Cate Mahoney – Princeton Writes

Word of the Week: scumble (SKUM-bul)

Cate Mahoney2024-02-22T15:45:53-05:00

Word of the Week: scumble (SKUM-bul) Definition (Verb) 1 a : to make (something, such as color or a painting) less brilliant by covering with a thin coat of opaque or semiopaque color applied with a nearly dry brush 1 b : to apply (a color) in this manner 2 : to soften the lines or colors of (a drawing) by rubbing lightly In Context In an accomplished artist's hands, oil paint is fluid; it can be scumbled or glazed; it's a more versatile medium than tempera. Cate McQuaid, "Leonardo da Worcester," The Boston Globe, March 11, 2018.

Word of the Week: scumble (SKUM-bul)Cate Mahoney2024-02-22T15:45:53-05:00

Word of the Week: floriferous (flȯ-ˈri-f-e-rəs )

Cate Mahoney2023-12-14T11:03:30-05:00

Word of the Week: floriferous (flȯ-ˈri-f-e-rəs ) Definition (Adjective) Bearing flowers. In Context While intense and floriferous, hot hues aren’t for every garden. Maureen Gilmer, "For gorgeous blooms in the summer heat, you can’t beat lantanas," sacbee, June 22, 2018.

Word of the Week: floriferous (flȯ-ˈri-f-e-rəs )Cate Mahoney2023-12-14T11:03:30-05:00

Dispatches from Quarantine, Part 4: Goodbye for Now by Cate Mahoney

Cate Mahoney2020-06-19T14:36:03-04:00

Dispatches from Quarantine, Part 4 Goodbye for Now by Cate Mahoney Parting is such sweet sorrow! But in the midst of the pandemic, it does feel a bit like another change that slips under the surface as everyone is dealing with so much already. This is my last post as a University Administrative Fellow. Having graduated this past month, I’m moving out of Princeton and into the world! Picture Hayao Miyazaki’s movie Howl’s Moving Castle when the castle moves on and I’m the tiny protagonist standing in the landscape planning how to take my next steps. Or let’s think of this [...]

Dispatches from Quarantine, Part 4: Goodbye for Now by Cate Mahoney Cate Mahoney2020-06-19T14:36:03-04:00

Dispatches from Quarantine, Part 3: How to Look Good Zooming by Cate Mahoney

Cate Mahoney2020-05-06T17:06:52-04:00

Dispatches from Quarantine, Part 3 How to Look Good Zooming by Cate Mahoney Now that we’re all working at home, giving presentations at home, and trying to stay sane at home, users of Zoom, the suddenly ubiquitous video conferencing platform, will want some tips and tricks in their digital tool belt. I offer these suggestions as someone who recently (and successfully!) defended her dissertation virtually. (Thank you, thank you—you’re too kind.) (1) Find your light! And by this I mean placing your light source in the right position so that you are illuminated and don’t look like a cave dweller. To [...]

Dispatches from Quarantine, Part 3: How to Look Good Zooming by Cate MahoneyCate Mahoney2020-05-06T17:06:52-04:00

Dispatches from Quarantine, Part 2 by Cate Mahoney

Cate Mahoney2020-04-13T20:27:01-04:00

Dispatches from Quarantine, Part 2 by Cate Mahoney Hello, world! I hope this finds you safe and sound and keeping a level head for as much of the daytime and nighttime hours as you can. Here in New York City, we’re finally leveling off the curve of the virus, but I expect we’ll be staying in quarantine for much, much longer to make sure we keep it that way. I don’t know about you, but the days are blurring together for me. I try to keep a routine of when I wake up, take the dog out, and try to get [...]

Dispatches from Quarantine, Part 2 by Cate MahoneyCate Mahoney2020-04-13T20:27:01-04:00

Dispatches from Quarantine, Part 1 by Cate Mahoney

Cate Mahoney2020-03-30T14:44:03-04:00

Dispatches from Quarantine, Part 1 by Cate Mahoney Hi, all! I truly hope this finds you and your loved ones in good health. Time seems to blur these days as we stay inside to flatten the curve of COVID-19. There has been a lot of talk across social media about writing in this time of crisis. You’ve heard of Love in the Time of Cholera? Who’s writing Love in the Time of Corona? (Ouch.) Many people are saying something along the lines of: "Well, you’re stuck inside, so use this time to be ultra-productive! There is simply no better time to write than [...]

Dispatches from Quarantine, Part 1 by Cate MahoneyCate Mahoney2020-03-30T14:44:03-04:00

Word of the Week: perfidy (ˈpər-fə-dē)

Cate Mahoney2020-02-10T11:52:06-05:00

Word of the Week: perfidy (ˈpər-fə-dē) Definition (Noun) 1: the quality or state of being faithless or disloyal: TREACHERY 2: an act or an instance of disloyalty In Context His descriptions of the perfidy of the British élite have the ring of an insider. Sam Knight, “How Brexit Will End,” The New Yorker, Oct 30, 2019.

Word of the Week: perfidy (ˈpər-fə-dē)Cate Mahoney2020-02-10T11:52:06-05:00

A LOT of Mistakes! by Cate Mahoney

Cate Mahoney2020-03-19T11:57:11-04:00

A LOT of Mistakes! by Cate Mahoney There are times when I’m reading and I cringe. That may be for a huge variety of reasons—like I don’t understand the academic jargon of the article I’m trying to read about Walt Whitman. But in most cases, it’s when people are writing colloquially and they make mistakes that would not be obvious if they were speaking. Here is one of my favorites: “A lot” spelled as “Alot.” Hyperbole and a Half, an awesome blog written and drawn by Allie Brosh, has an excellent way to counteract the instinct to write “alot”: “The Alot is [...]

A LOT of Mistakes! by Cate MahoneyCate Mahoney2020-03-19T11:57:11-04:00

What’s Your Routine? by Cate Mahoney

Cate Mahoney2020-03-19T11:59:41-04:00

What’s Your Routine? by Cate Mahoney Benjamin Franklin's routine A telegram from Dorothy Parker to her editor I’m sure we’ve all been both Benjamin Franklin and Dorothy Parker at different times in our lives. I’m in the last stages of finishing my dissertation, and I feel more like Parker than Franklin, but I’m trying to balance that out. For sympathy, and perhaps inspiration, I’ve recently turned to Mason Currey’s two books on the rituals of great artists: Daily Rituals: How Artists Work (2013) and the sequel, Daily Rituals: Women at Work (2019), which makes up for the curiously [...]

What’s Your Routine? by Cate Mahoney Cate Mahoney2020-03-19T11:59:41-04:00

Book of the Month: Daily Rituals

Cate Mahoney2020-01-09T11:38:59-05:00

Book of the Month: Daily Rituals: How Artists Work edited by Mason Currey (2013) Critical Evaluation The Onion published an essay recently called "Find The Thing You're Most Passionate About, Then Do It On Nights And Weekends For The Rest Of Your Life." The piece was satire, but it's how many of us respond to the question Mason Currey raises in his entertaining new book, Daily Rituals: How Artists Work. "How do you do meaningful creative work," he wonders, "while also earning a living?" A product of the author's now-defunct blog, Daily Routines, Daily Rituals assembles the regimens of 161 assorted [...]

Book of the Month: Daily RitualsCate Mahoney2020-01-09T11:38:59-05:00

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