You're a Doll!

I think I'm going to make Tuesdays doll day if enough of you are interested in my collection.

When I worked in the ORU (organized research unit), we were often the university "home" for scholars who came to study at the local gay and lesbian archives. One time we hosted a Fulbright Scholar from Azerbaijan who needed a SSN so the Fulbright people could pay him. I started to explain where he would have to go on public transportation to get to the government office that could help him, and then I just thought, "fuck it, I can take him." So I did. He liked me because I could pronounce his name without apologizing. (See, those two years of Russian came in handy!) Also, I could say Azerbaijan, which is really not that hard to do.

The next day, he brought me this doll. She's about 6" and is "cheap and cheerful," if you can say that about a doll. Her value is in the relationship and memory. Frankly, the fact that he was a straight psychiatrist working to remove the "crazy" from homosexuality in Azerbaijan was enough thanks for me. I call her Zumrud, an Azeri* name meaning emerald.

And, I bring you a cockeyed photo of my stand up finish of my cousin's son's birth sampler. For the longest time, all I had to do was sew the front to the rest of the cube and glue on the cording. I finally did it this weekend. Now to mail...

* I think he was of Russian, rather than Azeri, descent.