I've always had a deep faith in books. As with many readers, libraries felt like church to me, bookstores like monasteries. Opening a new book feels like a ritual, as does closing it when finished. I'm sure this worship led me to seek a scholar's life, and not only a scholar but a scholar of … Continue reading How Shall We Live?
memoir
The Wo-Man-Moth, for Eric
"Love should be put into action!" screamed the old hermit.Across the pond an echo tried and tried to confirm it.—Elizabeth Bishop, "Chemin de Fer" I have a near relation in the hospital with COVID-19, someone dear but also estranged. However, this is not about him. It's about what this person's being in the hospital stirs … Continue reading The Wo-Man-Moth, for Eric
Lost Animals
The first poster was for a dog. Fluorescent green paper with a smaller white page laminated on top of it to protect it from the Oregon rain. Picture of a small, scruffy dog. Missing.“Jimmy”Terrier mix.Skittish, do not chase.If seen, please call 541-555-1234 I began to see these posters everywhere. And by “everywhere,” I mean frequently … Continue reading Lost Animals
2020 Reading List – The Final
In one of the two holiday movies I watch without fail, It's a Wonderful Life, lead character George Bailey is a man who has always resented his meagre, small town life until he gets a chance to see what said town would have been like if he'd never been born. George discovers that he actually … Continue reading 2020 Reading List – The Final
On the Re-Reading Life and Vivian Gornick’s ‘Unfinished Business’
Looking over my reading list this past year I saw stellar book after stellar book. Bam, bam, bam, nearly all excellent reads. And then I got to the past few weeks and realized that things lately have been merely fine—good but not great, decent but not deepening. And then I picked up Vivian Gornick's Unfinished … Continue reading On the Re-Reading Life and Vivian Gornick’s ‘Unfinished Business’
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
Going Off Book: Quarantine Celebrity-ing, + Notions, Late April Edition
Celebrity-ing While Quarantining During the COVID-19 pandemic, while most of us #shelterinplace, celebrities have been putting out elaborately orchestrated videos to entertain the troops, as it were, and keep up morale. And generally speaking, call me "curmudgeon" if you must, I loathe what feels to me like being pandered to by rich and famous people. … Continue reading Going Off Book: Quarantine Celebrity-ing, + Notions, Late April Edition
Where the Sidewalk Ends: Four Writers on Climate Change and Understanding the Overarching Crisis of Our Time
Exactly one month ago, the sustainability teams at UO hosted WOHESC, a regional sustainability in higher education conference. Attendees included a mix of professionals and students, spending two days talking about everything from putting social justice into practice to the feasibility of widespread nuclear power in the US. That conference moment happened right before everything … Continue reading Where the Sidewalk Ends: Four Writers on Climate Change and Understanding the Overarching Crisis of Our Time
Introducing “Here Today” + New Books
A couple of quick items. First, meet "Here Today," a Medium site devoted to reflecting on daily life during the novel coronavirus pandemic and related social distancing. It features several writers, including myself. Second, if you have the means, throw some love to your favorite local indie bookstore (as opposed to that decidedly not indie … Continue reading Introducing “Here Today” + New Books
Communing with Delight
I'm running on the trails near my house, loving the beautiful crisp-warm weather, but also feeling irked because people are not giving space on the trails, despite the global pandemic upending life everywhere. As I come up on a pair of hikers headed my direction, I jump off the trail into the undergrowth so they … Continue reading Communing with Delight
Dogs, Coffee, & Books 