Independiente vs. River; Atlético vs. Barcelona; Atlético vs. Bayern

I don’t know if Independiente del Valle even have 30,000 supporters; but last night the Estadio Atahualpa was full, and its crowd wore blue and black. The game itself lacked luster. Though Independiente hardly were breathtaking, River Plate, the defending champions, were cautious in the altitude.

Independiente’s goals came in the last half-hour.

Two goals to zero is a good home-leg result. In the second leg, River must again be cautious: receiving just one goal obliges them to tally four.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Atlético de Madrid must surely be the world’s toughest team to play against. Every touch of the ball is, for them, a matter of life or death. And not only are they gritty; not only do they close up shop in front of the goal; they can be rather brilliant, too.

Lately, their astounding player has been the midfielder Saúl Ñíguez. See his outer-footed cross, to Antoine Griezmann, versus Barcelona; see his personal wonder-goal versus Bayern Munich.

See also Fernando Torres’s near miss.

A poem by Karin & John-Paul

… and by the Beatles.

UPON ME

When I’m sleeping in my bedroom
Little Jasper comes to me
And gazes from the dresser
Upon me!

Chorus:
Upon me, upon me
Upon me, upon me
Looks down from the dresser
Upon me.

And while I’m sitting in the bathtub
Little Jasper comes to me
And bats the soap and razors
Upon me!

Upon me, upon me [etc.].

And when I wish to eat my supper
Little Jasper ruthlessly
Tries to eat my supper
Upon me! !!!

Upon me, upon me …
[the chorus is repeated six more times]

National unity

Aftershocks, 6.0 on the Richter Scale, several days following the first quake.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Solidarity among Ecuadorians, regarding the Copa Libertadores. Emelec are out; Liga de Quito are out; only Independiente del Valle remain to play the eighthfinals. Their opponents will be River Plate.

The home leg will be held on Thursday in the Estadio Atahualpa (the Rumiñahui, Independiente’s usual venue, seats just 8,000). Entrance fees: $5, $10, or $20. All proceeds, to the quake victims.

Non-Independiente fans are welcome.

“Come with the Ecuador shirt,” announces Independiente’s president. “Or come with the shirt of your own team.”

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

In the U.S., the good news is, Andrew Jackson is getting banished from the $20 bill. His replacement will be Harriet Tubman.

What image will be used? Maybe one of these. Probably not this one –

– though these freedom lovers make a fine point:

Who would have thought that after more than a year of debate, speculation, and politically correct public demand, America would learn that a God-loving, gun-toting Republican woman would earn a spot on our nation’s currency?

Yes, this change is something that even Republicans can believe in. E pluribus unum. There is an overlapping consensus on the honoring of Harriet Tubman.

Quake, pt. 2

Recent figures from El Universo:

443 dead
4027 injured
231 disappeared

Photos on the Web show gray city blocks pulverized, the occasional storefront or utility pole propped up against the rubble, the occasional political poster contributing a spot of color.

People continue to be pulled out of the wreckage. In Pedernales, some are now being detected by how they smell.

There is much suffering in Manta and in Portoviejo. In Canoa, slightly north of Bahía, 80 percent of the buildings have been destroyed.

Relief efforts are intense. Volunteers and supplies pour into the northwest from the larger cities and from abroad. (It’s strange to read that global celebrities are talking about Ecuador.)

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

In my own little life, lately, I’ve been doing my taxes; I’ve been typing up more of my Juan Bosch paper; and I’ve been reading and rereading Frank Stockton’s story, “The Lady, or the Tiger?,” and making shiny PDFs of it (it’s in the public domain).

A couple of quakes

Yesterday, in Esmeraldas Province, there was an earthquake – Richter Scale 7.8, last I read – the strongest in Ecuador since before I was born. The quake was felt in Guayaquil and in Quito, and as far away as the Colombian city of Cali. The quiet Manabitan city of Pedernales was hardest hit. There were smaller temblors, also.

In Santo Domingo, my parents felt the quake but weren’t harmed. They only lost a bit of glassware.

Pray for the hundreds who were less fortunate, who suffered injury or death.

Pray also for the Japanese, who yesterday endured a quake that was smaller but still damaging.

Looking forward

Karin & I’ll be married in one month and one week.

People ask me, have you any misgivings? No, I haven’t. Of the two of us, I’m clearly getting the better deal.

This doesn’t mean I never worry. I dreamed, last night, that we were at the church and that the ceremony was about to begin. I’d forgotten the suit I was meant to wear; and so I scurried from uncle to uncle, asking to swap outfits.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

My sweetie & I hoped to honeymoon in Scotland.

I was all set to take Lanark to read. We’d both been learning the poetry of William McGonagall.

The trip would cost us next to nothing: Karin’s grandpa would supply the airline miles. Alas, his travel agent tried to burden us with tours and hotels. The price became prohibitive.

We ended up booking the trip ourselves – to Utah – whose scenery is also lovely, but very different. This will be my chance to finally hunker down and study the Book of Mormon.

Juan Bosch

It’s Day Two of my second spring break – the break from my highschool job – and so I have the morning off.

Martin is leisured all day long. He attends to his hobbies: watching David Cronenberg movies; reading Poe, Bierce, and Lovecraft. I told him I would read At the Mountains of Madness with him. We’ll see. This year, I haven’t been so good at finishing books.

For my college history class, I’m writing a 20–25 pp. paper about U.S./Dominican relations during the early ’60s, focusing upon the ideological (and personal) antipathy between U.S. officials and President Juan Bosch. Bosch is a lively case study. Soon after he was ousted, he wrote several books about Dominican democracy. His enduring idea, still discussed by Latin Americans, is dictadura con respaldo popular – dictatorship with popular support – a defense of non-electoral “democracy.”

(Bosch also wrote a work called David, biografía de un rey, which reviewers could make neither head nor tail of. It climaxes with Absalom’s rebellion.)

As historical analysis, I’m not sure how well my paper is turning out. As an anthology of quotations, it’s quite breezy to read.

Grammar and style

At IUSB, some iffy tutoring requests.

An adult student wishes me to review one of her Facebook posts. Is it my job to do this? I’m not sure. But I do do it; I tell her I’m glad she’s getting help with her writing.

This opens up Pandora’s Box. Next shift, a guy asks for help to write a text message. A text message.

“I need to know if the grammar is exactly right,” he says.

“It’s a text message,” I tell him. “The convention is to take shortcuts with the grammar.”

“I’m very concerned about using proper grammar. I need you to advise me about the semicolons.”

Indeed, there are many semicolons in his brief text message.

“Each of them is grammatical,” I explain. “But, stylistically, it’s odd to have so many in such a short passage. I would keep this one” – this is stretching the limits of good advice, but he seems extremely fond of his semicolons – “and change these others into periods.”

He is grateful to be told something.

“On the other hand,” (once I get going, it isn’t easy to stop) “grammatically, this passage, here, isn’t a complete sentence. But stylistically that’s all right because sentence fragments are allowed in text messages.”

The light bulb goes on. Grammar isn’t style. We may have accomplished something, after all.

After work, I go to Karin’s apartment. “Bad news,” Karin says. “When we get married, we’re going to have to find somewhere else to live. My landlord has a friend he wants to rent the downstairs to.”

Fair enough.

“Oh, and after he told me that, he found out that you do go to work. ‘John-Paul has a job?’ he said. ‘He has two jobs,’ I informed him.”

“I wish you’d told him earlier. All this time, he’s been assuming I’m a deadbeat.”

“Well, he may not have assumed,” Karin says. “He may have heard it from my dad.”

“I should ask my bosses to write some recommendation letters to your dad.”

“Yes,” says Karin. “Your bosses seem to like you.”