Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Schools Out for Summer!

I'm back folks!

I am done with grading and ready to take on the summer months. As you know, I'm making progress on the dissertation as part of "Go 2009." So that's foremost on my list of things to do.

In another bit of good news, my husband, M. got into an art program. He's getting an AA in graphic design from Platt College, and I'm super proud of him for going back to school. He already has a B.A. in (you guessed it) American Studies, so this is a new avenue for him, but I think he'll do very well. Looks like he has a bunch of cool classes lined up like "life drawing" and all kinds of Photoshop and Illustrator classes. I'm totally going to be piggy-backing on that learnin' for my own stuff. He hopes to eventually go back to the skateboarding industry with his skills.

So, I say all that to tell you that he'll be gone in the mornings all summer. I should be able to get some nice work done in silence in the mornings. I plan to work until noon each day, even if it's on something tedious like formatting or graphs. Who knows, maybe I'll finish this damn thing?

Now, if you know me, you know that I have a penchant for "side projects." This is because my mind is constantly humming and I can't like, go to the beach and just lay out. Even when I do that, I have to bring 4 magazines. And one of them is probably a "thinker" magazine that I read with intensity. So what are my side projects then? I have decided to limit them to two, which is really, really good, I swear.

#1 - The cookbook. I have been transcribing my grandmother's old recipes she left behind and will be working on that more steadily this summer. Also I will be doing a little bit of research on communist and post-communist foodways. This is a project I've been working on for some time with my friend Justine. We're gonna pitch this sucker to a real publishing house, maybe a university publisher, and I would just love to see it be something, even something small. I've been wanting to make the food too. Maybe you'll see some preliminary photos here!

#2 - A comic book. I am all fascinated by comics lately, since I got hooked on the Buffy comic that takes up where the last episode left off. Plus, I used to love zines and weird alternative comics back in the day when Tower Records existed. Combine that with alI the research on vampires I've been doing and I am suddenly in a storytelling mood. So I'm going to start working on a comic book, that way I can get my artsy jones taken care of (I can't be all academic or my brain will starve). If I like what I make (and that's a big if), I might make a website for it, since it will probably never see the light of day otherwise. So maybe you'll see my stuff!

Does it look like Sweet Lady will spend any time this summer out of doors? Don't worry, I will on occasion go to the beach, walk my dog, and walk through parking lots to my car. That's enough, right?

Am I writing three books this summer? Probably not, but I hope to at least get a bulk of the dissertation done, submit a proposal for the cookbook, and have a couple chapters of my comic story up online. I have three glorious months without teaching, so I gotta make the most of it, right?

P.S. I finished the book version of Let the Right One In (awesome painting below by Tom Humberstone). Very, very good. But I still don't get the bit about Eli's egg puzzle. Why is it worth so much? What is it?



P.S.S. California is officially one of the more backwards states in the country.

No comments:

Post a Comment