{"id":2245,"date":"2013-02-03T17:45:36","date_gmt":"2013-02-03T22:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/?p=2245"},"modified":"2013-02-03T17:45:36","modified_gmt":"2013-02-03T22:45:36","slug":"president-biographies-project-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/2013\/02\/president-biographies-project-done\/","title":{"rendered":"President Biographies Project = Done."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"IMG_3374\"<\/a>
This list has been on the fridge for quite some time. It was written before I could proficiently write the presidents in order, making no mistakes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Well, it’s done.<\/p>\n

I have read (at least) a biography of each United States president.<\/p>\n

I feel just how I felt after I crossed the finish line of the marathon I completed. Well, not exactly, reading doesn’t make you so sore you have to wonder how you’re going to step over a curb. What I mean by this is that I’ve been working toward this end for a while and now it’s here. That, and I almost can’t believe it.<\/p>\n

This project took much longer than I thought it would. My original goal was to read about each president in a year’s time. I read a fair amount, and less than a biography a week didn’t seem like too big of a challenge. There was so much that I didn’t factor in, though. One of the early problems that I had was that I went in reading voraciously about all of the ones who originally intrigued me. Then, when I took a look at my list, I saw that I was making a problem for myself leaving a large swath of relatively unknowns to conquer.<\/p>\n

I am left wondering what I will do next, what will take the place of this project in my life. I’m not done reading about the presidents. I still find them fascinating. Also, there are a number of biographies that I didn’t read in order to complete this project, but wanted to read for my own enjoyment.<\/p>\n

This project started accidentally. I was regularly attending a writing group and had workshopped in a short period of time a poem about the second President Bush and one about President Nixon. Someone in the group asked me whether I was planning to write a poem about each one. I answered that I didn’t know enough about them to write poems about each of them. The thought that followed this in my mind was, “but I could…” That was the germ of this project.<\/p>\n

I have been writing poems about the presidents<\/a> here and there, and plan to pick this back up, which I suppose could be seen as the second chapter of the project.<\/p>\n

Being done with the first part is a bit bittersweet. Over the last few years, I have come to feel very attached to the project. I have felt attached to the presidents themselves in a way. My ears are sensitive to any discussion of them. This project has enhanced my enjoyment of other things that I read, having painted a good background for much of what has happened in the US for the last 200+ years. I am grateful that I decided to take this on, but sad that it is over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, it’s done. I have read (at least) a biography of each United States president. I feel just how I felt after I crossed the finish line of the marathon I completed. Well, not exactly, reading doesn’t make you so sore you have to wonder how you’re going to step over a curb. What I… Continue reading President Biographies Project = Done.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p33KTw-Ad","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1278,"url":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/2011\/12\/goal-12\/","url_meta":{"origin":2245,"position":0},"title":"Goal 12","author":"admin","date":"December 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"So, as most people who know me know, I have been working on a project to read a biography of each US President. The original goal was to do it within the year when I set the goal. I got off to a respectable start, but then I stalled out.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "projects"","block_context":{"text":"projects","link":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/category\/projects\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/presidential-seal.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":632,"url":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/2010\/04\/president-monroe\/","url_meta":{"origin":2245,"position":1},"title":"President Monroe","author":"admin","date":"April 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't know what it was about this biography, The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness, but every time I picked it up, something about it made me think, \"Oh, James Monroe is so cute.\" And then I followed it up with a sigh. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"31 goals\"","block_context":{"text":"31 goals","link":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/tag\/31-goals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/1344197_200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3191,"url":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/2014\/01\/the-supreme\/","url_meta":{"origin":2245,"position":2},"title":"The Supreme","author":"admin","date":"January 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"William Howard Taft was one of the first presidential biographies that I read when I decided a few years ago to embark upon a project to read a biography of each United States President. There are several things that stood out to me about him then. One of them is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "baking"","block_context":{"text":"baking","link":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/category\/baking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"taft1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/headofstatecakes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/taft1.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/headofstatecakes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/taft1.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/headofstatecakes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/taft1.gif?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":351,"url":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/2010\/02\/presidential-reading-aka-goal-26\/","url_meta":{"origin":2245,"position":3},"title":"Presidential Reading aka Goal 26","author":"admin","date":"February 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"So, one of the birthday goals is to read a biography of each US President. This goal came from writing a poem or two starring a few of our Presidents. Then someone asked me if I was going to write a poem about each US President. I thought that it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"books\"","block_context":{"text":"books","link":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/tag\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/uspresidents-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":551,"url":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/2010\/03\/i-shouldnt-have-found-this\/","url_meta":{"origin":2245,"position":4},"title":"I shouldn’t have found this","author":"admin","date":"March 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The problem \u00a0with biography is that biographers either love or hate their subjects. I like to read biographical love letters, yes, just short \u00a0of hagiography. In the President Project, this is dangerous for me. You see, these men just come off as sexy and they ruin my dreams and inhabit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"history\"","block_context":{"text":"history","link":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/tag\/history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3146,"url":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/2013\/12\/2013-in-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":2245,"position":5},"title":"2013 in review","author":"admin","date":"December 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"2013 was so much better than 2012.\u00a0 So. Much. Better.\u00a0 Back in February, I finished my goal to read a biography of each US president. \u00a0I was thrilled! But then I wondered how I would get my president fix. So, I started baking cupcakes in their honor. \u00a0This year I\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/IMG_5593.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2245"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2250,"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245\/revisions\/2250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}