Thesaurus Writer

Read more today from Understanding Poetry . Studied French. For dinner made a salad of green beans, red bell peppers, and watercress. This afternoon I had a craving for McDonald's French fries, so I went and got some. Finished watching season 1 of Stumptown .

Studied French this morning. Read several more chapters from The Flowering of New England . I went to the grocery store today and bought the following: 2 pounds strawberries (already from California now; local strawberries are done) 1 bag frozen mango 1 bag frozen cherries body oil 3 cans evaporated milk 2 avocados Made a strawberry pie:  https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/15836/strawberry-pie-ii/ . My gelatinous mixture was a lot paler than in the pictures. Maybe it was because I used flour instead of cornstarch. Or maybe I didn't mash the strawberries enough. Still, I ate almost half the pie today. Watched a few episodes of Stumptown .

Yesterday I met J.B. for coffee at Guglhupf. We sat outside on the patio. More people there than I expected. We talked about the virus and how economists could say something meaningful about the present moment. Work they don't value suddenly showing its value, such as cooking meals at home. I told him about my podcast ambitions, and he suggested a few podcasts that could be models for me: Michael Lewis's podcast, a podcast about presidential elections titled Wicked Game, and a podcast called Origins, which is about TV shows.  Last night A.R. brought Chinese over for dinner. Today we had an outing. We drove to Pittsboro and had breakfast under the pecan trees at the Small Cafe. Then we drove to Saxapahaw, which really is just a cross-roads village--no sidewalks, no place to walk. We tried going to the island park there, but decided there were too many people. We went inside the general store for a few minutes. I bought a roll of paper towels and a jar of muscadine jelly. We then

I basically nap from four to six everyday now. Today, I napped from four until seven. It's not that I'm not sleeping well. I typically go to bed at midnight and wake up at 8:00 or so. I think it's just my way of dealing with the boredom of living during a pandemic--and to escape from the depredations of the federal government. I started reading a book that I've known about since I think eleventh-grade English: Van Wick Brooks's The Flowering of New England . Strange how that book--or at least its title--has been with me for so long. It's a history of the literature that came of out New England in the nineteenth century. So, Emerson, Whitman, Hawthorne, Longfellow, et al. It's written in an impressionist, conversational tone--not academic at all. In fact, there are no sources cited. The author calls his style the narrative style. It doesn't read like a novel; I wouldn't go that far. But it reads as character sketches. The first two or three chapters s

So my niece H. has been in labor all day. Her labor was induced--not sure why. I've been lacking motivation--not wanting to read another word of an academic article. Managed to finish editing a client's paper on Cowles and the Theory of Games and a copyedited paper for P&S  (the intro to a special issue on societies under stress). Been reading nineteenth-century American poetry. Not much lover poetry there. Mostly nature poetry. Memorizing Whitman. Didn't leave the apartment all day. Been watching Marcella . Season 2 was pretty intense. Am now on Season 3.

I finished edited a book proposal and sample chapter on Japanese historians of economics for a client. I reviewed a copyedited article on support for welfare programs for Politics & Society . Read William Cullen Bryant. Am unsure now about my podcast ideas, except that I want the episodes to be little stories that deal with poems or poets. I sampled several poetry podcasts today, and they were are mediocre at best and dull at worst. Most are simply recorded interviews. None had solo hosts.

I spent most of the day listening to a Duke webinar on being black at Duke. Faculty, administrators, and students shared their race-related research and their experiences with racism, at Duke and elsewhere. There was big talk from the provost about improving conditions and hiring more blacks. We'll see what happens. The president seems committed to change. The past several days I have been obsesses with a podcast I'm developing. The podcast will be on poetry. Right now, I'm thinking of either episodes that survey the literature on a poet as a whole or on a particular poem. What will I enjoy more? Went for three short walks today, probably totaling around 50 minutes. Another cloudy, drizzly day in the 60s.

I spent most of the day rewriting the script for the pilot episode (on Longfellow) of my podcast. Having access to all the databases and journals via the Duke library is simply an embarrassment of riches.  Took at two-hour nap. Shaved and showered. 

Still obsessing about audio work and gear. Began reading about Apollinaire; he'll be the subject of a future podcast episode, possibly my first. Had to take the car to the shop today for an oil change and inspection, and to see why the check-engine light is on. They were busy and didn't finish the job today, so I'm carless at the moment.  Wrote a post about the whistleblowing article in P&S for my Professorspeak blog.

I'm totally obsessing over audio work--and I love it. I am working up a podcast idea, Lives of the Poets: thirty-minute episodes, once a week. I've written and recorded two versions of a 5-minute demo, on Longfellow. I've ordered a new mic--a Rode NT1--and a new audio interface. I also just ordered a used Marantz digital recorder, like the one I have at the house in Memphis. All I want to do is play around with audio and podcasting.  I went to AR's house last night and helped her put up a portable canopy on her back deck. I spent most of the weekend writing and recording a practice episode of a personal podcast--but I think I'll abandon that idea in favor of Lives of the Poets. I thought of having two podcasts, but one will be plenty. It's turned hot here, which for me now means 80 degrees or more. Chalk that up to age. I can't take the heat like I used to.

I spent most of the day writing the script for this week's podcast and most of this evening playing around with recording and gain levels. I'm amazed at how much fiddling around I've needed to do to find what I think is the right combination of things: low gain, low recording level, speak as loud as I want to, sit on the futon while recording. Or maybe stand. And in the bathroom. Went for a 40-minute walk first thing this morning. I wanted to get out before it got too hot. Studied French and Old English. Continued memorizing section 4 of "Song of Myself."

Going to bed early tonight. Made a pot of lentils for dinner. Listened to a live-streamed interview with Duke's Sandy Darity on the current moment. He says the number one thing to do is to completely wipe out the wealth gap with reparations. I ordered his book in which he lays out the case.  Had a zoom meeting to celebrate Julian's graduation from high school. Read the review of the new Longfellow book in the New Yorker . Yes, Longfellow.  Studied French. 

Led a two-hour writing workshop this morning on principles of clear writing: characters as subjects, actions as verbs. It's a mantra, isn't it? Reviewed and forwarded some new submissions to Politics & Society to the current filter partner. Talked to my Uncle Guy about podcasts. He's feeling much better than he did a few weeks ago. AR came over for dinner. I made French toast with challah bread and cooked some bacon in the oven. The new New Yorker and volume 2 of The American Tradition in Literature , revised, copyright 1962, arrived today. The anthology is in great condition and even has the dust jacket. Studied French and Old English. Began memorizing section 4 of "Song of Myself."

Spent most of the day still preparing for my writing workshop on Thursday. Wrote a post for my Professorspeak blog on racial pay parity in the federal government. Studied French. Made pancakes for a late-night supper.

I spent most of today and this evening preparing for a writing workshop I'm giving on Thursday. We'll be discussing two principles of clear writing: characters as subjects and actions as verbs. I'm avoiding the news tonight. Either remove this administration and McConnell et al. or begin civil war. I'm ready for both. But this sitting here unable to do anything about the situation is killing me.