April 7

Thanks for listening.

1965

We finished the gym tests today. I actually climbed up the ropes. I got up as far as we were supposed to, almost. We fooled around, mostly.

On the whole, it was a boring, uneventful day.

AND I REALLY COULDN'T CARE LESS!!

Comment 2006

Now that's a landmark day for a severe acrophobe!

1979

I have been alternately working on my ECON paper and reading Dorothy Sayers all day long. It is now just after 8 PM I should spend the next two hours studying Income for my next exam. 

Damn! I am tired. Pooped. Sinus headache throbbing away over one eye. Stiff neck. Alas.

1984

I got a really nice letter from Mom today. With much trepidation, I had written to her about staying with us permanently, because it just seemed to be one of our options. Her reply was a warm and loving “thanks, but no thanks - - not right now.” She’s looking forward to moving near us and having a nice new place and continuing to enjoy her independence. 

That’s a relief. I was looking forward to having her closer, but this house really wouldn’t work long term.

1998

Yesterday a friend asked me if I was a poet, and I said “no”, just like the women in the quilting group said they weren’t artists. What would it take to make me say yes? I would love to have all my poems in one place. I wonder if I can even find them?

2023

I have been thinking quite a bit about writing lately. I try to write everyday, and usually succeed. This project has helped, by giving me a sort of daily “prompt” to get the juices flowing. As my writing buddies know, I am trying to forget everything I learned about academic writing, in order to re/un/dis/cover a more readable, enjoyable voice. It’s there in my journals, though it has changed over the years.

My other big writing project is The Book Which Will Not Be Named, my third book about gender and clothing. The first two got me promotions and salary increases, but did not have the social impact I had hoped they would. After forty years of writing about the the subject, here I am in a time when courses in gender studies are being banned and some people are more worried about drag queens and transgender kids than actual fascists who are trying to destroy democracy. I know exactly how Cassandra felt during the siege of Troy, as the giant wooden horse rolled through the gates.

Still, I warm up each day with another layer or two or three of my life. Then I see what can be done to turn a very acceptable scholarly book into something readable. Something that will make a difference. Thanks for listening.

2024

One of the benefits of this project is finding so many lost poems! I used to joke that I wrote one poem a decade, but in fact I have written nearly 50. So nice to have them all in one place in my Scrivener vault.

And really, thanks for listening.