The Twitter Diaries: 2009-02-08

February 8, 2009 Deirdre Straughan Leave a comment

@divinacucina yummy! especially with anchovy dressing in reply to divinacucina #
Divorcing Italy went to my mailing list this am, one unsubscribe request already. Folks cherishing a dream prefer to hear the nice stuff. #
@divinacucina ooo, must try those. There are times when I have a deep, visceral craving for anchovies. in reply to divinacucina #
@italylogue looking forward to it. +ing you to the RSS feed of stuff I share on Current Events in Italy (Google thinks I’m the world expert) in reply to italylogue #
@italylogue me the world expert? Italy should be frightened! in reply to italylogue #
@KathySierra wd be interesting for a company to try sponsoring a LACK of ads, say on a public space. Good PR value? in reply to KathySierra #
come to think of it, I never see Sun advertising in any traditional sense #
@jowyang my impression is that the Davos types are mostly interested in interacting with each other in reply to jowyang #
excited that we’ll get live streams from TED at Sun campuses next week – I’ve always wanted to attend #
@pizzocalabro thanks. Sadly, the paying market is in the romanticized fluff, e.g. Under the Tuscan Sun. “Italy porn”, I guess. in reply to pizzocalabro #
what is the big deal if Phelps smokes dope? So have several presidents. #
hmm. How on earth did I get a page hit from Jeff Jarvis’ site? Not that I mind… #
@jowyang you can get a courtesy snort, the usual reaction to puns in reply to jowyang #
I’ll be in SFO week of Feb 22-Mar 1. Who else? #
@pizzocalabro my boss in Milan smoked truly nauseating Toscani cigars IN THE OFFICE in reply to pizzocalabro #
can’t stay still too long: just arranged to go to Las Vegas NM to visit friends and teach high schoolers about blogging, or something #
@jowyang it’s amazing how efficient Italian law can be when prosecuting the wrong things. Meanwhile, a multiply-indicted prime minister… in reply to jowyang #
@jowyang http://tinyurl.com/conkyk “The judges could decide that YT/Goog = a newspaper or TV editor, and can be held responsible for…” in reply to jowyang #
@jowyang “…whatever is transmitted…. This trial is important, relevant to our [Italy’s] future – not Google’s.” in reply to jowyang #
non capisco la storia Google. Dicono di aver rimosso il video entro 24 ore dalla richiesta, ma qui: http://tinyurl.com/c64wyd – 2 mesi? #
@deirdresm hmm, maybe we can meet for lunch? in reply to deirdresm #
@storagebod at least no one can accuse you of sandbagging your personal goals. ; ) in reply to storagebod #
NYC in Legos: http://tinyurl.com/b49qqo #
@frank_dobner e’ una di quelle parole per cui non esiste una traduzione adeguata in italiano. Il che sarebbe un bel tema per un articolo… in reply to frank_dobner #
We have subtitled video! Yay! http://tinyurl.com/b2vwk4 #
@frank_dobner pensavo piuttosto al fatto che il concetto sembra non esistere in Italiano in reply to frank_dobner #
do our banks not have anybody with a single brain cell working in PR? Expensive furniture and Las Vegas junkets right NOW?? #
@frank_dobner non ho mai provato, potrebbe dipendere piu’ dalla tastiera in reply to frank_dobner #
@deirdresm great! I’ll probably be at Sun’s MPK offices Tuesday and Friday in reply to deirdresm #
the doctor took a piece out of my left forearm today to biopsy, probably just a funny-looking mole #
this is only the 3rd time I’ve had stitches. Post-shower, should I put on a new bandaid? more Vaseline? looks clean, a bit sore & itchy #
@darios attenzione, c’e’ ne sono due di Chris Anderson nelle news questa settimana! in reply to darios #
ow, stitches catching on bathrobe. Bandaid it is. #
@frank_dobner skin cancer screening (long overdue given my childhood in the tropics) turned up a suspicious mole, now removed for biopsy in reply to frank_dobner #
@om I wonder how much people get out of conferences who spend so much attention blogging them. Great svc to those who can’t attend, but… in reply to om #
@gaspart il governo italiano dovrebbe farmi un’offerta simile. ; ) in reply to gaspart #
@seancarlos got any suggestions on good liveblogging apps? in reply to seancarlos #
<grumble> the author of “Eat, Pray, Love” gets to speak at TED. I named my website “Countries Beginning with I” before her book came out. #
@italylogue I refuse to read it. I avoid all that “finding yourself under a foreign sun” stuff. Have lived too long overseas myself. in reply to italylogue #
@emmabird the more I hear, the more I think reading it would give me an ulcer in reply to emmabird #
@italylogue a friend has suggested I self publish material from my site, but that seems like too much work right now in reply to italylogue #
hmm. There are gaping holes in the Web 2.0 schedule, but my talk was turned down. Because I’m not a regular on the speaker circuit? #
I can see how Anderson went from mish kid to TED, via Woodstock school. That’s MY tribe #
Yann arthus bertrand’s new film will be distributed free. #
Dancing geeks seems to be a theme in my life lately. Great minds #
@mmcallen not sure what to make of her. Reminds me of Leonard Cohen somehow #
some1 I barely know emails me to pray for some1 I don’t know at all. Should I tell her that, as an atheist, this makes me uncomfortable? #
it was very cool to watch TED streamed live at Sun’s Broomfield office. Would have been infinitely cooler to be there, of course. TED envy. #
@missbhavens courage, sister. If your biological family is dysfunctional, build a new one. in reply to missbhavens #
awake too early, too much on my mind #
why are stitches black? it looks like an insect is partially embedded in my arm (no, I don’t like this image, either) #

so how does a newcomer break into the conference speaking circuit? (Yes, I’ve done some speaking, but so far only in Italian!) #
I need to test out Ooovoo – anyone else using it? #
@IgorMinar anyone who doesn’t know that engineering is an art knows nothing about engineering. in reply to IgorMinar #
#ted the sound of the bansuri takes me back to my schooldays #
@KathySierra it can sometimes be good PR, but ultimately not worth it to the individual in reply to KathySierra #
@mmcallen mosquitos, actually. He seemed to think only poor people ever experience them. ??? in reply to mmcallen #
beating my head against corporate brick walls. Gets very tiring, but eventually we will get this fixed. The right way. #
@pizzocalabro OTOH, if you tutor him, he may do well enough to get into the Air Force or Navy where he’s less likely to get killed in reply to pizzocalabro #
@jeffreytaylor congratulations! No small feat! [being together 13 years] #
@jowyang in Austin, Ironworks will serve you a fast and excellent lunch in reply to jowyang #
@MikeLaSpina excellent! Looking forward to meeting you. in reply to MikeLaSpina #
awakened by a dream that I was laid off after all. Reading Paul Krugman didn’t help. #
@daniele3957 magari Berlusca pensava a se stesso come il padre dei figli di Eluana. in reply to daniele3957 #
Yes, I can be arrogant, egotistical, and hot-tempered. That doesn’t mean I’m wrong. #
interesting discussion among people who REALLY know storage about long-term archiving of family photos: http://tinyurl.com/as47ap #
@jowyang since Sun is paying me to do it, to ensure that Sun’s money is well spent. [why measure ROI on social media] in reply to jowyang #
@springnet re. water http://tinyurl.com/aznfd5 see podcast on Reforming Water, Transforming Women: Does Gender Matter in Water Management? in reply to springnet #
@markramsey wow, Luby’s, definitely memories of my younger days. in reply to markramsey #
I admit herbie hancock not doin it for me. Didn’t get much from the dance either. But “10 things you didn’t know about orgasm” – whee! #
@mmcallen http://tinyurl.com/dxmt3h in reply to mmcallen #
@MikeLaSpina btw, we will be translating more of your blog (and Ben’s) – getting together the SOW in the next week in reply to MikeLaSpina #
Home Making: http://tinyurl.com/aqlhkm #
@mmcallen thanks, but which one – the old one about flushing or this morning’s new one? in reply to mmcallen #
I was going to order more photos printed t hang on my walls, but Costco’s photo site is acting up, and I don’t have the patience #
just bought a Bose iPod dock for tomorrow night’s dance party #
@dfugate it will be your motherly duty to look severe even when you want to laugh your butt off in reply to dfugate #
@penelopetrunk your body is telling you you have GOT to stop for a while. Trust me on this, been there (yes, all the way to pneumonia) in reply to penelopetrunk #

bio

Home Making

February 7, 2009 Deirdre Straughan 1 Comment

^ Memories, new and old: An embroidered silk hanging from the Central Cottage Industries Emporium, Delhi, which I bought during an epic shopping spree with Yuti, and the decorated tin trunk I bought in Mumbai from artist Rashmi Dogra while visiting Deepu, combined with an American mission-style dresser. The objects on the dresser include figurines bought at the Crafts Museum in Delhi, diyas, a piece of driftwood from Gouverneur Beach in St. Barth’s, and a photo (in a Kashmiri frame bought in Mussoorie) is of Rossella and friends in a Woodstock production of The Taming of the Shrew. On the wall to the right you can see the edge of an appliqued wall hanging I bought with Sara during a visit to Mumbai.

I’ve been residing in Colorado since last March, but during that time have been traveling so much that it’s taking a while to get settled. What I’ve done so far towards setting up my home reminds me of my college days: starting from scratch in a new place with limited personal space, trying to keep spending down, while surrounding myself with objects rich in memory. I’m enjoying the opportunity to decorate all of my space in my own way, instead of having to find niches among Enrico’s family heirlooms.

I’m living in a large suburban house with a Sun colleague, Kathleen, from whom I rent two bedrooms and a bath. We share most of the house and fixtures, which saved me an enormous amount on kitchen stuff and furniture. I didn’t even have to buy beds, thanks to Kathleen (who had a single bed waiting for me, made even, the day I arrived) and Dan and Karen, who gave me a king-sized futon (which Dan delivered and carried up the stairs, bless him – the thing must weigh 200 pounds).

My furniture investment so far has been minimal: a dresser, a desk, second-hand bookshelves, and, just recently, a chair to go with the desk. It’s a pity there’s no Ikea in Colorado, but there is American Furniture Warehouse.

The Shaker desk above came from a very nice furniture place (not AFW), but was on sale cheap, probably because the drawers stick. Furniture needs to be tempered for Colorado, or the dry air can cause such problems. The prints are from my beloved Elfquest, something I’d been meaning to buy for a long time.

I wasn’t using the desk much til this week, when I finally got around to getting a chair so that, if I’m stuck working at home because of snow, I can at least be comfortable. Yes, I use two computers at once. Often I do email etc. on one while the other is processing video.

This is in my “office” room, along with the single bed and:

The painting is from/by Ross. Sue and Jack should also recognize gifts from themselves in this photo!

The larger room, in addition to the dresser shown above, contains:

This painting by Rashmi Dogra illustrates icons of Indian life common 20 years ago. She was amused that I wanted this painting – none of her usual Mumbai clients were interested in this kind of nostalgia.

Above the bed I hung a length of ikat material bought at Dilli Haat. The window treatments are curtains from an American chain with torans from a SEWA store in Delhi.

I’ve been decorating with photographs, some of friends and family:

…some travel photos that I never got around to printing before…

Thanks to Donna and Sarah for the housewarming gifts (though they don’t even know each other, they picked the same picture frame, in different colors):

^ photos from Viterbo, taking during the Imaging in Italy tour I did a few years ago. I have so many great photos from that trip…

^ these are from our visit to Jaipur

^ another piece of Indian nostalgia, this time purchased on a trip to Mumbai’s Chor Bazaar (Thieves’ Market) with Deepu. The guy in the red shirt is Amitabh Bachchan, by now the grand old man of Indian cinema. Nowadays, such an ad would be for a luxury car, not a bicycle!

I’ve still got plenty of space to fill, but am in no hurry to do so. I don’t mind the relative emptiness, and I prefer to buy things over time, making each purchase significant, not just a way to fill space. (I only bought the dresser after several months, when the lack of drawers began to seriously annoy me.) But what I do have in here already helps it feel like home.

bio

Divorcing Italy

February 1, 2009 Deirdre Straughan 14 Comments

Rossella and I returned to Italy the week before Christmas, having been away since June 30th. That was the longest period I’d spent out of Italy in 18 years.

I was uneasy about this re-entry, expecting it to be traumatic. I thought I would be making a decision about whether I would ever willingly live in Italy again (not right away, but maybe, someday), and I didn’t expect that decision to be easy. But, in retrospect, I had probably made up my mind months – even years – before.

The immediate impact wasn’t good. I arrived exhausted (Rossella can sleep on planes; I am not so fortunate). We hadn’t even left the airport before Enrico was telling us about a typically Italian bureaucratic kerfuffle that had arisen just that morning and had him worried.

The weather was terrible most of the time I was in Europe: cold and gray, with unusual amounts of snow even for northern Italy. The humidity sank the cold into my very bones; I felt colder in Italy than I ever do in Colorado, where the absolute temperatures are often much lower.

As usual, we spent Christmas in Roseto degli Abruzzi, the small seaside resort where Enrico’s parents retired years ago. As usual, the town was dead and depressing in winter. As usual, Ross was agitating to leave almost as soon as the Christmas presents were opened, and I couldn’t blame her, especially when she learned that a friend’s mother had died.

We returned to Lecco, where I felt trapped by bad weather and my fear of driving in Italy (I may someday get used to this, if I could only have an automatic instead of a stickshift…). I realized that I had been feeling trapped for years.

Moving to Lecco was a good decision at the time. Milan’s pollution was killing me, Enrico’s job would be mostly in Lecco, and it was a good place for Ross to spend her teenage years – she had a lot more freedom there than we would have felt safe for her in Milan.

But Lecco is also a small, typically introverted Italian town. There’s not a lot to do there, we have hardly any local friends, and those tend to be busy with their jobs and extended families. We have given lots of dinner parties, but we rarely get invited back. With Ross gone, that leaves a lot of time when it’s just the two of us.

Lecco isn’t the only problem. By any measure, my career opportunities anywhere in Italy are scarce. I’m middle-aged, foreign, female, and opinionated, in a country where it is legal to specify “young and good-looking” in a want ad, and the current prime minister has appointed former showgirls of questionable qualifications to his cabinet, for very questionable reasons.

In “shocking but not surprising” news, a friend told me she recently saw a documentary on PBS which stated that female employment in Italy is at its lowest since WWII. I haven’t yet found any online corroboration for this, but do know that equal opportunities for women in Italy are nearly non-existent.

High-tech doesn’t do well in Italy, either. Although it’s a G8 country, Italy is only number 25 in an Economist Intelligence Unit ranking of IT competitiveness. In other words: not much original is going on there. Many large American/multinational high-tech firms (Cisco, HP, Sun, Microsoft) have offices in Italy, but those are primarily sales and support sites, not places where someone like me is likely to flourish. And they’re mostly in the suburbs of Milan, which would be at least a two-hour commute from Lecco, and put me right back into the pollution that was causing me so many health problems before.

All of these factors have been on my mind for some time. I’ve found lots of evidence to support my negative assessment of my chances in Italy. I freely admit to bias, but can anyone show me evidence to the contrary?

The upshot of it all is that I’m angry – very, very angry. And bitterly disappointed. If anyone should have done well in Italy, it was me. I speak the language fluently. I understand the culture. I gave one hell of a lot to Italy (including a horrendous amount of taxes on my American salaries), and got very little in return except years of frustration and underemployment. In the end, the only way to stay would have been to throw away 20+ years of work experience – work that I truly love – and do something that merely exploited my foreignness: teach English, run tours, write “Under the Lake Como Moon”, etc.

That I will not do.

So I’m divorcing Italy.

Not my Italian husband, mind. Living apart has been very hard on both of us but, for the time being, we’ve decided to try to stick it out.

But I’m definitely divorcing Italy. I’ll visit, as long as Enrico and friends and family are there, but I don’t expect to ever live there again (NB: I’ll be surprised if Ross does, either).

This decision comes with a raft of emotions, probably similar to those surrounding a divorce. Anger. Betrayal. “I gave you the best years of my life!” Sadness. Grief.

Italy has a lot going for it still, and, for some people, it’s their ideal place, even if they weren’t born there. I don’t deny that nor attempt to dissuade them. But, for me, it’s over. And that would be a painful revelation even without the complication of an Italian husband who still lives and works in Italy.

So if I’m not very enthusiastic (to put it mildly) about Italy these days, now you know why.

NB: A year and a half later, I left Enrico as well.

Italy travel

Ferrari Gallery

January 31, 2009 Deirdre Straughan 4 Comments

From our visit to the Ferrari museum in Maranello in July, 2004.

Italian songs

Learn Italian in Song: Il Solito Sesso

January 30, 2009 Deirdre Straughan 3 Comments

Max Gazzé – The Usual Sex

Ciao, sono quello che hai incontrato alla festa, / Hi, I’m the one you met at the party
ti ho chiamata solo per sentirti e basta / I called you just to hear you, that’s all
si, lo so, é passata appena un’ora, ma ascolta: / Yes, I know it’s only been an hour, but listen
C’é che la tua voce, chissa’ come, mi manca. / It’s that your voice, who knows how, I miss it
Se in quello che hai detto ci credevi davvero, / If you really believe in what you said
vorrei tanto che lo ripetessi di nuovo / I’d really like you to repeat it again
dicono che gli occhi fanno un uomo sincero, / They say that the eyes show a man sincere
allora stai zitta, non parlarmi nemmeno. / so stay quiet, don’t even talk to me.
Posso rivederti gia’ stasera? / Can I see you again already this evening?
Ma tu non pensare male adesso: / But don’t think badly now:
ancora il solito sesso! / Oh, the usual sex!
Perché, sai, non capita poi tanto spesso / Because, you know, it doesn’t happen all that often
che il cuore mi rimbalzi cosi’ forte addosso, / that my heart springs back on me so hard
ed ho l’eta’ che tutto sembra meno importante, / and I’m of an age when everything seems less important
ma tu mi piaci troppo e il resto conta niente. / I like you too much and nothing else counts.
Dillo al tuo compagno che ci ha visti stanotte: / Tell your boyfriend that we saw each other tonight:
se vuole puo’ venire qui a riempirmi di botte! / if he wants, he can come here and beat me up!
Pero’ sono sicuro che saranno carezze, / But I’m sure they will be caresses
se per avere te un pochino almeno servisse. / if they would serve to have you at least a little.
Posso rivederti gia’ stasera?would serveCan I see you again already this evening?
Ma tu non pensare male adesso:would serveBut don’t think badly now:
ancora il solito sesso! / Oh, the usual sex!
Chiudero’ la curva dell’arcobaleno / I’ll close the curve of the rainbow
per immaginarlo come la tua corona, / to imagine it as your crown
e con la riga dell’orizzonte in cielo / and with the line of the horizon in the sky
ci faro’ un bracciale di regina / I’ll make a queen’s bracelet
ma se solo potessi un giorno / if only I could one day
vendere il mondo intero / sell the whole world
in cambio del tuo amore vero! / in return for your real love.
Sai, qualcosa tipo “cielo in una stanza” / You know, something like “heaven in a room”
E’ quello che ho provato prima in tua presenza / is what I felt earlier in your presence
dicono che gli angeli amano in silenzio, / They say that the angels love in silence,
ed io nel tuo mi sono disperatamente perso. / and I am desperately lost in yours.
Sento* che respiri forte in questa cornetta / I hear you breathing heavily into this damned phone…
maledetta, mi separa dalla tua bocca! / that separates me from your mouth!
Posso rivederti gia’ stasera? / Can I see you again already this evening?
Ma tu non pensare male adesso: / But don’t think badly now:
ancora il solito sesso! / Oh, the usual sex!
Correro’ veloce contro le valanghe / I’ll run fast against the avalanches
per poi regalarti la fiamma del vulcano, / to give you the flame of a volcano
respirero’ dove l’abisso discende / I’ll breathe where the abyss descends
e avrai tutte le piogge nella tua mano / and you’ll have all the rains in your hand…
ma se solo potessi un giorno / if only I could one day
vendere il mondo intero / sell the whole world
in cambio del tuo amore vero! / in return for your real love.
Posso rivederti gia’ stasera? / Can I see you again already this evening?
Ma tu non pensare male adesso: / But don’t think badly now:
ancora il solito sesso! / Oh, the usual sex!
Ora ti saluto, é tardi, vado a letto / I’ll say goodbye now, it’s late, I’m going to bed
Quello che dovevo dirti, io te l’ho detto / What I had to tell you, I have told you.

*The Italian sentire can be translated as to feel, to hear, or to taste – and therefore lends itself to interesting ambiguities. On the other hand, it must be difficult to describe synesthesia in Italian medical literature.

You might also like:

You might also like:

You might also like:

You might also like:

Max Gazzé – The Usual Sex

You might also like:

Deirdré Straughan on Italy, India, the Internet, the world, and now Australia