why, hello! (w/ embedded life lessons for young academics, people in general & whatnot)

It has been entirely too long. Hello! This photo is from my home workstation, which lives in what should be the dining room. I hope that in the coming days and weeks I will be using this space almost exclusively for creative projects, placing grading and planning on campus =  great plan and my tip to anyone who is able to consider making this happen.

To be sure, I have been generating creatively from this space. That is, I assure you that I have been writing, and doing lots of it. I'll make a list: 

3D map, latest additions

The book is seeing support from a thoughtful editor; these days it seems less a vague dream than a reality.

A proposed journal submission landed an invitation to compose a book chapter for a collection on Social Media (!).

I am composing my CCCC's presentation, & my remix (for CW), a parody on the concept of "privacy."

The new job continues to challenge me in ways I had not even come close to anticipating! I am happy to report that I am surviving these new moves, learning more than I'd imagined (or hoped to learn). 

I have also begun reading more about Fair Use. My C's presentation is on Fair Use, our unwillingness to fight for our writing rights, and (academic) hierarchies generated by fear. It's exhilarating work, liberating, encouraging, .... name a few more breathy adjectives!! I'm there. Oh, and on exhilaration, make this new chili recipe we stumbled into! We've made it twice (albeit with fewer ingredients + adding stew beef, no beer). It's amazing, and one of those things we stumbled into by going to Whole Foods (academics!) around Super Bowl Weekend; they had a chili contest, so we sampled from setups all around the store. This

was the winner. Trust.

Today, I will finish unpacking my office (I had to move from an unsuitable space to a hopefully better one). I'll grade, plan, and then look around for a place to live that is a bit closer to campus. I still love Naperville, but moving a bit further south in town will cut 15 minutes from the 40 minute commute. How had I been convinced I could do a 40 minute commute? see? learning. BOOM.

This is terrifically informal. I'll dress it up for you soon, when I post about these things I've been designing. 



Finally, another great thing? We found this cool play and took our niece, Fiona (9), who is very creative. We saw That's Weird, Grandma!, and it was fantastic. Great improv group, actors who teach in local schools and generate scripts from the writings, drawing, and compositions of their students. This is the sign at the theaterspace, which the Barrel of Monkeys group rents from the Neo-futurists. So cool. Also, True Detective! If you are not, WHY?!!