A note from the editor:
Terri Carney is professor of Spanish and race, gender & sexuality studies at Butler University. This is her take on this week's Culture Journal, a series that shares a week in the cultural lives of Indy residents.
If you are interested in submitting a journal, please send an email to Mirror Indy arts and culture editor Jennifer Delgadillo at jennifer.delgadillo@mirrorindy.org and tell us about yourself.
Day One
10 a.m. At a meeting for the Woodruff Place tree canopy committee. Our neighborhood is known for its fountains and lampposts but for me it has always been about the trees. I’m heartened by a new generation of neighbors who care so much about trees.
3:40 p.m. At Kan-Kan Cinema and Brasserie to see “Problemista.” It feels like a luxury to be at the movies by myself with a bag of the best popcorn in the city (world?) on a weekend afternoon. Watching Tilda Swinton is a joy. I love to see middle-aged+ women as main characters.
Day Two
9 a.m. I’m out to drive a friend to the airport for her car rental. She has been my BFF and colleague for 25 years, and is moving to another state. When I’m driving by myself, I can begin to grasp the impact of her loss, but otherwise I carry on.
Noon: I take a long walk around the neighborhood. My dog is 12 and sometimes stops mid-walk and points to home. Tory is a black Labrador/Shar Pei mix.
Day Three
9 a.m. I’m on a Zoom meeting with the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) — folks from around the state. What’s happening in higher education is basically what happened to Hogwarts in Harry Potter: Umbridge came in and reduced the magic of education to efficiency models and charts, and now Voldemort-style legislation threatens the freedom of professors to pursue knowledge and speak freely about their research.
My colleagues remind us: Professors are employed by colleges and universities, but we serve the public good.
1:30 p.m. Sitting at Amelia’s with my americano and vegan breakfast cookie, reviewing my plan for my “Films of Pedro Almodóvar” class, which I teach on Mondays at Kan-Kan Cinema. Today we will discuss the film “Live Flesh” (Carne trémula). Javier Bardem is so young in this film!
4 p.m. Movie time. I am settled in my seat at the back of theater 2 where we are about to screen “All About My Mother” (Todo sobre mi madre). Though I have seen the movie many times, I still must prepare myself for the intensity, for the (very Almodóvar) melodramatic agony followed by soothing (women in) solidarity. My obsession with Almodóvar has shaped my life in real and wonderful ways.
6:30 p.m. While talking with a graduate student-turned-friend over drinks at the brasserie side of Kan-Kan, I am reminded of the creative power of conversation. Sometimes you surprise yourself when talking with another, like you are hearing about your newest or most precious ideas and dreams for the first time. The magic and power of words are another constant in my life.
[Fourth graders wrote down tips on how to be happy. They’re kind of great.]
Day Four
8 a.m. On Zoom again. Why does the faculty senate meet at 8 a.m.? I can’t remember. It’s nice to attend a meeting while at home with coffee and wearing what I call my “blazer robe,” but I think the urgency of our collective challenges require some face-to-face discussion.
5 p.m. I am in the parking lot behind the Good Earth in Broad Ripple. This setting makes me think of my daughter as a young child — we would come here to feed the geese and stroll around, often stopping at Monon Coffee Co. for the pumpkin chocolate chip bread.
That was when you could park for free behind the coffee shop and sit for a spell with the local characters at the outdoor table. I feel a wave of nostalgia as I remember my daughter just got married.
6 p.m. Having a spontaneous visit with an old friend who just made me a home-cooked dinner.
6:30 p.m. On the way back to campus, I pass what used to be (the original) Cornerstone Coffee House, a classic ’90s coffee shop with old couches and an honor system that included customer coffee cards in a recipe box on the counter.
This place was important for me in the early years of teaching at Butler. One of the regulars was a thin guy with a long gray beard and a staff. Why am I so nostalgic today?
7 p.m. OMG this event at Butler is incredible — “Black and Womanist as expressed through Mermaids and Priestesses,” which is part of the Visiting Black Intellectual Series sponsored by the Butler Hub for Black Affairs and Community Engagement. I am learning about the Black mermaid renaissance and the deep connections with African religion, goddesses and the aquatic legacies of the slave trade.
Day Five
Noon. At the Efroymson Diversity Center for the Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies department advising lunch for students. Turnout is not impressive, but somehow, those who do show up wind up being the perfect group. I listen to my junior colleagues talk about their experiences and hope they stay here.
2:15 p.m. I’m at Butler early to prep for my SP390 class, a community-based course I designed way back in 2000. This week we are discussing a book called “Latinos in the Heartland.” My students are tutoring IPS students at Brookside Elementary and Arsenal Tech High School.
8 p.m. I need to finish writing the grant proposal for the tree canopy committee. Sharing it with my neighbors via email is satisfying — we are a good team and have produced a decent proposal.
Day Six
10:30 a.m. My husband, Brian, and I have a Zoom meeting to discuss our finances and retirement stuff — I get assigned a rep from my pension plan at work. I hate not being more financially literate.
2 p.m. Writing a letter of recommendation for a former student. She is applying to law school. We were in Spain together on study abroad. She will make a good lawyer.
Day Seven
10:30 a.m. I press send to submit a revised chapter for a book on Spanish crime fiction. My study is about a Spanish novel featuring a young woman with amnesia who is found in a storage container and must work with detectives to figure out who she is.
This is part of my work (obsession?) on women detectives as a phenomenon in recent cultural texts (novels, films and TV series) that explore the intersection of global patterns of capitalist greed, patriarchal violence and women’s agency.
Noon. Try again to be part of LinkedIn. Give up. Decide this is a symbol of my resistance to the ubiquitousness of corporate culture. Walk to Dear Mom for salad greens, chocolate covered dates and a tulip bouquet for mom. Dear Mom is an oasis.
[Dear Mom’s free birth control vending machine also stocks Narcan and condoms.]
2:15 p.m. I’m on campus to observe an ancient Greek class. It’s a small class and the focus on syntax and translation is right up my alley. We need to preserve small programs and small classes. Especially all the language classes!
9 p.m. I’m going to finish the last season of “Borgen” tonight, a Danish political drama series about women in power.
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