Monthly Archives: June 2026

Reading Report: Mid-June 2026

For a while it seemed like book critics everywhere were talking about On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle. I am a sci-fi fan, and I never met a time-travel story that didn’t entertain me in some way, so … Continue reading

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In Need of a Pseudonym

This week I started my first work project composed primarily of recycled material. It’s a big change, and not a good one. To be clear, I don’t entirely disagree with the premise of using old copy. Some parts of the … Continue reading

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Baffling

Everything in this country has gotten extremely expensive: housing, food, childcare, home and auto insurance, health insurance, healthcare, electricity, education, cars, etc. Each of these things has come to feel like a burden, and this has been going on for … Continue reading

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Despair and Joy

I read a piece of advice the other day. It said, “Don’t share your despair.” Once upon a time I might have agreed, but I don’t know how to keep the despair inside anymore. It is too massive to be … Continue reading

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Ugh, Cliffhangers

I got a free 7-day trial of BritBox because I thought that The Other Bennet Sister looked interesting. I should have investigated first, though, because only 5 of the 10 episodes had been released at that point. I watched all … Continue reading

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I VOTED BY MAIL

While sorting through a stack of paper I found a sticker that said, “I VOTED BY MAIL.” The sticker must date to the Covid era because that’s the only time I ever voted by mail. The sticker was a throwaway … Continue reading

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Oubliette

Every day there are news articles about terrible things happening or being done in the world. At some point I started bookmarking those articles in my web browser. Initially it was so I’d have a list handy if anyone ever … Continue reading

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Awards

Last week each of my children got an award at school. Livia won an award for French. Marshall got a college book award, for which we had to attend an awards ceremony. The ceremony went on far too long, we … Continue reading

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Higher Education

I recently saw an article ranking each U.S. state on the percentage of residents with BAs. It’s interesting. I grew up in the state ranked 7th, went to college in the state ranked 1st (48.3% of MA residents have a … Continue reading

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