Sometimes, when the state of the world is starting to get to me, it really helps to have something simple to work on.

no, I don't mean knitting.

Last night, I cleaned house. Oddly, when I'm feeling restless and sad, it makes me feel better. I think it's because cleaning house is what I call a "binary" activity: for any given situation, there are only two choices. Is the object in the place where it belongs or does it need to be put away? Have I swept this floor yet or does it still need sweeping? Is the dishwasher full enough to run or do I wait for the dinner dishes?

Somehow, having the world close down to a limited set of choices helps. I remember after Sept. 11, I had just bought my house, and I spent many hours of that worrysome fall sitting on the floor, scraping the miles of trim in the house, readying it for painting. I had my little radio next to me, tuned to baseball games (I'm not that fond of baseball, but there is just something comforting about the cadence of the baseball radio announcers' voices), and I could forget about all the craziness in the world and just concentrate on scraping.

Teaching is the same way. I had an upsetting conversation on the way to class this morning, and was in a bleak mood when class started, but as I worked through the material, my mood lifted.

I guess the watchword is: keep busy. and tell someone you care about them.