The monochromatic year ended in a radiant burst of colour. The soulful burgundy of beets; purple eggplants roasted into gold and black, yellow yolks alchemized into aioli, and the woven black, green and red patterns of a tablecloth inherited from my mother, purchased in Soviet Czechoslovakia. Appropriately, the meal itself was Soviet: the Slavic…

There were icy droplets of rain falling. It was a mild yet bone-chilling December night. I’d tried and failed to purchase a fire pit, this season’s hip accessory. A couple of folks canceled at the last minute, and my makeshift outdoor xmas tree, fashioned from a tomato cage and some dollar store lights, around…

About halfway through our zoom cocktail, we get to the part of the conversation I, weirdly, always enjoy the most. Things We Miss. Because we’re both professors, we talk about Things We Miss On Campus. “I miss running into a colleague who, say, had a great class, “ says The Women’s Studies Prof. “They’re…