Elinor Nauen

Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.
~ William Jennings Bryan, from "America's Mission" speech at the Washington Day banquet given by the Virginia Democratic Association, Washington, D.C., 1899

No irony today!

I do want to note that my home state of South Dakota  Read More 

They're taped up right over his food so he has to see them every time he checks his bowl. So far, no noticeable results but I'm hopeful.

Yes! Lots of new poems!

Announcing it here, mostly to myself, so that I type 'em up & post any good ones.

I know there's some good lines.

And off I go. Another too-busy day!

I have so much to do that I don't even know where to start.

So I did laundry instead.

Yesterday & today.

Yesterday a bunch of towels that got soaked at my office because my water pitcher (tossed!) was leaking. Today my laundry from home.

I guess I'll go to the gym now, as I still have a few articles to write or edit.  Read More 

The pretty girls, man,
I can't say nothin' to them.

~ 1st Street, west of First Avenue, 9:30 p.m.

Is he talking to me?

A young couple is walking by as I'm about to put my key in my lock.

"It's a Joe Brainaird," the young woman says.

"It sure is," the young man says. "A Joe Brainard for sure."

I am so excited I almost stop them. I don't. A no brainer.

No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.
—George Burns

The Economist credits Burns with this line & who am I to fact-check them. It feels very profound right now, in the midst of so much chaos. How do I resist an avalanche?

The woods decay, the woods decay and fall,
The vapors weep their burthen to the ground,
Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath,
And after many a summer dies the swan.

Are there more perfect lines than these, which open Tennyson's "Tithonus"? So why is his work barely available? Even the Strand  Read More 

JS: When are you going to get rid of the books on the floor?

EN: Go to hell.... Which books on the floor? there's those & those. And those.

JS: chuckles.

EN: I'll get rid of the books when you get rid of the coatrack.

JS: Books first then coatrack. ... I'll get another coatrack.

EN: I'll get more books.

JS: Go to hell.  Read More 

I've been wanting & meaning to do this for ages, & today I just HAD to. I went to the place a couple doors down from my office but they had no appointments today. I asked how much for a haircut.

"$75 with codgee," the receptionist said.

"Excuse me?"

"$75 with codgee."

What's codgee, some special fancy treatment? How much without codgee?  Read More 

I noticed this because there aren't a lot of low buildings in Chelsea, and because I liked the bright garage and old-fashioned building. Was this once a stable? The New York I never knew visible in today's city.

When I dropped my scraps off this morning, a young woman was sitting at a table full of literature about the program—that was a first, usually it's just 3 plastic trash cans that you dump your peels & coffee grounds into.

Would you like a bag of compost? she asked.

I recoiled! No! Why would I want a bag of compost?! (Whatever that is, come to think of it.) Read More 

One can find time for everything if one is never in a hurry.
—Mikhail Bulgakov

The Master and Margarita is the favorite book of many people I know. Me, I've never read it, but I like this quote. If you find the right pace, you can do everything you want & need to, but feeling frantic makes it impossible to do much at all.  Read More 

When the sign was up, people would sometimes stop me when I was entering or leaving the building: Did Ezra Pound really live here? Sometimes I said yes, sometimes that I didn't know, sometimes the truth: that all the fancy buildings had names (the Van Gogh, the Dakota) & why shouldn't a tenement? We liked to say we lived at the pound.

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1 in 6 Americans has German background: That was certainly true for my neighborhood, which was largely German until the General Slocum disaster in 1904, when hundreds of people on an East River holiday boat died. The decimated community scattered. One remnant is the Ottendorfer Library, the oldest branch library in Manhattan and one of the first buildings constructed specifically to be a library. It's next door to the German Dispensary, now the Stuyvesant Poly-clinic, known for the busts of famous Germans. The neighborhood

The text of the plaque:  Read More 

Things that are inedible at home are delicious at work.

I wish I could tell you why these "mini crunch bars" are so awful. Maybe just because they are far too crunchy? Nothing like worrying you'll break a tooth to dampen one's pleasure.

Which makes me think about the time years ago when I was editing fiction for Woman's World & someone submitted a story with the line: "it only served to wet my appetite, which was already damp." Read More 

I was going to the 6th floor to do editing for a health guide, but this is the pass they spit out.

I have had two economist jobs in the past: at the University of North Carolina in the graduate economics department & for Pace University, I forget doing what, beyond looking up numbers in the Municipal Building. I was more qualified for these jobs than for many I've done, having taken a semester of economics in high school from Mr. Tom Lemonds. He had us "invest." An excerpt from my diary of that time:

In econ for our stock market project, Nils and I have so far made $5.05. I guess that’s not so much compared to the $1000 Ken made, but it’s satisfying.  Read More 

Johnny looked at everything in the store (J. Antonio's on Avenue A) & chose this. His taste has become mine. Or maybe it's that my taste has become his. In any event, he was pleased with what he chose & so am I. It's partly titanium. He is too.

I have been reading a lot of the poetry of Philip Larkin lately. "Traumerei" is one of many that I like. It's been a long day & week & I have miles to go so I'm not going to say more about him or this poem now. Enjoy.

Träumerei  Read More 

"That's my childhood!" I called to the guy parking this station wagon, which turned out to belong to Jim from Long Island, around my age or a little younger.

I stopped & chatted, showed him the photo that's the cover of "Snowbound," me with some '50s cars like this one. He liked that I appreciated his car & offered to take a picture.

I love New York!  Read More 

Yesterday my sister, nephew & I were handed certificates of German naturalization by Herr Roland Pohl, at a champagne reception at the German embassy. On behalf of Germany, he took responsibility for the atrocities and welcomed us back as full German citizens. Every one of you who accepts helps heal the wound, he said, & invited us to explore our new status. I expect the meaning to reveal itself over time, as getting married did.

Ahead of time, I had imagined an informal "here ya go" amusement & that our party at the Bierhaus was the main event. After, the party, while festive, was nothing special, and this ceremony was a huge & moving deal.

My dad loved being German & I am convinced with all my heart that he would approve both of me taking this step & the actions of the German government.  Read More 

I do a lot of editing for social justice organizations, which are always trying to "shift the narrative" and get people to be less racist etcetera etcetera. One article I worked on recently was by someone who referred to herself as "serv[ing] as an unapologetic arbiter of authenticity." That makes me wonder about  Read More 

Randomly thinking of the great Bootsy Collins & how much I love this clip of him singing "Cool Jerk."

Luckily he is a friend of a friend, not my own friend, who claims every criticism of anything to do with tRump is "fake news." Every single comment he posts contains it: "fake news." It's tedious & makes me wonder what would have to happen to change this man's mind.

I have wondered this before about myself, in similar contexts. For example:  Read More 

By the year 2020, the year of perfect vision, the old will outnumber the young.
—Maggie Kuhn

Remember Maggie Kuhn? She founded the Gray Panthers back in 1970, when she was forced to retire because she turned the then-mandatory retirement age of 65. The Gray Panthers became known for fighting ageism, claiming that "old people and women constitute America's biggest untapped and undervalued human energy source."

Kuhn also said: Stand before the people you fear and speak your mind—even if your voice shakes.

I just ordered her autobiography, No Stone Unturned.  Read More 

I'm 9 years old on my birthday.

The rest of the year I'm whatever age goes with the calendar.

I haven't seen any of the current Olympics & the last time I can remember watching any Olympics was 1984, when Johnny & I reenacted Greco-Roman wrestling.

Click on the caption & you'll find out about some people I was surprised to learn were Olympians. Dr. Spock! George Patton! Tom McMillen, the tallest Congressman ever. And more.

Missing my little guy.

He's at home & too heavy to haul back & forth, even just a few blocks.

I love the way he looks at me, the way he licks my fingers, the way he gallops to the bed as soon as I lie down at night & to his dish as soon as I get up in the morning.

The serious way he is trying to catch this mousey thingy.
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I know, I know, everyone hates this holiday, they don't have a partner, it's too gendered, it reminds them of junior high.... But I have always loved it—it's the real start of my birthday, I lived for 3 years with someone whose birthday was February 14,. And now, most of all, I am so ridiculously in love with my husband & he with me that every day is a Hallmark card.  Read More 

I'm excited to be planning a trip to Norway for later this year. These photos are exactly why I'm going and what I want to see. All these places have been in my dreams my whole life.