Dancing, Amherst/Williams animosity, the infallible GPS unit, Afghani food

This entry contains the scattered notes I've been jotting down over the course of the week. I should just do shorter posts more often! Here are my observations from this week:

On Tuesday I went contra dancing with Aliza, one of my dear friends from Amherst. We were biking buddies in college, and it's funny to me that since then our interests have independently gravitated toward dancing, which neither of us did in college. Our tastes in dancing are different -- I'm partial to swing, and Aliza is a Morris dancer -- but our mutual enjoyment of the occasional contra event marks another peculiar convergence in our hobbies. I guess we really do have a lot in common, Aliza! It also was delightful to have Cherie along; there is something so rejuvenating about spending an evening with close friends.

At the dance, we met a Williams alum, and a friendly conversation ensued. To those of you unschooled in Amherst/Williams history, let me apprize you that the rivarly between the schools was not invented by revelers at football games for the enjoyment of the fans. In fact, Amherst was founded in part by a cohort of Williams faculty and students who packed up their belongings, divested the college of half its library, and abandoned Williamstown for the less secluded town of Amherst. That's the entirely unsubstantiated version of the story I've heard, but regardless of its truth, that is the lore.

Since graduating, I've discovered two things in my interactions with Williams alums. First, it's quite impossible to engage in a conversation with an "Eph" without some acknowledgement of this deep-seated animosity. My friend Kristin even encountered this is in a job interview, and she was able to quip that she couldn't entirely hate Williams, as she married a Williams alum. Second, I realize that despite this required repartee (and in strange way, because of it), I have more in common with Williams alums than I do with most people, barring my own classmates, of course. There is something special about the experience of attending a small liberal arts college, something that is difficult to pin down exactly or articulate. My father, who went to a large university, tried to impress this upon me as I applied to colleges; I think he was drawn by the sense of community that existed at a school of Amherst's size and character, but I believe that the wonderfulness (!) of a school like Amherst is more complex and rarified than just that.

Gosh...The people I encountered at Amherst were so influential as I shaped my values, my political views, my life goals, and as I identified what I enjoyed most about friendships, conversations, books, the outdoors, exercise. It wasn't the institution that was my perfect match, but the people -- and whatever it was about the backdrop that attracted us to the place like bees to honey. My time at Amherst wasn't perfect; I will always remember the pain experienced by a friend who didn't pass her department's comprehensive examination, the nights I felt overwhelmed by work, the professor I liked who was nixed in the rigorous tenure-conferring process. But Amherst was pretty awesome, and I think that someone from Williams can understand that, even if she won't admit it.

Sorry for the digression. Anyway, we went through the motions with our new Williams acquaintance, agreeing that we may be able to dance together, but that we certainly couldn't be friends. That statement, though, was part of the required, almost rehearsed Amherst/Williams act. In fact, I think we will be friends, even if we must enemies at the core. :)

In other news, I'm impressed by the ingenuity of GPS units, even as I begin to notice their limitations. Last night, en route to Brookline, our friendly GPS unit misdirected us twice. The first error was the instruction to go the wrong way down an obscure one-way street in my neighborhood -- easily correctible and quite forgivable because of the admitted insignificance of my neighborhood. The second error was more surprising, since it occurred at a major intersection -- the intersection of Somerville Ave. and Mass Ave, where you can't turn left, but GPS wanted us to anyway. Because of the complicated grid of the neighborhood, this was an error that wasn't easy to correct for, even as the unit recalculated.

The second error, though, turned out to be a propitious one: it sent us quite directly to the Afghani restaurant on Mass Ave (Ali Baba Tandoor, I think it's called?), where we ended up detouring for dinner. We had planned to stop someplace along the way, and when we saw this one, I knew it was pretty phenomenal despite the spider-web crack in its glass door. I've been to Ali Baba twice before, and each time I've been entirely wowed. At Ali Baba, you are served two complimentary appetizers when you arrive: a cup of warm homemade spiced lentil soup (much appreciated on such a cold day) and Afghani bread served with three sauces made with fresh herbs. I'm not enough of a foodie to know if mango lassis are genuine Afghani fare, but that mango lassis tasted like the elixir of life and complemented the meal quite nicely.

Okay. I need to go to bed! More later...