Lately the feeling that the activities on my to-do list might just smother me in my sleep, creep off the page and into my unconscious, has left me with little emotion for anything else. I feel a flat sort of happiness when the sun comes out, or when I allow myself the luxury of aContinue reading “Instead of grading…”
Author Archives: Katie Botkin
Companion to Shakespeare’s sonnets
In honor of long-standing argument that I am going to win one of these days — if the telling of it or the moral itself is of more value; not that these must be mutually exclusive. The beauty of Shakespeare’s originals, I’ll warrant you, however, surpasses these moralistic reductions as the first of May surpassesContinue reading “Companion to Shakespeare’s sonnets”
On Romance
“Part of the problem is in our expectation of marriage,” author Esther Perel writes in the September 2006 issue of Self. “We come to marriage today with high hopes of satisfaction on many different levels. Not so long ago, the desire to feel passionate about one’s husband or wife after years together was considered aContinue reading “On Romance”
Bess
My little sister is getting married. I just found out. Not on the Internet, though I had been afraid I might — so had she, apparently. I called her on a night off, which I am still on (hence the typing). Had been expecting it, sort of, for awhile, but still cannot fathom the thoughtContinue reading “Bess”
Durango
26 hours 55 minutes and 1053 miles after starting in Moscow, I am at Durango Joe’s in Durango. My brain has that chaffed feeling of too little sleep and too much heat (the latter being the reason for the former) as I got a solid hour, maybe; “solid” not indicating the calibre of the sleepContinue reading “Durango”
Romans 1:20
The world works a certain way, regardless of how we perceive it. Yet we have no excuse for not perceiving it — in no culture (that I know of) is murder lauded, or cowardice. This does not mean all men are one being, connected by our roots beneath the soil of disregard, for we stillContinue reading “Romans 1:20”
Saturday morning
I sit listening to my cousins play their harps, accompanied by Dad on the guitar, the wind outside buffeting the Iowa cornfields. I drink green tea as Grandmother drinks coffee in her nightgown. This is beautiful. This is peace. Since I got here I’ve been reading Madelaine L’Engle, her family stories, trying on ancient apronsContinue reading “Saturday morning”
South by South East
It seems eons have passed since I was in Moscow. In Boise I laughed and screamed till I was hoarse, and then the bus… the station, filled with deralicts… how is it that these people look this way, I wondered; does their appearance stem from their particular vices, or is it because they are unattractiveContinue reading “South by South East”
Notes on Law, Language and Memory
Law, though it be found written in stone, like the code of Hammurabi, or on the Internet, with its nanosecond updates, has about the same staying power as any other cultural expression. Law students are no fools. They do not spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to tie themselves to something they cannot manipulate. TheyContinue reading “Notes on Law, Language and Memory”
In which the Hunchback gets no grace
“Years after I worked with the [RAF burn unit] airmen, I read a profoundly disturbing article entitled ‘The Quasimodo Complex’ in the British Journal of Plastic Surgery. In it, two physicians reported on their study of 11,000 prison inmates who had committed murder, prostitution, rape, or other serious crimes. They carefully documented a trend thatContinue reading “In which the Hunchback gets no grace”
Botkin Creative 