Mineral-based Wordy Wednesday

Joseph and I attended my brother's art opening at Kopplin's Coffee this Monday. All of the exquisite photos depicted Nature - save one.


"Grrr" is a close up of a stone dog outside a Japanese shrine. I singled it out by saying that most of Brian's photography was of carbon-based objects, except the dog. Joseph doubted that stone wasn't carbon-based. A lively discussion ensued, concluding with me loudly declaring that I had a degree in science and ought to know what was and wasn't carbon-based.

Thus, I present you with several mineral-based examples, taken from Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino, translated from the Italian by William Weaver, and defined by Oxford Dictionaries Online.

I should now list the wares that can profitably be bought here: agate, onyx, chrysoprase, and other varieties of chalcedony. (12)

chrysoprase: an apple-green variety of chalcedony containing nickel, used as a gemstone.
chalcedony: a microcrystalline type of quartz occurring in several different forms, including onyx, agate, and jasper

...everything that moves in the sunlight is driven by the lapping wave enclosed beneath the rock's calcareous sky. (20)

calcareous: containing calcium carbonate; chalky.

I climbed the porphyry steps of the palace with the highest domes, I crossed six tiled courtyards with fountains." (47)

porphyry: a hard igneous rock containing crystals, usually of feldspar, in a fine-grained, typically reddish groundmass.

This city which cannot be expunged from the mind is like an armature, a honey-comb in whose cells each of us can place the things he wants to remember... (15)

armature: a metal framework on which a sculpture is molded with clay or a similar material.

Armature study: Boston Terrier
Originally uploaded by egenerica

What I'm Excited About #1

Includes the following:

• Tour of the St. Paul Public School's central kitchen this Thursday


• Lesson plans I'm designing, aimed to increase cruciferous vegetable consumption


• Heirloom beans I purchased yesterday from Paula Foreman (Jacob's Cattle Gold and Orca)


• Order I got last week from Whole Farm Coop (pretty soon I won't have to shop at all!)


• Focus group I'm attending next week that's NOT organized by me


• An Eat4Equity I can finally attend!

And last, but not least, Mike Mason's Halloween party.
Photo of orca beans by Ataradrac.

Where have I been?

Allow me to give you a glimpse into my life this semester, 6 of 6 at the U of M. Fourteen credits divided among five classes and nineteen to twenty-seven hours divided between two jobs take up the bulk of the week. Two ongoing volunteer gigs fill in the cracks, and relevant conferences and presentations sometimes displace class or homework time.

Thankfully, the credits are either interesting or not taxing. My week starts with the one-credit Capstone class, which walks us future RDs through the Dietetic Internship application process. Nutrition and Metabolism follows on Capstone, a writing- (and quiz-) intensive, in-depth look at carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolism in humans. Here's where my work in Biochemistry pays off.

I get a break for lunch before Medical Nutrition Therapy I. As I've stated repeatedly this fall, it is NOT a good a idea to take MNT II first, as I did. I'm bored, despite Christine's engaging lectures.

Photo from Cornercopia's Web site.

Another break ensues, and it's usually a struggle to get out the door to go to the my 4 o'clock class, but I'm always glad I did. Albert "Bud" Markhart teaches HORT2031: "Organic Food - How to Grow It, Where to Buy It, and Can It Feed the World." His lectures on organic matter, composting, and season extension are even more engaging than Christine's on acid-base disorders, the nutrition care process, and metabolic stress, if you can believe that. Plus, he brings in (edible) props, like a whole kale plant, an enormous crookneck butternut squash, and pea shoots. Yum.

Can't forget Nutrition Education and Counseling! The now-familiar Dr. Teri Burgess-Champoux returns for another semester of well-put together 115-minute class sessions, while Dr. Cynthia Meyer teaches and facilitates practice of skills such as primary empathy and self-disclosure. I especially enjoy the counseling portion.

So that's what my last semester of school looks like.

Revised 7/22/12.