Podcast Updates

Although I did not have any interviews this week, I did work more on remastering some previous interviews for my newest podcast, ‘Vermont Artists and Authors.  I have been able to produce 25 episodes of that series so far.

Project Updates

I have continued to progress on ‘Appliance’ and spent this past week making character samples for the book.  Characters like Flashier the Desk Lamp, Lindey #4, the Money Counter, and Chaffy, the Steam Iron.  It has been enjoyable to give personality and sentience to inanimate objects. 

We are now at 130 pages on this first draft.

What I’m reading

Back in April, I purchased a book on Tuareg proverbs called ‘Adages Touareg’ by Zakiyatou Oualett Halatine.  She collected many proverbs and sayings of the Tuareg people.

One of my projects that I have been passively working on is collecting all of the proverbs and sayings of the Nigerian people, and the Tuaregs have been a more difficult group of people to find a collection from.  I was delighted to have discovered this book.

Proverbs and sayings provide a significant window into a culture, and this book is a perfect example of showing the reader what the values, beliefs, and passions are of the Tuaregs. 

What I appreciated the most from this book is how some proverbs are like those of the Zarma and Hausa people.  This does make it hard to determine where some of these sayings originated, but it does say a lot about how some phrases and sayings resonate throughout all of West Africa.

Personal Updates

We are now a month into not having the mother-in-law here.  We have about a month left until she comes back, and I am personally proud of my wife and me for holding it together so far. 

I know that there are literally millions of parents out there who do not live in multi-generational households, but if you always have, then we got used to the support. 

I know in a few years, I will look back on this time of working from home and changing diapers and running to the bus stop as delightfully nostalgic, but I want to acknowledge this time for myself that my goal is to not only succeed at my job but also as a dad, and I am personally grateful for the opportunity and proud that I have made it this far.