Archive for 2007
A Duke Alum’s Take on the Duke Lacrosse Scandal
Anyone who knows me or who has read my 100 things knows that I went to Duke University. And anyone who hasn’t lived under a rock in America for the past year has heard of the “Duke Lacrosse Rape Scandal” (cue ominous music).
I’ve been following this fiasco out of sheer curiosity, mostly because of the racial overtones of the situation. Racial relations have always intrigued me, and from my years at Duke, it’s clear that the university and surrounding Durham, North Carolina have never quite bridged the divide that must’ve started the day old Trinity College moved to Durham in the late 1800s. To say that even the student body is racially divided, or at least that it was when I was there between 1994 and 1998, is a gross understatement.
Back to the scandal, I’ve always thought the accuser’s story was a little off. But, then again, I was never what you’d call close with the Duke lacrosse team, so my heart didn’t exactly bleed for them either. I waited it out as the case developed.
As more facts and information have emerged, it seems highly unlikely that anything beyond racial slurs occurred that night–disgusting but not surprising to this former Dukie. Despite this, District Attorney Mike Nifong charged three players with rape, kidnapping, and sexual offense; now he has dropped the rape part, but is sticking with the other two charges. Right. Well those, too, should be gone soon enough, as should this guy’s law license. But that’s another issue.
To be clear, I’m not defending Duke’s actions either. The school promptly barred from the Gothic Wonderland two of the three accused players (the other graduated), but now President Richard Brodhead has invited them back. How sweet!
To paraphrase a fellow former Dukie friend of mine, I’d tell Duke to take a long walk off of a short Outer Banks’ pier. Then I’d go play lax at Chapel Hill. But that’s just me.
So what’s bugging me now? Today I read that a former lacrosse player, now graduated and never one of the accused, is suing the university, alleging that he unfairly received a failing grade because of his association with the team.
Well, to you, Kyle Dowd, I say, get over it. In a situation where it seems that no one was making well-informed, good, and rational decisions, it’s time for someone to start. Drop the suit.
And then count your lucky stars that you weren’t randomly picked out of the player pictures the accuser was given to choose her alleged attackers. Be thankful that you’re not biding your time as you await trial. And most of all, be grateful for the freaking Duke degree you’re holding in your hands. After all, you still graduated, right?
Appreciate all of the positive, unique experiences Duke has given you, not to mention the social, emotional, and employment connections that you’ve made that will help you throughout your life. Move on. And let the school move on. Take one for the team, if you will.
And, incidentally, if you’re really concerned about revamping the system so that athletes get the grades they deserve, maybe you should start looking at this from another angle.
Besides, we’ve got basketball season to worry about.
P.S. Happy happy birthday Ms. I’ve Never Seen It Spelled That Way. This post is dedicated to you!
Love Thursday: One Touch Can Opener
When Karen at Chookoloonks started Love Thursday, which has since moved to only photo form, this is what she had in mind.
Well, I’m taking the concept a little beyond expressions of love to encompass anything and everything that I love, makes me happy, makes my life easier, whatever–something that when I look at it, I feel warm and fuzzy.
And today, I offer you something that I truly love:
Yes, this thing really works the way they say it does. I see some disappointed reviews on Amazon, but I’ve been using it every day for about a month now, and I’ve had zero problems.
You put the One Touch can opener on the can, press the button, and can literally walk away and let it do its thing until it stops–by itself. Then you the lid of the can lifts off with the magnet on the underside of the gadget, and oh my goodness, how I love not struggling with the cheap handheld can openers that I’ve been subjected to here.
And it’s battery-operated, so no power adaptor/converter issues to boot!
But I don’t only love the One Touch for what it does. I also love it for what it represents. I’ve been bitching about the awful can openers here from about the second day I got here, and this here One Touch was in one of my many Christmas boxes from my mother.
Once again, Mom answered the distress call. Big time.
And that’s love folks.
Happy Love Thursday!
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[tags]one touch can opener, love thursday[/tags]
Changing Skies
Yesterday afternoon as our beautiful, sunny January day
was taking a turn for the nast:
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[tags]clouds, skies, calabria, weather, ionian sea, southern italy, stormy weather [/tags]
What’s Cooking Wednesday: Linguine agli Scampi
Last week I teased your tastebuds by suggesting that maybe P’s linguine agli scampi would be this week’s What’s Cooking Wednesday featured dish.
And here we are.
This is a very easy recipe and looks pretty classy when it’s all finished too–as well it should for the price of prawns these days. And probably all days, but I only know about these, so I’m limiting the generalization.
Linguine agli scampi (Linguine with prawns)
(serves 4-6)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 whole, peeled cloves garlic
- 8 cherry tomatoes
- 20 prawns
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1 1/2 tablespoons parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- peperoncino to taste
- linguine
- salted water to boil linguine
1. As this sauce only takes about a half hour from start to finish, go ahead and put your water on for the linguine before you start doing anything else. Wash and cut tomatoes in half and put aside.
2. Put the olive oil in a pan on medium heat and sauté garlic until just turning light golden brown.
3. Now here it gets a little complicated. Put everything else in the pan. Yes, add the tomatoes, prawns, wine, salt, peperoncino, and most of the parsley (save some to garnish).
4. Cover and let simmer for about 20-30 minutes.
As you can see, we cook the prawns as they are, heads and all. If you’d rather shell them first, by all means, snap off their heads, devein if you must (shouldn’t that really be a hyphenated word?), and get on with it. The recipe is still going to go pretty much the same, but be careful not to overcook the fish (thereby completely losing your prawns in the sauce).
5. So while the sauce is just about ready, drop your linguine in the boiling water and cook till al dente. In the meantime, take the prawns from the pan and put aside. When the linguine is done, add it to the pan (the sauce will be thin) and mix well.
6. Serve each dish with a few prawns and fresh parsley on top.
Buon appetito!
Happy New Year! Buon Anno!
OK, let’s try this again.
I depressed even myself with the last post, but since then, I figured out why I couldn’t see my squares. Something to do with needing RPG coding to agree with Firefox (I sound at least a bit tech savvy, don’t I?). While I was in there fooling with my template, I decided to play around with my squares too.
So did anyone happen to notice that my squares are now textured?
And an added bonus! I’m going to try to make the best of a slow connection…and make it earn its keep by posting my darn pics. I’ve already been waiting for about an hour for these babies to get into Photobucket, but I’ve been keeping busy doing other things–like preparing for some sort of oral exam tomorrow for a translating/interpreting job.
Why yes, I do feel awful. And yes, I did call to tell the interviewers that. They don’t care. In their defense, it’s a job with a governmental branch, so this is like a pool of candidates sort of thing. I didn’t think they’d reschedule the whole shebang just for me, but it was worth a try.
But more on that tomorrow after I accidentally infect the interviewers at the health agency.
And, by the way, it’s now hailing outside. Yippee!
Now I present to you the last few hours of 2006 spent eating, drinking, and laughing in a hole in a medieval village in Italy. One of P’s friends used to have an enoteca (wine bar/shop) below one of the town’s bars, but now he just uses it for get-togethers like the one we had the other night.
I *love* the atmosphere here–it’s underground and yet so warm from the textured yellow walls and earthy accents. Don’t mind the “Terranova” bag, though. I didn’t think it was appropriate to ask the hostess to move it just for a picture (even if it was to be seen on the Internet).
To kick off the evening, a toast among the boys;
I’ve never seen an Italian woman join in these things.
Luckily I’m not really Italian.
Salute!
Then most of these boys left and it was just close friends and family around the table.
You can tell it’s early because there’s not even wine on the table.
But it arrived soon enough.
As did the antipasto:
tuna caught by Mario (guy in the blue sweater above on the left);
fresh pecorino cheese;
capicollo;
and, my favorite as you can tell from the portion size,
octopus salad.
And il vino flowed.
Then came the first dish–baked, stuffed cannelloni and shells.
And finally the traditional New Year’s Eve good luck dish–cotechino and lentils.
Please don’t ask what the cotechino is made of.
Then I’d be forced to look it up, and I know I don’t really want to know what I ingested.
Just know that I immediately felt the “luck” coming on.
Um, then a couple hours later, it was midnight.
Buon 2007!
And that’s all you’re going to get photographic evidence of.
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[tags]new year’s eve, calabria, cotechino, lentils [/tags]
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
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