Over at Insidehighered.com...

...there's a great conversation getting started at the Mama PhD blog. I don't have children, but I often wonder how women with children manage it all--and I couldn't imagine doing it as a graduate student or without a partner. I love Susan O'Doherty's closing paragraph, a genuine invitation to keep the conversation going.

Yeah, that's not funny...

So Gawker (a site where I spend perhaps too much time) is running this piece about Kim Delaney's speech at the National Constitution Center. The video is cringe-worthy, but the writer of the Gawker piece seems to take a perverse pleasure in it.

But it's not funny. It's sad. There's nothing funny about watching someone who has struggled with addiction going through what appears to be a relapse. The writer of the Gawker piece ought to take a lesson from Craig Ferguson.

(And yes, I do have a soft spot in my heart for Kim Delaney, who was one-half of the first soap super-couple I ever loved, Greg and Jenny on AMC.)

Two more episodes...

That's all that's left of All My Children. It's kind of surreal. I am also amazed at how quickly I've gotten sucked back in after about a year of not watching. It's gotten so that when I see a commercial for "The Chew" (the stupid show that will take AMC's timeslot), I mutter a curse under my breath.

Anyway, today's episode, which I just finished watching featured the return of Sarah Michelle Gellar. It was lovely and silly and fun. And that's not all: Tad and Dixie, my all-time favorite AMC couple, got engaged (again), and yet another beloved Pine Valley denizen came back from the dead.

There have also been lots of great flashbacks this week and episodes devoted to each of the main families. That's been a nice treat for long-time fans.

There's talk that with the proposed move to the online format, original plans for an ending that tied up all the loose ends has been scrapped in favor of a cliffhanger. Not sure how I feel about that...especially if the rumors of (POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT?) a shooting/bloodbath finale are true.

How about that Megyn Kelly?

Who knew she could be so open-minded? Was someone at her network asleep at the wheel when this aired?

Sad news, sad memories

Yesterday I heard that a former student took her own life. I had only had this student in one class (a general studies class a couple of years ago), but I remembered her as a bright, kind, and lovely young woman. Some of my colleagues in my department had also taught her (one in several classes) and remembered her with equal fondness. I know it sounds trite, but it's just so very sad and senseless when something like this happens. And it brings back all the awful memories of when the only son of one of my very dear friends killed himself. The people left behind never get over it.

You just want to find these kids before they make these awful choices and tell them, "Hold on! It gets better, but you'll never know if you are not here to see it!" (This is why the "It Gets Better Project" does such great work, not just for LGBT teens/young adults, but everyone who is filled with despair.)

Not a great way to start the week...

UPDATE: This helps a bit.

Ten years...

I won't even try to write anything. I'll just link to this video courtesy of StoryCorps.

A man and his duck

This brings back memories of my dear late ducks, Fred and Tad, who were very good at following me around. Pretty cute stuff. And, uh, who knew you could "train ducks for competitions?"

Ugh, school dances...

Has there ever been a better depiction of the false-hope-inducing, drama-filled, angsty, awkward, painful, and often-ultimately-disappointing world of high school dances than the "Life of Brian" episode of My So-Called Life?

I'm watching it right now as I get some work done and it's so good and so true that it almost hurts. Rickie's words to Angela--"I belong nowhere, with no one. That I don't fit."--kill me. Brian telling Delia that he'd rather go to the dance with someone else might be one of the top ten most awkward TV scenes ever. Angela's super-intense encounter ("Why are you like this?") with Jordan is hot but so frustrating (that's teenage romance, isn't it?). The awesome Delia/Rickie dance scene is also perfect--such a moment of joy and release for these two remarkable characters.

On this re-watch, Corey's words to Rickie stood out to me: "It's just weird, you know, when you have a picture of how something's gonna be, and it turns out completely different." That just about sums up my teenage years, too.

Fingers crossed...

I've been a bad blogger lately. Same old excuse...busy, busy, busy.

Anyway, I just sent off the Poe article again (after receiving a revise and resubmit last spring). Feels good to have it out of my hands, but (as always!) hitting that "send" button is just so scary!

SMG back on AMC

What terrific news! I first knew SMG on All My Children, where she was just fabulous as Kendall Hart. Yeah, the other actress has made the role completely her own now, but it's still wonderful that Sarah is coming back to say goodbye to AMC (at least AMC on ABC).

Now if only my other saw-and-loved-him-first-on-soaps-and-now-he's-a-Whedon-icon-love could come back to OLTL. Come on, Nathan!

Three down, one to go...

Holy burst of productivity, Batman! I am DONE with my ENGL 377 syllabus. This wasn't a simple "change the dates" revision, either. Our semester is one week shorter now (yay!), I had a new book to incorporate (free to students--yay!), and a bunch of other readings I wanted to include.

Sweet. I was not expecting to come even close to finishing it today, but sometimes that's how syllabizing goes: you think and agonize over choices and think some more and then, all of the sudden, it all falls into place. I even got the photocopying and website updates done.

Now just one more...ENGL 101.

Obstacle to productivity

Hard to get work done on this Saturday afternoon...

Done!

I just sent off final versions of the essays that will appear in the special issue of Studies in American Humor that I am editing. That feels great.

Other goals/projects I've accomplished this summer:

1) Wrote two conference abstracts (from scratch, thank you), both of which have already been accepted.

2) Sent off one journal article for consideration. (Fingers crossed on that one, but it's kind of a major journal...)

3) Taught summer school. That already seems like forever ago, although it ended less than 3 weeks ago.

4) Worked with Advising/Registration. The last session begins today and ends tomorrow. Unfortunately, the last session is always the most difficult (so few spaces left in classes) and my group this time is the biggest I've ever had. But let's be glass half-full on this one: it's the last session!

Still on the summer to-do list:

1) Finish revising my "Black Cat" essay and send it back out. I've actually done a lot of revision so far, but I need to devote a solid couple of days to it to get it completely done.

2) Get those fall syllabi ready. (One down, three to go.)

3) All of those home-improvement ideas I had in mind...working on the master bath, getting someone to put in crown molding downstairs. I have a feeling this goal won't be met. But that's okay.

4) Get a decent head-start on both of those above-mentioned conference papers. 

Okay--time for some celebratory chair dancing...this will do.

Two awesome things from last week...

Soooo busy this week, but I am taking a micro-break and posting (really briefly) about two of the most awesome things that happened last week:

1) Back from the dead! Saved!

2) 3000! And #3000 was a homer. And he went five-for-freakin'-five. And drove in the game-winning RBI. Awesome.

A bit of a fall TV preview...

Some news on SMG's (that's Sarah Michelle Gellar, for those who aren't Buffy-philes) new show, Ringer. Count me in for the premiere. I hope it's good!