L.J. Golden – What else?

Louisville To Do List

Posted on July 29, 2010 by LJGolden

I have a bad habit of living places and failing to visit major sights. I saved St. Louis’s Arch for the last half year of college and have yet to see Cahokia Mounds. While studying abroad in Geneva, I went to two museums and never set foot in the UN (although I did have lunch at the UNHCR). I planned for a year to bike from my village in Togo to nearby waterfalls in Benin, but never did it. And the major venues, restaurants and historical sights I missed in my six months in New Orleans make up a list too embarrassing to even begin listing.

I’ve been in Louisville for almost a year now and I’ve seen the Colonel’s grave, been to a Bats game, listened to live music at Waterfront Park, eaten at Proof on Main (and been in the men’s bathroom at 21C), bet on races at Churchill Downs (no Derby, though) and picked blueberries at Huber’s. Yet there are many places I keep thinking about that could easily get pushed aside and go the way of the Beninese waterfalls.

So as Gabe and I headed out of state for our 4^th of July weekend, we made a list. I’ve added to it, taking some recommendations from Louisville Magazine’s “50 Things Every Louisvillian Should Do” (June 2010). We’ve since been to Frankfort and Lexington (despite the title of this post, the list includes things outside of Louisville), but these To Dos remain:

Kentucky's capitol (in Frankfort, in case you forgot)

- at least one distillery tour. We’d like to do the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, but I think visiting at least one distillery is a more realistic goal.

- Jefferson Memorial Forest

- Bernheim Forest - I like hiking. I’ve done zero hiking since last August.

- Falls of the Ohio – I’d like to see fossils, since I can’t see any falls.

- Mammoth Cave - According to the website, this is the world’s longest known cave system. True story: I’ve never been in a cave. Ok, that’s not a true story, but I’ve never been in a cave like this.

- Cincinnati – they have Trader Joe’s there

- the Old Seelbach Bar – F. Scott Fitzgerald drank here and featured it in The Great Gatsby. Louisville Magazine says I’m supposed to drink a Manhattan here, but I think I’ll just have the bourbon on ice.

- both the First Friday Trolley Hop and the Frankfort Avenue Trolley Hop (beware of the trolley clang if you follow this link)

- a drag show at Connection

- bike at least part of the Louisville Loop, which will one day be a connected 100-mile trail

- the Muhammad Ali Center

- the Louisville Zoo - I always have mixed feelings visiting zoos, but I’ll go to any city’s zoo at least once.

What else? The Kentucky State Fair is on the agenda for August, but am I missing something you love about the area (notice that “the area” can extend to Cincinnati)? And if any of my three readers are interested in helping an item on this list happen (Gabe has been to some places and is less interested in others), let me know. I plan on being here for a while yet, but that’s the same thing I said about the waterfalls.

Posted in Louisville, Travel | Tagged biking, bourbon, drag, Louisville, State Fair, travel, Zoo | Leave a comment

Forecastle Leftovers

Posted on July 23, 2010 by LJGolden

It has been almost two weeks since Forecastle Fest (http://forecastlefest.com) and yes, I’m only getting to it now. Not timely, I know. Good thing this isn’t a newspaper.

Forecastle was my first music festival. Actually, I just remembered that I went to Fête de la Musique in Geneva and the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 2005, but those were very different. Fête de la Musique was all over the city and I knew none of the bands performing. I went to Montreaux to see Le Tigre, and that was it, and it was indoors. I would have liked to see Tori Amos again, but I’m cheap and didn’t want to pay for more shows (or a hotel room). So Forecastle was my first, but if you’re going to picky, I’ll say it was my first American music festival.

Gabe and I chose to go on Saturday and Sunday night. Because it was World Cup weekend, we only got to Waterfront Park in the late afternoon both days. I suppose that means I didn’t get the FULL experience, but Cake, Spoon, Smashing Pumpkins (Billy Corgan), Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and the Flaming Lips were the main attractions for me. $120 for six bands I’d want to see anyway is a deal. And high school Linda would have been very excited that I saw Billy Corgan, but disappointed that I left before he finished his encore.

But two weeks later, I still have some questions.

How do you pee in a jumper? (Gabe told me to ask this of a woman wearing one. I did not and am still wondering)

Was Wayne Coyne endearingly calling us “motherfuckers”? And what was all the “Come on” mess? You come on. I came here to hear you sing.

Yes! Wayne brought the bubble.

What’s so mesmerizing about hula hoops? I could not stop watching a woman at the edge of the Smashing Pumpkins crowd spastically hula hoop. While smoking. And drinking a beer. Impressive.

What was up with the water situation? I understand prohibiting people from bringing in their own liquids. I do not want to be near the guy who snuck in a Smirnoff-filled Nalgene. But there were two water fountains in the park, or many vendors with $3.00 water for those who don’t do lines. $3.00 water creates lots of plastic for your recycling bins. Recycling is great, but how about just cutting back on the plastic by providing a different source of free water? That meshes much better with the environmentally-themed area.

Perhaps they needed more bottles for this sculpture.

How does anyone music-fest for a whole weekend? We were only at Waterfront Park for about eight hours each day, and I just wanted to crawl away for a nap between bands. So tell me, nonexistent readers – how do you Bonaroo people do it?

Finally, where do I get a confetti cannon? I want one for my birthday.

Posted in Louisville | Tagged Forecastle, Geneva, Louisville, music | Leave a comment

The Ramsi’s Challenge: Fish Tacos

Posted on July 11, 2010 by LJGolden

It’s been three months since my last Ramsi’s Challenge update, although we ate there once in June and I never wrote about it. I had the basil salmon sandwich, which I don’t remember having any strong feelings about one way or the other. It’s been too long to write about it now, so it will probably never get its own post – but know that I ate it.

This morning, at 1:00, we walked to Ramsi’s after Dragon King’s Daughter crushed our post-Forecastle Festival sushi dreams with their midnight closing (midnight Thurs- Sat. Not 2. Ever). Still thinking of sushi, Gabe and I both ordered the fish tacos: three fried fish fillets in corn tortillas, served with mashed avocado, pico de gallo, sour cream, what the menu describes as “Napa lettuce koolsla” (I thought it was just cabbage, but in retrospect, that was probably responsible for the juice in the taco), Mexican rice and Ramsi’s Cuban black beans (black beans in queso).

For around $15, this is a fair amount of food. I started with the black beans, which got me really excited about the rest of the plate. I don’t usually like queso, but those beans were awesome. I’d eat a whole bowl. The tacos were wonderful, the fish soft and lightly fried, with the Napa lettuce koolsla (or whatever) adding a pleasant crunch. I spread the avocado on the tacos (delicious) but left the sour cream on the side. Only the Mexican rice disappointed, but I’m attributing its dryness to the fact that it was 1 in the morning. I could also attribute the awesomeness of the meal to how hungry I was (I ate all three tacos. Gabe did not), but all the friends and family who’ve had the fish tacos have praised them. So I recommend.

Posted in Food | Tagged Ramsi's | Leave a comment

Me and the World Cup*

Posted on June 22, 2010 by LJGolden

I’m a fair-weather sports fan.

Generally, I agree with a Ghanaian driver I met who, when asked if he was going to watch or attend a 2008 Cup of Nations game, said something along the lines of, “Why would I watch these overpaid men who don’t care about me when I could be working and making money?” That makes sense. Yes, athletes entertain us, but COME ON, we can all name ten underpaid professions that provide much more useful services to society, who, if caught committing a crime would face a much stricter sentence than any big name athlete. And while I could complain about the lack of attention paid to women’s sports, I can’t name a single time I’ve watched any professional women’s game in anything, unless you count track and field.

But despite these holier-than-thou notions, I get into sports – sometimes. I don’t care about football – unless the New Orleans Saints are playing, and that penchant comes from only six months of living there (but years of visits). Even then, I won’t necessarily watch a game and always need things re-explained. I used to watch hockey – sometime in the ‘90s when we lived in Dallas and the Stars were in the Stanley Cup. I can’t be bothered with baseball and basketball unless you invite me to a live game, or to a televised game in a venue serving beer. And I rarely follow soccer – unless it’s World Cup time.

I love the World Cup.

I will watch any World Cup game. Cameroon and Denmark? Yes (even though we missed that one). South Africa and Mexico? Whole thing. North Korea and Monaco? Doesn’t exist, but if it did, I’d watch.

I can remember watching every World Cup since 1994 (I was six in 1990. I do not remember that World Cup). Because my mother is Swiss, we spent most summers visiting my grandparents and extended family. This means that I was in Switzerland for most of my World Cup watching. I remember when Italy lost to… someone (oh, Brazil, of course) in 1994, mainly because my then nine-year-old cousin exploded in irrational, kicking-chairs-and-shouting anger. In 1998, we watched the game at a restaurant by a lake in Ticino, the Italian part of Switzerland, where we spent a week with my uncle and his family (not the father of the angry cousin). I remember France won in France, but I only really remember this because

1. My friend’s dad got to attend the final and

2. I thought one of the French players was cute.

In 2002, I happened to be in London when England beat Denmark, and I climbed in a fountain at Trafalgar Square with some drunk fans (I’m happy you’re happy! Yay, England!). We watched the final at the home of different, mellower cousins – Germany and Brazil.

In 2006, I hit my World Cup high point and actually got to go to a game with my brother and dad – the US vs. Ghana in Nuremburg.

My brother and I making “We’re at the World Cup” faces.

Ghanaian team warming up.

I ended up hoping Ghana would win (they did) because the American fans around us put on a fantastic display of poor sportsmanship and verbally abused the opposing team’s fans. I’m a bad U.S. fan when it comes to the World Cup anyway. I feel like we win at everything, forever. Plus, a U.S. World Cup win wouldn’t mean nearly as much to our country as it would to practically every other country’s people. And, I’m a sucker for the underdog (as a child, I sat at a Mavericks game hoping the other team would pull through because they had so few fans cheering for them). And, I always want Switzerland to do well, because it’s so unlikely that they will. So yes… I’m a bad American when it comes to cheering for our team in the World Cup.

Back to 2006, where I watched Switzerland lose their third game – in a shoot-out, ugh – from a family friend’s apartment, the night before I headed back to St. Louis. We watched the final in a Mexican restaurant, and all I really remember is the outrageous head-butt (didn’t see it? Want to see it again?).

And now, here we are, World Cup 2010 in Louisville, Kentucky. I like the challenge of finding places to watch World Cup games in the States, but it’s gotten much easier with improved technology. I stream games on Univision, usually listening to the announcer through headphones while doing other things, then tuning in when he gets excited. The past two Sundays, Gabe and I have watched the afternoon game at Molly’s, and we watch the morning games at home, if possible. It’s more fun to watch surrounded by other people. Part of the reason I love watching the World Cup is knowing that all around the world, from San Antonio, Texas to Sagbiebou, Togo, people are watching and hoping for a win. Even if it’s not their country’s win.

At this point, I don’t care who wins. I love that Switzerland beat Spain, and I’d love it more if they could get into the next round (not looking good). I’m hoping for any African team to advance. Despite a new Brazilian connection, I will probably cheer for any team that faces them, since Brazil has won a gajillion (five) World Cups. There’s only a problem if it’s the U.S. and Brazil.

Yet with all the following and watching, I’ve only managed to watch two whole games intently. And I have still yet to see a close-up of anyone tooting a vuvuzela.

*I realize that is grammatically incorrect. I don’t care.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Germany, Ghana, Louisville, soccer/football, Switzerland, World Cup | 2 Comments

365 Photo Project

Posted on June 14, 2010 by LJGolden

Gabe started this project on January 1st. After watching him update his for the last six months, I decided I should try it again. Plus, it’s summer and I’m more likely to be outside and stop to photograph than I was in winter. I lasted about three days at the beginning of the year, and then I just quit. My hope is that I’ll get really into the project now and will become dedicated enough to where a little snow and freezing temperatures won’t defeat me.

I picked June 1st as my start date — half-way through. I’ve managed to produce 13 photos, which you can see on my Flickr page (or, er… the photography page right here on the blog). Here are my favorites so far.

June 6, 2010 – The splash park at Shelby Park. It’s not perfect, but it’s mostly what I was going for.

Hook and Guido are two homeless guys who hang out by the clinic regularly. I can almost count on seeing Guido on Tuesday mornings, but he avoids it on Saturday because the police are there.

Leave comments, share with your friends, and if you have any recommendations for how to make this blog look better, leave it in the comments or email me at ljgolden [at] gmail.com, because I hate this theme. I’m trying to decide whether I should go with a new, more photo-friendly, free theme or if I should invest in something like Thesis… or pay someone to do this for me.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 365project, Louisville, photography | Leave a comment

A Post Mostly About a Bike Adventure

Posted on May 31, 2010 by LJGolden

Is it because it’s been so long since I’ve written a real post that I had 34 spam comments to delete?

I blame my absence on my own lack of self-discipline… and TV. It started around the same time we acquired our trial month of Netflix, when I decided it would be a good and necessary thing to catch up on Weeds, Togo-style. That means watching as much of a season of a show as you can handle. We watched two seasons between that Saturday night and Thursday. Then we watched Up. Then I had to catch up on Glee and Gray’s Anatomy and watch some season finales. But I’ll save my TV… binge (not an addiction! I can stop ANYTIME) for a later post.

While I lived in Togo, I decided I wouldn’t buy a car upon returning to the States unless absolutely necessary. I’ve managed to get around in Louisville since October, largely thanks to rides from Gabe and a crowd of other generous car owners (I just counted 20 people who have driven me somewhere in this town – basically everyone I know. Thank you, thank you, thank you). But I’ve also used the bus with some success, and now that I’ve got my bike and it’s not freezing, I’m feeling independently mobile. I’m not ready to bike across the country yet, but I’m getting around.

On Thursday, I biked about 12 miles to four different locations around Louisville reprogramming the speed dial on dual handset interpreting phones. Speed-dial is a simple thing, and you’d think the staff at these sites could follow emailed directions and fix the phones themselves. In the end, it was probably easier for me to spend a morning doing it myself than fielding questions over the phone for the next three weeks (of course, most of the people using the phones just dialed the number anyway, and the final, farthest location didn’t even have a phone).

My main biking concern is traffic (and showing up a sweaty mess). I biked in Lomé, Togo’s capital, where traffic consists of overloaded bush taxis, cars, and a high concentration of motorcycles and bikes zipping around laneless streets and unpaved roads. Yet American traffic intimidates me more. I can’t explain it.

To prepare for my trek around town, I first mapped out my route on Google maps, then on the Bike Louisville’s Ride the City program (I love the efforts the city government has made to encourage biking), which suggests safer routes for bikers. At first I scoffed at the recommended blue zig-zag, but I copied down the directions, with an alternate, more direct route in case I got lost or fed up. Because I didn’t want to lug a backpack around, I used a smaller shoulder bag. It had room for a Nalgene bottle. I left my camera at home. By 9:20, I regretted this.

The first site I visited was close to my home and easy to reach. After I finished their phones, I took a quick bathroom break in a staff-only bathroom. This was when I wished I had a camera, because on the wall was this sign:

No bowel movements in this bathroom due to poor ventilation.

It went on to explain that you should use other bathrooms if this sign applied to you and what you needed to do. It was a small bathroom.

The directions to the second site included so many rights and lefts after I crossed the busiest street that I made up my own path and arrived safely anyway. I ran into the Gray Street Farmers’ Market, which I might have seen signs for if I still worked downtown. It happens every Thursday from 11 AM to 3 PM on the 400 block of East Gray Street. I didn’t have any cash or time to peruse, but I noticed a soap vendor and a couple guys with overalls and beards. Is that Mormon, Mennonite or Amish?

My third stop involved even more turns than the second, but I managed to follow these directions almost perfectly, though I had to stop once to check my sheet (the beauty of the Ride the City directions is that it actually sent me on roads almost completely void of cars). From there I had the longest ride to the final site, which took me down roads like Esquire Alley (spelled “aly” in the directions, but definitely “alley” on the street sign). I enjoyed biking down the side streets that I would ordinarily never visit. I found the Portland Museum, which I read about in Louisville’s alt-weekly, the Leo. I saw a fruit and vegetable stand I would have liked to explore (northeast corner of North 22nd and Bank Streets). I will probably never visit these places, but I like knowing they’re there and that I can bike to them if I should so please.

Furthermore, I’m happy to know about Esquire Alley and Stoneware Alley, which I used again as a shortcut from my Saturday morning post-clinic breakfast spot to the bank. I’d wondered for months if there was a back way out of that block, and thanks to Ride the City, I found it. I’m looking forward to many more roundabout routes using this mapping tool. Next time, the camera comes with.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged biking, farmers' market, Louisville, Togo | 2 Comments

One Derby Photo

Posted on May 7, 2010 by LJGolden

A bartender at Molly Malone’s cheers for a horse.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Kentucky Derby | Leave a comment

Help Kentucky A-Fund

Posted on April 30, 2010 by LJGolden

I know, I know, last week I said I try to spread out my asking People of the Internet for favors and money, and now it’s this week and I’m back. I’ll give it at least a two-week break after this, especially since this request requires donations.

The Kentucky A-Fund provides financial assistance to low-income women seeking abortions. A first-trimester abortion in Kentucky costs $650. That would be a significant amount of money for me, and I work full-time and only have to take care of myself. According to the Gutmacher Institute, 57% of women seeking abortions are “economically disadvantaged.” There are two cities in Kentucky where a woman can obtain an abortion, Lexington and Louisville, and only Louisville’s clinic is open five days a week. So for women living in rural areas, add travel, and possibly lodging, to the cost of the procedure. Don’t forget the recession.

The A-Fund pledges up to $100 towards the cost of an abortion and also helps with travel or lodging costs for women driving in from out of town. Last year, the A-Fund pledged money to about 250 individuals. This year, with two months left in their fiscal year, the organization has helped more than 550 individuals and continues receiving calls for assistance. According to Aundria Radmacher, a member of the A-Fund board of directors, the organization has never seen such a need. And they’re asking for help to meet that need.

The biggest day for anti-choice protesters at Louisville’s EMW Clinic is the Saturday before Mother’s Day. A-Fund, with the help of Wenches and clinic escorts, is organizing a Pledge-a-Picketer fundraiser. You pledge a certain amount per protester, and on Saturday, May 8, we will count the number of anti-choice protesters outside the clinic. Every protester earns the A-Fund money.

Please let me know if you’re interested in pledging. If you’re considering pledging per protester, keep in mind that as many as 500 have crowded the sidewalk in the past. For more information, visit the KY Abortion Access Project’s, where you can donate by Paypal.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged abortion, escorting, Kentucky A-Fund, Louisville, reproductive health rights | Leave a comment

To Derby, or Not to Derby?

Posted on April 28, 2010 by LJGolden

The Kentucky Derby is this Saturday. Up until last night, I was set in my plans to sleep in on Saturday and go about my day as if it were any other Saturday (except without my partner in crime, who WOULD be at Derby, reporting). I planned to emerge in the evening and see if any hooligans or revelers were out, maybe take some pictures.

Then I read Loueyville’s Derby post, and now I’m interested in going. I guess I’ve always been interested, and since I never know where I’ll be in a year, I should go now, right? I can pay $40, hang out around the track, maybe do a tour of the infield, which sounds like Bourbon Street in full Mardi Gras madness (maybe worse?), have a drink, take photos of the hats. I should go, right?

Here’s the one thing that’s making me hesitate: I’m allergic to horses. Not like how I’m allergic to cats, which just makes it slightly hard to breathe. I’m allergic to horses to where my eyes water uncontrollably and I wheeze. One summer in Switzerland, I attended a cousin’s wedding, and we rode in horse-drawn carriages from the church to the wedding reception. We stopped once in a field to take pictures. By the next stop, a drinking and toasting stop, someone thought they should lend me their inhaler (which helped), and then the balloon man drove me to the rest of the way to the reception. In 2003, I went to an friend’s amateur bull-riding competition. We sat in a barn in bleachers around the bull-riding ring. Somewhere, there was a horse (I think it was on our side of the ring). I had go for a walk outside before the night ended. So I’m not sure about a whole day around horses.

Still, it’s all part of the experience, no? And I have some Zyrtec, which I have not tried out against the horse allergy, which itself has not really been put to the test by a horse since 2003. So I could take a pill, pack some Benadryl (and scope out a corner to crash in when that kicks in) and go to my first, and possibly last, Kentucky Derby. Maybe I could even see Johnny Weir (probably not).

I’m leaning towards going. This is becoming a “So I Can Say I Did It” challenge for me.

What do you think? Would you go to a famous event knowing you might be miserable there?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Kentucky Derby, Louisville | Leave a comment