READ ALL ABOUT IT
Since 2012, I’ve been writing about books. And the act of reading. And the importance of story and narrative. But, mostly, the underlying theme of all I write is how taking a moment to stop and digest some longform text — instead of scrolling, instead of watching a video, instead of multitasking — can be one of the most grounding things we can do for ourselves. Here’s the one-stop online home for all this writing.
You can read more about me and my work by moseying over here. Want to peruse periodic “essay drops” — excerpts from my work-in-progress essay collection about Homesickness? Here ya go.
Obsessed With Home
Obsessions go hard, I guess. It’s not a shocker that I’m obsessed with the idea of home — and, specifically, that complex feeling of homesickness, which is its flipside I suppose. Matt and I are just about done emptying the house that will be undergoing a big ol’ renovation, and today I came across a box of all my old clips from the Tufts Observer. Here’s the first thing I ever wrote for the publication where I eventually creeped my way up to Editor-in-Chief. Color me surprised. (Not at all.) I didn’t know what I was writing, really; I just knew that my background and points of reference were a little different from the throngs of students mostly from NJ, NY, MA, and sometimes CT, so I guess I needed to get pen to paper to make sense of that somehow. The specter hanging over all this wondering via simplistic writing was my parents’ cross-country move to Washington, DC right before I wrote this. (ie Where is home?!?!)
Boston Literary and Library Love
Here are two snippets of Boston literary/library love for you today.
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Amy’s Version
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Amy’s Version. Matt and I have been in Charlotte for a few weeks but have taken turns going back to Massachusetts on weekends. This weekend was my turn, and when I got up at 4 am on Friday to get to the airport, I saw that my flight was cancelled. Flying to Boston was going to be essentially impossible until Monday. Not helpful! After going through possible parent-less scenarios (could our son Uber to our house from his school, get our car, and criss-cross New England alone to these appointments at colleges?), we decided I would fly into a different airport and figure out the last part when I landed.
Growing Up Rich
“But isn’t all art derivative?” = a short topic of discussion this weekend with a friend.
At the Bottom of the River
I cannot stand winter in the Northeast US. I don’t mind the cold (rather like it, actually), don’t mind the snow (love, it actually), it’s not like I have seasonal affective disorder and need to move to Florida (no) or get a special lamp. Rather, I just really, really dislike the grey-ness and I really, really, really dislike the barren trees that all look dead. “Look at that marsh over there,” says Matt with an admiring tone on our drive. “You mean the one with what looks like toothpicks sticking out of it?” I think. Pass! Sorry to offend any diehard NE’ers here, but well...
Public Benefit and Jack Kerouac
The Jack Kerouac Foundation is on the road, searching for donations. OK, dumb #ontheroad joke — and the Foundation is not on the road, per se. BUT it has kicked off a capital campaign as it seeks funding for what will hopefully be The Jack Kerouac Museum and Performance Center, repurposing the former St. Jean Baptiste Church in Lowell, MA, where Kerouac once served as an altar boy and where his funeral was held in 1969. This was first reported in the Boston Globe in early January 2022…which I found out about because a news story from Boston.com showed up in my newsfeed the other day sharing that architectural renderings are now complete and public. (See pictures, obviously! And btw, all 4 images are courtesy of The Jack Kerouac Foundation & SCB Architects.)
Serena
I mentioned in a post yesterday that I had read the novel Serena by Ron Rash and couldn’t get my mind off the idea of “power.” Here is all I could think of while reading Serena: Claire Underwood from House of Cards. (Played so wickedly and convincingly by Robin Wright.) OMG OMG OMG.
On Homesickness
It’s a beautiful spring day in Boston. Finally! Finally? Everywhere I’ve lived, the air feels different and the seasons emerge differently, yet except for North Carolina — where we lived for five years — spring has never been an “early” season. So I don’t know why it continually surprises me when it shows itself so “late.”
Post-Pandemic Reading Skills
“Pandemic Has Pulled Reading Skills Down Into ‘New Territory.’” We saw this coming — and this NYT article explains that the US was seeing lower literacy levels even before 2020 — but this just makes me so very sad. There’s a lot at play here: missed school (both remote and in-person), teaching vacancies, fewer educators trained in phonics and phonetic awareness.
‘Planets in My Head, Philosophy’
‘Planets in My Head, Philosophy.’ Yinka Shonibare.
Apeirogon
In college I took an art history class – for fun, I guess, since I don’t think it fulfilled any requirement. I traipsed over to the Museum of Fine Arts one Saturday with my friend Keith because I had to write a paper on Rothko. I did, and I managed to make it a 10-page paper. Not a BS paper, which I’m sure some would like to think. No, it was actually a magnificent afternoon at the MFA as Keith and I spent about an hour talking about just one solitary painting because nothing in this artist’s work is straightforward, despite surface simplicity. Rothko is tricky like that.
Fridays With Carol Shields: The Republic of Love
It’s #FridaysWithCarolShields, and I started re-reading The Republic of Love this week. I’m only about a quarter of the way through (I’m also trying to finish Lincoln in the Bardo!), but I’ll go ahead and put this up there with Small Ceremonies and The Stone Diaries as one of my favorites.
