It's Just a Suggestion

I teach at a community college, and many of my students want to transfer. Some of them even want to be English majors, God bless 'em. Every spring, I teach British Literature, and in that class I have students who end up transferring to all kinds of places--local CSUs, small colleges, Berkeley, UCLA, Dartmouth--all kinds of places.

A couple of months ago, one of my students said that she wanted to transfer to a school somewhere back East that had a good English program as well as a good program in another specific interest area. Well, as I'm sure you realize, that's quite a broad request. At first, I told her that there were lots of strong English programs and that I didn't know about the other. I mean, really, it reminded me of when I worked at a used bookstore, and people would ask me to recommend a book. Where to begin?!

But then I happened to think of a school that I went to for one of my graduate programs. And I realized that I could totally see this student at that school. It's not a top tier school, but it's very good, and, historically, they have had a very strong English program. I did some research and found out that they have a rather extensive program in her other special interest area. So I told her about the school (which she'd probably never heard of) and gave her some links to check out.

The result? Over the past four weeks or so, she has applied, been accepted, and plans to begin in January. As far as I know, she's never even been to that part of the country. She is very excited, and I'm really excited for her, and I think it will be a good fit. But I'm also a little freaked out about how much my suggestion has just changed the course of her life. What if she hates it or if things turn out badly?

The Dreaded Seminal Text

Early in my PhD research, I learned about a major text by a famous scholar. So I ordered a copy, and I tried to read it. It is both long and highly theoretical, and I didn't understand any of it. So I set it aside, and it became the "dreaded" text about which my supervisor and I would joke.

About a year into my research, I tried to read it again. Still, it was like wading through maple syrup. It felt sticky and unpleasant, and I made very slow progress.

This morning, I got up early with the kids and their sleepover guests in order to prep some food and set up a morning movie. Then, they banished me so that they could feel more grown up without me. So I went to the study, figuring I'd do a little leisure reading in between the summonses (it was still only 6:30am and there were four kids in my house, so I didn't expect to be productive). But, instead of picking up a novel, I picked up the "dreaded" text and started flipping through it, eventually settling into the introduction.

Lo and behold, I understood it. Not every sentence mind you, but I understood the author's argument and his central purpose. I was amazed, not in small measure because of the fact that not only was I understanding the text, but I was understanding it even while getting up every six minutes to fulfill a kid request (another scone, more smoothie, better straw, wet paper towel, please).

When I was about halfway through the intro, the movie ended, and the kids got crazy. Right at that point, the reading got harder. I was just about to set it aside, but I decided to flip through it a bit more, check the index, etc. As I did, I came upon a chapter subheading that seemed relevant to my work. Oh, Boy, was it ever! In fact, it's directly relevant to a chapter draft I wrote a little over a year ago--a chapter draft that is in dire need of more scholarly support.

Huzzah! What a discovery. Now, instead of this being the "dreaded" text, it is the text that I'm eager to tackle because of how useful it could be. It will not be easy; it's a dense 450+ page book with about 180 pages of notes. But at least, now, I feel like I've got a shot at it.

A Bit of Work Today

So, today, I was hoping to work on research and writing for at least 5-6 hours. But there is a big swell (in the surf) that is short-lived and is only here TODAY, so my work time has been truncated. Hubby surfed this morning, and if things hold up, will surf again this afternoon. Instead of OBE (Overwhelmed by Events), I am OBGS (Overcome by Good Surf).

But I've sneaked away for a couple of hours of work.

I'm working on a chapter draft, and it's really interesting work, but it's slow going. I'm reading new primary texts and trying to find helpful secondary sources. I'm enjoyed the former but not having much luck with the latter. I guess I'll just keep looking! The upshot is that maybe I'm heading into new-ish territory. The downshot (is that a word?) is that I'm a little lost. I'm not sure how to think about the issues, I'm not sure which questions are most important, and I'm not sure exactly how to approach an argument. But that's all part of the process, right?

Fortunately, Hubby has promised me more work time throughout the weekend. I hope the research and writing won't be OBG (Overtaken by Grading).

Hope you are all having a good day even as we take time to remember the service of our veterans.

Costumes

Just so you know, in case you were curious, here are this year's Halloween costumes:

The Girl went as a vampire. I'm not sure why. She doesn't really know what a vampire is (and when I started to tell her, she got kind of freaked out), but she went as one none-the-less. At the last minute, she amended her description to say that she was a "vampire pop-star."

The Boy deviated from his recent pattern of professional scientist costumes (e.g., last year's geologist costume and the naturalist costume from the year before that), and went with "vampire sea monkey." He made his sea monkey costume himself out of poster board and string, and he was quite disappointed that no one asked what he was. (I think they thought the sea monkey elements were skeletal elements.)

But fun was had by all.

90

It is 90 degrees outside. Let me tell you how amazing that is.

From October 2010 to September 2011, my little coastal town never even made it to 70 degrees. That's 10-11 months under 70. Do I live in Alaska? No. No I don't. But I do live in a Coastal CA town that is frequently subject to an oppressive marine layer (I.e., fog).

Don't get me wrong. I love, love, love my little town (if you call it a town since, technically, I think we are a mere Community Services District), and I would rather have mild (read "cold") summers than oppressively hot ones. But it is nice to feel the sun on one's back every now and again. True, I can drive the few miles to work and be in a totally different, warmer climate, but it's fun to feel warmth in my home, and in my backyard, and it's even better to have a warm day at the BEACH.

So am I at the beach? No. No I am not. My family is. I am going to use this time to work on my dissertation. The good news? I'm going to take my iPad and my books and an iced chai latte, and head up to the fort that Hubby built (read "still building") in the back yard. It's on five-foot stilts; it has bamboo railing and "walls" made from rattan blinds. There is a corrugated plexiglass roof (that is not quite finished), and the whole thing is surrounded by honeysuckle and leaves from our neighbors Magnolia tree. Normally, it's a little chilly for me to hang out there.

But not today. Fort, here I come.

Update (a couple of hours later): The wind direction just turned on shore, and the temp dropped by
at least 10 degrees in 10 minutes.

You Say It's Your Birthday?

It's my birthday, too. Yeah! (And, Unicorn, I know you are thinking of the scene from Sixteen Candles that I am thinking of, right? Right?!) (And CT, how did you remember that it was my b-day?!)

Well, actually, my birthday was yesterday, but still. And it's been a very busy few weeks, and I was feeling all sorry for myself because I had so much work to do and couldn't relax on my birthday.

But then something happened. I let go of the idea of trying to leave work early yesterday, and I stayed and got stuff done. And because I'd been working so hard during the first part of the week to try to be able to leave early yesterday, when I did, in fact, stay, I was actually able to get sort of caught up. And I felt productive--like I was doing things that will help the college and my students. And it felt kind of like a good birthday thing to feel useful in the world. And then, I realized that I'm kind of caught up with grading, too, and then I started to feel truly buoyant!

Suddenly, it the stress and self-pity cleared in a way that I wasn't expecting. I suddenly wasn't so overwhelmed any more or so busy, and I totally was not expecting that. Happy Birthday to me!

Other happy birthday occurrences:

• The bay near my house was full and beautiful.
• My iPod suddenly worked again in my car when it hadn't been.
• My daughter danced at a little Halloween event in front of a grocery store, and she had fun and she looked great in her ghost costume.
• Hubby, the kids, my parents and I gathered at my house for take-out Mexican food.
• Hubby made his truly awesome margaritas.
• My mom gave me a painting that I had admired at a recent art show (painted by one of her friends).
• Hubby tidied the house and made everything look great before I got home.
• Hubby update my cell phone, so now I have a phone that, while not smart, is much cleverer that my previous 4-year old flip phone).
  
• And he got me a really pretty bracelet!
  
• The Boy's Grow-A-Frog tadpole arrived in the mail (which wasn't for me, but which made for a very happy Boy).
• I did not have to do any work last night, and I got to listen to the children do their reading.
• Hubby and I both dozed on the couch during an episode of Bones.

All in all, I'd say it was an excellent day.

18-week Semester: Part the Second

Last week was nuts. I had all kinds of committee reports to write. And then I had to finish up an accelerated class. And then I had to prep for the new class that starts tomorrow. Also? I had to attend a conference on assessment from W-F. Doesn't that sound like fun?

And this all came after several nights (at the beginning of last week) of staying up past 1:00am grading. In fact, I'm wondering if all of that late-night grading is what led to the burst blood vessels in my eye, which made me look kind of scary during the conference. In fact, I still look scary. Or totally stoned. In one eye.

But, with the help of Hubby, I have gotten most of my work done (unless I've totally forgotten about something), the house is in relative good order, the laundry is (mostly) done, and we have food.

I think I'm ready for the next nine weeks.

Oh, and maybe this week I can work on the dissertation!