It’s an axiom of language studies that we define things in relation to what they are not. The axiom translates through all the social sciences and resonates especially in the realm of the political where a Muhammad makes a Constantine possible, or a Bismarck can unify the German nobles in response to a common external threat. Nation states often assert an initial character in response to some undesirable other. There are also corollaries of oppositional dynamics for the desirable other, as in romance: we pursue that which retreats.

In a similar vein, for the first time in a long time I feel like I am going into a weekend that I can distinguish from a workweek. I have either been involved in a six month work marathon trying to get a clue or I have been on a six month long weekend. Either way there has been little to distinguish one type of day from another. Now I have the added bonus of the Monday holiday and a course schedule that has nothing on Friday, so not only do I get my first weekend in six months, I get a long weekend, which is the best kind.

I’ve actually been really busy this week, but tomorrow I get to garden and make soup.