Dear family, friends, and fellow travelers,
I hope all of you are finding ways to enjoy the autumn -- the season during which I (from Michigan) and Hanna (from Maine) disagree on which region produces the best apple cider donuts (obviously Michigan). Teazle is glad for the return of the season of fleece blankets and the eiderdown comforter; I'm looking forward to the time change next week which will give us an extra hour of sleep on Saturday night and usher in dark evenings and a slightly earlier sunrise. Today, we brought in the houseplants from the back porch so that they won't freeze. The season of hibernation is coming.
Image: Teazle tucked under a fleece blanket on our bed.
You can read my latest medical update here. While I am still in active treatment, we're seeing progress and I am learning how cancer can sometimes be more of a chronic condition rather than a singlular medical event. I'm feeling better physically than I was midsummer and have a sense of how the next three months will play out, which makes space for a bit of forward thinking. At the moment I'm coping with delayed peripheral neuropathy (numbness and tingling in my fingers and toes) which was caused by the more potent chemotherapy drugs I was taking over the summer. It's frustrating that things like knitting and typing are slower going -- and my clumsiness in the kitchen has led to some messy food spills. A frend of mine who has neuropathy symptoms recommended topical CBD which seems to help a bit. And I got my COVID booster, which is reassuring headed into the winter with an uncertain immune response!
Image: Me in a mask waiting the required 15 minutes after the booster in case of an allergic reaction.
This year has been a rocky road and I'm glad to have a chance to shuffle my priorities and figure out what might be next in 2022. A couple of weeks ago I registered for a January online course on white Christian nationalism (Pure America: Race, Religion, Nation) which, despite -- or maybe because of? -- the topic, feels good to look forward to after the New Year. I'm also starting a six week course on labor history this coming week, taught out of Rutgers' Labor Education and Research Now (LEARN) continuing education program -- a course specifically designed for labor activists interested in learning about the history of organized labor. As we enter the phase of determining what "post-pandemic" work will look like, and how the pandemic reshaped the nature of power in the workplace I look forward to reflecting on the roots of labor organizing and its lessons for the present.
Image: Harlequin Glorybower at the Arnold Arboretum.
Image: Gingko leaves turning from green to yellow.
I keep buncing back and forth between bouts of nonfiction and fiction reading. In the last couple of weeks I enjoyed Proper Scoundrels by AllieTherin (a forthcoming historical paranormal romance set in 1925) and The Larks Still Bravely Singing by Aster Glenn Gray (a WWI-era historical) and Madison Square Murders by C.S. Poe, the first in a new series of mystery romance set in the present. I've also been listening to the back catalog of the You're Wrong About podcast, which many people have recommended, and enjoying it greatly.
Image: Michelle Wu for Mayor campaign yard sign.
It's election day on Tuesday and here in Boston we have a mayoral race to weigh in on as well as city councilors. If you have an election this week, and the right to vote, please make time to cast your ballot! Local elections matter.
In persistence,
Anna
Image: Red maple leaf on a wood picnic table in the sun.
I hope all of you are finding ways to enjoy the autumn -- the season during which I (from Michigan) and Hanna (from Maine) disagree on which region produces the best apple cider donuts (obviously Michigan). Teazle is glad for the return of the season of fleece blankets and the eiderdown comforter; I'm looking forward to the time change next week which will give us an extra hour of sleep on Saturday night and usher in dark evenings and a slightly earlier sunrise. Today, we brought in the houseplants from the back porch so that they won't freeze. The season of hibernation is coming.
Image: Teazle tucked under a fleece blanket on our bed.
You can read my latest medical update here. While I am still in active treatment, we're seeing progress and I am learning how cancer can sometimes be more of a chronic condition rather than a singlular medical event. I'm feeling better physically than I was midsummer and have a sense of how the next three months will play out, which makes space for a bit of forward thinking. At the moment I'm coping with delayed peripheral neuropathy (numbness and tingling in my fingers and toes) which was caused by the more potent chemotherapy drugs I was taking over the summer. It's frustrating that things like knitting and typing are slower going -- and my clumsiness in the kitchen has led to some messy food spills. A frend of mine who has neuropathy symptoms recommended topical CBD which seems to help a bit. And I got my COVID booster, which is reassuring headed into the winter with an uncertain immune response!
Image: Me in a mask waiting the required 15 minutes after the booster in case of an allergic reaction.
This year has been a rocky road and I'm glad to have a chance to shuffle my priorities and figure out what might be next in 2022. A couple of weeks ago I registered for a January online course on white Christian nationalism (Pure America: Race, Religion, Nation) which, despite -- or maybe because of? -- the topic, feels good to look forward to after the New Year. I'm also starting a six week course on labor history this coming week, taught out of Rutgers' Labor Education and Research Now (LEARN) continuing education program -- a course specifically designed for labor activists interested in learning about the history of organized labor. As we enter the phase of determining what "post-pandemic" work will look like, and how the pandemic reshaped the nature of power in the workplace I look forward to reflecting on the roots of labor organizing and its lessons for the present.
Image: Harlequin Glorybower at the Arnold Arboretum.
Image: Gingko leaves turning from green to yellow.
I keep buncing back and forth between bouts of nonfiction and fiction reading. In the last couple of weeks I enjoyed Proper Scoundrels by AllieTherin (a forthcoming historical paranormal romance set in 1925) and The Larks Still Bravely Singing by Aster Glenn Gray (a WWI-era historical) and Madison Square Murders by C.S. Poe, the first in a new series of mystery romance set in the present. I've also been listening to the back catalog of the You're Wrong About podcast, which many people have recommended, and enjoying it greatly.
Image: Michelle Wu for Mayor campaign yard sign.
It's election day on Tuesday and here in Boston we have a mayoral race to weigh in on as well as city councilors. If you have an election this week, and the right to vote, please make time to cast your ballot! Local elections matter.
In persistence,
Anna
Image: Red maple leaf on a wood picnic table in the sun.