The rooster that was determined to get inside the coffee shop.
Early one morning I went to a coffeehouse in Ocean Springs, Mississippi to meet an old friend I hadn't seen in about 8 or 9 years. While I was waiting for her to drive up, I noticed a rooster walking around the edge of the building. I looked around to see if there was some kind of farm or chicken coop nearby, but I was in downtown Ocean Springs surrounded by several restaurants and small, trendy shops. Granted, Ocean Springs is not a metropolis, and I'm sure there are people who raise their own animals in their back yards, though I'm not sure why anyone would want disgusting animals living in their back yards when they could just simply buy food at the grocery store. I walked inside the coffeehouse and sat down beside a window and waited for my friend. Then I saw the rooster again circling the building as if it wanted to get inside and couldn't find a way. Finally, the rooster got onto the front porch and then jumped into the window on the front door. It flapped it's wings furiously against the window to see if that would help it get inside. The animal was stunned and began to circle the coffeehouse again. I almost felt like I was in El Salvador or some other poorly developed country. But I was in Mississippi instead.
The morning of my friend's wedding in Jackson, I went along with another good friend to meet some new people at Brent's Drugs, a restaurant that specializes in burgers and ice cream in a strip mall dating to the Civil Rights Era in the Fondren neighborhood. The front part of the restaurant is a small gift shop that sells novelty books one might find in someone's bathroom (such as a small movie trivia book), cards, and local Jackson-related trinkets. The back 2/3rds of the old pharmacy is a restaurant reminiscent of a 1950s diner with dated furniture and signs that show their wear. The whole atmosphere is a throwback to a less-than-pleasant era in Mississippi history, which the recent novel and movie The Help has depicted. Yet Brent's Drugs is still a trendy and hip choice for residents living in or near Fondren, and the restaurant's atmosphere is its best selling point. The food, however, was disappointing. Though I did not eat the burger, some had warned me that it tasted like what a junior high school cafeteria would serve. Because of this warning, I chose to eat breakfast instead. My biscuit, sausage, and hash browns were bland and perhaps a little overcooked. The coffee was standard. I would not have chosen to eat here again, especially since a low-quality chain like Waffle House serves better food. It just seems to me that the chef should be able to do a better job creating unique and tasty meals that are better than Waffle House.
Whenever I go back to Jackson or Mississippi, fried catfish is always on the must-do list. Throughout college my favorite fried catfish joint was Jerry's on Highway 49 just south of Jackson. The two-story building is in the shape of an igloo, and the walls are nicotine-yellow inside. They have all-you-can-eat catfish filets along with unlimited fries, hush puppies, and cole slaw (oh, their coleslaw is the best I've ever had anywhere). It's the perfect place for an eating competition. I think the record our clique set was around 51 catfish filets (maybe 41, but that's still a lot). The first time we did it, one guy just barely lost, so he went back simply to eat just one more filet in one sitting than the other guy. Hence, the record is 51 instead of 50. I can only do around 25 before I start feeling a heart attack coming on.
However, the other big catfish joint in Jackson is Cock of the Walk on the north side of town next to the Reservoir. It's definitely not a classy place, but it does have a better atmosphere than Jerry's. They serve their food on tin plates. But they don't have an all-you-can-eat policy, which automatically makes them my least favorite option. The cole slaw and tartar sauce are also less spectacular, and the catfish tastes about the same. Since most of my friends in Jackson live on the north side of the Jackson, this place is much more convenient for everyone. It's hard to convince a large group to drive the 45 minutes to the other side of town to eat catfish when Cock of the Walk is about 10 minutes away.
If someone ever wants to say they like Cock of the Walk, he has to be careful. He might slip up and say, "I like Cock... of the Walk." Not that I've ever slipped up and said something awkward like that.
Catfish on the table.
The restaurant has its own pier on the Reservoir
so that boats stop by and order food.
Mr. Cock and his Walk.
The "cock" was the captain of a flatboat
before steamboats improved transportation
on the Mississippi. The "walk" was the
flatboat, which could only go downstream
to New Orleans so that boatmen had to
walk back up north via the Natchez Trace.
Several signs warned people not to feed the ducks.
The signs didn't say anything about the geese, though.
For the Fourth of July, a friend of mine invited to join her at a friend's barbecue in Virginia. Afterwards, we piled into one car and drove into the District where one of her friends had access to an office rooftop in Georgetown. From there we had a memorable view of the Washington Monument. Normally, getting into and out of DC is a nightmare on any day, but the Fourth always has more sluggish traffic than usual. But getting in and out of the city is mostly a problem for those trying to get close to the National Mall and the White House. Georgetown is on the Potomac with descent access to Arlington, so getting in was no more difficult than on any other day. Getting out of the city after the fireworks was a bit slower, but I suppose that's par for the course.
The building across the street reminded me of a scene from Forest Gump. I pointed to it and asked my friends, "What's the name of that building?" They confirmed my hunch, "That's Watergate." Funny how I recognized the building from a short scene in a movie that I haven't seen in years. Watching the fireworks explode over Watergate was kinda cool.
The photos I took this night are not my favorite photos ever, but I can now say that I've seen fireworks in the nation's capital on Independence Day.
After having breakfast/lunch with a friend at Ted's Bulletin on Barracks Row, we walked pass the Eastern Market metro station entrance and across the street to the shopping stalls, which come out every Saturday. There is a wide variety of merchandise including framed or matted photographs, arts and crafts, posters, antique books, cigar boxes, jewelry, fresh fruits and vegetables, sausages, mustards, and clothing. I took a little bit of time to look at the booths selling photographs in order to see how much they were charging for matted prints. I also wanted to see if their photographs were any good. There was one stall that had some impressive prints, including one of car lights through a rain-covered window. Of course, most of the photographs were from DC, so I also wanted to see how they shot the different monuments around the city. After strolling around the market stalls, we went to Capitol Hill Books on a street leading away from the market stalls. This place reminded me of Shakespeare & Company in Paris because every wall was absolutely covered with books from floor to ceiling. It was hard to walk around the bookshelves without accidently bumping into the books and knocking them to the floor. The store clerk made certain everyone wearing a book bag would take it off and leave it by him because otherwise the bags would destroy every display as customers moved around the store. Because books covered even the windows, there was no natural light, and the store had a gloomy aura as if it was constantly raining outside. From the street the book-covered windows look like they're about to explode from the number of books in the store. I did buy one book here, Scoop by Evelyn Waugh. My friend highly suggested it, and buying it here was cheaper than buying it on Amazon.
Since I knew there was a high probability that I would leave DC if I did not have a stable job by July 4th, I made an effort to visit some friends in the area and say goodbye before leaving. One friend suggested we go to Eastern Market on a Saturday morning. After meeting her by the metro station, I suggested we walk down Barracks Row because I knew there were a bunch of cool-looking restaurants on this road. In early May I had dinner with a friend at one of these restaurants, the Banana Cafe, which has a piano bar inside, and I could probably spend a lot of money eating at all the other joints on this street while gaining weight. One of the places I wanted to try was Ted's Bulletin because my cousin's boyfriend said that this place has a great breakfast menu. The sign on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant said they were serving pop tarts. "Really?" I thought, "That sounds pretty lame. I could just get pop tarts for a lot cheaper at a grocery store. Why, oh why, would I spend DC restaurant prices for something as simple as Kellogg's brand pop tarts?" After a brief wait, which would normally have been much longer except that it was a slow Saturday, the two of us sat down at an enormous table large enough for six to eight people. There weren't enough small tables, and they weren't expecting any large groups for a while. From our seats we could see the chefs and servers preparing the food because there was only a counter separating the kitchen from the seating area. On the counter were several plates full of hand-made pop tarts they had just baked; the sugar glaze was still melted from oven heat. I was baffled and giddy that they made their own pop tarts. Considering they made them in-house, the pop tarts weren't very expensive, either. I ordered the bacon and brown sugar pop tart along with a bottomless cup of coffee, a stack of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and hash browns. On the wall opposite the kitchen, a huge screen played a Western movie from the 1970s. Don Knotts, who played Barney Fife in The Andy Griffith Show, was in this movie. He was dressed up as a woman with a shotgun most of the time. There weren't any subtitles or sound, but Don Knott's character made it obvious that it was a comedy. I wonder if they play the same movie over and over all day or if they have a bunch of old movies. It might actually be fun to watch the movie with someone while waiting for the food and make up the lines and story. It'd be like a game from Who's Line Is It Anyway. Anyhow, the food was delicious once it finally came out. I actually ordered so much that I couldn't finish my pancakes. I'm usually the type of guy who can push through the pain and eat everything I ordered so that I get my money's worth. Considering how much food I got, it was very reasonably priced. I think next time I'll just order pop tarts, coffee, and maybe hash browns.
The Mississippi Society, a nonprofit organization in DC that promotes Mississippi's interests in the capital, hosted the 21st annual "Mississippi on the Mall" next to the Lincoln Memorial in late June. I had heard from a friend that the states have their own societies that have special events during summer and that I should go to one. This particular event included fried catfish, hush puppies, cole slaw, and a blues/rock band. Another friend really wanted to go to this event, and I thought it might be a good opportunity for me to network with some people who might be able to get me a job. From what I was able to glean from the internet, it looked as though the event would be full of bigwigs from Mississippi who are working in DC, so maybe I could meet a lobbyist or something who could help me out. As it turned out, I didn't meet anyone new who was older than me. It was mostly a reunion for all the Ole Miss undergrads who were working this summer as unpaid interns around town. There were some non-college age folk, but they didn't stay around long once they ate their catfish and hush puppies. There were also some non-Ole-Miss college undergrads. Every Mississippi university, including my alma mater Mississippi College, had a table set up where we could get regalia for our schools and sign up for alumni network stuff. Therefore, I could see who came from Mississippi State or Southern Miss according to who was carrying which hand-fans. Still, it looked less like "Mississippi on the Mall" and more like "Oxford on the Mall." Every girl was wearing a summer sundress and at least an inch of makeup. Girls can be quite pretty in these dresses, assuming they are already naturally pretty, but I've never seen women dress like this on a regular basis outside of Oxford. A couple years ago I went to the Double Decker Festival, an art festival in Oxford just down the street from Ole Miss, and I distinctly remember thinking, "I have never seen this many 18-to-25-year-old girls in dresses on a Saturday summer afternoon." Just as St Andrews doesn't represent real Scotland, Oxford doesn't represent real Mississippi. There was fried catfish and hush puppies, which I always love, but the beer was so frothy that every time I poured a cup at least half of my drink was foam. Considering the cost of admission, there was very little bang for the buck. The only part of the event that might have been worth the price tag was a venue underneath the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, but even then I think the event was way overpriced.
As part of a new tradition that started after Washington got a new MLB team, the Nationals and Orioles have played in the "Battle of the Beltway" each year since 2006. Every season this series includes six games, with one series in Baltimore and the other in DC. Thus far there have been 31 games (including this season), and Baltimore leads the series 16-15. The Nats have won only one full series against the Orioles in 2007, but the teams have tied three times. This season the Orioles won the first series 2-1 at Camden Yards after an embarrassing first game loss where the Nats racked up 17 runs on 19 hits. The Nats won the second round 2-1 at Nationals Park in June.
A friend of mine in Alexandria, Virginia invited me to join her church for the Saturday afternoon game in this series. With such a large group, the church was able to get a discounted price on the tickets. This season I have been able to go to 4 games, but I have only paid full price for a ticket once.
Our seats had a view of the Washington Monument,
which is behind the lights in the upper right-hand corner.
with a microphone, is presiding as a fake-governor
over the court. My cousin is part of the actual court
which is playing a joke on Sancho by letting
him rule in cases. At this point in the story
Sancho has just ruled against her in favor of
the guy standing just behind her.
Because of my cousin, I have now been able to attend four plays for free in the DC/Baltimore metro area, including All My Sons in Baltimore, Cymbeline in Laurel, Penelope in DC, and now Don Quixote at the Synetic Theatre in Arlington (next to Crystal City metro station). It was the 'pay-what-you-can' night, which is basically a free night. Technically, the show had not opened yet, so this night was like a dress rehearsal in front of a non-traditional audience. This performance allowed the actors to see how an audience would respond to certain scenes and jokes before they opened a couple days later. There were a few glitches here and there that the director would later fix, but I didn't notice anything too serious. Overall, the acting was very good and very entertaining. The characters playing Don Quixote and Sancho were quite humorous. Also, I had never seen this type of 'physical theatre.' The Synetic Theatre is supposed to be the premier DC venue for physical theatre. It seems as though this type of theatre is a mix of gymnastics and dance, but it's not as exuberant as Cirque du Soleil. Though the large gymnastic dance moves are very much part of the show, there is still a lot more regular acting and story-telling than in dance of gymnastic performances.
I'm always interested in how playwrights and artists present Don Quixote on the stage and in movies. I read the book in its entirety in the original Spanish as part of an independent study class I created for myself my last year in undergrad. Cervantes wrote the novel in 1605 and 1615 in order to ridicule the chivalric novels of his era, which are similar to today's unrealistic romance novels. This novel is a brilliant work of literature because Cervantes successfully destroyed an entire genre that had been incredibly popular in Spain before 1605. In order to show how absurd these stories were, Cervantes created a character who lived in the early 1600s who read all of these books, went crazy, and started acting like a chivalric knight. The series of ensuing adventures mock what other authors had written in their chivalric novels. There are also numerous 'mistakes' purposely put into the novel because the authors of chivalric novels would quickly write one new novel after another without properly editing and revising their works. Therefore, Sancho's wife has multiple names in different parts of the story; chapters are numbered incorrectly; it's always a sunny summer even though the story has been going on for several months. The over-the-top mockery even includes an entire short chivalric novel which Don Quixote retells; this story has nothing to do with anything else in the novel and doesn't further the plot (except to mock chivalric novels more). After the Spaniards read Don Quixote, they couldn't handle reading chivalric novels again. They would read a new story and think, "I remember reading something like this in Don Quixote, and it was ridiculous." I can't think of another author who has so thoroughly destroyed an entire literature genre the same way Cervantes did.
(I should also note that Cervantes was criticizing the Spanish government in the novel, but in this post I'm concentrating on his critique on his fellow authors.)
Cervantes' mockery of idealism doesn't translate well onto the movie or stage. Modern audiences want to escape from reality; movies and plays are supposed to make us feel better about ourselves. Americans especially don't like to see a movie that has a sad ending. Don Quixote doesn't fit well into this modern culture. His entire purpose is to show the ridiculousness of idealism so that people will snap back into reality. At the end of the novel he becomes sane again and rebukes his old chivalric ways and makes everyone around him promise that they will never again read these ridiculous stories. Most playwrights ignore this part of the novel and rewrite the story for modern culture. One of the most flagrant examples of this is the musical version of Don Quijote Man of La Mancha and its most important song, "Impossible Dream." The movie version of the musical from 1972 made this interpretation of the novel and this song even more popular. The lyrics say, "To dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe, to bear with unbearable sorrow, to run where the brave dare not go, to right the un-rightable wrong, to love pure and chaste from afar, to try when your arms are too weary, to reach the unreachable stars- this is my quest! To follow that star no matter how hopeless! To fight for the right without question or pause! To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause!" These lyrics can be inspirational, and most people are more familiar with these lines than with anything that is actually in the novel. The great problem is... this isn't what Cervantes wrote. In fact, this song spits in the face of what Cervantes wrote. He was mocking this idealistic line of thinking, but stage and movie versions of the novel usually present the more optimistic, idealistic version instead of the real one. Now many people today believe that Don Quixote was an inspirational hero to follow, not a lunatic to rebuke. When I was studying the novel, I had multiple people look at me all confused when I tried to tell them what Cervantes was doing with his work. "But... I thought Don Quixote was all about dreaming the impossible dream, fighting the unbeatable foe." More times than not, people will quote me the musical and not the novel.
So does the Synetic Theatre version of Don Quixote follow to the actual novel? Well, yes and no. It follows the novel much more than the musical Man of La Mancha. It is quite obvious that Don Quixote is crazy and that his attempts to improve others' lives actually makes their lives worse. For instance, in one scene he frees a group of prisoners who deserve to be prisoners. After he frees them, they reign havoc on the countryside around them. That is very close to the actual novel. I was actually impressed with this accuracy. There are certain artistic liberties. For instance, the great antagonist from the Synetic play is rarely mentioned in the novel; when he is mentioned, it is in passing. Also, though Cervantes regularly mentions Dulcinea, Don Quixote rarely actually talks to her. They may share a total of a few words with each other. She is more a figment in his imagination than a significant character in her own right. In the play, Dulcinea is a much more important character who actually has numerous lines and shows up in several scenes. However, the ending was a bit confusing. It practically has two endings. The first one follows the novel fairly well; Don Quixote tells the audience to judge him as they may and not to refer to him as Don Quixote any longer; he has given up his chivalric ways. Then the stage just about goes dark. I thought that would be the end, and it would have been an appropriate somber ending which is roughly how the novel ends. But it seems as though the playwright couldn't help but add a happy, idealistic ending. A light opens back up on Dulcinea and Sancho. She praises Don Quixote for how he treated her, and so forth. Then he wakes back up from death and floats upward to Dulcinea. This second ending is very similar to how the musical Man of La Mancha ends. It felt as though the play had two endings- one a realistic portrayal of the novel, the other an idealized reworking from the 20th century. Then again, it may have felt like one ending for someone who hasn't read and studied Don Quixote.
Nevertheless, I strongly doubt any play or movie adaptation of the novel would be successful financially if it followed the book closely, even in theme. For instance, making Dulcinea a much bigger character in the script makes for a more entertaining 2-hour show. In that light, this play at Synetic was one of the best adaptations I've seen because it was able to adhere to the story, more or less, while still keeping the performance interesting and uplifting.
Here's a video from Synetic Theatre of Don Quixote:
Again, a friend had connections to an extra ticket for a Nats game, and I was more than happy to oblige and go. One of the men from his church bought four tickets with a great view of the ballpark from just behind home plate. I wouldn't have been able to afford these tickets otherwise. I'm grateful that I was able to attend this game. I later heard that his wife was thrilled I was going because otherwise she would have had to go and use that ticket.
About half way through the game, a huge thunderstorm rolled through DC so that there was a play stoppage. After the storm passed and the game continued, there was still lightning flashing over the stadium. I kept trying to get a photo of the lightning along with the stadium lights, but I didn't have the right equipment or patience to pull off that type of photo. Only once have I tried doing lightning photography, and I just barely got one good photo from that shoot.
After I finished visiting the Trinidad and Micronesia Embassies, I decided that I had time to tour one more embassy if I could hurry. The next one I went to was the Australian Embassy, but it had closed even though all the other embassies would be open for another hour. I missed getting inside by just a few minutes. I later heard that it was a good embassy to visit, so maybe if I'm in DC next year I'll get to see it. Instead, I walked to the next closest embassy, Argentina. The line outside was so long that I didn't think I would be able to get in before it closed at 5 pm, but we moved quick enough that everyone could get past security and squeeze into the already cramped rooms with at least 30 minutes left to tour the building. After getting a taste of some delicious tea (or some other type of hot beverage), I pushed my way through a crowd to see a small dance and musical performance. There was hardly any room left in there, but I still got to see the last few minutes of the show before the embassy closed.
Flag outside the Argentina Embassy.
Empty room inside the embassy.
I'm not very happy with the photos I took during the performance,
but I really didn't have a chance to get into a good position where
I could get some descent light. Instead of putting all the photos up,
I'll just put this one up so y'all have an idea of what the room looked like.
Ceiling and wall decor inside the embassy.
Street sign on my way back to the Dupont Circle metro station.
In my last post, I wrote about traveling to Indonesia, more specifically to the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, DC, for the Passport DC festival. After leaving Indonesia, I took a walk down Massachusetts Avenue in order to find another country/embassy to visit. It was getting to be late afternoon, and the embassies would only be open for a little while longer. Since I spent so much time waiting in line at my first embassy, I thought that I would only have enough time for maybe one more country. The closest embassy on the map was Uzbekistan, but it just so happened that they withdrew from the festival at the last minute. I kept walking down past Dupont Circle along Massachusetts because I could hear loud drums and see a large crowd gathered on the sidewalk. According to my map, this was Trinidad & Tobago. Micronesia was next door. The buildings didn't look like anything special when compared to how grand Indonesia had been. These embassies could have been just another couple 4-story brick townhouses in downtown DC except for the foreign flags flying over the front doors. Other than the drums outside the Trinidad embassy, there wasn't much else to see. There were a few displays showing what women wear during festivals, and an animal trainer had snakes and other reptiles from Trinidad that guests could play with. It was a bit of a letdown from Indonesia, but it was still pretty cool, especially when the animal trainer brought out the snake. I didn't see that one coming.
Steel band in front of the Trinidad Embassy playing
the steelpans, which originated in Trinidad
Costume display in the Trinidad & Tobago Embassy.
Inside Trinidad & Tobago Embassy foyer.
Sitting room on the first floor of the
Trinidad & Tobago Embassy.
Micronesian flag over the embassy's front door.
Modest is hottest? Pshaw!
Let me put it to you this way:
No guy on his wedding night is going
to look at his new bride if she is wearing
the outfit in this photo and say,
"Honey, maybe you should change into that
plaid turtleneck sweater and oversized
sweatpants with the red pizza stain instead."
Painting in the Micronesian Embassy.
"Belle in the Garden (A)" by David Boothman.
Steel band in front of the Trinidad & Tobago Embassy.
Every year the Cultural Tourism DC hosts the "Around the World Embassy Tour," or the "Passport DC," in May so that regular joes and janes can visit embassies that are usually closed to the public. Since these embassies are legally not part of the United States but are sovereign territory for foreign governments, walking through the front door of an embassy is the same as entering that country. Therefore, I was able to walk up and down a couple streets and visit multiple countries in one day. The best part is all of it was free. Roughly 30 embassies participated in this event, but some, such as Bahrain, canceled at the last minute, probably because they were killing their own people. Still, it's almost impossible to see all the embassies in one day, especially since there are long security lines in front of several of the popular embassies, like the Indonesian and Argentinean. Almost every participating embassy has special events throughout the day that show off their culture such as dance or music lessons. Some embassies also provided food and drink.
The first embassy I went to was the Indonesian Embassy because some of my classmates in St Andrews were Indonesian government employees. I teased one of these friends when I got home and told her, "I went to Indonesia today!" She responded, "Wow! Whereabouts in Indonesia? Let me guess- the Indonesian Embassy in Washington?" I was a little disappointed I couldn't trick her, but I promised to give her more of a heads-up next time I came to Indonesia so that we could meet up.
The Indonesian Embassy was by far the most impressive embassy I saw, and I'm not saying that because I have Indonesian friends. The building was once the mansion of a Colorado gold rush tycoon. Simply walking through the front door was breathtaking. When I enter an art museum or palace, I'm not surprised when I see the decorations and stained glass windows. However, I wasn't expecting the Indonesian Embassy to be so elaborate. I was a little disappointed with the other embassies because they weren't so grand.
This staircase is the first thing guests see
once they walk through the front door
and enter Indonesian territory.
One of the large murals beside the staircase
along with the stained glass skylight.
Mural that is on guests' left as they enter the front door.
