This Bordeaux-style red blend is mostly merlot, with a touch of cab franc and cab sauvignon, giving it a smooth, fruit-focused character. Drinking this bottle in 2021 found the tannins almost entirely subdued. A shy berry slowly gives way to cedar and spice making this extremely drinkable right now.
Making new year’s resolutions seems more precarious than ever right now. And while I’m always reluctant to set goals that I know I’m likely to drop by February, the imperative to do better seems stronger for me than usual in 2021. I’ve been thinking about where I would like to be both in my career and personal life five years from now; and the path forward in both instances is through writing. So 2021 will be the year of journaling, *though writing, more generally, will be my focus.
I’ve set a personal goal to write in a paper journal each day. I’ve also set a professional goal to put aside time each M-F/9-5 for writing-focused projects: either writing that needs to be done on behalf of the library or writing for the publication of my own research in professional journals.[1] To meet this goal, I’ve time-blocked at least 1 hour of writing time each day in addition to time-blocking for research work.
I don’t have any restrictions on what I write: the goal isn’t to produce anything in particular. Simply, the goal is to put pen to page. Pixel to screen. Make the clackity noise.
[1] I’ve surveyed the LIS field and discovered that many of the scholars that I admire most publish approximately 2-3 articles a year. With that in mind, I have set myself to the same goal.
An active, critical approach to engaging with community needs that explicitly acknowledges the influence of social, cultural, financial, and political power on information access and information behavior is necessary for librarianship to confront limitations to freedom of speech and informed citizenship (especially in Black communities).
Park Dahlen, S., Chancellor, R., Lee, S., Gibson, A., Shorish, Y., & Cooke, N. (2017). “Libraries on the frontlines: Neutrality and social justice.” https://doi.org/10.17615/pyyv-r646
Whatever the nature of the ultimate sources, Arthur symbolizes a deeply rooted factor in human nature. […] He still strikes a chord to which literal belief is irrelevant, and which reverberates far outside his own legend.
King Arthur, The Dream of a Golden Age, Geoffrey Ashe
Donald Trump is a white supremacist. Full stop. If you vote for him again you’re a white supremacist. Full stop.
“Chapter 319” by clipping.
Hamilton, of course. I’ve watched it twice in 24 hours (but I’m working on three. Oh!)
Riesling is one of those wines that I rarely think about or crave, but when I find a good one, I will easily grab 2-3 bottles.
This riesling comes from the steep slopes of the Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr region in Germany. It has a dense, lemon chiffon color in the glass. The nose offers strong melon rind and floral notes. On the mouth, the slate earth of Mosel really comes through, along with a citrus that is both creamy and tart. Lingering lemon finish.
The sourness in this vintage is really fascinating. It almost stretches the taste profile out of “riesling-ness” but the wine stubbornly hangs on the spectrum.
Cal Newport, computer scientist at Georgetown University, talks about how one successful college coach has survived (until now) without using email.
“We might notice that our current commitment to unrelenting, uncontrolled, attention-devouring incoming communication is not necessarily the sine qua non of digital age productivity.”
“Nick Saban Just Got Email” by Cal Newport
Most of us don’t have a personal assistant, much less an entire staff, dedicated to managing our incoming requests, but I think the thought practice is useful here.
It has been six weeks since I started working from home. In that time, I have had to make some adjustments not just to how I work, but also to how I define productivity. At the start of each day, I identify 1-2 tasks that I want to accomplish. If I can manage to complete those tasks by the end of the day, I call it a win.
By focusing on only one or two projects, I not only increase my success rate, but I also give myself permission to let go of other things: email, busy work, less essential projects. For on average, I am only able to focus on my job for five-six hours per day, half of which are usually spent in Zoom meetings. I mean really focus. The remaining hours of my day are dedicated to childcare (e.g. helping my kids with their homework and to stay engaged with their community) and home needs (cooking, cleaning, etc.).
There are many factors that determine a great bottle of wine, but one of the most important is “occasion”: when did you open it, why, and with whom. Sharing this bottle with my family during COVID-19 on the occasion of my birthday certainly made it memorable. It also helped that it was a remarkable vintage that, truth be told, could have survived another 10-15 years in the bottle.
With pepper and flowers on the nose, this Bordeaux-style red (95% cabernet sauvignon and 5% petit verdot) immediately draws you in. At first, it seems balanced but quickly tilts towards the tannins (again, my bad for opening it early). Big, silky mouth feel, with charcoal and plum, and a cherry finish.
This wine comes from the Oakville region of Napa, an area of deep gravelly and sandy clay loam soil. Most cabernet sauvignons from this region are not 100% cab grapes. The addition of 5% petit verdot (or merlot, cab franc, or malbec) is common and adds to the wine’s complexity.
NASA’s website allows you to see what image Hubble took on your birthday. Here is one from my annual year around the sun celebration, taken in 2015.
“Continuous as the stars that shine
and twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
tossing their heads in sprightly dance.”
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth
A day full of wind and rain caused a number of my sunflowers to topple over. Their downfall brightened our table earlier than usual this year.
Meredith Farkas has pulled together a series of her thoughts about the impact of COVID-19 on libraries. This statement made me feel particularly seen:
“While my commitment to my place of work feels deeply broken, my commitment to the people I work with is stronger than ever. And I’m struggling with the conflicted feelings all of that brings up.”
“Thoughts on work, well-being, solidarity, and advocacy in our current… situation” by Meredith Farkas
And this one:
“Also related to the “can’t pay people who can’t do their jobs online” argument: If you aren’t thinking of new ways that you can support your community during this difficult time and are only moving existing services online, you are suffering from a failure of imagination. Any manager that isn’t trying to find work their staff can do during a closure is failing at their job.”
“Thoughts on work, well-being, solidarity, and advocacy in our current… situation” by Meredith Farkas
Personally, I am in this moment stuck between what could be a wellspring of creativity and collaboration, on one side, and complete immobility on the other. I can feel myself moving out of a calcified state (caused by two solid weeks of crisis communications mode) and toward something new. Just think: if we were to assume our current working-remotely situation becomes status quo for the foreseeable future, together we could create some remarkable platforms and experiences for our students and faculty.
Aisha S. Ahmad, assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto, has an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education with some useful advice about productivity in the time of quarantine:
“Know that you are not failing. Let go of all of the profoundly daft ideas you have about what you should be doing right now. Instead, focus intensely on your physical and psychological security. “
Why You Should Ignore All That Coronavirus-Inspired Productivity Pressure by Aisha S. Ahmad
One happy side effect of having to work in a home with two small children is that I am much more discerning about which projects get my attention each day. As a result, if I want to prioritize research, I feel more emboldened to let other things go so that I can make space for it. What I didn’t have the willpower of the focus to do under “normal” circumstances, I suddenly have the capacity to do now.
