Weeknotes: 01/24/26-01/30/26

This Week:

• I finished reading RF Kuang’s Babel, a romantic anti-colonial novel about language, power, friendship and revolution. It was profoundly moving in places, and especially so as the world was turning itself over as I read it.
• We had a crazy week, weather-wise. Last Friday and Saturday wre shockingly cold, and that was followed by basically two days of heavy snow fall. That led to cancelled everything on Monday, and it’s also been followed by very cold temperatures all week.
• In the Museum, I’ve been busting my ass to finish the design work for our upcoming Poe exhibit. I am very happy that the gallery will be painted by early next week so I can start with the installation. Whew!
• Good things:
  • We had a wonderful birthday party for Hazel on Saturday. She had a fun group of friends over, and we decorated cupcakes, played games, and had a great old time.
  • Alanna and I finished watching “Here We Go”, or at least as much of it as we can on Britbox. It’s a cringe-y show, but peppered with genuinely funny lines and a deep humanity. All of it is anchored by the astonishly brilliant comedic acting of the great Katherine Parkinson.
• True Things:
  • Minnesota Proved MAGA Wrong by Adam Serwer/the Atlantic – I remain profoundly moved by and in complete awe of the people of Minneapolis, who have led one of the most successful protest movements in American history. This story, by Adam Serwer, captures the beauty and bravery of what they did:

    Every social theory undergirding Trumpism has been broken on the steel of Minnesotan resolve. The multiracial community in Minneapolis was supposed to shatter. It did not. It held until Bovino was forced out of the Twin Cities with his long coat between his legs.