It don't mean a thing

Last night in the US!

2009-06-08T17:59:18Z

With much help from my good friends in NH (thanks Courtney, Steve, and Beth!), I am now packed and out on the road.

Spent the weekend with my awesome aunt and uncle and sister in MA going to graduation parties in order to eat and drink a lot. My extended family = deliciously crazy (think middle-aged uncle running around in a Speedo at backyard BBQ). Played Rock Band for the first time. Sucked at drums. Got to check out my uncle's latest project: a BEEHIVE!. It is the coolest thing ever.

In Brooklyn now, getting the last few bits and pieces put together for my trip tomorrow. Dinner and cupcakes tonight with Chelsea and a college buddy. I'm feeling nervous, not least because my neck has decided to act up at a really inopportune time, but mostly very excited. Wish me luck!

I'll be switching back over to the ruskiblog for the duration, so you can keep up with my adventures there.

My students just can't stop being cute.

2009-05-28T13:31:39Z

Got an email from a student this morning, with this little note:

"P.S. I gotta said I love you and your class, ha! :)"

While I'm not quite sure why that's so funny, I am choosing to appreciate the sentiment.

It's been a gloriously relaxing week of sleeping in, doing yoga, reading books, watching season 2 of LOST, recycling mountains of old papers, and generally preparing for my trip. My visa should come through on time (fingers crossed), so now what's left is to buy gifts, get a haircut, ready my laptop for the trip, and study my phrase book! Oh and head down to Boston for a last night of swing before I go.

Sleepy Saturday

2009-05-23T23:17:12Z

It's a melancholy sort of afternoon in Dover. The roomies are both gone for the weekend, and most of my friends are out celebrating graduation. Even the cat is out catting around the neighborhood. I've done a prodigious amount of vacuuming.

The ceremony this morning had all the usual charms - Pomp & Circumstance, proud parents taking pictures, grandparents sporting college sweatshirts, pretty girls in bright cotton dresses and cardigans, student speeches made mostly of cliches strung together, a general air of hopefulness and celebration. I went not only to cheer on my friends but also to hear the guest speaker, Gary Hirshberg, the self-proclaimed C.E. Yo of the company that makes my absolute favorite yogurt. His speech wasn't particularly innovative but it was inspiring. He started off with doom and gloom statistics about our pathetic relationship with the planet, told some cute stories about himself and the company, and exhorted the students to look for ways to bring sustainability into their workplaces. I found myself nodding a lot as he was talking, and kind of wanting to read his book.

It's nice to have some quiet after the whirlwind last few weeks of the semester, during which I wrote two big final papers, put together two Powerpoint presentations for the first time in my life, graded all my students' papers, threw a surprise birthday party for my roommate, submitted my IRB proposal, bought my plane tickets to Russia (woo!) and sent in my visa application. Immediately after all that I bombed off down to Connecticut for a few days with the lovely Lisa, where I got to see her itty bitty Suzuki students perform (twenty kindergartners with violins = adorable mayhem). Then down to New York to do the AIDS walk in Central Park with my fabulous sister, who obliged me with a brief cupcake tour of Brooklyn and Manhattan. After all these weeks of drooling over Cupcakes Take The Cake I was so frickin' excited to taste the deliciousness for myself. Biggest thumbs up go to Cake Man Raven's red velvet cake, Joyce's cream cheese frosting, and the utter charm of the Hostess-style cupcake at Crumbs. Pics of the party, weekend, and cupcake goodness are here. Yes, I'm still using Kodakgallery while I futz around and get comfortable with Picasa.

Some people are kinda ridiculous.

2009-05-01T21:03:38Z

I got an email with this subject line the other day (name changed to protect the dubiously innocent):

Rachel Henderson suggested you become a fan of Rachel Henderson...

Um, who does that?

Sopranos, apparently.

It's a sad, sad day.

2009-04-27T16:27:53Z

The truly legendary Frankie Manning passed away this morning. He was one of the original lindy hoppers, one of the brave and talented dancers who created the dance I love so much. He was one of the few dancers who kept the dance going long enough that people my age could enjoy it. And from what I know of him, he was a wonderful, funny, kind man. Double or Nothing (my dance group in California) performed at a dance in his honor once, and he was a charming and gracious audience.

Rest in peace, Frankie. After almost 95 years, you have earned it so very well. We'll miss you.

buh-bye itchy wool

2009-04-26T15:40:40Z

Finally posted those nature/adorable kitten pictures. My aunt and uncle's kitten Boo is sick again, so keep your fingers crossed for the poor little guy. He's had a tough road.

I'm officially annoyed with Kodakgallery. First, they changed the site design so the slideshow pictures are really small. Then they announced a new policy - in order for them to keep hosting my pictures, I have to spend at least $5 a year on their products. If I don't, my slideshows will just disappear. Granted, $5 is really cheap, but I dislike the forced spending. Why not just charge for the service? And their new slideshow email tool is awful. I'm debating switching to a new photo-hosting site. Does anyone have feelings about Flickr or Photobucket? Or how I could keep my old slideshows that I worked so hard on?

In other news, New Hampshire jumped into summer with both feet yesterday - it was over 80 degrees here. I took both blankets off my bed and spent the afternoon blissfully packing away all my turtleneck sweaters and black tights and unpacking my halter tops and floaty dresses, then walked down to Dover Delight for a sherbet freeze (which, around here, is pronounced "sherbit"). Yay warm weather!

The next two weeks are going to be tough, work-wise, with all my big papers and presentations due plus two rounds of student conferences plus getting IRB approval, buying plane tickets, and applying for my Russian visa. But if I survive, oh man those first few weeks of summer will be heaven. A little lit review research, a little beach, a lot of awesome.

More happiness!

2009-04-21T16:11:57Z

Very stuffy of nose all weekend and again today - stupid spring head cold. I have too much homework to be sick. Sigh.

The good news is, I got the grant and I am going to Russia this summer! Probably in June and July. I am so frickin' excited.

Had a nice Easter with the fam, including the newest member, my aunt and uncle's kitten Boo. I took...rather a lot of pictures of him. I can't help it. He's so cute. I'll get them posted soon.

Finally, I know I shouldn't care, but seriously this is making me really, really happy. Someone likes me!

bona_lector @ 2009-04-10T10:12:00

2009-04-10T14:30:11Z

It's been a rough couple weeks in Grad School World. After the awesomeness that was the Boston Tea Party, it was study study study and write write write and teach teach teach while it was rainy and gray and I teetered on the edge of a cold for two weeks. BUT.

Today it is beautifully sunny and sixty degrees.

I am supposed to find out about the summer grant FINALLY either today or tomorrow. I am hopeful, but I've got good options if I end up staying here for the summer too, so either way I will be fine.

My class this morning was fantastic - I gave my students an assignment to read advertisements and think about the persuasion and the target audience. They rocked it. They can think critically! Also I am grading their second major papers, the cultural analysis, and I love them. Love. At least, I love the last couple ones I am grading today, since I always get my problem children out of the way first.

I have discovered this website that I just adore: http://www.academichic.com. It's three female grad students in the Midwest who refuse to be schlumpy despite being in grad school. They are totally motivating me to wear, like, colors. And belts.

And I am off to hang out with my wonderful family this weekend, including my mom all the way from Alaska. Have I mentioned that my uncle has decided to start keeping bees? How cool is that? Hyper-local honey!

And so, I say, YAY TO LIFE!

spring break = free time

2009-03-18T17:07:21Z

Spent the first weekend of spring break in West Haven at Swing into Spring, a truly fantastic swing weekend. It's small, personal, and attended by many awesome people. I met so many nice dancers from CT and PA, learned some fun Charleston variations, and slept on a very comfortable air mattress belonging to a woman I had never met who put me and four other dancers up at the last minute out of the goodness of her heart. Like I said, awesome people.

I also competed in the Jack and Jill (enter individually) competition Saturday night, and made the finals! Wooo! Of course, I got cut right away in the finals, but I was so thrilled I didn't even care. Plus the dancers who won were so excellent that it was no shame to lose to them. I'm psyched for the Jack and Jill at Boston Tea Party weekend after next.

Best of all, the instructors at this event stayed in the rotation during the classes and had zero attitude about it. They were so friendly and helpful and not snobby that my love of dancing has been completely restored.

Also, with all my spring break free time, I finally got around to posting some pictures from, um, Christmas break. Sigh. They are here.

Does anyone else hate the new Kodakgallery slideshow format? Why are the pictures so small? Boo.

Spring FAIL.

2009-03-10T02:19:00Z

Got another three or four inches of snow today. BOO.

In happier news, I had a seriously awesome moment at dance last Wednesday. I was practicing leading during the beginner west coast class, and meeting all the new follows. I was making small talk with one pretty sophomore girl, and I asked her how long she'd been dancing. She told me that she had dragged her boyfriend to the Valentine's dance (at which I taught the beginner lesson), and they had liked swing so much that they had come every Wednesday since. "I just want to dance like you," she said (no, seriously!). Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww. That about made my week. :)

A springtime rant.

2009-03-08T22:29:02Z

I have my bedroom window open for the second day in a row. The snow is melting. I went for a walk to day in a long-sleeved t-shirt. There are birds everywhere. The cat is going stir-crazy. I think spring is here. I am pretty happy about this.

Here's something I'm not so happy about: last weekend was Sweet Molasses Blues in Cambridge, two days of classes and dances. I learned a lot of useful stuff about connection and heard some great music. Unfortunately, I also got exposed to the inherent snobbery of the Boston blues scene in a pretty sad way. Basically, the elite dancers (i.e. the ones who teach the classes) aren't interested in dancing with the intermediate or beginning dancers, presumably because teaching is their job and the evening dances are for them to relax and enjoy. Fair enough. I don't correct my students' grammar in my off-hours. But I can't help but be frustrated by the ugly little high-school-esque division that creates on the dance floor, where the cool kids only want to hang out with each other and the losers get relegated to the back of the room. The shallow pettiness of it is a huge turn-off, but more importantly, it's really bad for the community as a whole.

If the new dancers don't get a chance to dance with people more advanced, they never get to see how great the dance can be. And that glimpse is what keeps people coming back - keeps them signing up for lessons, coming to dances, practicing, improving. If you want to community to grow, you have got to make the new people feel welcome. It worked for me in lindy hop - I started off terrible, but a lot of advanced leads took pity on me, and I fell in love with the dance, and here I am ten years later, teaching lessons myself and contributing to the community. I try to be very conscientious about dancing with new leads in lindy and east coast, because I want them to get the same joy from the dance that I did. It's what keeps you motivated through the learning process.

I'm not trying to be a martyr here - dancing with a rank beginner can be annoying, and I sometimes get fed up with it, but whatever suffering is involved (and I'm sure that suffering is greater the more advanced you are) it's not an altruistic act. I keep saying yes out of self-interest; I WANT the community to continue, I WANT new guys to get involved and then get better, because I LIKE swing and I want to have more opportunities to do it. The bigger the community is, the bigger and better the dances will be.

Generally, I think the other lindy hoppers agree with me - at least, I haven't noticed as sharp of divisions in the lindy scene, and I'm really looking forward to Swing into Spring next weekend in Connecticut. I just wish the blues folks would get the message. Because right now, frankly, I am discouraged and unmotivated to continue with blues. And I think that's a shame.

Beyond cute.

2009-02-27T16:21:59Z

The thing about teaching freshmen is that they are just so damn EARNEST. They just feel things really, really deeply, and are really, really sure that no one has ever felt that way in the history of the world. And they are just so whole-hearted and honest about the business of sorting out the world and what it means to them. That charming lack of irony, combined with a rather shaky grasp of rhetorical technique, produces writing that is stupendously bad and yet somehow truly delightful in its utter sincerity. They just put these realizations out there in all their glorious innocence. And I can't be anything but amused and touched because the thing is, they really, really mean it.

They aren't all so innocent, of course; I've got a student from the Congo who has seen things I can barely imagine. But an awful lot of them are. Here's a few samples:

"My girlfriend never came to tell me goodbye...she told me that she hated goodbyes and that kissing for one last time would be so painful for her knowing that our lips will always be apart and never meet again."

"What is wrong with me? I wish I knew the answer for that question, sadly, I didn't."

"Dealing with boys was not my thing...then I adjusted to the idea that guys are important in life."

Basically I want to hug them. And then make them rewrite.

I think the universe is trying to tell me something.

2009-02-25T03:00:15Z

Last night I spent a while complaining to my roommates about how much work I have (a lot, to be fair, given three classes plus a section of freshman comp plus tutoring) and how hard life is and how unfair that I am so put upon, blah blah blah.

This morning, when my alarm went off, set to NPR as usual, the first thing I heard was an Iraqi woman sobbing because her son had been killed. "He walked out of the house laughing" the translator said. "They brought back his body."

Perspective much?

Unintentional adorability.

2009-02-20T23:28:55Z

Because I know there are some fans of the cute student quotes out there, this one comes from an email apologizing for missing class:

"I will try my best for it wont happen again."

All together now: awwwwwwwwwwww.

My favorite from last semester that didn't make it onto the blog was the kid who was trying to show, not tell, that he wasn't nervous:

"My armpets was dry."

Heh. Armpets.

How to cover four weeks? Hmm, a list might do it.

2009-02-18T22:18:28Z

Wow, it has been an embarrassingly long time since I updated. There has been mad crazy tons o' stuff going on around here. I'm once again auditing Russian in addition to my regular classes, teaching the ESL section of freshman comp, tutoring on the side, dancing a lot, and being social. Here are a few highlights that have been kicking around in the back of my head...

Under the heading Exciting Things Possible in my Future
-I spent the last week frantically putting together an application for a grant to do summer research for my master's thesis. If I get it (I hope I hope) I will being going back to Russia for eight weeks! I am attempting to remain cautiously optimistic (eee!), while diligently studying case endings.

Under the heading of My Students Are Pretty Funny
-I finally got around (read: worked up the nerve) to read my teaching evaluations from last semester. Of my 14 students, 3 wrote any comments on the back of the eval form. One complained about the room being cold. One wrote something sweet but generic about learning a lot in the class. But by far my favorite was the student who wrote, simply: "she's good!!". Heh. I will totally take that.

Under the heading New Hampshire is the Whitest State Ever
-The other day, there was a student activities fair in the student union. A group called "Sisters in Step" performed. There were probably twenty members. They were all white - not even any Latinas or Asian girls. They were wearing - wait for it - tie-dye t-shirts. I don't think anyone understood why I was laughing. Poor kids.

Under the heading My Family Rules
-My mom just got back last week from her cruise to ANTARCTICA. You know, where there are PENGUINS. There are pictures.
-My dad and stepmom came to visit a few weeks ago with my sister in tow. My stepmom kicked some serious snotty-teenage-clerk ass at the Kittery Outlets, and my dad immediately bonded with my cat. Who does not like men. Not even a little bit. But he happily snuggled down in my dad's arms and purred contently for, like, the whole weekend. My dad is Dr. Doolittle.

Under the heading Brooke Has A New Idol
Now, in addition to my well-documented fetish for Nina Planck and Michael Pollan, I am obsessed with this book, which is all about socially responsible shopping. I've heard it dismissed as just another excuse for white middle-class guilt, and I can see where that comes from. But seriously, do you have any idea how many companies Kraft owns? It's great to feel like you're arming yourself against the big corporations even a little bit, with the power of KNOWLEDGE.

Under the heading of I am Proud of Myself for Fixing Shit
-I finally finished the unfinished desk I bought myself over Thanksgiving. I stained it a nice color which I think was called Honey Maple. This was a stinky (because of the fumes), chilly (on the porch because of the fumes), and immensely enjoyable (presumably not related to fumes) process. My desk is pretty!
-The cord on one of my Venetian blinds broke yesterday. Fixing it involved taking the whole thing out of the window, using pliers to rethread the cord though the little plastic bits, and sewing the cord back together (knots get hung up on the plastic bits). I felt very handy.
Side note: kitties are not helpful when your home repair project involves moving string. Not helpful.

business as usual

2009-01-18T22:46:45Z

New Hampshire welcomed me back after my long absence today with what I guess is about eight inches of snow that shows no sign of stopping. Wheeee. I fought back by making beef stew.

I've been listening to NPR all day as the liberal media is celebrating the end of an era. Garrison Keillor and the Wait Wait crew are beside themselves, and there's been a huge concert all afternoon in DC. Over the top? Yes. Cheesy? Definitely. Did I cry a little anyway? Of course I did. I am just so hopeful for America right now. We finally, finally did something right.

Home. Brrr.

2009-01-04T02:04:46Z

Being at home is always a lot busier than I anticipated. Family and friends to see, baking to do, Project Runway marathons to watch (thanks a lot, Chels). But it's been a good relaxing time for the most part, albeit very very cold. It was pleasantly snowy for the first few days I was home, then the temps dropped abruptly - it hasn't been above 5 below in several days. My dad and I headed up to the cabin on New Year's Day, and the digital temp readings heading out to the Valley had readings of 18 below to 24 below. All I know is that after running the wood stove AND the electric stove AND the thawed-out space heater for three hours, we could still see our breath inside the cabin. I think that's when we packed it in.

The upside of the snow followed by the brutal cold without any wind has been pure gorgeousness outside - all the trees are hung heavily with snow and frost, which is most magically lit by the few hours of brilliant sunlight every day. I cannot stop taking pictures of trees. There have been lots of moose wandering around the neighborhood too - I've counted seven in the past few days, including one super cute gangly yearling. Wooo Alaska.

Had some success making my own granola for the first time. It's surprisingly easy, eminently customizable, extremely tasty, and rather funny for my hippie parents and uncles, who regard the process with a sort of bemused nostalgia.

Hope everyone else is feeling similarly relaxed and refreshed at the start of the new year!

I think I survived.

2008-12-12T18:23:05Z

This was that one really awful week of the semester, when everything is due both for me (huge research paper) and my students (what seems to them like a huge research paper). Conferences + my own work = my first all-nighter in five years. Started writing the paper at 4 pm and was still writing when 7:30 rolled around and it was time to go back to campus. That was a pretty brutal day. Fortunately I think the paper came out well, and I'll be able to use the research as the basis for my master's paper, which is helpful. One last take-home and I am FREE until January.

It's been freezing rain and wind for the past two days, bad enough that Durham lost power last night and so the campus is completely shut down today. Of course, it wasn't until I had already dragged myself out of bed, driven to campus, dodging fallen branches and downed power lines the whole way, and walked into the English department that it occurred to me to wonder where everyone was. Oops.

At least the world looks pretty magical. Everything was covered in ice, including all the trees and bushes that still had berries on them. Ice covered berries are so arty! I also had an interesting walk through the iced-over grass, with little shards scattering and tinkling every time I took a step.

snow Snow SNOW!

2008-12-09T15:09:27Z

YAY!

I know it won't stick, but YAY!

Quick recap:

Last weekend = awesome swing dancing in Boston

This week = student conferences and procrastinated long paper of death

Next week = freedom and joy

Wish me luck!

home life

2008-12-03T00:47:19Z

Thanksgiving recap: my aunt and uncle and sister rule, and are excellent cooks. Got to hang out with the magnificent Rebecca Emily as well, do some shopping, play some poker, and knit a hat. Hats are surprisingly quick.

Only two weeks to go in the semester - four real classes. I wish I'd done a better job with my kids, but it was my first try teaching a composition class, and I mostly just hanging on from day to day and making it up as I went. I made a lot of mistakes and learned from them; it's a shame that this semester's students had to be the guinea pigs, but that's the way teaching goes. I am full of good ideas for next semester.

Right now, I am sitting in my kitchen with my cat purring on my lap and a pot of butternut squash soup bubbling on the stove. Aside from the recurrence of the Phlegmy Cold From Hell (FYI: new nose piercings and runny noses do not mix), life is pretty good.

Week of deaaaaath (with links!)

2008-11-26T18:13:39Z

Not really. But it was pretty brutal. I was grading my students' cultural analysis papers (which for the most part turned out to be pretty good) while conferencing with them on topics for the next paper and writing a ten page paper for one of my classes. Oh, and discovering that my radiator has been leaking, not onto the ground like a nice radiator, but onto the floor on the passenger side of my car. That equals one big squelchy green puddle and $350 worth of repairs.

FUN TIMES.

The bright spots of last week:

~Went to my first ever ESl conference (the Northern New England TESOL conference in Manchester). Got to hang out all day with other people who do what I do. The keynote speaker (this guy) was so inspiring that now I want to go work for him at the SIT Graduate Institute in Vermont. New life plan - whoo! Just what grad school is supposed to provide, no? But before that I want to go overseas again, possibly funded by the state department through another program I found at the conference (this one).

~Had a delightful teaching moment when I gave an A- to a student who had gotten a C on his first paper. Got to watch his face light up when I told him, and then got to listen to him explain that the first paper had been a wakeup call and he had worked really hard on the second one. "I went to the writing center like five times," he said. And his paper really was that much better. Pedagogical SUCCESS!

~Went to the first of the winter farmer's markets, which are mercifully indoors. Spent tons of money on things like turnips and rutabaga and squash. Then made many delicious things out of said root vegetables and squash, including these muffins, which were delicious but not as sweet as I'd like. More maple syrup next time, I think. I fed them to my students this morning.

And now I am off for many days of awesome with my family in MA. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Soooo...I might have done something a little crazy.

2008-11-14T23:48:39Z

Like poked a hole in my nose for fashion. Eee! Here's a picture. Yes, the picture is kind of hokey, but in my defense it is seriously difficult to act natural while someone has a camera pointed at your nose. Also, I'm sparing you the extreme close-up.

See, the thing is, when I was in high school and college, I used to look at girls who had their noses pierced and think, "Sigh. Those girls are cool. I wish I could be cool like that. But I could never pull that off. Ho hum."

Then, just the past few weeks, I've been thinking, "You know what? I like the mostly grown-up, grad student-y person I have turned into. Dammit, I AM that cool. And if other people don't think so, I don't give a rat's ass." So I made an appointment and got it done. And aside from the fact that it kind of feels like having a metal booger, I love it.

Also: yes, it hurt, but only for a few seconds. Two days later it's a little tender but that's it.

autumn affect/effect

2008-11-10T01:18:07Z

This is perhaps my first time living through a real autumn, a true transition season between a hot summer and a cold winter, as Alaska has only the latter and California has only the former. As the leaves drop and the days get shorter, I'm having these oddly powerful urges: I want to gather, to stockpile, to hoard. This applies to food, naturally - I went nuts at the last farmer's market of the season, and have been baking all week (today, apple muffins and winter squash pie). But it seems to encompass other things as well. I've been carrying home great armfuls of books from the university library to squirrel them away in my room, and I signed up for a Dover public library card as well. It even extends to intangibles - I want to pull my group of friends in around me, photograph everything. Does anyone else have this reaction to cooling temperatures and morning frost?

Also, pics of my afternoon at Vaugh Woods State Park in Maine.

YES WE CAN!

2008-11-07T00:12:43Z

Ok, don't laugh at me, but on the night of the election I was so tired that I went to bed after we won Ohio. I just now watched Obama's victory speech, and it is SO GOOD. I cried. Like a lot. Like I might need a new box of Kleenex. He is just so damn inspiring.

In less political news, my kitty was emasculated today. He is currently wired after the anesthetic and running around like mad tripping over himself. Poor guy.

Also, my students' use of the English language cracks me up, completely unintentionally. I've got a girl who keeps writing me "response peppers" (from which, one of my pithier colleagues suggested, we ought to be making Wisdom Salsa). I've got another who insisted in the last paper that "no one can live without people in their side." And best of all, my little uberChristian girl who reported that in her bible study group, people might ask: "Did you have any temptations from the Satin this week?" (Nope, but the cashmere sure was blasphemous!) I love them.

Microtriumphs

2008-11-01T23:27:33Z

I just successfully added antifreeze and water to my cooling system. I also managed to reset the change oil warning light which the mechanic left on after my last oil change. Two annoying beeping warning lights wiped out in one afternoon. W00t!

Finally posted pictures of fall in New Hampshire.

My Sarah Palin costume was a big hit at an English dept party last night. Pictures are at the end of the fall slideshow.

Classes and conferences went well this week - I feel like I'm getting the hang of this class. And I just found out I will be able to teach it again next semester, so I'll get to use all this experience to do a better job next time.

Good stuff.