A list of interesting things new and old that I've read or experienced this week. I do not endorse or even necessarily agree with anything on the other side of these links. Articles Frank, Matthew Gavin. "Another Atrocious Man Named Clive; or, the Ass of a Sociopath," Guernica. https://www.guernicamag.com/another-atrocious-man-named-clive/ -- This is everything you want… Continue reading Syllabus: Week of February 7th
Often when I'm cooking I think about something my friend, chef Adam Browne, said in passing a couple of years ago when we were walking around the campus at work. We were talking about barbecue and he said, "you should be adding flavor at every step." Hear, hear. I think that applies to more than… Continue reading Adding Flavor
I am not a prolific worker. I swing from one overpowering interest to another, some times multiple times in one day, leaving a trail of bread crumbs of work behind me. Over time, those crumbs have piled pretty high; but the horizon of fascinating new things to think about, to read and write about, to… Continue reading Existential Angst
Last night I noticed that the scallions I put in a glass on the windowsill have put out new growth and it felt like some kind of miracle. I frantically looked in the fridge for other produce I could save--we waste so much!--and saw that we have at least two more green onions I can… Continue reading It’s Alive! and Upcycling
As a graduate student and "knowledge worker," most of my life revolves around processing information. One of my academic fields--information science--deals with how people gather and disseminate information, and how people turn it into knowledge, while the other--history--involves gathering and interpreting a vast amount of data to craft an argument about the past. I use… Continue reading Knowledge Work, Emotional Labor
I have a little yellow Daisy on my front porch that I’ve been trying to keep alive for a few weeks. I’m not doing a very good job of it. The flower lives life on a strange carnival ride of forgetfulness, swinging wildly from healthy, golden vitality to a state of near-death droopiness over the… Continue reading The Daisy
Penny on a rainy day.
This week I’ve been spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Like many Americans, I've spent my entire life on a weight loss “journey,” but the only times I’ve ever had any success have been those times when I truly take ownership of everything I eat and drink. This means planning meals and cooking… Continue reading Make it Yourself: Starting My Home Cooking Journey
There is an overgrown patch in the middle of my backyard that sprung up last month when winter began to gasp away. I remember it happened all of a sudden. The grass was not short—it rarely is in my yard, sadly—but subdued. More bohemian gardeners might have almost called it respectable. But then it rained… Continue reading Field Notes: Spanish Needles in the Mohawk Patch
