But you Didn't Keep it as a Reference

I know; I know. Students sell textbooks back all the time. I stumbled across this link while googling my name (don't ask why; it's not because I'm narcissistic!) Apparently the textbook I co-edited last year is being sold on craigslist. It's listed as in good condition even though the cover is worn. At least it appears to be used. LOL!

Back to School Edition

School starts tomorrow for me. I thought I'd post this video just for laughs...

Why You May or May Not Be Hearing from Me Much

I haven't been on my blog for a couple of weeks and thought I'd post some updates:

• You probably won't be hearing from me much because I'm completing the final stages of my doctoral degree. I submit 3 chapters of my dissertation to by committee by the end of this month. Once they respond and provide feedback on those, I will submit the other 3.
• There are things that people in the final stages of their doctoral degrees must do and I'm doing them. I won't be blogging about that process because it is private, but academics know what this process entails.
• I'll be co-teaching a linguistic-focused course for K-12 English Education majors (ENG 302) for the first time. That should be fun. I will only be teaching Fall semester 2009. I will be supported by fellowship funds during Spring 2010 and Summer 2010.

Needless to say, you won't be seeing much of me this academic year. I plan to be around some, and won't abandon my blog. But if you don't hear from me, you know why.

OSF: My Theme Song

Given the nature of this past week's events associated with the racial profiling of preeminent Black scholars, in addition to my own experiences with racism, I've decided to post James Brown's "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud"! That's my theme song for the week. Enjoy!

U-N-I-T-Y: Brief Reflections on WPA Conference

Some of y'all are familiar with some of the events that went down at our discipline's WPA Conference held in Minneapolis this past week. This is the first time I attended the conference, so I don't have much to go by other than my own personal experiences. However, based on what I've heard, this is one of the conferences in our field where leadership is trying to promote diversity. And, I see why that's a concern: Out of the roughly 260 people in attendance, 5 or so of those people were African American. I'm not so sure about the numbers for other racial/ethnic groups. What I can say is that there didn't seem to be very many (if any) of other racial/ethnic minority groups represented either.

I also have some suspicions as to why this was the case. This may come off a bit harsh, but it's exactly how I felt when I was there. My suspicions are in no way intended to criticize the leadership, however. In fact, the WPA president and other members on the executive committee went out of their way to talk to me and make me feel welcome on multiple occasions, so my criticisms about the conference aren't directed at them. And, based on the events I'm about to tell, I've received multiple apologies for what happened.

Okay. Here's what went down. First of all, I did a panel with other colleagues about my experiences with racism and sexism as a future WPA. This panel was not exceptionally attended, although there were roughly ten people in the audience. We had good conversation and they seemed to appreciate the work that we had done narrating and complicating our experiences. Not a half-hour after our panel ended, we ran into a colleague whom each of us on the panel had met briefly about a year ago. She then proceeded to introduce us to one of her friends as our WPA supervisor's bitches. If that weren't appalling enough, she singled me and my African American male colleague out and basically urged us to beg their department chair for a job at their institution because their institution only had one African American and needed more. As a result of these comments--and the general vibe of the conference--in addition to other personal reasons, I chose to leave the conference early.

On my way home I rode to the airport with another scholar in our field. She also expressed concern about the lack of diversity, and after I told her of the events I experienced, (s)he was horified! We also discussed whether or not I'd come back to WPA. I told him/her that while I loved doing WPA workm and editing our first textbook reader and composing our handbook at my institution, I'm not sure whether or not I'd continue doing this kind of work if it meant that I'd be required to also attend this conference. (S)he encouraged me not to give up on the work that I love doing, but I dunno...

Once I'd gotten home, I received a text message from my African American male colleague telling me that they refused to let him into an event because they mistook him for coming to play basketball pickup games at the park where the event was being held. I won't get into the other details, but the president of the organization did issue an apology that can be read here.

Like I said, I love doing WPA work; I just don't want to be anywhere where I'm not welcome. And, like I also said, my sentiments aren't because of the leadership. Regardless of the leadership, if the people who are a part of the organization aren't welcoming, I still don't want to attend.

That's all.

My Article Published

For some reason, I thought this article was coming out in Fall 2009 but it came out this summer. The article is about the processes that inform how I would design a graduate-level rhetoric and composition special topics course.Here's the link:

Check it out!

End of AY 2008-2009 Reflection: What's Next

Grades have been submitted, data have been collected and analyzed for the most part, now what? This will be the first time that I haven't officially worked (at least for employment) since entering the PhD program. The past couple of summers I've worked as a research assistant on particular projects collecting data for literacy-sponsored projects, developing curricular resources, co-authoring teacher guides, and editing first-year writing textbook readers. Now what?

The good news is that I technically don't have to work this summer in order to pay the bills, thanks to a King-Chavez-Parks Future Faculty Fellowship (a fellowship offered to graduate students across Michigan's public universities). Not having to work officially gives me lots of time to work on the dissertation (something I plan to do all summer long) and prepare job materials, dossier, etc. for next year's market. So far I've drafted several chapters and hope to spend this summer doing major revisions. That's actually a good thing.

What concerns me is the fact that I don't have an official schedule with anywhere to be (other than a few meetings to collaborate on articles already in the pipeline). In fact, I don't have to leave the house to write, something I actually prefer doing. During my first two years, I had to physically be on campus and in my office in order to work because I felt there were too many distractions at home. There's a fridge with good food in it. A television with soap operas to watch. Laundry to fold. etc. etc. But during my third year I noticed this big shift: I actually get way more work done at home and can't bring myself to work in the prison-like concrete walls of my campus office. Just can't do it. I'm not quite sure why or how this shift took place, but it did. The other odd thing is that I can't work in my office in home either! Mr. C now occupies that office and gets quite a bit of work done in there managing our church's website. He loves it. As for me, there's a particular spot on the end of our couch in my living where I have to work. If I'm sorting through data, which as a teacher-researcher usually consists of student documents, I just use the coffee table. Don't know why, but it works.

Anyway, I digressed a bit. The larger point is that I'm happy to be on fellowship with more time to devote to writing, but I'm clearly not going to write for the twelve plus hours a day that I'd be home. I need a hobby (besides baking and cooking, of which, I'm sure I'll do plenty!) so I don't drive myself crazy.

Bad News in Higher Ed: No Surprise Here

More bad news and commentary on higher ed matters from the New York Times OP-Ed column and MLA Report on the status of women in the profession. Why did I even bother coming to the academy in the first place? I'll leave it to you to read the report, but I will say this: Because neither source considers the ways in which the economic crisis, tenure promotion, status of faculty, etc. specifically impact writing specialists, I wonder selfishly to what extent all this bad stuff will affect moi. While it is clear that rhet/comp specialists have been significantly affected by hiring freezes and less than ideal job circumstances because of the economy (trust me in knowing that they have!), since writing is one of the only courses that nearly every undergrad in the university is required to take, I wonder if rhet/comp has been less affected in comparison to other disciplines in the humanities like literature or religion. I mean, I wouldn't suppose that there'd be a huge demand to teach medieval lit or western and modern religion--not that there's anything wrong with people who specialize in those sets of knowledge. I'm just saying that I could understand the logic in cutting faculty in some disciplines in the humanities, especially if enrollment in those types of courses is down; I ain't saying that these cuts are fair and should happen more in the humanities than in the other sciences or rhet/comp for that matter. Nonetheless, I still hope that I'll a) get a job when I go on the market next year since I'm a writing specialist, and b) if I do get a job, I won't have to sacrifice family too much as a woman... *sigh.

Treats to Myself for Working Hard on the Dissertation

I've gotten a ton of writing done the past couple weeks and worked through tons of data. As a pat on the back, I've been making fun desserts this past couple of weeks. Last week, I made a yummy limeade pie and yesterday I made orange French cream cookies with orange zest icing. Mommy and Revvy, I'm bring samples of the cookies home today for y'all to try. :-) For all others, see the photos! LOL!

PS: Mommy, I plan on coming home to visit for a brief break the week of May 11th. Please fry me up some of your famous chicken wings and make a tuna noodle casserole when I visit. I will repay you with my undying love :-)

My Struggle with (Afra)Feminism

Several of you have asked about the status of my dissertation (since you've asked, the dissertation process is going well. I've drafted three chapters, and plan to draft much more. These chapters are still rough, but nonetheless, they are drafted). Originally, I created this blog to reflect on that process; however, the blog developed more as a reflection on life (the academy, teaching, food, family, friends, etc. etc.) more broadly. This happened for several reasons.

First, the dissertation process is so grueling and tiring that I haven't really had much energy to reflect on what I've written; the only energy I've had quite frankly is to write the darn thing! I may plan to reflect a bit more on this progress once it's over, but not as much now.

Second, the scope of the dissertation has changed, not dramatically, but significantly. I am no longer devoting a chapter to the study of Black women's linguistic and rhetorical practices, and thus, am not really focusing on Afrafeminism anymore. The reason for this is not because I no longer see myself as an Afrafeminist scholar (I *think I still am), but because doing a teacher-research dissertation on Black women's practices, Black students' practices, and all students' writing practices in an Afracentric designed curriculum is way too much.

Further, I haven't developed a valid or sufficient response for focusing exclusively on Black women and not Black men. (Afra)feminist ideologies seem to suggest that devoting women their own space is ethical, and perhaps, it's sexist to be forced to justify and explain the exclusion of men. That may in part be true. But, when doing research using social science methods, as a researcher, I have to admit that I have a sampling problem (even with qualitative methods). The study would be valid if I ONLY focused on black women. But the study doesn't do that: If I'm focusing on different samples of one population of students in one classroom, as a researcher, I need to account for each of those samples in some meaningful way.

Focusing on Black women, Blacks in general, and all students also creates a sampling problem because when focusing on Black women, how do I compare their practices if I don't focus on Black men? If one of my original research questions concerned what common linguistic and rhetorical practices that Black women share, I can't answer that question (at least sufficiently and in the way I want to) without comparing them to the practices of Black men in some way. In other words, how do I know that Black women's practices are/aren't reflected by a racialized or gendered discourse? I don't without addressing the brothas somehow.

Some might still argue that I don't really need African American women to make an Afrafeminist argument, since I can still draw on Afrafeminist methods (including devotion to careful analysis, commitment to ethical obligations, inclusion/collaboration/participation from participants, etc.; also see Jacqueline Jones Royster's Traces of a Stream: Literacy and Social Change Among African American Women for a complete list of these methods). But even when using these methods, combined with Afracentric pedagogies and methodologies, I believe the focus is still too large. At this point in the game, I'm less interested in complexity and making some groundbreaking contribution to rhetoric and composition. In a dissertation space, that just ain't gon' happen! I'm more interested in a neat and tidy study on one classroom, using one curriculum, using a few methods, etc. That way, at least the study will make sense.

I'm okay with leaving behind Afrafeminism for now. After all, I have the rest of my career to devote to it if I'm still passionate about this area of scholarship. And, later on this year, I'll have an article published in Composition Forum that discusses using an Afrafeminist lens as a pedagogy in graduate level rhetoric and compositon special topics courses. So, it's still a part of my disciplinary identity.

I'm also still grappling with my understanding of its application in my life beyond the academy. See, I just read Steve Harvey's Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man (I loved it BTW!!), and have realized that as independent Black women (and Afrafeminists) we have to be careful alienating men. Now, if as an independent Black woman, you're fine being without a heterosexual partner, then this obviously doesn't apply to you, and I applaud your indendependence. But, if you're not, then as Steve Harvey writes, men will feel that if you've got everything covered, there's no need for them, and you'll therefore find yourself independent and alone. As an Afrafeminist, surprisingly, I wasn't offended by this comment. I really don't find anything wrong with recognizing the need for your partner/spouse, a need that should also be reciprocated by your partner/spouse, certainly. Afterall, while us Afrafeminsts may do all of these wonderful, exceptionally smart, and independent things, can't we also acknowledge the support that our spouses give as we continue to do such work? At this point in my life, I don't mind admitting that I need my husband's support (especially as I dissertate! LOL!), and that he needs me too. Isn't that what a strong relationship is supposed to be about?

Reflections on the Annual CCCC Convention

For those of you disciplinary folk who read my blog, y'all know it's that time of year when rhetoric and composition (and a few education, linguistics, and communication) folk flock to the annual Conference on College Composition and Communication Convention (our field's premier conference) to give academic talks, act like academic/intellectuals, hear ourselves gab just for the heck of it, perpetrate like we gots credentials and a desk job, and stuff. This year the convention was in San Francisco and the weather, while sunny, was a bit chilly. The convention ends tomorrow (I do plan on attending a few final sessions), but I would like to reflect on the highs, lows, and iffys from this years conference:

The Highs:
The food! We had some pretty good Thai food, excellent ice cream from Gelatos, croissant french toast from the Mason Cafe, and the food court in the mall is serious! They even sell wine in the food court (no, I didn't have any!) and really good guacamole and chips. It's not your typical food court with a Subway, Taco Bell and some random pizza place.

The mall! Less than a 5 minute walk from our hotel was a Neiman Marcus, Barneys, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, and a host of other fabulous stores. Too bad I didn't have much cash, but I did manage to buy a couple of things from Macys and H&M, which I could afford! *smile

An excellent panel! I was the respondent on a Student's Right to Their Own Language (SRTOL) panel with several first-time presenters. Their work was exceptional and each added complexity to the yes/no debate for using home language varieties in classroom spaces. Kudos to Bonnie, Latoya, and Crystal!

The Lows:
The lack of collegiality during our panel. While I understand that critique is a part of academe, some folk overdo it just to hear themselves talk, even when they have nothing meaningful to say. Others do it as a vehicle for self-aggrandizement. I found both to be the case at our panel. Let me remind you that we had first-time presenters, and one particular scholar (a Black one at that!) corrected one of our panelists for conflating some terminology (in his opinion, I'm not quite sure that this was in fact the case). Not that he didn't have the right to make this criticism; however, this issue did not need to be addressed publicly. And, he misinterpreted something I said in my response, thus, prompting me to reread verbatim what I actually said to put him in check. I find especially problematic when men (including men of color) go after women of color (which all of us on the panel were), and especially graduate students. So much for community solidarity.

The Iffys:
I went to the annual CCCC Scholars for the Dream Award Reception (an award I won last year--hee hee) to support new award recipients. For those less familiar, this award recognizes a first time presenter of an historically underrepresented group whose research the committee believes will make significant contributions to the field. At the reception, they did things a bit differently. This year, they had each award winner display a poster of their scholarship in a poster session. I guess the idea behind this, was to get people to walk around like a science fair and engage their work. I see the value of encouraging folk to actually engage recipients' research. After all, not a single person asked me last year when I won about my research and scholarship at the reception. But I'm not sure about using the poster session to engage the dream scholars' work. First of all, the recipients had to stay with their posters and couldn't really mingle themselves. Second, this forced dream recipients to prepare two presentations for one paper: a poster and the conference paper they still had to give; isn't that quite a bit of work? Finally, the idea of putting folk of color on display for public viewing just don't sit right with me. I have mixed feelings about this addition.

There you have it. That's CCCC 2009.

No Wonder Fast Food Makes Americans FAT!

OK, I'm a bit cranky after a long frustrating day teaching with technology. Apparently, the projector that I hook my laptop up to when I teach wouldn't read my computer signal, so students couldn't see course notes, websites, etc. We were analyzing African American rhetorical and linguistic practices in digital environments while also providing digital rhetorical and visual rhetorical analyses of these sites; hence, we needed a working screen to view these sites together. And just when you were about to ask, I DID have a plan B. I uploaded the notes to Angel (our institution's equivalent to blackboard), since nearly every student carries a laptop to class (and the ones without them always partner up with a buddy who has one). So this didn't alter class too much.

The problem came when the IT people attempted to troubleshoot and fix the projector. As I was trying to carry on with class discussion while IT worked to fix the problem, the IT lady kept interrupting me and asking me to do something to my computer to see if the problem had been fixed. After several interruptions, I finally said forget it, and that we could carry on with class without the projector. She said OK, but returned twice more with different equipment, each time asking me to do something different with my computer. As my students giggled wondering how I was gonna handle her, I finally said politely that this was taking up too much time and that I really needed to get on with class. As soon as I said this, the projector started working. Hmmph.

Anyway, you're probably wondering what the relationship is between the IT story and fast food. Well, there is one. After a frustrating class period, I went to McDonald's to get fast food. Although I'm not much of a junk foodie and don't eat hamburgers at all, I really wanted some fries. And not to feel too guilty, I ordered a 4 piece chicken nugget Happy Meal, so that I could enjoy the junk in smaller portions. I was actually surprised at how few calories those things have. The whole meal was only 420 calories (230 for the fries, 190 for the nuggets, I gave soda away to Mr. Clark and drank water). Plus, the fries don't have any trans fats or cholesterol. Now, I'm not saying that I ate a healthy meal, but at least I won't have to pay too dearly for it.

Although the meal hit the spot, I have to admit that roughly two hours later I'm VERY hungry again. I don't think it's because I didn't get enough to eat with the Happy Meal (I always portion control things). But, because fast food is empty calories. And I think this is why Americans are overweight: We rely on fast food, and then like an hour later, we're hungry and have to eat again. I'm off to get a fiber granola bar and fruit. Hopefully that'll hold me out until dinner time.

Cooking Hobbies that Ward Off the Perils of Dissertating

A month ago, I had dinner with a couple of friends and wrote about my skepticism of home-prepared dinner dates (particularly those when I don't know whether or not the person can actually cook!). I later wrote about how good that really dinner was! Last week, the hostess finally sent me the recipe to her stuffed chicken cordon bleu and I tried it yesterday. I made it with a tossed salad, but when it was served to me, it was served with asparagus. Pix are above.

I actually thought it came out quite well. Mr. C enjoyed it and said that he liked my version better (I added a lil' extra seasoning with onion powder, paprika, and lemon pepper seasoning to give it an extra zest.) I'm starting to go back to my hobbies of cooking and baking again. Last year I didn't cook as much as I wanted and often relied on Mr. C's decadent version of tuna helper (he makes a MEAN helper!!) Now, cooking seems like a good outlet and break from dissertation, and all the grading I have to do right now. We'll see how long it lasts...

Things that Happened Today

1) I wrote and coded dissertation data. It made my tummy hurt after I was done.

2) I watched women flirt with Mr. C (the spouse).

3) I watched my CBS Soaps and can't wait for them to resolve that whole Kathryn Chancellor mistaken identity story. Seriously, it's really getting old!

4) I got frustrated when I had to pay $6.99 for a big tub of cayenne pepper (when I only needed a couple of teaspoons). Apparently, that's all the cayenne Kroger has.

5) I had to pay top $$ for crab meat b/c apparently, Kroger doesn't have imitation crab meat.

6) I just fell on my a** when I slid on some ice trying to bring the groceries in. Fortunately, Mr. C helped me up. I do have a swollen wrist and skinned knee though. (Did I mention that for the past four or so years I've fallen on ice each winter?)

C'est la vie.

The Fruits of My Labor May Not be In Vain (Yet)

I just taught my first day for the spring 2009 semester, and have quite engaged and fascinating students. They're already asking questions about "code-switching" and even know what the term means! Well, when I walked into the classroom an African American female student nearly cheered and fell out of her chair with excitment and I hadn't even opened my mouth yet. After class she explained that this was the first time she'd had a black teacher and was really excited about the course and content (Ebonics, I assume). Go figure, considering that there ain't many of us in the academy, let alone, the humanities (rhet/comp).

This makes me feel like the fruits of my labor may not be in vain after all. And I feel this lady's excitement: I didn't have my first African American teacher until my senior year in college at the University of Michigan (probably because I was creative writing and literature major?), and had to take courses in the social sciences just to get one. And since then, I've only had 2 African American teachers in grad school, one being Dr. G (aka Geneva Smitherman). Considering that I study Ebonics, go figure again.

Sometimes it takes moments like this to reflect more critically on the work that we as academics are responsible for doing, the power we hold (professionally, authoritatively, affectively, etc.), and the ways in which we represent both our home communities and the academy at large. What exactly does it mean to be a Black professor/instructor and not just a writing teacher? What does it mean to be a Black professor teaching about African American cultural and communicative practices? Whose responsibility is it to introduce students to Other cultural practices? Is it mine alone as an African American women, or can someone else teach/include such practices too? Whose authority does it become? Mine alone? Someone else's?

Upon reflecting both critically and intellectually on the implications surround Black teachers, I must also reflect soberly and pragmatically. Doing so makes things seem even more and more bleak; however, I have to be realistic. The academy knows that there are few and fewer (bl)academics represented, despite superficial calls for, and statements on diversity. And of the (bl)academics in the academy, even fewer are represented in the humanities (don't have hard stats, but nonetheless find this so, considering the fact that most of my (bl)academic friends come from other disciplines). Consider the Computers of Writing Conference (a smaller conferences associated with rhetoric and composition) I attended in May 2007 (held in Detroit of all places!). Of the hundreds of computer geeks represented, there were 3 AAs present, I being one of them!

As I continue to represent the small number of Blacks in rhet/comp/English Studies (although some would argue that the Black Caucus is actually one of the largest special interest groups in the National Council for Teachers of English), I have to believe that my work as a (bl)academic will be of value at least to my students.

ABD!

Enough said. Too exhausted to reflect on the grueling dissertation prospectus process now...

Substantiating the Unsubstantiated

I got a round of final stage (I think--that's what he/she said) recommedations back on a manuscript from an editor before the revised version is resubmitted for another external review. (He/she is an EXTREMELY helpful editor, BTW.) The final revisions concerned substantiating a couple unsubstantiated claims in the intro paragraphs of the manuscript. As I began looking for sources to offer as textual evidence, I found myself reverting back to a couple of practices that us writing teachers often tell our students NOT to do:

1. Sprinkle "salt and pepper" quotes throughout the draft to sound more academic: Yeah, I found myself trying to find that one quote to insert with the claim and be done with it!
2. Only find quotes that seem to justify your stance without looking at the overall context of the argument/text. Claims needed to be supported and I needed to find the evidence. Why not use it?

In case your asking, of course I went back through the works to look at the context before finalizing the revisions. I also made some stylistic changes so that the manuscript did not read like a "cover your a** with a citation" document. Nonetheless, I still think that citations practices in relationship to academic "discoursey" language are critical conversations to have not only with undergraduate students, but also graduate students, and need I say, faculty members too? When does a claim become a new concept for the field and not something that has to be substantiated? Seriously. The answer is not as simple as saying, "when no one has written about X." How do you know when no one is written about X? And if you do work with African American women's intellectual traditions in the academy (not outside the academy) you'll probably find yourself substantiating EVERYTHING!

End of the Semester/Class Reflection

Today marks the last day of class for my WRA 125 course. I must say that I'm EXTREMELY pleased with the smart work my Fall 2008 students have done. If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to check out their blogs before Spring 2009 students' blogs replace theirs.

As many of you know, I am doing an Afracentric teacher-research study on this group of students, so I'll make a few comments about their work and the data I need to begin analyzing. Although this blog initially was started to record my teacher-research notes, observations, reflections, etc., it kinda veered off into multiple directions, with limited attention being paid to specific observations from the class. Here's why:

It's not that I haven't been working at all on the dissertation. I have actually written quite a bit and gotten 3 chapters drafted, none of which are empirical. That means I haven't had sufficient time to spend with my data (which I have been collecting, just not analyzing or writing about as much). This is also complicated by the fact that I had to add an additional chapter explaining what an Afrafeminist teacher-research methodology is. That chapter has proven somewhat challenging. Although I have this chapter drafted and outline, I still have a bit more work to do with it before January.

All in all, I still think I'm on schedule. I can devote the entire next semester to data collection, interviews, analysis and writing for two empirical chapters. Although I wish I'd had the time to work with the data this semester, I did produce the theoretical chapters and will hopefully have them out of the way by next semester. Spending more time with data really isn't a bad thing, and I think we should encourage this more since some dissertations are often rushed. As Bruno Latour would say, we need to slow our research down. (LOL! see Grabill, I can make a Latourian connection!).

Hopefully next semester I won't have as many articles to revise and resubmit. I've revised and resubmitted the 3 I'm currently working on several times, and I hope to be done with them for the most part by next semester. I'll still have the Race(ism) and Assessment chapter to draft and revise, but at least I'll be collaborating on that one and won't have all the burden.

I still accomplished a great deal. Now, I need to take time and sit with the data!

btw, the official dissertation prospectus defense is next week, so I'll need to prepare for that!

To Do List 2.0

1. Praise God that we have the victory!
2. Laugh
3. Find that inner peace and return back to calm since the anxiety of the election is over
4. Return to cooking and baking hobbies that have been neglected since dissertating/writing/election
5. Find something else to do with my Web surfing time now that the presidential election is over, maybe search for new cookie recipes to try?
6. Be proud of my new balance between work and life (we'll see how long this actually lasts!)
7. Work on Afrafeminist Teacher-Research Methodology Chapter
8. Finish Revise/Resubmit article and draft cover letter summarizing the major revisions
9. Tidy up another book chapter proposal
10. Work on Race(ism) and Writing Assessment Chapter
11. Begin planning WRA 125 Spring 2009 course
    

To Do List

1. Work on Afrafeminist Teacher-Research Methodology chapter
2. Work on book chapter/assessment stuff due January 1
3. Work on a revise/resubmit article
4. Surf political junkie websites
5. Eat
6. Work out
7. Laugh

It's a shame when laughing is all the way at the bottom of the list. Hmmph. Now that I think of it, I'll probably work out first (move #7 to #1).