tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9465132358387150752024-03-18T20:59:41.748-04:00"Out of hopeful green stuff woven...""We used to think...when I was an unsifted girl...that words were weak and cheap. Now I don't know of anything so mighty." -Emily DickinsonHeidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.comBlogger4202125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-56220672756325535762024-03-18T20:58:00.005-04:002024-03-18T20:58:55.394-04:00Two...18 March 2024: After a <i>very </i>up and down day emotionally--and a 13-hour-on-campus-day--I am very glad about two things: my students and that I have two Senate meetings left. Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-38739089696913437132024-03-17T20:47:00.002-04:002024-03-17T20:47:08.729-04:00Spring Break Recap17 March 2024: So that's (just about) a wrap on Spring Break 2024. All in all, not bad! I got a lot done, did a couple of fun social things (the <a href="https://drheidih.blogspot.com/2024/03/oscar-party.html">Oscars party</a>, <a href="https://drheidih.blogspot.com/2024/03/lunch-with-carrie-and-eva.html">lunch with Carrie and Eva</a>, a Friday <a href="https://drheidih.blogspot.com/2024/03/love-lies-bleeding.html">movie</a>), did a couple of small projects at home, and caught up on sleep and relaxation a bit. Oh, and <a href="https://drheidih.blogspot.com/2024/03/hosting-again.html">trivia started up again</a>, too. <div><br /></div><div>I wish I didn't feel anxious and a bit melancholy about going back to normal tomorrow. But this rough year has just made things really hard. Heading back into it all just as the semester <i>really</i> picks up with advising, paper conferences, and everything else feels extra weighty this year. </div><div><br /></div><div>As I type this, I am thinking of ways to push back against the melancholy and anxiety. Spring weather will help, as it always does. So will blocking off days to work from home when I can. And writing progress is great for my morale. So...balance and boundaries, I suppose? </div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-50736556134152911362024-03-16T19:51:00.004-04:002024-03-16T19:51:28.879-04:00Two over break...16 March 2024: Finished my Ida B. Wells-Barnett entry today around 4:30. My goodness--it feels great. Two entries done during this break, with a bit of time to spare. The last part of the semester will be a bear, I know, but getting this much done will make that a bit easier. Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-83572482528792520652024-03-15T19:32:00.001-04:002024-03-15T19:35:46.529-04:00Love Lies Bleeding15 March 2024: What a fun time at the movies! <i>Love Lies Bleeding</i> is compelling, propulsive, strange, hot, bloody, gross, and just a terrific ride. Two killer performances from Kristen Stewart and Katy O'Brian, too. Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-52412031485510263542024-03-14T20:15:00.001-04:002024-03-14T20:15:10.063-04:00Amazing Ida B...14 March 2024: Spent the past few days reading and thinking about Ida B. Wells-Barnett, the subject of my next book entry. Obviously, she's amazing--tenacious, brave, and unwavering in her activism. It's been a kind of privilege to read about her. It's hard to pick just one bit of text to highlight, but this little excerpt from her memoir is pretty amazing, an indication of how she continued her public activism even after marriage and motherhood: “I honestly believe that I am the only woman in the United States who ever traveled throughout the country with a nursing baby to make political speeches” (244).<div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Work Cited</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Wells-Barnett, Ida B. <i>Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells</i>. Edited by Alfreda Duster, U of Chicago P, 1970.</div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-78571003062999909812024-03-13T20:29:00.002-04:002024-03-13T20:29:36.521-04:00Lunch with Carrie and Eva13 March 2024: In a Spring Break filled with (mostly) work (and I am not complaining about that), I am grateful to be racking up some first-class "fun" stuff: the Oscars party with H&C, being back at trivia, and then (today) having lunch with Carrie and Eva (who was in town for the day). So lovely to catch up with her, enjoy an <i>amazing</i> lunch outside at Bistro 112, and remember another way I am very lucky.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht8DapB0UJIitn54isDsM1pst10Y3yPmAoRLRoo9ANx4yJUthvVFgSKai94tpLxaIqsxvhcCxHrmIB7Y7Eomfv-4lQuI_ev7GLRjnE0EaQ65kpuNgcq8kRKzQperPJmMnD-ORPrPlANeW_JBcPXWhgL8W-AlLSLXx0DSObriPZnGbZLlA5tMhiMtE3Ncu-/s640/thumbnail_image5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="481" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht8DapB0UJIitn54isDsM1pst10Y3yPmAoRLRoo9ANx4yJUthvVFgSKai94tpLxaIqsxvhcCxHrmIB7Y7Eomfv-4lQuI_ev7GLRjnE0EaQ65kpuNgcq8kRKzQperPJmMnD-ORPrPlANeW_JBcPXWhgL8W-AlLSLXx0DSObriPZnGbZLlA5tMhiMtE3Ncu-/s320/thumbnail_image5.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-14577015159336848672024-03-12T21:55:00.003-04:002024-03-12T21:55:22.187-04:00Hosting again!12 March 2022: Tonight was the first night of my new, regular trivia hosting gig at the newly reopened Rumsey Tavern. It felt great to be back at it. Even saw a bunch of new faces. The place was <i>packed</i>. I am just excited to have something new and social (and non-work-related) on my weekly calendar. Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-89999257952220133142024-03-11T12:20:00.001-04:002024-03-11T12:20:02.872-04:00"jollitude"11 March 2024:I think I could sit and think about this letter from Harriet Beecher Stowe to George Eliot for the rest of spring break. Stowe is teasing Eliot abotu <i>Middlemarch</i>'s seriousness: "My love, what I miss in this story is just what we would have if youcwould come to our tumble-down, jolly, improper, but joyous country,--namely, 'jollitude.' You write and live on so high a plane! It is all self-abnegation. We want to get you over here, and into this house, where, with closed doors, we sometimes make the rafters ring with fun, and say anything and everything, no matter what, and won't be any properer than we's a mind to be" (qtd. in Silvey 61). Silvey adds that the "house" that Stowe want Eliot to visit is Annie Fields' home in Boston. Just an amazing quotation that makes clear how small the writing world was in the nineteenth century. Moreover, Stowe <i>pretty accurately</i> describes what Eliot does in <i>Middlemarch</i> and it is just very funny to think that she believes some good old American "jollitude" can help a bit. <div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Work Cited</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Silvey, Jane. “It
All Began with <i>Jane Eyre</i>: The Complex Transatlantic Web of Women
Writers.” <i>Gaskell Journal</i>, vol. 19, 2005, pp. 52–68. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /></div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-86810457996886313102024-03-10T23:16:00.001-04:002024-03-10T23:16:08.050-04:00Oscar Party!10 March 2024: Cory and Hannah came over to watch the Oscars and it was such a blast. Just so lucky to have them as friends. Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-61404484859618721872024-03-09T22:55:00.001-05:002024-03-09T22:55:04.175-05:00"It's in the Bag"9 March 2024: Had a <i>great</i> time hanging out with Carrie, Rachael, John, and their kids at Rachael and John's this evening. We played "It's in the Bag," which is sort of like Taboo meets Celebrity. A couple weeks ago, Rachael and I talked about how we needed more hang-out sessions in our lives. This was a wonderful first step. Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-18318144467036531542024-03-08T19:05:00.004-05:002024-03-08T19:05:51.412-05:00Made it!<p>8 March 2024: Got home this evening and greeted the girls with an enthusiastic, "We made it!" Can't remember ever being <i>this read</i>y for spring break. </p>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-65200038784928508322024-03-07T22:02:00.001-05:002024-03-07T22:02:05.607-05:00Ice cream friend date...7 March 2024: Yesterday's <a href="https://drheidih.blogspot.com/2024/03/ai-blues.html">"AI blues"</a> continued well into today. The less said about that, the better. And, unforunately, a whole blues album threatened to overshadow the day. (This is a tortured metaphor.) <div><br /></div><div>Then Hannah and I met up when she got off work, got some ice cream at Rock Hill Creamery, and talked for well over an hour. Just what I needed! </div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-8928453662455268082024-03-06T21:54:00.001-05:002024-03-06T21:54:23.343-05:00AI Blues...6 March 2024: Just emailed two students who used AI to write portions of their essays and told them they are getting zeroes. I am so freaking bummed about it. Almost every time I "catch" students doing this (or regular old plagiarism) it just makes me feel so bad. I hate it, hate it, hate it. <div><br /></div><div>Not how I wanted to this evening to go. This whole week has just been so very hard and exhausting. </div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-55322755535097129122024-03-05T21:54:00.002-05:002024-03-05T21:55:35.844-05:00Upstairs on a Tuesday5 March 2024: Except for a walk to the library to pick up some ILL books, I spent most of today upstairs working in my home office. I mean, I would come downstairs to stretch my legs and get my hourly steps or do a few chores, but more or less, I was up there working from 9-12, then walked to campus, and then back up there from 1-9 (!). <div><br /></div><div>It continues to be a place where I can get a lot done with fewer distractions. Genuinely baffled that I fell out of using it for such a long stretch.</div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-7444725484804548662024-03-04T21:01:00.004-05:002024-03-04T21:12:59.762-05:00Three...4 March 2024: My goodness! Another long and exhausting day, but! but! but! Only three more Senate meetings left. <div><br /></div><div>I did spend too much mental/emotional energy today feeling bad about <a href="https://drheidih.blogspot.com/2024/03/spring-preview.html">yesterday</a> and not getting more done, which is awfully interesting and (I hope) silly. </div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-12811512823399613682024-03-03T19:02:00.003-05:002024-03-03T19:02:51.244-05:00Spring preview...3 March 2024: If today is a taste of what spring will feel like (and what my post-Senate, post-book) days will be like, I am beyond ready for it. I pushed myself to finish everything on my work lists yesterday, so today, I just let myself have a work-free day. (A new weekly book "to do list" starts tomorrow, and two sections of ENGL 102 hand in big papers, so this bit of freedom will be short-lived.)<div><br /></div><div>Still...slept in a bit. Ambled through the grocery store. Read the paper. Started my new book club book. Watched the softball team's home opener (they won). Took a long walk. Opened the windows for a few hours. Took some time to cook a new recipe for dinner. I could get very used to this.</div><div><br /></div><div>Someone else enjoyed this taste of spring, too.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTlSLB3AIWtDFQWjNKfcAEBqUbxMQCmM-inGcw-spVQabQZXSoYk4p0RgnrcPAcB4Z-t8RwNZRSy256_7F6EpcD1uxHgUgw1R__H3v7X27loLwiNf2kzFEus62pwO6T4O6tfP1sUUFa35Y5eJrQQhMUm9apiEXFq1MzZtsSCy-bmBRdB0Qyds3aFiZ92EM/s2368/Veronica,%20early%20spring%20day,%20March%202024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2368" data-original-width="1515" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTlSLB3AIWtDFQWjNKfcAEBqUbxMQCmM-inGcw-spVQabQZXSoYk4p0RgnrcPAcB4Z-t8RwNZRSy256_7F6EpcD1uxHgUgw1R__H3v7X27loLwiNf2kzFEus62pwO6T4O6tfP1sUUFa35Y5eJrQQhMUm9apiEXFq1MzZtsSCy-bmBRdB0Qyds3aFiZ92EM/s320/Veronica,%20early%20spring%20day,%20March%202024.jpg" width="205" /></a></div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-20619379195621412192024-03-02T18:16:00.001-05:002024-03-02T18:16:02.740-05:00So long, #23!<p>2 March 22024: It was bittersweet watching my student/advisee, Cara, play her last game as a Shepherd Ram today. It was quite a privilege to see her grow and endure in her time here. And it makes me smile to think of her out there, teaching English. </p>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-17744108684896469902024-03-01T22:00:00.002-05:002024-03-01T22:00:15.869-05:00Friday check-in...<p>1 March 2024: Another long but good day. Got to campus at around 7:30. Left a bit over twelve hours later. But I got a lot done and am feeling kind of good about a relatively easier weekend than the past few have been. </p><p>And one week until Spring Break!</p>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-41910323081845554082024-02-29T22:00:00.001-05:002024-02-29T22:00:12.038-05:00Three in February!29 February 2024: Exceedingly grateful for the extra day thanks to Leap Year that made it possible for me to complete three book entries in February. (Just six more to go!)<div><br /></div><div>Stayed home today and, with the exception of my walk and a brief lunch break (that ended up being an email non-break), worked from 9:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. But man, did I get a lot done. Finished my Phelps entry, got documents ready for Monday's Senate meeting, finished my annual report and merit pay application, and graded a bunch of ENGL 102 work. </div><div><br />Feels good! </div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-75317086835751111962024-02-28T20:41:00.003-05:002024-02-28T20:41:48.260-05:00Fighting with staplers and jars...<p>28 February 2024: If you want a sense of how frazzled and overwhelmed I am this week, here are two anecdotes from the last twenty-four hours:</p><p>1) Last night, around 8:30, trying to (finally) make dinner, and unable to open the jar of tomato sauce (curse these tiny hands), I shouted, "Why are you so <i>weak?</i>" to myself, on the verge of tears. (I did get it open eventually--and laughed at myself.)</p><p>2) Today, around 5:30, in the midst of yet another 12 hour day on campus, my trusty little stapler was jammed. I felt so <i>betrayed</i> by it--"now? you are breaking <i>now?</i>"--that, once it was fixed, I again, laughed at myself. But if I hadn't been able to fix it? I shudder to think of my over-reaction. </p><p>But I'm home now and my brain says "nope, no more work" and that's okay. Already feeling optimistic about checking a bunch of stuff off the list tomorrow. </p>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-86316172577024384042024-02-27T21:23:00.003-05:002024-02-27T21:23:39.704-05:00Checking in with SGA...<p>27 February 2024: Sat in on part of an Student Government Association meeting today and I am so pleased to report that the kids remain alright. They so often bring a unblinking moral clarity to what they do and give me so much hope. </p>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-70131402299775236862024-02-26T20:47:00.004-05:002024-02-26T20:47:47.002-05:00The babies are out!<p> 26 February 2024: A spring-like day meant that the babies were out in town and around campus. After a stressful college meeting in the midst of a very long day, I saw a colleague loading her brand-new daughter into her car. It made me so happy to meet that little girl. </p><p>Then, as I made my way towards Knutti, I ran into a just-walking baby in the garden out back. (He was accompanied--no worries.) He toddled towards me, smiled, and plopped down on the path. I stopped and chatted with him. He offered me his curled up fingers and dropped two sticks (pictured below) in my palm. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAbmyIo1IjDRlQ6SAgAlm8nu7WPFHtHD3Vne5q0mTmPu23qt9VHakIvxz-q-NRRrfHSlKcUuvziITuqfB9PJh8jnSznjR5yaTHah_2bqYvwJ5ut51y-X8QgwSH72OAQHhLr3lT48Q7L2S9k7xbvgBMqNxwpPautXyIZqTThTdkLaWMyaWHfB_g0axLa_l3/s2312/sticks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2312" data-original-width="1734" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAbmyIo1IjDRlQ6SAgAlm8nu7WPFHtHD3Vne5q0mTmPu23qt9VHakIvxz-q-NRRrfHSlKcUuvziITuqfB9PJh8jnSznjR5yaTHah_2bqYvwJ5ut51y-X8QgwSH72OAQHhLr3lT48Q7L2S9k7xbvgBMqNxwpPautXyIZqTThTdkLaWMyaWHfB_g0axLa_l3/s320/sticks.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>I say it here pretty often and think it even more: so often the Lord gives you just what you need.</p>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-68042457553242126182024-02-25T21:23:00.002-05:002024-02-25T21:23:28.807-05:00"...life is always undoing for us..."25 February 2024: Thinking this evening about this passage from <i>The Gates Ajar</i>, spoken by Dr. Bland right before he throws his sermon on his old view of heaven into the fireplace: "It seems to me that life is always undoing for us something that we have just laboriously done” (Phelps 127). It's a small moment in the novel, but seems to me to be profound view about how life helps/forces us to change our beliefs and ideas--and it can be a blessing. <div><br /></div><div>Also, at 9:19 p.m. on the Sunday of an almost entirely work-filled* weekend, I have just finished my last (I hope?) set of notes for my Phelps entry--and the last item on my weekly "book goals" list. This week: composing, revising, etc.</div><div><br /></div><div>*One non-work thing: helping Chuck and Bill run the Flagship Trivia tournament today--back at the Clarion for the first time since the pandemic. The other non-work thing: a really lovely Zoom book club meeting earlier this evening. </div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;">Work Cited</div><div><br /></div><div>Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart. <i>The Gates Ajar</i>. 1868. Edited by Elizabeth Duquette and Claudia Stokes, Penguin, 2019.</div></div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-24584846920247401412024-02-24T09:43:00.002-05:002024-02-24T09:43:25.403-05:00Midterm grades: DONE!<p>24 February 2024: Well, no chair-dancing today as I hit submit on my last set of midterm grades. I am in a classroom on campus for this conference and the vibes ain't right for dancing. But I did just hit that button. Chair-dancing in my head! </p>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-946513235838715075.post-32111715072478037642024-02-23T21:28:00.003-05:002024-02-23T21:28:51.958-05:00Quiet gratification...23 February 2024: Not the kindest thing I've ever posted, but my goodness: it can be gratifying when someone drives you crazy and you wonder if you are making something out of nothing and then another person completely validates you. And you just quietly and contentedly soak it in. <div><br /></div><div>In other (related) news, I am <i>bone </i>tired right now. And tomorrow--though a Saturday--is another work day. </div>Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01998612837637048594noreply@blogger.com0