Archive for November, 2011
On a morning off
Hot coffee is better in a beloved mug November 28: Windows open, with rain pouring outside on a finally crisp day Christmas tree is glowing “Winter” candle is burning, my absolute favorite scent of all time (Bath & Body Works, worth every cent of $20) Pot roast is slow-cooking in the crock pot, my first [...]
November 28th, 2011On people, or: “I didn’t want to start with an issue”
Peter Hessler, former English teacher in China and author of several books on Chinese life and people, both historical and modern, is a 2011 MacArthur Fellow and long-form journalist. In his interview in reception of his prize, he spoke on what it is to write about China and Chinese life, to him: “There’s always been [...]
November 26th, 2011Among reindeer
Nils Peder kneels among his reindeer This week I have finally been able to open my October and November issues of National Geographic and I was awestruck by the November story on the Sami people of northern Sweden. Their wardrobe and striking faces radiate against the harsh landscape of the region where they live–blanketed all [...]
November 22nd, 2011Arithmetic, for the floor
Stack o’ pink numbers I can finally post pictures of the gift I made for Elodie Watson’s first birthday, since her party was yesterday. She has two math teachers as parents, and so I was struck one night (literally, while driving home around 1 a.m.) that I should make numbers in the same way that [...]
November 20th, 2011If the Chinese middle class permits
The expanding Chinese middle class has more money to spend on tourism, like this family in Nanjing, June 2007. Bill Saporito’s October 31 Time article said it best: “Consider the cosmic irony: wobbly Western economies are depending on the Chinese Communist Party to save their capitalist bacon. Likewise, the Chinese government’s grand scheme to rebalance its economy [...]
November 14th, 2011Grace Bonney and me
In the few spare moments I sometimes have to peruse something that is not project- or homework-related readings, I have been absorbing Grace Bonney’s wonderful new home and DIY and all-around inspirational book, based off the blog she created and edits, Design*Sponge. I told her I love the headboard she made for her own room, [...]
November 3rd, 2011