Harry and Me

So, all morning, I've been cleaning my apartment - nesting, of a fashion, in preparation for the arrival of the last Harry Potter book.

I really don't care about all the people who diss Harry's popularity. So, if you are one of them, please go away now.

We hear lots about how Harry does - and doesn't - have an effect on kids' enjoyment of reading. My very unlibrarianish answer is: who cares about the kids. Harry Potter had a huge effect on my enjoyment of reading.

I started to hate reading when my very well-meaning and otherwise much-beloved 12th grade English teacher assigned us the following summer reading list, circa 1995:

Sons and Lovers, by DH Lawrence
An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser (aka 874 pages of Pure Unadulterated Torture)
A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
Othello, by William Shakespeare
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad

Miraculously, I still became an English major - indeed, upon graduation, I won all of the department's major awards - though I feel the need to point out that during that time, I didn't read a single book (I only took linguistics and creative writing classes).

Harry Potter changed that.

In the summer of 2000, I found myself, inexplicably, in Western Montana, working 3 days a week rolling sushi and slinging espresso drinks. In other words, I had a lot of time on my hands. So, I spent a lot of time going to the Missoula Public Library - not to read, mind you, but to gaze at the Gnome House and use one of three public Internet terminals (nicknamed Larry, Curly, and Moe - a fourth, Shemp, was added later).

Eventually, the buzz generated by the local bookstore scene, which was pretty darn good, about something called Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire reached my little ears, which tended to block out any talk about books (those evil little demons).

It wasn't until my boyfriend at the time - who also lived in my apartment, and who, for some reason, disliked all the time I spent sitting on the couch, thinking - plopped Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in my hands, that things changed for me.

And oh, did they change.

I'm signing off the Internet for the weekend, so I can enjoy Deathly Hallows in peace. More to come, after I've finished it.

Fruit Wine is Good

Ahh, my heart leapt when I saw the headline Michigan's Wine Country Grows Where the Cherry is King in the New York Times this morning. Finally, the much-maligned, underrated, humble fruit wine would get some well-deserved press.

But no. The article is largely about how growers are replacing cherry orchards with vineyards. Behold the only mention of fruit wine in the entire article:

[The six wineries of Old Mission] all offer daily tastings of their rieslings and pinot noirs and, naturally, some version or other of a cloying cherry port.

“The sweeter the better,” admitted both Dave and Debbie Bridgewater, loading up on bottles of their favorites at Chateau Grand Traverse. [emphasis mine]

Admitted. Like drinking cherry wine is something to be ashamed of.

Why not highlight some of the many fruit wines available in the area, like these cherry wines from Cherry Republic? Or the award-winning fruit wines of Leelanau Cellars?

Fruit wine has a long and noble history, especially in northern Europe, where it's hard to grow grapes but comparatively easier to grow things like berries and apples. Indeed, cold places in the US like Michigan and upstate New York are full of fruit wineries.

Montezuma Winery in Seneca Falls is my favorite; order yourself some Vin de Myrtille, Cranberry Bog, or Dragonfly and see if you aren't converted.

Where Would I Live? Part Three: Cedar Fairmount

Living in Cedar Fairmount had never even crossed my mind.

Until, this afternoon, it did.

Cedar Fairmount has everything I want, with the exception of a library - unless I fancy a 2-mile round trip walk to the Coventry Library. Which wouldn't be too bad on a pleasant Saturday afternoon. I mean, heck, I used to walk from Shaker Square to University Circle! (OK, I did that once.)

Cedar Fairmount actually has more than everything I want ... I mean, I could walk to the dentist.

Public transportation: the 821 Circulator, the 7x, the 32X, and the University Circle Rapid Station down at the bottom of the hill - and lo and behold, it's the Red Line, which could take me both downtown and out to my parents' house in one fell swoop ... it's not easy to get to my parents' from the East Side. Not using RTA, at least. This may be the only efficient way to do it!

OK, so where could this all go horribly wrong ...

• What is the UC rapid station like? Is it the nastiest, vilest station ever?
• Is Cedar Fairmount really too nice for me? I mean, will all my neighbors be pinot-drinking snobs?
• Is it too expensive? A hastily-executed Craigslist search left me feeling skeptical. I'm not really looking in the $700-800 range.
• Are the streets clogged with semi-drunk twentysomethings most evenings?
• Would my friends ever come over from the West Side and visit me? Nobody ever visited me when I lived in Coventry. It was very, very lonely.

If anyone has any experience living in Cedar Fairmount, please let me know....

Things Other People Did

This didn't make me as sad as I thought it might -- but I can see some room for improvement.

By age 29, Christine Borne had lived in 4 different states, held 6 different library-related jobs, met Dennis Kucinich, had visited the UK a bunch, and had read all of the Harry Potter books at least three times.

I should think about what I want to have done by age 39, huh?