The Corona Diaries Vol. 55: A Tale of Two Campuses

(late May 2022)

(Watch this entry's prelude.)

While it is a bit chilly outside, the signs of spring are undeniable. Our neighbors' chickens are no doubt grateful that winter is over and they can now roam the yard and peck away at something other than snow and not fall ass over teakettle when they find themselves mistakenly scratching on ice.

The lilac bushes in our yard are in bloom and smelling lovely. One is right outside of our bedroom window and every year I look forward to that ephemeral treat of having its scent waft in on a cool breeze.

A pair of peregrine falcons have made some nook or cranny of the power station downtown their home and the power company has kindly put a webcam up at the nest for the voyeuristic types among us. The falcons recently became parents as their eggs hatched for the world to see.

The "food forest" down a couple blocks from us has begun to bloom. It had been a large patch of grass at a corner but was made into a community garden a couple of years back. Presumably the summer will bring a series of farmers/makers markets at this spot just like last year. My crafty neighbors will hawk their wares while those with green thumbs will have the fruits of their gardens for sale. At least one of those gardens is rather large and outside of the city.

 

Somehow I managed to get a decent photograph of a bird. Sheer luck. Here's a grackle hanging out on the nearby railroad bridge with a rather stern look.

 

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Several entries ago I noted that a local artist had folks donate their Christmas trees to create a labyrinth down the street on the shores of Lake Monona. It turns out that Madison has quite a few labyrinths, most of which seem to be at some kind of religious institution. I discovered one at the front of a church on a recent bike ride.

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Meanwhile, back in Iowa…

It didn't take long to get to Iowa City from Cedar Rapids. Our hotel was just a block away from the theatre where Valerie June was playing that night. It was also about 2 blocks from the University of Iowa campus. I didn't realize until a few days beforehand that Iowa City was home to the Hawkeyes, my alma mater's sports rivals. Having been in Minneapolis a couple weeks previously, it seemed that we were unconsciously making a tour of Big Ten cities.

The hotel was decorated in an Iowa/Hawkeye motif with our room having a baseball theme which included a photo from Field of Dreams. The wallpaper in the hallway was corny (ahem) but appropriate. I suspect that most non-Iowans are like me in that they associate the state with corn. But a lot of meat processing happens here as well. (See, for example, the book Postville.)

The Frau opted for a little nap so I took the opportunity to wander around for a spell.

As is my wont, I began looking for ghost signs and found a few. Here's one for the Hotel Jefferson which the internet says opened in 1913. A couple more storeys were added in the 1920s which explains the multiple cornices or whatever you call those horizontal thingies. The hotel closed in 1967 and I think it's now offices.

There were plenty of murals to be had. Being a film buff, I especially appreciated this one.

Our hotel was right on a pedestrian mall that ran a block north-south on Dubuque Street and a couple blocks east-west on East College Street.

It was a nice, cozy area populated by bars, restaurants, and shops with space to sit outside. Although it had a similar feel to State Street here in Madison, this was a no motor vehicle affair. Judging by the specials listed in the tavern windows, it would no doubt see bands of roaming college kids come nightfall. (E.g. - 21 birthday pitchers of Busch Light at one place were to be had for a mere $25.) There was also a storefront theatre called the Riverside (it is 4-5 blocks from the Iowa River).

Across the street from it was a non-profit art house cinema called Film Scene. 

I was more than a little jealous as Madison has neither. In fact, our downtown has 0 dedicated cinemas these days. There are multi-purpose spaces, such as at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, that feature movies but do so only periodically. To make matters worse for cinephiles, our last remaining 2nd run movie theatre closed in 2021, and we are looking at another cinema shuttering its doors later this year as the mall it is located in remodels and the surrounding area gets redeveloped. While not an art house per se, it does show arty, independent, and foreign films. Plus, it is the last remaining commercial cinema on a bus route and not in a purely suburban area on the outskirts of town accessible by car alone.

I made my way to what seemed to be the oldest part of campus. There was this, the Old Capitol Museum.

It was surrounded by university buildings which gave the area a look that was familiar to me.

Iowa City:

Madison:

(Photo found here.)

This part of the U of I campus had its charms but the buildings, as evidenced by the photo above, were almost uniformly grey. It was a bit dreary walking amongst them. 

Around the back of the museum was a hill, just as we have here.

Iowa City:

Madison:

(Photo found here.)

While I am certainly biased, there can be little doubt to even the most objective observer that Madison wins this one.

Evening approached so it was back to the hotel to freshen up for the concert.

The Englert Theatre was built in 1912 as a vaudeville joint but it's now a multi-use space and is a lovely old spot for a show. Not knowing much about Valerie June, I was curious to see how many of us there would be in attendance. As it happened, most of the seats got filled and I was pleased to see a lot of people wearing masks as well.

 

One Chastity Brown began the night with a spirited set. She was thrilled as pie to be performing in front of people again. With no band to back her, she accompanied herself alternately on electric piano and guitar with the odd electronic beat. I really liked her new song, "Like the Sun".

(Photo found here.)

I first encountered Valerie June 2 or 3 years ago when I was looking for a particular version of the song "Tribulations" by Estil C. Ball as recorded by Alan Lomax and instead found June's lovely rendition. Before long I discovered that, in addition to folk, her music incorporates R&B, bluegrass, soul, pop – just about any American music you can name.

While I was largely unfamiliar with June's set, I did recognize a few of the songs. In the middle of the proceedings, she donned a cape that had rainbow-colored lights in it which made for quite a sight. At the end of her version of Nick Drake's "Pink Moon", she did a little dance as her band played on with the cape enshrouding her body before flowing over her head making for an enchanting luminous spectacle.

Like Chastity Brown, June was excited to be out performing in front of people after a Covid-induced hiatus. She and her band were surrounded by flowers that were beautiful and gave a spring vibe. Her tone was relentlessly upbeat, offering ebullient invitations to forget about those Covid blues and instead lose ourselves in the music. I cannot recall a concert where there was so much smiling to be seen onstage. 
 

It was a wonderful night with some great performances leaving me with a lot of music to investigate. And the Englert was just a lovely place to boot.

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Bonus photo. I saw this on a bike ride. Is it a tympanum? I wonder what business was there that was symbolized by swords and a helm.

 

(Continue to the postlude...)

The Corona Diaries Vol 49: The Labia Are Looking Warmer These Days

(March 2022)

(Check out The Corona Diaries Vol. 49 - Insert: Mapping)

Spring is nigh! With the warmer weather, that statue of a naked woman reclining with her legs spread a few blocks away doesn't inspire chills like those freezing labia did in January. 

We have had a rather dry winter so I am sure the farmers will be complaining soon, if they haven't already begun. On the plus side, my back was saved some agony. While the ergonomic shovel is a brilliant invention that genuinely makes things easier on your back, 12 inches of wet, slushy snow is still 12 inches of wet, slushy snow and, if I may paraphrase Professor Farnsworth from Futurama, every pound of it weighs about 100 pounds. So fancy shovel or not, it's still a lot of work. Also, I am pleased to report that we had no ice dams this year.

With more venues opening up and more in-person events to attend, I was happy to take the opportunity to head out on occasion. In the dead of winter I went to see a National Geographic Live presentation called "The Secret Lives of Bears". This consisted of a bearologist named Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant standing onstage with a giant Powerpoint slideshow behind her as she lectured about our ursine friends.

It was fun and informative. Bear cubs are extremely cute and I was amazed at just how much bamboo pandas eat. Dr. Wynn-Grant also noted that bearologists argue about how to define hibernation. We learned that bears do not go to the bathroom during hibernation and instead their bodies have ways of recycling bodily waste. Now that is some crazy voodoo, if you ask me.

My nature lessons continued outside on a walk at one of Madison's conservation parks.

A group of us met a volunteer nature expert for a walk to see what the wildlife was up to in the winter. There are no bears in Wisconsin this far south outside of a zoo so we didn't have to worry about disturbing one trying to sleep.

We didn't see much wildlife beyond the occasional squirrel and bird.

But we saw a lot of animal tracks: people, dogs, rabbits, and deer. We also came across lines like this in the snow.

Not all of the fun happens on the surface. That line was made by a mouse scurrying underneath the snow.

We stumbled upon evidence of deer, though thankfully we didn't step in it.

Later on, we came across more poop and our guide hypothesized that it had come from a cayote. And she did so with an exuberance that I have never felt upon discovering feces. Did David Attenborough ever get excited at finding poop out in the wild? I don't recall that in any of his programs. Perhaps he did but those scenes were just left on the cutting room floor.

While it was a very cold day, it was nice to be outside learning about Madison's wildlife. The guide and 1 or 2 of my fellow adventurers were really good at identifying trees – something I am not. I was quite jealous. So I think a book on Wisconsin's trees is in my future.

Speaking of trees, an entry or 2 ago I wrote about taking our Christmas tree down to the park by us and donating it so an artist could make a labyrinth. It took me a few weeks but I finally took a stroll through it.

It was fairly early on a Saturday morning so I had the run of the place to myself. At the entryway there was a "Tree Museum" with the various kinds of trees we put up in our homes and decorate for Christmas on display. I learned that, of the bunch, the Balsam Fir and White Spruce were native to Wisconsin.

After looking at the various types of trees I'd be encountering out in the labyrinth, I began my journey.

It was quite calm and peaceful, except for occasional noise from traffic. And cold too. Thankfully it was sunny. A spate of chilly days meant the lake was frozen good and solid so it was off to take a walk on the water.

I assume there's a limnological term for when sheets of ice gets pushed up and over chunks of ice or onto the shore but I don’t know what it is. Here the ice is slowly making its way over the riprap towards the shore.

There were a couple ice fishing shanties farther out. I could hear boisterous laughter from the one way out there and saw someone step out of it. He stood there for a short time and then retreated back inside. I'm not sure if he took a leak or was checking on tip ups.

It was just gorgeous out on the ice.

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I've cooked a few Ethiopian dishes since my last entry. You may recall that I made some spiced clarified butter, nit'ir qibe. Its first use was in a batch of doro wot which is an Ethiopian chicken stew seasoned with berbere. Berbere is basically an East African curry as it's a blend of a dozen or so spices. We buy it from Penzy's. I don't know how hot the stuff is traditionally but Penzy's do not hold back with the ground chili pepper.

My Frau made the doro wot while I tried my hand at injera bread again. While the injera turned out better than the first batch, it still was miles away from the light, spongy stuff I've had at restaurants and from Kukulu Market in Chicago.

The Frau's doro wot, on the other hand, was magnificent.

She'd made it before but I feel the nit'ir qibe really elevated this batch above her previous efforts as it tasted much more like the stuff we get at restaurants. Unlike the versions we get at restaurants, however, this stuff was spicy. I mean really hot. Not surprising, really, as there was a ¼ cup of berbere in it.

We each ate a healthy serving and drank cold beverages between each spoonful. I had an epic endorphin rush that lasted for half an hour or so. There is no doubt in my mind that I would have started hallucinating if I'd gone back for a second helping.

We were somewhere around Madison on the edge of the prairie when the doro wot began to take hold. I remember saying something like “I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should work the remote control…” 

After putting my bowl in the sink, I went out into the living room and sat on the couch for a while to enjoy my buzz.

The other Ethiopian dishes I've made were nowhere near as deadly but no less tasty.

First was a batch of cabbage gomen. I think gomen is simply greens so it's a bit like collard greens. Kind of. It was diced cabbage lightly sautéed and then simmered with lots of spices. I got a blister grinding up the fenugreek seed with a mortar and pestle. They are tough little buggers. It turned out well, though I will dial back the ginger next time. Just a little too much here and it went from pleasingly aromatic to just a tad on the bitter side.

The next dish was shrimp tibs. From what I can tell by my highly unexhaustive internet searches, tibs is a bit like an East African stir fry. Protein and vegetables are sautéed in nit'ir qibe with other spices. I was very happy with how it turned out.

This dish had berbere in it but a fairly small amount and so our tongues were spared. One ingredient that the recipe called for is korerima or black cardamom, though I am more familiar with it as Grains of Paradise. It's kinda sorta like black pepper with a bit of citrus flavor to it. But don't be fooled. Korerima is from Africa while black pepper is from India and they're from different plant families. I've bought Grains of Paradise in Milwaukee before but surely I can find it here in Madison at an ethnic grocery store somewhere.

My most recent attempt at Ethiopian cooking was a batch of sega alicha which is a beef stew with turmeric. It was very tasty.

The lesson here is to let the butcher cut up your meat if they offer to. I went into the butcher shop and asked for 2 pounds of beef stew meat. The guy went in the back and came out with a 2# slab of beef neck. He offered to cut it but I said no. Like a fool. It wouldn't have been that bad except my knives are not sharp and I am betting the folks at the butcher shop have very sharp ones that are just perfect for removing silver skin.

Very tasty. Next time I think I will add some dry mead in addition to the water/stock combination. No berbere so it was easy going on our mouths.

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The bonus photo this time is of what I call the UFO house here in Madison. It must be a semi-earthen home. And look at the red glass at the entryway. Surely this is where they had the neighborhood key parties back in the 70s.