Saturday 17 February 2024

Utrecht Bucket List

When I left my previous job, one of my leaving gifts was a guidebook, Utrecht: Sights and Secrets of Holland's Smartest City by Annika Redhed. It's a wonderful book, written by a local, which offers a wry a delightful overview of some of the best sights and experiences of the city. I highly recommend buying or borrowing a copy to anyone who is planning a visit here.
 
When I started reading my copy, I added a page flag every time I found something I would like to experience or explore. Four months later, when I finished, my copy bristled with colourful slips of paper! Here is my list of all the things I flagged. Many thanks to my lovely University of Lincoln library colleagues for their marvelous gift. 

An excellent guidebook
 
Anything in bold is something I have explored in my first five months here and would personally recommend to tourists or visitors.

Breweries, Cafes, and Restaurants

Churches

  • Domtoren (and all its souveniers, including candles and cake molds). 
  • Domkirk. Especially recommended on a Saturday afternoon, when there are lovely free concerts. The Night of Light is also incredibly beautiful.
  • Sint Willibrordkerk (because it's a fancy nineteenth century church, and they can be fun to see)

Eating

  • fresh stroopwafels

Events 

  • city tours in English, Saturdays and Sundays at noon, starting underneath the Domtoren
  • ice skating rink in De Neude, which appears before Christmas (p. 98)
  • Open tuinen dag--will be Saturday, 29 June 2024. A day when a day pass gets access to private gardens in the city centre.
  • Sint Maarten--events include a market the weekend before the saint's festival (11 November), a parade, and singing
  • Singelloop, a 10k run. Took place on 1 October in 2023
  • Trajectum Lumen, a tour of all the light art in Utrecht, taking place on Saturday evenings; seems to end in March of this year; there is also an app for self-guided tours
  • Utrecht Marathon, 19 May 2024

Markets

  •  Lapjesmarkt, for fabric, buttons, and sewing stuff; Breedstraat (Saturday mornings)
  • Vredenburg Square, for food (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday)

Museums

  • Hoge Woerd, an archaeological museum, including a rebuilt Roman fortress with a very old boat on display
    Museum Catharijneconvent, and its collection of medieval and religious art
  • Museum Speelkok, the museum of music boxes and self-playing instruments

Parks and Gardens

  • Botanic Gardens, Uithof, The branch near the University is lovely and easily reachable by bus or bike. It has a wonderful cafe that is a lovely place to sit on a sunny day. Its city-centre branch near the University Museum sounds lovely too, but I haven't been there yet.
  • City Garden, which can be entered via a blue gate on Springstraat (pp. 102-3)
  • Landgoed Amelisweerd en Rhijnauwen, Finding lovely spaces to be outside is important in a city, and this one looks lovely
  • Maarseveense, another park that sounds very lovely
  • Máximapark, a large and beautiful park in the outer city, easily accessible from the centre by bus. This where the Utrecht parkrun takes place every Saturday morning.

Sightseeing

  • Achter Sint Pieter, where there is a seventeenth century house with a doorbell in the shape of a pretzel, built by Everard Meyster
  • Bakkerbrug, a bridge with decorated street lanterns and flower stalls
  • Bartholomeus Gasthuis, a medieval foundation which became a home for the elderly; guided tours are offered on Sunday mornings (p. 103)
  • Molen de Ster, a rebuilt historic wind-powered sawmill
  • Paushuize, the palatial house of the only Dutch pope, who never got to live in it (some of the rooms are, according to the guidebook, open for tours on Saturdays, pp. 86-7)

To Stay

Further Reading

  • Secrets of Utrecht Facebook page (seems to have stopped updating regularly in 2020)
  • The back of the book contains useful Dutch vocabulary for tourists. Ik heb en kikker ingeslikt somehow slipped into the vocabulary list, which is excellent, and reminds me of the fact that the first Spanish phrase one of my postgrad housemates taught us was how to say "my hovercraft is full of eels". You never know when you'll need to prepare absurdities to meet the absurd?

Saturday 3 February 2024

Who I'm Rooting for at the US Olympic Team Trials Marathon

Today is a very special day for fans of American distance running--3 February is the day of the US Olympic Team Trials Marathon, a race which earns the top three finishers in the women's category and (probably) the top three finishers in the men's category a place on Team USA. To be in the race at all, women had to run a 2:37 marathon or a 1:12 half marathon; men needed a 2:18 marathon or a 1:03 half marathon.

Even though the ability to run these times is far, far, far out of my own experience or capacity, I draw a lot of inspiration from athletes who demonstrate persistence and longevity in the sport. While I wish everyone on the start line good health and good luck, here are some of the people I am particularly hoping have great races in Orlando!

Abdihakim 'Abdi' Abdirahman

There is a nonzero chance that this legendary runner will beat people who weren't able to walk in the year 2000, which was when he made his first appearance at the Olympic Games. He has made five (5!) straight Olympic Teams, in the 10,000 metres and marathon, and it is incredible to see him contending for a sixth.
 

Aliphine Tuliamuk 

Winner of the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials marathon, expert crocheter, mother of a three-year-old, and seemingly all-around good egg. Media coverage of her Trials victory was pretty bad and I really admire the grace and articulateness with which Tuliamuk has spoken up about the need for coverage to get better. Also, if you listen to running podcasts, her interviews are always really fun.
 

Ari Hendrix-Roach

Stories of people who dramatically lower their marathon times are always inspiring to me; the emphasis and care Ari Hendrix-Roach places on representing African-American and queer runners makes me admire her even more. Plus, she's a twin and she has a dog named Casanova.

Betsy Saina

While I haven't been following her career for very long, I loved listening to the interview she did on the Keeping Track podcast back at the beginning 2023. Saina has one of the fastest personal records of all the athletes in the women's field, and even though I don't have kids myself, seeing parents, especially parents of young children, excel at running is really inspiring to me.
 

Des Linden

She lives up to the motto "Keep Showing Up", she has one of the best pro runner Instagrams out there, and her podcast with Kara Goucher is hilarious. Oh, and she's qualified for four Olympic trials in the marathon, made the team twice, and been alternate once. I love following Des Linden's running career and I hope she has a splendid race today.
 

Emilio de la Torre and English Tomlinson

Aside from runners who display persistence and longevity in the sport, and parents (especially mothers) who are runners, you will always find me cheering for fast teachers, in honour of my twin sister, who teachers seventh grade and somehow has the courage and stamina to train for marathons, too. Hoping Emilio and English have races they're proud of and a movie day planned for Monday.
 

Molly Huddle

I first started listening to running podcasts in late 2019, which is when Huddle--with her co-hosts, Olympians Alysia Montano and Roisin McGettigan, started Keeping Track, a podcast about women's sports. I deeply admire her consistent advocacy for more and better coverage of women's sports and the length and success of her running career. Also, she's the parent of a young child, and lives and trains part-time in my home state of Rhode Island.

Nathan Martin 

The fastest Black marathoner born in the United States and someone who just seems to get better and better at running marathons. Also, he works as a substitute teacher and high school cross country coach, putting him on my list of fast educators to root for.
 

Noah Droddy 

Paradoxically, while I admire athletes like Abdi Abdirahman or Molly Huddle, whose careers demonstrate both longevity and success, the pro runners who I love following most are the ones who persist when things don't go well. Noah Droddy seems to have had pretty large helping of ups and downs in the sport, particularly in terms of injuries and struggles to get sponsorship. I admire the way he keeps going and going for it.
 

Rosa Moriello

The "not all heroes wear capes" award of the Trials should surely go to Rosa Moriello, who has raised over $8,000 for the Orlando Youth Alliance and used her Instagram to educate people about LGTBQ+ issues in Florida during her marathon build.

Stephanie Bruce

One of the challenges for pro runners these days seems to be the extent to which they are expected to balance the work of running with the need to have an A-plus, authentic, genuine, personal (but not too personal) social media presence. One of the many reasons I would not want to be in their line of work! Yesterday, I was reading John Scalzi's excellent reflections on selling out in creative industries, and it strikes me that a lot of what he says about "personal brand" applies to runners, especially those who make podcasts and videos or do a lot on social media. Steph Bruce seems to be a runner with a really solid handle on her personal brand--I mean that as a genuine compliment. Bruce seems to have found a way to do social media that works for her, builds a community, and inspires other people. She also seems, like John Scalzi, to have a really solid grasp on the business side of her profession and those skills, coupled with her incredible persistence, make me root for her.

Sunday 7 January 2024

A Triptych of Poems About Winter

"Stopping by the Woods on A Snowy Evening" might be one of the most famous English-language poems about winter. It's certainly one of the best known poems by Robert Frost (1874-1963). Reading Frost's complete poems over the holiday break, I was delighted to encounter poems about winter which were new to me. In honor of the snowstorm predicted for New England, here is a triptych of poems about winter.

Sunrise, 7 January 2023

Looking for a Sunset Bird in Winter

The west was getting out of gold,
The breath of air had died of cold,
When shoeing home across the white,
I thought I saw a bird alight.
In summer when I passed the place
I had to stop and lift my face;
A bird with an angelic gift
Was singing in it sweet and swift.
No bird was singing in it now.
A single leaf was on a bough,
And that was all there was to see
In going twice around the tree.
From my advantage on a hill
I judged that such a crystal chill
Was only adding frost to snow
As gilt to gold that wouldn’t show.
A brush had left a crooked stroke
Of what was either cloud or smoke
From north to south across the blue;
A piercing little star was through.

Male Golden-crowned Kinglet (Steve Burt, Flickr)

Wilful Homing

It is getting dark and time he drew to a house,
But the blizzard blinds him to any house ahead.
The storm gets down his neck in an icy souse
That sucks his breath like a wicked cat in bed.
The snow blows on him and off him, exerting force
Downward to make him sit astride a drift,
Imprint a saddle and calmly consider a course.
He peers out shrewdly into the thick and swift.
Since he means to come to a door he will come to a door,
Although so compromised of aim and rate
He may fumble wide of the knob a yard or more,
And to those concerned he may seem a little late.

Text from archive.org
Sunset, 20 December 2021

A Patch of Old Snow

There's a patch of old snow in a corner
    That I should have guessed
Was a blow-away paper the rain
    Had brought to rest.

It is speckled with grime as if
     Small print overspread it,
The news of a day I’ve forgotten—
     If I ever read it.

Text from poets.org 

Thursday 4 January 2024

Goals for 2024

Gelukkig nieuwjaar! Wishing you and yours all the very best of health and happiness in the year ahead.

Last year was the third year in a row I posted a set of goals for the coming year. As is usually the case with these posts, the balance between my ambitions, capacities, and the surprises of the year meant that many of these goals went unmet. The resolutions below are also more than likely to be abandoned or shifted as the year goes on. I find setting them a useful and enjoyable process anyway so here we go again. 

What are your hopes or ambitions for the coming year? Whether you have many New Years' Resolutions or none, I wish you a fulfilling and fruitful 2024.

In academia... 

  • My SMALL goal to attend at least one panel at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, or the International Medieval Congress, in Leeds, on a subject about which I want to learn more, and speak to people there before or afterwards
  • My MEDIUM goal is to give a paper or talk in a venue or format that is new to me.
  • My LARGE goal is to say thank you, congratulations, can I help, and yes, whenever the opportunity arises.

In blogging...

  • My SMALL goal is to write a blog post about things to do in Utrecht, based on the (many!) page flags I stuck into my copy of Utrecht: Sights and secrets of Holland's smartest city, which was a leaving gift from my wonderful library colleagues. And/or, write a post that references this amazing list of things expats should do in the Netherlands.
  • My MEDIUM goal is to finish the posts I have drafted about Before We Were Trans by Kit Heyam, The Bright Ages by Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry, and The Gates of Europe: A New History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy, plus one new post about a history book.
  • My LARGE goal is to publish 52 posts over the course of the year, using this space as a place to share what I read and play with non-academic writing.
Big Red, aka my mother's birthday afghan, a decade in the making, blocking in December 2023

In crafting...

  • My SMALL goal is to finish the ten-stitch blanket I started in late November 2023.
  • My MEDIUM goal for this year is to remove two UFOs from my flat. I moved to the Netherlands with several UFOs (unfinished objects, not alien spacecraft), and derived enormous satisfaction from finishing one of them. Let's finish more in 2024!
  • My LARGE goal is to purchase fabric from the Lapjesmarkt and use it to sew a set of fabric boxes for my flat.
Buttons at the Lapjesmarkt, November 2023

In living in the Netherlands...

  • My SMALL goal is to write a letter to Sinterklaas and get a reply--an idea that comes from the brilliant and hilarious blog Accidentally Dutch, written by an expat Englishman, which I read a lot before moving to the Netherlands.
  • My MEDIUM goal is to sign up for a Netherlands Museum pass and go to at least three exhibits, ideally in different cities.
  • My LARGE goal is to take at least one Dutch language class, and get to A1 Level. (To be precise, skills I want to acquire are: numbers in Dutch; basic vocabulary to discuss hobbies; the ability to understand when someone is offering me a receipt and politely decline; the ability to understand when a cashier is offering to have a holiday gift wrapped and politely say yes; greetings for times of day and the holidays; and a few idioms, specifically the equivalent for "you're pulling my leg" that mentions dragons.)

In publishing...

  • My SMALL goal is to write something about my research interests or teaching for a history or ancient studies periodical I admire--JSTOR Daily, the Public Domain Review, Piecework, Ancient Jew Review, etc.
  • My MEDIUM goal is to complete all three of my unfinished book chapters.
  • My LARGE goal is to finish and submit a draft of a peer-reviewed journal article on marginalised participants in early medieval letter exchange for my postdoc, as well as to reach the finish line of three other articles.
the UFO at the Inkpot, Utrecht (August 2023)

In reading...

In running...

  • My SMALL goal is to run more than 592 miles, in order to beat my total mileage from last year.
  • My MEDIUM goal is to join a running group and attend at least twelve times over the course of 2024.
  • My LARGE goal is to train for and finish a 10k, improving my personal best time at this distance (49:24, set in 2020).

In teaching...

  • My SMALL goal is to attend at least one in-person event or workshop related to teaching and professional development.
  • My MEDIUM goal is to ask one of my colleagues to observe my teaching during the semester.
  • My LARGE goal is to meet and adapt to the challenges and rewards of teaching in a new country and academic system by meeting deadlines for marking and getting materials ready, building a good rapport with my students, and keeping a reflective log throughout the semester.

In writing...

  • My SMALL goal is to participate in the Mini 1000 writing challenge for a second year in a row, aiming for a consistent 750 words per day (plus one session of editing at the end).
  • My MEDIUM goal is to participate in 1000 Words of Summer, aiming for a consistent 750 words per day (plus two sessions of editing at the end).
  • My LARGE goal is to participate in National Novel Writing Month, including the NaNo Prep 101 exercises, with the purpose of finishing a first draft of a story with the working tagline "fight princesses and rescue dragons." Given that my previous two years of NaNo efforts were for 500 words/day, this is a pretty big leap. But as my grandmother said, if you don't shoot for the stars, you never get off the ground.
At the risk of tempting the fates, my overall goal for 2024 might be summarised as "landing the fleet of UFOs"-- aka finishing unfinished work, be it in my craft bags or on my hard drives! In the immortal words of Emperor Gregor Vorbarra, let's see what happens.
 

Previous New Years' Posts:  2021 2022 2023

Monday 1 January 2024

A Rainbow of Possibilities

Happy New Year, friends. Wishing you a rainbow of possibilities in the days to come.

a human shadow on green grass, with a rainbow in blue sky overhead
Ullswater, 15 October 2022

The beginning

Suddenly she saw how wide the world was
Nothing was the way she expected
things were fuller than she had thought

and more colourful, and by looking through
the glass that had found her she saw
the inside of shells, what moved through it

was form and purely itself and all
the while a rainbow of possibilities
blown into life and lost and found again

after the ages had painted their mother-
of-pearl across it, ever so fragile
there it lay, just like that in her hand.

~Esther Jansma, What it is, translated by Francis R. Jones (Tarset, 2008)

Sunday 31 December 2023

What I Read and Watched in 2023

A happy and healthy New Year to you and yours! I hope you have had a joyful and wide-ranging year of reading, whatever that means in your particular circumstances.

For the past four years, I've kept a running list of books I've finished over the course of the year. Previous lists can find found at the following links:

In 2023 I read 123 books...

Out of all of those books, there are a few that particularly stood out to me, which I would enthusiastically encourage you to check out. Part of the fun of recommending books is the connection it can create with another reader, so if you do read or listen something below and enjoy it, I'd love to hear about it!

My Recommendations 

  1. Short Stories: "The Curfew Tolls," by Stephen Vincent Benét (which I read in 50 Great Short Stories, edited by Milton Crane); "The Girl of My Dreams" by Bernard Malamud (which I read in an edition of The Magic Barrel), "Sad, Dark Thing" by Michael Marshall Smith (which I read in Ghost, edited by Louise Welsh) at the end of which I whistled and swore softly at the perfect final twist and emotional devastation it left; "Click-Clack the Rattlebag" by Neil Gaiman (in his collection Trigger Warning); "Dinner of the Dead Alumni" by Adam Marek (another story from Ghost), which is deeply off-colour and blackly, disturbingly funny. Finally, "The Mad Lomasneys" by Frank O'Connor (I read it in The Granta Book of the Irish Short Story), with its tragicomic love story, deftly sketched characters, and impossibly perfect dialogue, is terrific fun.
  2. Children's and Young Adult: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles hold up to re-reading as an adult, and I loved getting to know the work of Holly Black and Leigh Bardugo.
  3. Romance: Alexis Hall's work does not always land for me but when they do, they really, really do. Glitterland is a gem.
  4. Science Fiction and Fantasy: 2023 was a standout year for my reading (and re-reading) in this genre. So many good books! Reaper Man and The Truth were a glorious introduction to Terry Pratchett. (Sharp and funny--read them both!) Ordinary Monsters is a sprawling, atmospheric Victorian fantasy. From the rereading department, the Paksworld books by Elizabeth Moon were just as diverting and delightful as I remembered them being, and Sharon Shinn's Samaria books continue to be comfort reading.
  5. Nonfiction: I received a copy of What an Owl Knows for Christmas, gulped it down whole, and proceeded to pepper my family with owl facts for the next five days.
  6. Dishonorable mention: In general, I figure that a book that wasn't to my taste will be to someone else's, live and let live. But. I so deeply, passionately disliked Lapvona by Otessa Moshfegh, that it earns my first dishonorable mention in four years of writing these posts. It's a well-crafted and totally vile book, set in a medieval fantasy world that plays up all the stereotypes of that world that scholars work so hard to replace with colour and nuance and life.
  7. Podcasts:  You gotta listen to Alabama Astronaut, a riveting exploration of the music played in American serpent handling (signs following) churches. Really. Yes, the religion is something I (to put it politely) do not understand, but the music is electric, and the compassion and curiosity with which Abe Partridge and Ferrill Gibbs approach the people and places they come to know gives me hope for a better world.
  8. On the silver screen:  Good Omens Season 2! Good Omens Season 2! I really can't say enough about how much I adored the second season of that show. And its beautiful, devastating ending. Broadchurch is insanely well-crafted, and Olivia Coleman and David Tennant play off each other delightfully. Diego Luna joins Coleman, Tenannt, and Toby Stephens as an actor whose craft I watch with awe and delight. Andor is incredible.

Reading


Fiction

 

Anthologies and Short Stories

  1. Parallel Hells by Leon Craig 
  2. 50 Great Short Stories, edited by Milton Crane  
  3. Trigger Warning: Short Fictions & Disturbances by Neil Gaiman
  4. The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud
  5. Ghost: 100 Stories to Read with the Lights On, edited by Louise Welsh
  6. The Granta Book of the Irish Short Story edited by Anne Enright 

Children's Book and Young Adult

  1. Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones
  2. Year of the Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones
  3. The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope (reread)
  4. Fire and Hemlock by Dianna Wynne Jones (reread)
  5. Searching for Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (reread)
  6. Talking to Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (reread)
  7. Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (reread)
  8. Calling on Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (reread)
  9. Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (reread)
  10. Conrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones
  11. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (reread)
  12. The Wicked King by Holly Black
  13. Queen of Nothing by Holly Black
  14. How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black
  15. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
  16. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
  17. King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

Historical Fiction

  1. Prize for the Fire by Rilla Askew

Literary Fiction

  1. Lapvona by Otessa Moshfegh

Mystery

  1. The Sanctuary Sparrow by Ellis Peters
  2. The Raven in the Foregate by Ellis Peters

Poetry

  1. What it is by Esther Jansma
  2. The Poetry of Ennodius translated by Brett Milligan
  3. Frost on the window and other poems by Mary Stewart
  4. William Cowper: Selected Poems, edited by Nick Rhodes
  5. Rochester, selected by Ronald Duncan
  6. The Poetry of Robert Frost: The Completed Poems, edited by Edward Connery Latham
  7. Good Poems, edited by Garrison Keillor

Romance

  1. Seven Minutes in Heaven by Eloise James
  2. Neon Gods by Katee Robert
  3. Electric Idol by Katee Robert
  4. Wicked Beauty by Katee Robert
  5. Radiant Sin by Katee Robert 
  6. For Real by Alexis Hall
  7. Pansies by Alexis Hall
  8. If Only You by Chloe Liese 
  9. Goodbye Paradise by Sarina Bowen
  10. The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas (reread)
  11. The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas (reread)
  12.  Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn (reread)
  13. The Sum of All Kisses by Julia Quinn (reread)
  14. Happy Place by Emily Henry
  15. Beach Read by Emily Henry (reread) 
  16. Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
  17. An Unnatural Vice by KJ Charles
  18.  An Unsuitable Heir by KJ Charles
  19. An Unseen Attraction by KJ Charles 
  20. Better Hate Than Never by Chloe Liese
  21. The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles
  22. The Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by KJ Charles
  23. 10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall 
  24. Glitterland by Alexis Hall  
  25. Beyond Pain by Kit Rocha (reread) 
  26. Sorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni
  27. Fumbled by Alexa Martin (reread) 
  28. A Scot in the Dark by Sarah McLean (reread) 

Science Fiction and Fantasy

  1. Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro
  2. Archangel by Sharon Shinn (reread)
  3. Jovah's Angel by Sharon Shinn (reread)
  4. The Alleluia Files by Sharon Shinn (reread)
  5. Angelica by Sharon Shinn (reread)
  6. Angel Seeker by Sharon Shinn
  7. The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin
  8. A River Enchanted by  Rebecca Ross
  9. A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
  10. The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik
  11. The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik
  12. Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell (reread)
  13. Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell
  14. Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold (reread)
  15. Embers of War by Gareth Powell
  16. Angel Mage by Garth Nix
  17. The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard
  18. In Acension by Martin MacInnes
  19. To be Taught if Fortunate by Becky Chambers
  20. Printer's Devil Court by Susan Hill
  21. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
  22. The Gospel of Loki by Joanne Harris 
  23. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett (reread)
  24. Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon (reread)
  25. Divided Allegiance by Elizabeth Moon (reread)
  26. Oath of Gold by Elizabeth Moon (reread)
  27. Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon (reread)
  28. Kings of the North by Elizabeth Moon (reread)
  29. Echoes of Betrayal by Elizabeth Moon (reread)
  30. Limits of Power by Elizabeth Moon (reread)
  31. Crown of Renewal by Elizabeth Moon (reread)
  32. Surrender None by Elizabeth Moon (reread)
  33. Liar's Oath by Elizabeth Moon (reread)
  34. Angelica by Sharon Shinn (second reread)
  35. Angel Seeker by Sharon Shinn (reread)
  36. Archangel by Sharon Shinn (second reread)
  37. Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett 
  38. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
  39. Sealskin by Su Bristow
  40. The Truth by Terry Pratchett
  41. Soul Taken by Patricia Briggs (reread)
  42. Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs (reread)

Nonfiction 

Advice

  1.  Overcoming social anxiety and shyness : a self-help guide to using cognitive behavioural techniques by Gillian Butler
  2.  How to be a person in the world: Ask Polly's guide through the paradoxes of modern life by Heather Havrilesky

Autobiography, Biography, and Memoir

  1. Memories by Lucy Boston

Cookbooks 

  1. New England Open House Cookbook by Sarah Leah Chase
  2. The Woks of Life by Bill, Judy, Sarah, and Kaitlin Leung
  3. Natural by Love Food
  4. Summer Kitchens by Olia Hercules
  5. Indian Slow Cooker by Neela Paniz
  6. The Slow Cooker Bible by Sara Lewis, Saskia Sidey, and Libby Silberman
  7. I Dream of Dinner (So You Don't Have To) by Ali Slagle

Essays

  1. A Slip of the Keyboard by Terry Pratchett

Gardening and Nature Writing

  1. What an Owl Knows by Jennifer Ackerman

History 

  1. Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyams
  2. The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World by Malcom Gaskill
  3. The Illustrated History of Football by David Squires
  4. The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy

Travel

  1. A textile traveler's guide to Guatemala by Deborah Chandler 
  2. Utrecht: Sights and secrets of Holland's smartest city by Anika Redhed

Writing

  1.  About Writing by Gareth Powell

Viewing and Listening

Movies

  1. Star Wars: Episode 4 - A New Hope (1977)
  2. Star Wars: Episode 5 - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
  3. Star Wars: Episode 6 - Return of the Jedi (1983)
  4. Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace (1999)
  5. Star Wars: Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones (2002)
  6. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2003-2005)
  7. Star Wars: Episode 3 – Revenge of the Sith (2005)
  8. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) (rewatch)
  9. Captain America: the Winter Soldier (2014) (rewatch)
  10. Much Ado About Nothing (2011)
  11. John Wick (2014)
  12. John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
  13. John Wick: Chapter 3--Parabellum (2019)
  14. John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
  15. Mission: Impossible (1996) (watched twice, on two separate flights)
  16. 65 (2023)
  17. Die Hard (1988) (rewatch)
  18. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

Podcasts

  1. Alabama Astronaut
  2. Ali on the Run
  3. Nobody Asked Us (with Des and Kara)

TV Shows

  1. Shadow and Bone (Season 2)
  2. The Expanse (Seasons 1-6)
  3. Bridgerton (Season 2)
  4. Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story
  5. Andor (Season 1) 
  6. Obi Wan Kenobi
  7. Good Omens (Season 2)
  8. Heartstopper (Season 2)
  9. Salvation (Seasons 1-partway through Season 2)
  10. Agents of Shield (Seasons 1- 3 ongoing)
  11. Loki (Seasons 1-2)
  12. Lost in Space (season 1 ongoing)
  13. Manifest (Seasons 1-3, ongoing)
  14. Broadchurch (Seasons 1-3)
  15. Foyle's War (Season 1-4, ongoing)
  16. Castle (Seasons 1-2, in the midst of season 3)

Youtube

  1. Vlogbrothers (the brothers Green)
  2. Run and Stretch (running warmups and cooldowns)
  3. Paola La (figure skating commentary)
  4. Full of Lit (book and TV reviews)

Wednesday 27 December 2023

Myths of Weaving: Writing About Textiles in Ancient and Late Antique Literature

My special treat this winter vacation is to finish writing a series of posts about books* I read in the 2022-2023 academic year. That was full year and blogging took a backseat to my many other adventures. As I continue to settle into postdoc life, I'm hoping to keep using this blog as a commonplace book for my academic and creative life. I greatly enjoy the writing I do here and hope to continue it into a brave new year!

One of the books I finished last year was Greek Myths: A New Retelling by Charlotte Higgins. At the time I was reading it, September to December 2022, I was beginning to work on the use of textile metaphors in late antique literature for two conference papers that have since become two book chapters. Hence, references to textile production snagged my attention even when reading books for fun. Making textiles provides a through-thread for Higgins' retelling of Greek myths, and the passage of the introduction where she explains this is worth quoting in full:

'Running through Greek and Roman thought is a persistent connection between the written word and woven thread, between text and textile. The Latin verb texere, from which the English words text and textile derive, means to weave, or compose, or to fit a complex structure together. Textum means fabric, or framework, or even, in certain branches of materialist philosophy, atomic structure. The universe itself is sometimes describes as a kind of fabric: Lucretius, in his first-century BCE scientific poem On the Nature of the Universe, describes the Earth, sea and sky as three dissimilar elements that are texta, woven together. Texere is related to the Greek verb tikto, which means to engender, to bring about, to produce, to give birth to. In turn the Latin and Greek words are related to the Sanskrit takman, child, and taksh, to make or to weave. Greek and Roman literature is full of metaphors that compare its own creation to spinning and weaving...My book reassess the connectedness of all of this: text and textile, the universe, the production of ideas, the telling of stories, and the delicate filaments of human life. These are the lives that are so cunningly and ruthlessly manipulated by the Fates, the all-powerful ancient goddesses who spin, wind and finally cut the thread of each person's existence.' pp 12-13

There's a passage in one of my book chapters in progress where I attempt to sketch the backstory of the relationship between texts and textiles; I admire the economy and elegance of Higgins' summary here. Before the eighteenth century, when new technologies of weaving (the flying shuttle and the spinning jenny) were invented, producing and processing fibre to make textiles required immense amounts of time and effort.

'...the lives of most women, and many men, were dominated by the slow, laborious processes required to make cloth. Partly because few examples have survived from the classical world, and partly because they were long overlooked as mere 'women's work', textiles have only fairly recently taken off as the object of serious study. Now, though, they are being investigated in all of their aspects---sociological, economic, archaeological, literary, metaphorical, mathematical--and rightly seen as central to live in the ancient world.' p. 11

Greek Myths: A New Retelling by Charlotte Higgins

I'm lucky to be writing my chapters about textiles at a time when this field of research is growing in so many directions. As I was formatting the bibliography for "Has geminas artes: text and textiles in the world of Attusia Lucana Sabina," earlier this month, I was struck by the sheer range of work I was citing: archaeology, experimental archaeology, literary studies, and more! It was particularly exciting to read about scholars' and weavers' attempts to reproduce ancient textiles as a way to learn more about how the techniques and time commitment involved in making them. Such scholarship challenges old assumptions about the complexity of ancient textiles.

'Despite the fact that textiles survivals from the ancient world are so sparse, there are plenty of indications that real, non-mythical cloth could be woven with complex designs--most notably the textile annually offered in Athens to the sculpture of Athena Polias, which was said to have depicted the gods' battles with the giants...Scholars long believed this kind of complicated pattern would have been impossible to create on so simple a device as a warp-weighted loom--but it is perfectly possible.' p. 12

Greek Myths: A New Retelling uses the ancient literary device of ekphrasis--a literary description of a physical work of art--as the roving from which to spin accounts of the stories of eight women of Greek myth--Athena, Alcithoë, Philomela, Arachne, Andromeda, Helen, Circe, and Penelope. Weaving features prominently in each of their stories, and description of the textiles they are making is an ingenious framing device. Each story opens with a line drawing by Chris Ofili, which enhance the text beautifully. For a unique and lovely introduction or reintroduction to Greek myth, this is a book to seek out and enjoy.

Further Reading

The notes and bibliography provide an excellent source of further reading. I bookmarked several scholars, publications, and projects to explore more thoroughly. Some I have since encountered in my research over the past year and some I look forward to digging into in 2024 and beyond.
 

Scholars and Projects

Books and Poems

  • Elizabeth Ward Barber (1996), Women's Word: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times 
  • Fiona Benson, [transformation: Callisto] (a poem about the Callisto myth, found in Benson's collection Vertigo & Ghost (2019), reviewed by Colin Burrows in the London Review of Books here)
  • E. Karslus and G. Fanfani, (eds). Homo Textor: Weaving as a Technical Mode of Existence (forthcoming, Munich; publication date is given on one contributor's faculty page as 2022)
  • Carol Helibrun (1985), What was Penelope Unweaving? in Hamlet's Mother and Other Women: Feminist Essays in Literature. There's apparently a great quote that talks about weaving and women's language and story
  • Theocritus, Idyll 15, which describes a textile at the festival of Adonis, where there are 'tapestries so marvellous that the figures depicted on them seem to move' p. 286
  • The Illiad and the Odyssey, translated by Emily Wilson. I'm particularly interested in reading Wilson's translation of Illiad 22, which is the scene when Andromache learns the news of her husband Hector's death. As Higgins puts it: 'When she realises what has happened, she rips off her headdress and drops her shuttle: one of the great devastating moments in literature.' (p. 285) 

*These include Before We Were Trans by Kit Heyam, The Bright Ages by Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry, and The Gates of Europe: A New History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy, not necessarily in that order.