Things I've been Meaning to Write About

a list in no order

--The beautiful paintings I saw in San Diego--who knew there were such treasures in the small museums in Balboa Park? And the French woman in one of the museums--I admired her scarf and she unfurled it to show me an orange Savana Dance.

--My thoughts about retirement that cannot be "published" till after I retire. Coming soon.

--All the Bronte novels I've been reading--the two by Anne Bronte, trying to read Villette--Lucy Snowe, who wants to be seen/not seen

--Country Girls Trilogy--only really liked the first one.

--Northanger Abbey as a sorbet between the Bronte books.

--my encounter with Patti Smith in the Verona train station last summer. I am embarrassed in retrospect--since I tend to ignore famous people and try to pay attention to people who get little notice, much less adulation.

--roasting grapes!

--a few emotional encounters with former students (MB, D, DS, DR)

--my connection with a young European rabbi who is married to a descendant of the great-uncle who died before I was born--a link to finding out something more--the postcard still in Vienna

--how we coped with the heat wave in Paris--frozen bottles of water in front of a fan in the apartment, many outings to the Petit Palais  (free!) to listen to concerts on antique pianos (also free!).

--Florence! Rome (too short--we missed out flight b/c of storms...and lost a lot of money....), Verona, Milan (the park/school near our house--with a ruined aviary etc)

OK:  pour moi
on commence

GTD: Making Do

At the service for G aka Merton, a colleague read a piece G had written in a meeting of The Writing Project called "Making Do." G loved the project because he loved writing in controlled, timed situations. He was otherwise a great procrastinator.

This piece--which I wish I had a copy of--was the essence of G. He was one of my few truly frugal friends--and the essence of frugality is "making do." He didn't write about frugality in his short piece--the only part I remember was about how God "made do" when he created Adam and Eve.

He was an excellent writer, with the extreme simplicity that seems easy, but is not.

His favorite piece was a five paragraph essay about how one should not write five paragraph essays! I remember hearing him in conference with students telling them that they were trying to fit their thoughts into 5 paragraphs and it wasn't working. He was proud of the fact that he had written a superb five paragraph essay.

Help Me With My Title: College Cooking

I am having so much fun testing recipes for my mini-cookbook. It turns out that it's very easy to create an ebook to sell on Amazon. Not easy for me. But Mr. FS, who also typed my entire dissertation into the computer as a SURPRISE many years ago, thinks that he's figuring it out.

I am a decent writer; titles, however, have always been a weak spot. I can think of only three good titles I came up with--that's over almost 40 years.

My readers ("fit audience . . . though few"*) are excellent writers. Perhaps someone can help me.

My concept is: College Cooking for Dorm Dwellers (and Others?)
No stove
(Almost) no time
(Almost) no shopping
(Almost) no prep
(Almost) no cleanup

No ramen
No Kraft Mac and Cheese


Any titlists out there? Any suggestions appreciated.

*Paradise Lost (Book 7)

What is a Writer? Some Questions for You, My Readers

So, off-topic. I'm supposed to be writing about frugality, which, in my definition, is a very expansive topic. But this is over the edge even of my concept.

Interestingly, Duchesse wrote on this very topic today. So see my list of blogs to your right; she is Passage des Perles.

Is this writing? And, if so, how does it "count"? I am a teacher and thus have a toe in the academic world, including the world of academic writing. Yesterday, I had my yearly evaluation with the wonderful DH (who is my Department Head, and not, obviously, my Dear Husband. Such nepotism would truly be over-the-top.) Luckily, I had a small print publication last year in an academic journal. I also gave a paper at an academic conference. And I participated in a workshop in California on faculty development and did some faculty development stuff here. So I got a high score in "professional activities."

On my way out, I said, "If my blog gets 300 readers a day, can that count as a professional activity?" He chuckled in an avuncular way, even though he is only four months my senior. A similar chuckle was emitted by an old friend from graduate school, who, luckily, teaches here with me and is, owing to our shared past, TOTALLY TRUSTWORTHY. Interestingly, these two fellows are working with the newer modes of publication. Indeed, they just got an $85,000.00 grant to explore both traditional print-based and newer electronic forms of publication.

I persisted with DH, saying "Why not?" He said, "It's not on poetry." I said, "Well, sometimes it is." "Plus," I added, "it's that new genre, what do you call it." DH said, "Creative non-fiction." Yes! That's it! Or is it?

What think you, my Dear Readers (though not 300 per day, I don't think). Is this writing?

Posted from my office. It's OK. I got here early. I'm giving some finals later. This is the first post written at my office computer. Does that make it professional activity?