Impetus October 11, 2006
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According to Stephen J. Greenblatt, a writer is often working in two different worlds: the one into which she brings her passions and knowledge, and the other, of which she sometimes knows very little but is free to explore.
And then, this afternoon, the professor let the magic words escape:
“Write for the other as though your life depended on it.”
It’s a process: writing as a performance. It’s a lifestyle. It’s hard.
A Note on Reality September 24, 2006
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From William Matthews’s “The Diary as Literature”:
Diaries are not novels; they are bound to reality, with its deplorable habit of providing excellent story situations and no artistically satisfactory ends.
Just another instance in which I come across someone else’s phrase, which perfectly encapsulates something I’ve been mulling over for years.
Another morning in Adams September 8, 2006
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God, I love this place.
In Good Company September 7, 2006
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From the Boston Globe,
It’s all about sharing those magical moments.
Rock on, MA teachers.
golden dreams were shiny days September 1, 2006
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I’m sitting on the cusp of September — since it’s only been here for 48 minutes — and enjoying the view. This is, by far, my favorite month of the year: school’s getting ready to start, the leaves are getting ready to turn; everything has so much promise. I haven’t penned a paper yet for the upcoming year, but I’ve pored over my schedule enough to envision masterful theses that may or may not ever arrive. Though the term “back-to-school” has applied to anything purchased after July 8th, the items I’ve acquired from all those shopping excursions are now getting packed away, ready to be worn and used in all sorts of situations to come. Everything’s in preparation, reveling in its lingering smell of newness and potential.
It’s interesting to note that I don’t get this idealistic at the beginning of a new calendar year. I think my mind is just so academically-oriented from years of being raised as an educator’s daughter that I’ll be forever fixated on the rotation of the Minnesotan public school. Life begins in September to the scholar, though the poet’s just beginning to mourn the dying leaves and dropping temperatures. It’s the season of crisp, well-intended sheets of loose-leaf, on which I’ll have perfect handwriting for at least a week. I’ll promise myself only to write in black ink in my Franklin Covey, to go to sleep at midnight in order to maximize my fresh, bright-eyed gaze from the front row. I’ll write silly, idealistic paragraphs about how alive I’ll feel when the first orange tokens of the Yard give a satisfying crunch beneath my feet. That way, when the numb doldrums of winter set in, I’ll find some encouragement in knowing that, at one point, I still had enough quixotic vocabulary pulsing through me to write something like this and call it postworthy.
‘Night, all.
Playing ad Libby August 31, 2006
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“I just want to help people and be there for them and stuff.”
Honestly, I can’t think of a more beautiful career choice.
Practical Application August 30, 2006
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Every so often I find myself taken with the crazy notion that academic lessons can actually be applied to the real world, and consequently search for a new way to make learning a form of self-improvement. This personal trend is currently the sole explanation for why I’m considering taking a course in psychology this semester. The only other reason I could provide — outlandish as it may seem — was that I happened upon Collegeboard.com and sifted through their three-paragraph career outlines only to discover that a public relations consultant might want to have some grasp of the science behind human interactions before he or she enters the workforce. Imagine. Really, though: whether I end up a consultant, professor, lawyer, astronaut, or poet, it might be worthwhile to lend some credence to a sister discipline that’s also all too often written off as a load of bunk. Call it philanthropizing in the classroom; call it whatever you’d like; it’s my liberal arts education and I’m certainly not leaving the academic realm any time soon.
And, yes, there’s a good chance that, come Study Card day, I’ll have forged a glittering schedule that’s chock full of English and American literature, and forgotten all whimsical daydreams of studying a field that ends in “-ology.” God forbid that I ever dare to tread any scholastic path so suffixed.
We worked in tandem! August 29, 2006
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Three (+ approx. -123) bucks, two (- 1) bags, one me (+ Ez’).
[unclenching] August 27, 2006
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It’s that time of year: my family has made it through most of the summer with minimal use of the air conditioning, and, though it’s still August, decided that we’re gonna “stick it out” by opening all the windows and my sweat glands. Feelin’ a little clammy, to be truthful.
Oh, and Shai Bronshtein would currently be in my Top 8 — if I had a Top 8.
You know you’re bored when… August 25, 2006
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…you take a quiz entitled “Are You A Slacker Mom?”
Just thought the results were too funny not to share:
The ensuing explanation for such a christening included the phrase:
“You know how to help them with algebra homework,
and you are superior at kissing boo-boos.”
Damn straight.
When I Heard the Learn\'d Astronomer 