Best of 2023...

31 December 2023: Last night, I was sitting here thinking, "hmm, wonder where Jo is..." Right as I finished the thought, she jumped up out of nowhere (making that little meow she makes when she's excited) and I just burst out laughing. 

She is an absolute chaos agent. Still does parkour as she moves through spaces. Still chomps on whatever she wants to. Still steals all kinds of stuff. Still moves (small) furniture around through sheer will. She is also pure joy and life. Every night when I take my bath, she comes in and drops either a ball of paper (her favorite toy, still) or a toy mouse on the floor and then settles in on a towel on the ground. I am one of her favorite things (along with balled up paper) and that fills me with such delight.  

Jo has been the best gift to me (and Veronica, though she wouldn't admit it) in 2023. It was a hard, long year, but this little one is the undisputed and consistent bright spot. It will be a melancholy New Year's Eve, I think, but she and Veronica will make it sweeter.

"True Blue"

30 December 2023: Been waking up the past few mornings feeling stressed and uneasy about the work I need to get done, including this 102 syllabus. Today, before I got out of bed, I told myself, "You are going to power through that syllabus today and then it will be done." (Thinking back to this post already!) So, I got up and got to work on the stuff on my list. 

Then I hit Sheetz and heard "True Blue" playing. My goodness, do I love this song. Always have. Picture me walking through the store, singing quietly to myself, maybe even doing the tiniest bit of barely-detectable dancing. Instant mood-lifter/motivator. 

Here we go, Saturday Syllabizing (and chore doin')! Need a big old burst of productivity so I can take a break at 1:00 for the women's b-ball game. 

Gifts with Jane

29 December 2023: One of the highlights of every holiday season is getting together with Jane to exchange gifts and just hang out for awhile. We talk about big ideas and all the serious stuff, but laugh our heads off, too. Never fails to hit the spot.

Vibe Check

28 December 2023: "Thank you, Past Self, for taking care of Future Me." Love this bit of insight from Zach Stafford on this week's Vibe Check (ep. 75), especially on a morning when I powered through a task I did not want to do. But man, am I glad and proud that it's done. 

Vibe Check has been such a welcome addition to my podcast rotation. Saeed, Zach, and Sam always make me think, feel, and smile. I love their voices, their friendship, and their generosity towards themselves, each other, and the world. Their energy is the energy I want to carry into 2024. 

102 syllabizing...

27 December 2023: Spent some time today working on a new version of my ENGL 102 syllabus. For a bunch of reasons (including having course release time), I haven't taught ENGL 102 in eight years. A more or less complete rewrite is in order and this requires, as I knew it would, quite a bit of work and planning. Still, I am excited to get back to teaching this course (two sections, in fact). There is so much that is energizing about teaching first-year writing--the student population, the way you know it really matters.

So, all of the work and the stress/anziety that I am feeling about this syllabus is worth it. 

"Returns"

26 December 2023: Listened to Annie Ernaux's "Returns" on my walk today and could believe how...appropriate it felt. My goodness. 

The 10K streak also hit four years today, which is pretty darn...something?

Home again...

25 December 2023: 

[Catch-up post...]

For complicated reasons, I came home earlier than planned. The moment I walked in the door, I was reminded of the biggest gift of 2023: little Jo. She just brings so much love and laughter to my life. She settled right next to me when I fell asleep and was there with me when I woke up this morning. 

Christmas Eve 2023

24 December 2023: 

[Catch-up post...]

A couple of pictures from the nicest parts of the day...

"The Bleakening"

23 December 2023:

[Catch-up post]

Made to NY in pretty good time on Saturday. That evening, I was thrilled to introduce Krista and Isla to Bob's Burgers, specifically to "The Bleakening." 

Packing obstacle...

22 December 2023: I had just finished cleaning all of a certain orange cat's hair off of this suitcase. Turned around...

Three in December/Twelve in the Fall

21 December 2023: Finished my twelfth entry this fall (basically, September-December). Finished it nine days early, in fact. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to pull off three entries a month, but it feels good to have done it. 

This leaves twelve more entries total, though maybe another one or two will pop up at some point. (The one I just finished, on Wynema, only got on my list a month ago.) And next semester will be more demanding in some ways, with two sections of ENGL 102. I am still going to aim for three a month, getting me "done" by May 1. All the more reason to get started on the next one right away...

But right now I am feeling pretty good about where I am. 

Furry gangsters...

20 December 2023: Came across this band of furry gangsters on my walk today. There are actually many more members of this group and I always wave to them (each one) when I pass them. There's actually another all black one just to the right and if you look way into the distance, you can see another orange one stretched under a tree. Anyway, imagine my delight when--for the first time ever--two of them let me get some pets in.  

Pre-Christmas Buddy Lunch

19 December 2023: It was an absolute delight to have lunch with Hannah today. We exchanged Christmas gifts and then went to Kome and just talked and talked. There are some tough days ahead, but I know that for me, this friendship helps sustain me through them. And I am doing my best to make sure that's mutual. 

"Those Who Carry Us"

18 December 2023: Finally listened to Silas House's wonderful poem, read aloud at the Kentucky Governor's inauguration. Like all things Silas writes, it's specific and universal and celebrates humanity while making us want to be even better.

Sunday things...

17 December 2023: I know I just did this kind of post on Friday, but today had a lot of good things worth remembering:

1) On our way to Winchester (more about that in a bit), Amy and I stopped at the new Tudor's Biscuit World in Inwood. It was packed but the line moved quick enough considering and the food was delicious, of course.

2) We saw Waitress (the filmed stage version with Sara Bareilles), which was so lovely. I had seen a stage version at the National Theater with Jane and it was great, but hearing Sara sing the song--and getting a close up view of the actors--was terrific. 

3) After, we did some Christmas shopping and I crossed a few more things off my list.

4) At one store, a young woman sort of did a double-take and said, "You were my teacher, I think?" She looked familiar and when she said her name, I absolutely remembered her. I won't put in writing here the really kind thing she told me about my class, but after we talked and I walked away, I felt myself get teared up over how amazingly lucky I am to get to do what I do and get to hear things like that. She's a Spanish teacher now, which also makes me happy. 

Came home, wrapped some gifts, and am chilling for a bit with Jo and Veronica. New Christmas Bob's Burgers tonight and then probably and then probably an early bedtime. For a very dark, foggy, and rainy day, there was a lot of metaphorical sunlight shining through. 

Big sister, little sister...

16 December 2023: Kind of cheat post, since I took the pictures last night, but they have been making me smile all day today.

Anyway, last night I wanted to snap a cute picture of Veronica's habit (year after year) of sitting and looking at the tree. Got it, along with a pretty spot-on depiction of what it's like to live with a little sister. Veronica's face in that second photo kills me. 

Friday things...

15 December 2023: Gonna do a little list for this post...

1) Fall 2024 course evaluations got released today. I never really worry about these until the moment before I look at them and then I think to myself, "Is this the semester where it all turns? Where I am revealed to be an imposter?" Well, the "not-an-imposter" streak continues, at least for another semester, because they were really lovely.

2) Spent a big part of today working on the syllabus for my Dickinson seminar. That also meant spending time thinking about the last time I taught it--that strange, tough semester that was Fall 2020. That course, that material, and that group of students turned out to be one of the most important teaching, sustaining, and meaningful experiences of my life. Eager to give it another go.

3) Good reviews and the realization that man who made Paddington 2 also made it were enough to persuade me to see Wonka. And you know what? It was delightful. Very sweet and fun.

4) Just watched Susan Lucci win a lifetime acheivement award at the Daytime Emmys and man, do I miss my soaps. They really did help form me.  

The Secret Garden

14 December 2023: Hit a big old writer's block today (to twist the metaphor a bit) and was just stuck. Decided to switch my music to an album that served me well in similar situations in the past, especially in grad school days: the original cast recording of The Secret Garden. And sure enough, it still works. Powered through that block, took my walk, put it back on, and kept going. Finished a draft of my next entry just before the BOG meeting this afternoon. 

Mare of Easttown

13 December 2023: I saw Dream Scenario last week and really didn't like it (though I am glad I saw it). What I did like--loved, even--about it was Julianne Nicholson's performance. That was enough to solidify my desire to rewatch Mare of Easttown, remembering how superb she and Kate Winslet were in it. So, I've been rewatching it this week. (Currently on episode 6 of 7 as I write this.) It's as good as I remember, but like with any rewatch, different elements register either for the first time or in new ways.

Sitting here tonight, I am so wrenched by its straightforward and unblinking look at mental illness and addiction--and the slow, sometimes quiet agony of those left behind after a suicide. I feel like I can't put in writing my thoughts about a particular scene that has just hit me like a punch in the gut. It's so obvious that it's almost dumb to write it, but here it is: this ache never really goes away. 

Grateful for works of art that honor the memories of those we've lost and those who have endured, and that make us feel less alone. 

Some good things...

12 December 2023: Today's "in-between" day has been a pretty good one. Some reasons why:

• Started off the day with a mammogram. Look, that's not fun, but I am grateful for insurance, good providers, and science. And seriously: the young woman who did ran the machine, etc. was really sweet and kind.
• Treated myself to a post-mammogram biscuit from the just-opened Tudor's Biscuit World in Inwood. A bit out of the way (15 minutes from the medical center), but 100% worth it.
• Sped through (in a good way!) the reading on my to-do list for my next entry. Mostly through with the notes. Should finish them soon.
• With Amy, Carrie, and Heidi D., I watched the women's basketball team play an afternoon game.
• And the women crushed it. It's terrific to see them pull out a win.

These in-between days...

11 December 2023: First "in-between" day of the break. These are sometimes hard for me, rhythm-wise and mood-wise. Today, though, felt more normal than not; spent most of the day on campus. Had a couple of meetings and then read, read, read, took lots of notes, and gathered sources for my next entry. Before I knew it, it was nearly 6:30. 

I think it might be even harder to "relax" this break since I am starting to (barely, barely, barely) see the outline of complete book draft and want to keep this pace up. Moreover, I have a new ENGL 102 course to prep, along with revamping the Dickinson seminar. 

Just a lot on my mind, work-wise, pulling me in lots of different ways. 

On top of all of that, my sleep has been off for weeks now. I wake up at least once a night (sometimes twice) at 2:00 or 4:00. And I am wide awake. It's strange and kind of hard. 

Anyway, it seems to me that the best strategy for all of the above is keeping a steady routine as much as I can. We'll see how it goes. 

Godzilla Minus One

10 December 2023: I did not expect to enjoy Godzilla Minus One as much as I did--or to find it as moving as I did. It really impressed the heck out of me. 

Chugging along...

9 December 2023: Kind of pleased with myself for finishing my Zitkala-Ša entry today (one day ahead of schedule) and staying right on track to complete twelve entries this semester. Also making the day sweet, I managed to finish it after a lovely mid-day break to have brunch with friends and do a bit of Christmas shopping on German Street. 

Fall 2023 Grading: DONE!

8 December 2023: Just hit "submit" on the last set of grades. Cue some holiday chair-dancing!

The kid has a point...

7 December 2023: Chuckled at a student's final exam "mini essay" about "A Rose for Emily." The student quotes this line: "She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue." Then the student wries, "When I first read this, all I could think of was the word 'rude.'" 

"Christmas Scandal"

6 December 2023: Working late into the evening after being on campus for eleven hours calls for TV comfort food. Tonight Parks and Rec's season two episode, "Christmas Scandal" is hitting the spot. 

One year...

5 December 2023: One year without my GrayBaby. Some moments from that day are so vivid and others are like a fog. I still miss him and wish he was still here, but remain grateful for all the sweet time I had with him. I am also grateful for the bundle of love and mischief that is Jo. And for the secretly-sweet BabyCat who owns more of my heart than I ever could have expected. 

If I try to write more, I'll end up crying a bit and that will give me headache and I've still got too much to do. So, it's just enough to say that I love him and I miss him.

Midnight Breakfast!

4 December 2023: This is kind of a cheat since the picture was taken on December 3, but since Midnight Breakfast kept me out until early this morning, I am counting the event as the thing I want to post about today. I had a fantastic time working the hot cocoa station with Hannah. I was joking that I was a "cocoa concierge," and basically spent my time encouraging students and hyping their cocoa creations. Also always a good time when I get to hang out with the amazing Coach Ford. 

Mel (always "Coach Ford" to me), me, and Hannah. I don't like most pictures of myself, but darn it if don't always love my "Midnight Breakfast" smiles.

I will say that I was wiped out most of today but strangely resilient. I think that's what Midnight Breakfast does to you. You pay a price the next day (especially when you don't sleep well and have to be back on campus super-early), but it's so freaking worth it. 

New tree...

3 December 2023: I didn't put up a tree last year because I thought I might have Wesley through the holiday season and a tree wouldn't have been practical (for complicated reasons). And then he died just a couple of days after I made that decision and it was just too sad to think about putting it up. 

This year, I wanted to get back to normal, but also remembered that the old tree's lights were acting up and making me a bit nervous. So I got a new one. It's not as full or nice as the old one and I miss the LED lights, but it's good enough and looks pretty. So far, Jo has been Level 4 of "naughty," but I imagine there will be some escalation. 

Holiday spirit settling in...

2 December 2023: Festive and busy day today. Started off with a bit of grading and then the Shepherdstown Christmas Parade--always so much fun. Then we help a great NWP event for the community ("How to Write a Christmas Movie" with Brian Ruberry). Then home for chores, putting up the Christmas lights, and a good walk. I am wiped out, but in a pretty good way. 

Jo's First Advent Calendar...

1 December 2023: On Thanksgiving, Erin, Eric, and the girls gave Jo and Veronica a Trader Joe's advent calendar. I give the girls a Lego calendar every year and today Erin sent me a picture of Isla opening the first door. I felt it was only right to reciprocate. (I did save a treat for Veronica, who had gone upstairs.)

Proud of this girl...

30 November 2023:

Annual vet visit accomplished. I had budgeted soooo much time to catch her and she basically...didn't run? She sensed what was up and just stopped on her little mat, meowed mournfully, and let me grab her. She yelled the whole way there and back, but behaved just fine when we were there, got a good report, and we were out of there just after 8:00 (for what was an 8:00 appointment—got there early because there was no chasing involved). 

The doctor did say--like they say every year--that her heart was really racing and she clearly wasn't happy. I was like, "same!" But everything looks good. 

When I let her out of the carrier, I said, "all done until next year, God willing!" 

The slightest nod...

29 November 2023: I love those moments in class when a student gives you the slightest nod as you articulate a point and--given everything you know about that student (their background, the way they think)--you know that nod means something big. It happened today in my Bible as Literature class as I stumbled my way through some thoughts about the book of Revelation. That nod means that they are thinking the mess of ideas is hard and tentative and deeply felt. Just such a cool thing to see play out. 

"I certainly like this job you have given me..."

28 November 2023: I am working on my next entry and really loved this fun piece by Cari Carpenter, about (in part) the investigation Zitkala-Ša and a friend, Charlotte Jones, conducted into claims by “Princess Chiquilla,” who claimed Indian ancestry.

Here’s a great part (everything in color is directly quoted from the article): In a letter, Zitkala-Ša gives “ominous warnings about the mission's potential danger. Still we have to go on trying to show that the majority, a large majority of our race is morally clean and it is well to find out the "fakers," perhaps they are not real Indians. That sometimes happens. Then, knowing them, we need never be misled by anything they attempt to do. Be very cautious,—say nothing on this matter for publication. Just quitely [sic] secure information, but do not attempt to see them alone, always have a good friend with you.

Jones's response indicates her delight in this task: ‘I certainly like this job you have given me. One of my chief literary dissipations is to read good detective stories, and now I feel almost as if I were acting one’” (Carpenter 146).

Work Cited

Carpenter, Cari. “Detecting Indianness: Gertrude Bonnin’s Investigation of Native American Identity.” The Wicazo Sa Review, vol. 20, no. 1, 2005, pp. 139–59. JSTOR.

Last week of classes...

27 November 2023:  Here we are--both at long last and all of the sudden. My students seem tired already, even after a week of break. I feel them on that; slept badly last night and dragging a bit already. But at the same time, what I tell them is true: we've got this. One more week of classes, then one week of exams, then break.

Saltburn

26 November 2023: My goodness, what a wickedly fun movie Saltburn is! A heck of a way to wrap up Thanksgiving Break--along with a fun book club meeting after.  

The series continues...

25 November 2023: Since it's not just Netflix properties anymore, so we'll have to change the name to "Veronica as Streaming Properties..."

Three in November...

24 November 2023: Pounded out my entry on Jane Johnston Schoolcraft today, which means (with about a week to spare) that I wrote three entries in November. So far, still on track to complete twelve entries from September through December. 

Thanksgiving 2023

23 November 2023:Some pictures from Thanksgiving at the McNett house.

With Krista and my silly veggie turkey.

Doing the "mashed potato" at dinner.

The chefs with their work.

Art with Isla.

Just hanging with two of my favorite people.

Getting in the spirit...

22 November 2023: 

Also a good reminder that we are about 8 days from me diving into the Christmas episodes...

Home opener...

21 November 2023: Got to watch the women's basketball home opener this afternoon. They didn't win, but it was a close (if messy). I still had a great time and it's fun to get a first look at the new players. I see some potential there! 

Three hours at DQ...

20 November 2023: Met Hannah for dinner at Dairy Queen just after 5:00 this evening and before we knew it, it was 8:00. It was pretty dead in there, but when we realized how long we had been there, I said to her, "Do you think the kids at the counter think we died?" Anyway, it says so much about our friendship that three hours can fly by and I still feel like we have more to talk about. What a blessing this friendship has been in my life. 

Autumn weekend walk...

19 November 2023:

Things that made me happy on my walk through my neighborhood, in order of appearance, on a truly beautiful autumn day:

1. A very cute family raking leaves. This family is consistently cute, but it was off the charts today: the oldest boy was actually working next to his dad. The younger boy had a toy rake and was “helping” clean out a flowerbed. The baby girl—old enough to sit up, but not to crawl too far—sat on her bum and played with a few leaves. Top-notch cuteness.
2. A dad and his Taylor-Swift-shirt-clad daughter tossing a football. Casual, not too far apart, not too dramatic. Just having fun.  
3. My friends’ boys, outside their house, playing on a skateboard. These kids (there are three total—two boys and a girl) are terrific, but I am always so delighted when they wave at or talk to me when I walk by. I feel like I don’t have enough little kids in my life these days, so I am grateful for their friendliness. 
4. Three cats outside a house whose owners feed a big group of ferals (a calico, a solid black, and an orange tabby) basking in the sun—laying, rolling, just loving it. 

Take Care of Maya

18 November 2023: My goodness, this documentary! Just found myself crying watching it. What a nightmare of a story. Not the most uplifting viewing for the first day of break, but I am glad to have watched it. 

Made it...

17 November 2023: So relieved to have made it to Thanksgiving Break. It's been a heck of semester and I feel like I was white-knuckling it the past couple of weeks. I've told people I've felt like I am landing a plan with the landing gear not working and the thing is sparking and flaming, but darn it, it's landing. 

I am looking forward to zero obligations until Thursday--and that's a pleasant obligation (Thanksgiving with Erin and her family). Lots of work to get done, but on my own schedule, with time for resting built in, too. 

"something to do in the world..."

16 November 2023: Just finished my Jewett entry and cracked the 120K-word count barrier, both of which feel pretty darn good. I am a tiny bit bummed not to have found a place to include this excerpt from an 1873 letter that Jewett, then a young writer, penned to Hoarce E. Scudder: 

“I am getting quite ambitious and really feel that writing is my work - my business perhaps; and it is so much better than making a mere amusement of it as I used…I am glad to have something to do in the world and something which may prove very helpful and useful if I care to make it so, which I certainly do” (27). 

There is something so pure about her earnestness here, her belief that writing is her work and that it is something to “do in the world” that might “prove very helpful and useful.” 

Work Cited

Jewett, Sarah Orne. Sarah Orne Jewett: Letters. Edited with an introduction by Richard Cary, Colby College P, 1956.

Noted!

15 November 2023: "Honestly, I might be a little too interested..." --a student in my Bible as Literature class talking about her enthusiasm for her paper topic: femme fatales, specifically Medea and Delilah.

Made me chuckle...and not want to mess with her. 

Sleepy co-worker...

14 November 2023: Feeling a bit under the weather today (negative COVID tests so far), so I stuck close to home. Got some writing and grading done, accompanied at times by a very sleepy buddy.

That second photo cracks me up. She's got her paw resting on the ball cap, giving her just what she needs to maintain that weird position. She's just too much. 

Three conferences

13 November 2023: I had three very different paper conferences with three students today, each of them worth remembering. 

The first student has been ill, but is resilient. He asked for (and immediately got!) and extension for the paper that was due today. We read through the draft together and I was impressed by the depth of his engagement with the material (Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil"). His paper is personal in that who he is is shaping his approach, but also academic, and it's cool to see that kind of connection. 

The second student has really low self-confidence, but has come a long way. Her draft still needs a lot of work, but it was a delight to stop at times, point to a sentence, and say, "You see what you did here? How you couldn't do that a year ago?" as she nodded her head in agreement. 

The third is a student came in with a draft longer than she anticipated. Her suitemates, she explained, were all gone for a stretch of time this weekend, and she just started writing. "Isn't that exactly what we need sometimes--quiet and time and space to write?" I said to her, thinking about my own writing. Especially lovely about this student and this draft? How much fun she's having writing about this topic--a topic she really cares about (Peter in the New Testament). 

Just the best job, still... 

Last mow...

12 November 2023: Pretty sure I gave the yard the last mow of the season today, though I guess with climate change, you never know. I wish I had taken a photo, but I still get such a sense of satisfaction when it looks clean and neat, especially when a mow can do double-duty, taking the place of raking leaves. Still something sad about it, though, as winter approaches, with a long stretch of cold and dark days. 

The Marvels

11 November 2023: I know the reviews are mixed, but I thought The Marvels was a lot of fun. All three actresses are really appealing--and Iman Vellani is so darn charming and cute. Not a ton of big, booming battles, lots of jokes...and so much cat content. A blast! 

Pie and volleyball...

10 November 2023: After a long day of classes, meetings, and conferences with a student, my weekend kicked off this evening with a stint as a pie contest judge (as part of a fundraiser for the Sociology and Criminal Justice Club) followed by a volleyball game. That's precise the kind of randomness and eclecticism that makes me love my job. 

"I had a desire to go out farther into the world..."

9 November 2023: Quietly working from home this morning before heading up to campus for a big Board of Governor's meeting. A lot on my mind, but I find myself profoundly moved by thIis passage from Carol Schachinger's essay: 

“In a fascinating essay, ‘The Confessions of a House­Breaker,’ written when she was just beginning her relationship with Fields, Jewett writes of breaking out of the house in a pre­dawn walk through the village. Even so small an act of defying convention causes her to look over her shoulder: ‘I had a desire to go out farther into the world, and I went some distance up the street, past my neighbors' house; feeling a sense of guilt and secrecy that could hardly be matched. . . . But if any one had suddenly hailed me from a window I should have been inclined to run home as fast as my feet could carry me. In such fashion are we bound to the conventionalities of existence!’ Central to the experience is a clairvoyant connection to a distant friend—a feeling that another person is awake and close to her in spirit: ‘an understanding between us sprang up quickly, like a flame on the altar to Friendship, in my heart’ (239). I imagine her in love with Annie Fields, unable to sleep, still struggling inwardly with what such an attachment means in a society that doesn't even have a word for love between women besides the euphemism ‘Boston marriage.’ Breaking through the bounds of convention causes her extreme anxiety: she ‘steals’ out of the house, feels ‘astray’ as she goes farther down the street, but soon is overcome by a sense of exhilaration at her daring. She jumps the fence on her return home (a decorous woman in her thirties) instead of opening the gate, then feels ‘dismayed afterward at such singular conduct’ (243). I can imagine her stealing back upstairs in the dark house to her room, falling asleep in the dawn to awaken hours later still ‘delighted and puzzled’ about the implications of her symbolic breakout (243)” (Schachinger 281-282).

Schachinger, Carol. "Sarah Orne Jewett's Maine: A Journey Back.” Jewett and Her Contemporaries: Reshaping the Canon, edited by Karen L. Kilcup and Thomas S. Edwards. UP of Florida, 1999, pp. 277-286.

"Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars"

8 November 2023: Had a Whitman moment when I got home today (another long day--not all bad, but overwhelming...). Needed to get some more steps in and headed out for a bit. Looked up, felt my breath catch at the beauty of the clear night sky. Breathed in the cool air and embraced being quiet and alive. 

Nosy and brave but also a little bit scared...

7 November 2023: Someone was very interested in the plumbers at work this morning. (Nothing major--just replacing the leaky disposal.) Eventually, she got very brave and appeared ready to strap on a tool belt and help, so she got locked in the guest room until they left.

"Mars vs. Mars"

6 November 2023: Oh my goodness...what a Monday. Got home after 8:00 p.m. after a non-stop day with still so much to do. After a three-hour (!) Senate meeting, I texted Hannah that I felt like I wanted to simultaneously run around the block and go to sleep--that kind of overwhelmed. 

Anyway, got home, did my evening chores, ate dinner, and then sat down to knock a couple more things off my list. My mind was still in that "run or sleep" place. The perfect thing to calm me down/help me focus while working/lift my mood? The "Mars vs. Mars" episode of Veronica Mars. (Slowly doing a rewatch of Season One...) 

Having Veronica Mars Hanrahan and Jo March Hanrahan around also helps. 

Women Talking

5 November 2023: “Doubt and uncertainty and questioning are inextricably bound together with faith.” --Miriam Toews, Women Talking

This morning, I pulled into my driveway at just the moment that the audiobook of this tremendous novel concluded--with a chorus of women singing "Just a Closer Walk With Thee." Sat there in my car, listening as tears filled my eyes. This one will stay with me for a long time. 

Two good things...

4 November 2023:

1) We hosted a really great NWP workshop/meet and greet on campus this morning. About twenty of us gathered to talk about teaching and writing. It's always a special privilege to spend time with K-12 teachers, whose work just awes me.

2) I saw Killers of the Flower Moon this afternoon and--long run-time be darned--it knocked my socks off. What a movie!

Friday evening work session...

3 November 2023: Still up at the office as the clock hits 8:00 p.m., another 12+ hour day up here. But I don't mind because I've spent the last 2.5 hours pushing through a draft of my Helen Hunt Jackson entry. It's done--the draft, that is. Another round of revisions awaits me tomorrow, but that's also the fun part. In a bit, I'll head home, picking up dinner on the way, relax for a couple of hours, and then hit the sheets. Gotta be back up here by 9:00 or so tomorrow for an NWP event, but that will be okay, too. 

Jo's check up...

2 November 2023: After two decades of at best resistant cats, it is very strange to have one be relatively fearless at the vet. Jo got upset, loud, and bite-y when she got her shots, but otherwise just kept exploring--and bounced right back to being friendly when the shots were done. Such a fun little girl. (Would not stand still long enough for a decent photo...)

Tau Sigma Induction...

1 November 2023: One of my favorite events on campus every year was held today: the induction ceremony for Tau Sigma, the transfer student honor society. It's really lovely to see these students--representing a significant percentage of our student body (33%)--succeeding and to celebrate that. It's also a mercifully brief ceremony. What's not to like? 

Look at her go!

31 October 2023: Absolute highlight of the day was seeing this news about one of our fantastic English-Education graduates. 

Long Monday...

30 October 2023: Long, long Monday--a day that I thought would have me home by 5:30 turned out pretty differently, with me getting in just before 8:00. And so much to do tomorrow, still. But I guess, on reflection, it was a pretty good one. Not a long post--sort of vague, I know--but it's about the best I have in me tonight. 

Revisions submitted...

29 October 2023: Excited to cross this off of my list: submitted the revisions for our "Year's Work" essay this evening. I imagine we'll get it back one more time--when it's in the proofs stage--but usually, today's step is the last big one. 

Much needed dumb fun...

28 October 2023: Slept in a tiny bit, did some housework, took my walk, and then picked up Amy and headed to Hagerstown. Indian buffet for lunch and fun dumb movie (Five Nights at Freddy's) combined for my kind of break. Came home, did some more housework, and then read Helen Hunt Jackson criticism for awhile. Now settling in to watch some a movie on TV. Tomorrow will be a busy day, but that's okay. 

Helen and Emily

27 October 2023: "I wish I knew what your portfolios, by this time, hold." --Helen Hunt Jackson in an 1885 letter to Emily Dickinson (qtd in Crumbley 752).

Really enjoyed this little piece by Paul Crumbley about Jackson and Dickinson's correspondance. It's full of great nuggets and a larger point about how differently the two women thought about the exchange and publication of poetry.

Works Cited

Crumbley, Paul. “‘As If for You to Choose’: Conflicting Textual Economies in Dickinson’s Correspondence with Helen Hunt Jackson.” Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 31, no. 6, Nov. 2002, pp. 743–57. EBSCOhost.

Texting with my brother...

26 October 2023: My brother texting me about Netflix's The Fall of the House of Usher--and our subsequent text conversation about all things Mike Flanagan--is one of my favorite things from today. I don't imagine our tastes overlap all that much beyond the Yankees, old music, and certain movies from our youth (no shade to either of us!), but they sure do line up when it comes to Flanagan. We both like Bly Manor the best, though I do need to rewatch Midnight Mass, because it's awfully close for me and I suspect it's the higher achievement (though that doesn't necessarily equal "my favorite").  

1402 good things...

25 October 2023: 1402 good things...

1400 straight days of 10K+ steps, which really is something. 

1 former student/current Shepherd employee who I am very fond of, telling me she prayed for me last night. I almost wept right there in the hallway.

1 current student who used the phrase "thunderstorms and fireflies" in place of "apples and oranges" and I just thought that was the most wonderful thing. "That's your Appalachain showing, my friend!" I told him.

One year to go...

24 October 2023: My manuscript is due a year from today. I finished off my entry on gothicism a few minutes ago (three entries this month--with a week to spare) and feel pretty good about hitting my goals for this semester. If I can do the same next semester--and that's a big if--that will leave me nearly six months for the introduction, some of the apparatus, and editing/revision. Those six months include a teaching-, admin-, and possibly advising-free summer, something I haven't had in the entire time I've been at Shepherd. In other words, right now, everything looks good. 

Today has been really hard in a lot of other ways, perhaps evidenced by me still being on campus at 7:30, I was so far behind on my goals because of other work-related concerns, so a little sense of achievement and control over this one thing makes me feel better. But I did want to highlight one more spot of bittersweet happiness. I finally got a picture of Jo printed and put it in a frame at work. This did mean displacing the frame's former subject--I just can't have pictures of cats who are now dead in my office; too many awkward moments with curious students--but I don't think he would mind.

Goofy...

23 October 2023: Had a delightful discussion of the book of Jonah today in my Bible as Literature class. One student's comment that the book is "so...goofy?" really set us on fire, in a good way. Because it really is a goofy book--and that makes it fascinating. 

The Butterfly

22 October 2023: Our little book club discussed James M. Cain's The Butterfly this evening. I am glad to have read it, but it's strange and disturbing little book. Living in West Virginia since 2007 also no doubt shaped my response to it. Cain depicts the potential for violence that runs through masculinity and religious zealotry, especially when it intersects with poverty and social marginalization. But most of the characters seem underdrawn.

I like this little excerpt from Paul Skenaz (which I found on Wikipedia) that says better than I could my own feelings about it: "The Butterfly confirms the way that Cain himself is a victim of, as much as a writer who profits from, the stereotypical forms of social understanding and visions of gender that dominate the American mind." 

Anyway, like I said, glad to have read it. 

Working on the Gothicism entry...

21 October 2023: Just really got a kick out of this bit from my reading for my entry on Gothicism: "But in this way we must also remember, as Loman reminds us, that whenever we conjure the ghost of Freud, we must also welcome Marx to the seance" (Falfak and Haslam 15).

Work Cited

Faflak, Joel, and Jason Haslam. Introduction. American Gothic Culture: An Edinburgh Companion, edited by Joel Faflak and Jason Haslam, Edinburgh UP, 2016, pp. 1-22.

Misery

20 October 2023: 

[Catch-up post...]

What a delight it was to see my former student (and now, my friend) star as Annie Wilkes in Misery at a local dinner theater! Hannah, Cory, Amy, and I went together and it was just what I needed after a very hard and long week. 

My kind of math...

19 October 2023: Erin texted me this picture today, explaining that Krista had to write her own word problem. Amazing.

Comfort TV...

18 October 2023: For the five days or so, all I want to watch is the first season of Veronica Mars. (Extra Hot Great did a segment about pilot, so that's part of the reason why.) At the end of these long days, when all I want to watch is something very good, very engaging, and very familiar, it is hitting the spot. So it's an episode or an episode and a half or just a half an episode until I head upstairs, take my bath, and then lay down. Then I switch to an Abbott Elementary episode I've watched at least a dozen times and, Lord willing, drift off. 

"Your Baby Never Looked Good in Blue"

17 October 2023: After a meeting on campus, I stayed up there, working in my office until I got my entry on E. Pauline Hopkins done. Felt great to check that off the list(s). That's two entries in October already, so I am ahead of pace for getting that third one done this month. Since it isn't one that will require as much reading/reseach (it's on gothicism, not a specific writer or book), I hope I can use the "extra" October time to get a head-start on a couple entries that will be more demanding as I move into November. 

Anyway, thought I'd use this post to highlight one of the 80's tunes that powered me through that writing session. 

8...

16 October 2023: Long day, so it feels okay to have my post devoted to simply pointing out that after today, I have eight Senate meetings left. 

"The Tenas Klootchman"

15 October 2023: “Then I will go to her, and be her mother, wherever she is….We will be but exchanging our babies, after all” (507).

Re-read E. Pauline Johnson's "The Tenas Klootchman" (which means "girl baby" in Chinook) for the first time in nearly twenty years (?). Some of the pieces I've re-read for my book's entry on Johnson have been kind of haunting me, like "A Cry from an Indian Wife," which seems depressingly familiar as war rages in Gaza. This is not a criticism of the pieces, of course--rather a testament to their enduring power. 

But "The Tenas Klootchman," in which a dying mother gives her baby to a woman who has already lost her own little girl, makes me want to sob in a good way--and judging by my faded marginal note, it did the same all those years ago. 

Work Cited

Johnson, E. Pauline. E. Pauline Johnson, Tekahionwake: Collected Poems and Selected Prose. Edited by Carole Gerson and Veronica Strong-Boag. U of Toronto P, 2002. 

Fresh cut...

14 October 2023: Got my hair cut this morning, which also meant a chance to catch up with Isabelle, the very nice woman who has been cutting it for years. She was telling me today about when she was a little girl growing up in Peru and just always loved doing hair. She knew it was what she wanted to do. Her dad, who sent his seven kids to private school, wasn't thrilled that that was her dream, but later, when she would visit Peru after immigrating to the US, she would cut his hair. Also, like so many little girls (not me, ha!), she loved experimenting with her own hair--and other peoples'. 

She mentioned something she had told me before--that everyone she knew had "black, black hair," but she wanted to be blonde. She saved up her allowance, bought a bunch of peroxide, and stuck her head in a bucket. It didn't look great and her mom wanted to kill her, of course. 

"But when I was walking to school and saw the sun reflecting off my hair...I was so happy..."

Love when people speak in simple yet profound poetry. 

Fall Break Friday...

13 October 2023: Considering a day successful if I've pushed back against all the bad vibes and ended up somewhere in "neutral vibe land." And that's where I am tonight, I guess.

That's enough of a post for today. 

When Evil Lurks

12 October 2013: Took in a 5:20 showing of When Evil Lurks today. What a movie! Makes Exorcist: Believer look even less impressive that I thought it was. Really liked it, but also, don't need to see it again--which speaks to its quality and effect in a good way. 

These dreams are a little on the nose...

11 October 2023: Made it to Fall Break, barely. Another very hard day. Still dealing with fallout from academic priorization. And more Senate-related stuff. And then we heard about a colleague's battle with cancer coming to an end. And one of my best friends got some bad news about her beloved cat--a very good cat, indeed. 

As for the post's title, well, here's the dream I had early this morning. I was on a boat with a bunch of people, but more like a pontoon or something with no railings on the edges? These three little girls--including a baby--are near each other as the boat nears a dock. It bumps into it and the three little girls tumble into the water--dark, dark water. I jump--along with some other people--in to try to save them. I am able to grab one of them (not the baby) and she clings to me as I swim upward. The water is so dark and keep swimming and swimming but the surface takes forever to appear. Finally, we make it out and are pulled on the boat. And then I look down the other two aren't out yet. It's already been a long time--and those girls were so little. Just this terrible sense of gloom and horror. 

So yeah...a little on the nose.

Very relieved to have four days of no alarms. Just going to try to stay home, work on my next entry, and give my soul a break. 

7:40 at my desk...

10 October 2023: Today was not a great day. News about academic prioritization rolling out. It is all so sad and frustrating. 

Decided to stay here and pound out this Mary Austin entry for the book, along with some other work. Write, write, write and work, work, work on the things I can control. The things that make me a bit happier. The things that distract me. 

So it's 7:40 and I am sitting at my desk on campus. Will head home soon, but that entry is done. Tomorrow? Well, we'll see what tomorrow brings. 

49

9 October 2023: Today would have been Ryan's 49th birthday. 

I've been dreaming about lost loved ones lately, including last night. But not him. I am not sure why. 

Not a single day goes by that I don't think about him, that I don't think about the loss. I think what's on my mind most today is that it can still be so sad--and that the loss casts such a shadow over his whole life. It reads as the conclusion you could (should?) have seen coming, maybe. I don't know. Maybe that's silly. It almost certainly much too simple. 

I do wish I could have some kind of vivid dream of him, but more like a flashback. Some video clip of him the way I am trying my best to remember him. The version of him that slips away again and again, swallowed by the narrative of how it ended. But maybe that's a silly wish, one that would just fill me with more sadness. I don't know.

I guess what I am saying is that this year, on this day, I am just sad when I think about my brother. 

Scared, but also nosy...

8 October 2023: Had a guy over today doing some electrical work. Veronica was, of course, in deep hiding. Jo, though, did the thing she does when she is scared--hides under my chair. She's scared, but also nosy. And it does make my heart soar that she feels safer around me.

After a while, she got very brave and kind of wouldn't leave the guy alone (shades of Bing and Wes when repairmen were here). Had to stick her in the bathroom! 

Grading joy...

7 October 2023: Stopping myself mid-grading this morning (when I have so much on my to-do list) because I just have to write about the ENGL 204 student whose exam I just graded. He sits mostly by himself and never says a word, but I just knew he was paying attention and absorbing the material. We will make eye contact sometimes and he doesn't even nod or anything, but I know that, because he won't break that eye contact, that he is sort of telling me that he is intrigued, he agrees, etc. (And yes: I should/will start asking him to participate more--the old, "You look like you agree! Want to say something more?")

Anyway, he just nailed this midterm and it makes me want to cry, I am so happy. It's a rough time on campus, but my goodness, what a gift this young man has given me. Now I need to make sure he knows how great he is at this. 

"notable for having a big boat..."

6 October 2023:  I think I had forgotten how delightful these Bible as Literature midterms have the potential to be. Here's another excerpt that cracked me up: "Noah is notable for having a big boat, and he and his family surviving the flood that wiped out life on earth, but Samson can kill one thousand men with nothing but a donkey's jaw bone he found lying on the ground." Something about Noah being "notable" for his "big boat" is so funny. And Samson? That guy always kills (pun intended). 

Preach it!

5 October 2023: "This story not only allows Tamar the autonomy to choose her fate, but consequentially reveals a critical look at the asinine conventions of a patriarchal society in which a man can sleep with one prostitute as much as he pleases while also threaten his own daughter-in-law with murder if she becomes one herself." --a heck of a sentence from one of my student's "Bible as Literature" midterm exam. 

She also added a hand-written alternate title for her essay: "Bad Girl Bible Club." 

Trying to be better...

4 October 2023: Another long day in a stressful week/semester has me verging on being grumpy and annoyed with anyone who isn't a bestie or isn't a student in one of my classes. And that feeling of grumpiness is not fun. Not a fan of it or the kind of person it makes me, even when I hide it. 

So, I am actively working to fight it. (Which is not the same as "supress it." That just makes it worse.) 

(And yes: I know this is a "burn out" symptom, but it's a bit more complicated than that--and perhaps less dire long-term.)

Just writing about it actually helps. I need to keep myself aware of it and work through it. I can do that. 

"The Return of Mr. Wills"

3 October 2023: “Mrs. Willis had lived seventeen years with Mr. Wills, and when he left her for three, those three were so much the best of her married life that she wished he never came back. And the only real trouble with Mr. Wills was that he should never have moved West. Back East I suppose they breed such men because they need them, but the really ought to keep them there” (Austin 51). 

Got such a kick out of this passage from Mary Austin's story, "The Return of Mr. Wills," which I read today--along with a bunch more--while working on my latest entry.

Work Cited

Austin, Mary. Western Trails: A Collection of Short Stories. Edited by Melody Graulich, University of Nevada Press, 1987.

Midterm week...

2 October 2023: Kicking off midterm week with an 11.5 hour day on campus, but at least I got just about everything on my list done before I got home. The exams don't start coming in until Wednesday, so I am hoping to use tomorrow to get a lot of work done on the next book entry (Mary Austin) and on the Year's Work essay. We can do this...

Bring on Bob's Burgers!

1 October 2023: Pushed and pushed myself through a boring task that I should never have had to do this evening, but it is done. Better be done for good, but we'll see.

What a nice surprise to see that a new Bob's Burgers episode tonight. Feels like a reward for getting my weekly "Book/Year's Work" list done, trimming the front bushes, and knocking off just about everything else on my daily list. 

Three in September

30 September 2023: Set a pretty ambitious goal of completing three entries for my book per month this semester. And early this afternoon, I finished #3, the entry on Lydia Sigourney. (The other two: The Lamplighter and National Expansion.) 

Looking ahead to October, I am feeling less confident. Midterms are upon us this coming week, as is the last big push for the Year's Work essay, so I need to keep my goals for the next entry (Mary Austin) pretty modest. 

But I'll do my best. 

Friday volleyball game...

29 September 2023: The end of the month/end of the week approaches with some tasks getting really close to being checked off of all kinds of lists. So it felt good to take in the volleyball game on campus this evening, the second one we've attended this season. They won tonight--a really nice victory. 

Tired, tired, tired, but motivated to keep moving along as best I can. 

Distraction Machine

28 September 2023: Spent most of today working from home, mostly toiling away on my Lydia Sigourney entry. I made a lot of progress (though not as much as I wanted to). 

Jo, thrilled to have me here, still doesn't quite get that stealing pens, pencils, and paperclips, chomping on papers, splaying out over books and papers, and trying to knock over beverage glasses doesn't actually help me get work done. 

I gathered up a bunch of toys (including her favorite, crumpled up balls of paper) and kept them next to me, throwing one after the other to distract her into the kitchen. It didn't work that well. Before I went out at 11:00 or so to mow the lawn, I snapped this picture of the debris field.

Here she is when I got back to work after the lawn and a shower. Still her usual, cute, distacting self. She wants to knock that glass over so bad. 

BabyCat lives here, too, of course, and has always been an ideal work-from-home pet. Calming and pleasing to look at, never too far away, and never intrusive. 

(Also spent the last two evenings on campus for events connected to Ann Pancake's Writer-in-Residence week. She is quite simply a treasure of a person.)

"Just because" flowers...

27 September 2023: Moved practically to tears this morning when two students brought by these flowers and this card--just because. Can't say how much it means to me and how much I needed it (more than I realized). 

The Lord provides...

"...throw crude matter at the head of the public"

26 September 2023: Long, busy day and I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything on my lists these next few weeks (months, year). But I did chuckle a bit when I came across this bit from Lydia Sigourney's memoir, where she makes clear the value--the courtesy--of revision and editing: "Still, I always corrected, and rewrote more than once, these extemporaneous effusions, not considering it decorous to throw crude matter at the head of the public" (300). I am always delighted when these nineteenth-century folks share enduring truths about writing. 

Work Cited

Sigourney, Lydia. Lydia Sigourney: Selected Poetry and Prose, edited by Gary Kelly, Broadview Editions, 2008.

"Happy"

25 September 2023:

"Where have you been all these years?

And how could you just disappear?

And when did you stop missing me?"

Compromising with myself...

24 September 2023: Finished my weekly "Book Work/"Year's Work" Work" to-do list this morning. Most of my other chores, too. In a burst of optimism, I added a few more items to my daily list--things I really don't want to do, but will feel once they're done. Then went and had lunch and saw A Haunting in Venice with Amy (it was pretty good!). Came home and took a long walk. Did some evening chores. Made myself do just one of the three extra items. Feels pretty good. Probably won't get to all three--and that feels okay, too. A little compromise with myself, I guess. 

(Boring post, but it's what I've got...)

Literally a "weird flex," as the kids say...

23 September 2023:

He is a lot...

22 September 2023: "I know you really like this guy and I like a lot of it, too, but I also had to walk away for a minute once or twice." --a student in ENGL 204 with a kind of perfectly hilarious take on Whitman. 

Best part of the job, every single day. 

Jo Traps Herself

21 September 2023: Somehow, Jo flipped her big box on herself. So...we made a movie.

Double shot...

20 September 2023: Got both the COVID and flu shots today, ducking out of work for a bit to head to the pharmacy and then heading back to campus. It was a packed day and maybe not the best one for inserting a interruption into, but I am glad to have that item off my list. Plus, tomorrow should be a relatively quiet day--only one "public" part (a Foundation meeting). Otherwise, I can more or less lay low at home if I don't feel well. 

The Lamplighter

19 September 2023: A pretty productive work-at-home day, pushing through a draft and revision of my entry on The Lamplighter. This is a book I had heard a lot about but hadn't read before. It was fun to dive into and--once again--I find myself feeling very nineteenth-century when I reflect on what moves me, including this passage from late in the book: "Trust in goodness, wherever it can be found…But, O, trust all, rather than none" (305). Seems like a good way to live; if you are proven wrong, at least you would have been on the side of the light.

Work Cited

Cummins, Maria Susanna. The Lamplighter. 1854. Edited by Nina Baym, Rutgers UP, 1988.

"Basket Case"

18 September 2023: A discussion of Green Day on a podcast I was listening to this morning on my walk filled me with the sudden urge to listen to Dookie for the first time in years. 

The way I listened to this album in junior and seniors years! Shew! The way all of those memories and vibes came flooding back! "Do I still have that t-shirt somewhere?" I thought to myself. (A t-shirt Tara and Chris brought back for me from Lollapalooza!)

And twenty-nine years later, I was not expecting these lines to hit the way they did: "Grasping to control / So I better hold on..."

Certainly made my walk a bit more rhythmic (or my version of rhythmic) and 90s-inflected than it is most days.

"Done!" but not really...

17 September 2023: 

[Catch-up post]

I was so satisfied with myself when I crossed every single item off of my very ambitious daily to-do list and weekly "Book and Year's Work Essay" to-do list on Sunday evening. Done, done, done! 

But that crossing off was perhaps a bit too energetic since I didn't actually do my daily blog post. Weirdly, I realized that as I was waking up on Monday morning. (This is a weird reflection of the fact that I go to sleep and wake up thinking about my lists...)

September Saturday...

16 September 2023: A busy but not stressful day. Got a good amount of chores done at home. Went to a housewarming. Had dinner with a friend. Still have a few things left on my to-do list and fighting to urge to watch The Changeling instead. (Just found out it's on Peacock and have been itching to rewatch it for the first time in decades and decades...) We'll see if the good or bad devil wins out. Might try "20 minutes of movie/20 minutes of reading" and see how that goes. 

They're not done yet...

15 September 2023: There hasn't been a ton to celebrate for Yankee fans this season, but I just got a nice rush from listening to their ninth inning comeback against the Pirates. They are now one game above .500. Would be nice to add a few more wins in there, but I am just grateful for the great audio tonight. 

Aiming for three a month...

14 September 2023: Set a very ambitious goal to complete three book entries a month this academic year (starting on September 1). Today, I finished the first for September and since (maybe for the first time ever?) I've been working on two entries simultaneously, I should be able to finish the next one by September 20, keeping up with a pace of one every ten days. 

But to make even that first one happen this week? It was a battle. Rough week. But it's done. On we go. 

Just spent 30 minutes doing some research and ILL requests for what I think might be the first entry in October. On we go. 

Meeting Olivia...

13 September 2023: Today is my niece Olivia's birthday. Thinking tonight about the first time I met her--when the family went to the airport when she, her mom, and her dad got off the plane with her. Here they came, pushing her in a little carriage, her eyes wide with skeptical and tired wonder and something deeper and harder to decipher. We squealed in delight to meet her, flooding around her, so glad she was here, filled with such love for her. When I knelt down and sort of held out my arms to ask if I could hold her, she opened her arms back. Her Russian name means "Love." Certainly that day, that little one indicated she was looking for just that.  

"This day is quelling me..."

12 September 2023: I am so glad I attended the workshop on campus today about trauma-informed response. My post's title comes from something the leader said she and her colleagues say to each other on a day where crisis follows crisis, a witty reference to the end of the first Hunger Games book, when Katniss and Peeta think they've won, but immediately find out they are going back in. Not a bad phrase to have in my repetoire these days...

Long Monday...

11 September 2023: Strange, long, and emotional day for a bunch of reasons. Classes were (of course) the best part. Everything else was hard and vexed. It's strange to be so tired when it's only Monday. But I am hoping for a good night's sleep tonight and a productive day tomorrow. Bit by bit...

"Just don’t die"

10 September 2023: This piece on Slate was one of the first things I read today--and it has stayed with me. "Just don't die." Such a simple idea--a simple switch to flip as we think about addiction. What a gift Jessica Blanchard is to the people on the other end of the line--and to everyone who loves those people. 

One More War to Fight

9 September 2023: Something very nice that came out of my brief assistant deanship was my friendship with Steve Goldman and his wife, Kit. Today, I heard Steve talk about his wonderful book at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick. This cough made me duck out before heading to dinner with them after, but it was still a nice way to spend part of the day. 

Wiped out...

8 September 2023: 

[Catch-up post...]

Forced myself to stay on campus until I got all of the work on my list done, which is great. But I was so wiped out by the time I got home, I forgot to do a daily post and a few other non-work things on my list. Vegged out for a couple hours and then hit the sheets.

 

So I guess that is one big old sign that the week took its toll on me.

Tiny triumph on a strange day...

7 September 2023: Stange day! Some not-great meetings on either end of it. Some really sad news about a colleagues. In between the meetings, I came home to rest since coughing kept me up the night before. Before I knew it, nearly three hours had passed. Back to campus for that other meeting--and then home to get my neglected work done. Just finished that last part so that's a tiny triumph. 

Feeling almost normal except for the cough, which is very annoying. Could be worse, though. I'll take it. 

Genesis and Emerson...

6 September 2023: Still 100% true that the best one-hundred minutes of the day were the two fifity-minutes classes that I taught. We covered the closing chapters of Genesis in Bible as Literature and Emerson's "Self-Reliance" in ENGL 204. Though my coughing got in the way a bit too often, otherwise, both classes were a joy.

She'll get ya!

5 September 2023: Always an adventure getting ready in the morning with Jo around. Here she is, ready to obstruct my shoe-tying.

Hoping for just a cold...

4 September 2023: A bit under the weather today and really, really, really hoping it's just a cold. I've had three negative COVID tests in the last 36 hours: took one yesterday before heading to Tim and Kevin's just to be courteous, then another this morning when I woke up feeling gross, and another just a bit ago. Let everyone from yesterday's gathering know, just in case. Will test again tomorrow morning and then probably after that. I can't even say how bad I'd feel if I got them sick. 

Labor Day Weekend Hang...

3 September 2023: Very lucky to spend most of today at Tim and Kevin's, just hanging out with them and Cory and Hannah. We never need to "do" much: have a meal (Tim always kills at that part), sit and visit, tell stories, and just laugh and laugh. Excellent way to spend the dya. 

"no detail, no weed or stone or cat or old woman was unimportant to him"

2 September 2023: A random tidbit from one of my "Year's Work" articles--Elizabeth Bishop talking about John Dewey: "[H]e had almost the best manners I have ever encountered, always had time, took an interest in everything,—no detail, no weed or stone or cat or old woman was unimportant to him” (qtd. in Potts 808). Apparently they were neighbors when Dewey lived in Key West.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Dewey, connected in part to using his philosophy for part of my Masters Thesis. To think of him this way makes that spot even softer.

Pott's piece is pretty cool overall--a really neat reading of Bishop's poetry through the lens of her admiration for Buster Keaton.

Work Cited

Potts, George. “The Stoic Comedy of Elizabeth Bishop and Buster Keaton.” ELH vol. 89, no. 3, 2022, pp. 807–32.

Bottoms

1 September 2023: 

[Catch-up post]

It put me behind schedule for completing my weekly to-do list (so I've spent a lot of time today catching up!), but I am really glad Amy and I decided to leave campus by 4:30 to catch a showing of Bottoms. What a smart-stupid movie! So much fun. 

101,618

31 August 2023: Finished the second Fuller entry for the book today and--just under the wire--finished my sixteenth entry for the summer (May, June, July, August). Four per month is okay, given how crazy the summer was on campus--and also working on the "Year's Work" essay.

I had hoped to squeeze out one more entry, to average just over four per month, but breaking 100K words today also feels pretty good and a nice way to cap off a summer of writing. 

Sounds about right?

30 August 2023: A bit of unintentional profound insight from one of my Bible as Literature students this morning: "So far it seems like all we've been reading about is...punishment and genealogy." Yes, we are still in Genesis.