One day, four corners, one chapter

at Four Corners, San Pablo Avenue at Solano Avenue

...and how many cappuccinos?

Today is a day befitting the title of this blog, if there every was one. I've been shying away from it, again thinking that any writing energy I spend ought to be put into my dissertation, and not into the more 'frivolous' project (if one can call it that?) of blogging here--not even on Found in Translation where, I don't know, it counts, for something or, conversely, on Facebook where you can at least feel as if more of your friends will be seeing it, maybe even giving it a like or two.

And, thinking about it a little more, I guess I'm not the only one of the people I know and think most of as bloggers in my immediate (digital/real) surroundings. Lots of people seem to have given up on it, for now or for the longer now, having moved on to bigger and better (?) writing or other projects. Who has time to be blogging, right?

But it's funny how much the ecologies of media and writing seem to shift over the years. Where before blogging seemed to me (and who am I writing this to anyway--still seems to me) distracted and self-centered, egotistical, etc. etc. (you know, putting your private thoughts out there in the blogosphere for 'the whole world' to see, blah blah blah), NOW it seems like Twitter and Facebook and Tumblr and text messaging and all the rest have given a new name to distraction, while blogging requires some kind of commitment to the development of a text, and requisite centering of attention. Especially when you're not writing to sell through ad-clicks, or optimizing your posts for search engines. I mean, this post would have to be a whole lot sexier to get any attention at all, right?

So here I am writing, and feeling pretty good about it, with a section of the dissertation chapter on methods down, and another big one to go, before the day is through. Rotating through the four corners while I do it, and having a drink at each, is the way I thought I could stomach what looks to be a full day of writing, on what looks to be a fantastic day of clouds and sky outside. Choose places with good cappuccinos, nice ambiance, and big windows. Started at home up Solano, spent the last few hours in the next-generation Four Corners Cafe, and about to turn this western movement south and march down San Pablo to...