Hello, Everyone!
Okay, so I lied. I said I’d be back up and running on Friday, and now it’s midnight on Monday. I know, I know… No excuse, really, except that Friday was kinda crazy and then the weekend was just… the weekend. *shrug*
So, here’s the deal: The Fall semester started last week, which means my life is about to get infinitely more insane again. This semester I’m teaching two Freshman composition courses, as usual; and as for my PhD courses, I’m taking: Critical Pedagogy (sometimes also called “Radical Pedagogy” which focuses on radical democracy, feminism, materialism, and the critical examination of power structures, etc), Modern Literary Theory (most post-structuralism and post-structural feminism, with some postmodernism mixed in); and an independent study on Postmodern Speculative Fiction.
I am also still working as the Head of Publicity for UH English academic journal, Plaza: Dialogues in Language and Literature, and the semi-associated Graduate Student Conference, which is sure to keep my extra-busy.
I’m still in a bit of a mess, but the amount of work I’ve already got after just one week of classes is helping to mitigate that. Seriously, I’m kind of like Sherlock Holmes like that: give me work, give me problems. I may not always exactly enjoy all the work, but as long as I have something to keep me moving, I’m usually much better. It’s when everything STOPS that I have real problems.
In other news, I have become completely addicted to Tumblr. It’s definitely NOT healthy. But oh well…
Here’s the plan for the next few blog posts:
1) I had an absolutely ASTOUNDING experience this past Tuesday, which I will be sharing with you all in my next post, which I’ll probably have up by Monday night… Tuesday afternoon at the absolute latest.
2) I finished reading Open Heart last Monday, so I’ll have a review to share on that sometime this week.
3) For my independent study, I am essentially on my own to keep myself reading and on track, with just monthly check-ins with my advisor to discuss my progress and the final paper. So my plan (for the moment) is to blog about each book I read on my reading list as I go, in order to make myself accountable and hopefully keep myself on track a bit more. All the books on the list are science fiction or fantasy that also fits (or may fit) into the category of postmodern fiction. I’ll be sharing the full list with you all, and hopefully, my first book review/discussion, some time early next week.
4) I’m on the fence about how much about my teaching and my other classes I should discuss on here. I mean, talking about my independent study make sense because it still fits the general focus of this blog, but how much do you guys really care about my teaching or classes? REALLY? *shrug* I guess we’ll see how that goes…
5) I cannot guarantee regular updates, folks. I’m sorry. But I’m anticipating a rough semester, and keeping myself chained to a schedule is just not going to be conducive to my sanity. But I’ll try my best to keep in touch at least once a week. *crosses fingers*
6) Unfortunately, requests for Book Reviews are definitely CLOSED for the semester. There is simply no way I could keep up with that right now. Even if I said I’d do it, and thought I would, chances are I would never get around to it. So, might as well just nip that in the bud now.
Okay, I think that’s everything for now. Be looking for another post from me in the next day or two. It’s going to be EPIC. I promise.
Yay, welcome back! ^_^ It sounds like your semester’s going to be crazy as usual. Hang in there though, keep thinking happy thoughts and you’ll get through it.
Hey Lady, I was watching for you! I just posted my Yellowstone trip pictures, and couldn’t wait to chat with you about the park. I’m jealous of all the animals you saw. You got better photos of them than we did. We did see a bear and coyote, but didn’t get pictures. Never saw the pronghorn and I wished we had.
Good luck with your new semester of school. Hope the classes go well and your independent study gives you a good break or rejuvenation in the day!
Sounds like a full semester. I’d love to hear about your teaching experiences and all of that stuff.