Contra dancing crazy
February 21, 2008It's documented here in this blog that I've made an attempt to salsa. Let me be clear.
I haven't given up on learning to salsa dance. I've just recognized that it will take a greater committment of time, energy and embarrassment than I am perhaps capable of now.
However, I have stumbled upon -- quite literally -- another form of dance.
Contra dancing -- or country dancing -- is so easy that even I, three-left-feet Choate, can do it.
Continue reading "Contra dancing crazy"
Posted by Trish Choate at 11:04 AM | Permalink
Blindly Building MySpace
December 26, 2007"The Simpsons" had it right on when it comes to showing how the younger generation helps old foggies over 30 navigate the Web.
Marge tries to find a little info about a family-oriented topic while Lisa and Bart peer impatiently over her shoulder and bark commands to their slow-surfing mother. She accidentally orders an appliance and gets no info.
Finally she relinquishes the mouse to Homer.
He finds the info with one click.
I've had shockingly similiar experiences with my daughter.
Continue reading "Blindly Building MySpace"
Posted by Trish Choate at 12:28 PM | Permalink
Alamo Elementary School Days
November 28, 2007My first experiences with what I'll call organized education -- unorganized being my mom reading "Fifty Famous Fairy Tales" before naptime -- was at Alamo Elementary School.
It was a fairly tough school with playground fights and classroom warfare regularly featured.
My math experiences there weren't the best, but I'm pleased the school is getting kudos for math.
Continue reading "Alamo Elementary School Days"
Posted by Trish Choate at 12:01 PM | Permalink
Alamo Elementary School Days
My first experiences with what I'll call organized education -- unorganized being my mom reading "Fifty Famous Fairy Tales" before naptime -- was at Alamo Elementary School.
It was a fairly tough school with playground fights and classroom warfare regularly featured.
My math experiences there weren't the best, but I'm pleased the school is getting kudos for math.
Continue reading "Alamo Elementary School Days"
Posted by Trish Choate at 12:01 PM | Permalink
Was "No Country for Old Men" Texas Country?
November 26, 2007How many times have we seen films that supposedly took place in Texas with little or no sense of what the state is actually like?
On top of that, actors' attempts at Texas accents are usually pretty heinous.
But "No Country for Old Men" scored some points in at least one of those categories.
Continue reading "Was "No Country for Old Men" Texas Country?"
Posted by Trish Choate at 05:44 PM | Permalink
The Guy in High Heels
October 01, 2007Dupont Circle was thrumming with life -- and drums -- Sunday afternoon.
The day was beautiful, drawing out a crowd to perch on benches and sit on the steps around the fountain in the circle for some people watching.
I took a short cut through the park and almost stumbled across a person wearing a long, black dress with sparkly decorations and a nice pair of strappy black spikes.
Continue reading "The Guy in High Heels"
Posted by Trish Choate at 12:03 PM | Permalink
Immigration: It's Alive
June 26, 2007The immigration reform bill came back to life officially at 12:16 p.m. today.
Senators voted 64-35 to proceed with considering the bill.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., trumpeted success.
"I’ve been in Congress for more than 40 years and immigration reforms are always controversial," Kennedy said in a media release. "But Congress is expected to muster the political will to get it done. And today, I’m proud to say that we did. Today’s vote is a major step forward for Congress, and for the country. "
Continue reading "Immigration: It's Alive"
Posted by Trish Choate at 04:39 PM | Permalink
Salsa Verde: El Conejo
June 15, 2007Salsa superman Mike gave me a quick lesson early in the evening at La Tabaq.
What did I learn?
I stink up the place when it comes to salsa, but Mike's a good teacher.
Continue reading "Salsa Verde: El Conejo"
Posted by Trish Choate at 11:41 AM | Permalink
Salsa Verde
June 12, 2007It seemed like a good idea. Go learn to salsa dance.
How easy could it be?
Well, it could be real hard and real embarrassing, especially on D.C.'s salsa dance scene.
Continue reading "Salsa Verde"
Posted by Trish Choate at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Goodbye, Jack
May 02, 2007Winter was like a wound that wouldn't heal in D.C.
Just when you thought it was over, a blanket of snow fell on the city.
Continue reading "Goodbye, Jack"
Posted by Trish Choate at 05:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Wake Up, Little Suzy
March 01, 2007The reporter by me yesterday settled down in his chair, almost wedged into the corner of the crowded conference room where the brand new House Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture was having its debut hearing.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the reporter's chin drop to his chest. Soon, he was softly snoring.
Continue reading "Wake Up, Little Suzy"
Posted by Trish Choate at 12:35 PM | Permalink
Is "Ghost Rider" really Texan?
February 27, 2007A scrubby pasture with a dusty rut of a path running through it. Bluebonnets poking out of the ground. And cattle lowing somewhere or other.
Ahhh, what a sight for sore, Texas-deprived eyes.
Wait a minute.
Those bluebonnets don't look like the right color.
And hold on.
What's that big ol' tree doing growing in a pasture? Shouldn't it be a twisted mesquite?
The tears in my eyes dried up as I began to wonder, just how genuinely Texan is the movie "Ghost Rider," y'all?
Continue reading "Is "Ghost Rider" really Texan?"
Posted by Trish Choate at 12:38 PM | Permalink
Above, Below, a Northern thing?
Wind slapped and grabbed at my too-short coat as I stood there, considering the question a stranger on Q Street had just posed.
Continue reading "Above, Below, a Northern thing?"
Posted by Trish Choate at 12:22 PM | Permalink
"Perfume" or Something Stinks
February 07, 2007The movie was ruined for me before I even sat down to watch it, but I didn't know it.
Continue reading ""Perfume" or Something Stinks"
Posted by Trish Choate at 02:35 PM | Permalink
Signs of the Times -- War Protest on the Mall
January 27, 2007WASHINGTON -- Demonstrators waved placards, wore stickers on their clothes and even paraded around costumed as Guantanamo Bay prisoners in black hoods and orange jumpsuits during Saturday's Iraq war protest on the National Mall.
Their messages ranged from trite to unmentionable.
Continue reading "Signs of the Times -- War Protest on the Mall"
Posted by Trish Choate at 03:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Peace, Picketing and "Boffo" Business -- War Protest on the Mall
WASHINGTON -- It could have been a party Saturday afternoon at the National Mall what with the movie stars at the microphone, rapers singing tunes for peace, girls giggling, congo drums pounding cheerfully and touristy peaceniks snapping photos of each other in front of the Washington Monument.
But the carnival-like atmosphere belied a serious attack on the war and on Bush that drew thousands ranging from babies in strollers to oldsters leaning on canes.
Just ask the middle-aged homemaker, the retired magazine editor, the government engineer, the 20-something lobbyist, the 13-year-old boy in braces or the activist peddling antiwar books, buttons and bumperstickers.
"Business is boffo," Max Obuszewski of Baltimore said.
Continue reading "Peace, Picketing and "Boffo" Business -- War Protest on the Mall"
Posted by Trish Choate at 01:54 PM | Permalink
A Question for the Ages Answered
January 24, 2007It's been a dilemma since the first moving picture based on a book played in a darkened theater.
Should you read the book or see the movie first?
My experience with "The Painted Veil" -- the movie -- and "The Painted Veil" -- the book by W. Somerset Maugham and my experience with "Perfume" -- the movie -- and "Perfume" -- the book -- have finally put that question to rest for me.
Continue reading "A Question for the Ages Answered"
Posted by Trish Choate at 06:12 PM | Permalink
"Golden Flower" is a curse all right
January 09, 2007I sat back in the movie theater, my senses assaulted by a riot of colors, beautiful people doing interesting things and some juicy court intrigue.
All too soon, my senses were assaulted by a lot of suppressed bawling, a male chauvinist pig on a throne and too soapy drama.
Continue reading ""Golden Flower" is a curse all right"
Posted by Trish Choate at 06:44 PM | Permalink
Herstory in the Making
January 04, 2007My dad had a distinct definition of women's liberation that came in handy when it was time to fix the roof, remodel a room or lug a trunk full of his boxing team's equipment out to the van.
"You're a women's libber aren't you?" he'd say with a grin when I was a teen-ager. "Come help me put a new roof on the shop."
Equal rights were all the rage at our house when there was manual labor to be done. You even had an equal right to grab a hammer and smash your thumb, just like the guys.
Today, I got a slightly different take on the subject when I saw Nancy Pelosi elected the first female speaker of the House in Washington.
A rundown follows on what really went on in the first couple of hours of the new Democrat-controlled Congress.
Continue reading "Herstory in the Making"
Posted by Trish Choate at 03:55 PM | Permalink
Baby, It's Cold Outside
December 08, 2006I thought Wichita Falls got cold every once in a while.
I used to curse the icy winds that whipped through there in winter.
But that was really nothing compared to what goes on in the nation's capital.
Continue reading "Baby, It's Cold Outside"
Posted by Trish Choate at 08:41 PM | Permalink
"You're beautiful!"
December 07, 2006The first time it happened, I was squinting at my computer, trying to get my e-mail to work at my new job.
I blushed, ear to ear, and thought that Scripps Howard's Washington bureau might not be a bad place to work -- even though I was missing my coworkers at the Times Record News.
Continue reading ""You're beautiful!""
Posted by Trish Choate at 09:01 PM | Permalink
The Saddest Story I Never Wrote
October 17, 2006It was the end of a long, terrible day filled with thugs, standoffish cops, madness and mayhem.
Nothing unusual.
That's the life of a cop reporter, but the very last call on the scanner turned out to be the worst crime of all.
Continue reading "The Saddest Story I Never Wrote"
Posted by Trish Choate at 01:09 PM | Permalink
Sundays in the City
October 09, 2006Massive crush of ruthless commuters. Relentless wail of sirens. Plethora of seemingly sharpened elbows, carelessly swung briefcases and irritatingly rude people.
That's Monday through Friday.
But Sundays are different in D.C.
Continue reading "Sundays in the City"
Posted by Trish Choate at 04:23 PM | Permalink
Senator!
October 05, 2006Walking, talking, screaming, galloping, jostling, rude cliches roam Capital Hill.
They're called journalists, and, after a dash to the elevators and virtual shouting match, I'm fully initiated into the MO.
Posted by Trish Choate at 12:24 PM | Permalink
Sister, Can You Spare a Dime?
September 15, 2006"Hey, miss! Hey miss! You got 75 cents so I can get home on the bus?"
The woman at the corner of Vermont NW and K Street looked quite respectable, holding a yellow umbrella over her head and peering at me with a worried frown.
Just the day before, a man had stood in the Capital South Metro Station entreating passersby for money to get to Falls Church, Va. He, too, looked far from homeless.
When I came to Washington, D.C., I wasn't ready for the multitude of beggars leaning against walls, running after me and rising from wheelchairs to rattle cups at me.
Coming to Washington made a beggar out of me, too, for awhile.
Continue reading "Sister, Can You Spare a Dime?"
Posted by Trish Choate at 06:47 PM | Permalink
A City Full of Wet Cats
September 01, 2006Today, Washington, D.C. is populated by limp umbrellas, turned inside out but still perching stubbornly over owners' heads like black crows that won't leave until chased away.
The umbrellas bob toward bus stops, lean into cold blasts of wind and shiver water droplets off once safely inside.
Back in Texas, Mama never said there'd be days like this.
Continue reading "A City Full of Wet Cats"
Posted by Trish Choate at 12:25 PM | Permalink
Day of Letting Go
June 22, 2006It happened just before the meadow where the Boy Scouts were struck by lightning.
I let go.
Continue reading "Day of Letting Go"
Posted by at 03:16 PM | Permalink
The Whitney Question
June 19, 2006An unspoken question was hanging in the air, becoming almost as solid as the rock underfoot.
Would the trailsnail try to summit Whitney?
I already knew the answer.
Continue reading "The Whitney Question"
Posted by at 11:04 AM | Permalink
Ahead of the Sun
June 16, 2006After we all made it down from Forrester Pass, Lon took a map out and showed us where we needed to be to make camp that night.
Before the day was over, I would find myself in a race against the sun.
Continue reading "Ahead of the Sun"
Posted by at 01:35 PM | Permalink
Rock 'N Roll
June 05, 2006Reaching the top of Forrester Pass was a triumph over altitude and relentless switchbacks.
But the way down had its own host of challenges.
Continue reading "Rock 'N Roll"
Posted by at 10:54 AM | Permalink
Over the top
May 24, 2006An odd coincidence on a Labor Day hiking trip last year left me wondering just what the universe was up to.
Continue reading "Over the top"
Posted by at 04:37 PM | Permalink
In the mix
May 23, 2006Sometimes the best things in life really are free.
During a hiking trip, that might be the beautiful starry skies, the windswept cliffs and the sound of a bubbling brook.
Or it could be something entirely manmade.
Posted by at 04:18 PM | Permalink
Nothing To Fear But Being Lost
May 11, 2006The day before I'd barely been able to totter along in the thin air of the High Sierras, but there I was running as if my life depended on it the very next day.
I kept thinking, "Where is everybody? Is this the right trail? Am I lost?"
Continue reading "Nothing To Fear But Being Lost"
Posted by at 03:43 PM | Permalink
Just Breathe
May 05, 2006Something strange happened by about day 2.5 of the hike.
As far as I was concerned, it was a miracle.
Continue reading "Just Breathe"
Posted by at 11:26 AM | Permalink
At the bottom
May 04, 2006The first night of camping in the High Sierras was a chilling experience.
Continue reading "At the bottom"
Posted by at 06:03 PM | Permalink
No end in sight
May 01, 2006A pass is not a voluntarily skipped turn, a document allowing entry somewhere or a proposition.
A pass is something different to hikers.
It's a piece of purgatory come to Earth -- at least the Kearsage Pass was.
Continue reading "No end in sight"
Posted by at 03:36 PM | Permalink
Peak endurance
April 28, 2006A hiker must have thought up that old saying, "Take it one step at a time."
Maybe even a hiker trying to make it to Kearsage pass.
Continue reading "Peak endurance"
Posted by at 02:08 PM | Permalink
It's Always the Quiet Ones
April 26, 2006Let's face it. Texas is a state where macho has meaning.
The men here are famous for wearing cowboy boots and hats, swaggering around, pulling out chairs for ladies, driving giant pickups, going hunting and, sometimes, drinking beer and howling at the moon.
I saw the Texas macho characteristics manifest themselves in an interesting way during a six-day hiking trip last year in California.
Continue reading "It's Always the Quiet Ones"
Posted by at 03:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Onward and Upward
April 25, 2006Onion Valley Campground was the launching point for my six-day trip over Labor Day into the High Sierras.
My friend Christina and my two other trailmates kept talking about something called "a pass." That didn't mean much to me at first.
But it would. Oh yes, it would.
Continue reading "Onward and Upward"
Posted by at 11:34 AM | Permalink
Trail hygene
April 20, 2006Flashes of blinding white dotted the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range during a hike I took there over Labor Day last year.
It wasn't lightning though.
Continue reading "Trail hygene"
Posted by at 03:15 PM | Permalink
Flatlanders' Lament
April 11, 2006The hikers on the cover of "Backpacker" magazine are svelte but muscled, glowing with tans and confidence.
Let's just say, I'm a little different.
Continue reading "Flatlanders' Lament"
Posted by at 03:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
High Times
April 06, 2006Cold. Craggy. Uncaring.
Mount Whitney stabbed into the California sky, towering above me.
Winded. Weak. Scared witless.
I cowered below, alone.
Thousands of feet of altitude, endless switchbacks and a skinny stripe of trail stood between me, a decent meal and a feeling of safety.
How had it come to this?
Posted by at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Random Acts of Violence
April 02, 2006He was nobody's dream man, but I dreamed about him.
He stood in the curtains in my hotel room and then sat beside my bed whispering my name in the dark. He was a double murderer.
Watching him die gave him life, and he's clung to it ever since.
Continue reading "Random Acts of Violence"
Posted by at 05:43 PM | Permalink
Purple Martins' Majesty
March 31, 2006Wesley Starr is a man in love.
That became clear to me Thursday as I sat by the 94-year-old on a weathered wooden swing in his backyard.
Continue reading "Purple Martins' Majesty"
Posted by at 11:20 AM | Permalink
