Once more I’ve left a
long-ish gap between posts. It’s strange the rhythm of writing and
communication of ideas in general. Sometimes I feel rich with all that I want
to explore in writing. Other times my concentration gets scattered by other
projects. That’s what has happened this week, in part. I have been assigned one
small entry in what will be a large comprehensive volume from the Oxford University
Press in the US called The Oxford Companion to Sweets. Like everyone else who
is involved in writing one or more entries, as I imagine it, I’m finding it
slow-going, and frustrating too, for my word limit is under 1000 words, and in
that I am supposed to talk about Southeast Asian sweets.
I’m not here to rant about
that, just trying to let you know what I have been cluttered with. I’ve now got
a good draft written. It is always interesting to be forced into taking a fresh
perspective on a region or a cuisine. In writing this I’ve had to characterise
the general approach to sweets and also to their evolution. Influences include
of course trade, colonisation, conquest, immigration, etc. But all I can do is
skim over it all, while tryig to give specifics about sweets in each of the
countries. It’s a bit of a grind. And of course not paid, I mean, the pay is
under $50…
So why do it? Well, I like
a challenge, and I am of course learning as I think through it all and do
research.
But I’ll be glad when it’s
done. My deadline, the one I’m setting for myself, is the end of this week, so
that the Labour Day weekend can be clear of deadlines and I can start look
forward to the longhouse event put on by Molly O’Neill on September 6 to 8 in Renselaarville, and
after that the kneadingconferencewest in the Skagit Valley in northern Washington
state (September 12-14). It’s time to think about packing and
cooler weather, and planning out the baking schedule for the Kneading
Conference.
In the meantime I have been
waiting to hear about my visa for a trip to Iran in October. I heard from the
agency ten days ago that they expected to get word on my application by the
middle of last week. And then finally two days ago I heard it was approved. Yes!! The
deal is that with the visa application is approved in principle, I fly to
Istanbul, hand my passport in to the Iranian consulate, and pick it up three
working days later. And from there I can fly directly to Iran, a short-ish hop.
I have now booked flights to
Istanbul on Turkish Airlines and have five days booked at a centrally
located air bnb in Istanbul. So pleasing to have a few things sorted out.
I really hope this Iran
trip can work, and not get derailed. The massive sabre-rattling that is going
on in the west about Syria can only be terrifying to ordinary people trying to
live their lives in Iraqi Kurdistan, Syria, Iran, and southern Turkey. They become
statistics, or numbers, in the headlines, rather than individuals with culture,
education, humanity. And of course Iran has now become a kind of unnuanced idea
of threat to the US and I am sad to say to Canada too.
In the meantime, I have
found advice on how to deal with clothing requirements in Iran. I need one or
two manteau, a coat-length long-sleeved garment. And I need some headscarves
and long pants and comfortable shoes. It all seems very manageable.
And so like any other trip
or project, this one breaks down into the practical details and preparation,
and vast imaginings and endless reading…
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