But Call Me Betsy

Unfortunately, I don't have much of anything good to read in the house--no novel, anyway, though I'm trying to give my best attention to Her Fearful Symmetry , written by the same person who penned The Time Traveler's Wife, now a motion picture starring someone benign like Ashley Judd. I didn't see the movie or read the book, but I have the sneaking suspicion that as the author was writing the Fearful book that she was imagining how it would make a great film--kind of  cross between Ghost and The Parent Trap . The plot is about twins (my friend Jess has always been scared of twins and I find this endearing, though I know one half of several twins in real life...Three sets actually, who I work with and they are not spooky in any way); two pairs of identical twins--the adult sisters and then the one sister's daughters, Victoria and Julia. One of the older sister's dies, and leaves her apartment in London to the girl twins. The dead sister is estranged from her sis...

I posted this today on our Penn Alumni blog, but I think it's okay to steal from my own work... I intended for today's post to be a funny, yet poignant and insightful, photo-filled recap of the Homecoming Weekend events.  But then Hurricane Sandy arose. The name seems so benign; it makes me think of the scruffy and lovable mutt in the musical, Annie . How bad could it be? By all accounts, it's rabid. I learned early yesterday morning that all classes were cancelled at Penn for the next two days, and that only essential staff were required to report in to work. I couldn't decide at first--was I essential staff? I consider myself necessary in so many ways. But then I received an email from Kristina, our Alumni Relations guru to all things staff-related and realized that unless I planned on joining the facilities team, I needn't report. I have to say that Penn's quick and decisive response to the storm, and the numerous follow up emails we received ...

On my way to have my teeth cleaned this morning. I have a slight dentist phobia, but am working to overcome this. In the meantime, witness the descent of fall at Rittenhouse Square.

Lisa Marie and I saw a squirrel in a tree yesterday with an entire plastic jar of peanut butter in its little hands. I tried to take a picture for you, but it ended up a blurred mess. Then today at lunch, I was nearly assaulted by a squirrel that got cornered and feinted toward me like it was about to clamber up my bare leg. I screamed. Liz screamed. Squirrel ran halfway up a brick wall and then poing-ed out onto the patio. On Penn's campus, the squirrels are very tame because students feed them. They will take food out of your hands. Here is a video representing what squirrels are like here: I'm writing about this innocuous topic to distract myself from the angst I feel in a general sense about the upcoming election. I was going to write a blog post ranting about undecided voters and how they should just go ahead and not vote. How they probably need to focus on recovering from that six-month coma they clearly just woke up out of yesterday. But then that seemed too negat...

Stole this from the website, Brain Pickings .  It in turn was taken from The Guardian. Here are Margaret Atwood's "10 Rules of Writing." She's from Canada and so gets to spell words like "aeroplane" charmingly. I find #9 to be the most helpful. And the second sentence in number ten. Sometimes when I'm stuck on an ending or can't figure out a scene, I go back to short stories that I love, ones that handle whatever problem I'm facing really well. Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can’t sharpen it on the plane, because you can’t take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils. If both pencils break, you can do a rough sharpening job with a nail file of the metal or glass type. Take something to write on. Paper is good. In a pinch, pieces of wood or your arm will do. If you’re using a computer, always safeguard new text with a ­memory stick. Do back exercises. Pain is distracting. Hold t...

Disappointed in the reaction by the media to the presidential debates last night; I listened to most of them on NPR b.c I can't stand to look at Romney's face, which always appears to me that it's made out of something soft and melting, like brie cheese. Obama was almost too polite, too diplomatic, he didn't go on the attack very often; didn't mention Romney's anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-old, anti-working class, anti-foreigners, anti-dog policies, but maybe this is a long term strategy that he's developed with his team to save the more destructive stuff for later, when Romney won't have time to recover. Romney actually said that he would cut funding for PBS--this to the host of the debate who works for PBS. Pundits are saying Romney did better b.c he was more aggressive. Is that what wins debates? Who shouts the loudest and interrupts the most? I  was hoping that Romney would lose his temper and end up shouting the "n" word or make some ot...