SSAWW 2025

7 November 2025: Back at my favorite conference! Already had several quiet "fangirl" moments. I attended a session about how author societies can collaborate and speak to our current moment(s). What a perfect encapsulation of the kind of meaningful work these scholars do. 

A good win...

6 November 2025: Today at the BoG meeting, we voted (well, not me, since I am not a voting member) to approve a mechanism to reinvest in faculty and staff salaries. The road to this point has been really long and hard and painful. But this? It feels great. 

"Don't Hesitate"

5 November 2025: I saw this Mary Oliver poem being passed around on Bluesky this morning. Still holding onto the joy of last night's election results.

Zohran!

4 November 2025: A heck of an election night in America! (And not just the NYC mayor race.) 

It feels so good to feel good about things for a change. 

Thinking about my brother...

3 November 2025: Thinking this evening about Christian, who is dealing with a medical challenge. 

My siblings are all so strong--have dealt with so much. And they model just how to meet these challenges. 

I am worried about him--and will be until he's on the other side of an upcoming procedure. 

But mostly I am thinking about how much I love him and what a good guy he is. 

"Returning to Myself"

2 November 2025: As the darker fall days settle in and I work through some Big Thoughts, I find myself contemplating Brandi Carlile's new music, particularly the title track to the album.

"And I was born to love you

I love you and you and you

Oh, returning to myself is such a lonely thing to do

Returning to myself is just returning me to you

And that's the only thing I wanna do"

That "you and you and you" in the second line above gets me every time--that sense of overwhelming love for so many people hits me sometimes. 

And then the "lonely" in the next line hits hard. Because it's just the way it is and nothing hurts quite the way that loneliness does. 

And the two lines...rest in beautiful tension.

BabyBud time!

1 November 2025: I had the pleasure of hanging out with Theo today when his mom worked the Open House on campus. He and Jo got along quite well. And having him fall asleep in my arms? That's the good stuff.

The marathon continues...

31 October 2025: So tired I can barely see straight, but I'm home, can catch up on sleep, and am proud of all that got done this week. No way to list it all without being tedious, so I'll just add a picture of a sight that made me burst out laughing when I saw it.

Someone is feeling a bit neglected, I think. In the 90 minutes I was home late this afternoon, she was ready to go to the Sigma Tau Delta Halloween Party disguised as party meatballs. 

A little WFH time...

30 October 2025: I didn't have to be on campus this morning--a lovely treat! So I slept in a bit, took a long walk, and got a ton of work done here at home. It has been the perfect way to start the day; in a little while, I will head to campus to meet my GWST co-teachers and our students to hop on a bus to DC to see a play. It will be a long, late night, so I am quite grateful for the slower, casual morning. 

Post-workshop dinner...

29 October 2025: Another very long day (and just wait until tomorrow!) but a good one. The public part of it ended with a post-workshop dinner with Tim, Michael (new assistant prof), and Ali (new adjunct) at Alma Bea. I can feel the weariness acccumulating in my bones, but it was still really lovely to linger over dinner with fun and interesting people. 

Grading Hawthorne essays...

28 October 2025: I have spent a lot of today grading papers about The Scarlet Letter. This is, to be clear, a very fun way to spend your day--if your students are as good as mine. 

They are wrestling with tough topics, ambiguous symbols, and everything that makes the book so good. They are also having fun with language. (More than a few of them are relishing using "ignominy," after they commented on how much Hawthorne loves that word.) 

And then there's just this phrase from one student's paper, which I noted should be the title of someone's memoir: "extreme expressions of mundane desires." 

Eliot and Stowe...

27 October 2025: We started "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" today in ENGL 204 and Uncle Tom's Cabin today in ENGL 346. I had a blast talking about both of them. (Teaching is so much fun.)  

And I am grateful for a job that now has me imagining these two very different writers at a dinner party. 

Sunday vibes...

26 October 2025: Quiet Sunday here--and I am grateful for that. After a chill morning and a nice long walk, I am spending it getting some work projects done, but at a relaxed pace. Already worked on a draft of our program recruitment and retention plan. Now moving on to planning both ENGL 101 assessment and an ENGL 102 workshop. 

Still in the midst of this marathon, but like I said, I am grateful for the chance to stay on top of everything without sprinting. 

Spooky Stories...

25 October 2025: This morning, our NWP Site held a "Spooky Stories" event for kids on the Little House lawn. It went so well. Dozens of kids making their own little books, drawing and writing, and just having fun. It was so good for my soul. 

All-Day Friday...

24 October 2025: Long day! Tim and I took our classes (215 and 204, respectively) to Baltimore to visit the Poe House and other sites. Made it back by around 4:30 and then had the SUAC Homecoming Party this evening. My sleep has been so weird lately, so I am dragging. 

But it was a good day and I am grateful.