regionalisms, cont'd

silly me thought i could make an unobstructed run to the liquor store once i heard the abstract boom of the announcer strike up the 7:00 bears game at soldier field. i thought that all of the human clog that had delayed me 45 minutes six blocks from home on my return commute a little while ago would since be absorbed by the mighty mothership. wrong-o. the populace in the cold-cans-of-beer-sold-separately section did not bode well for a speedy errand. as i took my place in the 20-swaying-person-deep line the guy behind me squawks, "what is this, fuckin russia?" with his dismay at the lengthy wait ahead. he had a thick sout side aaccent and a cougar tattoo on one calf. he might lead a revolution right den and dere if he hadn't been tailgating since noon. (i only jest because dey're my brethren.) so i start chatting it up with all da bearse fans who think i must be some kind of man-eater for checking out with a bottle of Jamison. "aw, i can't TOUCH dat shit." "you irish?" nope. happily a dishy bombay sapphire rep dispensed shots to all us line-wearies while cougar-guy's buddy put the moves on her: "hey, what do I gotta do to get dis girl to give me her number?" speaking of the south side, I noticed in my travels this week that the Miami Bowl has been erased... a decrepit 60's gem last visited in december 03 by our short-lived poetry discussion group. somewhere i have a photo of bernstein's my way (our topic that meeting) resting on the score table beside a basket of nachos. nope. lost in the great hard-drive crash of february. one of these days i may just be convinced to go back to ye old 35 mm. way back... i'm taking this class at the center for book and paper arts in october:

Van Dyke Brown Prints
The Van Dyke brown print produces beautiful brown-toned images and can be used with a variety of surfaces such as art papers, fabric and wood. It is one of the earliest photographic processes, dating to around 1842, and one of the simplest: images are exposed using sunlight, and processed with water. This weekend workshop will introduce you to the basics of this lovely 19th century photographic process. We will make negatives for contact-printing, using your existing photographs. Then we'll experiment with printing on various hand-coated surfaces. This technique does not require a darkroom, so you will be able to continue experimenting after the class is over.

reminds me of what keith w. said after teaching s & me how to run the franklin press, "congratulations, you've caught up with the obsolete."