I don’t usually do this, of course, but time is limited, as you know, so I’m just going to adapt a comment I left at Talking Philosophy. Someone had replied to Julian’s remark about being unable to blog much while here with the observation that they have the Internet in Buffalo…
They probably do have the internets in Buffalo, but we’re not exactly in Buffalo (Julian is a little shaky on geography*), we’re in Amherst, which is a suburb of Buffalo. Man is it a suburb. It’s the most suburban suburb I’ve ever seen. It’s like a Platonic suburb. All the roads are four-lane highways (at least) with a speed limit of 45 mph (at the slowest). Even the dang campus of the University (SUNY Buffalo, north campus) is full of 45 mph freeways – which seems very bizarre, to me, used as I am to the campus of the University of Washington where the speed limit is 15 mph. The shops are all chains, and so are the ‘restaurants.’ Still – joy is available – yesterday evening Jeremy and I took the now-familiar long walk up one mini-freeway (which goes under a real freeway, which roars so loudly overhead that we have to stop talking until we reach the other side) and along the one that has all the chain shops and eateries – he wanted a bit of electronic equipment, and he spied a Macy’s so we tried that but it seemed to be all clothes so that was no good and I was just saying why don’t we ask someone instead of walking around in here forever when we got to the far side which opened onto – you’ll never guess – a mall. Jeremy was in instant bliss. ‘I’m in heaven!’ he exclaimed rapturously. He likes malls.
Here’s something you don’t know about Jeremy, and neither did I. He’s a clothes horse. He’s a fashion idol. It’s just T shirts and jeans, but it’s a particular kind of T shirt and jeans. Very amusing.
Anyway, internet is patchy at the Center and non-existent at the guesthouse where we’re living, so we really can’t do much internets stuff.
*(joke!)
Julian did his lectures last week, Jeremy is doing his this week and next; I did the keynote address at the beginning. The three of us rented a car and drove to the Finger Lakes on Thursday; it was great fun, especially since we had the rare perfect weather for it – bright, clear, sharp, ideal for gazing at long blue lakes with rolling country around them. The last bit was slightly hairy, because we dawdled too long in Seneca Falls (the Stoical birthplace of US feminism) and we had to be back by 6:30 because Jeremy was scheduled to give Opening Remarks at the dinner that launched the second set of lectures. Jeremy doesn’t drive and Julian hasn’t driven a huge amount, especially on US freeways, so I drove, and I went 10 to 20 miles faster than I had in the morning, but the time still kept sliding away and our ETA kept changing – 6:00, Jeremy will still have time for a shower; oh dear, 6:10, Jeremy will have to swipe his armpits and let it go at that; uh oh, 6:20, we’re just plain going to be late, but they’ll be eating, the remarks come after the dinner, it’s okay – and then I took the wrong exit, and mass despair took over. But in the event Julian skillfully navigated us through some squalid bit of outer Buffalo and we weren’t late after all and Jeremy smelled like a rose (well not really) and all was well.
He’s been working on his lecture for today, with me kibbitzing (Julian’s in Toronto, and he’s going back to the UK tomorrow); he may use some of the thought experiments he’s done here; we’re talking about Jonathan Haidt on disgust and purity and so on. It should be a very interesting afternoon.
Comments
36 responses to “Adventures in Amherst”
May I just say that now you know what it’s like to live in Dallas, Texas. The big roads, the freeways, the malls, the chains…not everyone can live in wonderful places. Sigh.
All this sounds interesting and fun. I’m tempted to ask what the two J’s are REALLY like but I’ll save that for private e-mail sometime. Wink.
Ah, Dallas is the same way, is it. Not surprising – it seems appropriate for Dallas, but it seems weirdly inflated here, as if all of Amherst had been stretched for some unknown reason. There’s all this pointless empty space everywhere, all this purposeless expanded distance.
It all is interesting and fun though. And I’m sure I will murmur a few words about what J and J are REALLY like, here – I have no discretion and they don’t care anyway.
So B&W is now a lame travel Blog?
Ref DFG – yes, OB how dare you waste 925 words over 3 entries describing the circumstances of this event.
A shocking waste. Nothing can ever be done to get those 925 words back, you know.
If I were you, DFG, I’d ask for my money back.
DFG,
[coldly]
No, B&W is not now a lame travel blog, but since I am where I am and I therefore have very little time to maintain B&W at all, it’s a choice between the lame (and occasional) travel blog and nothing. I choose to offer the lame travel blog for people who are interested. Normal service will resume in a week. Is that all right with you?
It certainly is. Also, must say thank you for clarifying that your post was “cold”. Most helpful.
Nick, Jean and Andy.
Of course OB can write whatever she likes. She can spend as much time and use as many words as she deems fit. Calling descriptions of Jeremy’s fashion sense and hygiene regime, malls, suburbia etc etc lame just seems apt.
Yes quite, allowing one’s personal sentiments to creep in is out of order. Please post the agenda OB.
Jeez. What uptight school marms. I’m enjoying these posts, OB. It’s nice to have a bit of levity. I’m also looking forward to seeing those mug shots of you and the Js. Cheers.
Sorry, was attempting to be sarky, not schoolmarmy, will cease now anyhow. Have a good one OB
For the record, I’m interested in the lame travel blog. There’s no need to get unpleasant about it.
Lame TB will probably continue when I get a minute (or rather, more than a minute). Note to DFG: just don’t read it. I don’t particularly need to know what you think of it.
Oh goody, more of the lame TB. I will stay tuned.
“lame TB”, oo-er, I’m coming over all Dickensian, feel a cough coming on…. Gawd bless us every one…
Dave, you little Dickens, you!
Aahhh, can’t you see I was being deliberately provocative? No need to have such thin skins, posters.
The message board was getting a little dull and I was attempting to enliven it. Delete them if you must.
Will now desist.
New minority identity, the Thinskins.
God, what a silly question – ‘can’t you see I was being deliberately provocative?’ How and why would anyone be able to see that?! I for one don’t even recognize your ‘Name,’ so on what basis would I distinguish plain rudeness from deliberate provocation? It’s not as if I never get any bedwetters saying pointless stuff like ‘this post was pointless,’ so why would I assume another such comment from some stranger wasn’t what it looked like?
People are so bizarre.
Mind you, I got only about four hours of sleep last night, so I’m not in the best of tempers.
Hee hee hee. I’m in a better temper now.
What am I going to read for fun when this thread comes to an end?
OB:
“It all is interesting and fun though. And I’m sure I will murmur a few words about what J and J are REALLY like, here – I have no discretion and they don’t care anyway.”
Guess who?
“It’s the devil for any one to tell me a secret, for it’s sure to come out in print. I do not care so much to gratify a friend, but the public ear is too great a temptation to me.”
For what it’s worth, I am also enjoying the travel blogging.
A very shrill reaction, OB.
“People are so bizarre”…condescence is such an attractive trait.
Get some sleep, if that Thinskins post amuses you, you Definitely need it.
Tangled my fingers – should be Condescension.
But I am sure you knew what I meant, even you poor Thinskins.
Nicholas L, don’t let the curmudgeon DFG get to you. The Thinskin Council of Britain post *was* funny.
‘Shrill’ is it. Whatever next? Castrating? Bitch? Ball-busting? Uppity? Confused about her gender role?
You’re getting to be more entertaining than the post itself, DFG – though not for the reasons you probably hoped for.
This lame travel blog needs more pictures, is all. Taunting us with all this talk of Jeremy’s strutting, bicep-flaunting fashionableness, for instance, and not providing even the one photo!
But perhaps it’s just as well; I might lose all my natural shrillness and be overcome by the vapors.
Pictures will be forthcoming; one, anyway, and possibly more. We should do one of Jeremy strutting and bicep-flaunting, actually. The students have lots, they’re constantly flashing away.
Shrill and now shriller!
Though I was not aware that term was gender specific. Maybe that’s just your assumption, OB.
“The Lady doth protest too much, methinks”
To the rest of you, glad to be of some entertainment value. Certainly, I hope it is of greater worth than NL’s effort.
Raise your game or f@ck off matey.
Nope, not my assumption; of course ‘shrill’ is a standard putdown of women. It seems to be your assumption that you’re entertaining. That’s a much goofier assumption than mine.
“You’re getting to be more entertaining than the post itself, DFG”. Your words, OB, not mine. Perhaps re-read what you write before making unsuccessfull attempts to put me in my place.
As for “castrating, ball-busting…” etc, don’t flatter yourself.
Whether *you* interpret “shrill” as a standard put down of women does not change the fact that it is a highly appropriate description of your posts.
“Raise your game or f@ck off matey.”
Wonderful. Top Effort.
Just who needs to raise their game?
Jeez! And I was concerned that “curmudgeon” was impolite…
Oooookay, DFG; I’ll just be deleting you from now on.
Heh! Bad guess. No, it wouldn’t appear so very censorial, and I wouldn’t care if it did; I feel perfectly free to delete comments I don’t like. But it wouldn’t appear that way at all because your comments are so transparently spiteful and empty – are so obviously about nothing but expressing hostility. If you think otherwise, that’s bizarre.
Bye now.
What are you talking about? Oh. Deleting stuff.
OK, you’ve demonstrated you can do that.
Wow.
And being spiteful.
Kettle Pot The Calling Black.
Or something.
Bye.