First Week in Cedar Falls

Seriously, it's about time for a new blog post! So I'll once again resist the urge to finally watch the Game of Thrones episode from last Monday (yes, I'm a bit behind!). Instead, I'll listen to some La Dispute (really good post hardcore reminiscent of At the Drive-In) and try to catch up with last week.

So, what am I doing in Iowa? Through a recommendation of my Editing and Publishing class's teacher Dinty W. Moore, I found an internship at the North American Review. I already told you that, but you might have forgotten. Together with my good Athens friends Sam and Bob, I arrived in Cedar Falls last Wednesday, and the three of us couch surfed that first night. Before going to bed, we went to some bars on Main Street and found this stylish micro brewery that has a thing for bicycles, were invited to a drink and then challenged for some pool and gambling (the latter, we declined) in a cool, more 'townie' bar, and finally had a last beer in the somewhat classy Voodoo Lounge.

The next morning, Sam and Bob dropped me off at another couch surfer's place who'd host me for the next four nights, and then left for Denver, Colorado. Jessica and I had a coffee and talked for an hour or so, and then I had my first day at the NAR. I met some of my colleagues and could already get started reading texts on Submittable, the online submisssions database that the NAR uses. After work, two colleagues took me to a garage sale. Big mistake. I had no intention of buying anything, but then they had this deal where you could take anything you wanted for just $5. Big mistake. Have you heard of Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy? I had only scarcely, and then I read the blurb, and I wanted the entire boxed set. Then I saw even more Asimov books with the eponymous "Foundation" in the title. Turns out there is one novel that precedes the trilogy and three that come after it! And yes, I took all six of them. And no, I will probably not read all of them. I'm almost through the first novel of the original trilogy, it was pretty cool in the beginning but then somehow drags along...And, just as a side note (but a striking one!), there is not a single female character on the first 150 pages or so. Out of 200! Then, two women are briefly introduced (one even gets to speak!), but only for the sole reason to wear---yes, jewelry!!! Aside from that, from what I see in Foundation, I would claim that George Lucas got at least some of its inspiration for the Star Wars universe from Asimov. Even tough, oddly enough for space science fiction, Foundation offers not a single non-human alien...

Anyway, I also got a copy of Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle and Steinbeck's Cannery Row. I think that puts my summer reading...bulk at 26 books. Impossible, but I'll find a way to select. I didn't even buy all of these books myself. At least two were presents, some others I got for free, others were too cheap not to buy. You see, it's not easy!

That night, my colleague's very talented daughters Amelia and Melina were playing a show at the Hub. Great voices and lyrics, their entirely acoustic songs not unlike First Aid Kit, or probably early Tegan and Sara.

Back home, Jessica's black cat, Belle, and I had already became bffs. (It seems like every second American I meet has cats!) From the second night onward, she jumped on my couch/me and then curled up next to me or on my tummy and purred as I fondled and tickled her. Even though she woke me up more than once in the middle of the night by jumping up and down, I enjoyed that quite a bit. 

On Saturday, my colleague Jordan and I sold some of the NAR's latest issues at the Hearst Center for the Arts. James Hearst was a local 'farmer poet,' pretty well known, and friends with Robert Frost. What I read of his poetry is really good. 

Since I had the entire Sunday off, I decided to go out a bit. Cedar Falls is a small town, but it is an American town, so it sprawls. It took me almost an hour to get from Jessica's place all the way North to the Cedar River, and that was only the point where 'nature' starts. Island Park already features a small but pretty dense patch of wood, a kinda marshy area. And I have a thing for marshes; the dead still water, like oil, like a thick black mirror from which the tall and obstinate trees protrude, bearing their bright green foliage that prevents most of the sunlight to reach beneath the treetops. Another two and a half miles to Black Hawk Park into even denser woods and marshes. This did not look at all like the Iowa that pop culture shows us every once in a while! 

On my way back, I found the best reading spot in Iowa (arguably), a beautiful meadow that leads right to a miniature bluff along one of the many small side streams of the Cedar River. On the opposite shore and in the stream, fallen trees from previous floods. And almost nothing to hear but birds. But, alas!, since I am not yet prepared for a life in the woods, I went back into town, passed the historical Ice House and Cedar Falls's tiny first school building, and then met Jordan at Cup of Joe's. We discussed favorite bands and got nostalgic over video games, then picked up Hannah, and drove to the bowling alley where Tanner joined us. Well, I did not lose. Neither did I win, but that's okay. After that, a good Mexican dinner, and back home.

On Monday, I moved to my new apartment and met my roommates. Our house is in really good condition. Maybe that's why it lacks the soul, character, and beauty of my house in Athens. However, after two and a half weeks--good weeks!--on other people's couches, it's good to have my own room again.

For the weekend, I've planned my first road trip that I'll do all by myself. 9 hours out West, then some hiking and camping in southwestern South Dakota's Badlands. Got a nice little tent and some gear, so I'm good to go.

Animal House

Thinking

Okay, first of all, you should check out the movie that this post's title is based upon. Animal House is probably the mother of the entire college movie genre; American Pie and so on.

But our house is literally an animal house. Cats, deer, birds, squirrels. Everyone loves it here.

Boxing

Ever since I met her in January, I've intended to dedicate a blog post to Natalie's cat Sumaya. Sumaya is probably the softest thing in the world. A cat that consists of 80% fur and 20% body. Approximately. She's easy going; she's fine with being stroked, being held upside down, being picked up and carried around the house, or with just sitting in a box or a bag, thus entertaining us like nothing else ever could. Everything Sumaya does is cute. And we're pretty sure she's aware of that. She can become a little aggressive when she's hungry.

Checking the Oven Drawer

Every time I'm not sure if Nat has fed her yet or not, she meows to me and walks around my legs and tells me how hungry she is. That might go for about five minutes or so, and then comes the point when she strikes your leg, first with the right, then the left front paw, and then tries to bite through your pants, and then she just looks at you again. Meowing. Luckily, that never happened to me when I wore shorts. She also likes to leave the house. Our house does not have the best doors. Sometimes, a gust of wind is enough to open our front, side, 

or kitchen door. Mostly, Sumie just sits next to it and stares outside. But very often, too, she runs outside if we are not quick enough to close the door. Then she hides under our porch or a car, runs onto the neighbors' premises, or, as just yesterday, she just climbs in through an open basement window. This morning, I didn't even realize she was out until she knocked on our living room's screen door, meowing, begging to be let in. But, aside from all of that, I think the selection of pictures here will convince you most effectively of Sumaya's undeniable greatness.

Then there's the deer gang. At least four of them, but sometimes only individuals show up in our back yard. Eating leaves from the branches, or just hangin' out. I think they're almost considered a plague in some parts of Athens and by some citizens. It's probably true, but they are still pretty beautiful. I grew up in a pretty rural area, but I never lived as close to supposedly wild animals as here in Athens.

We also have at least three feral cats sharing our basement and backyard. There's a hole into the basement (or, one that I know of; there's probably more) that has granted those felines access to our basement since winter. We've heard them a couple of times, and Sumaya is often incredibly excited for no apparent reason, running from the kitchen to the living room, jumping onto the couch, and then back into the kitchen. I think that can only mean she's sensed her colleagues downstairs, and then tries to do something about it. Cat logic. One of those cats has recently spent some time behind our house with the deers. Looks like they were on friendly terms. All enjoying the sun.

See the Squirrel?

The squirrel and the blackbird share an apartment complex in our house's southern outside wall. There's a little porch, and a pretty big hole on the porch roof's underside. That's their front door and their access into the wall. I've seen the squirrel once or twice, and I've heard it move inside the wall almost every other day or so. And Sumaya knows about him, too. She's spent hours sitting before that wall waiting for the squirrel to move, trying to pound the wall so he would come out, or whatever Sumaya has thought might happen if she raps against that wall. The blackbird, I only know it from hearsay. Sophia's seen it fly in there twice. I wonder how the two of them get along.

Yesterday, I discovered what we first thought would be a spider's nest in the undergrowth behind our house (which, THANK GOODNESS!!! it was not) to be a caterpillar or butterfly larvae nest. I've been incredibly fascinated with its intricate structure since day one; it's located right at the intersection of three or four branches for maximum stability, and it's made all out of this fabric that looks like a spider's thread or silk. Fascinating and beautiful as long as it's at a decent distance to my body. Anyway, I've realized it's not a spider's nest when I saw dozens of little black larvae/caterpillars crawling around on its surface. Below this outer surface, I could see another one on which even more larvae/caterpillars were sitting, these ones less active, so they were probably in an earlier stage of their development. I guess. Disgusting, fascinating, compelling. 

Bart

And then, there's Bart!!! I introduced him in the last post. Rosa's parakeet, almost abandoned, but then saved. She brought him over again today and told us that his name is Bart now. We can only assume his sex, though. Blood tests are expensive. Anyway, he was here again today, in his makeshift D.I.Y. habitat, in our backyard with all of us. He still looked pretty insecure and somewhat scared in the beginning, but then started climbing the branches in his box to the top crossbeam, and then pulled his little self up the wall with his little beak, then grabbing the ledge with his little claws, and then jumping and fluttering down onto the grass where  I watched over him, pretty successfully once or twice, but not the third time.

He ran right into a thick bush, and I had to crawl after him through some rough twigs and thorns, and finally got him back into his box. My most heroic deed in Athens so far. For my boy. He seemed happier then than in the beginning, chirping around a bit, even scolding at me every now and then for letting him walk upon my hands instead of back into the bush. Sumaya also had a look at him, but seemed only mildly interested. Probably because he didn't do too much at that moment. Bart's now in another apartment, but Rosa wants to bring him back for a visit on Tuesday.