What I’m reading
I’m continuing to chip away at Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: an academic paper about Native American agriculture. It’s been incredibly eye-opening, and I highly recommend it so far.
I read a lot more this month than I remembered!
- The Pillars of The Earth: This took months of chipping away at, but I enjoyed it immensely. The generational arcs, mixed with a deep appreciation for the engineering feats of cathedrals & pure genre crunchiness was an excellent combination. I can’t wait to start the second book, but it’s set during the Black Plague, so I’m gonna hold off for a bit 😅
- Tehanu: Reading the Earthsea cycle for the first time has been fascinating. I loved how much this book challenged the norms of fantasy (especially the tropes within the series itself!) I don’t want to spoil much, but the afterward from Ursula K. Le Guin really helped me put this into context and galvanized my thoughts on it.
- Two stories from Rebecca Roanhorse, featured on episodes of Levar Burton Reads: The Takeback Tango and Wherein Abigail Fields Recalls Her First Death and, Subsequently, Her Best Life. The audio production was excellent, and I enjoyed the thematic layering, which felt like Ann Leckie’s work.
What I’ve made recently
It’s finally happened. After years of searching, experimenting, and false leads, the journey is over. The perfect whole-wheat bread recipe has been discovered. I can hang up my hat, now that it’s landed at my doorstep.
My friend Kyle sent it to me without any preamble, as most significant life events tend to unfold.
The recipe is here, in pure 2011 internet scrawl.
It’s a scary recipe (only 16g of starter!) but I’ve made it 3 times now and it’s always been perfect. It’s not just for breads either! We used it to make some incredible cinnamon rolls with marzipan & dried cranberries.
What’s on my mind/What’s next?
This month has been busy! I completely cleaned out old equipment that had been piling up, reorganized essentially everything I own, turned my office into a proper studio space, and put up the first major section of a fence for Kira.
It took years to get all of this work lined up, and with Spring around the corner I want to keep up the momentum. I can’t wait to show off some more stuff!
How’s Kira?
Kira’s back at daycamp, which has been a great boon. Between that and the yard, she’s in heaven. As always, here’s a collection of her being a ham.
Interesting links I’ve found
I only have one link to share, and that’s because it’s so important: the Jim Henson Ads for Wilkins Coffee
Office hours are open!
Quick reminder: I have “internet office hours” for people that have HTML/CSS/General tech or music questions; if you have any, just reply to this email and I’ll try to answer it!