Happy first week of school!

One week down, and a lovely week it's been.  It certainly helps that general exams are behind me, I'm not enrolled in any courses, and I'm teaching Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies, a class which I loved the first time I taught it.  This semester--at least the first week--promises to be just as enjoyable.

This semester I've had the course certified as Communication-Intensive, with verbal and written modules.  I didn't really have to change much from the first time I taught it--I already comment on student drafts, and they do plenty of writing in class, and they have group presentations.  To fulfill the requirements, I've added individual presentations, and a "drafting" process to the group presentations, which will require students to film their presentations ahead of time, and submit them to me for feedback before their final presentation.  This is the first time I've had students record themselves--it'll be good for them (as well as me!) to become more comfortable with such technology.  I'm looking forward to seeing how feedback affects final presentations.  It certainly has an effect on written communication.

And class so far!  Though the roster continues to be in flux (there are three people who have yet to show, though we've had three class meetings, and I've got at least one still on the waitlist), both Wednesday and today I've had some great participation.  Discussions are so interesting in WGS courses--and though I feel a bit guilty saying so (because I really am committed to the importance of teaching composition (so much so that I try to incorporate a lot of it into my other courses)), it was such a breath of fresh air to be in this class last week, after so many comp courses.  A big part of it must be the self-selection of the students--even though many of them take it because they need the humanities credit, there are other courses they could have chosen.  And unlike the previous sections I've taught, this semester I have quite a few young men (before, I had two per class, tops), and they've been contributing to class discussion quite a bit.

We started this week with a short unit on privilege, as a way of emphasizing the idea of intersectional analysis that I try to emphasize throughout the class.  We start by reading Peggy McIntosh's class Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack and John Scalzi's Things I Don't Have to Think About Today.  I really love using Scalzi's work in the classroom--I've used his Being Poor before, too, quite successfully.  I really like both of them, as they really emphasize the invisibility of privilege, and how--contrary to what the word "privilege" makes it sound like--it refers to unearned privileges.  On Wednesday, I started class with some basic vocabulary, including words like "ideology" and "institutions."  After some discussion about the Scalzi piece, I asked what this idea of privilege had to do with the vocab I'd given them earlier--and I got some really astute answers!  Yay, students!

Today, class started with the first individual presentation, which was on the McIntosh piece.  Again, pride in students.  Good presentation, good student responses, interesting ideas.  It occurred to me that that is so often what's missing in my comp classes: interesting ideas.  I think there must be ways to make the subject of conversation in composition more interesting, but I just haven't found that many yet.  It occurred to me today that I could probably kick off comp classes with this unit, with a focus on privilege, and how different modes of writing are related to reinforcement of privilege.

So, next week: historical background!  When I first was planning this class, it was so had not to just make the whole class about first wave feminism.  There are so many fascinating women to learn about!  I'm surprised that there hasn't been a film about Victoria Woodhull alone--she's fascinating.

And now, a three day weekend for a reward.

My first MLA

After three weeks traveling (and one week in bed spent coughing, sneezing, and recovering from said travel), today I felt well enough to venture out into the world and keep my hair appointment. (Sure, sitting in a chair for two hours isn't that challenging, but three days ago, my coughing and sneezing wouldn't have allowed it.)

And, I'm feeling well enough to reflect upon leg of my travels: my first MLA conference.  It came at the end of pretty much three weeks of holiday travel: one week at my mother's in northern Georgia; home for Christmas eve; back on the road Christmas afternoon (because it's cheaper to fly out Christmas than to wait a day) to Cincinnati and Dayton to see my brother and his family and my friends and the many children who call me Aunt Monica; then on the road (literally) from Cincinnati to Boston with a dear friend (even dearer as he did the driving), stopping the night in Erie, Pennsylvania, to the MLA conference.

By that point, I was sniffly.  The combination of kid germs and cold weather is debilitating.  I wouldn't trade any of it, however--getting to sled with my nephews was totally worth it.  And though the temperature was 15 (Fahrenheit!) when we got to Boston, I admit to really savoring all of the cold weather I experienced on this trip.  Probably because 76 degrees on Christmas Day (what I left) does not feel right to me--I like wearing coats and jackets!

Not that there was much reason to go outside at MLA--the conference hotel was attached to a mall, which attached to many of the other hotels.  I really only went outside once, on a much-too-long walk to get Indian food (not my favorite), which my friend Katie and I cut short by deciding to ditch the rest of the group for a lovely-looking French restaurant which appeared as the others were swearing it was just a few more blocks.  It was a brilliant decision--we splurged on a lovely three-course meal with pate' and wine and fabulous dessert.  And conversation which didn't involve either of us having to explain our projects. 

Actually, one of the highlights of MLA for me was getting to see so many people I like in one place.  It's one of many reasons I'm glad I chose to go to MLA before being on the market: I got to actually enjoy the conference--attend panels, even!--without the stress (or disappointment) of being on the market.  I did have legitimate reasons for being there--the Women's Caucus for the Modern Languages had their business meeting and cash bar, and I had the opportunity to take part on a search committee for my university (that experience in itself was invaluable!).  In general, though, I'm glad I got a chance to see it first-hand--while I don't have any true MLA horror stories--thank goodness--I did see one audience member interrupt a panel to tell them that they needed to keep it snappy, because they were running short on time, and I certainly saw more "this is less a question than it is three comments"-type Q&A remarks than at many other conferences.

And, I rescued a lost black beret which I found on the floor.

CFP: A New Sense of Place: Travel and Alterity in Southern Literature

CFP: A New Sense of Place: Travel and Alterity in Southern Literature

In her 2011 Southscapes: Geographies of Race, Region, and Literature, scholar Thadious Davis revivifies the idea of place in southern literature.  It is such reconsiderations of southern places as dynamic spaces that this panel will explore.  The 2013 Mardi Gras Conference theme is “In Momentum: Literature, Travel, and Alterity.” (See http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/47987 for the conference-wide CFP.) This timely theme asks for a discussion of notions of place and space, for considerations of how travel and movement, boundedness and freedom, can be considered in terms of literature, art, science, thought. Under that larger umbrella of movement and travel, this panel will explore the broad themes of travel, the related discourses of globalization, migration, space, and place, and connected issues regarding alterity in the literature of the American South.  Suggested topics include (but are certainly not limited to) the traumatic histories of travel in the South, including African slavery and Native American removal; migrant work; southern expatriate writing; the post-Katrina New Orleans diaspora; the Appalachian diaspora; and the effect of tourism on southern identity.  Submit abstract for a 15-20 minute paper to mmil132@lsu.edu by Saturday, December 1, 2012.

On Productivity and Inspiration

It's 2:45pm and I'm still wearing my pajamas and dressing gown.  I slept until 11 this morning, and have been working on and off since then; I'll continue until about 3:45, when I'll leave for the library and jazzercise.  It's a very nice break, after a couple of weeks of being full-press on, with a gazillion meetings and a weekend-long exhausting (although quite enjoyable and productive) conference. 

I've read a couple of things recently on productivity and the pressure to be productive.  I definitely take Planned Obsolescence's point that busy-ness and stress are points of pride among many, as well as No Matter. Fail Better's and The Thesis Whisperer's discussions of the usefulness of the #acwrimo month  Like them, I've been less interested in the competitive word count aspect of #acwrimo than in the commitment to writing--as well as the feeling of community that comes with such campaigns.  Such commitment and community are what I most enjoyed from being part of the 14 Day Writing Challenge earlier this month; I'm hoping to continue this with the new writing group I've joined.  Our first meeting was yesterday, and I have high hopes.

What I've gained most from these visible academic writing campaigns was the beginnings of the discipline of daily writing--I've started getting up at 9 during the week and spending the first two hours of the day working.  And although part of this work is answering emails and scheduling things and other non-writing work, the quiet of the morning has also got me writing every day.  While I realize that 9 is not early morning for most people, given that I don't teach until 2:30 in the afternoon this semester, it's grown quite easy for me to adapt to later and later days, not going to sleep until 2 or 3am.  And though I used to think of the work I did at night as productive, I've been a bit surprised to realize that when I get up and work in the morning, I'm much quicker and more efficient in the morning.  I get much more bang for my working buck in the morning, much to my inner 20 year old's chagrin.

So many people I know--my students especially--are so worn out and burnt out right now.  In academia, it's really November that's the cruelest month.  With exams behind me, I'm feeling a bit less stressed than those around me, and I'm trying to use this energy to propel my writing.  To check in for #acwrimo--I finished and presented a conference paper, and I wrote and submitted the first draft of my prospectus.  Next up is an article which I would like to make a 12/1 deadline with, and I've had a conference proposal accepted for the Appalachian Studies conference in March, which I've started making notes for as ideas occur to me.  Word count?  Who knows.  My biggest accomplishment is starting the discipline of writing every day and starting to figure out how I work best--so that when I start dissertating in earnest, I'll already have some traction.

Brief writing update

I sent my conference paper to my writing buddy, who gave me some fantastic feedback.  I'm so fortunate to have some really insightful, smart colleagues to work with.  I've revised based on the questions she asked and the suggestions she made--I still want to tighten up my thesis statement, but it's close to done.  Now to start thinking really hard about my prospectus.  These accountability groups I'm in are really, really helping me stay on task!

Writing Update

I took the afternoon off (as all of the football nonsense in my neighborhood was making it difficult to concentrate anyway) and went to see Cloud Atlas--what a wonderful movie!  Yay for intelligent film-making!

I spent the rest of the evening revising my conference paper in a leisurely fashion.  I started off with 12 pages, and have now got about 9-2/3, which is a good length, I think.  I've sent it off to my writing group buddy, who's offered to read through it for me.  The hard part for me in this paper was (1) trying to say something I haven't really said before, and (2) saying it in the limited space of a conference paper.  It took a lot of organization work--what happens if I put these ideas together like this?  Or maybe this has more in common with this other thing?  I think I finally found an organization that makes sense now, and makes sense in less than ten pages.

I am having so much trouble reading.  It's as though my brain decided that once exams were over, it's not reading anything more challenging than rock star memoir. (I will say that John Taylor's memoir is not disappointing--so good!)  I really would like to regain some reading concentration, though, as I really do need to get through some reading in order to write my prospectus the way I think I should write it.  I read through a friend's prospectus this week--which was fantastic--and I feel like I've got a better idea of what it should look like now.  But I know what I need to read, and what I need to figure out, and my brain is being less than cooperative.

I will say that this 14-day writing challenge website has continued to be helpful.  I'm having to admit that dedicated, concentrated writing time during the day really does get me to accomplish in much less time what it would take me much longer at the end of the day, when I'm used to writing. I sometimes don't realize that I'm actually tired at the end of the day.  Maybe I should try dedicated reading time, too.  Urgh, do I have to admit that the books are right, that scheduling writing and reading time actually works for me?

#AcWriMo Update

I've been participating in the 14 Day Challenge since Monday, and am a bit surprised at how much of a difference it's making.  Committing to writing at least 30 minutes straight has made me aware of just how easily I back off of my writing--I get to a hard place, and will go play a round of Bejeweled Blitz to try to process the block.  Sometimes this works, and after a game I'll have figured whatever it is out.  However, this week during my blocked off writing time I don't back off, and instead push through the block--or if I really don't know, put something in brackets and keep going.  I can feel physically when I'm moving through an uncomfortable part of writing, through a part I'm less sure about, but several times this pushing through has led me to make the connections perhaps sooner than I would have had I gone and had some time sucked online.

I'm still writing in my usual, casual way at night, and that's still a good way for me to get things like revisions done, because they're often boring and pushing through would just be mean.  I am begrudgingly admitting, though, that this scheduled writing is really useful.  I've got seven pages of my prospectus done, and my conference paper is now a full draft--12 pages, which means I've got some cutting to do, but I feel like I'm in  good place to meet my original goals of having both of these things done by next week.  After that, my next #acwrimo goal is to craft an abstract for PCA.  That's a whole new topic that I haven't done before, so that will probably be slower going.