Friday 18 February 2022
Meteorology
This morning began with cumulus transitioning to stratus clouds, with steadily rising temperatures. This is the advent of the warm front heralded by yesterday’s cirrus clouds, and accompanied by precipitation as warmer air mixes with colder air: It is now snowing, quite vigorously, and that is forecast to continue for a couple of hours, without, however, any great accumulation. My current plan is to get out and take a walk in it.
Looking at the weather map, it shows the regionally characteristic pattern I learned about in my Meteorology course: the mid-lattitude cyclone. A mid-latitude cyclone is a large scale weather system (at least hundreds of miles in extent) that typically occurs during winter in North America. A mid-lattitude cyclone is centered around a low-pressure spot, and has two or more ‘arms’ – one being a warm front, and the second being a cold front – that rotate in a counterclockwise direction.
Essay Collections
Researched essay collections to come up with a book to propose for the next reading series with CT. Here are my notes:
For recent essays, most collections are of essays by particular authors, and I am more inclined, at the moment, to read something broader.
Here are four possibilities, in order of my preference… I would be most inclined to reading one of the first two; I would want to look more closely at #4 if you are seriously interested in that one.
1. The Best American Essays 2020, ed, Andre Aciman, 2020 (270 pages)
– Probably any of the Best American Essays… volumes would be of interest; I chose this one because I happen to have it on hand, and perusing a few think we would find things of interest in it.
2. The Best American Essays of the Century (Joyce Carol Oates and Robert Atwan), 2000 (570 pages).
– I like this one because it has essays every sampled from the entire 20th C – usually 4-8 from each decade, and it has a lot of authors I think I’d enjoy reading. Didn’t notice any any duplicates.
3. The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present, ed. Phillip Lopate, 1995. (770 pages).
– This is more like the Oxford Book of Essays, but it is less focused on British essays, and includes some ancient forerunners (e.g., Seneca), non-British founders of the form (e.g., Montaigne), non-American/English writers (Borges), and a good selection of American writers. I noticed only one or two overlaps (On the Pleasure of Hating), and I think the two GKC essays are better examples (On Running After One’s Hat, and A Piece of Chalk) which hopefully indicates that Lopate has a more discriminating eye then our last editor.
4. The Contemporary American Essay, ed. Phillip Lopate, 2021 (640 pages) – covers past 25 years.
— Seems promising, but, at least at a skim, didn’t care for the first two essays, the second of which was by one of my favorite essayists (Nicholson Baker)… That said, I wouldn’t rule it out forever.
Cartoon
Enjoyed this cartoon:
Walking
Went for a walk at Minihaha Creek. Did just under two miles. Pretty window, but not nearly as blusterous as it became after I got back home. The walk felt fine — if a bit chilly — but when I got home I was tired and, after a bit, took a half-nap. Don’t think I went to sleep, but felt groggy afterwards.