[The vacant lot on the corner of 36th Street and Buchanan Avenue. ]

This was a quiet week. Some low-level work frustrations kept me distracted from the general state of the world, which was nice. But it also meant I didn’t have a lot of mental space for myself.

Reading

My long read for Dostoevsky December is Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. I read a couple of chapters back during my Russian Studies days at Grand Valley State University, somewhere around…1991. And I watched the movie a year or so ago. So now I am finally reading the book.

Writing

Nothing, as usual.

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Precursors, Mutants
Setting: Library
Genre: Slipstream

Listening

“Lara’s Theme” from Doctor Zhivago.

Interesting Links

• “Satanic Temple launching program at Marysville elementary school, countering Christian programming” (George Shilcock, WOSU)
• “On the Report of Poetry’s Death, or: What Does That AI Poetry Study Really Tell Us?” (Jen Benka, LitHub)