Variations on a Theme

I want to try an experiment where I wear the same thing everyday for some length of time. I am debating between these:

Black Suits

Dickies Jumpsuits

Tracksuits

Shortsleeves w/ Bow Tie

Your input would be appreciated.

Night Owl

I have fought it for years. But this week I decided to give in and to admit it to myself and to the world. Here it is:

I am a night owl.

Of course, I've always known this about myself. I am more productive at night, I love the solitude, the darkness, and the artificial light. I love sleeping in--even if I get as much sleep as I would otherwise, just knowing that I don't have to get up and get work done before I go to class allows me to sleep more soundly. When I wake up, I don't fe

el the panic of a new day and all the work I have to do--because I did it all the night before. I can leisurely shower, read the news, maybe even make breakfast (aka lunch) and then run errands or go to class or whatever. Then in the evening I can see my friends, make dinner, and then at 10 or 11 (depending on how much I have to do) I can get to work until 3 or 4. Sleep until noon. Rinse and repeat.

I have repressed my inner night owl for sometime because there is something in our culture that looks down on it--all that early to bed/early to rise stuff. But my body just doesn't work the way Benjamin Franklin thinks it ought to--and I refuse to feel guilty if my body is happier getting work done after everyone else goes to bed.

Spring 2010 Essay Signing Tour

I will be in Utah February 27 through March 6. I will be on hand to sign copies of any of these my latest essays:

Speculative Innocence: Violence, Sexuality, and the Figure of the Child in Science Fiction

“Ugly Bags of Mostly Water;” or, the Alien Self: Humanism’s Assimilation of the Alien in Star Trek: The Next Generation

“Poetry is Passion:” The Ontology of Words in Wordsworth

Or to just hang out.

Kindling

Christmas 2009

I couldn't remember the last time I was surprised on Christmas morning, until Christmas 2009. At some point during each of the last few holiday seasons I overheard my mom talking to someone on the phone saying something like, "this year I decided to just give the kids money." Which is fine, I suppose. While part of me wished I could be surprised on Christmas morning, most of me was just amused that each year she would act like this was some new thing; the fact of the matter is overhearing this conversation had become somewhat of a holiday tradition for me. But this year I was surprised. There were no conversations to overhear and my mom was surprisingly tightlipped about the gifts. She even refused to let me in when she was wrapping gifts. Needless to say, I was excited... and nervous. What if she thought she picked out the perfect gift but got me one of these?

Instead, she--with the help of my sister--got me a Kindle DX.

E-Readers

I have been thinking about E-Readers for sometime. My objections to them were the same as everyone else's and ran something like this:

"But I love the experience of holding a book!"

"I love the smell of the pages!"

"I love having a personal interaction with printed page!"

"Books are just more genuine, more real!"

"I love to underline and write in my book!"

I got over the first four objections pretty easily. Sure I like books as objects, I collect old science fiction books and I would not want to get rid of them. But I also like vinyl records. And I also like printed photographs. The point is that having a kindle doesn't mean I can't still collect books, actually it means I can focus on only collecting the books I actually want to own.

But the last objection was a serious one because I read for a living, I need to be able to mark and highlight. The kindle does that. And does it better than a book. And it allows me to search my notes and the book.

So this semester I have been reading as many of my school books as I can on my kindle, and I've loved it.

But the greatest thing about the kindle is its screen. It is not backlit, so it looks like paper and it doesn't strain your eyes like a computer screen does.

I like to make things

So I made my kindle a cover out of a book I found at a thrift store.

A microfiber cloth acts as a screen protector/cleaner. It still needs to be hemmed along the bottom edge.

Securing the kindle to the cover was the tricky part. I debated different options such as elastic straps, but those proved both too tricky and too unreliable. I settled on these. "These" are picture hanging strips. They keep the kindle firmly in place but they come off rather easily without leaving a residue if I ever decide I don't want them.

(Get Thee) To A Cannery

Where are you going, little can?
Can I come with you?
Free from keeping
From preserving all but my restlessness.

You, can, halt.
Now, what keeps you, little can,
From your wind-blown path,

From preserving all but my restlessness?