The Letter B

Bankhead, Tallulah

A Personal Hero. A good actress and a wild spirit. Hell on Wheels.

Barefoot

I will take my shoes off at the drop of a hat. I think better barefoot. I work better barefoot. My coworkers point me out when I'm not barefoot.

Basketball

I love college basketball. Having grown up in ACC country with season tickets to UVa games (oh the joys of a last minute Kenton Edelin shot!), I've grown a particular appreciation for the ACC. I'm a decent prognosticator, but sometimes let my heart override my gut that in turn overrides my head. I tend to come in second in my March Madness pools, with 1998 being the glorious exception.

Battery Park City

I lived in Battery Park for six months in 1999, from the winter through the spring; I lived opposite a little grocery store, and could walk to work every day. It was beautifully landscaped, and as spring went on, I had a small steady stream of visitors: I took my mom to see Ragtime, and Ellis Island (absolutely worth a visit); Cathleen came up to see the fundraiser for our company's AIDS ride team; Meg wanted to go to the Cloisters, and who am I to pass up a chance to see my favorite artistic depiction of St. Barbara? Battery Park is nestled in the crook of the Financial district, which is still basically deserted on weekends (despite a small steady increase in residential areas). On a Sunday morning, I'd cruise down and mingle with the neighborhood brunching, jogging, skating, enjoying the sun, and walk around the curve of the land to the Park, where tourists would be lined up, buying tickets for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and cut up to Broadway, past the Old Customs House and the branch of the National Museum of the American Indian (a lovely small museum), and over to Broad Street and our offices.

Biography

Julia on Julia. Suprisingly frequent updates, additions, and depth. Assorted
Technologies. Lots of Attitude. Not a lot of insight.

More: Biography, Why there's a biography

Birds

When I worked in RTP, the Mac sat in a room with bigh bold windows, and in the fall, the geese would stop over in the deep puddles in the grass, and dance in their foraging for food and their splashing around. In the grey rain, their dusky white and slate-colored feathers would shimmer. There's something beautiful about birds, whether it be the subdued pink of a Galah bird, or the bright Blue Jay leaping accross the snow.

More: A Confluence of Birds

Blues Brothers

"This mall has everything!" I can quote the movie practically straight through. "We've got both kinds - Country AND Western!" I can find a quote for any situation from this movie. "Unnecessary violence in the apprehension of the Blues Brothers has been approved."

Bogeyman

Everyone calls him the Boogieman. That's how they remember him. My own encounter with the Bogeyman came in the seventies, and interestingly enough, the Boogieman did not get down.

More: Memory: The Bogeyman

Botticelli

The game of choice among my family (the younger set prefers 12-and-counting). A person is it, and announces they are a famous person whose name begins with a letter. The others ask questions trying to pinpoint the identity of "it." "Are you a famous Italian Renaissance Painter?" "No, I am not Botticelli." "Do you date a hunk of plastic?" "No, I'm not Barbie." If they stump you, they get to ask a yes/no question (Are you female?, for instance). I had my brother going for 3 hours with Barney the Dinosaur. "Are you white?" he asked me. "Black? Asian? Latino? Arabic?" Hee. Hee. Hee.