photo by Anne Jansen

This afternoon, I was about 20 feet away from President Barack Obama! It was awesome. He was at The Ohio State University giving a speech on renewable energies. After a 3 hour wait outside in the sun, and an additional 2.5 hours of waiting inside the RPAC (our gym), I had worked my way to the front of the crowd and was able to enjoy the president’s speech from a location that allowed me to see the sweat on his brow. Suffice it to say, it was an incredible experience!

photo by Anne Jansen

Barack Obama is one of the most passionate and talented orators I’ve had the privilege of seeing in action: not only did he deliver an inspiring speech, but he also did so with natural grace. He incorporated the audience’s comments into his presentation. For instance, as Obama listed the reasons we need to invest in renewable energies, one man called out “For our children!” and the president nodded and added the reason to his list without breaking his verbal stride. A few minutes later, he was talking about how we need to make sure our representatives hear our voices, and one woman said “Yes we can!” (it made sense in context, trust me), and President Obama chuckled, nodded appreciatively, and echoed her words. He really is a natural and gifted orator.

I tried to capture some of the spirit of the event (especially his speech) on video as well, so here it is. It’s a short, simple video, but I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed being there!

Tonight I went to see a local production of Edward Albee’s 1967 Pulitzer Prize winning play A Delicate Balance. The venue was an intimate local theater in Clintonville called the Columbus Civic Theater (pictured above). It has about four rows of seats, and probably seats somewhere between 40 and 50 people. It was a lovely little venue that served tea, hot chocolate, and hot apple cider (plus cookies and Hershey’s Kisses) during the play’s two intermissions. The people working the ticket counter (who I assume are the proprietors) were friendly, helpful, and kind.

Lovely setting aside, the play itself was fascinating. The acting was phenomenal, and the costumes and the set (pictured above) were relatively timeless. Additionally, I was completely absorbed and lost in the plot. Generally speaking, the play is about loneliness — how in our society we are so often surrounded by people, but are still genuinely, painfully, tangibly alone. In that vein, it also deals significantly with human relationships: blood ties, friendships, acquaintances; it takes a good, hard look at which relationships afford you what privileges.

Overall, it was a wonderful evening at the local theater, and the acting exceeded my already-high expectations. Very fun, very intimate, and a very good experience!

The other day, I checked out Gail Bederman’s book Manliness and Civilization for some research, and I found LOVE LETTERS (and an assortment of other notes) in it. It was such a wonderful surprise — not just because I’m a nosy kind of person and enjoy little glimpses into other people’s lives, but also because the notes were so delightful. One of the silly ones is included above (it’s just so random that it makes me laugh every time I see it), and the two actual love letters are below. I did hesitate over whether or not to put them up online, but ultimately decided they were too beautiful not to (and they’re anonymous, so I didn’t feel like I was violating anyone’s privacy). I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

• My typewriters. I have two. My personal favorite is my Underwood typewriter, (c.1935) which my husband bought me for a birthday a couple of years ago. I also have a lovely Smith-Corona (c.1955) that’s a lot of fun, and has a very different style of type.

• The Seven Year Pen. I recently received one of these in a shipment from Lost Crates, and have since purchased a few more from the manufacturer, Seltzer Goods.

• Any stationary from Paper Source. Their paper products are so cute, and they’re often very environmentally friendly. They are also reasonably priced, and boy do they ever have some cute kits! I’ve made their Mini Magnolias, their Summer Magnolias, and their Poppies…to name a few of my favorites. They have great seasonal goods, and a wonderful array of plain papers (for creative types…I made my wedding invitations with their papers), kits, and seasonal products.

These are just a few of my favorite things for keeping in touch with the people I care about. I have many more wonderful stationary products, but these are some of the best ones I’ve come across. While I know not everyone’s going to run out and buy a typewriter from their local antique storeor fountain pen shop (yup, that’s where I got mine!), I think they’re a great way to help make correspondence fun and easy.

Unexpected, but hilarious. After last night’s big disappointment (more on that later, but suffice it to say I saw Spike Lee give a talk and it wasn’t good), I needed a lift, and this ridiculous thing above my table accomplished that. Well, the deer and the great staff and clients at Impero who have already lifted my spirits.

I’m sitting in the downtown Cup O Joe (a local coffee shop chain) in a swath of sunlight working on my diss. Yes, I’ve taken to calling my dissertation my diss because, well, it seems somehow appropriate. So here I am, and I look up from my table and realize how beautiful this particular coffee shop is. You wanna know what that first picture is? It’s the ceiling. More specifically, it’s the beautiful white cloth spirals draped from the high ceiling. The second picture? That’s what I see every time I look up from my page. Which, incidentally, is what the last picture in this post shows: my diss in progress. About a year ago I started writing it by hand, so that mess o’ lined paper is my current chapter. Anyway, here it is, midwinter, and I’m sitting in a gorgeous, sunny cafe writing my brains out. It’s quite lovely, really. I have to hand it to Columbus — it’s a good hole-up-and-write city.