has been doing some very interesting work on financial aid simplification. We all get to take a course with her next semester, but for now, here’s her response.
There is also an article on the speech in Inside Higher Ed.
Here’s a shot of Spellings (and her futuristic outfit) from the Crimson.
Madam Secretary (photo by KANE HSIEH)
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