I am very overdo for a blog checkin. But due to some travel snafoos. (Yes, multiple) I have some unexpected time on my hands. So I’m sitting in a café in Capitol Hill and am feeling anonymous. You know the feeling of sitting in a café in a city that is not your own? I have a vivid memory of sneaking away from the cast during my gap semester and sitting alone in a café in Denmark. Maybe the other patrons suspected I was an American, and that made me remarkable, but I the moment I felt so utterly unremarkable. Which is how I feel right now. An unremarkable patron in a city not my own.
Though I have enjoyed my time in D.C. I’ve been visiting two of my dearest friends from undergrad. I got to visit five bookstores (Kramers, Politics and Prose, Capitol Hill Books, East City Books, and Solid State Books). I made it to the absolutely should-not-be-missed Smithsonian museum of African American History. I even got to see Octavia E. Butler’s typewriter (on loan from The Huntington Archive in California). It was an incredible moment, as my cousins teased me in our family group chat. I also got to see JOSEPH and Sawyer in concert at the 9:30 club. It very much reminds me of the vibes of Delmar Hall in St. Louis, for folks familiar with that concert venue. I couldn’t possible write down all of the wonderful moments in this trip, but those have been some of the highlights.
But let’s back it up a bit. Since I published my 2022 reads in review post back in January I have 1) graduated from college, 2) been accepted to grad school (I’m moving to Scotland in August), 3) took a month+ long break from social media, 4) have read approx 40 books, 5) have worked some amazing author events, and 6) have settled into the post grad work grind (saving money)!
Let’s start with bullet number one. After four years at Middlebury my journey (though fraught at times, primarily by the onset of a global pandemic) I graduated in early February. I am absolutely so grateful for the educated afford to me by this institution. I learned more in college than I could have ever dreamed, to be completely honest. My senior work in particular, though all of my long form work (writing intensive piece on the history of the ADA at Middlebury, junior history thesis on eugenics and maternal feminism in Canada, senior history thesis on the influence of American eugenics on the institutionalization of women in Missouri at the turn of the nineteenth century, and my senior English thesis on the concept of “humanism” in the novels of Octavia E. Butler) stands out the most. The History of U.S. Radicalism, Reading Race, Slavery and the University, Literary Romance, English Language: Concepts and Controversies, and Literature of Displacement linger as courses in particular I’ll never forget.
I like to consider myself an ~academic~ and the work I completed in undergrad absolutely solidified that part of my identity. Research and writing is fun–to me at least. I’ve been working at a restaurant and said to my co-workers a couple of months ago that I miss writing essays…I did get looks like I’d sprouted a second head LOL.
Bullet number two…I’m going to grad school in September…in Scotland. More on that eventually (have I mentioned I’ve never been to Scotland?) but I’m really excited to break out on my own and further my education with a program in Book History. TL;DR I was supposed to study abroad in Scotland for year in undergrad but had to let go of those plans due to the global pandemic. When I started to become disillusioned with the idea of law school I thought more and more about 1 year masters programs abroad…which has led me here! But yes more to come.
Bullet number three…this Instagram fiend, TikTok loving, Twitter scrolling, and Reddit lurking social media addict took over a month off of social media. My relationship with religion is complicated, but I wanted to give up something for lent that I thought would significantly better my life to my own frustration (lol). The first week or so was incredibly painful (don’t worry, I did delete the apps off of my phone for fear of temptation).
On one hand I do love aspects of social media. Keeping tabs on friends, especially those from high school and undergrad that I don’t live in the same city as, brings me back. There’s also some wonderful creators out there (@thedailyvictorian on TikTok) that I feel genuinely add good things to my life. But I’ve become UBER aware of the doom scrolling, the happy hormone neural pathways that keep me scrolling, and the moments when I’m just ~bored~. Technology is complicated, and taking a class one Posthumanism didn’t make me, like, LOVE technology. I don’t have the energy to talk about AI today…but I don’t want to feel glued to my phone. Or the idea that it should be glued to me. So app limits have been great.
I saw someone online once who used a tracker to monitor “screen less” hours. It’s been inspiring and something I’m considering.
38 at books at the time of this writing! All the books! After I write this I’m going to try and get some reviews scheduled. If you follow me on Insta + Goodreads + The Storygraph you will be more plugged into my daily/weekly reading habits. But I want to get some longer form reviews up here. Writing for the bookstore requires some pretty short and sweet reviews (someday I will make it into the IndieNext mag LOL) but I do love to linger. Stay tuned.
Author events !!! My colleagues at The Novel Neighbor have been working their BUTTS off on our spring + summer author lineup. There are some more to come, but I def want to do a roundup of everything I’ve worked so far. It never gets old meeting authors and telling them (to their faces) how important their books are. It just doesn’t!
But TBEH the reality of my life right now is that I’m working…a lot. That’s part of why I’m writing today…on this unintentionally extended vacation. Be nice to your servers at restaurants, and def always tip 20%. Be nice to your childcare workers. Be nice to your booksellers. As someone working all three of these gigs, I promise I am doing my best!
talk more soon
