2014-03-10

random access blogging

Montague Bookmill, interior (December 2012)
I'm in the final stages of writing my conference paper, a week behind my self-imposed deadline. So no book review this week. I did, though, get a chance to read Violet Blue's Smart Girl's Guide to Porn (Cleis, 2006) this morning over breakfast, which I recommend for those interested in moving-picture porn. I personally have never done much with the genre, in large part because my interest in porn generally stops where the pay wall begins, and I'm not as willing to weed through the dross for the gold as I am with fan fiction. But Blue's slim guide is a great introduction and guidebook full of suggestions for getting the most, well, bang for your buck in a feminist-aware sort of way.

The reason I had Smart Girl's was that Hanna and I spent yesterday on a field trip to Montague Bookmill for lunch with friends, and then a subsidiary field trip to Brattleboro, Vermont, for weekly shopping at the Brattleboro Food Co-op. At the co-op, I spotted a gardening display featuring my friend Joseph's book on plant breeding!

It is so much fun to know people who write books and publish them.

Spring is just around the corner here in Boston. I feel I can say this despite the fact that I'm typing this hunkered down under two comforters and as many cats because today, for the first time since November, we were able go the whole day without turning on the electric heaters. A real milestone.

Plus, I went out yesterday in just a heavy sweater. Liberating!

(And I can tell I've reached adulthood because my major concern is not how early I can get away with running around barefoot, but rather whether or not warmer spring temperatures will balance out the cold-weather electric bills before a new twelve-month cycle of payments begins.)

The "not renewing" notice to our current landlords is sitting on the table by my messenger bag ready to go in the morning's mail. We have until March 31st to decide, but we talked it over on Friday and realized there was no point in waiting until the last minute: we know we're ready for somewhere new. My colleagues are all gunning for us to move to Jamaica Plain, a serious contender, though we're open to a broad swath of Boston within a three-mile radius of the Fenway where we both work. It's an adventure, our first joint search for a home. I think of it as our "going to housekeeping" moment.

Though of course this spring marks the sixth anniversary of my moving in to this space.

The longest I've lived anywhere except my childhood home.

The rest of the month is busy for us, with both of us attending (with duties) New England Archivists and then the following weekend me presenting at the Biennial Boston College Conference on Religion and History (that paper I'm a week behind in finishing). I'm looking forward to celebrating my birthday on the 30th as a way to mark the end of a hectic season!

I hope all of you are well; and to everyone whom I owe an email (there are about half a dozen of you, I know!) please know I haven't forgotten you and letters will be forthcoming once we're on the other side of conference sessions and such.

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