The annual Christmas letter, 2006
Christmastime, 2006
Dear Friends and Family:
From David, Sr.:
The year 2006 marked my first full year of retirement, and I found myself busier than I have ever been. How can that be? Part of the reason is I spend more time with my wife and children, which is a delight. [sentence in italics added by my wife] The busyness could also be viewed as merely the chance confluence of many projects fortuitously ending this year but begun years earlier. Or it could be viewed as a desperate effort on my part to slow the long slide into the abyss, retirement seeming to mark the beginning of that journey. On whichever level, 2006 has seen the termination of many projects and the beginnings of others.
In May 2006, my biography of my great-great grandfather, Antonio de Mattos, and his religious refugees in ante-bellum Illinois from Madeira, Portugal, finally came out. I have been working on this book, in research and writing, for seven years, too long really, and I now think those filial duties have been satisfied.
In October, Los Californianos issued a second edition of my first book, Law and Community on the Mexican California Frontier. This has been out of print for many years, and I'm excited that it will be available again.
Commissioned book reviews ranged from books on the white slavery hysteria to Mexican Los Angeles. Cardozo Law School asked me to contribute a paper on the religious sensibilities of Bill Kunstler and Arthur Kinoy for its New York City conference on "Jews and the Legal Profession."
The Langum Charitable Trust and Northwestern University settled the latter's will contest. Now the generous bequest of good friend Adele R. Malott can be used to fund a new prize on books (or other media) depicting community activism. It is briefly described on the news page of our website, www.langumtrust.org, and we hope to have a fuller description up shortly. Meanwhile, I have dozens of books to read for the current cycle of book prizes in legal history and historical fiction.
Of course, I have continued to sort out, arrange, and transport to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, Illinois, the personal and professional papers of my mother and father, grandfathers, and myself. We are up to more than 60 archival boxes, with no definite end yet in sight.
From Fran:
Compared to David, I have been relatively less busy? Or less accomplished? Three children. That is what I have to say.
The blog is going well. Blue Gal recently received the Weblog Award for best blog in its audience-size category. More importantly, it is a daily opportunity to write and publish. I love my readers and the community we've put together. I continue to knit when I can, and I’ve even read a few books this year. Highly recommended: Wallace Stegner’s Crossing to Safety (1987). David Sr. read it this year and handed it to me. A wonderful read.
The kids are doing fine.
David Jr. is in second grade and is a voracious reader.
Audrey is in 4K and loves writing the letters of the alphabet and playing dress-up.
Anna is perhaps the most accomplished Langum this year: she is going to school in big girl underpants. I no longer have children in diapers. The time and money saved will be absorbed into the vortex.
I hope you are all well and happy. May your holidays, whether they be Christmas or something else, be full of meaning and gladness.
Much love,
Fran
(Many thanks to Daniel Bugel-Shunra for the terrific photographs of me and the family.)
Dear Friends and Family:
From David, Sr.:
The year 2006 marked my first full year of retirement, and I found myself busier than I have ever been. How can that be? Part of the reason is I spend more time with my wife and children, which is a delight. [sentence in italics added by my wife] The busyness could also be viewed as merely the chance confluence of many projects fortuitously ending this year but begun years earlier. Or it could be viewed as a desperate effort on my part to slow the long slide into the abyss, retirement seeming to mark the beginning of that journey. On whichever level, 2006 has seen the termination of many projects and the beginnings of others.
In May 2006, my biography of my great-great grandfather, Antonio de Mattos, and his religious refugees in ante-bellum Illinois from Madeira, Portugal, finally came out. I have been working on this book, in research and writing, for seven years, too long really, and I now think those filial duties have been satisfied.
In October, Los Californianos issued a second edition of my first book, Law and Community on the Mexican California Frontier. This has been out of print for many years, and I'm excited that it will be available again.
Commissioned book reviews ranged from books on the white slavery hysteria to Mexican Los Angeles. Cardozo Law School asked me to contribute a paper on the religious sensibilities of Bill Kunstler and Arthur Kinoy for its New York City conference on "Jews and the Legal Profession."
The Langum Charitable Trust and Northwestern University settled the latter's will contest. Now the generous bequest of good friend Adele R. Malott can be used to fund a new prize on books (or other media) depicting community activism. It is briefly described on the news page of our website, www.langumtrust.org, and we hope to have a fuller description up shortly. Meanwhile, I have dozens of books to read for the current cycle of book prizes in legal history and historical fiction.
Of course, I have continued to sort out, arrange, and transport to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, Illinois, the personal and professional papers of my mother and father, grandfathers, and myself. We are up to more than 60 archival boxes, with no definite end yet in sight.
From Fran:
Compared to David, I have been relatively less busy? Or less accomplished? Three children. That is what I have to say.
The blog is going well. Blue Gal recently received the Weblog Award for best blog in its audience-size category. More importantly, it is a daily opportunity to write and publish. I love my readers and the community we've put together. I continue to knit when I can, and I’ve even read a few books this year. Highly recommended: Wallace Stegner’s Crossing to Safety (1987). David Sr. read it this year and handed it to me. A wonderful read.
The kids are doing fine.
David Jr. is in second grade and is a voracious reader.
Audrey is in 4K and loves writing the letters of the alphabet and playing dress-up.
Anna is perhaps the most accomplished Langum this year: she is going to school in big girl underpants. I no longer have children in diapers. The time and money saved will be absorbed into the vortex.
I hope you are all well and happy. May your holidays, whether they be Christmas or something else, be full of meaning and gladness.
Much love,
Fran
(Many thanks to Daniel Bugel-Shunra for the terrific photographs of me and the family.)
posted by Fran / Blue Gal at
8:15 AM
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