Ladies & Gents:
Hello! I have the plague! Or, at least that's what I've felt like for the last week. I'm still not 100%. I'm on day seven of this head cold and day four of what the urgent care doctor called a "raging ear infection." I apparently have the same problem as many fussy babies (and yes that may be how I've acted, just a bit), and still can't quite hear out of my right ear though it's coming back.
Not much has happened in the meantime except I got yelled at on the internet for reporting a story last week (first one below), and a lot of pretty sunsets that I still managed to see despite feeling like butt. I'm enjoying my short time down here in Cape May, although I know I'd get annoyed if I was here the summer. People are dumb.
How about some real updates rather than me harrumphing? Sure! I'll be at Mill City Running in Minneapolis on April 26. Run at 6pm, talk at 7pm.
Recent Bylines
"Paying to Run with — and for — Oiselle" for Racked
"Why I'm Not Lacing Up for the Boston Marathon" for espnW
"Old Hollywood and the Myth of Blondness" for Racked
What I'm Reading
I finished F*ck Feelings! If you're dealing with assholes in your life, especially completely irrational assholes, it can be a huge help. I'm almost done Dan White's Under the Stars: How America Fell in Love with Camping, which is interesting if a bit uneven. I'm way more interested in the history of camping that White doing some goofy camping-related thing so he could write about it in the book (though to be fare, this could have been something requested of him at a time when what I call "stunt books" are going out of style – or at least I think they are). The best tidbit so far: Juliette Gordon Low (nicknamed Daisy), founder of the Girl Scouts, was partially deaf in one year because a grain of rice thrown at her wedding got lodged in her ear (an ominous sign as the marriage was not a happy one). From the book: "…when people resisted her entreaties, she cocked her 'deaf ear' toward them and kept pounding away at their resolve. In addition to her actual partial deafness, Daisy cultivated the selective deafness that served her well when angry male opposition rose up to shout her down." I have already gotten some hearing back in my infected year but yeah – I can see this being a way to make the best of a bad situation.
What I'm Watching
I'm on the last season of Parks & Rec. What a great show. I'll miss it — and maybe watch it from the beginning again in the future. Also, I know this doesn't count as "watching," but I listened to the podcast S-Town. If you plan to listen too, don't read anything about it, but if you want to hear a discussion after, the Pop Culture Happy Hour segment on it is very smart and talks about why some people have issues with the telling of the story. It's an engrossing story, and one that points to how long it sometimes takes to report a story in full (and why sticking with a story is worth it).
Until next time (hopefully healthier),
Jen A. Miller
jenamiller.com
runningalovestory.com
twitter.com/byjenamiller
instagram.com/jenamillerrunner
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