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How to Do Nothing: Reflection
Hello all, and Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! If you were a little surprised to see a notification pop up today, I can understand. Christmas festivities often involve pushed-back obligations and a weekend full of festivities. Many log off,… Continue reading
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Book of the Month: How to Do Nothing
Something strange happens between 11:59 PM and 12:00 AM on the night of Thanksgiving. Immediately, every brand and store in America becomes laser-focused on Christmas. Black Friday deals, Christmas trees in every window, holiday music blaring on loudspeakers. Any store… Continue reading
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Braiding Sweetgrass: Reflection
Some loves are born out of necessity. As one of four children in a one-car household, I walked everywhere I could: elementary, middle, and high school; my first job; friend’s houses; dates. It didn’t matter if it was a block… Continue reading
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The Sympathizer: Reflection
“I am a spy, a sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces. Perhaps not surprisingly, I am also a man of two minds. I am not some misunderstood mutant from a comic book or a horror movie, although some… Continue reading
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Book of the Month: The Sympathizer
TeaReads has been up for nine months. I’ve written for this blog in snowstorms, in torrential rain, on sunny spring days, and on warm summer nights. The leaves are changing now, and the nights are getting longer. My morning walks… Continue reading
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Mexican Gothic: Reflection
Gothic literature has been following the same tropes for centuries: old, dilapidated mansions filled with secrets; wealthy families fallen from grace; oil paintings illuminated by candelabra in a thunderstorm; young heroines, fleeing into the night in terror. Since the late… Continue reading
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Americanah: Reflection
About halfway through Americanah, we see the origin of Ifemelu’s blog, “Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black”. She makes her first post and checks the stats a little later. Nine… Continue reading
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The Collected Schizophrenias: Reflection
“In my peer education courses I was taught to say that I am a person with schizoaffective disorder. “Person-first language” suggests that there is a person in there somewhere without the delusion and the rambling and the catatonia. But what… Continue reading
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Book of the Month: The Collected Schizophrenias
Nonfiction gets a bad rap. When we think of nonfiction, we think of textbooks, flowery essays, and dry biographies of famous dead people, all requiring knowledge of field-specific jargon or a dictionary to decipher. I’m guilty of perpetuating this stereotype;… Continue reading
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On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: Reflection
I finished On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous sitting in the passenger seat of my car. The tollway roared beneath me. Closing the book, I looked out over the empty land blurring past my window and said to my partner, “God… Continue reading
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