Something I thought about:
- I appreciate “assigned reading" from book groups and organizations because I encounter material I probably wouldn’t otherwise pick up. I read Klara and the Sun for Olin, and I’ve read and liked Ishiguro’s work in the past, but this wasn’t a text I was anxious to read — it wasn’t even on my radar. But I’m glad I read it. I’ve been thinking through the text, and I was surprised to discover that I encountered the text as if I were in Europe. Much is made about a particular character’s English accent, and I found this very jarring until I realized that the book was probably set in a dystopian US. English accents weren’t remarkable where I lived before. But I suppose they would be here… wherever that may be.
Something I did:
- Went to a car show.
- Saw a monarch right after it emerged from its chrysalis.
- Helped a baby robin that fell out of its nest and injured its wing. It took a team effort, but after four days, the baby bird made it — the parents were trying to teach it to fly and it was healthy and its wings were working!
- Had my first day at Olin, where I’m teaching creative writing this fall.
- Started the Sealey Challenge. Decided not to do the Sealey Challenge but to follow the spirit of it and read some poetry every day. I want to spend time with poems and collections, and one full collection/day is too much for me to process or appreciate in any meaningful way. I like my version — and I am really reading poetry every day and slowly working my way through my TBR pile — not skimming what’s sent through my daily subscriptions as usual. The part about reading collections is important — reading work in context and seeing the interplay of poems — only my pacing differs.
- Completed additional rounds of paperwork. Started another set. Eventually we will finish this move.
Something I read:
- Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
- I Do Everything I’m Told by Megan Fernandes which I picked up because of this terrific New Yorker review by Kamran Javadizadeh
