Did We Ever . . .

 . . . travel? Or stand next to someone without wearing a mask?

This picture popped up on FB this morning. Here I am in downtown Sana'a, Yemen eight years ago, that weekend I popped over from Abu Dhabi (although it didn't make my girlfriend at the time, Laura, particularly happy, although I believe she was at the very same moment going scuba diving in the contested waters between the UAE and Iran so I guess you pick your poison).

Someday I will get back to Yemen . . . sigh.

Yeah, a Goon

 Actual conversation at the gym the other day between some random dude and me.

RD: "Hey, did you play hockey?"

GS: "What?"

RD: "You look like you could have been an intimidator, like for the Bruins."

GS: "You mean a goon."

RD: "Yeah, a goon."

GS: "Well, sometimes a Gretzky needs to be knocked down."

RD: "Yeah."

My fate in life: I always see myself as Wayne Gretzky but am always typecast as Marty McSorley.

Mornings with the Ramayana

 Yes, my sabbatical has begun. Technically, I guess, it probably doesn't begin until the spring semester begins, which would officially signal the fact that I'm not teaching. However, I don't want to wait because two days of sluffing off becomes six months (at least with me). So, ever since I handed in grades from last semester I've been writing every day, including on Christmas and New Year's days. 

A well-marked section from the Uttarakanda, the seventh and final book of the Ramayana. Most of my chapter on the Ramayana is already written but some of it is based on versions of the epic before I managed to collect all books that make up the Critical Edition (I think there are two complete copies of the Critical Edition of the Ramayana in Vermont, one at St. Michael's College and mine). So, I'm finishing another deep read, if for no other reason to make sure that I have the most authoritative passages. Plus, the chapter needs a real cleaning up.

Mornings with David Copperfield

 I think I talked previously about how I've been won over to listening to audiobooks on Audible. Much like my initial resistance to reading books on Kindle, I eventually got over myself. Part of it relates to initially wanting to hear the Iliad and Aeneid spoken as part of the epic project - and some of it relates to the general exhaustion of having to spend so much time staring at a screen - but some of it also relates to the beauty of listening to a beautiful voice read my favorite literature. Lately I've given myself over to listening to David Copperfield. Now, of course, I'm sure I've read the novel three or four different times in my long life, but it has also been a pleasure to listen to it as well. Carving off some time to listen to it in the morning has become part of the flow of my new life.

The view from my little one bedroom apartment, looking over the rug I bought years ago in Madaba, Jordan and out towards a fresh snowfall. Altogether, a blissful morning.

Wings with Kevin

 My friends and I often find ourselves discussing the complicated math of living through a global pandemic. That is, everything must be considered and calculated in a depth never necessary before (which isn't, obviously, necessarily a bad thing). Something as seemingly simple as who you see and when takes on a much more complex and fretful air because of the venn diagram of life during COVID. Truthfully, I see almost no one, at least without a mask. I go to the gym five days a week and volunteer at the Food Shelf three days a week, but on every occasion everyone there is masked up. I try and grab breakfast at the deserted Dutch Mill Restaurant first thing on Sunday mornings to show support. Beyond that my bubble is very small. Happily, the other day I was able to watch football with my great friend Kevin, who may be the only person I know who is a bigger hermit than I am right now.

The football celebration featured Kevin's famous chicken wings, which were, as always, fantastic.

Kevin is a notoriously great cook, and has very specific guidelines. For example, making Buffalo wings using the oven is a criminal offense. He is as generous a cook as he is a great cook, and during Ramadan he whips up homemade Cincinnati chili (keeping in mind that he's not from the Natti) as an Iftar treat for me.

Sita Amman Temple

 As is well-documented it is usually me that takes the pictures, both overseas and closer to home. I get a goodly amount of grief for this, at least until someone needs pictures. If I'm on a student trip then I'm, naturally, taking pictures of my students' responses to the wonders that I've fortunately seen before. Consequently, it's pretty rare that a picture of me overseas pops up. Happily, here is one of those rarities, and a picture that I'd never seen before. Here I am talking to Sally Tate Meacham and Carolanne Kelly at the Sita Amman Temple in Sri Lanka, right next to the footprint of Lord Hanuman (caused when he leapt across the ocean from India in search of Sita). Thanks to the excellent Michael Manfredi for sending this picture along.

The picture was a particularly well-timed surprise because I've been buried deep in the Ramayana as I'm trying to get off to a good start on my sabbatical writing. It's also inspiring me to design another Ramayana-themed student trip, this time focusing entirely on Sri Lanka.

Zanzibar Video

 I think I may have sent this link on before but just in case I didn't I wanted to include it in a post so it wouldn't escape me again. It's for a video that a student made after coming back from one of our Zanzibar trips. At the end you can see Steve and I hugging. It's when I surprised them all at the Dar Es Salaam after I had been spirited away to Nairobi with a sick student. Was the world ever that fun?