i know, joan, i’ve thought about this a lot lately

Whenever I hear about the woman’s trip, which is often, I think a lot about nothin’-says-lovin’-like-something-from-the-oven and the Feminine Mystique and how it is possible for people to be the unconscious instruments of values they would strenuously reject on a conscious level, but I do not mention this to Barbara.

–Joan Didion, ”Slouching Towards Bethlehem”

 

answering phones in the grad school crypt, monday morning

Meet me in my daydreams: People who press dried flowers and leaves; Susan Sontag lovers; chefs who enjoy working with collard greens; Shinto gardeners; Girls who wear fake eyelashes and large hoop earrings.

Safe Love

by Lydia Davis

She was in love with her son’s pediatrician. Alone out in the country–could anyone blame her.

There was an element of grand passion in this love. It was also a safe thing. The man was on the other side of a barrier. Between him and her: the child on the examining table, the office itself, the staff, his wife, her husband, his stethescope, his beard, her breasts, his glasses, her glasses, etc.

 

 

book

plenty of ideas

…but not much information!

I want to move to a little house this summer. This is for three reasons: light sleeper; certain hopeful ideas about houses; want a dog. I feel that these are middling to good reasons, although I feel the need to justify this idea a lot…like I should be fine without these things. But a tired and dogless Wallace is not as good as a less-tired, dogged Wallace. So, in summary, it’s something I want to do.

birds seen around my house so far

• sparrow
• eastern bluebird
• cardinal
• bluejay
• a whole flock of cedar waxwings, easy to identify due to their bright yellow tails