Lydster: Collegium interrupit

so much for orientation

Collegium interrupit.COVIDMy Latin may be imprecise, but the household has experienced collegium interrupit. The villain of the piece is COVID.

The plan was for the family to drive from Albany, NY, to western Massachusetts and stay at a hotel on Wednesday night. Then on Thursday morning, we would go the five or ten miles to the campus to be there by 9 a.m. A coterie of students would take my daughter’s belongings to her dorm room.

There would be an orientation for her on the first few days and, separately, for her parents as well. The parents would leave the area on Friday, and the college experience would begin.

Instead

On Tuesday, my daughter spent hours sitting on our front porch hanging out with two of her best friends before they too headed for college. They finished off the pizza and ice cream.

Wednesday, my daughter loaded the car on her own. We were 15 minutes from leaving when she got a call from one of her friends saying that the friend tested positive for COVID. Then she tested herself twice, and she likewise was infected.

She was largely asymptomatic initially, with a stuffy head that could have been brought on by her cleaning her room. Soon, though, she developed chills and a fever. BTW, she has had three COVID shots, proving this latest variant is inscrutable.

The college dean wrote that my daughter should complete the quarantine process at home. “We will notify residence life, health services, and any other staff who need to know that she will be coming to campus later. They will maintain confidentiality and will only let specific individuals know so they can relay information about [the late arrival]. A staff member from health and counseling services will be in touch, and we will have someone in Residence Life make contact through email with specific instructions for move-in.”

Quarantine for three

Meanwhile, the health services at the college recommended that both my wife and I should stay home for five days as well. We will, except when we go to the urgent care place for a more precise COVID test; they don’t let you in the building until it’s time for the test. If our daughter has negative tests on Monday AND Tuesday, then we can take her to school. But if either is positive, we have to wait ANOTHER five days, by which time classes will have started.

BTW, per the instructions from the Albany County Health Department, we reported the positive findings to them.

ARRRGH!

1972: the Okie and I

crossing the border

I never said so explicitly here, but the Okie and I were 19 and madly in love. After I got arrested, she lived in my parents’ house in Johnson City, NY, near Binghamton. Even reading about it in my journal, I still can’t figure out, “How did that happen?”

And because we were 19 and knew everything, we decided that maybe we should get married. We talked to my parents about it, as well as our family friends Betty and Jim, with whom we played cards. Of course, they all thought this was a terrible idea. Perhaps the conversation started making both of us a bit anxious.

The rules then, as we understood them, were that we couldn’t get married in New York State without the consent of a parent. Here’s an interesting tidbit. In the state of Pennsylvania, as of Tuesday, August 22, 18-year-olds can get married without parental permission.

The Okie and I traveled to Susquehanna, PA, on Tuesday, August 22. We saw a Dr. Davis, who took blood samples. He was having difficulty finding my vein, which distressed me. To Montrose, PA, the next day to get a registration form which asked questions like could I support my wife economically? We told Betty, who told us we should tell my father before the fact.

The day

Saturday, August 26: my sister Leslie wore a red and white pantsuit. The Okie wore the long dress she made last year. We put the cake that my sister Marcia had made, champagne et al. in the car. Borrowed a pair of Dad’s car, the pair I had broken buckles. I wore a Guatemalan work shirt and jeans.

We went to Montrose, which has inverted traffic lights. Got the license. MD has sent blood tests, and we don’t have syphilis.

Returned to Binghamton and went to my friend Carol’s house, where her then-beau Jon was already. Carol’s sister Annette questioned me on my reasons for getting married. Carol’s mother already knew about the plan, but her father was surprised and congratulated us.

Jon and I went to Hi-Fi Record Shop and bought a couple tapes, including Electric Hot Tuna. We went to the Justice of the Peace, one Norman O. Brummer, waited and talked about rain had stinted the corn. Finally, The Okie, Leslie, and Carol arrive. Norman’s wife was nice.

The Okie looked beautiful. She was, for lack of a better word, radiant. Jon had my ring, and Leslie had the Okie’s. We all went to the Skylark Motel on Vestal Parkway. Leslie took all the corny pictures (cutting cake, drinking not very good champagne.

The next day

After breakfast, we went to Betty and Jim’s house and hung out with their kids. When we got back to my parents, they were in a good mood, although I heard through the grapevine (my sisters? Betty?) that Dad wished he knew beforehand. We loaded the car and the next day, drove off.

You may wonder what the urgency was in getting married. From a reliable source, my arrest at IBM Poughkeepsie caused a bit of static for her father at work, IBM Kingston. Apparently, the “bad” behavior of his daughter’s boyfriend made his jerk of a boss make noise about Okie’s dad’s employment.

Moreover, if we were married, the Okie’s parents could treat me like a son-in-law. Us living together in sin would have been difficult for them to cope with. At some level, that was probably true of the Okie and me as well.

Mac-Haydn: Next To Normal, The Full Monty

THEATRE!

Mac-HaydnIn this review of Next To Normal, Marc Savitt of Broadway World describes the wonder that is a local theater that he’s been to.

“Tucked away in the town of Chatham, NY, The Mac-Haydn Theatre has been producing regional productions of Broadway Musicals for over 50 years. The theatre was founded in part to preserve musical theatre as the one individually American theatre form…

“Mac-Haydn truly is a ‘hidden-gem’ that presents a series of 8-10 productions each summer. Strolling between the wooden buildings on the campus, I have often thought of it as a sort of hybrid that would occur if you combined summer camp with summer-stock. They do great work, and the program attracts seasoned professionals, and up-and-coming performers, along with newbies often young and from the local area. Readers may be slightly aware of one such youngster named Joe then. He is now better known as Nathan Lane.”

My family has been attending shows there for over a dozen years, though not during the worst of COVID. This summer, we saw four shows, A Chorus Line in June, Urinetown in July (mentioned here), Next To Normal, and The Full Monty in August.

What IS normal, anyway?

I knew next to nothing about Next To Normal, which was likely true of the theater-going public in the area where this was the regional premiere. The audience was about 40% smaller than most shows I have seen there.

I had heard about Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt’s work because I tend to watch the Tonys. “It is considered a ‘rock musical’ the likes of Superstar or RENT.” Per Wikipedia, “The musical addresses grief, depression, suicide, drug abuse, ethics in modern psychiatry, and the underbelly of suburban life.”

The cast of six includes Beth Kirkpatrick is Diana, the “mother who struggles with worsening bipolar disorder and the effects that managing her illness has on her family.” Eric Van Tielen is her husband, Dan, trying to be supportive. They’ve both appeared on Broadway and are making their M-H debuts. They are excellent.

So is the rest of the cast, who are returning performers. Amber Mawande-Spytek as daughter Natalie, Kylan Ross as son Gabe, Andrew Burton Kelley as Natalie’s friend Henry, and Gabe Belyeu as Dr. Madden; he’s been at M-H off and on for at least a decade.

Next to Normal won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The reviewer noted: “Prepare yourself to be overwhelmed by the raw and exhilarating reality of what it means to care for yourself and one another.”

Unemployed in Buffalo

I saw the 1997 movie The Full Monty in a movie theater. “The film is set in Sheffield, England, during the 1990s and tells the story of six unemployed men, four of them former steel workers, who decide to form a male striptease act (à la the Chippendale dancers) to make some money.” The Rotten Tomatoes consensus reads, “Cheeky and infectiously good-natured, The Full Monty bares its big beating heart with a sly dose of ribald comedy.”

The 2000 musical Full Monty is a musical with the book by Terrence McNally and score by David Yazbek. “In this Americanized musical stage version…six unemployed Buffalo steelworkers” are in similar straits and decide on the same solution.

Jerry, who initiates the plan, is played by Xander James, who was back at M-H last year after a decade hiatus. Gabe Belyeu (Harold, the former factory foreman), Kylan Ross (Malcolm), and Andrew Burton Kelley (Ethan) also appear here. Tezz Yancey (Noah “Horse” Simmons) and Dean Marino (Jerry’s best friend Dave) are making their M-H debuts.

Holly Lauren Dayton (Pam, Jerry’s ex), Julia Hajjar (Georgie, Dave’s wife), and Erin Spears Ledford (Vicki, Harold’s wife) are strong, as are many of the other women.

Back in the spotlight

But the highlight is Monica Wemitt, who returns to the Mac-Haydn stage for the first time in three years, though working there behind the scenes as COVID compliance officer. Her Jeanette is “a perhaps second-rate, over-the-hill pianist who happens into the rehearsals and accompanies the gentlemen on their journey to show time. Jeanette is a no holds barred, tell ‘em what you think out loud, funny, self-deprecating bleach blonde with hair that is too big, even for the times, character.”

Despite being a ribald comedy, The Full Monty “also touches on serious subjects such as unemployment, fathers’ rights, depression, impotence, homosexuality, body image, working-class culture, and suicide.”

The Full Monty runs through September 4.

Why You Confuse People’s Names

jay sound

I’ve been on both ends of the Confuse People’s Names phenomenon.

In high school, I was part of a group called the Contemporary Issues Forum. Outside of school, we were part of a larger social group called Holiday Unlimited, whose motto was stolen from a Beatles song: “A splendid time is guaranteed for all.”

One in the group was a woman I’ll call Catherine. Repeatedly, she word refer to me as George. This really bugged me, especially because two other guys in the tribe were each named George. But I’m rethinking this.

I belong to a Facebook group called A Way With Words. A guy named Mike commented that he has been called Mark, and his wife Angella is sometimes referred to as Pamela. “Anyone have a word for this close-but-no-cigar phenomenon?” It led to a lively discussion. Wayword Radio noted that Scott and Todd are often misattributed for the other. Others are Tracy/Terry, and Jessica/Jennifer.

But why?

Someone linked to a 2016 article in Bustle called This Is Why You Confuse People’s Names Sometimes.

The first two examples are rather instinctive. We Confuse Names That Have Similar Beginnings And Endings. Melissa/Marissa, Ashley/Amy. We Tend To Confuse Names With Similar Vowel Placement, such as Nicole/Michelle.

Third, however, is more interesting. We Confuse People Based On Their Group. “There is a connection between calling someone by the wrong name and what’s happening in our heads. Basically, when we remember people, we categorize them in different relationships in our mental storage space — we all have a “family” group, a “close friends” group, a “roommates” group, and so on…

“The tie between them in our memory is how they relate to us specifically. Have you ever called your significant other by your ex’s name without meaning to? As horribly as that tends to go for you in the moment, it actually makes a lot of sense: Your significant other is in the same ‘group’ as your past partners in your brain.”

Paraphasia

On the list, someone wrote: “In speech pathology, it is called phonemic paraphasia if you retrieve a word that has similar sounds to the one you really meant to say. It is called semantic paraphasia if you retrieve a word that has a relationship in meaning to the one you really meant to say.”

This explains how I’ve confused the names of sister #1 with my wife, who are both left-handed and both born in July. Or sister #2 with my daughter, who are the youngest in the respective nuclear families.

For Catherine, it may have been a combo of the friend group and the fact that both Roger and George have a “jay” sound.” This article says we mix people’s names because you might care about them, so that’s nice.

For further entertainment

Wayword Radio is the “upbeat and lively public radio show and podcast about language examined through family, history, and culture. Language debates, variations, and evolution, as well as new words, old sayings, slang, family expressions, word histories, etymology, linguistics, regional dialects, word games, grammar, books, literature, writing, and more.”

Recent package from the USPS

Informed Delivery®

United States Postal ServiceMy most recent package from the USPS took a most circuitous route. It was sent on July 30, 2022, at 9:51 am from a location on the Vermont/New Hampshire border. It left that day at 3:59 pm.

July 31, 2022, 11:30 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility
JERSEY CITY NJ NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER
OK, that’s weird, but it’s close to NYC…

August 2, 2022, 12:20 am
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
WASHINGTON DC NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER
Wait, what? No, this is heading south, AWAY from me.

August 2, 2022, 2:14 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
GREENSBORO NC NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER
It’s supposed to come to Green, not go to Greensboro!

August 2, 2022, 8:29 pm
Departed USPS Regional Facility
GREENSBORO NC NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

August 4, 2022, 12:41 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
SPRINGFIELD MA NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER
This is where it SHOULD have gone initially, less than two hours south on I-91 from the origin.

August 4, 2022, 8:16 pm
Departed USPS Regional Facility
SPRINGFIELD MA NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

August 4, 2022, 11:22 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
ALBANY NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER

August 5, 2022, 5:46 pm
Departed USPS Regional Destination Facility
ALBANY NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER

August 6, 2022, 5:57 pm
Delivered, In/At Mailbox
ALBANY, NY

The original arrival date was August 2, which would have been easily met if the package had gone to SPRINGFIELD, MA, in the first place.

No joy

I’ve complained about the tenure of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. His orders slowed mail service in the run-up to the 2020 election and into the holiday season.

DeJoy recently announced at a conservative think tank event that he wants to eliminate 50,000 jobs.  He’s still under investigation for campaign finance violations and conflicts of interest. And resists the transition to electric vehicles.

Anecdotally, I know that many are still suffering delays in deliveries. One person in my county noted it took two weeks to get an absentee ballot. In Albany, post offices have closed, making some of the others more crowded.

My daily mail is surprisingly reliable, this package debacle notwithstanding. I check daily on the Informed Delivery® by USPS®.
“Digitally preview your mail and manage your packages scheduled to arrive soon! Informed Delivery allows you to view greyscale images of the exterior, address side of letter-sized mailpieces and track packages in one convenient location.”*
* Images are only provided for letter-sized mailpieces that are processed through USPS’ automated equipment

What is your postal experience?

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial