happy in happy valley

Last spring I wrote here about feeling isolated in my academic pursuits, largely because I was taking two classes outside of English and wasn’t in as much contact with many of my English rhetoric colleagues as I would have liked. But this term: wow, things are going quite well. I’m in three seminars that seem to be going swimmingly. I especially love my Kenneth Burke seminar, which is getting me some dirty responses from some of my post-structuralist literature folks—largely, I think, because Burke isn’t the most exciting writer at times. But I’m enjoying most of what I read (he can be so Marcusean at times, which is what’s interesting me), and the conversation in class has exceeded my expectations. So good to be in a room of so many smart people talking about interesting things. My other two classes are going well too, though I’m feeling a bit less passion about them. I think once I nail down my research for those two classes, I’ll be ignited even more.

I’m also working (every so slowly) on my conference presentation for Feminisms and Rhetorics in October, on a co-authored paper with Stuart and Rebecca, and in the composition office. It’s all keeping me very busy, which I actually kind of love. Toward the end of the summer, I was kind of ready for the “break” to be over, because I needed more structured deadlines and felt exhausted from teaching everyday, so didn’t do as much research and writing as I would have liked. Now, I’m going to sit down with my delicious cup of coffee at Saints and read about Kenneth Burke and technology.