1965
Marcia and T came over this afternoon for a "writing session" - Hah! We just danced, listened to the radio, and fooled around. Marcia can do the swim real neat. I just can't nod my head from side to side - or anything else.
WABC Radio is giving away Beatle records. All you have to do is write a letter - as many as you want. I wrote a one about V and my problems. It sounds stupid.
1979
Having all my classes yesterday helped get me back on the track. Now I have Friday back, which I didn't before. The county schools are still closed, so my junior high talk will have to be put off for two weeks. Instead, I can work on the 608 and my seminar. The microscopy course is going fairly slowly, and, while it may speed up, I don't expect it to right away. The American studies paper is also the Smithsonian paper, and that is proceeding slowly and smoothly. The 610 paper could actually be written now, or at least soon, if I could only block everything else out.
That's a large part of my problem this semester: the competing thoughts about my various projects. It's hard to sort them out. I wonder how I can make my mind more orderly?
1986
We had a really good snowstorm last night, probably about 4 inches of wet heavy snow. Looks wonderful. It's real snowman snow!
I think a lot about the next child these days, when I am alone in my thoughts, falling asleep, in the tub. Maybe I'm trying the idea out. Sometimes a little part of me says, "make life easy… Stick with one." But making life easy isn't what it's about, is it? Already I worry about childcare. But again, I think I can manage. By the way, it's 5:30 AM. Woke up to the tune of my nose dripping. I'm still tired, but this nose won't let me sleep. Maybe a little antihistamine and a bit of reading.
1997
Necessary features in a house:
1) A place to sit in the sun in the morning
2) A place to watch the sun in the evening
3) a piano
4) plenty of space for people to sit and visit
5) places to sit in the kitchen
6) a cushioned rocking chair
7) a plain but roomy bathroom with a big curved bathtub and a separate shower
8) a sunny spot for gardening
9) not much lawn to mow
10) not much walk to shovel
11) a glider or porch swing
12) bushes and trees for birds
13) a quilt on the bed
14) French doors!
15) lots of bookcases and shelves
16) at least 2 big sofas with soft cushions
-no chintz-
17) fresh flowers every day
18) a dog that sits in your lap
19) a sound system that reaches the whole house
20) an extremely good computer!
1998
Sunday was swell. Despite a busy church day of our “about your sexuality” class, and a meeting until nearly 3 PM, my day was satisfying and productive. I finished the mittens and the Belva Plain book. This weekend I also completely cleared out the west side of the basement. Next, the aquarium stuff.
I must admit to feeling very flighty this morning, impatient with settling down to do anything. This is quite a challenge, almost as it was at the beginning, about six weeks ago. But six weeks means I am halfway through the semester. So I will go on.
Strange synchronicity: the reappearance, twice in as many days, of works by Remar Sutton. I don't think it is their appearance that matters, but my noticing. Is it my dream of being a real writer, who writes things people read??
And now I realize that it is week eight of the semester, not week six that is really exciting.
Not only that, but the Artist’s Way chapter for this week exploded in my mind and head. It sets out so perfectly where I am and have been, and how my pursuit of the intellectual life has been the murderer of my creativity. How blunt and raw that truth is. How many people do we divest of their innate creative force by loading them them with methods and models and formulas? I am excited, energized and outraged. I feel like mounting a crusade. After all, what is the relationship between discipline and creativity? Between analysis and synthesis? Between criticism and creation?
Comment 1998
Once again, for the life of me, I make a point of mentioning a book that I have NO recollection of reading. Any thoughts what Remar Sutton wrote that aroused my desire to a real writer?
2008
Well, that was a day! I woke up at 8:30 and had barely settled down with my coffee than Jim reminded me that I was supposed to have caught a 6:30 a.m. train to New York for a conference at FIT today. Panic and hilarity for the next ten minutes as I changed my clothes and made a quick Acela reservation for the 10 a.m. train. Made the train with time to spare (thanks, Jim) and got to FIT in time for a nice lunch with a fashion educator from Sheffield, England, and was able to catch Julia Twigg’s excellent paper and even say hello.
I think it did help me think in new ways about the book project. The other papers were also helpful. I need to get in touch with the PhD student who did all the Lane Bryant research.
2023
Lordy! Sometimes when I dig through these journals they seem to have been written by different people. Maybe instead of doing this, I should donate a notebook each to a historical society in one of the states I’ve visited. (Anonymously, of course.) Let them sort it out, like the million Shakespeare-typing monkeys.
Wishlist score for the house we owned in 1997: 11/20
Wishlist score for our current home: 13/20
Still no French doors.
2024
A strangely satisfying day, considering I only managed about 45 minutes of writing, and a tiny bit of knitting. (Even worse, I attended a committee meeting that hit the “just shoot me now” point in under fifteen minutes.) And yet. I listened to more of the book about Springsteen’s Nebraska album, and it just gets better and better. I had lunch with a friend and laughed and laughed. I went to the afternoon opera and saw “Fire Shut Up in My Bones”, which completely blew me away. Then Jim and I went to our favorite brew pub with another friend. (Hi, L!). A thoroughly excellent February 23.