

	We could have danced all night. . .

lise funderburg

Life with Lise means coffee with Raymond Carver, The Narnia Chronicles at Christmas time, Stevie Wonder and Lucinda Williams alternating on the stereo, reruns of the Mary Tyler Moore show and an end to cell phones everywhere. Read her Culture Hound responses below.

In Print

A book you're reading this month
Building With Stone: Step-by-step instructions for building walls and steps; foundations; a barbecue pit; fireplaces and chimneys; spring, pump and dwelling houses; dams and bridges, by Charles McRaven (Lippincott & Crowell, New York, 1980)

3 favorite books
A Wrinkle in Time
Love Invents Us
Macauley's Thumb

Your favorite poem
That Auden one that was in "Four Weddings and a Funeral." It went something like, "Stop the clocks, turn off the telephone…"

A classic "must-read" book that you couldn't stand
Cold Mountain

The 3 writers, living or dead, you'd want to have a beer/coffee with
Mark Doty
Raymond Carver (coffee)
William Faulkner

Standby children's book you give to the children you know
The Narnia Chronicles

Anything you've ever read that changed your mind drastically
Stranger in the Forest: On Foot Across Borneo by Eric Hansen.
It made me think about how situational and relative the concept of time is, and consequently how many supposedly fixed aspects of my world are not fixed at all.

Poem you could recite from memory
"Jabberwocky"

Favorite expression or literary analogy you (over)use
"Cover me: I'm goin' in."

Magazine, journal, or zine we'd be most likely to find if we searched your bag
TIME, Publisher's Weekly, or Martha Stewart Living

You're a bumpersticker. You read:
Bring something to read; there may be a wait.

Music

A favorite song from your adolescence
"Visions" by Steve Wonder (From Innervisions)

A piece of music you hate to admit you like
"Who Let the Dogs Out"

A song that makes you dance
"Gotta Get Back" by Shelby Lynne

The kind of music you listen to when doing housework
"For Old Time's Sake" by The Birmingham Sunlights

The last CD you bought
Whoa, Nelly! by Nelly Furtado

The album on your shelf with the most worn "grooves"
Central Reservation by Beth Orton

4 tunes you'd include in a soundtrack of your life
"Groovin'" by Aretha Franklin
"Time to Fall In Love Again" by Faith
"Sonho Meu" by Maria Bethania and Gal Costa (on David Byrne's compilation,
Brazil Classics/Beliza Tropical)
"A House is not a Home" by Luther Vandross

Music you listen to in the car
Sheryl Crow

Music you woo with
Diana Krall, Jimmy Smith, Portishead

The instrument you studied as a child
Bassoon, Piano, Recorder

A tune you like to wallow in
"Right in Time" by Lucinda Williams

Movies, Theater, TV

The last movie or play you loved
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Actor you have a crush on
George Clooney

Favorite director
Ang Lee

Most annoying camera technique
Hand-held

Are there TV shows you grew up watching?
What didn't I watch?
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
All My Children
General Hospital
Speed Racer
Love Boat
Love American Style
Bob Newhart
Mary Tyler Moore
That Girl
The Brady bunch
Eight is Enough
My World and Welcome to It
The Patty Duke Show
Electric Factory
Zoom
Up the Down Staircase
The Monkees

Sports

Favorite on-field or on-court moment
Marvin Gaye singing the National Anthem at an NBA game

Back Home

The thing that's changed the most in the place you grew up
Fewer kids in the neighborhood; less playing outside

The career your parents wished you'd pursue - that you didn't
Father: Harvard lawyer

An unusual family tradition
Keeping Christmas decorations up until Easter

The high school clique you most wanted to be in (or most hated)
The smart clique

Describe the neighborhood you live in now
Urban but close to the city's edge. Socioeconomically, religiously, and racially integrated. Very green right now.

Pressing cultural issues in your neighborhood
Making the public schools better

Miscellany

Describe your favorite teacher
John Tomsich, Humanities, Reed College. High standards, expectations.

Name your pet peeve.
People gratuitously using their cell phones everywhere .

Items included in a meal of your comfort foods
Popcorn, ginger lemonade, pernil (in tacos with avocado, queso fresco, crema and salsa), fresh corn tamales, and sauteed chinese scallions. Crème caramel for dessert.

Your epitaph
She came, she trashpicked, she left a lot behind.

An interest of yours that might surprise people who don't know you well
That I engage in dry masonry, that I quilt, that I have tiled a floor.

A god story about your pet
I have a pound hound -- a beagle named Eureka.

In your ideal world, what are the headlines?
Bush has second thoughts about fairness of election: Resigns
President Gore makes Bradley vice-president, then resigns.