Month in Review: June

We've eclipsed the summer solstice. The year and all our plans for it have reached their crux, or so it seems to me. After a few months of lying fallow, I'm ready to begin again in earnest to plow up the fields of my mind and preparing again to sow and reap a new harvest. The ideas I've been quietly tending are coming together and I think I will still be able to hold to my earlier promise to have a complete story by November. The current form of this story is radically different than the story I shared earlier this year. The overall design is still the same, it is to be a story in images (perhaps wordless). The length has been substantially circumscribed, now limited to a mere 12 two-sided pages. The story I've come up with though is short and simple enough to work well in this limited scope. I've already sketched out the first three pages and am happy with them. I plan to post some progress pics in July.

I haven't done much reading this month, besides some skimming. I did manage to finish Joanna Russ' We who are about to, my first Russ novel. I wanted to like this one more than I did. I also read Michel Bernanos, The Other Side of the Mountain, which Selwyn Rodda recommended to me several months ago upon learning that I was a fan of David Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus. There are definitely some similarities, and I enjoyed this one much more than the Russ, but still it is not a novel I loved. I've also been reading Ben Katchor's graphic novel, Hand Drying in America, for inspiration. Somewhat like my story, Ben's graphic novel is composed of single page self-contained stories.  

Instead of reading I've been watching some TV. I watched the first two seasons of The Leftovers as well as the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I'm very engaged in both series. I also recently started Russian Doll which I think is a very sharp comedy and one I look forward to following. There are too many other tv shows I hope to get around to eventually, but should probably ignore if I hope to make any progress on my other projects. 

Lastly, the third volume of Jesus The Imagination was published this month with my essay on Shelley. I still haven't received my copy although I imagine it is in the mail. 

I thought I'd wrap up with a list of potential lists. Below are four topics (each with a dozen or more titles related to it) which I hope to get around to reading in the relative near future: 

• Economics and Utopia (currently working on, to be finished this year)
• Finnegans Wake (next year begin lightly and intensify later)
• Language, Philosophy, and Philology (or, the difficulty of creating a system): Wittgenstein, Laura Riding, Sellars, Pierce, Hans Blumenberg (perhaps next year?)
• American Literature (in a few years)

Month in Review: May

Books Read:

Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon
Ada Palmer, The Will to Battle
David B., Epileptic

TV and Movies:

Game of Thrones, Season 8
Infinity War
End Game

A busy month. I was having much car troubles leading eventually to the buying of a new car. Add home repairs on top of that (built a new shed in the backyard). Two trips to Michigan, one when my grandmother was put in the ICU after coming down with several severe infections and then a few weeks later for her funeral. And yet, as trying as these things were, I still feel embarassed by how little I've accomplished. I did have several important ideas, in fact, I probably had more important ideas for my story this month then at any point all year.

Grandmom's Funeral

I got a call last night (June 6) from my mom letting me know that my grandmother, Dolores Naggie, died, after having been in the ICU for over 3 weeks, most of the time on a ventilator and feeding tube. I had gone out two weeks ago and spent three days with her. The ventilator prevented her from speaking, so I spent the time there holding her hand.

I first went out to visit her Monday, May 27. She had been admitted to the hospital the previous Sunday (May 19). On Tuesday (May 21) they discovered several infections. I believe they put her on life support on Wednesday (May 22) and a social worker came to speak with my family on Thursday (May 23). I went to see her on Monday (May 27) and everyone told me she was looking much better. On Tuesday (May 28) morning they took out the ventilator and she was able to say a few words with difficulty. She said she loved me. Apparently my Aunt Kathy came early Wednesday (May 29) and spent a lot of time with her. By the time we arrived she was exhausted and slept for most of the visit.

I just got off work and need to quickly shower, dress, and pack before heading to the airport. This post was written in part as an excuse for my delayed reflections on last month, which I'll write when I return.