Weeknotes: January 26–29, 2026
Monday, January 26 - Thursday, January 29
I walk the frozen city through trails that telegraph its residents' means and desires. The clean, sharp-edged channels of business who can afford a plow service terminate in white berms at property lines. Their residential equivalents usually extend the length of the block in neighborly harmony. Elsewhere, tidy lanes shoveled by hand taper into rough footpaths, then open back up again. You can identify the fastidious digger by the amount of cement showing underneath — they've been out more than once. The latecomers and reluctant shovelers' paths are lumpier, but at least they made an effort. All of it is stitched together in a patchwork of cooperation and need.
Weeknotes: January 19–23, 2026
Monday, January 19
I dream intensely, though when I wake, I can't remember any details. While the dark recedes, I stand with my coffee at the window, watching a snow squall whip down the street. Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day — no work or school, though I end up devoting time to both.
In the afternoon, I drive into town to buy ink cartridges for my printer. Arctic winds shoulder my little car as I try to stay in my lane amid the blowing snow. Minutes later, sunlight pierces my dirty windshield — it's a day of extremes.