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By Its Cover 1
This time I am making myself post my book choice *before* reading it. The book of the week is Acting the Giddy Goat: I picked it out because it is a trade paper back (sorry, it’s true… that’s why it won this week). I really prefer holding TPB’s, since I usually read lying in bed,…
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Book Review: The Disorder of Longing
While shelving at the not-so-tiny library the other day, I realized that all of the older books did, in fact, look pretty much the same. You can’t judge them simply by looking at them. This is in stark contrast to a recent claim that I made to a patron that I’ve had rather a lot…
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Choices and the Back of my Car
I just had to clear out the back of the car so that it will have space for picking up people at the end of the day. The contents are highly reflective of the choices I have been making recently. The back seat contained: a chainsaw, an extension cord (orange, 50 feet), a case of…
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Chopping Wood
It is a commonly quoted Zen proverb: “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” I first came across it at the entry to the Zen Garden in the Arboretum at the University of Guelph, and I was struck motionless. It seemed so obvious; even the attainment of enlightenment doesn’t absolve…
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Swimming with the kids
Yesterday I decided to do something different. At the end of the day, when I was about to dash off to pick up the kids from after-school program, I realized that I’ve been intending to take them swimming all winter. I had decided at the end of the swimming classes that I needed to spend…
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No Body
You do not have a body “What?!” I hear you respond. “Clearly ludicrous! This woman’s insane.” Very good, very good. Glad to see you’re listening. I’m afraid it’s not as exciting as all that, though. I’m not going to claim that existence is an illusion, that the body, or life (or the world for that…
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The Dinner Blues
Let’s be up-front about this: I recently found myself saying to my husband (and not even in the heat of the moment), “I hate having to feed my children healthy food.” Sometimes it is tempting to throw my hands up in the air, and simply declare a moratorium on these family dinners that everybody says…
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Idea Collector
I spend an enormous amount of time pondering the overall arch of my life. In front of me on the desk is a mock-up of a pamphlet that highlights the range of my experience, which goes from nuclear engineering plants (drafting of shut-down systems, studying the materials that surrounds the fuel rods), through universities (teaching…