No Love for No-Li

Image via Pop Chart Lab

Pop Chart Lab of Brooklyn, NY recently released limited edition prints of their ‘Breweries of the United States’ poster. They call it “The most comprehensive mapping of the breweries of the USA ever compiled…” But zoom in on Spokane, WA and you’ll see something is missing. Four gold dots hugging I-90 represent Budge Brothers Brewery, Golden Hills Brewing Co., Iron Goat Brewing Co. and Twelve String Brewing Co. All four companies relatively new to Spokane compared to the surprisingly absent No-Li Brewhouse. No-Li, formerly Northern Lights, has been around since 1993 and recently did some re-branding. Is it possible that the name change is to blame for No-Li’s absence on this “comprehensive” map? Can you spot any other glaring omissions?

Bookshelf: September 2011

Purchased*

Houdini, Jason Lutes & Nick Bertozzi

The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith

The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien

White Fang & The Call of the Wild, Jack London

The Jungle, Upton Sinclair

Great Expectations, Charles Dickens

A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Madeleine L’Engle

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Mark Haddon

Intelligent Life in the Universe, I.S. Shklovskii & Carl Sagan

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

Twilight, Stephenie Meyer (Don’t hate––I’ll explain later.)

Drift and Swerve, Samuel Ligon

Started

Drift and Swerve, Samuel Ligon

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, Haruki Murakami

Finished

Houdini, Jason Lutes & Nick Bertozzi

Anyone could do what I have done––it’s all a matter of the proper application of one’s will.

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz

But before I can shape the vowels I wake up. My face is wet, and that’s how you know it’s never going to come true.

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Kurt Vonnegut

His voice was sweet, vastly paternal––as humane as the lowest note of a cello.

Periodicals

The Inlander, weekly

*Value Village is a great place to pick up used books!

Bookshelf: August 2011

Purchased

Salt: A World History, Mark Kurlansky

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, Haruki Murakami

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Kurt Vonnegut (birthday gift from my sister!)

Started

Salt: A World History, Mark Kurlansky

Finished

Bonk, Mary Roach

Chapter Two:

Dating the Penis-Camera: Can a Woman Find Happiness with a Machine?

The Picture of Dorian Grey, Oscar Wilde

Memorable line:

The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young.

I Heard the Owl Call My Name, Margaret Craven

On comparing religions:

“Yet they began in the same way, as we began.”

“With the myths, Caleb?”

“Yes.”

Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays, Zadie Smith

I have two pages in my journal full of quotes from this book. I think Smith may be my favorite contemporary thinker. I kind of have an intellectual girl crush on her. Here’s just one quote I wrote down:

Acts of love, because they are unattached to the world of commodities, are radical propositions.

Periodicals

The Inlander, weekly

VegNews, October 2011 (Food Issue)

Help Me Reach My Goal!

I’m honored to have been nominated as one of Spokane’s Finest Young Professionals, a campaign hosted by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Spokane Chapter. My friend, Geneva nominated me and is a nominee herself. In accepting the nomination, I have committed myself to raising $2,500 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation by November 18th, 2011.

Cystic fibrosis is a devastating genetic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system. More than ten million Americans are symptomless carriers of the defective CF gene. Advances continue to be made in finding a cure, but your help is needed now––more than ever––to help keep up the momentum of this life-saving research.

When the Foundation began in 1955, most children with CF did not live to see their first day of elementary school. Today, the median predicted age of survival for a person with CF is in the mid-30s. This is remarkable progress, but not good enough. We continue to lose precious lives to CF every day. To learn more about CF and the CF Foundation, visit http://www.cff.org.

Please help me reach my goal by making a donation today.

Bookshelf: July 2011

Purchased

Bonk, Mary Roach

The Believer, July/August 2011 (music issue!!!)

The People’s Almanac, David Wallechinsky and Irving Wallace

Started

Bonk, Mary Roach

I Heard the Owl Call My Name, Margaret Craven

Finished

Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston

Memorable line:

They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God.

Half the Sky, Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn

Worst analogy ever:

Women and girls cloistered in huts, uneducated, unemployed, and unable to contribute significantly to the world represent a vast seam of human gold that is never mined.

Periodicals

VegNews, August 2011

The Believer, July/August 2011

The Inlander, weekly

Bookshelf

I’ve decided to start keeping track of what I read and books I purchase on a monthly basis and share it here. It’s inspired by Nick Hornby’s regular feature, “Stuff I’ve Been Reading” in The Believer. I hope you enjoy taking a peek at my virtual bookshelf!

Branching Out

I went for a walk along the creek today and found this beautiful branch. I removed the bark and brought it home with me––it was just the branch I had been looking for to hang above my bed. At home I wrapped the branch in embroidery floss in a couple of places and then draped a line of colorful magazine cut-outs over it. I had been looking for something to hang above my bed for a while now and I think this was the perfect quick solution.