Reappearing Act

This might be the longest hiatus that I've had in a while, so I apologize for the disappearing act. Let's just say that December kicked my ass, and that I needed an extended recovery period. Is it a bad sign that the first thing to happen to me in 2012 is a nose-throat cold? I am trying not to see it that way, or to stress myself out, but I did have a few things I wanted to have done by now. Luckily I do not have four classes to prepare for like I normally would, so I can just worry about the conference paper due and my proposal work which I wanted to have done by now. That is it for the whining portion of this program. Now, on to the good stuff.

I received word a few weeks ago that the conference in Turkey is going to publish our papers! It is a small victory, but a line on the resume is extremely satisfying. The semester ended on a really good note, actually, despite the frantic behavior I had when I returned from Europe. Most of it was finishing up classes, grading, and preparing for the holidays (and a great party that my roommate and I pulled together). It was a lot all at once, but I am proud to say that I turned my grades in early, and was completely done with work by Dec. 17. I also received some great comments from students about the course, and my teaching. I was very flattered, and now I wait nervously for the evaluations to come back. In other good news, I am making some progress on my own work (despite the above mentioned cold), however still feeling a little gun-shy after the last year. I will update you as that develops.

Unfortunately I have not made much progress in reading, mostly because I spent the first half of December reading student papers until my eyes wanted to burst, but my night-stand go-to was Ladies of Liberty by Cokie Roberts which I had started a while ago, but only just finished last night. I highly recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in history. I am actually not drawn to American history, but this book is so interesting and well-written. It tells the story of early America through the letters and diaries of prominent ladies - a unique perspective to be sure. This is herstory at its finest. I recently received a few books about the world from my world-traveling parents, so they are now on the night-stand waiting to be read. I also took up Arranged Marriage by Chitra Divikaruni last night - it is a collection of short stories about Indian and Indian-American women who negotiate their positions in arranged marriages. So far, I have read about four of the stories, and they are very well-written. They remind me a little of Jhumpa Lahiri's work, but they often have a little more intensity and focus. Did you pick up any great books over the holidays?

It is one of my mini-goals to keep up with this blog again because it really does help me maintain focus and a little accountability. It is also just fun, though I imagine that it is more fun for me than for you my dear readers. In the meantime, I will be fighting this cold and trying my hand at being productive. Hope you all had happy holidays, and wishing you and yours well in 2012.