After Midnight

E and I watched Midnight Cowboy again this past weekend. What an amazing film. I was struck by how contemporary it continues to feel, in spite of the outdated clothing and hairstyles (and, I suppose, the grittiness of pre-Guiliani Times Square -- the porn theaters and shady characters selling fake Rolexes of my childhood have been sanitized and replaced with souvenir shops and the Disney Store). I've been reading a lot of Jennifer Egan's work, which often treats the impact of technology on human relationships, and Joe Buck carrying the transistor radio through the streets of Manhattan seemed incredibly prescient. In other news, I presented a talk/cooking class on spices at the public library in town. I really miss teaching cooking classes at the Davis Food Co-op. The cats are united in their love of the windowsill, and the new adaptation of Jane Eyre is fantastic. Here I am at the Circle Cinema in Tulsa wearing my "Reader, I married him" T-shirt. Some grad students asked why people like Jane Eyre so much, and I said that I really related to "poor, obscure, plain, and little" Jane. "Is that a joke?" someone asked. If only!