The best state for me to live is, obviously, Alaska. Find out what’s yours here.  

1. Spent the day at home with Klara. Took Klara for a long walk.

2. Finished the NeMLA talk. 

3. Added 218 words to the article. 

4. Made spiced braised red cabbage. 

5. Washed and changed bedsheets.

6. Reading: Dr. Thorne and Heartbreak Hotel.

7. Failures: wanted to surprise N by doing the dishes but Klara was cranky, so it didn’t happen. I’ll do something double nice for him tomorrow instead. 

People act so completely shocked by these stories about Canadian citizens being refused entrance into the US and foreign artists threatened with deportation if they accept money for performances not specified in the visa application that one might think this is something new and hasn’t been happening pretty much forever. 

This is not on Trump, folks. This is simply how it is. It’s either this or marching with the losers who carry “Open Borders” signs at airports. And inconvenience is better than idiocy any day of the week.

Those freaks are still on the inane tweets about wiretaps? How infernally boring.

Hey, folks, guess what I got for myself. One of those Bluetooth earphones that you put in and it drones on as you go about your errands! I retain about 5% of the information it delivers to me but I’m yet to try it at a boring committee or meeting to drown out the inane stuff.

I really want to train myself to be able to listen to audiobooks. I used to read much more when I was on public transportation. It would be great to have a book recite itself into my ear as I drive.

A journalist is asking on the news whether Putin is upset over Trump’s Twitter outbursts.

Yes, I’m sure Putin is weeping quietly in the corner because it must be extremely painful for him to see the US look stupid, chaotic and out of control. I’m sure he’s swallowing anti-depressants by the mouthful whenever anything happens to make democracy look like a joke.

The student who was supposed to write a makeup test in my office on Friday at noon and who never showed up sent me an email 20 minutes ago saying, “Professor Clarissa, I’m parking! I’ll be there in 10 minutes!” 

From long experience, I know she’ll rank me low on the question of “Was the professor available to help you in her office?” at the end of the semester. 

1. Went to the gym. Used their new jogging track.

2. Made lentil soup and turkey-rice meatballs (tefteli.)

3. Worked on the article, adding 355 words and cutting 270.

4. Prepared half of NeMLA talk (they want me to talk about the book, so the talk is mostly copy-paste.)

5. Reading: the Sunday NY Times, Dr. Thorne, and Jonathan Kellerman’s Heartbreak Hotel.

6. Uploaded course materials to Blackboard.

I have so many books that sometimes I go through my collection and find something amazing that I had no idea was even there. “Oh, wow, I didn’t know I had this!” I exclaim. “I totally need to read this.” For instance, I just found a volume of Georges Simenon’s Maigret novels in Spanish. How cool is that?

And mind you, I accumulated this entire collection since August of 2009. I arrived here back then with no books at all and a single suitcase. I have a gift for attracting books especially the really old ones.

Hey, folks, did you hear? Ross Douthat is now in favor of reparations. Yes, he’s all “reparations instead of affirmative action,” but whatever. The important thing is that the idea is gaining ground and even arch-conservatives like Douthat begin to recognize its validity. This is good news.