April 25, 2026
Something I thought about:
- We know some really good people. That’s it. I’ve continued my limited social media and news time — I check in to see what’s going on and then log out — and the distance is helping me get an idea of big picture issues while staying focused on things I can do. And this is reinforcing my appreciation for the people around me who keep trying to build things and connect people and simply make the world a better place. The people in our lives are creative and engaged and kind and that’s really everything, especially right now.
Something I did:
- Continued to chip away at the backlog. I moved several things forward, which felt good. School vacation week provided a nice pause that let me catch up on some tasks. In fact, I got ahead on a few things that aren’t due until next week…
- Zeroed my inbox — briefly, at least, and with great effort
- Attended a lot of very different meetings
- Had a day with the kiddo — lunch and a movie — and it was nice to have some time to just hang out
- Read
- Wrote a little
- Added to the poetry anthology I started in poetry school. This was one of Robert Pinsky’s assignments: to build a personal anthology of poems you love. He had rules — you should type them out and not copy/paste so that you get a feel for movement and line endings and such. I haven’t done this consistently over the years, but I’m always happy when I do.
Something I read:
- Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. I realized that I’d had so many discussions with people about Paul Farmer and his work but hadn’t actually read this book. One weird thing — the real story begins in 2000, right around when my college roommate took a course with Paul Farmer at Harvard Med (hence the discussions). I’m actually glad I read this after Good Prose because I enjoyed reading through the double lens of content and craft.
- Night Watch: Poems by Kevin Young
- More Roots by Alex Haley
