Gilmer Tales New and Old : Hold On/We Take Care of Our Own

"So bless my heart and bless my mind
I've got so much to do, I ain't got much time"-Brittany Howard (The Alabama Shakes), "Hold On"

"Wherever this flag is flown we take care of our own"-Bruce Springsteen, "We Take Care of Our Own"

Beloved family and friends,

It's been almost 3 weeks since I last posted, and for that I sincerely apologize! The whirlwind of Obama's reelection and several nights out with my colleagues have blown me more than a bit off schedule with this blog. I now write to you with 2 additional songs-of-the-week under my belt, both anthems that seem exceptionally apropos during the post-election period (particularly with all these insane petitions about "secession" that 900,000 people have signed around the country). I figure it couldn't hurt the French to hear them either.

Halloween has passed (I dressed up as Prince Madoc, the patron saint of Lecteurs, haha...our Blackboard registration system bears the same name. His remarkable legend is linked below...it involves Mobile and Lookout Mountain, two of my favorite places). My beard was shaved the following night as I embarked upon my own "No Beard November" challenge at the behest of some of my dear coworkers.... I've also had a beard for the overwhelming majority of the past 4 years and agree that it might be time for a change.

With October gone, Thanksgiving and frigid weather is upon us (this "song" gains a million views every 2 days....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSBq8geuJk0). The "end of the world" is supposedly in about 36 days, and with music like this and 6:45AM freezes like today's, I don't really doubt it, haha.

My life is oddly consistent in spite of all of these changes, and the tutoring work I've taken up outside of the University has kept me even busier (although I do spend far too much time reading American news and wading into American Facebook debates). Most of the stories I have to tell include lecteur-specific humor (often incorporating Franglais---"let me retirer some argent really quick"---and broken English phrases we hear daily such as "I am very agree"). That said, I won't be the guy who says "no bro, you had to have been there to get it."

A brief list of things I've experienced since I last posted:

1. Heard the expression "Nights are for drinking not for exercising!" at least 10 times from different French people

2. Listened to Obama's victory speech with a collection of random French students at 7:40 AM last Wednesday "Il a gagné!!" They didn't even have to specify who "he" was.

3. Taught rudimentary swing dancing to those same dear coworkers (mercifully there were no pictures of this).

4. Had a student refer to the film "Friends with Benefits" as "Sex with Benefits" for the entirety of a presentation.

5. Had one of my Ghanan students make me profoundly happy, sad, and homesick (that's apparently possible) when he said "Where I'm from, people...they take care of each other, they are there for the good and the bad, to celebrate or cry with you. In France, this is just something they pretend. I asked a man for direction in Paris and he tell me to find a map or go back to my country." French society as a whole doesn't quite live up to the big revolutionary game it talks about solidarity, particularly when it comes to solidarity with people from countries not called France.

6. Found all of the Inter-Library-Loan books I hoarded in their original forms...and proceeded to hoard them all over for what I can now safely call "pleasure reading" rather than "frenzied, Subway and Red Bull-fueled nightmare reading." Felt like I'd met old friends again (I think that was written on a lower school library propaganda poster)

7. Watched Alabama lose its first game; I wore my Alabama shirt all next day anyway. Roll Tide in victory and defeat.

8. Made plans to visit my old host family this weekend. 2.5 year reunion, long overdue. I'll surely have some stories to tell next week!

9. Found an old computer game that lets me play through ancient French history as "The Duchy of Brittany;" it's a good excuse to learn French geography.

10. Taught some of my Master's students the idiom "That dog will hunt!" It's all for you, Lil P.

11. Was approached by a group of French high schoolers who declared that I looked like Ryan Gosling (I'll attribute that to the beard rather than a notebook of letters).

12. Was surrounded by a group of my students at an "English night" (a popular tradition that allows students and lecteurs to go to a bar together...it's about what you'd expect) all wanting to discuss zombies and the apocalypse with me (my references to the Walking Dead appear to have shambled around the department).

13. Explained to my students for the 50th time that "Prospecting" means looking for precious metals and oil, not jobs. It took showing some of them Toy Story 2's Prospector Pete to clarify.

303. Is my favorite number and where I will arbitrarily end this list.

I promise to write again sooner!

Here's to believing that America does indeed take care of its own.

Wherever this flag is flown (or worn),

John