Tuesday tidbits

The sun came out today, in brief little peeks anyway. It was a nice contrast to the past five (six?) days of misty gloominess. It’s been dark, cold and damp.
The trees on Mass Ave., the main street in my neighborhood, seem to have gone from green to instant brown. All of the sudden there are [...]

What I am reading in school this week #5

Calmer

Things are calming down here, compared to last week, anyway. In the rioting after Game 7 of the ALCS an  undergrad from my school got hit in the eye with a police pepper spray bullet and died. Classes were canceled on Friday out of respect for her and those grieving for her.
I went to school [...]

Red Sox Win!!!

dose of humility … or something

I have learned several things about my writing habits in the past couple of days:
1) I procrastinate. (Ok, I already knew that.)
2) I stubbornly cling to sentences, words, whole ideas for stories even when I know they don’t work.
3) I hate revising my work. (See #2)
4) I am a slow writer who tries to achieve [...]

autumn in Boston-land

B. and I went for a long walk today along the Charles before he had to catch his plane back to San Francisco. It was (at least earlier today) a fine fall day: lower 60s, sunny and a little breezy. We took the T to Harvard, then walked the few blocks over to the riverside [...]

the blight on the academic landscape

Yep, that’s right. Papers.
It’s been a good five, possibly ten years since I had to write an academic paper. Just in case it’s been a while for you (um, reader?) let me remind you what it’s like:
It sucks.
All day today (really, all day, minus an hour and a half for a workout) I have been [...]

What I am writing in school #1

It occurred to me that in addition to my weekly reading lists, it might be nice to detail what I am writing (since that’s the whole point). So here we are. Since this is the first installment, a recap of what I have already written:
- a 10-page short story, “Sabbatical”
- a 3-page short short [...]

What I am reading in school this week #4

apple picking

Yesterday B. and I joined his brother and sister-in-law for a trip out of the city to pick apples. I have never been apple picking, that I can remember. Apples don’t grow so well in Southern Maryland where I grew up — too hot, I guess — and so I haven’t ever taken part in [...]