Recent Reading, Snow and Other Updates

I've been reading The Mercy Seat for several months off and on, (a $1 find from Bookstock with Carly over the summer!) and quite a bit in these past few days. The author, Rilla Askew has a name that reminds me of Willa Cather, who wrote O Pioneers. They share several similarities as historical fiction authors who wrote novels set in the midwest. The Mercy Seat is filled with beautiful writing and the description in it is incredible and so life-like but at times also too much. In several places, it feels as if the writing detracts from the story and on a few occasions I've found myself rushing through the text, moving my eyes from left to right as fast as possible solely to avoid the lengthy description and just understand where the story goes. It's made me recognize over-description in my own writing though as I typically describe too much in both poetry and prose, leaving little up to the reader.

Asker has been compared to William Faulkner, a Mississippi writer who I haven't read much of but really would like to read more of. I read a quote a year or two ago (I think by Mississippi writer Eudora Welty) that read, 'Mississippi grows writers...' she spoke of growing up hearing stories and the emphasis on tradition and storytelling in Mississippi. One of my favorite books of recent years is Catfish Alley by Mississippi writer Lynne Bryant. I'm also quite certain that writers from Mississippi have some of the best names. Tennessee Williams and Augusta Scattergood are two personal favorites...

Poets of the Civil War continue to be great too, I love Whitman, especially 'The Wound Dresser' and 'When Lilacs Last in The Dooryard Bloomed' but there are so many other Civil War-era  poets and writers who are just as engaging and telling in their work. I've had my $3 copy of Jane Austin's Emma also on my to-read list for awhile and I really should get to it....never having made it through Pride and Prejudice, I thought I'd begin with Emma at the suggestion of my friend Marissa, but there are so many other books that I'm looking forward to reading, Emma sounds more like healthy reading. I think I should give it a try though.

It's bitterly cold here, yet also an exciting and very different change. I ventured outside today for a few different engagements and each time I wore layers of my warmest clothes (including an insulated long sleeve shirt I would ordinarily wear while skiing!) and a scarf over much of my face to protect against the wind (the wind chill hovered around 0 (-18 Celsius)) and snow squalls that made me feel as if I was trekking across Siberia. I think I'll incorporate the journey into writing somehow...

This evening I served British digestives (cookies) in a first and second-year student dorm and spoke about the benefits of studying abroad and my own experience. I answered plenty of questions and it was so fun to see the excitement that the students held for their own experiences.

Speaking with Emma and Janelle, two wonderful first-year girls I met. :)

This penultimate semester is coming to a close and it's unbelievable! I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving later this week, perhaps getting in touch with my domestic side, reading, finishing up a few assignments, continuing to study, and gaining a bit of rest. In the meantime, I'm going to continue enjoying this snow and hoping that the winds of Siberia begin to feel a bit more like Vermont. :)

November

Greetings.

It's hard to believe how fast time has flown! My semester will be finished in about two to three weeks, but it feels as if the majority of academic work has been completed with only a few assignments left.

From my parent's home last month, in the middle of October.

November might be my least favorite month. It's between the bright foliage of October and snowy enchantment of December. The leaves have curled and fallen, the ground is frozen and the days are dark. Yet I've also found so much happiness each day and am working to enjoy every moment of this year and place I'm in now.

I went to a concert several weeks ago with a group of friends and we stopped at this diner afterwards for french fries. It felt very 1950s-ish. :)

I submitted my senior thesis proposal this morning. I won't know if it's approved for a few days, but it's the culmination of this semester's work and will give me a step forward for my thesis due date in April. It was the longest essay/argument I've ever written, but I really loved writing it. 11,000 words and 36 pages!

I accepted a part-time position with a literary journal last week. I'll be an editorial intern and contribute to a few projects.

My friend Carol visited last weekend and it was great to enjoy some time by Lake Champlain. :)

I've felt so happy these past few weeks and have realized too that I've been back in the U.S. for six months. I think it's no coincidence that I feel more at home here and adjusted than I have in the previous few months and suddenly, every small thing about the U.S. that I missed while in the U.K. has proven true and just as wonderful as I imagined it while away.

I'm continuing to write when I can and read as much as possible.

I was reading an anthology of Poems of the Civil War earlier today (a birthday gift from my parents!) and particularly loved these lines:

They snug their huts with the chapel-pews,
In court-houses stable their steeds -- kindle their fires with indentures and bonds,
And old Lord Fairfax's parchment deeds;
And Virginian gentlemen's libraries old --
Books which only the scholar heeds --
And flung to his kennel. It is ravage and range,
And gardens are left to weeds.