The Adventures of the Roaming Southerner: Free Books= 1 Happy Intern

June 12, 2011

Today is the Annual Meeting for the JMM. My mentor was in charge of setting up so I had to get there a little bit earlier than most people, which was ok with me. Before, I had to get all dressed up though I decided to go to the Book Thing. The Book Thing is a free bookstore about six blocks from my apartment. I got to the Book Thing with about 30 minutes to look before I had to get back to my apartment and get ready. It was time to break the sound barrier. Did I mention I love books and free things? This place was meant for me. I may have though taken more books that I needed too. However, that’s the great thing about the Book Thing, I can look over all the books and re-donate the books I have second thoughts about back for someone else to have. I really want to open one of these stores in Nashville. I think people would really dig it. I could see it working in East Nashville. Hum, maybe I will quit grade school and open my own free bookstore with a coffee shop next to it. It has always been a dream of mine to own a bookstore. This stems from when I was little and I used to go Mrs. Parker’s bookstore. I am sure that I could have been locked in it over night and been perfectly all right with it. Anyways, I got about 20 books to read. Now, a few were cookbooks and a few of the books are for friends, but like I said, I may have gone a little crazy. I got back to my apartment, showered, dried my hair, and changed in 25 minutes! I was highly impressed with myself.

Mary picked me for the annual meeting, which was super nice! We got to the JMM and hung out with Ryan and Elena until it was time for us to start ground control. Mary and I were in charge of making sure latecomers coming in where quiet once the meeting had started. The meeting went well. I was in the very back so I did not hear much, but what I did hear was good. I mean how much fun are meetings?!? This one did not put me to sleep, so it did a decent job at presentation. The best part was the kosher desserts after the meeting. I should probably explain kosher foods. I hope I do not get this confused, but what kosher really means is the process in which food has made has been approve by a Rabbi. Meaning that if it is a dairy product it is not made with the same tools as meat products and vice versa. There are different levels of kosherness, but that is way to complicated for me to explain now! Back to the desserts. The best cookie was the chocolate tops (its a Baltimore/ Norther thing), which are sugar type cookies with fudge on top of them. I also liked the butter cookies dipped in chocolate, yummy. There was also fresh fruit, which was also delicious (yay for watermelon and cantaloupe).

After helping to clean up and eat another chocolate top the interns (me, Mary, Carrie, and Codi) and the staff (Rachel and Jennifer) headed to the Festival of Saint Anthony in Little Italy. The Festival of Saint Anthony has a good story (I was told this is a true story, so if you ever find out it’s a lie, don’t tell me, because I like the story too much! J). In February of 1904, Baltimore caught on fire (kind of like the Great Chicago Fire); the fire was heading for little Italy. The people of Little Italy took the statue of Saint Anthony and carried him to the falls (the little creek/body of water) that runs near it and tossed Saint Anthony in. They then prayed to God and Saint Anthony to spare Little Italy from the fire. Well what do you know, the fire was brought under control and Little Italy was not touched. Therefore, since that year they hold a festival in June (because it’s too cold in February to have a street festival) to celebrate the miracle of Saint Anthony. This history message was brought to you by the one-minute history lesson by Morgan Byrn. The other interns and I wanted to experience as much of Baltimore culture as possible so we had to go to this festival. It was really cool. Lots of food and old Italians were all around. After walking around for a bit, we stopped to get food. I got a calzone, which was HUGE. This was not the normal calzone that I am used to. Usually, it’s just like a pizza but in a pocket, but not this one. It was ground beef, rice, and sauce wrapped up in dough and FRIED (apparently frying is not just a Southern thing). Oh My God, it was so good. I want to learn to make them! As we were eating, we saw Ms. Karen who also works at the JMM doing interviews for the Food exhibit coming up. I got to be interviewed about my take on food and the memories that I associate with it. It was fun; she asked me which food described me. I said sweet tea (I know its not really a food) because I am sweet (most of the time) and I am southern. If you can think of a better food to describe me, let me know. Before, leaving I had to get an Italian ice. Yummy watermelon and cheery, a good way to finish up the day. We cut the festival short though because the clouds above us were turning angry. We had about three and half blocks to go when it started to sprinkle big drops and the wind started to pick up. Using my umbrella was useless. When we had a block to go it stated to pour. I was soaked before I got to the car! At least though, the rain dropped the temperature. It was raining so hard we had to sit in the parking lot for a few minutes. Once I got back to my apartment it was time to chill out! I did a load of clothes and played around on my laptop. It was nice! I also started to read Swan Thief. It is by the same author who wrote The Historian, which I really liked. Its really intensely long though, so I may read one of the short bodice rippers I got at the Book Thing first, we shall see.