At the moment it's snowing hard in Portland. The cat is disgusted, but I'm pleased. I just wish the downfall would stay snow and not turn to rain, as it's forecast to do. Slush is no one's favorite precipitation.

Today: I will gird my loins and deal with those grant applications. Ugh. And I've got a meeting scheduled in the afternoon with my co-director for the Kauffmann Summer Writing Seminar, though we'll see what the weather says.

Frost Place applications are rolling in; my Monson students are sending me stellar work; I'm trying to keep pushing forward with these daily challenges and satisfactions--yes, people of all ages are writing and thinking and feeling and caring; we are curious and vulnerable and funny and tragic; and the pigsty presidency and the senatorial disgrace can't stop us from digging for Truth and crowing from the housetops.