Almost done...

6 May 2025: A couple of days ago, I titled my post "Almost there..." I want to argue that today's post, titled "Almost done..." sounds the same, but it actually means something different in my head. In the first post, I was talking about an idea--almost having it down. I (think I) finally got it--yesterday.

Today "Almost done..." refers to a decent complete draft of the paper. I have a couple of places where I need to write another sentence or two, but I think I can knock them out on Sunday. (Tomorrow is booked from start to finish with other stuff.)

If I can knock those sentences out, that'll be the last item on my weekly "to do" list: a complete draft. (Yes, those lists are back, and that's okay.) 

It does feel a bit weird to be pressuring myself to have a solid, polished draft of this thing done in the next week or so. The conference is in November and I don't know yet if I'll have 15 or 20 minutes. But the one thing I know is that if I can get things done ahead of time--before the semester starts--I'll be happier. 

"Return need not be regression"

13 May 2025: “Power, too, can be adapted—that is, destabilized, disrupted—and again both memory and mutation, theme and variation are at work. Return need not be regression” (Hutcheon 175).

Thinking a lot about Hutcheon's work on adaptation--particularly this idea--as I conceptuatlize my SSAWW paper, about a YA book inspired by Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper." 

Work Cited

Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2013. 

SSAWW 2025!

22 April 2025: (Once again trying to start the day with a positive post!) I realized this morning that I hadn't stopped to really feel good about an email I got yesterday: my abstract for SSAWW 2025 was accepted. I am delighted to get to work on a weird little paper about a YA book inspired by "The Yellow Wallpaper." It should be a fun summer project. And SSAWW is in Philadelphia, one of my favorite conference cities (with a nearby Vogel bonus). 

Breakfast with some of my favs...

22 March 2025: After a really great breakfast at a Turkish restaurant, I left this small contigent of our students (who were headed to the Warhol Museum) and headed home. (The other three headed home with Tim and Kevin a few hours earlier.) It's great to be home, but it was a really lovely few days. Affirming in all the best ways.

Convention, Day 2

21 March 2025: One of those days that flew by but also feels very long. But what a fun one! College students are the best (esp. English majors, duh) and Tim is the best. 

Convention Time!

20 March 2025: Writing this from my hotel room in Pittsburgh after a great first day at the Sigma Tau Delta Convention. Our students are so terrific and spending time with them is such a joy.

New (little) project...

10 January 2025: With the exception of opening convocation, today was a kind of quiet day, which worked out just fine. Did some more preparation for Monday (and beyond), filed/sorted/tossed a lot of papers from last semester, and ran some errands. 

I also got (a bit more) started on a new research project: a proposal for SSAWW in Philadelphia in November. It feels good to jump into a new (small) project. The rhythms of the process--having an idea, searching for sources, tracking them down, getting a sense of the conversation, finding ways into it--are pleasantly familiar and quietly exciting. Nerdy as heck, but I am who I am. 

Conferences, Incidents, and grading...

19 November 2024: The post's title more or less sums up my day on campus. 

Conferences--and I've got 38 scheduled for this week--are going just fine. They are, as always, invigorating and exhausting. 

As for Incidents, we started a two-day discussion of it in Gender and Women's Studies and, as it always does, the conversation went so well.

Grading? Well, there's a lot of it and it keeps coming. But bit by bit, I'll get through it.  

13 conferences...

10 April 2024: Met with thirteen students, more or less back-to-back, each for thirty minute paper conferences. It was, as blocks of conferences always are, exhausting and exhilirating. 

Literacy Leaders Conference

25 March 2023: Spent this morning attending and giving two presentations at the Literacy Leaders conference on campus, sponsored by the School of Education. Most attendees were local K12 teachers--the folks with some of the hardest and most important jobs in the world. It really was a privilege to talk to them about teaching and writing. 

Nashville

4 March 2023: 

[Catch-up post]

Tim and I delivered our presentation on Saturday morning to a small crowd, but we did just fine and it was fun. In the afternoon, he and Kevin (and Tim's friend Janet from college) showed me some of their favorite sites. (Tim went to Belmont.) As with any "Tim Venture," the food was top-notch. A good day--with over 20K steps, which is how you know you did a lot. 

To Nashville...eventually!

3 March 2022: 

[Catch-up post]

Friday was a long day. Tim, Kevin, and I flew down to Nashville, where Tim and I were presenting at the N.O.S.S. conference on Saturday morning. Bad weather led to flight delays, long rental car lines, and just a heck of a trip. Thought we'd be getting to the hotel at 7 or so. Was actually after midnight. But we made it.

 

SSAWW

4 November 2021: Here are your clues: replying to  work emails that piled up during sessions, hotel artwork in the background, and a lanyard that I only just realized I forgot to remove. That's right: in-person conferences are back!

There's that feeling again...

3 November 2021: That feeling my post title refers to? That particular brand of low-level anxiety before a trip, in this case, a trip for a conference. Haven't felt this in two years! (I have done conferences since then, but they've been virtual.) Remarkable how similar the feelings are, including a whole lot of "I wish this were already over even though I know it will be fun" and "Can't wait to pull back into the driveway." 

Sunday on the downslope...

31 October 2021: Spent most of today at the office. Got a decent amount of work done: a ton of grading, senate prep, and practiced/revised my two conference papers. Even attended a Zoom training session for moderating a hybrid panel at SSAWW this week. Look: it's not an ideal way to spend a weekend day, but it wasn't awful and I got home by 5:00 and have been taking it pretty easy since then. Breathing more easily on the downslope of this semester...

Conference paper progress...

19 October 2021: Today I finished a decent draft of my MAPACA paper (still some revising and polishing to do) and started practicing my SSAWW paper. I hadn't touched the latter since July (!), when I finished a really polished draft and set it aside. It feels very good to see both projects nearing their conclusion. 

Juggling...

16 September 2021: Things I worked on today and made actual progress on:

• Finalizing details and procedures for our Provost Zoom interviews
• Meeting with my team for our portion of the Strategic Plan process
• My monthly meeting with the President 
• Grading papers for my ENGL 307 class (at least some of them)
• Writing a new page for my Scarborough Society lecture
• Completing travel request and authorization forms for the SSAWW conference
• Answering about 1000 emails

It was a lot, but I managed to cover a lot of bases and feel like everything moved forward a bit. 

Treated myself tonight with dinner at Kome and the faculty jazz concert (outside--lovely!) after that (with Amy). 

Pages that may disappear...

7 September 2021: Made some good progress today on my MAPACA conference paper. It's interesting: the piece I wrote today is kind of the first act (after the intro) before getting to the heart of the paper. It's pretty solid, but I also realize it's precisely the kind of section that goes from two pages in a draft to one paragraph in a delivered paper--sacrificed to make room for another section. And yes, those pieces often come back when something goes to article length, but that isn't in my plans for now. So these pages are here: solid, done, important, but also impermanent. And that's okay. It's just part of the process.

Some of these vibes...

29 July 2021: 

Channeled a bit of these BabyCat vibes today (after mowing the lawn). Didn't snooze, but took a long bath and then worked from home most of the day. Headed to campus around 3:00 and worked there until Hannah got off work. Then we went to the new ice-cream place in town (very good!) and hung out for a couple hours. 

And that SSAWW paper? I did another round of revision and editing and practiced it. It's good enough to set aside for now. I can't believe it's done before the end of July. My original plan was to write it in August. So I am way ahead and ready to hit the next thing on my crazy summer work list. Whew.

Good summer vibes...

"There's nothing I can do except tell the story..."

15 July 2021: With the book proposal in, I am turning my attention back to my paper about In the Dream House (for this year's SSAWW). Today I came across this really great interview with Machado. It's honest, vulnerable, funny, fascinating, and brave. Love it.