Returning
Readers and friends—I started this substack as a Lenten discipline last year, during a time when I was casting around, attempting to find balance and create meaning. It was a year of processing and recovery, the kind where you pick something up for a while, and move on to the next thing without any real purpose other than movement.
I won’t say I am different now, or radically changed, or somehow more able to put pen to paper consistently. I am very different from who I was a year ago, let alone a year before that. But I’ve realized that I very much need to (still) jot down words as they appear. I will construct two thirds of an essay in my mind, and often let it wander away, as all unwritten drafts do. However, putting these words into the external reality of a notebook, or even a Substack post, helps create a marker of where my mind has been—a bookmark amidst the read and unread pages of a novel. I want such a bookmark, and perhaps you are even (still) interested in occasionally reading these words.
As odd a year as it has been, there’s also been a lot of new adventures that I’ve undertaken. These include…
Coming alongside an incredible local parish as a priest associate, in addition to my full-time library work and occasional supply priest/retreat leader gig.
Publishing my very first solo journal article! “‘Shamfastnes Would Rather Haue Supprest’: Discretio Spirituum, Modesty Topoi, and the Paratexts of Early Modern Englishwomen Translators” came out in Magistra in their Fall 2022 issue. If you want to read 32 pages of what is essentially the condensed version of my M.Div. thesis, you can find it through pretty much any academic library that has EBSCO/Proquest humanities databases (or you can email me for a private, not for re-sharing copy).
Starting my Masters in Library and Information Science. It’s definitely a new world taking classes alongside my work, but I’ve figured out that I like working in libraries. Plus, an MLIS is essential for advancement within certain parts of the library field, so it seems easier to just add on another degree now rather than waiting for when I absolutely have to have it.
I’m hoping to share pieces of these adventures, as well as my continuing love of theology/history, reading, and gardening. If you’d like to follow along, please do. You are most welcome.
With renewed commitment,
Amanda
