Glow: Season 3

15 August 2019: Technically I finished watching season 3 of Glow yesterday, but I've been thinking about it a lot today. Like the second season, there is so much to love here. I've been commenting back and forth with a friend on Facebook about Sam's character. Who would have though Marc Maron would be so appealing and relate-able? But trust me: there is so much more to this show.

Two things...

14 August 2019: Still working through this funk I've been in, which seems more intense when I've got lots of unstructured time on my hands. ("Unstructured," of course, isn't the same as "nothing to do." I've got lots to get done...)

Anyway, as I know I've written about so often before, walking always helps. On my walk today, two things made me feel better. First, The Hilarious World of Depression, particularly this episode about travel. I actually intentionally waited until after my research trip to listen to it because I was a bit worried it would hit too close to home. But it's really interesting and moving, as all the episodes are.

Second, a conversation with a neighbor. As I walked down one cul-de-sac, I waved to a woman doing yard work. (I wave so much on these walks--to passing cars, to people in their yards, to cats sunning themselves...) On my pass back up the street, the woman cut across the road to talk to me. "Are you Dr. Hanrahan?" she asked. Turns out she remembered me from my Lectures and Libations talk. She also remembered that I had won the award right before and congratulated me again. I complimented her yard and asked her about a plant that stands out to me every time I walk by. (Turns out it's a type of milkweed. Huh!)

When you are having a rough time, having something like that happen? It means so much. And yet another reminder of how blessed I am to live in this place and have this job.

Easy-baking...

13 August 2019: Erin and the girls came for a visit today. We had lunch at my favorite place in town and then headed back home to visit some more and try out the Easy Bake Oven that Olivia handed down to them (and that has been sitting in my living room for over a month). The results were not spectacular for a grown-up palate, but the children approved.

"Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Twine"

12 August 2019: Listened to this delightful episode of 99% Invisible on my walk today. It made me wanna hop in the car and drive to all of these strange and fun places.

Also turned 42 today. A quiet day, but that's okay.

"No. Shut up. And get out."

11 August 2019: Early this afternoon, I listened to this episode of Studio 360, originally broadcast in 2014, but replayed on the podcast feed after Toni Morrison's death last week. It's a really wonderful interview, with insights on her life and her writing. It's also very funny. This post's title comes from the three things Morrison tells Hilton Als (the interviewer) she feels free to say now that she's older. Made me laugh out loud.

Home again...

10 August 2019: After a nine hour drive (not too bad), I got home just before 5:00. I mean, the cliche rings true: for me, there is no place like home, especially when I've got the boys (and Veronica...) waiting for me. All settled in now--unpacked, did some cleaning, even did the laundry. I just got back from a long walk in the neighborhood.

It's a pleasant evening out and I've opened the windows, quite welcome after the house has been closed up for a week. There's a little breeze and the air smells sweet.The cats are contented...and so am I.

Wrapping up in MA...

9 August 2019: “O very dear friend, life is a gift, blessed as it is awful! To think how close we are to another’s for good or evil, do what we will! We cannot be apart from our fellow beings…” --Lucy Larcom to John Greenleaf Whittier, 25 December 1881

I wrapped up my research at Wheaton this afternoon and am heading back home in the morning. I think I've gotten some good stuff for my project, whatever that ends up being/looking like.

Apart from what I might write about her work as a teacher, I am grateful for little glimpses of who she was, like the one above. She struggled to make sense of her world, her life, and her role in it. She suffered and felt pain (physical and all the other kinds, too). But she believed in the value of love and work and connection. I find that inspiring.

Larcom as Teacher...

8 August 2019: Got a lot done today in the Wheaton College Archives and got an even better sense of Lucy Larcom as a teacher. Some images that made me laugh and think what has changed in higher education over 150 years and what is not all that different:

 Some favorites from a “list of errors” compiled from compositions: 

“youster” for “used to” 

“oughter” for “ought to” 

“Minerver” for “Minerva” [hello, New England accents!]

“to” for “too” (very often) [some things never change…]

A report card of sorts for a Botany student. Miss Smith seems to be doing well!

Uh-oh! These girls are on the "Running Up Stairs" list! 

A (very partial) list of the (presumably) decent compositions Larcom read one term. Highlights include:

“Talking and Conversing”

“The Delights of Disorder”

“Were You Ever in a Kitchen?”

“Something About Trees”

Hello, Wheaton!

7 August 2019: Next stop on the research trip: Wheaton College, where Lucy Larcom taught everything from composition to botany. Had fun exploring the campus this afternoon.

Mapparium

6 August 2019: Today is the day the Historical Society stays open until 7:45, so I was able to get through all my boxes and finish up by 6:45 or so. Long day! But I did sneak away during a lunch break and visit the Mapparium which was basically just around the corner. I've wanted to visit it since I first read about it Jhumpa Lahiri's story "Sexy."

It's really something. Beautiful and peaceful and a perfect break in the day.

Temptation everywhere!

5 August 2019: When you are trying to focus on your very specific topic but a gosh-darn Phillis Wheatley manuscript pops up in the collection you are examining and you can't believe it is in your hand. (Also popping up: Emerson, Alcott, Stowe. Temptation/distraction everywhere!)

Boston....

4 August 2019: Drove up to Boston today for my research trip. Made it in about 8.5 hours. Not too bad. I am staying in Back Bay and that's pretty cool--very walkable and interesting. The weather (though a tiny bit humid) made for great walking and exploring. Tomorrow starts the researchin'.

Overheard outside the bakery...

3 August 2019: Filled with pre-trip anxiety today, but also doing my best to enjoy the day. Something that helped? Picking up a birthday cake for a friend's b-day dinner today. Also helping? This bit of conversation I overheard outside the bakery...

First, as I walked in, a young woman stepped out to take a phone call, a big smile on her face. Then, when I came back outside, she was wrapping up the call. "Okay, I'll see you in a month," she said before adding, "I get to see you in a month!" It was so sweet and genuine that I just smiled. I love those overheard moments when you get just a glimpse of some bigger story.

Odds and ends...

2 August 2019: Spent today mostly getting ready for my research trip: cleaning, shopping, organizing, packing. An odd day, but not a bad one.

"Little Exercise"

1 August 2019: This poem is really speaking to me today.

"Little Exercise"
By Elizabeth Bishop

for Thomas Edwards Wanning

Think of the storm roaming the sky uneasily
like a dog looking for a place to sleep in,
listen to it growling.

Think how they must look now, the mangrove keys
lying out there unresponsive to the lightning
in dark, coarse-fibred families,

where occasionally a heron may undo his head,
shake up his feathers, make an uncertain comment
when the surrounding water shines.

Think of the boulevard and the little palm trees
all stuck in rows, suddenly revealed
as fistfuls of limp fish-skeletons.

It is raining there. The boulevard
and its broken sidewalks with weeds in every crack
are relieved to be wet, the sea to be freshened.

Now the storm goes away again in a series
of small, badly lit battle-scenes,
each in "Another part of the field."

Think of someone sleeping in the bottom of a row-boat
tied to a mangrove root or the pile of a bridge;
think of him as uninjured, barely disturbed.