I am a bear.

It's 2020.02.01 on the lunar calendar today.

It's lunar February ... A month has gone by and what do I have to show for it? Not much. I think I tend to go into hibernation mode in the colder months, doing the absolute minimum required of me. That and indolence.

While anthropomorphism of animals has downsides, identifying as a bear helps me get through the winter months. So below is a roundup of a few of my favorite bears for this hibernation edition of the newsletter.

The Bear That Wasn't

My sister got me this reissue of the 1946 book some years ago.

It's about a bear who wakes up after hibernating to find that a factory has been built over his cave. The men convince the bear that he is "a silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat." But he is a bear.

And something else I enjoy reading: tweets from a bear, who is constantly reaffirming his/her/their bear-ness.

Oso en español

I'm learning a bit of Spanish daily on Duolingo to prepare for a trip with  my sisters to Oaxaca and so that I can converse with my students who have newly emigrated from South America. My most oft-repeated phrase is "celular en la mochilla" (phone in backpack). The app has helped me move past saying just "hola" and I enjoy the illustrations.

Crescent Bear

Here's a story I penned to John Coltrane's saxophone solo on the title track from his album "Crescent," while I was in grad school for jazz. A classmate told me he improvises by thinking of his solo as a narrative which made me think I should try the reverse: take a solo and imagine a story behind it. Press Crescent the Chromatic Bear's nose to watch. 

Given that I eat a lot of gummi bears in hibernation season, I had a thought: Does that make me a cannibal? Are kids that eat Sour Patch Kids cannibals? No.