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Ten Things To Do Instead of Writing
Top Ten Things To Do Instead of Writing: 1. watch old episodes of The Animaniacs 2. help daughter melt hot glue so that she can make incredibly complex jewel bauble for cosplaying obscure anime/manga character 3. research bicycle trips through Italy/Denmark/Ireland (after driving to supermarket less than a mile away) 4. unpack fall/winter clothes in […]
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Great Globs of Glowing Urine
Many fields define themselves by specialties. Doctors are not just doctors—they are podiatrists or pediatricians or surgeons. Restaurant workers are baristas or pastry chefs or sommeliers. Writers are novelists or poets or “content providers.” So it is for academics, as well. When I’m wearing that hat, I define myself as an early modernist. But even […]
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Feeling crabby
Happy birth-month to me! My birthday was last week, and, as per usual, I was out of sorts. I’ve never really enjoyed my birthday, to be honest. It’s not that I mind getting older. Heck, I have Gratiano’s line from The Merchant of Venice–“with mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come”–etched onto a mirror in […]
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Of Milton, Genesis, and Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
For five years, I’ve been attending meetings of my public school district’s curriculum council. Five years of reviewing testing data, kindergarten schedules, and proposed changes in nutrition guidelines–all sorts of drudgery. Nothing terribly interesting ever happened. Well, I missed last month’s meeting, and that’s when it all went down. The council decided to recommend that […]
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Pigeon Blood Visine?: An Early Modern Eye Wash | The Recipes Project
http://recipes.hypotheses.org/3561
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Should I Burn This Book?
So far I’m only three chapters into Bruce Holsinger’s newly released novel, A Burnable Book, but already I can see that it has one major, tragic flaw: I didn’t write it. It’s fantastic. I should have known better than to start in on this book just a day after giving a second draft of my […]
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Of Sloths, Demons, and Palindromic Numbers
When I hear the word “sloth,” I generally have a Kriston Bell moment. And I’m not alone. Sloths are enjoying a cultural surge, with sloth memes, sloth fan clubs, and even sloth socks (yes, I own a pair). Culturally, though, we pay more attention to the cute little critter than we do to the other […]
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New Post at The Recipes Project: “Little Shop of Horrors, Early Modern Style”
I have a new post up at The Recipes Project about a wickedly beautiful, carnivorous plant and the (mostly useless) cordial that’s made from it: Little Shop of Horrors, Early Modern Style. Also contains this jaw-droppingly cool artwork by Allison Sommers (check out her other stuff at http://www.allisonsommers.com/)
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A Cure for “The Kink”
(Okay, right off the bat, I’m going to admit that the title of this blog post is link bait. But it worked, right? You’re here? Sorry, “the kink” is probably not what you think it is–keep reading to find out more!) ***** I live in Southern Oregon, a region with the dubious distinction of having […]
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Of Hedgehogs, Whale Vomit, and Fire-Breathing Peacocks
Hello all! I have a post up at the Recipes Project blog: “Of Hedgehogs, Whale Vomit, and Fire-Breathing Peacocks.” The Recipes Project is a fascinating site to browse around in. Here’s the description: “We are an international group of scholars interested in the history of recipes, ranging from magical charms to veterinary remedies. Old recipes […]