Sure, I'd love to be writing a craft blog after making lovely things all day every day (my pipe dream has always included a pottery studio and a sugar daddy to support my crafty whims), but sadly, I have to work. And a food blog? Well, that's just funny. I'm no chef at all. I just like to eat things that taste good, and though I love baking (the stuff of good food photographs), I'd look like a semi-truck if I ate baked goods all the time, even if it were for the sake of the blog. And gripes, well, I’m a fixed-term academic and I’ve been trained to complain, so when I don’t, it’s really a small miracle. About the personal, well, I think that will just have to sort itself out organically. Maybe no one’s interested in the quiet account of a life led with pleasure, pain, and most often, the simultaneity of pleasure and pain. But I’m interested in telling the story--in pictures and in words--of that life, at least for the moment.
But that sister--who sounds like a real jerk now but is actually one of the nicest, coolest people I know--got me thinking. And my hope is that she’ll find a place for herself here too. She lives in South Dakota, which is basically the moon if you live in Philadelphia, and she makes terrific things all of the time. Her camera is broken (excuses, excuses) at the moment, but I think she might just take care of that today (hint, hint) and then grace 550 with her presence, and her pictures of life on the moon, soon.
For now, here’s what my little life looked like on a frigid saturday in january:
Syllabus creation in bed, the best place to imagine a semester:
Risotto for one:
A few rows of the new Tea Leaf Cardigan:
A breakfast of champions, steel-cut oats:
And so, that's my life. Reading, eating, knitting, eating, reading, knitting. And this, my friends, is its story.
6 comments:
I don't know why that question of "what is it" (and it's attendant, who is it for) doesn't trouble me. I know my blog is private, so the intent might be different, but once I recognized the (previously silent) fact that my blog, in many ways is for ME - to document my life and to help me pay more attention to its moments (sadnesses, pleasures, you name it), everything became a lot easier. I love having people along for the ride, and the blog has become a way of maintaining a sense of closeness with friends and family that I really value. But for me, that value also consists in the exchange and inspiration I get from reading their blogs, too. I can see how technology allows us to inspire and excite one another. I used to worry about posting too much or too many pictures or being too ridiculous, but the truth is, it's not all that exciting anyway, except to the few people who fall in love with the author enough to keep reading. I don't know if that makes sense. But my favorite blogs are quiet, somehow, and most of them have given up a need to "be" something. I just like following certain women's lives, because they post thoughtfully and beautifully. Each post is a little quiet gift (to space) - a little art work.
omg I am SO embarrassed that I miswrote "its" as "it's"... the horror!!!
God Maura, I mean don't you have a Ph.D.? I make silly mistakes all of the time.
Thanks for your comments. I couldn't agree more and I hope this shapes up into a good outlet for ME, a place to write without fear of critique, a place to word my thoughts, and think without too much self-consciousness. These are all the issues that I hope we talk about -- in not too scholarly of terms 0-- during our ASA panel (http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.ed/node/35475). yay.
I love what Maura had to say. I think, too, that so many of our friends are all over the place and not - as we sometimes wish - next door. But it's nice to be able to see what they're thinking, reading, sewing, etc. Blog on. : )
Anne, I just got here via the link that Maura posted on her blog, and I love it! I don't care what it is; I just enjoy hearing your voice and what you're doing . . . maybe there isn't a name for it, but doesn't there seem to be some kind of critical mass around 19th-century literature, homemaking, crafts, cooking, and maybe anxiety? :)
Post a Comment