December 7, 2018

Pearl Harbor. Last exam. All but two isolated grades in.

Dabbling on Ancestory.com– my great grandparents had two sons named Jasper, each of whom lived not quite a year. Guess they stopped trying for Jasper. Another son who died young and six daughters who lived forever, many of whom I new.  There is a door a long way behind me. I want to go backward, walk through it, and this time try to remember everything.

The Christmas cacti in my university office are blooming, one flamingo, one magenta. Just as I leave for a month.

Probably New Year’s Resolutions

1. Stop wasting time on manufactured outrage. Purge it from yourself, have no patience with it in others.

2. You know after an exchange or two what discussions are trivial and time-wasting. Sign off.

3. Ignore the non-life-threatening errors of others as you would have them ignore yours.

4. Clarity straightens and smooths all roads. Practice it.

5. You’d love to allow emotion to overwhelm reason, conviction to trump evidence. In public matters, though, this is the root of cruelty. Don’t do it. Don’t countenance it.

6. Don’t assign blame in situations where your own understanding is imperfect.

7. Don’t worry about working outside the box. The box is an illusion.

8. Never be ashamed to nap.

9. Kindness rewards the kind and baffles the cruel. Practice it.

10. It is an odd truth the giving almost never impoverishes you, however much you fear it might. Keep this in mind. Keep your hand open. 

In the world of surprises: Ramsey Library wants to give me a show in February, and John Crutchfield will be directing Father Abraham for Sublime. Saw neither of those coming. Look behind for looming shadows. See none at the moment. Rejoice.