Lord have mercy, it's been a whirlwind. I don't have time for a proper update, but I'm itching to write one, so here's hoping I can make good on that desire. For now, though, some highlights:

* I'm now the Assistant Director of the Composition Program at my university. I get two quarters off from teaching so that I can oversee the other teachers and do administrative work. I vacillate between feeling psyched when I do something that helps other teachers, feeling confused as to why I was selected for this position (I've loudly and publicly criticized the program for years . . . guess they wanted me to put up or shut up?), feeling amused because, well, I don't exactly *look* like an administrator, and feeling horrified that I am now part of The System. Am I a sell-out, or am I a subversive force who just managed, somehow, to infiltrate Their ranks? Guess time will tell.

* Starting the third chapter of my dissertation tonight. If I can get it done this quarter, I'll be on track to graduate this summer.

* My mother is crazy as ever. She's currently dating two guys: an executive at Fannie Mae (I call him Satan) and Santa Claus. No, seriously, the guy has been the Santa Claus at the fanciest mall in Dallas for over a decade.

* One of my cousins just had yet another kid who is on his way to foster care. That makes three since she was 14. When will the women in my family stop doing this to themselves and to their unplanned progeny?!?!?! I tell you what, I may just have to stock up on Depo shots and fly back to Texas every few months. I swear, if the women on my mom's side of the family would just stop getting knocked up in high school (or junior high, for that matter), that alone would cause the nation's stats on unwed teenage mothers to decrease . . . we've been pumping out three or four kids by the age of twenty for, what, four generations now? And they wonder why I don't want any kids! Anyway, we're trying to figure out who in the family can take...

Lord have mercy, it's been a whirlwind. I don't have time for a proper update, but I'm itching to write one, so here's hoping I can make good on that desire. For now, though, some highlights:

* I'm now the Assistant Director of the Composition Program at my university. I get two quarters off from teaching so that I can oversee the other teachers and do administrative work. I vacillate between feeling psyched when I do something that helps other teachers, feeling confused as to why I was selected for this position (I've loudly and publicly criticized the program for years . . . guess they wanted me to put up or shut up?), feeling amused because, well, I don't exactly *look* like an administrator, and feeling horrified that I am now part of The System. Am I a sell-out, or am I a subversive force who just managed, somehow, to infiltrate Their ranks? Guess time will tell.

* Starting the third chapter of my dissertation tonight. If I can get it done this quarter, I'll be on track to graduate this summer.

* My mother is crazy as ever. She's currently dating two guys: an executive at Fannie Mae (I call him Satan) and Santa Claus. No, seriously, the guy has been the Santa Claus at the fanciest mall in Dallas for over a decade.

* One of my cousins just had yet another kid who is on his way to foster care. That makes three since she was 14. When will the women in my family stop doing this to themselves and to their unplanned progeny?!?!?! I tell you what, I may just have to stock up on Depo shots and fly back to Texas every few months. I swear, if the women on my mom's side of the family would just stop getting knocked up in high school (or junior high, for that matter), that alone would cause the nation's stats on unwed teenage mothers to decrease . . . we've been pumping out three or four kids by the age of twenty for, what, four generations now? And they wonder why I don't want any kids! Anyway, we're trying to figure out who in the family can take the baby, but everyone is kinda stocked up on babies at the moment. Fortunately, nobody suggested me as an option . . . I'm just not cut out for that shit. So . . . if anyone out there wants a baby, I know where you can get one. In the meantime, hopefully my people can work something out amongst themselves.

* Knowing ancient Greek paid off this year . . . literally. I got a creative writing scholarship for my Sappho translations. That was pretty cool. I'd almost written off creative work, but now I'm having to re-evaluate that. It's nice to have to re-evaluate a decision to give up on something one loves.

There's more, but I promised myself I'd get back to work at 12:15. It's 12:21 now. Hopefully I'll be back sooner than later.

I hope all of y'all are well.