2021 was really ok for me, all things considered. In the aftermath of 2020, where the trauma continued for many people, my word for the year, compassion, was really something I embraced deeply. I incorporated compassion into my parenting and my teaching pretty successfully. 2021 brought some great relief: In person visits with friends and family, some travel with car trips, occasionally going out to eat or to the movies, and lots of outdoor activities. 2021 Updates Even though I never posted my goals to my blog, I made a lovely spread for them in my journal. Here’s the list with my updates: M ..read more

NOTE: I recently found this post, but I never actually posted it to my blog. I’m doing that now as I post my update for 2021 and goals for 2022! I guess that perfectly sums up 2020 right there. My word for 2020 was mindful. My intentions for the beginning of the year seem starkly different than what 2020 actually brought. The first three months of the year feel like a different lifetime than the last nine. Nevertheless, mindfulness with a useful intention, and the pandemic brought more mindfulness and time to consider and plan my responses to others. Here were my goals for 2020: Meditation, pl ..read more

Rest in peace Lilith, 2002-2020 Lilith asleep on my lap It’s really hard to write a blog post about a cat who was mine for almost eighteen years. If she were my kid, I would have just sent her off to her senior year of high school. She was my baby, my best friend, and my trusted companion. For most of her life until her recent illness, she slept next to me every night. She moved five times with me across two states and three counties. My relationship with Lilith is older than my relationship with Darren. Lilith very clearly claimed me as her human from the very start. She was a lap cat and sat ..read more

For 2019, my words were connection and kindness. This year brought a lot of changes to my life. I was diagnosed with a chronic illness in March, we had a 10 now 11 year old come live with us in July, I came back from sabbatical and started in my new role as Director of Writing at Juniata. 2019 Goals and Updates Morning Routine. SOMETIMES The goal was four simple things: meditation, breakfast, planning, and getting dressed (an important sabbatical goal!) About half way through the year when sabbatical ended, the goal shifted to mediation and planning, as breakfast and getting dressed became pre ..read more

For 2018, my words were challenge and growth. I turned 40 and really started to care less about what people think about me, which was stressful at first but ultimately has become refreshing. It’s nice to have tenure and age on my side for that. I only have so many years in my life, and it’s important that I do what I want with them. In 2018, there were a lot of deaths of young and older people, some of whom were close to me or to my close friends. Aunt Sophie, Brandon, Barry, Esther, Don, and my mom’s co-workers, rest in peace. It was emotional, and I turned to vegetarianism as I did after my ..read more

I thought it would be fun since seeing lots of lists and youtube videos to list some of my top 10 things of 2017. I am going to start with books, but I might do games and other things as well. 10. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng This has been on my list for awhile, and I even already owned the audiobook but hadn’t gotten around to reading it. When Ng’s second book came out this year and got accolades, I decided to read the first. This book starts with the death of one of the main characters, Lydia, and then flashes back and forward to follow the experiences of the other characters in ..read more

Politically, 2017 was quite a traumatizing year. What I learned is that I’ve been pretty blind to a lot of the pain in others’ lives as I’ve comfortably been living mine. Openness to seeing my privilege and standing up for justice and taking time to rest and recuperate became much more important. Personally, 2017 was a pretty great year. I got tenure. We moved to the State College area which has been awesome. After we moved, lots of friends and family visited us. We bought me a new car. I traveled a fair bit, including a trip to Israel with my family. Here are my 2017 Updates 1. Cross-stitch ..read more

The theme of this week seems to be bridging worlds. I am rewatching Babylon 5, and I just started season 2 where one of my favorite female characters in sci-fi ever, Delenn, has undergone a transformation that has caused her to be part Minbari and part human. She claims this transformation will allow her to bridge two worlds so that there will never be war again. Bridging two worlds seems important in the country we live in, though I am not certain I have what Delenn has, the ability to sacrifice to make it happen. A place where I’ve seen people accept differences and come together is in ..read more

I thought I would dedicate this blog post to progress on knitting and reading. Also, since my reading has been challenging traditional notions of what it means to be human, I want to talk a little about my thoughts on this theme. I am currently knitting my birthday socks, a pair of socks for myself for my birthday month of January out of a favorite yarn. This year I’m using a sock blank custom dyed for me by Fibernymph in the colorways “Mirror, Mirror On My Yarn.” I’m using a size 1 Hiya Hiya sharp needle and knitting a fish lips kiss heel. The yarn is gorgeous, and knitting from a sock blank ..read more

2021 was really ok for me, all things considered. In the aftermath of 2020, where the trauma continued for many people, my word for the year, compassion, was really something I embraced deeply. I incorporated compassion into my parenting and my teaching pretty successfully. 2021 brought some great relief: In person visits with friends and family, some travel with car trips, occasionally going out to eat or to the movies, and lots of outdoor activities. 2021 Updates Even though I never posted my goals to my blog, I made a lovely spread for them in my journal. Here’s the list with my updates: M ..read more