the new semester begins at Penn with an Adele hello

Sometimes, as the first day of a new semester begins at Penn, I think of how very close I came to saying no to this opportunity all those years ago.

It would have been one of the greatest mistakes of my life.

And so, again, on this bitter cold day, we begin. We're focused on home this semester. We're reading Annie Dillard's An American Childhood, George Hodgman's Bettyville, and Ta-Nahesi Coates's Between the World and Me, not to mention John Hough on dialogue and countless excerpts (countless as of now, anyway, because I can never tell what's going to inspire me before and during class). We'll be tapping into the new Wexler Studio—recording some of our work. We'll be laying the groundwork for the Beltran evening on March 1—all invited—during which time we'll be visited by my writing friends (and worldly talents) Reiko Rizzuto, A.S. King, and Margo Rabb. We'll hear from former students. We'll write letters to the people in our lives, in Mary-Louise Parker and Ta-Nahesi style.

And today, if all the machines are working, we'll start out with this.

I can't tell you why or how we'll use it.

You'll just have to imagine.

Meanwhile, before any of that, I get to share an hour with Nina and David, who will be writing their theses with me.

How lucky I am.

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quince, the Grammys, the artists of Chanticleer

For an exhibit of the extraordinary furniture and furnishings made by the gardeners of Chanticleer, Jonathan, a gardener I have always loved, forced, among other things, quince.  So that it bloomed today among the many admirers at the Wayne Art Center.  It bloomed, a centerpiece in a room of art among people who love growing things.

Leave it to Jonathan to make one of my favorite flowers come to life on the coldest day thus far of this year. 

I have been working since 3 this morning (not the whole day, but most of it) —and still I am egregiously behind.  I will take my tax-year receipts to another room now so that I can watch Adele sing and remember Whitney and fall head over heels (one more time) with the one and only Bruce.

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