cheese festival : part I
Prior to moving to Seattle, when asked, I would say that I was buying some goats and would make my living as a cheese maker. Little did I know if I had pursued this line of work I would have had a lot of competition. This, I think, is one of the absolute best parts of living in Seattle. I love that my pusher is the Port Madison goat cheese guy and that if I miss him Sunday at the farmers’ market, I can pick up a fix at my grocery store.
AND that, hello, he’s sitting right in front of me here in the Seattle Art Museum main auditorium to watch a film about Sister Noella Marcellino as part of Seattle’s 3rd annual Cheese Festival [scf]. The nice lady sitting next to me was also a budding goat cheeser having just bought some kids for her place. I was surrounded by genius.
This cheese festival is the only one of its kind in the nation as far as the sister is aware, but as she reminds us she is a cloistered nun and shouldn’t really use her as an event guide.
I have to say that the documentary about Sister Noella is fascinating. Who would have thought the life of a cloistered nun who studies microbiology would be? Of course, add that it’s cheese and its fungus and…okay, yeah, that still doesn’t sound that interesting. But it is and I’m strangely happy to know more about fungus and I’m very glad I attended.
Of course with all the talk of fungus and cheese diversity there had to be that one person who asked the fine nun whether her science study conflicted with her bible study. How embarrassing. She gave an excellent answer which centered on how creation - that of cheese and the natural world and how science explores and illuminates that only reinforces her spirituality. So take that liberal asshole. Oh just kidding about that last part. I have to admit that while I cringed when he asked, I already had written that same question in my notebook. But as a society matron I would never have been so gauche as to ask.
All in all, I feel educated and I feel happy to live in a town whose priorities include shipping a very nice, very smart nun from a (did I mention) cloistered, Benedictine abbey in Connecticut to teach us Philistines about cheese making as well as hosting an equally aged and equally sold out festival of amateur porn [stranger].
Thank you, Sister Noella.
Thank you, Seattle.
Cheese festival, we’ll see each other later.
Hump!, see you in the fall.
For those who didn’t make the film, it is available on Netflix or you could buy it through Amazon [$].
Related posts:
- Triple the Cheese, Triple the Pleasure
- Cheese, glorious, cheese
- Yet another film festival
- siff: my festival in graph format
- Science fiction short film festival 2007
