I’m very happy to be writing my first post on my brand new asus eee pc 1000. Yay!
(Even if it does run on linux currently, the equivalent, in my husband’s opinion, of any choice four-letter word…but he’ll be putting windows on it soon and everyone will be happy.)
I’ve been running around a bit lately, a mix of many little things; projects that I’m doing which may or may not become bigger things, and then some poetry readings; also preparing for the upcoming BSLS conference (that’s the British Society for Literature and Science)…and spring is here, and I’m heading to Virginia very, very soon! It’s an exciting time.
The Darwin’s Microscope reading I gave in Cambridge was lovely; it was held at Christ’s College, where Charles Darwin lived as a student. There was an enthusiastic crowd of about 15 people, two of whom work on the Darwin Correspondence Project, one of whom works at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, and others, all of whom definitely knew what they were talking about. We had some really good discussion after the reading.
The reading at Cambridge was meant to be a collaboration between myself and Boris Jardine, who was going to talk on his research on Darwin’s actual microscopy, but unfortunately Boris was ill. We’re hoping to try for another reading/talk combination at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science this summer.
Last week brought me up to the beautiful Scottish Poetry Library in the lovely capital of Edinburgh, where I read alongside Scottish poet Angela McSeveny (who read from her new book, Slaughtering Beetroot– talk about a great title!) as part of the Poetry Association of Scotland’s reading series. The turnout was fairly quiet, but the PAS and SPL include very welcoming people, and I was given a (photocopied) copy of Erasmus Darwin’s ‘The Loves of the Plants.‘ Hooray! I’ve been wanting to read that. I also paid a visit to the cozy, somewhat mysterious and deliciously tucked away ‘Writer’s Museum,‘ which I highly recommend. It rounded out my literary visit nicely.
Kelley Swain 