Days 170-174: An East Coast Blur

for Thursday, December 1 - Day 170
After three months away, I'm grateful to have two days in New York City. I miss this place, I really do. Now that I'm removed from it, I can separate what was burdening me emotionally from NYC - and what burdens were coming from elsewhere. Now if only I can work on that kind of clarity for my life here, now...

for Friday, December 2 - Day 171

I'm grateful for happy hour at Miriam's with Norah, just like old times (old times meaning when I lived in Brooklyn!). I am grateful that our friendship is still as lovely and strong as it was! She is so important to me, and it was such a blessing to sit and share with her.

for Saturday, December 3 - Day 172

Brunch with awesome ladies Laura, Katharine & Aubrey! At Freeman's!


for Sunday, December 4 - Day 173
Today I'm grateful for barely making it to IAD in time, after my presentation at MESA - but I did. Phew. Exhausting. I arrived back in LA to discover that Lucas was here, and was able to meet him for a delicious dinner in Santa Monica.


for Monday, December 5 - Day 174
After being gone Wed-Sun for Thanksgiving, and then Thurs-Sun for the MESA conference, I am grateful to spend a low-key night at home doing laundry, tidying up, and just relaxing!

Edward Said on Humanism

"My idea in Orientalism is to use humanistic critique to open up the fields of struggle, to introduce a longer sequence of thought and analysis to replace the short bursts of polemical, thought-stopping fury that so imprison us in labels and antagonistic debate whose goal is a belligerent and collective identity rather than understanding and intellectual exchange. I have called what I try to do 'humanism,' a word I continue to use stubbornly despite the scornful dismissal of the term by sophisticated post-modern critics. By humanism, I mean first of all attempting to dissolve Blake's mind-forg'd manacles so as to be able to use one's mind historically and rationally for the purposes of reflective understanding and genuine disclosure. Moreover, humanism is sustained by a sense of community with other interpreters and other societies and periods: strictly speaking, therefore, there is no such thing as an isolated humanist."

Edward Said