Saturday Story Hour: Roorbach on Love in Big Bend

This is your weekly dose of contemporary fiction. I call it "Saturday Story Hour."

This week, I'm inspired by Fosco Lives! reader Jill and her recent road trip into (what I imagine is called) the Big Bend country of Texas. Years ago, Fosco was floored by the 2002 collection of The O. Henry Prize Stories (seriously, if you can get a hold of it, it will be worth your while). One of the stories in that collection was called "Big Bend" by Bill Roorbach. At the time, Fosco had never heard of Bill Roorbach before. And, to be honest, he's never read anything by him since. Nor is "Big Bend" even the best story in that collection. However, there is just something about the story that has stuck with Fosco (going on seven years now).

When he read the story, Fosco had also never heard of Big Bend National Park. It's a huge national park that runs along the Texas-Mexico border, where the Rio Grande makes a very big bend (natch). It is extremely popular with birders, like Fosco's Aunt Merrill and Uncle Clark, because it's the home of dozens of species that are difficult to see anywhere else. And as for the terrain, the National Park Service notes:

Sometimes considered "three parks in one," Big Bend includes mountain, desert, and river environments. An hour’s drive can take you from the banks of the Rio Grande to a mountain basin nearly a mile high. Here, you can explore one of the last remaining wild corners of the United States, and experience unmatched sights, sounds, and solitude.

Roorbach's story is set in the park and he makes it sound absolutely gorgeous. After reading the story, Fosco became fascinated by Big Bend; however, sadly, he has yet to visit (he hasn't really had any good excuses to visit West Texas lately).

The hero of the story is a retired widower who has decided to work as a park employee at Big Bend for a year. He spends his days doing minor physical labor with a diverse team of other men. When we meet him, he has fallen passionately in love with a visiting birdwatcher from Chicago--a woman who is almost thirty years younger, bulky, and married. Her name is Martha Kolodny. Suddenly, Mr. Hunter (our protagonist) is confused:

Another cause of sleeplessness was Martha Kolodny of Chicago, here in blazing, gorgeous, blooming, desolate Big Bend on an amateur ornithological quest. Stubby called her "Mothra," which had been funny at first, given Ms. Kolodny's size and thorough, squawking presence, but which was funny no longer, given the startling fact of Mr. Hunter's crush on her, which had arrived unannounced after his long conversation with her just this evening, in the middle of a huge laugh from Ms. Kolodny, a huge and happy, hilarious laugh from the heart of her very handsome heart.

There is something about the line "a huge and happy, hilarious laugh from the heart of her very handsome heart" that Fosco adores. For me, at least, there is no resisting Martha Kolodny once she's described that way. She is a bringer of joy--both to Mr. Hunter and to the reader.

The other thing about this story that thrills me is the sheer optimism of it. Here are two oldish, semi-unattractive people who lead extremely sad lives in extremely sad parts of the country falling in mad passionate love like giddy teenagers. It's about a second chance at passionate love--but not in a mawkish or sentimental way. I just find it hard to be cynical about love when I'm reading this story. Not to mention that this surprisingly big, bright love is what makes this story work--it makes the images shimmer in Fosco's imagination.

And so, whether or not I ever read anything else by Bill Roorbach, there is a part of me that will always treasure this story. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

You can read it here.

You may want to order the O. Henry Prize Stories 2002 from Amazon. Or one of Bill Roorbach's books. Please follow these links:




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A Big Cuddly Hecatomb

From yesterday's Huffington Post, this headline:

Actually, I'm not sure whether this is a headline or a threat--you know: "Give me the briefcase or cute animals will have to die."

Apparently, the linked article is all about how most of the pro-environment behaviors that make the bourgeoisie feel less guilty will be entirely insufficient to prevent bad, bad things from happening (and, in fact, some of those behaviors are actually surprisingly counterproductive). It's the kind of article that someone like The BeeMaster would love, but Fosco is actually more interested in speculating about the deaths of cute animals. Like, for instance, do we get to choose which cute animals die?

I already know that Mere would willingly sacrifice pandas for an ice cream cone. But let's up the stakes a little: which cute animal(s) would be willing to sacrifice in order to stop global warming? Of course, in some sense, there might not be much of a choice: extreme global warming might kill all the cute animals anyway. But, think about it this way: which cute animals won't you miss?

Personally, I think I am willing to give up zebras, lions, raccoons, wolves, and kangaroos. I would be sad about moose and mountain goats, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. I would really miss black bears and the pretty-colored songbirds. And sea otters are entirely non-negotiable.

Oh megafauna, why must you be so charismatic?

From the Annals of Strange and Terrifying

The Grand JennyT sent this along. It's the kind of toy that would change your life--if it really existed.

B'Owl!!!

And it's a perfect gift for Pep-Pep and Nanna!

Another Great Food Blog

On "Foodie Friday," you can eat fried chicken for breakfast even. Really.

Fosco continues to stumble across first-rate food blogs. Here's one for Bay Area readers: No Salad As A Meal. The photographs are beautiful (definitely John Mackey-quality). And while the reviews are SF-centric, you can still appreciate the restaurants vicariously.

Here's a great recent review: Thomas Keller's casual dining experience in Napa, Ad Hoc. Believe it or not, Ad Hoc offers FRIED CHICKEN NIGHT. Thomas Keller fried chicken? Um, as Liz Lemon would say: "I want to go to there."

N.B., while the above photo is of the buttermilk fried chicken(!) at Ad Hoc; it is NOT from No Salad As A Meal. Like I'm going to steal a pic from a blog in the same post that I recommend said blog? Trust me, the photos are much better at No Salad.

Famous Birthday Dinners

"Foodie Friday" concludes at Fosco Lives! Eat well this weekend.

As you may have noticed from yesterday's news, February 12 was a huge day for birthdays. Three of the greatest people in history were born yesterday. And because today is "Foodie Friday," it naturally occurred to Fosco to ask: "What did these great figures enjoy eating?" Here are the fruits of his research:

• We already have a good idea of Abraham Lincoln's favorite foods, thanks to the Obama Inaugural menu. But, according to this strange little article, there is more to know:
  

  Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's wife, knew that her husband liked fresh fruit, so she kept fresh fruit around all the time. Lincoln was especially fond of apples, which he ate fresh, but also loved in apple pies.
  
  One of Lincoln's favorite meals was a simple fruit salad with cheese and crackers.
  
  There were two known main dishes or entrees that Abraham Lincoln loved; the first was chicken fricassee with biscuits, and the second was an oyster and scallop stew.
  
  [...]
  
  Nuts were another favorite food of Abraham Lincoln's, and he ate them often.
  
  President Lincoln preferred to drink water above all other beverages, and seldom drank anything alcoholic.

  Well, that's all pretty straightforward. If you, like Fosco, don't know what chicken fricassee is, here is a a recipe that seems to give the general idea.
  
  
• You hopefully heard that yesterday was also the bicentennial of the birth of Charles Darwin, probably the most important scientist of the last two centuries. But what did he like to eat? Darwin's wife, Emma, actually wrote her own cookbook. Here is her recipe for "Beef Collops," whatever the hell that might be:
  

  Cut thin slices from the rump or rib. Spread them on a table, season with, black pepper and salt —Dash each side with flour, have ready some butter in the frying pan, boiling but not browned, put in the collops, fry them on each side a light brown, take then out of the pan without any of the butter that is left, and put them into a stew pan with some good beef gravy, plenty of sliced onion, some soy and walnut pickle, let all stew gently till the collops are quite tender and the sauce a proper thickness — This dish requires to be served up very hot. — N.B. The onions should be baked a little while before they are sliced.

  I was onboard the whole way--until the "walnut pickle."
  
  
• Last, but certainly not least among our February 12 bithdays, we have renowned author Judy Blume, who turned 71 yesterday. In a wide-ranging interview, Ms. Blume was once asked about her favorite food. Her response:
  

  Pasta, pasta, pasta! My all-time favorite.

  Clearly, she is one of the greatest living Americans. Let's hope she celebrated yesterday with a big plate of noodles.
  

For you nervous flyers...

Introducing the newest international terrorists:

Clearly, Obama needs to take a harder line on Canadian immigration.

UPDATE (4:20 PM PST): On Hardball, Chris Matthews keeps referring to the "bird attack." Fosco knew this was more sinister than just an "accident."

Your Santa Cruz Postcard

For Fosco's friends who are trapped in much less desirable places (like South Bend or Paris), allow me to provide a dose of Santa Cruz (still self-congratulorily super-liberal).


Today, the sea was much clearer than the past weekend--a gray-green glass color. Fosco's new favorite birds, the black oystercatchers, were working the tidepools pretty heavily. Some overcast, temp in the mid-50s. Winter is in da house.

Humblety humblety hummmmm...

Fosco and Oz generally don't go for that whole "outdoors" thing. Nature may be pretty (sometimes), but it rarely offers the excitement of Gears of War 2 nor the comfort of the sofa. But recently, Oz has caught on to Fosco's appreciation of hummingbirds (because they're cute and chock full of personality). Fosco has a hummingbird feeder on his balcony, but he wanted to show Oz an even greater variety of humbird behavior. And so, a couple of weeks ago, Fosco and Oz took an afternoon to hike the hummingbird trail at the UCSC Arboretum.

Unfortunately, there weren't many humbies out at the Arboretum that day. However, we did meet this little guy:

Within minutes of our arrival, this humbo flew over us and landed on a branch only three feet away from us. And then he sat there posing for us for several minutes. We decided to call him "Hammy" because he was such a ham for our camera. Hi Hammy!

That's about it for wildlife on our visit. We did see some crazy yellow flower:

Even crazier, this flower gets weird when it goes to seed:

Look at all those bearded clams!

And then some nasty black bug bit Oz and so we left.