Things are a bit crazy over here as I am trying to revise a chapter to send out by Sunday and trying to finish up two projects — my niece’s birthday present and the backpack set for my sister’s friend. I have 28 books checked out of the library right now. Nuts, right? But exciting because my chapter is really great and as I read and write, it feels like little windows are clicking open in my brain and I am making connections that I hadn’t before. My chapter deals with the Belgian Congo and South Africa in the 1950s and over the past four years, there has been a lot of new information coming out about the assassination of Patrice Lumumba and the CIA’s role in it. The CIA Chief of Station for the Congo in the early 60s wrote his memoir in 2007 and it’s got some crazy stuff in it — like him receiving orders from Eisenhower to kill Lumumba and being given a bunch of poison (including poison toothpaste, which somehow strikes me as silly even though it’s really not). He ended up not killing Lumumba, but only because Lumumba’s Congolese enemies got to him first.
Yeah, so, that’s not really what this blog is about, right? After thinking about Cold War intrigue all day, I work with pretty fabrics at night. Schizophrenic? Or balanced? Only time will tell.
February 12, 2009 at 10:57 am
balanced, definitely!
February 12, 2009 at 11:20 am
The chapter sounds terrific! I would love to read it when it’s completed.
I’m motoring toward a Sunday grant deadline. I hope you’re applying for it as well.
The fabrics have beautiful patterns; perfect for bow ties. Do you make bow ties? I think they’re swell!
February 12, 2009 at 1:59 pm
ortho, the version i send out on sunday won’t be the absolute final word as i don’t have time to incorporate all the new research i’ve done but i’ll send it your way to see what you think. i can’t remember if you ever read this — i wrote the first version several years ago.
i have never made a bowtie but perhaps i SHALL start. you will have to wear bowties when you get tenure.
February 16, 2009 at 2:31 pm
ha! i wore a bow tie saturday night while i was out on the town.
February 16, 2009 at 7:36 pm
not at the roller derby, i assume. or maybe it’s classier up in glens falls.