Monday, May 25, 2020
Summer Travels
Well, those haiku covered a lot of ground! First, my dad took me back to a great childhood memory:
First night Holiday
Inn in Hurley Wisconson
pool salad bar smiles.
Then Christine posted her own hopes:
Bought a paddle board
Plan to spend time on the lake
being by myself.
While IPLawGuy registered a memory:
Long rides in a car
Showing kids America
Learning new myself.
Jill Scoggins brought us right back to this moment:
Going to Texas.
Fearful but also eager
to see family.
We live in a time
where trav’ling to see those we
love most, scares us most.
Steve hit close to home:
Canoe in water.
Hup. Dip. Dip. Dip. Dip. Dip. Hup.
Repeat and Repeat.
While Anonymous George looked further away:
Palm Springs, O, Palm Springs.
One hundred and eleven high.
Glad my trip is off.
I'm not sure whether the Medievalist is here or there:
Now leaving Waco,
Planes wheels on the runway go,
Touchdown in Madrid.
But, boy, I would like to see what Desiree is seeing (or remembering):
Walking at midnight
Watching sea turtles lay eggs
Magic on the beach.
Sunday, May 24, 2020
Sunday Reflection: What comes next?
Things are changing.
States are opening up, and so are the doors to homes and businesses. I see some people being careful, and others being careless as they venture out of isolation. I am probably somewhere in between.
The United States never pursued the route some other countries did (with varying degrees of success). While they sought to stamp out the Coronavirus with stringent isolation and tracing, we simply wanted to "flatten the curve"-- lots of people would still get the disease, but the medical system would better be able to handle it. In some places, that seems to be working. The problem with this model, of course, is that many people-- nearly 100,000 already-- die of the illness.
It's going to be a long, cruel year. I don't know how school will work in the fall (and I teach school). I do know that we have a long way to go in this fight.
There is this basic human conundrum we face in so many ways: the tension between what we want to do and what we should do. Often, people finesse this by pretending that these two are the same-- that what they want to do is also what is morally right. For example, people who ignore safety precautions and venture out into the mall without a mask are casting their decision as morally right because it is a blow for "freedom." Which... it's not. We always have the freedom to do harmful things within the bounds of the law, but that doesn't expand freedom any. That freedom already existed.
Politics has pushed some Americans to conflate selfishness with patriotism, when for all of American history the opposite has been true: patriotism is rooted in sacrifice and selflessness. What a sad corner to have turned....
Saturday, May 23, 2020
Archie Williams sings
Friday, May 22, 2020
Haiku Friday: Summer Travels, Real and Imagined
The days are getting longer-- here in Minnesota, dusk stretches until nine at night, this soft lift through pines.
If you are like me, you are thinking about summer travels-- trips that may not be possible this year, at least not in the way we might hope. Everything is on hold, it seems.
But let's haiku about summer travel, if only in our imaginations. Here, I will go first:
Warm water, gentle waves
A lifeguard in a Speedo
One bird flies past, low.
Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable plan, and have some fun!
Thursday, May 21, 2020
PMT: We will feel our way through the dark
I looked and looked for this video, of a song and a scene that I love. It hid from me for a while, and then I found it the way a spy spots the opposing army, with a leaping heart.
And then I watched it again, and all I wanted to do was immediately go directly to Ireland and rent a car and go to Dick Mack's pub in Dingle and talk to people (which is something my family tends to do). Well, I might need a time machine forward or backwards for that, of course, but you get my heart, right? The joy of small spaces full of warmth and people is lost to us for a too-long moment.
And that may be why people just aren't doing it anymore-- aren't staying at home, aren't avoiding everyone else, aren't following the rules. It's wrong, but we are social animals. That balance, that tension, is always there, between the urge to do something and the rules and reasons to not do it. It's what criminal law is all about. Also, mercy.
But in the moment...
If you walk my way
I could keep my head
We will feel our way
Through the dark.
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
YLS '90: Michele Baker Richardson
I have a very clear memory of Michele Baker Richardson from the first year of law school: that she seemed like she was already a lawyer, just masquerading as a student as some kind of research project or something.
She came to YLS after getting a degree from Brown and then working in advertising for several years-- that probably accounted for her poise amidst the rest of us.
After law school, she had a number of fascinating jobs (like an awful lot of my other classmates). At one time or another she was a writing instructor at Stanford, the Dean of Students at the University of Chicago's law school, and a professor at two other law schools in the Chicago area. Then she founded--and now runs--Higher Education Advocates, an organization that helps people go through the confusing process of applying to college and graduate school.
It makes me happy that so many of us have gone into work where we help students in one way or another-- it's deeply fulfilling work that makes a very real difference in the lives of others.
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
New release dates for movies
I really miss going to see movies in a theater! Yes, we can watch them at home slumped down on the couch, but it just isn't the same for me. It's not quite the difference between seeing a baseball game at the park vs. watching it on TV, but it's the same kind of thing.
According to Vulture, here are the new release dates for movies:
Antebellum
Moved from Aril 24, 2020 to a date TBD.
Antlers
Moved from April 17, 2020 to a date TBD.
Artemis Fowl
Moved from May 29, 2020 to June 12, 2020, and it will premiere on Disney+ instead of in theaters.
The Artist’s Wife
Moved from April 3, 2020 to a date TBD.
The Batman
Moved from June 25, 2021, to October 1, 2021.
Black Widow
Moved from May 11, 2020 to November 6, 2020.
Blue Story
Moved from March 20, 2020 to a date TBD.
Bull
Moved from March 20, 2020 to a VOD release date of May 1, 2020.
Candyman
Moved from June 12, 2020 to September 25, 2020.
Charm City Kings
The opening was shifted from April 10, 2020 to August 14, 2020 and then to August 21, 2020.
The Climb
Moved from March 20, 2020 to a date TBD.
Deerskin
Moved from March 20, 2020 to a date TBD.
Doctor Strange Into The Multiverse of Madness
Moved from May 7, 2021 to March 25, 2022.
Dungeons & Dragons
Moved from Nov. 19, 2021 to May 27, 2022.
The Eternals
Moved from November 6, 2020 to February 12, 2021.
F9
Moved from May 22, 2020 to April 2, 2021.
Fatherhood
This Kevin Hart movie has actually been moved up from January 15, 2021 to October 23, 2020.
First Cow
Although the new Kelly Reichardt film did start its limited release on March 6, 2020 A24 announced that they will re-release the film theatrically later on in 2020.
The Flash
Moved from July 1, 2022, to June 3, 2022.
Free Guy
Moved from July 3, 2020 to December 11, 2020.
The French Dispatch
Moved from July 24, 2020 to October 16, 2020.
The Forever Purge
Moved from July 10, 2020 to a date TBD.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Moved from July 10, 2020 to March 5, 2021.
Greyhound
Moved from June 12, 2020 to a date TBD.
In the Heights
Moved from June 26, 2020 to June 18, 2021.
Jungle Cruise
Moved from July 24, 2020 to July 30, 2021.
King Richards
Moved from November 21, 2020, to November 25, 2021.
The Lovebirds
Moved from April 3, 2020 to a TBD date when it will debut on Netflix.
Malignant
Moved from August 14, 2020 to a date TBD.
The Many Saints of Newark
Moved from September 25, 2020, to March 12, 2021.
Minions: Rise of Gru
Moved from July 3, 2020 to July 2, 2021.
Mission Impossible: 7
Moved from July 23, 2021 to November 19, 2021
Mission Impossible: 8
Moved from August. 5, 2022 to November 4, 2022.
Morbius
Moved from July 31, 2020 to March 19, 2021.
Mulan
Moved from March 27, 2020 to July 24, 2020.
My Spy
Moved from April 17, 2020 to a date TBD when it will premiere digitally on Amazon.
The New Mutants
Moved from April 3, 2020 to a date TBD.
The Nightingale
Moved from December 25, 2020 to December 22, 2021.
No Time to Die
Moved from April 10, 2020 to November 25, 2020.
Nobody
Moved from August 14, 2020 to February 26, 2021.
The Personal History of David Copperfield
Moved from May 8, 2020 to a date TBD.
Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway
Moved from August 7, 2020 to January 15, 2021.
Praise This
Moved from September 25, 2020 to date TBD.
Raya and The Last Dragon
Moved from November 25, 2020 to March 12, 2021.
Run
Moved from May 8, 2020 to a release date TBD.
Scoob!
Moved from May 15, 2020 to a date TBD.
The Secret Garden
Moved from April 17, 2020 to August 14, 2020.
Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings
Moved from February 21, 2021 to May 7, 2021.
Shazam! 2
Moved from April 1, 2022, to November 4, 2022.
Spiral: From The Book of Saw
Moved from May 15, 2020 to a date TBD.
Soul
Moved from June 19, 2020 to November 20, 2020.
Thor: Love and Thunder
Moved from November 5, 2021 to February 18, 2022.
The Tomorrow War
Moved from December 25, 2020 to July 23, 2021.
Top Gun: Maverick
Moved from June 24, 2020 to December 23, 2020.
The Truth
Moved from March 20, 2020 to a date TBD.
Uncharted
Moved from March 5, 2021 to August 8, 2021.
Untitled Elvis Movie
Moved from October 1, 2021, to November 5, 2021.
Untitled Indiana Jones Movie
Moved from July 9, 2021 to July 29, 2022.
Untitled Spider-Man: Far From Home Sequel
Moved from July 16, 2021, to November 5, 2021.
Untitled Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse Sequel
Moved from April 8, 2022, to October 7, 2022.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Moved from October 2, 2020 to June 25, 2021.
Without Remorse
Moved from September 18, 2020 to October 2, 2020.
The Woman in the Window
Moved from May 15, 2020 to a date TBD.
Wonder Woman 1984
Moved from June 5, 2020 to August 14, 2020.
Working Man
Moved from a theatrical release on March 27, 2020 to a VOD release on May 5, 2020.
Monday, May 18, 2020
Graduation poems
All right! We got a good one from Desiree (though I want to see the picture):
Photo of heel click
Graduation tradition
For all Di Mauros.
and Christine:
Butterflies and tears
Anticipation, meaning...
Time, so bittersweet.
And Dr. Daniel Price:
An ending and a
beginning; "commencement's" twin
meanings embrace all.
And, fortunately, Minnesota's own Medievalist:
I have seen many,
Endings and beginnings all,
A contradiction.
Photo of heel click
Graduation tradition
For all Di Mauros.
and Christine:
Butterflies and tears
Anticipation, meaning...
Time, so bittersweet.
And Dr. Daniel Price:
An ending and a
beginning; "commencement's" twin
meanings embrace all.
And, fortunately, Minnesota's own Medievalist:
I have seen many,
Endings and beginnings all,
A contradiction.
