review: sin in the second city

Sin and the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul, Karen Abbot's book about Chicago's vice district, is the kind of history more people should be reading.

She tells the story of the Everleigh sisters, two of the most successful and notorious madams in the history of the U.S. Their Everleigh Club drew city officials, gamblers, aristocrats, academics, and just about everyone else. The Everleigh girls, who included such characters as Doll, Brick Top, and Diamond Bertha, were unique because they were generally very healthy, happy, and independent. They could recite poetry, talk about the philosophy of Balzac, play the piano, and be 'courtesans' in the full sense of the word as opposed to just...ahem...you-know-whatting. The Everleighs took great pains to educate them and keep them safe.
 But there was plenty of debauchery and straight-up weirdness too: opium eating, devouring raw meat for the pleasure of the customers, and serving champagne in the girls' shoes.

Minna Everleigh

And the madams themselves were quite fascinating: They were resourceful at best, liars at worst. They never really got their stories straight on who they were or where they came from. They were masters of constant reinvention - Something I, too, aspire to be. (But perhaps more like Madonna and less like early 20th century brothel keepers. But I haven't ruled out all my options just yet.) They also held their own against political bosses and jealous, conniving rivals. They were two tough cookies and fun to read about.

Abbot also sheds light on the other side of the culture: The evangelists, reformers, prohibitionists, and others who dedicated their lives to breaking up the party. The Everleigh Club, being the most fashionable, popular, and sought-after, naturally became their primary target. Lammmmeeee. Abbot spends about half the book discussing these characters, too - which I, naturally, found much less interesting. I definitely would've been hanging out with the Everleighs instead of holding some sort of revival on the street outside. So I didn't find reading about these party-poopers very entertaining. But it did provide an interesting contrast to the wild & colorful Everleigh Club.

So, in short, I really enjoyed this book. It was great history: equal parts depravity and moralizing. If you have any interest in turn-of-the-century America, or want a how-to manual on how to be a successful madam, I totally recommend.

fill in the blank...saturday

So I was reading Amy Rene's"Fill in the Blank Friday" post and figured I'd give it a try (even though I'm a day late). Cause it's fun to write about yourself.

(not me, but you get the idea)

I am curious about the world. A reader, animal lover, and traveler. A worrywart. A lover of good food and good drink (borderline glutton & wino, perhaps.) Maybe a bit pretentious. Definitely a little crazy.

The bravest thing I've ever done was wander around on foot in a foreign city, completely and utterly alone. (Language barriers nothing - I made a few new friends that day.) I also repelled down a cliff side in North Carolina although I am deathly afraid of heights (I can't look over a 3rd story balcony without getting queasy). The first time I ever went out to dinner by myself also required a bit of bravery, I think. Hooray me!

I feel prettiest when I'm smiling/happy. Being with people I love makes me glow, no matter how frumpy I'm looking that day.

Something that keeps me awake at night is remembering all the snafus of my day: that homework assignment I was supposed to complete, that witty comeback I couldn't come up with, that text I probably shouldn't have sent...These things always comes rushing back to torment me right as I'm about to doze off.


My favorite meal in the entire world is any of the southern cooking that the women in my family do so well and I have not yet been able to master, alas. Also Mexican street tacos (and not the Taco Cabana kind, either): corn tortillas, queso fresco, lime, cilantro, onion, and crumbly beef fajita. Ahhh.

The way to my heart is making me laugh...real, hearty, from-the-bottom-of-my-gut laugh, not the polite silence-filling kind. I'm also a sucker for anyone who will sit and have a meaningful conversation with me about religion or politics over coffee/cocktails and smokes.

I would like to learn a little more self-control, get a real job, and visit Russia, South Korea, and Argentina within the next five years.

the rum is for all your good vices

Rum has a special place in my heart because it has a special place in Jimmy Buffett's heart, and also because I like to think I was a pirate in another life. Unfortunately, rum isn't exactly a beverage that lends itself to high-quality production. When you mostly mix it with super fruity, syrupy drinks, there's really no need to make it very good. Now, some of you may know that I can be a bit stuck-up when it comes to liquor. I usually turn up my nose at anything that isn't top-shelf: I tend to think that, when it comes to booze, you should avoid the cheap stuff at all costs. (Within reason, of course. I obviously don't have $600 bottles of scotch laying around my house or anything...but one can dream.)

But there are exceptions to every rule and I think I've found one: Cruzan 9 Spiced Rum, which runs for about $13/bottle and is a new favorite of mine. I like spiced rums a lot because they actually have some oomph to them, unlike most silver/light rums that get totally lost in fruity cocktails. (Spiced rum, as you may know, is basically a gold rum that's had spices added.) Cruzan's nine spices include allspice, vanilla, nutmeg, pepper, clove, mace, ginger, cinnamon, and juniper berry, hence the  name. And it's delicious!

Cruzan itself is a pretty cool rum producer, with an 18th-century distillery in St. Croix that I fully intend to visit one day. I've only tried Cruzan 9 so I can't vouch for their other products, but I'm assuming they're pretty good. The website is fun to look at, especially if you're curious about rum production and recipes: Check it out. (And no, I'm not on their payroll. I just get excited about good quality, inexpensive liquor because it is so dang hard to find.) I think I'm going to bid farewell to the weekend with a Cruzan 9 and Coke on the front porch. Holla.

news photos of the year

National Geographic's "Best News Photos of the Year," an annual feature on World Press Winners, is something I look forward to. Not that it's always pleasant, because it rarely is. But it's a valuable conglomeration of some weird, sad, and all-too-rare wonderful things that happened in 2010. I've posted a few below. Here's the full story. (I should warn you, the ones I've included are some of the less-disturbing of the bunch. If you're easily upset you might not want to look at some of the others.)

Bolivian "Flying Cholitas" (women wrestlers)

Anti-government protester in Bangkok

 

 

Bibi Aisha, the Afghan girl whose nose and ears were cut off by her Taliban husband. (She's since undergone reconstructive surgery here in the U.S.)

haterade: glee

I hated tonight's Glee! Ugh, ugh, ugh. This was my go-to happy show. I feel betrayed. Let me rant for just one moment please:

Finn is a sleazebag. Quinn is a hoe. He's stupid and she's evil. (And yes, I liked them both very much prior to this episode.) I thought that Sam and Quinn's relationship was so cute, especially because he's friggin precious, so I'm not happy with this new development. The kissing booth and the fireworks-when-they-kissed-thing made me wanna barf. I didn't like any of the songs except for "Firework," and I had to wait like 40 minutes for that. I was really grossed out by Blaine's little show in Gap (yes, he is another character that I adored PRIOR to this episode), and I don't want Kurt to go for him anymore - and I know he will, which is another reason I'm irritated. Santana actually was propelled up my list of likable characters, which is a bizarre development. And I missed the diabolical Sue; a few hateful comments from her would've made me feel better.

The only redeeming quality? Puck and Lauren, for obvious reasons. Also "Firework."

And no, I'm not crazy. I don't think these are real people...My righteous indignation is directed at the writers. Um, why can't they tailor the show specifically to what I want to see? Ugh...The fact that I'm getting so upset over this probably indicates that I need a glass of wine and a good night's sleep.

team tinkerbell

Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver

So I was listening to this amazing program from Wisconsin Public Radio called To The Best of Our Knowledge the other day and had an epiphany. One of their podcasts, entitled "The Uses of Enchantment," explores the concepts of fairy tales, magic, and imagination. Authors such as Neil Gaiman (one of my faves!) and A.S. Byatt were interviewed. It was very very fascinating and enjoyable...here's the link - Listen!

Anyway, a few of the interviews (especially the one with Byatt) and all of that talk about enchantment got me thinking. And here was what I realized: Our society needs a revival of classic "children's literature." I don't mean picture-books. I mean fantastic fairy-tale-adventures. Something to pique our imaginations and transport us to the good old days of fairy-princess costumes and rock forts in the back yard. We (adults) need battles on the high seas, true love, fairies & goblins, magic carpets, sea monsters, swashbuckling, and similarly wonderful things. (Admit it: You loved playing with today's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea-inspired Google doodle.) More importantly, actual children need them, too. Especially the kind of children who don't realize that they need those things anymore: Teenagers.

I have seen far too many kids in high school English classes made miserable by the old-fashioned prose and veiled social/political commentary often found in their assigned reading. But I don't think teachers should only assign the likes of Harry Potter and Twilight either. Students do need to read from the canon of Western literature, at least some of the time. But why not seek some middle ground? Have them read classic "children's literature," which I keep referring to in quotations because it qualifies as just really fabulous grownup literature nowadays. Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, Ivanhoe, and Treasure Island, immediately come to mind.  Have students read classic literature purely for the sake of a good story, rather than for the sake of digging out some obscure theme about the human condition. (And, if you want to get serious about it, you can find serious themes and references in children's lit, too. But why? It's just as wonderful when taken at face value.) Kids are carrying too much baggage as it is. And I don't care how old and cool someone thinks they are, there is no one who doesn't love stories about knights in shining armor, pirates, princesses, and animals that can talk.



If I had my way, teachers would toss The Scarlet Letter, Great Expectations, and Hamlet in favor of this "children's literature." It can be used to teach the same valuable lessons on plot, character, diction, syntax, and all that good stuff, while also being much more enjoyable. Students need language arts skills and exposure to classic literature, which doesn't need to entail torturing them with Dickens's literary musings on industrialized Victorian society. That only makes them tune out and teaches them, literally, to hate and fear the classics. Just sayin'. (By the way, Charles Dickens is one of my favorite authors. But I'm a little too in touch with reality to think that the average high schooler would agree, no matter how hard I try to show them that his stories are actually really exciting and relevant.)

Let me know what you think. And all of us remember being beat over the head with a classic novel in high school. Sometimes it really works, sometimes it really doesn't. I want to hear about some of your own experiences.

glee please

Hello, I love you

I guess I should officially come out of the closet as a Gleek. I am so much of a Gleek, in fact, that I actually get school-girl-giddy over Finn Hudson and spend time thinking about things that I wish would happen in the show. (Don't judge - at least I'm not a Twilight person.)

Here's what's on my list right now:

1. Guest star spot for Ed Helms (aka Andy from The Office). The obvious spot for him would be somehow involved with The Warblers.

2. DISNEY. Um, excuse me, I daresay that a huge portion of Glee's audience is composed of people (like me) who grew up loving and adoring Disney movies. Is it too much to ask for, say, a Rachel Berry rendition of "Part of Your World"? I know that Disney is very stingy with it's copyrights, but still...It would be fabuloussss.

3. a Mike Chang episode.

4. A full hour of nothing but Elton John songs. I'm thinking Rachel with "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word," Sam singing "Your Song" to Quinn, Mr. Schuester with "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" and Kurt jamming to "Crocodile Rock" in full-on EJ glam circa 1972 is an obvious choice. (And hip hip hooray, there actually are talks of an Elton John guest spot...But I want more!)

5. School production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera? (Okay, I'm getting greedy.)

Glee returns tomorrow and I'm so excited! Now, I'm not unreasonable. I could settle for just one Elton John song or an extra bit of a dialogue for Mike Chang. Maybe just maybe I can one or two things off my wish-list this season.