too young to kiss

so i don't exactly want to get so meta as to discuss the blog, but two things to address:
re: RSS feed...googie mistakenly thinks that i want a even a medium reading public. david, i write for my pals. i hope that you understand this. i feel ambivalent about the public nature of this form of writing, but, as i typed to sp in a private email the other week, my public (read andrew) demands this. and, i would like to retain a modicium of fictive anonymity.

and, conversely, my mutha teased me the other day about writing here for my friends ... she said that they are "friends (imaginary)." she fully expects to see postings to, from, and about robbie douglas. robbie douglas was a childhood imaginary friend who kept me company when we lived on rumsey island in joppatowne and maybe a little beyond. i was derivative and uninspired at 4: this robbie douglas was indeed one of my three sons. at least, mommy, i never thought that he winked at me from the tv screen like you insist(ed?) van johnson did.

the haiku entries continue to land in my inbox much to my delight.

i had lunch with my architecture dean today in a very public place across the road from our building on campus. first, we sat outside as it was sunny. we watched two uniformed men run a sniffing german shepherd around the lawn. we debated whether they were sniffing for a bomb (my guess) or weed (his guess). then we moved inside to a glass enclosed fishbowl. he treated me to a very good michigan cherry salad with goat cheese and lemon poppy dressing. (even the take away salads are more elegant here). we enjoyed our meal, and then i dashed off to serve as a visiting crit for a review for an urban design studio's work on detroit. (they offered quite nice work). at any rate, since i returned from the studio to my lil' office the one that abuts the student "cage" their work area and overlooks the surface parking lot, other faculty colleagues have been circling to figure out what we discussed. truly, he simply asked me to lunch; i am pretty sure that neither of us had an agenda. we debated modernism and new urbanism, we talked about roosevelt new jersey, we talked about the recent latino student walkouts and rallies in l.a., detroit, and elsewhere. it was pleasant. no real angling or anything.

oh how i like being a visiting professor.

in other news, i have been semi-successful on catching up on my sleep.

and still other news, yesterday, i received my letter of hire for a summer course that i will be teaching. to my surprise and thanks to my union, i will be earning, if the class goes, roughly 2.5 times what i thought i might make.

off to write and revise and work on a grant application.