This tumbleweed has picked up a lot of detritus in seven years. When I moved to Italy seven years ago, I brought two suitcases, and that’s it. Hindsight being 20/20, I might have spared myself the bother of at least one of those suitcases. The clothes I wore in Texas (high heels, fancy dresses, athletic wear) have no place in Italy. One walk across the cobblestones in a pair of heels, and it’s a trip to the ER with you.
I moved back home after galavanting around the Seattle area and Alaska for work, getting married, having kids, and divorcing. Being home again has been very healing and I'm here also to take care of my aging parents. I've been back for 13 years. I am quite settled yet... if I stay here the rest of my life, which looks like a distinct economic possibility since I will be willed this place, I will never ever live somewhere with frescoes on the ceiling, unless I create them myself. Which would be such sloppy seconds in comparison. I think the quiet life you are living, even with all the bureaucracy weirdness, and language difficulties seems so safe and cozy. The US is nowhere near healed from the rising fascism so every modicum of peace I feel is daily disrupted by the dread of what is next. Your troubles of moving your collected histories amongst a bigger history in a time of relative peace for Italy actually calms me. There will be peace after violent chaos but there will also be weirdness and magic.
Kerry, that was POETRY. "There will be peace after violent chaos, but there will also be weirdness and magic." Damn, girl. That was insanely good.
I like the idea of you creating frescoes on the ceiling. Hey, it's not out of the question! Michelangelo spent years on his back painting the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel. Why not you?
I share that dread of which you speak. Quite a lot, actually. The threat of encroaching fascism is hardly over. If anything, it's taking a breather and will return, angrier and crazier than ever.
"John’s collection of vintage vinyls. He has over a thousand" -- <emoji for jaw dropping here.>
One of the things that new academics experience is their time as "academic tinkers." The first jobs you get are typically 1-year replacement positions ("1yrp" -- somebody is going on sabbatical) and so you spend the first few years moving EVERY year. When I came down to Carbondale to begin my Ph.D. I brought EVERYTHING with me. But when I left for my first 1yrp, I "only" carried 10 boxes of books with me (the rest went into storage.) At the end of my 3rd 1yrp, I needed to drop everything and deal with my dad's dementia and long term care. At that point, I cut down to just 5 boxes. After 2 yrs of that, I returned to So IL, to take up space behind my friends' Pat & Toni's pole barn, which came to house all the boxes I'd left behind.
But here's the thing: I had to move into a 30' X 8' travel trailer. So even those last 5 boxes of books went into storage. But back in 2009, a few months after I'd moved to AZ to deal with my dad, Pat & Toni bought me a Kindle (DX) for Christmas.
I still have that Kindle, 12 yo tech that it is. Along with my coauthor, I wrote "The Quantum of Explanation: Whitehead's Radical Empiricism" with that as my operational library. We even had to invent an entirely new method of citation, because a few of the books we were working from were mine and only existed on said Kindle. (The book is highly regarded in the circle of Whitehead scholarship.) A shoestring calculation indicates that I have more books on it than in the 55 boxes stored in my friends' pole barn.
Necessity is a Mother, but it brooks no compromise with sentiment. Beyond me kitties, I feel no attachment to anything I can't carry in my hands or sling over my shoulders. I'd be sad to leave my DVD's and Blu-rays behind, but with streaming services I could do so and never look back. (My music and library are both backed up on multiple flash drives, all of which can fit in a pocket.)
On the other hand, I certainly don't envy you your move. After I landed in AZ to deal with my dad, I'd be driving down the road and suddenly feel sick to my stomach. I realized the cause: I was living between a U-Haul and Budget rental places, and seeing their trucks on the road triggered my stress. Once understood, I was able to "pull the pins" from the problem, and it ceased to bother me. But I do get it. On the stress scale, moving is right behind divorce and death of a loved one.
Gares, it was good to get the whole chronology here. I knew some of it, but not all of it, and now things are fitting into place. I just wish there hadn’t been so much loss. And I know YOU know exactly what I’m talking about in this article.
Thank you also for reminding me that moves rank right up there with weddings and vacations on the stress meter. We clever apes are creatures of habit, and once those habits are disrupted ....
We'll be moving - once again - in 3-4 years and I'm dreading it! We're (read that I'm) building a retirement shack in Wyoming. Somehow I intend to build it, at least partially, this summer whilst working full time here on Kodiak. Not sure how that will work but I'm determined! I've cancelled every subscription I had to aid in this construction project but I had to sign up to get my Stacey fix regularly. Keep doing what you're doing gal! We are all very thankful for your efforts!
Love you, Steve. And I would be thrilled to see photos of your progress because I already know that house is going to be spectacular AND functional. When you’re getting closer to move-time, I’ll send you all the sanity and positive mojo I gave on back order:-)
I moved back home after galavanting around the Seattle area and Alaska for work, getting married, having kids, and divorcing. Being home again has been very healing and I'm here also to take care of my aging parents. I've been back for 13 years. I am quite settled yet... if I stay here the rest of my life, which looks like a distinct economic possibility since I will be willed this place, I will never ever live somewhere with frescoes on the ceiling, unless I create them myself. Which would be such sloppy seconds in comparison. I think the quiet life you are living, even with all the bureaucracy weirdness, and language difficulties seems so safe and cozy. The US is nowhere near healed from the rising fascism so every modicum of peace I feel is daily disrupted by the dread of what is next. Your troubles of moving your collected histories amongst a bigger history in a time of relative peace for Italy actually calms me. There will be peace after violent chaos but there will also be weirdness and magic.
Kerry, that was POETRY. "There will be peace after violent chaos, but there will also be weirdness and magic." Damn, girl. That was insanely good.
I like the idea of you creating frescoes on the ceiling. Hey, it's not out of the question! Michelangelo spent years on his back painting the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel. Why not you?
I share that dread of which you speak. Quite a lot, actually. The threat of encroaching fascism is hardly over. If anything, it's taking a breather and will return, angrier and crazier than ever.
I wish man were not so inhumane.
"John’s collection of vintage vinyls. He has over a thousand" -- <emoji for jaw dropping here.>
One of the things that new academics experience is their time as "academic tinkers." The first jobs you get are typically 1-year replacement positions ("1yrp" -- somebody is going on sabbatical) and so you spend the first few years moving EVERY year. When I came down to Carbondale to begin my Ph.D. I brought EVERYTHING with me. But when I left for my first 1yrp, I "only" carried 10 boxes of books with me (the rest went into storage.) At the end of my 3rd 1yrp, I needed to drop everything and deal with my dad's dementia and long term care. At that point, I cut down to just 5 boxes. After 2 yrs of that, I returned to So IL, to take up space behind my friends' Pat & Toni's pole barn, which came to house all the boxes I'd left behind.
But here's the thing: I had to move into a 30' X 8' travel trailer. So even those last 5 boxes of books went into storage. But back in 2009, a few months after I'd moved to AZ to deal with my dad, Pat & Toni bought me a Kindle (DX) for Christmas.
I still have that Kindle, 12 yo tech that it is. Along with my coauthor, I wrote "The Quantum of Explanation: Whitehead's Radical Empiricism" with that as my operational library. We even had to invent an entirely new method of citation, because a few of the books we were working from were mine and only existed on said Kindle. (The book is highly regarded in the circle of Whitehead scholarship.) A shoestring calculation indicates that I have more books on it than in the 55 boxes stored in my friends' pole barn.
Necessity is a Mother, but it brooks no compromise with sentiment. Beyond me kitties, I feel no attachment to anything I can't carry in my hands or sling over my shoulders. I'd be sad to leave my DVD's and Blu-rays behind, but with streaming services I could do so and never look back. (My music and library are both backed up on multiple flash drives, all of which can fit in a pocket.)
On the other hand, I certainly don't envy you your move. After I landed in AZ to deal with my dad, I'd be driving down the road and suddenly feel sick to my stomach. I realized the cause: I was living between a U-Haul and Budget rental places, and seeing their trucks on the road triggered my stress. Once understood, I was able to "pull the pins" from the problem, and it ceased to bother me. But I do get it. On the stress scale, moving is right behind divorce and death of a loved one.
Gares, it was good to get the whole chronology here. I knew some of it, but not all of it, and now things are fitting into place. I just wish there hadn’t been so much loss. And I know YOU know exactly what I’m talking about in this article.
Thank you also for reminding me that moves rank right up there with weddings and vacations on the stress meter. We clever apes are creatures of habit, and once those habits are disrupted ....
We'll be moving - once again - in 3-4 years and I'm dreading it! We're (read that I'm) building a retirement shack in Wyoming. Somehow I intend to build it, at least partially, this summer whilst working full time here on Kodiak. Not sure how that will work but I'm determined! I've cancelled every subscription I had to aid in this construction project but I had to sign up to get my Stacey fix regularly. Keep doing what you're doing gal! We are all very thankful for your efforts!
Love you, Steve. And I would be thrilled to see photos of your progress because I already know that house is going to be spectacular AND functional. When you’re getting closer to move-time, I’ll send you all the sanity and positive mojo I gave on back order:-)