It’s true. I worked this morning and I worked this evening and the chapter still isn’t nearly done. I’m only aiming for 15-20 pages as the chapter is kind of a set-up for the next one, but oh well. I’ll get there. It’s just going slower than I want it to.

What sucks about my life right now and my blog as it represents my life is that I have so many good things I wanted to write about, to tell you people about, but either a) I don’t have time or b) I can’t reveal because most of you know who I am and where I work. Damnation, why couldn’t I maintain some kind of anonymity. I’m terribly sorry that I’ve devolved into writing about how I don’t like to get up in the morning and how hard it is to write. I do realize there’s stuff going on the world. I saw Caitlin Flanagan. I did. And it was as horrifying as you all said it would be.

I have been thinking a lot about my “foot in both camps position” and might have even more to say yet again later. Also I’m on a search committee and it’s been quite fascinating. Not so much from the perspective of the candidates but in being like a fly on the wall and observing our faculty and staff. If only I’d known when I applied. . . Maybe at a later date, I can say more. But can I ask, what do you all think of job talks for staff positions? Just an informal poll.

On a more serious note, I’ve actually been thinking about the fact that today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. I have been blessed with many friends who are Jewish, most recently a group of writers who wrote frequently about the Holocaust. One even ghost wrote one local woman’s memoir and turned that into a screenplay. It was amazingly moving. I have always been amazed at the straightforwardness with which many of the people I’ve met have discussed the Holocaust. It has always been as if to say, “Remember, so we do not forget.” There is no vengeance, only survival and a quiet and despairing recognition of the ability of humankind to visit such horror and cruelty on its own.