Boo!

Happy Halloween readers!

I’ll apologize off the bat for today’s post being all over the place, I gave myself a half-hour to write this, which was slightly shaved off by the eating of a cookie (thank you to Bridget’s mom for providing us with the Ohio classic of Chyrl’s for a little post-quiz pick me up). I was also delayed by the fact that its snowing outside right now, ugh, just like home. I will say, I made the semi-poor decision of only bringing my fall selection of coats, and as someone with an estimated 20 coats I would consider fall coats as opposed to my collection of 15 coats I would consider winter, not having a cot for every occasion is not a problem I thought I would run into. Silly Gretchen, the 95-degree heat you were packing coats in isn’t going to reflect the Gretchen standing in 30-degree weather in a Patagonia jacket. Should’ve brought the pea coat, knee-length wool, or the vintage faux fur.

Alas, other than a bit chilled, I am doing well. I am looking down the barrel of another essay week. Yep, that’s right I have a 4-page essay due this Friday, and I have two paragraphs written so far. This, however, is not entirely my fault. I started last Tuesday but trying to avoid the whole “you didn’t interpret this correctly” feedback I received from my professor's last essay. I’ve been a bit more communicative with her. By “a bit” I mean a chain of 14 emails, that resulted in my first paragraph getting approved only yesterday, and yes, we emailed over the weekend. I am also slowed down by the fact that my confidence level in writing anything slightly more academic than a photo caption makes me feel as though I am illiterate. This phenomenon is no doubt thanks to the, we’ll say “mixed messages” I have received from high school educators over the years, (looking at you Cody).

But that’s enough about that. What has really been weighing on me if the weight of opening doors in Michigan? I was truly under the impression that A. Most people fully opened the door for others, (as opposed to just passing someone the door), and B. People would hold the door for a hot minute if the person following them was a while away. After some extensive research on Michiganders, I have concluded that neither of these things is particularly true. My theory as to why I thought this is that A. I am probably so dazzling that people just like to hold the door for me, and B. I spend a lot of time around old people, for whom I held the door for and vice versa, as the people from Wild Birds Unlimited know, “It’s not a problem, I’ll carry your 60 pounds worth of merchandise if you hold the door for me, then it's even!” I guess this gives you all some insight into the things I expect when I come home, my research is ongoing, so if we see each other, I WILL be looking at your door-holding technique.

As for a more recent story, I attended a “Oh, the inhumanities” event yesterday. The event was hosted by numerous different departments but had snacks and trivia, so I was excited. One thing that I failed to weigh into the two-hour event was how much time was going to be dedicated to the reading of “scary stories”- selected and read by students. These students also did not have a time limit. I’ll start with a highlight that one of the honors professors read a translation of the Euridice and Orpheus story translated by my love, David Ferry, who in my last daily check in standing strong at 99 years of age. This honors professor, as weird as it is to say about a 45-year-old man, is a cutie. As for the bad, the story readings combined totaled a whopping 1.5 hours. Of non-stop literature readings from the English undergrads reading in the exact tone and delivering the “performance” you thought they would. The 25 minutes reading of chapter 12 in Phantom of the Opera, was the scary thing. That and the dog that someone brought that whined, barked at some points, and only spoke Hebrew. It responded positively to the ”Shalom” I said to him, so I think the owner wasn’t lying in an attempt to excuse a dog with poor listening skills.

Well, unfortunately, that’s all the time I have allocated for today. I also will not be dressed up until tonight so the picture of my costume will be included with the next post.

Stay warm, stay spooky!

Gretchen

Voting for the first time!

Post Crypt tour :)

My fav building in Chicago

Having a snowy holiday