July 29, 2023

Something I thought about:

• This week was particularly packed, and I was thinking about pacing — how quickly we usually move and when we can pause. I turned a few pieces of writing around, and for the first time in a while, I don’t owe anything to anyone. Sure, I need to work on my syllabus and plan the fall, but the writing I do next is up to me. This is pretty exciting, but I’m also anxious to get settled so that I can get into a rhythm in my own space.

Something I did:

• Went to the Media Lab with the fam so that the child could play test a new programming environment.
• Completed copy edits for one paper.
• Sent additional clarifications after copy edits for another paper.
• Had an offer accepted.
• Started to get set up at Olin.
• Had delicious dosas with an old friend.

Something I read:

• A profile of PJ Harvey who remains a favorite:

I often think back to that time when I first got a guitar, when I was sixteen or seventeen. Prior to that, I’d written lots of words. When I saw that I could put words together with music, I remember it feeling like gates opening, this joy. That was what I’d been missing. That’s what I was waiting for. But, in order to find it, I had to be patient. It returned in a different way. I learned something about not just going about my work. It had got to a point where it was actually limiting me, because it was stopping my joy. Now I’m much more in touch with responding to the joy of making as it comes upon me, following it. As you get older, you let down your barriers a bit, because you realize you can. When you’re younger, you feel like you’ve got to hold everything together, or everything is gonna go wrong. As you get older, you realize, No, I can let go of it.