Today saw progress in a book publishing project. I’ve been working with Julie Todd to revise and print her Ph.D. dissertation. The title will be Struggling with (Non)violence. The strength of the book is its base of interviews with 12 scholar-activists about their experience with movements intended to redeem people facing direct, structural, and cultural violence.
I look forward to announcing the book’s availability before the end of the month.
I usually treat myself to a new fountain pen at the end of a major project such as this one. After much deliberation, it came down to two pens calling me to choose them. With much hemming and hawing, I decided on a wine-red President from my usual Japanese pen company, Platinum. The best price was by a reputable eBay seller who had several. Last week I noted they were down to one and so I ordered it ahead of project completion. The dealer was in Japan, and they advertised the pen would arrive by September 3. That was after the expected book release days, so I ordered it on Wednesday of last week.
The next day I received a notice that delivery was expected in only two weeks, instead of a month.
The next day after that, Friday, I received an email that indicated the pen would be delivered by the end of that day.
In 48 hours, I went from a vague sense a desired pen would arrive in a leisurely time, appropriate to the completion of the book project, to now writing with the pen inked with Monteverde Napa Burgundy.
Pandemics upset social relationships. Current federal politics upset social contracts. Jet travel upsets personal timelines.
Now it is time to double down on slow breathing and support of social movements that include rather than exclude. If a pen can arrive in Wisconsin from Japan in 2 days, we can provide basic care for people!