A New Adventure...

So, one of the reasons I haven't been writing very much on the blog in the last few months was I have been busy getting ready for a move. Two and half years ago, I started an adventure. I moved to North Dakota in the middle of winter to start my first digital library job out of grad school. I had no idea what I was getting myself into - I learned more about myself and my skills in one month here than I ever had before. I have certainly grown up a lot since moving out here and I am thankful for the time I've had. But, it's time to start the next adventure.

Later this week, I say goodbye to North Dakota and make another big cross country move to Florida. I am excited to be moving back to the east coast, closer to family and friends who live in that part of the country and to be starting a new and challenging job at Florida State University. I will be taking everything I've learned over the past few years and using it in a new setting, hopefully to great success. I'll also be learning again, which is always a good thing, and sharing my adventures in my new city with family, friends and anyone else who cares to join in!

Onwards!

Visiting the Park that Walt Built

Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland

One of my favorite questions to ponder when I visit my home away from home, Walt Disney World, is what would Walt think of his Florida Project today? What would he think of how they "translated" EPCOT, of Hollywood Studios, of Animal Kingdom? It's a fun exercise but we'll never know the answer like we do when it comes to its Southern California counterpart.

One of the pilgrimages every good Disney geek needs to make is to the park that Walt built, Disneyland. It's the one park we have that is stamped by Walt in every way, the one that started it all. I've been begging to go for years - insisting the photos from the one time I had been there at 18 months old were doctored. I was apparently miserable on that trip; I wouldn't let a character near me for a picture and the one of Mom and me and Donald, I am crying my little heart out. Luckily, I grew out of that quickly in time for my first trip to Walt Disney World a year later. So, going back to Disneyland has been a dream and finally, about a month after visiting my home parks in Florida, I got to go back to Disneyland.

It was work that gave me the excuse to go. I was presenting at ALA Annual which was being held in the Anaheim Convention Center, literally across the street from Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. I wasn't staying on property but I could see California Screamin' from my hotel room window, which leads to my first impression of the resort, how small it was and how on top of everything it was. In Walt Disney World (WDW), once you're on property, you're in an area controlled by the Imagineers. You see what they want you to see, nothing more. They could do that in Florida because of the lessons learned in Disneyland. It also blew my mind to see the two parks directly across from each other - five minutes and you could walk from one and into the other. I sort of missed the anticipation of having to climb onto a bus to switch parks, the special moment as you have to walk up to the entrance for the next one you want to explore. Downtown Disney is also right there, next to the two park entrances and it's more like Universal CityWalk than its Orlando counterpart. I liked its atmosphere though; made walking through it to get to the parks fun rather than overwhelming.

Disneyland was the park I was most excited to see. Sure, California Adventure was an entirely new park to me but again, it wasn't the park that Walt built, it wasn't the one I'd really come to see. With Disneyland, I would have a chance to see a park that we know exactly what Walt thought about it. I'd get to see the Firehouse with the light on, alerting everyone that Walt was "home," the original Tiki Room, the original Haunted Mansion. I could pay my respects to Mr. Toad one more time and ride the Matterhorn after exploring Toontown. I could also, finally, get a good look at Sleeping Beauty Castle.

My first look of the castle though was rather rushed. Thanks to a disorganized shuttle company, we needed to run to make our Blue Bayou lunch reservation. My first reaction to the Castle was literally "oh look - the Castle! Excuse me, where is the Blue Bayou restaurant?" It wasn't until after I was stuffed with a Monte Cristo that I got my first really good look. I'd always been told it was small and of course I'd seen pictures but I'd never really understood how small until I was standing in front of it. My picture from one end of Main Street, you can barely tell there IS a castle there. But all of Main Street USA compensates, it is all built on a smaller scale - like its been slightly miniaturized from what I am used to seeing. The Castle itself was just...cute. Like the sort of castle you dream of as a kid, quaint approachable - all good fairy tales come to life. Cinderella Castle can look imposing; Sleeping Beauty Castle looks like a place to explore. Fitting it is the one with the walk through attraction in it.

All of Disneyland is like that - smaller scale than I was used to but approachable, welcoming, quaint - full of nooks and crannies to discover and explore. I fell in love with New Orleans Square, lots of courtyards and stores tucked into corners and it empties out at the Rivers of America where the Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain sit on opposite sides than where I expect them to be. I actually spent a lot of my time in Disneyland going in the wrong direction. Its familiarity was disconcerting. I'd think "I know where that is" only to realize it's not even in the same land as in the Magic Kingdom. Not only were things in different places, they weren't even in the right park! There is an Innoventions in Disneyland, a Star Tours too, both sitting in Tomorrowland and confusing me but it was fun to see how they fit into the Magic Kingdom park rather than in Epcot or Hollywood Studios. I think my favorite Disneyland ride had to be Indiana Jones Adventure. I had so much fun both times  rode it, laughing and enjoying its effects. It's the same ride vehicle as Dinosaur but I thought used to much better advantage in this attraction. I also loved the fireworks at Disneyland and was sad they don't have the soundtrack for them available for purchase (Surprised too, Disney doesn't usually miss a chance to sell you something) but seeing Tinkerbelle and Dumbo zoom around Sleeping Beauty Castle was so neat and the fireworks are huge! I realize its because they have to set them off much closer than they do in the parks in Florida but it was wild to see!

Carthay Circle Theater and Fountain in DCA

I did of course go over to California Adventure too - I had to see its new attractions though going a few weeks after the opening of Cars Land meant about a billion other people are there with you. I adored the Buena Vista Street area; it reminds me of how Hollywood Studios used to be before they built that awful hat in front of the replica of the Chinese Theater. It even has Streetmosphere people wandering around and a snappy newsboy show that is clearly playing on the current popularity of Newsies but I not going to complain - I do love me some singing, dancing boys. Cars Land is impressive; what I could see of it through the crowds anyway. It literally feels like you walked into the movie and the details are all there from the different "houses" of the characters to the statue of the founder, Stanley, sitting at the end of the street. I only got to ride its main attraction, Radiator Springs Racers as its single rider line was a fairly reasonable wait (about 45 minutes when we joined it, 60 minutes when we got off the attraction - considering the main line was never below three hours and fast passes were always gone while I was there, it's the only way I was getting on it). Racers is so much fun! Its story is great, the theming out of this world and the end "race" with another car full of guests is a blast. My only complaint is how short it was. If I'd waited three hours for it, I think I might have been a bit steamed. The other two rides didn't have single rider lanes and I wasn't going to wait an hour for them when I had so much to see and do. I kept telling myself it was another reason to go back! I also got to ride the Little Mermaid ride which is coming to WDW in the new Fantasyland expansion. It was so colorful and fun and hey, any excuse to sing along in a ride, I'll take it! As I didn't visit California Adventure back before a lot of its face lift was completed, I can't compare but this definitely seemed like an all-day park to me, especially since you'll be waiting for the three rides in Cars Land for most of it! Also, World of Color? A. MAZ. ING. And has fast passes - brilliant! I didn't have to stake out a good spot hours before the show, I could ride rides up until about 30 minutes before then proceed to my designated spot for the show, front and center (but back enough so I didn't get wet at all). Seriously, Disney needs to get on that for its night shows in FL, it made life so much easier and let me enjoy the park a lot longer than I could have otherwise.

Overall, I enjoyed my visit out to the park that Walt built and its next door neighbor. I didn't get to see everything and lines meant I missed out on certain things (like Space Mountain and the Matterhorn as they was either down or the wait too outrageous every time I was near them) but like I said, just another reason to go back!

A Couple of ARC Reviews

Among other exciting things going on in my life, I attended my first ALA Annual this year where I presented on digital libraries with my good friend Julie Judkins. The bonus was the conference happened to be across the street (literally) from Disneyland but more about that later this week.

One of the fun things about ALA is its exhibit hall where publishers come to share their upcoming publications with the thousands of librarians who attend the event. ARCs, or Advanced Reader Copy, are just how they do that and it is a sight to see the ARCs stacked in piles in the publishers' booths. Some take tons of ARCs during their time at ALA, so much so that there is a temporary post office set up on the exhibit floor so that people can ship things home as needed. However, I did not need the post office as I kept to books I thought I would enjoy and that I would like to review to get the word out about them which meant I only came home with about 10 new books to read. I was impressed with myself because the temptation to grab up books like candy is there.

I also got two books signed. The Disney geek in me squealed when I got to meet Dave Smith, Disney Archivist Emeritus and have him sign his new book, Disney Trivia from the Value: Secrets Revealed and Questions Answered. The next day, I got to meet R. L. LaFevers, author of the Theodosia books that I adore and she signed the first book in her new series, Grave Mercy (a completely fabulous read about a female assassin in medieval France). It was fun to get to meet authors and talk with them about their books and work. But enough about that, I've finished three of the ARCs I brought back so I wanted to share my thoughts.

In Need of a Good Wife, Kelly O'Connor McNees

From Goodreads

The first sentence on the back of this book included mail-order brides so I knew I needed to read it. I love arranged marriage/marriage of convenience stories. I know most of them have major women's issues in them as well but I still love them - I figure a guilty reading pleasure is OK to have. McNees' story follows a group of New York City women as they journey to Destination, Nebraska and their future husbands. Three of the group are the focus for the narrative: the women who came up with the plan, a woman trying to escape debt and an older immigrant who is just coming to be a housekeeper. They find life on the frontier to be anything but what they expected and each faces her own trials upon arrival. As I said in my Goodreads review, I am ambivalent about this book. I liked the premise of it but the narrative was very fractured; I think the author tried to use way too many points of view. It would have been stronger if she had chosen one protaginist to focus on for the entirety of the story. The three main women are approachable, representing various points on a morality scale and quite black and white which makes them interesting, but not intriguing. In fact, all her characters are black and white; the "villain" of the town was like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon. The religious undertones are clear but not overwhelming and McNees brings it across strongest in her most likable character so I didn't mind that aspect as much as I could have.

Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling: A Novel, Michael Boccacino

From Goodreads

Charlotte Markham has been followed by Death all her life. Now a governess for two boys whose mother has recently died, she thinks that perhaps she has no one left for Death to come for..until her good friend and the boys' nanny is found brutally murdered on the grounds of the estate and suddenly there is a door into the House of Darkling where the boys' mother is waiting for them. The boys' mother  has made a deal with the master of the house for a second chance at motherhood but the more time she spends in Darkling, the more Charlotte is worried about the game she's gotten them all into. This is a delightfully creepy gothic fantasy tale with a likable heroine and fantastic visuals. Boccoacino's imagination is a fun curiosity cabinet of the amazing and grotesque and he's able to envelope those visuals into an interesting story, full of adventure and mystery. I would perhaps have wished for a more drawn out ending, the story seems to end abruptly and there are times I wish he'd spent a little less time describing the setting and more on the story and character development but overall, the atmosphere of this book is too wonderfully rendered to lament a little less character development.

The Midwife of Hope River, Patricia Harman

From Goodreads

I was iffy about this book; midwifery isn't really an interest but it was in my bag at the HarperCollins preview so I figured if it had their stamp of approval it must be good. And it was; I haven't like a book this much in a long time. Patience Murphy is a midwife in rural West Virginia. Her past is violent and tragic and she's been running from it for a long time. The book opens as she delivers the child of a mine owner of Liberty, West Virginia the day after the stock market crashed in 1929. The book is Patience's journal over the next year as loss and love comes into her life and with the crash, the mines shut down, racial tensions rise and people looking for work pass through Liberty at an alarming rate. I kind of loved Patience. She is too naive at times but the book always acknowledged that shortcoming by its other characters. Patience perhaps had too much tragedy in her life but she's fictional so I forgave her for the backstory that seems to have one tragic event after another. I think because of that backstory, her naiveté was charming, rather than annoying. She'd had so many awful things happen to her and seen so many terrible things but she was still naive, and I think hopeful, about the human character. All the characters in this work were likable and relatable; all had their secrets and their backstories, making them multi-dimenstional and also active characters throughout the story. Harman handled her large cast well which isn't always the case with authors who'll forget about characters sometimes in a large cast. I rooted for Patience - sympathized with her and liked that common sense always won out with her. She's the first main character in awhile that I never really wanted to reach in and smack at any point and if she did start to get ridiculous, one of the other characters would call her out on it. I like an author who understands her character that well but also the audience. The story itself is fairly predictable really but I loved the characters and the setting Harman put them in so much, I wanted the happy ending I could see coming a mile off.

Orzo with Chicken and Asiago Cheese

I really started to cook well for myself after my summer in DC. My cousin Kathy and her husband were nice enough to let me stay with them that summer while I completed an internship at the Smithsonian Institute Archives. Kathy and Scott are both doctors who have busy lives (even busier now with their son Jackson) so Kathy was very good about meal planning. It was Kath who taught me some of my favorite recipes - recipes that can last me a week if I double them or dishes that freeze well for nights when I don't feel like cooking. This recipe is one of my all time favorites.

Orzo with Chicken and Asiago is quick and easy to make and only requires one pot to make so an easy clean-up. I also like the nice zing the spices add to this dish, making it something different from my normal fare. Also, handily, this is not a picky recipe. I haven't been able to find straight asiago cheese where I live but a shredded Italian blend from Walmart that includes asiago does the trick. I also find this is a great summer dish as it cooks fast and doesn't need the oven so the kitchen doesn't have time to get hot.

Orzo with Chicken and Asiago Cheese

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 can (16 oz.) of chicken broth
12 oz. skinned chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1 1/4 cups uncooked orzo
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1/2 cup (2 oz.) grated asiago cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, basil or oregano (I prefer oregano)
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:
1) combine water and broth in a pan over heat; bring to boil
2) Add chicken and pasta; bring to boil
3) Reduce heat; simmer 12 minutes, stirring occassionally
4) Remove from heat; stir in peas, 1/4 cheese cheese, salt, herbs and pepper
5) Top each serving with 1 tablespoon of cheese

Ah, the Classics

It is my tradition that when I have a Disney trip coming up, I watch all my Disney movies before I go. I also get all the Disney movies from the library, and this time Netflix even got into the mix. To me, that is like another countdown as I save my very favorites until right before I go (meaning on the docket this week is Beauty and the Beast, The Princess and the Frog, The Rocketeer and Wall-E). One thing I wanted to do this time was revisit some of the classic Disney films, ones I hadn't watched since I was a child.

From Listal

I started with Dumbo. I have only vague memories of ever watching this film as a kid. Re-watching it, I was touched by the drama of the animation. The storm when they are pitching the circus tent, the fire in Dumbo's clown stunt, the very odd almost Heffalumps and Woozles sequence after Dumbo gets (gasp!) accidentally drunk. The artistry of the film struck me as I know this was not one of Walt Disney's favorite films because of what he saw as a lack of artistry in it (it was essentially only made to make money and that was never something Walt was interested in doing really). This could be because hand drawn animation is becoming more and more a lost art that I just revel in it when I watch it. So that struck me. What also struck me was how...well...politically incorrect it is. The animal cruelty it displays is a bit appalling at times especially in the treatment of Mrs. Jumbo, Dumbo's mother. And I won't touch the singing crows with a ten foot pole. That said, I liked Dumbo. It's a fabulous little movie with a lovely story and great music. The crows that sing it might be questionable but "If I See an Elephant Fly" has to be one of my all-time favorite Disney songs. It's so catchy and bouncy and, English nerd alert, the word play is just plain fun!

From Amazon

I next tackled Bambi, and I do mean tackled. I have memories of sobbing watching this film as a kid because remember, it's me and this is a film where animals will be in peril ergo there will most likely be tears. However, I actually made it through without crying and I think that was because I spent the whole movie waiting for the other shoe to drop if that makes sense. I knew what was coming so I was on pins and needles, steeling myself for it the entire film. The first basically has the two major disasters and the plot works around both of them. It's almost episodic, more along the lines of a Fantasia with the same characters reappearing in each section. Now, in Bambi, hand drawn animation is shown at its finest. It was one of the film they used the multiplane camera on and you can tell they had fun playing and continuing to learn how to best use that camera. The depth of the camera shots is astounding and reminds me a lot of one of my favorite scenes in Beauty and the Beast - the opening shot of the Prince's castle through the forest and over the waterfall - the depth of that scene never fails to capture my imagination and all of Bambi basically had that sort of depth. The story is perhaps not my favorite - it's portrayal of family dynamics was fascinating but very 1940s and I won't even go into the ridiculousness of Bambi's love interest Faline. I didn't think it was possible to want to smack a deer...it is. That said, I am in love with Flower - he has officially entered Krystal's Favorite Disney Character Annuals.

From Listal

I finished up with Pinocchio. I distinctly remember not liking this film when I was a kid. I think Pinocchio annoyed me. I was very much a goody-two shoes (still am, let's face it) and Pinocchio's failure to do what he was told at every turn was just irksome, even to my eight year old self. Particularly when he had Jiminy Cricket there telling him that what he was doing was a bad idea (I am very much a fan of Jiminy's - I associate him more with the Disney environmental movement and as the voice of Wishes than I do with his own movie though). I also remember being scared by this film, a lot more than any others we watched when I was young. Not even the evil queen in Snow White could scare me as much as the scenes at Pleasure Island when the boys are all turning into donkeys. However, I am happy to report I liked it on my recent viewing. It will never be my favorite Disney movie - I doubt I'd ever even shell out the money to add it to my movie collection but I appreciated it much more as an adult than as a kid. The storytelling is really quite good - it flows well and it is plausible for Pinocchio to end up where he does at all times. Again, the animation was impressive, particularly the Monstro scenes. A belated kudos to the special effects animation team because those scenes were awesome as were the appearances of the Blue Fairy.

Overall, I was glad I took the time to re-watch these classics and revisit them as I truly don't think I'd watched any of these films since I was 8 or 9 years old. I grew up in the second golden age of animation - I was much more into Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King but as I get older, I can appreciate more the legacy those films fit into. I particularly wanted to watch these films again as these were Walt's films and as I get to (FINALLY) visit the park that Walt built later this year, I wanted to make sure to fit the classics of the first golden age into my schedule. 

Shells with Tomato and Basil

I am a fan of mixes. It should come as no surprise to you that one of my favorite cookbooks is Fast Fixes with Mixes. I like the convenience of mixes as a base to a recipe. It allows me to come home from work and create a meal that looks like it took me a lot longer than it actually did. So I am always on the lookout for new recipes that start from a mix.

This particular recipe is not new. In fact, I've had it for a long time; I think before graduate school even. My grandmother was getting rid of tons of cooking magazines so I stole them all and went through and cut out lots of recipes from them. You will not be surprised that I have rarely made any of them. But on my year long (some what stalled but getting back into it) trek through my own recipes, I decided it was time to make a few. Shells with Tomato and Basil was, I think, pilfered from a Kraft cooking magazine. I guess this only because its base mix is Velveeta Shells and Cheese - the brand is even included in the recipe.

I kind of adored this recipe actually for two reasons. One, it makes a ton of food so I had it for leftovers for three days after I originally made it. Two, it works as a main course or a side dish. The first night I had it with salad and fresh French bread. The second night I had it with baked chicken and peas. The third on its own again. A dish that I can have as leftovers but still add and subtract other dishes to keep it fresh and not repetitive is always a good thing in my book. Bonus? This dish is just...pretty. I do like it when my food is not only tasty but appetizing to look at as well!

See? Pretty and tasty!

Shells with Tomato and Basil
Serves: 6

Ingredients:
1 package Velveeta Shells and Cheese
1 medium tomato, chopped (I also took out the seed parts)
2 Tbsp thinly sliced basil leaves
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Directions:

1) Prepared shells and cheese as package instructs
2) Add remaining ingredients; cook until heated through thoroughly, stirring occasionally 

Hello There Stranger

Life often gets in the way of our best intentions. I was doing so well on my goal of writing once a week on this blog and then work sent me off to Washington DC for three weeks and all of the sudden, I didn’t have a lot of extra time to write anymore. It’s funny; I forget what it’s like to live in a place where I might have friends or family to do things with after work or live in a place where there are places that don’t close at 5PM as I leave the library. Most of the time I don’t miss it – the places to go part anyway. I do miss the people I could meet up with for brunch or have a friend to go to the movies with after work.

I always love going to DC because it is, in a way, like going home. I interned at the Smithsonian Institute as a grad student and my cousins thankfully let me crash at their house for the summer in the Capitol Hill district. If I am ever lucky enough to live in DC again, I’d love to be back in that neighborhood – its old brick houses, parks and scattered businesses seem like they shouldn’t be within walking distance of some of the most powerful places in the United States. One of my favorites things to do after work during that summer was walk back to the house, through the Mall, up the Hill, past the Capitol building and the Library of Congress and back into the residential streets of the Hill. There was a little café I could stop at or a bookstore that looked more like a crammed house of books than a place of business.

I am a museumgoer by nature so DC is a bit of a Mecca for me. I love picking up tidbits and facts and storing them away like a squirrel for winter. Museums, especially the Smithsonian cohort, seem to thrive on the miscellaneous. Why on earth did anyone ever save the paint box one of the Roosevelt kids used while living in the White House? But they did and now it’s proudly on display at the American History Museum. It is times like that in that I think the America’s Attic nickname for the Smithsonian is entirely accurate. 

But the museum I could happily live in, Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler style, is the National Gallery. You can keep the modern side of things – the modern school and me will never get along – but let me dwell in the French Impressionist rooms or the Dutch rooms and I will be one happy woman. I have cheerfully sat and stared at Van Goghs and Mary Cassetts for hours at the National Gallery. Rushed after work to have only 15 minutes before the museum closed to gaze lovingly at Monet’s Japanese Bridge, a bridge I’ve stood on myself way back in high school. These paintings are old friends and ones I sadly did not get to spend a lot of time with this last trip. I need to put aside a day for the National Gallery in the future to get reacquainted.

Of course, I was there for work and that meant spending time at the National Archives and the Library of Congress. Archives II, the behemoth NARA built in College Park, is overwhelming, cold and modern. Its reading room is lovely – huge and glass filled, giving a researcher a look out over a wood. It was easy to daydream in that room though and I found sitting with my back to the window helped my concentration. There was none of the romance of the archives at Archives II but I suppose it is a government repository; there is nothing less romantic than combing through the records of the Commerce Department.

I much preferred my time at Archives I, the downtown showcase building where one can make the pilgrimage to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Most of NARA’s military records still call Archives I home and while Theodore Roosevelt’s investigations of navy yards in 1898 might not have been riveting, the old research room with heavy wood paneling and large paned windows made me feel like I had stepped back in time for a moment and the lounging archivists at the desk should be harried looking clerks, pouring over ledgers and wearing frock coats instead of wearing jeans and hooked into their iPods.

Library of Congress’s manuscripts reading room at the Madison building reminded me of my elementary school library. I swear they had the same green carpeting. It was a room that could bustle quietly as microfilm readers scroll and archivists fetch and roll out four boxes for researchers at a time. The noise was never obtrusive; reminded me of comforting study halls in the spring when you were just starting to get the sense that the school year did have an ending. Up in the Prints and Photographs division, that feeling was even stronger as I sat at a larger table that looked transplanted from a public library and dug through photographs of the Roosevelt family on vacation or on safari or flipped through stereographs in filing cabinets, a stones throw away from an old-school card catalog.

Of all the places I researched at in DC, I loved LC the most. The materials here were the sort you pour over, wanting to read more (if you can decipher the writer’s hand well enough). These are the materials you become an archivist for; the handwritten letters and diaries, the ephemera that has no right to have made it from 1906 to 2012 and yet somehow managed it. A digital librarian I may be, and I love what my work can do for people around the world, but to my mind, there will always be something…something more…about holding and interacting with the actual item that the digital realm can never quite hope to replicate. I am a digital brat but a little piece of my heart will always be analog.