What’s that, Mx. Blog? Oh, you feel neglected.
And well you should, I suppose. After making a mental commitment to myself to blog more often, I slipped. Well, you see, Mx. Blog, I was in LA and then San Francisco over spring break. And while I did homework in LA, I also slept a lot because I was trying to get over this cold (and I’m still trying to get over it — 17 days and counting of coughing). I was hanging out with my great friend Sarah from Oregon State, who’s getting her MFA now at Cal Arts, and I started to fall in love with Cal Arts, and started wishing I got an MFA before getting my PhD. Not a traditional MFA, but one that challenges disciplinary boundaries and questions art a lot, like Cal Arts seems to. And since I was sick, and dreaming of awesomeness in Valencia, I didn’t blog in LA.
And then San Francisco, where C’s was at. Things went well there. I saw lots of old friends, met new friends, connected with people, saw some great talks, gave my talk, which I think went well, despite the fact that I sounded like a nasally sick person in my head as I read (and yeah, I read, like a traditional guy), but I didn’t really trust the conference to have a projector in the room, and it seems my lack of trust was well founded. Overall, San Fran’s C’s was my favorite so far (of all the 3 I’ve been to) — in part the location, in part that I was in a hotel closer to the conference, in part because of the great talks I attended, in part (probably the biggest part) in that I knew more people than I had known in previous years.
And then I got back to State College, and I got in my car and made a 2,200 mile round trip to Iowa in five days to attend my grandfather’s funeral. We weren’t that close, so the trip wasn’t emotionally stressful in that I’m-mourning-for-someone way, but it was taxing, in that I was driving for nine or so hours four out of five days of the trip, and I missed all my classes this week, and I had to find a sub for Monday and Wednesday. I taught class for the first time in two weeks yesterday, and it was great to be back in the classroom. It felt so good, like I was finally where I belonged.
I might not love State College, but being in rural Iowa reminded me that there are places I’d be much less happy at. I’m excited to get to work on seminar papers, but I’m so far behind in reading because of the impromptu trip to Iowa. Closing out this semester over the next six weeks is going to be stressful. So, while I hope to blog more over the next few weeks, I can’t make promises, Mx. Blog, but I’ll try. I can give you that.
