Badges...

6 October 2026: If I knew how easy it was to document and process badges (micro-credentials) through NWP, I would have started doing it long ago. It's my own fault and I am kicking myself, but now I am ready to transition to a badge evangelist.

(Issued 24 "Teacher Consultant" badges this morning...)

WISH Reception

23 September 2026: Today was a very long day in the middle of a very long week. 

But the Shepherd Writing Project got to celebrate our WISH grant tonight and it was pretty darn awesome. 

(Might update this post later when I see the pictures they took at the event.)

Add that dinge...

21 September 2026: "They paid to add dinge to this letter!" --a student in my ENGL 101 class, sharing his observations of a charity mailing I gave them to use to practice rhetorical analysis. He was so tickled by the idea of making something look dirty to motivate folks to make a donation. 

(This was a fun activity--one that I got from one of our adjuncts and that I've been meaning to try for ages.)

Estrenar

14 September 2026: Spent a lot of time today conferencing with my ENGL 101 students as they work on their Literacy Narratives. Hard, interesting, and fulfilling work—for me and them (I hope).

My last meeting was with a student whose essay is about how writing got her through a very difficult time: a move to a new town when she was in high school. She writes about having to figure out how she was in this new space. How to move through new spaces. How to figure out a new version of herself.

She is also bilingual and, in her draft, mentioned that, as she wrote during that time—especially as she wrote music, some words felt right in Spanish, some in English, etc. She also mentioned words that have no direct translation to English, but didn’t give any examples in the essay.

“What’s one of them?” I asked her.

She paused. “It’s hard to think of one on the spot…”

Then she said, “Well, there’s estrenar, which mean to use or wear something for the first time…”

I got so excited and really nerded out. “You mean like trying something new? Seeing how it feels? Like…what your essay is kind of about?”

Bless her heart: she got excited, too.

Best job in the world.

Literacy Narrative proposals...

4 September 2026: I spent a big portion of this afternoon reading through my ENGL 101 students' proposals for their literacy narratives. So many good ideas percolating and real depth hiding in some of them. Already, too, evidence of rich and complicated lives.

Lots of work to do--both for them as writers and me as their teacher. But we can do it. 

Writing progress...

1 September 2026: I am pleased to be making good progress on a writing project that isn't fun, but is kind of satisfying--and pays. I got to spend most of today making my way through it at home, a luxury I want to both appreciate and protect. 

This summer's research agenda...

13 July 2026: In the spring, when I was thinking about this summer, I had a modestly ambitious research plan: work on turning my conference paper on Not Quite a Ghost into a full-length article. By the time the summer started, with my mom's health crashing, I knew that wasn't going to happen. My heart and my head just weren't in that writing mode. 

A few weeks ago, I started to think about another summer with not much to show for it. I am kind of used to not having big adventures or fun stories, but I can usually at least say, "I got a lot of work done." And I don't want to keep dumping sad news on folks.

Tonight, though, I am realizing two things: 

1) I've gotten a heck of a lot done this summer already. Wrote a big grant application. Taught the Summer Institute. Worked on Common Reading stuff with Hannah. Got two syllabi ready. And a bunch more little projects. That makes me feel good, even if it doesn't scratch that writing itch in the same way. 

2) I also got professional development work done--just a different kind. And here I am grateful for two new Associate Editor roles that I've taken on: for the McFarland series and for Studies in American Humor. I've reviewed and sent out articles for the journal, learning new skills and to read in a slightly different way. For McFarland, I am once again working through a manuscript that excites me so much--and that I feel I can help make even better. This kind of work--easier to wrap my distracted head around--is meaningful.

Now I find myself tempted to erase everything above. I want to push away those cliched, "Things seemed bad, but here's a bright spot" kind of posts, which I think I write too often. And texts from New York as I write this are so bleak and sad. Who the hell cares about a research agenda? 

Maybe I'll let it stand, though, as an artifact of a moment in this hard, sad, and strange summer.

"in the midst of human stories, God reveals himself"

30 June 2026: Quite moved by Pope Leo's comments here.

"Leo also explained that writing, as a human exercise, ultimately leads to God.

'When we delve into the very depths of our humanity, we are not far from God; for there, in the midst of very human stories, God reveals himself,' Leo said."

That's it, right? That's the beauty and power and the point of it all. 

Not all chair-dancing is grading-related...

7 May 2026: Just hit "submit" on the final set of documents for our Writing and Rhetoric textbook, a real bear of a project that is--for now--done! 

Found myself chair-dancing as I hit that button as this song was playing...

Dead week meetings...

4 May 2026: I spent a big portion of today in meetings with my colleagues talking about teaching and writing. It was interesting, affirming, energizing, and just all-around wonderful. Best job in the world. 

Time to write means it's time to write...

28 April 2026: This afternoon I've been working on a chapter about reflection, critical thinking, and metacognition for our custom ENGL 101/102 textbook. 

I started work on this months ago, collecting excerpts from student writing over the past two years, diving into the scholarship, and even sketching out an outline. 

I started drafting about three weeks ago. Wrote a heck of an opening paragraph. 

And then it just sat there because I just didn't have the time to do any more. This wasn't a task I could knock out in 30 minute bursts. And I had to devote those 30 minute bursts to other tasks.

Today, though, because I have the time and because those "other tasks" are mostly done, it's time to write and I am hacking away at it. 

It's going by quickly and I am delighted by that, though I know there are at least four more drafts between now and "done." But the grading is almost done--even all caught up for now, with the last batch coming in tomorrow--and I can do this. 

It helps that this is a subject near and dear to my heart--and one that matters for our program's goals and assessment. Wading through over 100 portfolios in January made me realize, "Hmmm, we need something about reflection in the book. Guess I have to write it..."

(And yes, this post is a bit of a break from writing that chapter and yes, it's also a bit of metacognitive writing about metacognitive writing...so I better stop before I get carried away. Back to work...) 

This feels pretty good...

27 January 2026: Turns out my book is one of ten to win an ALA 2026 Outstanding Reference Source award. (Five others are also from McFarland.)

I didn't see this coming, so it was a delight to read the news in my inbox. 

It's been a long time since I felt a rush of pure, unexpected happiness. I am so grateful.

Working with Hannah...

23 January 2025: Sitting here this evening and realizing that two of the best parts of today involved worknig with Hannah. 

First, she came to my ENGL 377 class to talk about her role directing the Academic Support Center. Wild to think about how she took this class the first time I taught it. It was awesome to bask in the glow of her awesomeness as she talked about her work and tutoring and writing in general.

Second, later in the afternoon, we hopped on a Teams meeting with our amazing Director of OSP and finalized our submission of an NEA grant we worked on together.

What an absolute joy and blessing to have one of my best friends as a colleague. 

Syllabus pieces...

5 January 2026: For the first time in my career, I am teaching a class on (just) American women writers--ENGL 407, a seminar. Early on, I decided to focus on short stories. But my planning got behind schedule (even in my head, where I do a lot of planning) with my dad's illness and death. When I thought about the class--tried to plan it in my head--all that showed up was stress and anxiety about planning it.

About ten days ago, I sat down, went through my book, and made a big list of every story I might include. Then I took a stack of old business cards (that they gave me when I was on the Foundation board of directors) and wrote a story on the back of each one. Laid them out on my desk and started moving pieces, making piles, messing with categories. 

Here's the photo evidence of that stack--the thing that really got the process going. I think it's a cool artifact, a reminder that syllabus writing is writing. Revising, moving things around, deleting, adding...

The folded pieces are category names--which also shifted and changed. The stack with the green clip are the "bonus" stories--pieces not on the syllabus, but each student will need to pick one to write about and respond to in a short paper.  

Eventually, the process worked--or worked well enough. Schedule is crafted. Syllabus is done. Feels pretty good. 

You don't know until you are there...

14 October 2025: Spent a lot of today revisiting and chopping down my SSAWW paper. I finished a decent draft over the summer, but then set it aside until today. (I had planned for 20 minutes, but I am on a panel of four, so I needed to chop, chop, chop.)

Last weekend, I sent the session chair the information he requested, including an abstract. 

Reading the paper today, I realized that abstract doesn't really fit the paper. It's too broad, too generic. It doesn't say what the paper is actually about. But of course that's because I wrote it before I wrote the essay. 

So, I just emailed him with a new version.

This is a good lesson for my students: you shouldn't waste too much time on introductions or an exact thesis early on. You don't know what you are going to argue until you make the argument. Then you revise, revise, revise.

Feeling pretty good about it, but it is a weird little essay. 

Draft: DONE!

16 September 2025: Finished a draft of my half of the "Year's Work" essay late this afternoon and man, that feels great. Next step is editing and revising, then swapping halves with my co-writer. I think I got myself more worked up about being behind than I needed to, but that's just because chunks of time I ahd assumed I could use for writing got swallowed up in the first few weeks of the semester. 

But our deadline to submit to each other is October 1, so I've got two weeks left on my end--and will probably send it to my co-author pretty soon. 

The deadline for us to submit to the journal is October 15. We've got this and that feels good. 

Need some writing time...

9 September 2025: The last three days for which I set aside blocks of time to work on the Year's Work essay...it didn't happen. Including today.

Other annoying stuff just piles up and demands attention. Stuff takes longer than you think it would. And none of this "stuff" is preparing for classes or grading. 

The writing will get done, but wow...

Progress!

1 September 2025: Finally--over the past two days--I have had the time and the mental space to get some writing done on my portion of the Year's Work essay. It feels so good to be in that groove. Right now, the Twain section is drafted and needs another round of reading-through, revising, and editing. 

Next up is the "literature" section about all the non-Twain stuff. Hoping to knock a lot of that out this week. 

(Always funny to make progress on work on Labor Day, but the freedom from a regular work day makes it possible!

Day Two...

26 August 2025: Co-taught the opening session of GWST 201 today, which went quite well, as it usually does. We get the greatest variety of cool students in that course. The rest of the day flew by too quickly, with administrative and other kinds of work sucking up a lot of time. Silly me thought I'd have time for writing. Oh well--at least we've got a long weekend coming. 

A touch of procrastination...

19 August 2025: I had intended to get some more writing done on my portion of the Year's Work essay today, but ended up telling myself it was okay a) instead focus more on other little work-related tasks and b) once those were done, just not work anymore for the day. I've got, not counting weekends, about one more day of break left, so this little indulgence feels okay. 

The writing will get done--and likely much more easily when the regular rhythm of the semester kicks in.