MAY 2025 – PART ii

The lush green of Vermont heralds the beginning of summer and the second blog of the month!

SONG INSPIRATION

Taeko Onuki’s 4:00 AM (from the album Mignonne)

START OF SUMMER

The semester ended 2 weeks ago, and I submitted my grades last week.  I taught mostly seniors this past spring, so the earlier deadline for final grades provided ample motivation.  We had a chilly and wet commencement over Memorial Day weekend which, despite the weather, turned into a delightful social affair.  I’m so proud of our department graduates – a great cohort of students with whom I forged a deeply meaningful bond.  This week begins the transition into a summer work routine.  However, an upcoming workshop, subsequent conference, and overseas travel have made the next two weeks anything but typical.  Regardless, I have no lecture prep or recurring meetings on campus so I’ve shortened my workdays and increased my remote work.  I have plenty to keep me busy, including a parade of social engagements.  Despite the fact that I’m wholly exhausted, the show must go on.

ARIZONA

I returned to the southwest just in time to avoid a rainy week of chilly weather in N’Angland.  As usual, the bright sun, blue skies, and rugged mountains of the desert reinvigorated me.  Despite copious obligations and a succession of disappointing news, I found myself in high spirits every time I opened the curtains in the morning.  I reconnected with friends, including my graduate advisor, and visited places where I forged some of my strongest connections.  But I also noted the stark differences.  The rural urbanism of village life in New England, which results in a community of neighbors, friends, and acquaintances fueled by repeated interaction, is absent in the car-centric spawl of Phoenix.  I never knew my neighbors when I lived in the valley.  Opportunities to forge lasting bonds were challenging.  I don’t miss that aspect.  Yet as I stand at a professional crossroads, I am forced to reflect on where I want to plant roots, where I want to spend the rest of my 30s, and what kind of life (and community) I want.

THE FRUSTRATION OF REJECTION

One of the worst sources of disappointment is the maelstrom of injustice one feels when they’ve done everything by the book only to not receive that which they covet.  This is a constant in the realm of science and academia and may suggest some systemwide reform is needed.  Or perhaps that’s the price of progress toward the objective truth.  Although I’m not a competitive person by nature, competition drives scientific research and can motivate the best and brightest.  But academia is subject to the forces of any organization – budgets, backstabbers, and big picture.  You can’t read too much into rejection in this type of setting.  Sometimes it’s personal, sometimes it’s not.  But that doesn’t make it any less painful.  You’re a person with a life – with ambitions, feelings, and tangible needs.  Institutions, and sometimes people for that matter, can fail to see you as a whole, complex individual.  Every day I struggle to give grace to myself and others.  To experience this flawed world in a way that doesn’t crush my spirit.  In times like these, that exercise is particularly challenging.  But as I stated earlier, the show must go.  We perform at the pleasure of the divine.

CURRENT BOOKS AND SHOWS

Recently finished reading:  A Modern History of Japan; The Dispossessed

Currently reading:  Guns, Germs, and Steel; Starry Messenger: A Cosmic Perspective

Recently finished watching:  Dexter (s8); Dune: Prophecy; Invincible (s3); Love, Death, and Robots (s1-4); Ooku: The Inner Chamber

Currently watching:  Andor (s2); Godzilla Singular Point; The Handmaid’s Tale (s6)

Thank you for reading!  The next blog is scheduled for Thursday, June 26^th.  Until next time….