Look who I met!

Ever since Mr. William Hollandsworth turned one, I've been saying that it just wasn't right that I hadn't had a chance to meet him yet. I mean, one of my best friends in the world has a baby and I haven't had a chance to hold him? Well, now I feel much better because Will and his family stayed at the Heidi Hotel last night on their way home from a conference in Philadelphia.

Some pictures from their (all-too-brief) visit:


Will and Burt. Heather explained that this is how Will points--and he loves to point at the camera when it's taking a picture of him.


Another shot of Burt and Will--right after this was snapped, Will lunged at me. I was surprised and touched by how well he took to me. To me, that shows what a nice job Burt and Heather are doing raising him. He's a sweet, easy-going kid. No screaming. No tantrums. He goes with the flow and is a joy to be around.


Since he has cats of his own at his place, Will liked seeing Bing and Wes. For their part, Bing and (especially) Wes were good with the baby. Here's Will petting Bing under the table.


Will watching Bing enjoy his scratching box.


Wesley asking to join the group. For the record, pretty soon after this Bing, who can be quite snarky, decided he had had enough and swatted at Will. He did this more than once. The last time, he actually scratched him a bit (didn't break the skin, but left some marks). Will was very upset by this--his feelings were really hurt. Bing is a stinker.


After a breakfast at Cracker Barrel (Will had Cheerios, Goldfish, and bacon--the breakfast of champions), it was time to say good-bye. Too bad, but I am so glad I finally met the little guy!

Look what my friends did...

William Burton Hollandsworth, arrived June 19, 8.2 pounds, 20.5 inches.

RCs Class of '99 catches the blogging bug

As I mentioned below, my good friends Heather and Burt have a blog for their son, Will, who at this point is playing coy. (His due date was June 14 and they are still waiting for him to show up). But although they are the first, they aren't my only college friends who have recently jumped onto the blogging bandwagon.

Jane, one of my best friends in the world, has just started AzerbaiJane, a blog all about her experience in the Peace Corps. She leaves on the 24th to start her training before flying to Azerbaijan on June 26th. What she writes will definitely be worth checking out--she's an awesome, interesting, and fun person and I sure she'll be able to capture that all in her writing as she does this very important work. By the way, isn't her blog's name awesome? I wonder what amazingly clever and witty person came up with it.

Then there's my good friend, Shannon, who keeps a blog about her cats, especially an epileptic stray she recently took in (you can't make this stuff up!). She hasn't updated it in awhile, but it's a good read, especially if you are a cat fan.

Here we go...

I've been thinking about this blogging thing for a long time now. So why start? Well, here's a simple reason: my friends Heather and Burt started a blog for their baby (due any day now), and in order to post a comment, I had to sign up for my own blog.

But the other reason is entirely self-serving: I think I am at a place of transition in my life. Big changes and all that. And it feels right to document it (for me more than anyone else--believe me, I know I am not all that interesting to others) in order to better understand it all--in order to be a better person. Yes, the writing teacher in me really does believe that good reading and careful writing can make you a better person. So here we go. I want to start kind of small, though, with a bit of "Where I've Been" and "Where I'm Going."

Where I came from:
Rocky Point, NY (birth to age 17, 1977-1995)
Roanoke College (undergrad, 1995-1999)
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (MA and PhD and a lectureship, 1999-2006)
The University of Richmond (a one-year visiting position, 2006-2007)

Where I am going:
Shepherd University (a tenure-track position in the Department of English and Modern Languages)