The other day I had a semi-complicated transaction that required my presence at the bank, something that could not just be done at the ATM outside. Having to go into the bank is an errand I rarely look forward to. When running errands, I often find myself doing everything I can to keep from interacting with customer service people. I keep my head down, avoid eye contact, complete my transaction, and get out of there. Usually it’s because I am simply trying to check off items on my list. But it is probably also because ever since COVID lockdowns, I am shockingly willing to go out in public looking like I just rolled out of bed. (Yes, I am working on that!).
Continue reading “Thoughts on Chatting with Strangers”
You can accomplish great things in this life.
The question posed on Facebook went something like this (and I paraphrase): Is listening to an audiobook the same as reading a book? If one listened to an audiobook, can that be added to a “books I read this year” list?
Every day, I wake up in awe. Every day. Every day I set my alarm for a half an hour before sunrise, and when the alarm rings, I struggle to open my eyes before turning toward the window at my left. Through trial and error, I have discovered that by this point, a faint glow will line the horizon. There have been a couple of mornings where cloud cover hides that glow, but most mornings, the orange color that swells and deepens as the earth rotates to reveal the sun propels me out of bed.
One of the decisions I made for 2017 was to do things that are difficult. One night I was thinking that it had been too long since I did something that was really hard for me, where I really challenged myself.
A story I relate to my classes each semester regards a proposal made a number of years back in, I believe, the Oakland Unified School District. It stated that the required literature assigned to high school students must be written by authors who reflect the gender and race makeup of the student body. So, for example, if the required reading included ten novels, and fifty percent of the student body were female, then five of those books would need to be written by women authors. And if sixty percent of the student body were Hispanic (which was the word of choice at that time for people who came from countries whose primary language was Spanish), then six of the authors would need to be Hispanic. And so forth.
The Writing Life 