January Update
What have I been doing?
Happy year new everyone!
Where do I begin? Well, I have spent a lot of January working on a journal article that is drawn from work and research from Chapter Three of my dissertation, on religion and the election of 1824. Lots of goodies to share, but still a lot of work to do! My hope is to have it submitted for review later this year, probably by the summer. It has been a slog because of all the chaos at home.
What chaos you ask? Well, my in-laws and I are building a home office.
With my son on the way, he is kicking me out of my current space, the guest room. This works fine for me, because I didn’t really like working in there anyway. It just was hard to focus, as it was not really designed for work. Because my mother-in-law works from home most days now, when we leave, she will take it over. So it is a win-win for the both of us. I have paid for a few office upgrades, such as more and better lighting, as well as sound reducing insulation, and a lot of book shelving. Though this is very exciting, it is a fair amount of work… and produces a lot of noise, which is making it hard to work at the moment. Hopefully, it will be done by mid-to-late February. In the meantime, I have looking at home office inspirations and hopefully mine does not look as chaotic as Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.’s…
I am also teaching this semester at Washburn University. Just one class on “Messiahs, Prophets, Utopias in the Early U.S.” and going in two days a week. The drive is a bit longer than I was hoping (just over an hour), but it does give me an opportunity to catch up on podcasts and audiobooks which is great. As we are still in the midst of COVID-19 protocols, their are challenges to overcome, such as conducting a seminar with everyone wearing masks. It isn’t easy, but I am hopeful and genuinely excited to be back in the classroom.
What have I been writing?
What have I been reading?
BOOKS
Democracy by Petition: Popular Politics in Transformation, 1790–1870 by Daniel Carpenter
The Birth of Modern Politics. Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and the Election of 1828 by Lynn Hudson Parsons
The Democratization of American Christianity by Nathan O. Hatch
ARTICLES
Georgia Has a Very Strong Case Against Trump by David French (The Atlantic)
Forget ‘preppy’ style — I’m team Ivy by Robert Armstrong (Financial Times)
What have I been watching?
The Matrix Resurrections (HBO Max; 2021): What a failure of a film. Lazy, pointless, and worst of all, boring.
The Red Shoes (Criterion; 1948): One of those rare movies that lived up to the hype. Absolutely stunning. A truly colorful movie that reminds you how powerful color is. We take it for granted but damn, imagine making color a feature not a default? Amazing.
Wrath of Man (Redbox; 2021): The less I say the better but I was pleasantly surprised by this. Would recommend going in blind, but let me just say its delivers on the action, the suspense, the drama, and the mystery.
Free Guy (Redbox; 2021): It was… fine?
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Disney+; 2021): Shang-Chi has a lot going for it. It’s a more intimate film compared to a lot of recent MCU films, rooted in family trauma, grief, and a sense of inadequacy. Xu, the tormented and grieving father, is one of the more interesting villains we’ve had. It’s also nice to have some romance in a Marvel movie. Plus when it’s not bogged down by CGI, the martial arts sequences are quite captivating. All this to say, I was really enjoying it until, like so many MCU films, it devolved into a CGI slug fest at the end. Its definitely a good addition to the MCU and I’m curious to see what happens to Shang-Chi next.
Eternals (Disney+; 2021): Too long, too boring, and too complicated. Jack Kirby’s vision still struggles in the MCU.
Shampoo (Criterion; 1975): Shampoo is an interesting indictment of 1960s sexual politics. Free love is depicted as being rooted in shallow pleasure or boredom. Being set on the eve of the 1968 election, it’s striking that people are more interested in having sex than Richard Nixon. Sadly it’s not as good as it is smart. The characters just meander about, with no sense of direction and while that suits the movie’s themes, it does make for a long runtime. I did enjoy it though.
The Dry (Showtime; 2020): A great small scale crime drama set in the Australian Outback. I was invested and engaged from start to finish. Excellent.
Valley of the Dolls (Criterion; 1967): I knew Valley of the Dolls was campy but holy Moses, woah. At times it’s so bad it’s good and other times it’s genuinely great. Cringe inducing, funny, but also earnest. It’s as melodramatic as it is tragic. I see why it’s a cult classic. Perfect guilty pleasure viewing.
What have I been drinking?
It’s always Negroni season.
