devorah bennu
[kim rollins photo]
A Biographical Note
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, I was a graduate
student in the Zoology Department at the
University of Washington in
Seattle, Washington. If you
know anything about graduate school that answer should be enough to tell
you that I spent every waking hour of my life obsessing about my work.
Fortunately, because I study birds, this wasn't
too bad. I mean, I could have worried myself into an early grave over things
like what I will do when our moronic president destroys the world with a
stinking cloud of toxic and nuclear waste, but no! Instead, I spend every
waking hour wondering and reading about, watching, cleaning up after, or
otherwise interacting with, BIRDS!
Needless to say, I really enjoy reading books, but I rarely have the
opportunity to indulge myself in this passion. Actually, I read all
the time, but I read lots of scientific papers instead of real books.
I once thought that only a certain subgroup of authors were the
World's Experts of Terrible Writing
(for an example, click here), and these
authors either wrote pet care books, or they were sci-fi writers or
romance novelists, not well-educated people like scientists. But I
was mistaken. Sadly. Mistaken. Nope, everyone who has been intensely
confused by a scientific paper can rest easy because I will confirm
your unvoiced suspicions: scientists are really bad writers!
Well, most of them are, anyway. So, those of you who read lots of
scientific papers will understand when I say this: I miss reading
real literature!
There are a few other things that I enjoy also, such as hanging out
at books stores (not surprisingly). My favorite Seattle bookstores are
Flora and Fauna Books and Elliott Bay Books, conveniently located a block
apart in Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle.
Flora and Fauna Books
is the coolest bookstore on the planet, no joke. As the name implies,
they specialize in selling animal and plant books, and the owner is a
birdwatcher, so the selection of bird books is truly astounding. When
I visit Flora and Fauna books, fully intending to JUST browse through
the shelves, I will invariably find a rare treasure that I just can't
live without. The owner and his few employees all know me for the
bibliophile that I am, and they always have some wonderful book waiting
for me that I have searched for for months or years. Of course, they are
just SO willing to sell this rare treasure to me. Needless to say,
I do not visit this store very often because I love it too much and
frequent visits would financially ruin me. In spite of this (or perhaps
because my name is imprinted on my checks?) they all greet me by name
and they always have a few bird stories to tell me when I walk through
the door.
Sometimes I stopped overtly worrying about my work long enough to
do other things, such as read books. My favorite subject areas are
science and nature, literature, poetry, politics and history,
although I do read almost anything. I will confess to a certain ...
passion ... for the Harry Potter books, and even though they are somewhat
lacking in literary excellence, they sure are fun reading. Despite this
wide variety of interests, there are some things that I simply will not
read, such as romance novels. Also, after digesting a steady diet of
science fiction novels from the time that I could first hoist a book
until the age of 15 or so, I have become disillusioned because most sci-fi
drives me crazy by defying all laws of nature and rationality to tell a
worn-out story. It's one thing to temporarily suspend some beliefs
to read a fun tale, as in the case for the Harry Potter books, but it's
another matter to take leave of all my senses!
Elliott Bay Books, on
the other hand, is not a specialty bookstore, but it is a large
independent bookstore with character, unlike several large
bookstore chains that I won't mention here (*ahem*). It has old wood
plank flooring, which quietly creeeaaks and thuds when trod upon, and
there is a large cafe in the basement with old brick walls (a remnant of
old Seattle, which supports -- literally -- portions of "new" Seattle),
decorated with local artists' creations. This cafe is filled with old
books -- thousands of them. So, if you don't purchase a book upstairs
-- and they have an especially fine poetry section -- you still have
plenty of reading material downstairs to entertain you while you slurp
your way through one of their mighty fine lattes. Another point of
interest is the bathrooms: the graffiti in Elliott Bay Bookstore's
bathrooms is the best in all of Seattle. No trip to Seattle is complete
without a visit to this most unusual monument to wisdom, tragedy, wit,
and random rambling. I hope they never repaint their bathroom walls.
Another bookstore that competes very successfully for my hard-earned starving student wages is the University Bookstore, which celebrated their 100th birthday in 2000. They are one of the oldest of all independent bookstores in the world, and they have an extensive webpage that describes their proud history to the public. Besides being one of the most interesting bookstores that I have ever loved, their bird and nature book sections are superb, and their science sections are the best that I have ever seen in any general bookstore. Probably the best feature of the Ubookstore is that they can always get any newly published bird book within a few days of my requesting it, or they already have a copy of it on the shelf. I especially enjoy their free shipping and free gift-wrapping. Heck, they once gift-wrapped a textbook purchase for me.
I sometimes
put down my books long enough to get outdoors, too. As a member of the
University of Washington
Yacht Club, I took sailing lessons. I earned my novice rating that
allowed me take out a dinghy (such as the Laser shown) by myself.
Unfortunately, summer is over in Seattle, which means it is cold. Not only
am I a cold-wimp, but I also do not have a wetsuit, so alas, it may be
forever before I get my keelboat, novice and advanced catamaran ratings.
Despite the fact that I am only an intermediate sailor, I managed to get
out on the water regularly because I am a crewmember for, and good friends
with the owners of, the racing sailboat, Runner, a regular
competitor in the rough-and-tumble "Duck Dodge"
races on Lake Union. One of my personal goals was to crew aboard Runner
when she won a "duck." (Unfortunately, I was not aboard Runner when
she won her first "duck.")
Another thing that I like to do is EAT. As a starving grad student, it was my duty to make friends who will buy expensive dinners for me. This has not been a useful strategy since most of the people that I know also happen to be fellow starving grad students or they are soon to become disenfrachised voters on food stamps. I dunno, maybe there ought to be a community outreach program or something, where rich people befriend a grad student and take her out to the restaurant of her choice. In exchange for an incredible meal, the student would provide intelligent conversation. A sort-of Geisha-like arrangement, I suppose, but there aren't many warm-blooded heterosexual republicans out there who would turn that down.
Anyway, to get back onto the topic, I have several favorite restaurants in the Seattle area; Nishino Japanese Restaurant near Lake Washington and The Wild Ginger in downtown Seattle are the fairly expensive places that I just ADORE. Other places that I like are affordable enough for a grad student yet they serve outstanding food, such as Mori Japanese Restaurant (authentic AND affordable Japanese food, yes, it's shocking, I know ... ) in north Seattle, Malay Satay Hut (authentic Malaysian food) in the International district, Burrito Loco (authentic Mexican food) also in north Seattle, Kao Samai (not your usual run-of-the-mill Thai food) in Wallingford and Than Brothers (Pho, the best thing to cure whatever ails you) on "The Ave" (University Way) in the University District. (I include this information for potential visitors out there. Believe me, I don't get any free meals for saying this stuff! Plan B was not a successful strategy, either!).
The restaurant that I love more than any other in all of Seattle is Mandalay Cafe (formerly known as Janny's Curry Hut). In short, Janny, the restaurant owner and chef, is a food artist: She makes the most incredible Southeast Asian "fusion" cuisine that I have ever eaten in my entire life (my tastebuds jump for joy just writing about it here!). My favorite dish (so far) is the Laksa, a spicy coconut milk-based soup with many vegetables, chicken and shrimp. That dish is so wonderful, so perfect, that I eat it every time I walk through the door. However, on my next visit, I will order the green curry dish, which is supposed to be fantastic. Basically, Janny's magical food will make everyone happy because it is affordable, tasty and exquisite: the perfect way to make a starving grad student feel amazingly rich.
Besides sleeping, other things that occupy my time include cooking foods of Thailand and the South Pacific Islands; birdwatching and acting as a "bird guide" for other birders; breeding birds, especially lories, in captivity; public speaking about various aspects of my favorite topics (birds, nature and science); going to concerts; tango and salsa dancing; traveling; drinking fine wines, microbew beer and lots of great coffee; hanging out with my friends; writing and goofing around on the internet (hence, this webpage).
Web -- http://loryresearchgroup.org/
In an attempt to learn HTML, this webpage was written the old-fashioned way by the author.
[24 November 2002].
