Forgetting to Celebrate 10 years of Words&Dirt Another December brings another Bookish Wisdom post. This will be the ninth year in a row I’ve done one of these, and I also just realized that September marked a full decade since I originally launched the blog. I have been so preoccupied with my efforts to become [...]
A Year of New Beginnings As we prepare to say goodbye to 2022 with the usual holiday celebrations, I am reflecting on some important life developments that came about this year. The most impactful of these was Jessie’s new job as McKinleyville High School’s teacher-librarian, which she started this fall. Landing a librarian position at [...]
We’ve Come So Far and We’re Right Back Where We Started What a strange year this has been! In some ways, 2021 felt like a time of incredible progress. COVID vaccinations became widely available, most schools and businesses resumed normal operations, and many people became more social and started reentering public spaces. There are also [...]
My Year of Bookish Wisdom 2020: Superlatives on Strike! You heard it here first: I am predicting that, in 2021, superlatives in every language around the world will join together in a globe-spanning strike. 2020 was just too much––they can’t take it anymore. “Worst” just collapsed from exhaustion and has been confined to quarters, “hardest” [...]
My Year of Bookish Wisdom 2019: War is Present and Peace is Possible As 2019 comes to a close, people around the world will be using the arbitrary milestone of a new decade to reflect on the last ten years and plan for the next ten. I wish I could say that either of these [...]
Introduction: Finding my Frame With each passing year, it seems the world is digging a bigger hole for itself. Whether it’s politics, war, technological disruption, hypercapitalism, climate change, or one of so many other global ills, anyone who’s paying attention has an endless list of things to lament. Yet the sun rises. We wake up, [...]
Introduction: A Portent of Chaos Those who know me well understand that my vision of humanity’s possible futures runs the gamut from wildly optimistic to oppressively grim. My cynical tendencies are received from my father, a man many have called “Eeyore“ after the droopy donkey that doled out gloomy auguries to the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre [...]
Introduction: A Year of Contradictions This last year was quite a ride. Without doubt, 2016 was one of the most dynamic years of my life, both in terms of personal development and world events. When I look back on it years from now, I expect to experience feelings of deep ambivalence. This was the year [...]
Prefatory Note: This essay constitutes a new experiment for words&dirt. I’ve recently been inspired by some of my readers, as well as an excellent interview with Maria Popova, to write a reflection on my last year of reading. Many book enthusiasts use the New Year as an opportunity to create “Best Of” lists, but I’ve [...]