Support the US Post Office and a Small Business!

For reasons somewhat beyond my understanding, President Trump is eager to defund the Post Office. Apparently he thinks this is the best way to attack Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon.com and the Washington Post--he doesn't like the Post's coverage of him so he wants to make it harder and more expensive for Amazon to send packages.

Yeah, right--destroying a public service that benefits every American, just because Bezos happens to own a newspaper that is usually critical of this president. I think that no matter what one's political leanings might be, we can probably all agree that this is just not smart, not a good idea. So, how to support the Post Office, which we all need?

Leaving aside the big structural changes that Congress should consider (although we can and should all make suggestions to our Congress-people), one thing we can all do is buy stamps, tell our postal workers we care, and send cards and letters to our friends and family members.

And I have a suggestion for you on where to get cards, if you don't have a stockpile of nice stationery at home (or even if you do)!

Archelaus Cards is a small business in Washington, DC, which sells cards wholesale to stores all over North America (and even to Australia)... and also, retail, to individuals. Since stationery stores and bookstores are not generally open for visits just now, buying direct from Archelaus gets you a nice supply of cards while supporting a small business that is currently seeing lower sales from its usual customers.

Here's a link to the newest designs, which include some particularly pandemic-suitable items. You might also want to stock up on get-well cards and (I hate to say this) sympathy cards. A Welcome Back card is also very suitable for returns from the hospital or practically anywhere else someone may have gone (even the supermarket)! Archelaus also offers many birthday options, as well as Mother's Day cards and cards for all manner of other occasions.

(You can see the card below more clearly here.)

My Bread Recipe

I never expected, when the pandemic began to take hold in the US, that bread-baking would become a major American pastime. Maybe this was short-sighted of me, because when people are spending more time at home, this potentially makes it easier to engage in baking projects. On the other hand, lots of people are simultaneously working from home and trying to home-school their kids, or are working stressful hours at essential jobs where they may be exposed to coronavirus, and so may not feel up to embarking on intensive baking.

Well, had I realized this frenzy of baking was about to occur, I would have bought yeast, because I'm one of those people who bakes bread even in normal times, and I was about due for a new jar of yeast!

Not that I bake lots and lots of bread--I'm not someone who eats bread every day. But I certainly average at least a loaf a month, and probably more than that--sometimes I make bread very regularly and sometimes I go for a month or two without baking any. I use an easy bread-machine recipe developed by my sibling, which produces a dense, compact loaf suitable for one or two people (or for more people to eat it up more quickly).

This recipe was developed for the Zojirushi Home Bakery Mini machine and takes about 15 minutes to put together, then three hours to bake.

Add the ingredients in the order listed (well, basically wet to dry, yeast must be last) in the bread machine's baking pan.

1 cup water (if substituting yogurt for dry milk, put 2 T yogurt in your cup measure first, then add enough water to bring it to 1 cup)
2 T oil (I normally use olive oil)
2 cups whole wheat flour (or add in some rye flour for rye bread)
2 T honey, molasses, or sugar
1/4 cup (4 T) other whole-grain flour(s) such as flax-seed meal, buckwheat, rye, spelt (I usually use one T of each of those); other options are teff, oatmeal, corn meal, amaranth; don't use 1/4 cup of potato flour--always try a new flour with just 1 T
2 T dry milk unless substituting yogurt
1 t salt
6 T nuts and seeds (whatever strikes your fancy)
Optional: 1 T herbs of your choice
1 t dry-active yeast
Optional: 1/4 cup of dried fruit (add when the first timer rings)

Once the ingredients are in place, plug in the bread machine and press the "Mode Select" button twice to choose the "Soft Course" option (3 hours). Then press the Start/Reset button. With this recipe, it is best to scrape down the sides of the baking pan when the first timer rings (or a little before).

When the second timer rings, the bread is finished. Press and hold the start/reset button until the machine beeps; then unplug the machine. Be very careful removing the bread from the baking pan--it's very hot and easy to burn yourself even with hot-pad holders in each hand! The wire handle in particular is hot! Let bread cool, ideally on a wire rack, for about 15 minutes before serving.

Boursin cheese pairs well with this bread!

Masks Received

Around the world, kind people are sewing and donating masks to health workers and the public. I've been using scarves and bandannas since I don't go out all that much, but in preparation for things opening up somewhat more in our state, I accepted a neighbor's offer of masks and picked up four, two for me and two for my housemate.

Once I get some more yeast (or maybe with my last teaspoon--I think I have that much left), I'll make her a loaf of bread!

NWU Webinars on Internet Archive and Our Books

There are still seats available for the National Writers Union's public educational webinars on, "What is the Internet Archive doing with our books?"

TODAY: Monday, April 27, 7 p.m. Eastern Time

Tuesday, May 5, 10 a.m. Eastern Time

These webinars are organized by the NWU, but all are welcome. Please let your friends know about these events.

More info and links to register:

https://nwu.org/what-is-the-internet-archive-doing-with-our-books/

I Begin a Pullover

For the most part, my life during the pandemic is not as different from my normal life as is the case for most people. My teaching suddenly got much more time-consuming (and lower quality, alas), and I no longer get to do any of my work in libraries or cafes. Like most people, I haven't had a haircut. And I've attended two online meetings, bought two take-out pizzas, and occasionally (less often than before) pick up coffee and a pastry to take home. I've also accomplished a little more gardening than is typical for me at this time of year, and have watched two or three genealogy presentations (thank you Legacy for offering free ones this month).

However, being in the house nearly all the time makes one want somewhat more variety in one's amusements!

First, I began a puzzle that was waiting to be given to my mother. She enjoys jigsaw puzzles; I enjoy them too, but rarely do them because I become obsessive once I start one, and spending all day staring at puzzle pieces is not quite my idea of well-spent time. (No criticism of anyone other than myself who does this is intended.) Anyhow, I've nearly completed my mother's puzzle and am suspicious that she may find it too hard. It involves photos of a gazillion different cameras on a white background. Still, if I had let myself get really obsessive with it, I could probably have completed it in two days rather than a week.

With the prospect of lots and lots of grading in my immediate future, the idea of something more tactile and definitely non-computer-related began to draw me. I used to knit a fair amount--when taking BART to work each day, I could get about two hours of knitting done just on public transit. And later I used to make easy scarves while listening to holiday conversation--I'd give them to people later. But it had been more than ten years since I knit anything. I realized that one of my favorite cotton sweaters is missing and another is falling apart (neither was made by me, although they could have been). Clearly I needed to make myself a new spring sweater!

And so, with the help of a colleague, I found a place where I could make an appointment to look at yarn and patterns. I didn't find exactly the kind of pattern I was hoping for (one with an interesting but easy knit-purl design), but I did find a pattern for a simple stockinette stitch pullover with easy knit lace trim. And so it's launched!

The pattern and my gauge swatch...

And a bit of the lace edging for the bottom.

It's World Book Day!

Today we celebrate the annual "World Book Day."

If you're a book author, please join the international campaign on social media to remind readers that #BehindEveryBook is an author.

Post a pair of selfies, one of you and one of you "behind your book". Tag them @paythewriter as well as #BehindEveryBook and #worldbookday2020.

I hope you'll join me in celebrating #WorldBookDay2020, whether as an author or as a reader!



Aren't I lucky that I had the pdf of the front cover available to print? Magnetic Woman will be out in November but you can pre-order now!

And We Have a Book Cover!

I've been waiting to post the cover of Magnetic Woman until I was sure it was final. Since it's now live on University of Pittsburgh Press's website, where you can pre-order (publication date is early November), and on Goodreads and Amazon.com (the latter currently displays the wrong book cover, though), I think it's time to post it! I've also created an author Facebook page where news about the book (and other writing) can go.

He's Not the Easter Bunny, but...

Mikko is extremely fond of dandelions and was quite pleased when a kind neighbor dropped off a sack of them along with an Easter card from her small child. I had hoped Felicia would emerge for the photo session, but while she enjoys dandelions too, she did not feel they merited interrupting her nap.

Will They Finish?

As we near the end of the semester--just a few weeks to go--the question looms: how many of my students just aren't going to be able to finish their courses?

I've repeatedly asked that students who are having difficulties, such as lack of internet access, should let me know, and a few have. I'm pretty sure most can get email on their phones, and early on they could still go to the library or a cafe to use public computers or wifi. But it seems probable that I haven't heard from everyone who will be unable, for one reason or another, to finish. Apparently one-sixth of households in the area do not have internet, often because they cannot afford it (the elderly also often lack internet, but while my students are of many ages, they don't tend to be elderly). Spectrum has offered 60 days of free internet to students, but how many have read the emails telling them that?

My largest class, the Renaissance to now survey, has a short paper due today. Originally this paper involved choosing from a list of artworks on view at our local museum, but that had to be changed to a list from those the museum displays online. There is also a small amount of required research using online databases. It will be interesting, and possibly depressing, to see how many students turn in the paper. One of my other classes had a paper due a week ago, which also involved looking at art in person (so an alternate form of the assignment had to be done for those who hadn't begun the paper before our gallery closed); despite the alternate instructions, only two-thirds of the class turned in a paper. (True, most of those people didn't turn in their first paper either, so coronavirus may not be implicated at all there!)

My third, smallest class has one big research paper rather than two shorter papers. Some of those students seem to have completely disappeared. There is not much I can do if people do not let me know they're struggling, but it's disturbing to know that, whether for lack of internet, lack of quiet time, illness, or other reasons, a significant percentage of my students may not be able to finish their courses this semester.

Masking Up

I've thought for the past month that it only made sense to cover our faces in public during the pandemic--that any kind of barrier would keep people safer than none. But there is that saying, "The perfect is the enemy of the good," and for weeks there a widespread official attitude that either you were a health professional who needed a medical-grade mask, or you were sick and needed some kind of mask (but why go out in public if sick?), or else you shouldn't consider covering your face.

This wasn't the case everywhere--for example, in the Czech Republic everyone's been wearing masks diligently--but you'd think the WHO, if not the CDC, would have grasped that even a cowboy-style (or anarchist-style) bandanna would be better than nothing in promoting public health.

Well, now we're encouraged to cover our faces. My sewing machine and fabric stash are buried deep in the housemate's room (formerly guestroom/sewing room), but there are plenty of non-sew options, and I have plenty of scarves and bandannas, plus do not go out in public much apart from walks where I'm not encountering anyone within six feet (often no one at all). So I don't currently need a large supply of protective gear, fortunately.

I will say, though, that if you're using those elastic ponytail items, you can't stretch them very far or they'll jump right off your ear.

Thoughts About Dialogue Tags

A cousin of mine recently, in an email exchange about writing, asserted "Remember: no adverbs in the retort. ‘Said,’ is good enough." To which I replied, "That's overdoing it. Nothing wrong with 'replied gleefully' now and then.

I was reminded of this when I happened to read the blog post What Your Choice of Dialogue Tags Says About You, by Christopher Hoffmann. Hoffmann tends in my cousin's direction, but with nuances, some of which are very entertainingly presented. First he points out that in our daily speech, we normally say that someone "said" something, not that they "remarked" or "answered" or "hollered" or whatnot. He also notes that people of a certain age use "like" for "said," as in "I'm like, 'Wow, you really mean that?'" Personally, I never interpreted this to mean that the person actually said whatever it was, but rather that that was how they felt about it, but I could be wrong about that. (Incidentally, I can assure Hoffmann that people born before 1970 have spoken in this manner, because it was common parlance when I was in college, back in prehistoric times.)

Hoffmann then tells us that people who want their writing to be considered literary scorn the use of anything more colorful than "said" because, as so many books on writing prescribe, one must "show, not tell." If you have to say that someone ranted, evidently you haven't made the actual speech rant-y (rantish?) enough for the reader to discern that the person was ranting rather than stating, musing, joking, or remarking superciliously. Well, I'll confess that in my youth (that is, around the age of twelve) I believed this hoopla about "show, don't tell" and it was deleterious to my writing because I assumed you had to show everything and tell nothing, which made for masses of laborious dreck. Fortunately I could not bear to keep up the effort to show and not tell, and in truth, the very best fiction is full of telling as well as showing. And, as Hoffmann admits later on, sometimes you really need to tell the reader that the character is ranting rather than merely blabbing on endlessly in a mild sort of way. But he suggests that it is only in commercial and genre fiction that one can get away with deviating from "said."

I agree with Hoffmann that it is generally preferable to use more colorful dialogue tags as spice, but I am curious whether the literary writing to which he makes reference is the stripped-down bare-bones Raymond Carver style that was so popular in the '80s, or if this is still prescribed in the MFA programs of today. While I do read recent literary fiction, the fact that I don't teach fiction writing frees me from feeling obliged to keep up with all the latest trends, just as the fact that I specialize in Czech modernism rather than American contemporary art frees me from being obsessively au courant about the New York gallery scene.