216

Homebrewing this weekend, among other things, namely: catching up at school. We had patches of sun and warmth, and I snuck a window open for a little while, simply to have fresh air in the house, and I began to fantasize about the sound of rain on the roof and little seedlings planted in the dirt. I'm getting ahead of myself--winter in Minnesota has a long way left to unfurl, but I appreciate the ice melting, the patches of sidewalk that are slip-free, and my recycling bins becoming visible after a long month of neglect and hibernation.

I've needed to make myself checklists so I wouldn't forget, and even with that, the black and white, I'm still neglecting so much. This kind of challenge is good for me though, the extension of mind and all. I sleep well when I know I spent less time puttering and more time accomplishing.

This week's reading:

* Poetry seminar: just finished Jean Genet's The Thief's Journal and next we read Julia Kristeva's Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection
* Creative non-fiction seminar: in the midst of The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
* Lit class I'm TAing: last week was The Reluctant Fundamentalist, just finished The Road, which will be this week's focus in lecture and discussion

Also: this weekend I watched Dandelion, an independent film which sparked with economy--the way in which the story could be told with depth in such quiet, brief scenes, the ways in which the characters mapped themselves out, and the landscape, filmed in Idaho, with gorgeous green grasses, rolling hills, a slender creek. The culminating event felt cheap, but the ending image redeemed it on some level. I feel as if I am being cryptic, but I hate spoilers, and wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone here.