the sudden columbia mess, the hovering doom around iraq, endless reams of student paper, the really crappy weather, a certain hollow space in life with my brothers... yes, february.

a string of gray days, a day of fog that pounced suddenly, i swear, in the space of ten minutes... and now snow...my big window creaks with a sudden gust and the tapping of icy fingers.

dom took advantage of a warm sunday (maybe 36º) to wash his car. i should have done the same, but i sat in my room reading student work. good boy.

jacqui says she'll send me a zine she made based on? inspired by? paul celan's "todesfuge." that sounds fine. i hope i get it sometime soon... a good read for february. a new idea for february?

this week two students will be going on vacation. just going. for two weeks. why can't i? why can't you? inspired by the street scenes break from the 12th to the 17th... might as well jump off a little early... like the 5th or 6th. february.

this site's mail forms stopped working. i fixed it... and then they really stopped working... i fiddled some more and botched it completely... but i have some help... and soon they'll be ok again... even though it's february.

melville complained about "november in the soul." he got it wrong. it's february.

but even in february some things must proceed. i read student papers and the bottomless pile gets shorter. i finally submit my second quarter professional reflection which was due about three weeks ago. it's from this journal. i hope it is acceptable. it's kind of odd. i'm kind of odd. it's february.

we're about to begin huck finn. i'm hoping this will be a good year for it. we're all kind of dis-spirited after the miss emily fiasco. time to head for the river. get some fresh air. dangle these chilly toes in the great brown god.

i'm sure you've noticed this month's featured artist, jenny holzer. i've always been taken by the audacity of her projects with words in public spaces. i've lifted statements from her early "truisms" and will feature a new one every day or so. is copyright an issue? how can one have a copyright on a truism - if it really is one? do not assume that i stand behind each or any of the statements i present. these are offered in what i take to be the spirit of jenny holzer's work. i never take a stand if i can avoid it... except when i say that

THIS COMING WAR IS A THOROUGHLY ROTTEN WAR

... consider that my own truism...

my words for... february

The most serious charge which can be brought against New England is not Puritanism but February.

Joseph Wood Krutch

 

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