# reading life (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 3 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover reading life. Page: Feed: --- ## [A Good Stretch of Poetry Days](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/a-good-stretch-of-poetry-days.html) _2026-08-20 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ The past few days have been a good poetry days, in a more well-rounded sense--by which I mean, I've been doing more than just writing down a line or two. Let me capture what a good stretch of poetry days looks like: --A few months ago, I had an idea for a poem, Jesus buying a fixer-upper of a house. I didn't do anything with this idea since I first had it (in late April, as evidenced by this blog… ## [Wednesday Fragments: Zoom Sessions and Wrong Pronged Plugs](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/wednesday-fragments-zoom-sessions-and.html) _2026-08-19 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ I feel a bit frazzled today. Let me record some snapshots: --I meet with my Candidacy Committee today for an Endorsement Panel. I have completed the huge writing project, and the people involved know me on some level. I'm not nervous, exactly, but I'm taking it seriously. During my upcoming walk, I'll try to anticipate questions. --The meeting is a Zoom session, but I've still given a lot of… ## [Signs and Signifiers and Keeping a Record](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/signs-and-signifiers-and-keeping-record.html) _2026-08-18 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ It's been a strange beginning to the work week. Let me record, so I don't forget. --I've been in that liminal space where it's time to settle into the semester, yet I could still delay doing that for another few days. My office hour time has been consumed by meetings and Convocation, so I have yet to get my Brightspace course shells set up. At this point, it doesn't matter, because the classes… ## [A Week-end in Books and Sermons](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/a-week-end-in-books-and-sermons.html) _2026-08-17 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ It was a good week-end, full of bread baking and writing (sermon and a poem), a good Sunday at church, and some piece work (by which I mean sewing together small scraps). We watched a lot of Hot Bench , a court TV show that is slightly smarter than all the rest, but only slightly, with the cases which are more small claims court, not life threatening types of situations. Saturday was an easier day… ## [Crazy Quilts and Not So Crazy Inspirations](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/crazy-quilts-and-not-so-crazy.html) _2026-08-16 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ I did not go back to the Asheville Quilt show yesterday, so I was so happy this morning that a quilting friend of mine made a Facebook post that included this picture of the quilt that captured my imagination, but I neglected to get a picture. photo by Theresa Blaylock Durden She also took a picture of the quilter's explanation that tells that the quilt contains ribbons and other ephemera from 4… ## [Kristin (and Jesus) at the Quilt Show](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/kristin-and-jesus-at-quilt-show.html) _2026-08-15 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ Yesterday I drove home from teaching, changed clothes, and went to the Asheville Quilt Show with one of my best retreat friends. I wasn't sure what to expect. I've gone to many quilt shows, and each one is different in subtle ways. Yesterday's show was very navigable, with wide spaces in front of each quilt, so I didn't feel too crowded. People who wanted to linger wouldn't be in the way. People… ## [First Week of School: The More Things Change](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/first-week-of-school-more-things-change.html) _2026-08-14 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ It's an interesting moment in time to be teaching first year students. I mean that in a broad sense, but I also mean it in a "teaching the first week of classes during this particular week in August of 2026." Let me unpack that statement a bit: --Tuesday March 11 was our first day of classes. It was also my first day as an Associate Professor on the tenure track at Spartanburg Methodist College,… ## [A NY Times editor told me — respectfully — I was wrong 🫠](https://petya.substack.com/p/a-ny-times-editor-told-me-respectfully) _2026-08-13 · A reading life_ On thrillers, genre-ism, and being trapped by one’s own taste ## [Thirty-Eight Years Married](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/thirty-eight-years-married.html) _2026-08-13 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ Today we celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary--38 years! It feels like just a blip. Here is one of my favorite pictures of us, a picture taken at the March 2026 wedding of our nephew, who was born in 1993: This morning in 1988, we'd have been in Greenwood, South Carolina. I'd have slept in the house that used to be a parsonage where my grandfather served a congregation for many years. Thirty… ## [Second Day of Fall Semester](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/second-day-of-fall-semester.html) _2026-08-12 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ Yesterday was a good first day of class at Spartanburg Methodist College, and not just for me. Everyone I talked to yesterday mentioned the good energy on campus. Of course, the first day of a semester is usually wonderful--and fall semester is best. Yesterday was no exception. My heavy duty teaching days are Mondays and Wednesdays, so today will be a bit more structured. Yesterday I went to my… ## [Sync bookmarks across every browser (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/NpW8k22YbdWH) _2026-08-12 · **Sponsored**_ Two-way sync across Chrome, Firefox and Safari; built-in ad and tracker blocker. ## [First Day as Associate Professor](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/first-day-as-associate-professor.html) _2026-08-11 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ On my first day of class every year, I'm always tempted to post a picture, the way that parents post pictures of their kids as they head off to school. This year, the temptation is especially strong, as today begins a slightly different direction in my teaching life. Today is the first day that I am teaching as an Associate Professor on a tenure track. In some ways, not much will change. I'm at… ## [Balancing Work](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/balancing-work.html) _2026-08-10 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ We had a really good day at church yesterday at Faith Lutheran in Bristol, Tennessee. I say this with some sense of wonder because I arrived in a grumpy mood: we left ten minutes later than I had requested, which meant I felt frazzled. I prayed for my grumpy frazzled mood to lift as I waited for my spouse to come downstairs and open the door, and happily it did with the first hymn. My sermon went… ## [Shifts for Those with Sense to See](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/shifts-for-those-with-sense-to-see.html) _2026-08-09 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ I am always intrigued by how we can see seasons shifting, long before the calendar would tell us to expect these changes. We have to learn to see with new eyes, eyes that focus on what's there, not what we're expecting to see. It's more of a shift of imagination than with our literal eyes, our literal sense: It's similar to how we can see God at work in the world--but it might mean we need to… ## [Friday Fragments: Positive Student Evaluations and Poem Creating](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/friday-fragments-positive-student.html) _2026-08-08 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ Yesterday was much easier than Thursday--but that's not a surprise. Yesterday we only had one meeting, so my committed time was only one hour. Thursday was very scheduled, from 8 a.m. until 3. Let me capture yesterday: --Here's the one cool thing that stands out. We had our Humanities division meeting, and we entered the classroom door that had colored pieces of 8 x 11 paper posted around the door… ## [Workshop Day and My New Bullet Journal](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/workshop-day-and-my-new-bullet-journal.html) _2026-08-07 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ Yesterday was a good day overall, but also a bit overwhelming in understanding ways. I went from summer days when I'm around one or two people a day to a day full of humans. I went from the unstructuredness of summer days to a day of a rigid schedule. Happily, I was surrounded by other humans, my colleagues, who are delightful. I went from the free floating thinking of summer to focusing on… ## [Source Material: a conversation with Stacey Yu](https://petya.substack.com/p/source-material-a-conversation-with-44c) _2026-08-06 · A reading life_ The author of KITTEN on the broken promise that inspired her debut novel ## [Back to School, Back to Hiroshima](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/back-to-school-back-to-hiroshima.html) _2026-08-06 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ Yesterday was a delightful day. Today will be delightful too, although it's a full day on campus, so it will be a different kind of delightful. And I've been awake since 2, so I do worry about how tired I'll be by late afternoon. My brain started churning at 2, churning with all sorts of worries and plans. I need to sit down with a calendar and old syllabi and make some loose plans--or maybe… ## [Delights Planned for the Last Day of Summer and an A for Paul Class](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/delights-planned-for-last-day-of-summer.html) _2026-08-05 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ In many ways, today is my last day of summer 2026. A year ago, I'd have been going to CPE early and then driving to Williamsburg to help my parents recover from my mom's near death pneumonia hospitalization--I am so grateful that this summer's end is more mundane. Our transition to the school year is a gentle one. Tomorrow we have a very full day of teacher training and meetings. On Friday and… ## [Late Summer in One Picture](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/late-summer-in-one-picture.html) _2026-08-03 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ This picture captures certain elements of the last half of summer: I'm thrilled that so many people are so engaged with The Odyssey . I won't go to the movie, probably, for many reasons, but I'm glad people are going. Maybe in a future year, we can get the story of Penelope or maybe Mary Magdalene, women left behind. We haven't had that many days of low humidity and lower heat, so this picture… ## [No Sealey Challenge for Me--But a Different Daily Poetry Challenge?](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/no-sealey-challenge-for-me-but.html) _2026-08-02 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ For one brief moment yesterday morning, I thought about doing the Sealey Challenge: reading 1 volume of poetry each day in August. I've only done it once in the past, so yesterday morning, I went back and read the blog posts that I wrote in 2020; this post talks about the overall experience, and this one talks about photos I used when making my Facebook posts. Some people have posted their daily… ## [Chovy's Blog: Agentic Coding (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/hq2MnaPRGQN4) _2026-08-02 · **Sponsored**_ Personal posts on agentic coding, moshcode CLI, and security findings. ## [The Hinge Festival of Lammas](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-hinge-festival-of-lammas.html) _2026-08-01 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ Early August is a hinge point in the calendar. In some ways, it's not as obvious a hinge as the autumnal equinox or the summer solstice; in fact, it's the time directly between those two hinges--we're as far away from the start of summer as we are from the start of autumn. But in some ways, it's just as significant a point of seasonal shift. If we lived in medieval England, we would be celebrating… ## [Moving to the Tenure Track](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/07/moving-to-tenure-track.html) _2026-07-31 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ A week from now, I'll be beginning the next chapter of my teaching life. In some ways, it won't be that different from what I've already done. It's not the drastic change that I experienced going from teaching to administration. A week from now, I'm back on campus as an Associate Professor on the tenure track, not as an adjunct, not as a year-to-year lecturer. My teaching load will be lighter: 4… ## [Everything I read in July](https://petya.substack.com/p/everything-i-read-in-july) _2026-07-30 · A reading life_ On solitude, creative life and finding hope by escaping one’s self. ## [Adventures in Reading Outside of the House](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/07/adventures-in-reading-outside-of-house.html) _2026-07-30 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ I began the day, the outside of the house part of the day, at the dentist's office yesterday morning for an 8 a.m. appointment. I brought a book, Francine Prose's Five Weeks in the Country . By the end of the visit, after 29 pages, I decided that I was already dreading having to finish the book--the grown up characters in the book are SO odious. I reminded myself--you don't have to read any… ## [Tornado Warning with Biopsy Results (Skin Cancer, Nothing Too Scary)](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/07/tornado-warning-with-biopsy-results.html) _2026-07-29 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ I was keeping an eye on the weather yesterday--but then again, I'm often keeping an eye on the weather. In the late afternoon, the sky got dark, sunset dark, but we were far away from sunset. The thunderstorm watch was upgraded to a warning, and the wind picked up. I plugged in my phone; I wanted to have a full charged phone, just in case we might be about to lose power for while. I saw the… ## [Car Inspections and Jesus Rewiring a Fixer-Upper](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/07/car-inspections-and-jesus-rewiring.html) _2026-07-28 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ Yesterday was one of those days when maintenance tasks went more smoothly than anticipated. It's almost August, the time for car safety inspections so that the annual car registration can be paid--in time to do the payments by mail, because the in-person process is a nightmare, only superseded by getting an NC driver's license. I try to do the safety inspections early because both cars are older… ## [Last Full Week of Summer](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/07/last-full-week-of-summer.html) _2026-07-27 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ This week is my last full week of summer. Of course, it's not exactly summer in its no-working glory, the way that some might assume. I'm still teaching 2 online classes for Broward College; a week ago, I'd be turning in grades for the 2 online classes I taught at Spartanburg Methodist College. I'm still a part-time minister at Faith Lutheran in Bristol, Tennessee. I've had academic work to do as… ## [The Feast Day of Saint James](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-feast-day-of-saint-james.html) _2026-07-25 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ Today we celebrate the life of James, one of the 12 disciples, the first to be martyred (Acts 12:1 tells us by Herod's sword). He's known as James the Greater (to distinguish him from James the Lesser, James the son of Alphaeus). He's the brother of John. He was one of the first to join Jesus, and Jesus chose him to go up the mountain to witness the Transfiguration. He is the patron saint of… ## [Getting the Band Back Together](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/07/getting-band-back-together.html) _2026-07-24 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ Yesterday I spent much of the day shopping and getting ready for our South Florida church friend's arrival for dinner--which is odd since I wasn't buying food for dinner. But it was that time of year when it was time to restock on basic pantry staples and over the counter meds and such. I spent far too much time trying to think about what would be best for dinner. In some ways, I was lucky: my… ## [More Late Summer Gratitudes](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/07/more-late-summer-gratitudes.html) _2026-07-23 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ Two weeks from today, I'll be getting ready to drive down to Spartanburg for a day of meetings, faculty workshops, and not just one but two meals. Those of you who have never worked in a place with a day of meetings and faculty "development," but no food or coffee provided may not understand why I am so happy and grateful to be in a place where we get food along with our trainings and meetings.… ## [Open directory of blogs (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/E4QaAnkd6tVM) _2026-07-23 · **Sponsored**_ Drop URLs or OPML — get per-blog pages plus machine-readable JSON, OPML, text ## [The Reading Life of... Kim Ourada](https://petya.substack.com/p/the-reading-life-of-kim-ourada) _2026-07-23 · A reading life_ A discerning eye, real taste, and no compulsion to plant a flag ## [Poems for the Feast Day of Mary Magdalene](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/07/poems-for-feast-day-of-mary-magdalene.html) _2026-07-22 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ Today is the feast day of Mary Magdalene. If you came here hoping for a historical and theological and feminist type blog post, I wrote that type of blog post for my theology blog, which you can read here . This morning, I'm thinking of Mary Magdalene and the way she has appeared in poetry. My favorite is Marie Howe's Magdalene is my favorite, both the book and the individual poem, "Magdalene--The… ## [Last Weeks of Summer](http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2026/07/last-weeks-of-summer.html) _2026-07-21 · Kristin Berkey-Abbott · Kristin Berkey-Abbott_ Three weeks from today, my onground classes start at Spartanburg Methodist College; it will be both similar and different for me. It will be my 3rd year of full-time work at the college, after 1 year of adjunct work, but the beginning of the tenure track for me. I'll write more about that in a few weeks. I wish I could say that our plans to be in our fixer-upper house in Spartanburg are on… ## [This is NOT a Julia Cameron // The Artist’s Way hate-post](https://petya.substack.com/p/this-is-not-a-julia-cameron-the-artists) _2026-07-16 · A reading life_ Notes from my search for a journaling practice that doesn't end in existential catastrophe. ## [Mid-Year Review: reading, art writing, notebooks](https://petya.substack.com/p/mid-year-review-reading-art-writing) _2026-07-09 · A reading life_ The invisible strings that hold us together ## [Everything I read in June](https://petya.substack.com/p/everything-i-read-in-june) _2026-07-02 · A reading life_ On planning not to read, off-season reading and really, REALLY, really good Substack writing advice. ## [My Life As A Traffic Management Problem](https://bearoneill.com/2026/06/26/my-life-as-a-traffic-management-problem/) _2026-06-26 · radiobeartime · Mark O'Neill_ The populist line is that Britain is ungovernable. The reality is that it is simply ungoverned and that’s why people think the UK is in a state of decay. I am the lowest of the low, someone who travels by bus and we know that only losers take the bus. Where I live in Battersea Continue reading "My Life As A Traffic Management Problem" ## [The Reading Life of... Stacey Yu](https://petya.substack.com/p/the-reading-life-of-stacey-yu) _2026-06-25 · A reading life_ One of my favorite online readers on sniffing books, reading kinks and what returns her to her normal reading rhythm ## [Look Upon My Works](https://bearoneill.com/2026/06/23/look-upon-my-works/) _2026-06-23 · radiobeartime · Mark O'Neill_ The Iron Law of AI is essentially Parkinson s Law. The importance of a manager is demonstrated by having something or, better yet, someone to manage. The more you manage the greater your importance and thus organisations will grow driven by ego and competition. Also a subordinate is not a rival 😉 These people need to Continue reading "Look Upon My Works" ## [The Reading Life of... Austin Kleon](https://petya.substack.com/p/the-reading-life-of-austin-kleon) _2026-06-04 · A reading life_ What he reads, how he reads, and why he'd rather talk about books than recommend them ## [Everything I read in May](https://petya.substack.com/p/everything-i-read-in-may) _2026-05-28 · A reading life_ Featuring artistic devotion, dystopian longing, difficult mothers, and Anne Carson in the frozen north ## [Station To Station](https://bearoneill.com/2026/04/03/station-to-station/) _2026-04-03 · radiobeartime · Mark O'Neill_ I have not written about my health situation of late because nothing had been settled. When I last wrote I said that I was on a six monthly cycle of checkups with March 2026 being the point where they would decide if I should move onto annual checks instead. March 2006 arrived and I had Continue reading "Station To Station" ## [I buried the most famous person in the world](https://bearoneill.com/2026/03/05/i-buried-the-most-famous-person-in-the-world/) _2026-03-05 · radiobeartime · Mark O'Neill_ That s right. I buried the most famous person in the world. I could tell you their name but for reasons which will become obvious I will just refer to them as TMFP. You knew their name better than your own. You knew their face better than your lover s. You called your children after them. You Continue reading "I buried the most famous person in the world" ## [Bad](https://bearoneill.com/2026/01/29/bad/) _2026-01-29 · radiobeartime · Mark O'Neill_ It s unusual to come across a truly bad new digital service these days. People now praise the online passport service for speed and ease of use, the same for Jobseeker s, voter registration. Most online public services delivered since the establishment of the Government Digital Service are at least functional and many are best of breed. Continue reading "Bad" ## [they become again](https://bearoneill.com/2025/09/26/they-become-again/) _2025-09-26 · radiobeartime · Mark O'Neill_ My last piece was about the start of the testing and the unsayable mysteries of the decannulation room. Today we talk about the results. After a day of unexpected waits and delays I finally had a phone call at 18:00 from my excellent doctor at the Royal Marsden to tell me that the MRI, CT Continue reading "they become again" ## [The Decannulation Room](https://bearoneill.com/2025/09/15/the-decannulation-room/) _2025-09-15 · radiobeartime · Mark O'Neill_ Today I had the start of my first six monthly review to see how my cancer treatment is progressing. I say start as I will not know the answer for another fortnight. Today was about tests I had three appointments booked in at the Royal Marsden today the first at 10am was bloods, the Continue reading "The Decannulation Room" ## [Life’s a Gas](https://bearoneill.com/2025/04/28/lifes-a-gas/) _2025-04-28 · radiobeartime · Mark O'Neill_ The saga of British Gas and smart meters continues. A chara This feels rather like going to confession, “Forgive me, British Gas, as it has been 3 months since my last complaint.” My issue is very simple, the smart meters you installed no longer work and you want to replace them. This is an excellent Continue reading "Life s a Gas" ## [Narcolepsy for Bears](https://bearoneill.com/2025/02/26/narcolepsy-for-bears/) _2025-02-26 · radiobeartime · Mark O'Neill_ Paul Downey never deserved this! [Listen](https://bearoneill.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/narcolepsy-for-bears.mp3) ## [February 2025 Ringtone](https://bearoneill.com/2025/02/17/february-2025-ringtone/) _2025-02-17 · radiobeartime · Mark O'Neill_ It s been a heckin year but at last here s a new ringtone. One for all you slug blasters out there 😉 [Listen](https://bearoneill.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/clubslug.mp3)