Category Archives: Personal Life

Getting to know you.

It’s been a while, and much has happened – my apologies. The biggest and most interesting thing I’ve been up to was my trip to New Orleans with my father. As most of you probably know, I will be going to Tulane Law School this August. Considering that I applied to the school site unseen, I was a bit nervous about going down to New Orleans, what would it be like? To answer that question my father and I took a few days earlier this month to have a look for ourselves. Admitting that we were indeed tourists, we decided to just enjoy that status and try and get an overview of the city. In addition to a a van tour which took us all around (including the lower 9th ward,) we took a riverboat cruise and tried out many of the fine dining establishments the city has to offer. We also stayed in style, at the Le Pavillion hotel, which boasted a rooftop pool and spa! See a few photos in the gallery (Under the Maine category)

I became particularly fond of the St. Charles streetcar, which had had service to Uptown (the wealthy part of town where Tulane is located) restored just a week or so before we arrived. The streetcar is a real classic, slow and creaky, but charming. The line begins at the edge of the French Quarter, goes through the business district and then through the garden district to uptown. Around 2000 St. Charles, as my father pointed out, the houses start to get very fancy. Tulane Law itself is just a short walk from the trolley and is situated in a beautiful part of the University campus. Although the building was rather quiet when we arrived, we were able to speak with a contact from admissions, view the stunning law library and of course stop by the bookstore. Having gotten this small overview, I feel much more relaxed about going to NOLA – in fact, my only fear now is the plethora of distractions the city will offer…

In other news, JT came up to visit for new years. We went to one of my favorite restaurants in Boston (an ITALIAN one – can you believe?) my favorite cocktail bar (Flash’s) and then stopped by a party that my sister and some of here friends were at in a fancy South End condo. So as to not get stuck in Boston, JT and I had to cab it back to north station and jump on the train just seconds before it departed! All in all a fun time.

While back in town I was also able to catch up with some old friends and sleep in, both activities which I value highly 😉 I recently had my first ski of the season at Lost Valley, a local place, and I found a new coffee shop in Lewiston (at which I currently sit.) What’s on the agenda? At the end of the month I’ll be joining my colleagues at a Campus Compact conference in Austin, TX, and I’m looking forward to some visits by friends – skiing anyone?

Happy New Year

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Happy new year to all WD readers. It’s been quite an interesting year, with more than a few interesting gay escapades to tell about. I’ll write soon from New Orleans.

Good for You

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So when I was in high school I had just a few close friends. As it is, people drift away, taking their own paths in life. About two weeks ago I got a notice from one of my dear high school friends that he was engaged to be married – no further details. I wrote him back, and then this week got a response via email. In it he told me about how he would be getting married on Saturday and that the affair would be a, “Small-ish get-together, about 100 people of family, friends, coworkers.” Umm, okay. So, you are getting married this Saturday and write me about it on Tuesday? Am I wrong to be really offended/hurt here? I understand that we have not been in routine communication, but I feel like I’m being told that there is this great affair happening to which I am not important enough to be invited.

Coming

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It has been very interesting around here, in a good way. I am pleased with what I am doing although it may not be the most glamorous thing. Tomorrow I’m heading into the past for a new adventure! Oh my, Homecoming at Trinity, this is me. I come from a strange place and so shall I go. I can’t anticipate all that might happen, but perhaps it’s best not to always be able to do so. It’s nice to have the day off and stay up late – ha!

Photoverview

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Tonight I attended a dinner party at my boss’ house. It was a get together themed around Romania, being that her neighbors recently returned from a 17 day package holiday there. We planned the night to consist of purely Romanian food and drink. I made a vat of my famous cauliflower cheese soup, and she made Hungarian chicken, both straight from Pofta Buna (the Peace Corps Romania volunteer generated cookbook.) In addition, we started the evening with a shot of high quality Romanian plum brandy and accompanied the meal with wine imported from Romania (yes, a label that I’d never heard of, but from Romania, is available in Freeport, ME.) After a delightful meal I presented an updated slide show of my Peace Corps experience. It was enjoyable to make the presentation both to my boss and this couple, the latter of which had some particularly insightful comments due in part to their extensive pre-trip reading and limited exposure to the country. When I showed the iconic picture of the town in which I worked, they both immediately recognized the “palace of culture,” a national landmark.

They visited the house of Elie Wiesel (something I was not able to do,) and were impressed with my reports on Jewish life (both past and present) in the country. I guess part of me just liked being teacher, or presenter, again. It’ s enjoyable to have such social events, and I recall fondly the man telling me that he enjoyed living in Brunswick because there was a whole mix of people, not just old folks. Although I grouse about the state of American culture, it is good to see community thriving in some places.