#the learning plan

[courtesansjewelbox]

My two yearly trackers for 2022.

One is for Bradbury Reading Program which I started at the end of May 2021. I did weekly trackers for those and then a monthly tracker in December until I reached my goal of 150 days. Then in 2022, I felt ready to do a yearly tracker, confident enough that I will keep using it.

The second is for Non-Zero Days which I learned about late last year from Reddit. I was inspired by two people’s posts on trackers, and made this using pink cardstock and stickers from the Edition 2 Bullet Journal to make a free standing yearly tracker I can also use as a bookmark. My goals for this are two-fold; one for exercise, one for writing or art-making.

So far so good.

[courtesansjewelbox]

2022 reading list

1. This Is How You Lose the Time War - I’m 70% into this and not really enjoying it. The writing is too lyrical/metaphorical without feeling grounded in the story, so I feel like I got swept along without really understanding these characters or their feelings.

2. Possession - Just started but it’s a heavy book that I can’t take with me anywhere and although I love the poetry and the writing is top-notch, I am not so sure yet about the characters.

3. Then There Were Five - next book in Enright’s Melendy books which I love but am reading slowly because I want to savour every chapter.

4. I am currently reading a lot of poetry, essay and short story collections very slowly (one of each every day) so I expect I’ll finish some of them this year. But a standout so far is Brian Doyle’s One Long River of Song. And I’m almost done with Mavis Gallant’s Paris Stories and have a lot of Agatha Christie and Tove Jansson stories to read yet. I also borrowed a Joyce Carol Oates collection so I might try to finish that.

5. A non-fiction book called Focusing. Not sure how useful it will be yet.

I told myself I won’t worry about number goals this year but I see a lot more booktubers on YT/IG which is making me feel like I should be reading a lot faster. I finished 4 in January so far but they’re mostly children’s books. It’s really hard to stop comparing yourself to the world.

I also want to try some older as well as contemporary classics this year but I don’t want it to feel like a chore.

[courtesansjewelbox]

Deep Year Reading Challenge

1. Reread a childhood fave

2. Annotate a book you own

3. Read a classic you’ve always wanted to

4. Read a poem, a short story and an essay a day (Bradbury Reading Program) — skip days as you need to but keep trying

5. Don’t buy any new books (but you can borrow from the library—or read what you already have on your phone or shelves)

*no annual number goal this year

[courtesansjewelbox]

Day 65/1,000 of Bradbury Reading Program

Read one poem, one essay and one short story a night for the next 1,000 nights.

Loren Eiseley wrote in his essay “The Ghost Continent” from The Unexpected Universe:

“The lessons of the past have been found to be a reasonably secure instruction for proceeding against the unknown future. To hurl oneself recklessly without method upon a future we ourselves have complicated is a sheer nihilistic rejection of all that history, including the classical world, can teach us.”

I took a break from this daily program in August to focus on reading poetry books, but it’s nice to be back. I tend to reach for print books on my days off so I can actually finish reading what I own or what I’ve borrowed, as while at work it’s easier to read my ebooks on my phone.

Eiseley is lovely reading though you can feel the edges of his known world. I wonder what he’d write of us in these times.

The short story I read today clawed me open. It’s called “The Kontrabida” by Filipino American author Mia Alvar, from her collection In The Country, and I still feel hungover from reading it. It felt a little too close to home, maybe. There but for the grace of god go I.

[courtesansjewelbox]

Day 11/1000 of Bradbury Reading Program

Read one poem, one essay and one short story a night for the next 1,000 nights.

I wanted to get some momentum going before I posted about this, but it’s been unexpectedly fun so far. I borrowed a few books from our library and grabbed a few neglected ones from my shelf. I looked up classic authors for each genre, asked for recommendations from Reddit, got a few e-books as well.

I try not to read the same author twice in a row, except for poetry because I am slowly reading through Linda Gregerson’s Prodigal: New and Selected Poems, 1976-2014, which I have to return in a couple of weeks. Adrienne Rich’s book, What Is Found There is a pleasure to read, as well as Kate Chopin’s short stories, and a book of science inspired stories called Thought X - Fictions and Hypotheticals.

1,000 is a large number, representing almost three years. I’ve never had a goal this big. But I decided it didn’t have to be consecutive—that I would take a break as needed—and armed with my bullet journal, it feels a little more manageable.

And afterwards? I try to write poetry inspired by a line or an image or even just a word I encounter in that day’s reading. I also keep a Media Journal and I write notes every few days about the pieces I liked and didn’t like and why. I started a list of Memorable Poems, Stories and Essays, both from the past and from this endeavour.

It’s about educating myself both as reader and writer. I’m still not sure how far my ambitions run as a writer—I think I can be satisfied with a handful of publishing credits and fanfic—but I know I want to improve my craft in a self-directed manner.

[courtesansjewelbox]

Day 33/1000 of Bradbury Reading Program

Read one poem, one essay and one short story a night for the next 1,000 nights.

I took a couple days’ rest last week. It’s been unusually hot in these parts, which makes it hard to exert any effort including mental ones. I found myself defaulting to the shortest essays I could find.

So today I ended up challenging myself and read two essays. One is “Walden” by E.B. White, a parody of sorts in letter form to Henry about the changes to Concord in the hundred years since his book of the same name was written.

The other one is “The I in the Internet” by Jia Tolentino, a hefty but compelling and resonant read about how the current incarnation of the Internet centers the individual, making our opinions appear more important and effective as activism than they are.

[courtesansjewelbox]

My personal definition of “cultured”

Conversing well with people from all walks of life, being both a good listener open to learning from everyone and a speaker who is able to articulate my opinions and defend my position respectfully

Participating in the cultural life of my city by attending readings and concerts, visiting galleries, trying different restaurants, enjoying pockets of nature, and making a difference in issues that concern my community

Dressing and decorating with style, knowing how to combine elements to make it uniquely mine, knowing what’s appropriate to the occasion, knowing when to break rules, having a signature piece or colour or silhouette

Being passionate but also thoughtful and engaged about what I consume, from books to films to food to experiences

There’s also elegance, appreciation of nuance, careful attention to detail and love for beauty, but I think they’re more optional.

Sure, you can get started on a reading list towards a classical education, but for me, the term “cultured” is more about a person’s curiosity about the world and effort put into expanding the breadth and depth of their knowledge and experiences.

The kind of culture is not specified, so you can choose what fascinates you—whether it is the romantics, the beats, the renaissance, ancient history or contemporary movements and revolutions. You can specialize in a period or art form. Or work on a combination of wildly different skills and expertise.