ktravula – a travelogue!

Old Man’s Winter Guide To Beating The Snowpocalypse Blues

This is a guest-post by the blogger Rayo from Washington DC. All I know about her is that she is Yoruba, from Nigeria, and that she once attended Howard University. She also takes some very nice pictures. You can check her blog here. I’m featuring this post because for the first time in a long time according to the news, there was snow in all the states of the United States, except Hawaii. The people in the Washington DC and East Coast area were the worst hit with many feet of snow. Rayo has humorously captured her reaction to the season in twelve short informative nuggets. Enjoy.

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In the wake of the current record-breaking winter weather in the Washington, DC, area, I decided to explore my neighborhood and assess the damages that this record-breaking snowfall has caused.  Boy was I surprised when I came across Old Man Winter! This little guy hasn’t been sighted in over 110 years—since the “Snowmageddon of 1899”—so it caught me by surprise when I saw him just chilling by the side of the road a few days ago.  After much coaxing (he’s camera shy), my friend and I were able to convince him to pose for some photographs as well as give us some Do’s and Don’ts for surviving the Snowpocalypse.  It’s a pretty good guide, especially for those that aren’t used to so much snow.

1.       DO go grocery shopping before the snowfall gets too heavy.  If you don’t, you might find that when you get hungry and realize that there’s nothing in the fridge, the grocery store will be closed.

2.       DO take caution when “ice-walking” more than two miles under white-out conditions to your favorite Chinese food carryout because the grocery store is closed and the carryout is the only place crazy enough to stay open.  Remember that, since the sidewalks will become mountains of snow, you will have to walk on the road. Make sure you’re walking in the opposite direction of traffic.  This way, you’ll know when to jump when a car is sliding towards you.

3.       DO buy thick gloves and a ski mask (or thick scarf) in order to prevent your hands and face from freezing and falling off while walking in hurricane-like winter conditions.

4.       DO make sure you have at least two back-up means of transportation.  You might wake up and find (or not find) your car in this type of situation.  Not good. You might also find that the Metro buses are either out of service or are only running on “special routes,” or that only underground train stations are open and even those stations have special delays. In short, be prepared to walk.

5.       DO be patient with the public transit employees. Remember that even though you don’t have to work and you’re only on your way to a snowball fight, they have to work. Plus, there’s nothing like the comfort of feeling like you’re in a meatpacking factory.

6.       DO try to make it into work at least one day during the Snowpocalypse. Although you might be annoyed to discover how many people are actually going to come into your office with complaints, do try to smile as much as possible.

7.       DO NOT WEAR HEELS!!! You WILL fall! Safety before vanity. If you must wear heels or open shoes, put them in a bag and change into them when you arrive safely at your destination.

8.       It’s sad that I have to say this but I just saw someone wearing a pair.…DO NOT WEAR FLIP FLOPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9.   DO invest in snow boots or shoes with good traction. There’s nothing funnier than seeing someone fall face-first in 50-something inches of snow…unless the person falling is you.  Although the snow might cushion your fall, it’s still better to have not fallen at all.

10.   DO attend mass snowball fights—they’re a great way to get your daily exercise; practice your war-game skills; have fun in the snow; and they also help to prevent the dreaded cabin fever.

11.   DO go to the movies…FOR FREE!!! There are many websites out there that allow people to attend movie premieres for free (i.e. www.eventful.com). This way, you can get a first-hand look at new movies even before they start playing in theaters. You might have to trek though the snow to get there but if the movie is good enough (and hopefully it will be good), it’ll be worth the trek.

12.   DO pay homage to your fallen comrades. Here’s to the trees and umbrellas and power lines and even cars that did not survive the hurricane-like winds and heavy snow.

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Thank you Rayo for this wonderful post.

Old Man’s Winter Guide To Beating The Snowpocalypse Blues was published on February 16th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , under the Fun, Opinion category. There are currently 3 comments on this article so far.

Things To Remember

* A campus theatre workshop on campus from Friday 19th to Sunday 21.

* African Cultural Night on the night of Saturday 20th.

* The new Sentinel Nigeria Magazine debut which features some of my poems, and photography.

* Thousands of Haitian children, and helpless orphans. Yesterday, a classroom wall broke and fell on a bunch of school children killing four of them.

* A new external hard drive.

* An article for the Fulbright newsletter.

* A talk on Friday by Argentinean writer Paula Varsavsky.

* At least one article for the New York Times or the Washington Post. Or both.

* A Youtube video featuring the three-time Emmy winner Bobby Norfolk performing his story-telling.

*  An exhibition of photography on campus, and at St. Louis.

* A continuation of departmental talk series: “India: A Plethora of Languages and Cultures” on Wednesday 17th February.

* A coming talk, along with Reham, to senior citizens at Edwardsville on Ibadan and Cairo, in March.

* Spring break, and a possible trip to Miami, Florida.

* More guest posts.

Things To Remember was published on February 16th, 2010, with the tags , , , under the Soliloquy, Travelling category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Black History Month – An Event

This is my 300th post.

Yesterday, I attended an event at the Liberty Middle School Auditorium a little distance from campus. Called the Lincoln School Alumni Foundation 23rd “Children of the Dream” event, it was show that featured poetry reading, dance, singing, stand-up comedy, and an extraordinary recitation performance by the famous and three-time Emmy Award-winning comedian and dramatist Bobby Norfolk. He was spectacular. I made a video from the event and will soon put it on Youtube. But here are pictures from the event.

Black History Month – An Event was published on February 15th, 2010, with the tags , , , , under the adventures, Art, Fun category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

Mardi Gras, St. Louis

I’ll save an article on this first-in-a-lifetime experience for later, but here are a few pictures from over two hundred that I took at the Mardi Gras celebration in St. Louis Missouri yesterday 13th February 2010.

The Mardi Gras, meaning “Fat Tuesday” in French refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after the Epiphany and ending on the day before Ash Wednesday, and was initially a celebration of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season.

Viewer discretion advised. Why this is necessary itself is still beyond me. Alright, enjoy.

Mardi Gras, St. Louis was published on February 14th, 2010, with the tags , , , under the adventures, Art, Fun, Travelling category. There are currently 3 comments on this article so far.

What In The World

“Twenty-five years ago, we recorded We Are the World to help Africa. Now it’s time to help Haiti”

Thus begins the introduction to this remake by legendary trumpeter and producer Quincy Jones, and Grammy Award winner Lionel Ritchie of the classic We Are The World song first recorded in 1985 to aid relief efforts in parts of Africa (not all of Africa). From the first chords in this new track to the first shot on the screen, be prepared to be re-introduced to the same magical emotions that defined the first version of the song. There are more participants, the vocals are wide in range, and very endearing; and for good reason, the writers have removed and re-written the utterly useless phrase from the first version of the song that read “As God has shown us/by turning stone to bread” – since God never turned stone to bread in any known text of the scriptures anyway.

But here’s the caveat: Please, I beg of you, when you watch the video, do NOT see it beyond the 5.50 time mark. Much of everything else from there falls downhill into the category of “What in the World!”. For me it was such a disappointing buzz-kill, and for a long time after seeing it, I was in a burning rage that dominated my first series of tweets in response to the video. It was from a kind of shock, I guess, that I could not immediately place. How could a song with so much resources and potential at eliciting genuine empathy bungle such a great chance on conformity to popular culture. Now I’ve realized that it was from too much expectation, on my part, and perhaps from too much holding on to the solemn standard of the 1985 version. I shouldn’t spoil it for you then, so maybe you should watch it and make up your mind. But beside that, and beside the quite abrupt ending, everything else seems fine, and much of the video quite enjoyable.

Look out for great vocals from Jenifer Hudson, Celine Dion, Lil Wayne, Wyclef Jean, Mary J. Blige, Barbra Streisand, Toni Braxton, and (of course) Michael Jackson. I especially liked the parts sung in Haitian creole, and I wished that part was longer. It is also doubly memorable for having been recorded in the exact same studio where the first version was recorded in 1985.

PS: In spite of my rants above, I still do love the song, very much. So to download the video and the song, the proceeds of which goes towards the relief efforts in Haiti, go to www.world25.org

What In The World was published on February 13th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , under the Academic, Art, Observations, Opinion category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.