I had little reason to write this other than that it has been three months since my last post... three dreadfully long and eventful months in the real world, while little seems to have changed in my tiny corner of it (other than my hair). All the things I wrote last time about difficulties focusing on anything when the coronavirus continues to spread around the world—increasingly so in parts of the U.S. the last month—still hold true, but have been magnified since the #BlackLivesMatter protests against police brutality began after the tragic death of George Floyd.
You know all this, of course... but what else to say?
I'll be brief: My productivity is of a pace with that reported in the last post (along with the corresponding malaise for that and many other reasons). I finished or abandoned all of the smaller or shorter things to my to-do list, and am now focused on keeping my Captain America blog current and working on my next superhero-and-ethics book, which ideally will be finished (or close to it) by the end of summer. This one will be a bit different than my Captain America or Batman books: Rather than looking at a character's overall approach to ethics, it will be focused on one particular idea connected with them (and which happens to be very meaningful to me as well). Also, one of the book proposals I mentioned in my last post led to a contract, and I've started planning for that project, with work in earnest to start in the fall. (And I'm awaiting word on the other proposal, the first draft of which I just sent to my editor a week ago.)
Other than that, I'm managing affairs for my college department over the summer, adapting to a constantly changing budget outlook ahead of a precarious fall semester, and updating my course while adapting it for the online format. I did find time to guest on a podcast, Good Is in the Details, hosted by my good friend Gwendolyn Dolske, discussing Batman and ethics, with a follow-up on Captain America coming soon. As always, I'm trying to stay offline more, even though my sense of FOMO is heightened and rationalized by the crucial, historical nature of everything happening at the moment.
I hope you have whatever kind of summer you can manage; try to stay positive and focus on the good; and please, please take care of yourselves and others by wearing a mask when you're out and about. Not all heroes wear masks, but everyone who wears a mask is a hero.
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