"I don't think things are getting worse, I think they are getting uncovered." —adrienne maree brown, Pleasure Activism "None of us knows enough, but we can't let that stop us." —Ruth King, Mindful of Race I pick up a book called The Crying Book because reviewers praised it and I tend to appreciate prose written … Continue reading Shape Change: For George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery
Month: May 2020
The Night is Dark and Full of Wonders: The Winternight Trilogy
Every once in a while a book or —even better—a series of books comes along to take you out of yourself. Such a series is the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden. At first glance, the structure of these books, particularly the first one, The Bear and the Nightingale, feels familiar. Vasilisa "Vasya" Petrovna runs wild … Continue reading The Night is Dark and Full of Wonders: The Winternight Trilogy
Totems
Emerald green leaves with darker stripes like paint splotches, called calithea lancifolia, in a specked, sky-blue pot; a rippled peperomia, the other houseplant I've managed not to kill, purpley green leaves and magenta stems; a beeswax candle that smells of pine; a framed thistle I carried home with me, pressed into a book, from Scotland. … Continue reading Totems
Let me Tell You What to Read + Support Indie Booksellers
I'm working on a post that's not quite ready yet. In the meantime, let's do some good for the book world! I'll give you a book recommendation and you either buy it from your local indie or from bookshop.org, or donate at least $10 to the Eugene Public Library Foundation. (Note: I'm on the EPLF … Continue reading Let me Tell You What to Read + Support Indie Booksellers
Resonating Distillations
During this social distancing period, I have been seeking escape in fiction and resolve in non-fiction, but also turning to poetry for something else. Poetry distills experience, and also focuses the gaze in such a way as to make a familiar thing new or uncanny or reformed. Right now, I find in seeing the world … Continue reading Resonating Distillations
Dogs, Coffee, & Books 