Part of the challenge of writing, is simply sitting down and committing to an idea. I’m always tempted to wait awhile, see if the idea ripens, if more connections can be made, or if I could express something more eloquently with a little more time devoted to research. But in this bulletin, I’m forcing myself to cast those inclinations aside, for the quick satisfaction of hitting “publish”.
This summer, I feel like I’ve been listening to more audiobooks than I have been reading physical pages. Three I enjoyed recently are Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser; The Dutch House by Ann Patchet (read by Tom Hanks); and Taste by Stanley Tucci.
I mentioned (here) having enjoyed The Library Book by Susan Orlean and consequently, I’m excited to hear what is next on the podcast mini-series Book Exploder. I enjoyed Hrishikesh Hirway’s first interview so much, the episode felt too short. Hrishikesh has a newsletter called Some Cookies, which when you sign up for it, invites you “to accept Some Cookies”. I was confused until I got the joke.
This week I made Weird and Wonderful Banana Cake and had my little family guess the mystery ingredient. It was like a game of 20 questions.
Some trend on TikTok encourages professionals to give advice based on things they’ve seen in their profession. Sometimes it’s terrible and other times it’s frightening. This, I thought, could not apply to my current job as a tutor… It’s not like grammar rules are life-threatening.
However, university life being what it is, I’m always a little bit sad for students who are submitting a paper in a course they’re taking in a field they’re pursuing because they feel like they have to. In an ideal world, students would be following an academic path based on their own interests, and universities would be better at catering to this. This recent interview on Fresh Air backs up this idea; the author of After the Ivory Tower Falls, Will Bunch, recommends a gap year “it gives our young people more time to find themselves and figure out what they want to do. So many people at 18 and their families are making bad choices…”
I agree! I recently came across personality tests we were administered in high school to help our 17-year-old selves decide our future career. I applied myself to the task begrudgingly (I feel like I remember mom not giving much weight to these things, and thus disdaining them myself). (She might have been right though… I don’t know if applying myself more would have saved me from my own self-ignorance.) Test results then showed I’d be good in sales, (I couldn’t sell candy to children) and that I wouldn’t do well in studies or research (see number 5).
How’s that Master’s coming along? Aha! So glad you asked! I love talking about research and assume no one wants to hear about it. Right now, I’m combing through the genealogies of Aubigny’s Métis and French founding families. It is like assembling a giant puzzle. Take this one example here: Joseph and Clothilde. Joseph was from Quebec and came to Aubigny with his dad and mom and siblings. He and some of his brothers stayed in Aubigny for generations. When he was old enough, he fell in love with Clothilde. (I mean, I assume the love part, because I’m romantic.) Clothilde’s family had established themselves south of the border, in a French parish in Leroy, North Dakota. She had a sister who married into an Aubigny family in 1907 (maybe that’s how they met?), and a cousin in the community as well. Gathering these connections has lead me to learn more about the French communities in the United-States and the fluidity of the border back then. I also get to imagine what “community” meant a century ago.
Happy Friday, dear reader. May you find yourself as comfortable as this dog:
