Literary Passings

J. D. Salinger, author of Catcher in the Rye, died yesterday.  He was 91.

Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States, died yesterday.  He was 87.

Catharsis

Sometimes we should all just stand in the snow and scream at the top of our lungs.

Moon Report:  94% of full.  Waxing gibbous.
Outside the Window:  Dark

A laugh

Since I have been talking about American views of other cultures in my class, I couldn't resist posting this here.  Obviously this is an example of how Americans are perceived as a culture in other parts of the world, but still I think this is a good mirror for the topic.  This commercial should never go to waste.

Moon Report: 0% of full. New Moon.
Outside the Window: Melty and grey. Getting muddy.

Lazy reading

I think my brain is atrophied.  I have taken to using audio books to supply my craving for literature (or what passes for it).  That way I can listen to the book while doing other things...like grading papers or surfing the web or knitting.  I could pretend that I was multi-tasking, but that really isn't it.  I'm just lazy.

Currently I am listening to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.  I couldn't wade through the book in written form--I didn't have the patience and my mind kept wandering.  However, I like listening to it on CD.  I can easily follow the story.  I can't do much for "multi-tasking" while listening because it is not unlike reading Dickens or Melville.  The most I can do is knit...but maybe my shawl will be done by the time I finish the book--26 discs!

The next books in my audio cue are The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk.

I am working on a variation of the Eye of Partridge Shawl.  I am working it in a worsted weight yarn because, let's face it, I want something snuggly when I curl up.  The yarn is nothing fancy--a blue/cream/browns variegated acrylic called Retro-Modern Ombre from I Love This Yarn! [Hobby Lobby].  The stitch really helps avoid pooling and makes a wonderful texture.

Because the original pattern is a really tight V shape, I decided to modify the pattern to widen the V.  I didn't want a shawl to end up dragging around like Morticia Addams' dress just to make the width as long as I like it.  So I am adding additional yarn overs--I keep changing my mind about the pattern so I have ripped everything out four times at last count...

Ok, as I am writing this, the system snow promised to us started to fall.  We're supposed to get 2-4 inches of system snow before the lake effect snow starts to kick in.  But right now, although it is coming down steadily, it is that wispy micro snow that just seems to make the roads slick and icy.  It will have to get thicker and heavier if it wants to do more than annoy people...

Moon Report:  48% of full.  Just shy of the quarter moon.

Outside the Window:  Snow.  About 24 degrees (coldish).  Overcast.

Up during the wee earlies

Sometimes insomnia is worth it.  Last night my back yard was beautiful in the almost full moonlight.  The white blue of the snow and the blue black of creeping tree shadows were picture perfect.  If only I'd thought to actually take a picture!!!

This brings me to another resolution for the New Year:  to share.  I am not exactly an open book--even with my friends and family.  I don't think I have always been so closed, but I have noticed it getting worse as the years pass.  I hoard secrets about things that I feel are private or emotionally close to me.  So I am going to violate that habit in the worst way possible:  I am going to post an unpublished poem from my dissertation.

How to Take it Back


In the earliest morning light
she shuts off the car, steps out and the snow
she brushes back on the windshield readjusts itself.
Everything has accumulated overnight.  Frigid
air steals the bitter choke in her throat as it pulls away
from her, as she walks backward through the door.
Whole and without question the dead air swallows her,
shackles her in the heavy moments.  The rooms are filled
with coffee and shower soap, with dribbled words.
Silence spreads like unfurling leaves.


The pre-dawn darkness erodes the morning 
and again harsh streetlights filter through the bedroom window catching
the isolated curve of her icy hipbone.  She remains
uncovered, eyes open to his stiff and breakable
backbone, the uncrossable line.  His shoulder 
half hidden by a blanket, the murky and shadowed skin.
Orange light squares the walls.


He returns to her, faces her with steady eyes.
She rolls into the crook of his arm, cheek against ribcage,
feeling each contraction of his heart.  She pretends
to be awake and the stars have reappeared
as eyes of angels peeking between the arms of clouds.
These two begin to breathe as if it is their first breath in this life.
Calves and elbows and navels--this continuous loop of flesh
and madness.  Where they fasten together like hooks and eyes unfastens.
They uncreate the form of it all, bodies
awkward and angled and moving.
They rebuild themselves.


He is shadow and everywhere the same color,
the color of blue ghosts over his knees, earlobes, and fingers.
She is blind with yellow light from the street outside--
it might be snowing.


"Blue Under the Moon." Diss.  U of Idaho, 2001.

Since I'm feeling a bit poet-y today, here's the link to "Cold Watercolor" by Wyatt Prunty.  This is The Writer's Almanac poem for today (January 3, 2010).

Moon Report:  88% of full.  Waning gibbous.
Outside the Window:  Bright blue sunny.  Snow glare.  Cold.

Geeking for the New Year

Ok.  Can I say how excited I am to see the new season of Chuck?  I know.  Not my usual cup of tea, but it is funny and just seems to be what interests me lately.  Also, the music for the show--awesome!

Chuck Season 3 Preview [January 10, 2010 on NBC]

This isn't a video or anything, but it is a song from a band I adore.  Luisa's Bones by Crooked Fingers.

A Road Map

Sometimes it is easier to find your way when you already know where you are going.  These questions are from Julia Cameron's book The Vein of Gold on pages 105-106.  I think they are useful when I need a reminder about what things move and motivate me.  Think of them as a useful compass...


1.  Name five favorite films.
2.  Name your favorite childhood book.
3.  Name three characters you loved.
4.  Name three characters you would love to play.
5.  Name three topics you think about.
6.  Name three topics you read about.
7.  What was your childhood book about?
8.  What are your movies about?
9.  Do your movies and books have anything in common?
10.  Do your characters, your reading, and your thinking connect up somehow with your movies and your childhood book?


Other helpful sites
The Happiness Project Toolbox
Authentic Happiness
The Last Lecture of Randy Pausch


Moon Report:  95% of full.  Waning gibbous.
Outside the Window:  Cold.  Partly cloudy complete with muted snow glare.