This week I finished reading Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. I really liked it. Sometimes "immigrant" narratives are difficult for me to relate to, but she frames the collection with this quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Custom House":
Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth.
As someone who is making a life for herself in a place very different from the place where she grew up, this provided a great point of entry for me. (This in itself marks a shift in my reading-- normally I'm trying to analyze the book for what it says, not judging it based on how easily I can relate it to my own life. This is one thing I consider when I read for fun.) This book felt like the right place to start my summer reading, because "vacation" feels like unaccustomed earth to me at this point, too.
Monday was my first day at home by myself since I finished my semester, and what did I do? After I went for a run and bid goodbye to Vickie, I spent most of the day reading. On any given day that I'm home during the semester, I spend most of the day reading, as well. So I guess I'm in the right program, right? (I certainly didn't mind putting the book down when Billy got home, though.)
Speaking of running, I have a 10k coming up on Father's Day. I did really well in this race last year, running the fastest pace I've ever run competitively. I'd like to beat that time but I'm not sure how likely that is. I think it depends mostly on the weather, because as I was reminded a few weeks ago, it's a lot harder to run in heat and humidity. I'm looking forward to the race, though! I love the 10k distance.
I found out that my paper on Margaret Garner and Harriet Beecher Stowe's Dred has been accepted for the Reading Comparatively: Theories, Practices, Communities conference at UMd in November. I'm excited to have found a life for this project beyond the seminar paper because I feel like the argument is really interesting, and I invested a lot of time in that research. I'm terrified about presenting on a panel alongside Mary Helen Washington, Edlie Wong (who is joining our faculty), and a fellow graduate student whose dissertation-in-progress on slavery, law, and literature has already won two awards. I guess this is how it's going to continue to be for me at UMd: I'll keep trying to jump head first into the deep end, and they'll keep letting me.
After having Vickie here for a couple weeks, it is a little weird now that she is gone. I guess it is a good sign that I am looking forward to her return at the end of the summer instead of thinking "phew, glad she's gone." : ) If Oscar could speak, I'm sure he'd ask me daily when she is coming back. He misses his daily walks and he can't figure out why we are not attending to his every whim. I am also amused that Vickie has traveled several thousand miles since she left and the sheets on her bed that I intended to wash after she left have not yet moved an inch. I find it exceptionally hard to accomplish anything when I'm not busy. Does this happen to anyone else? After she left, I finally did some picking up around the house because the mess got on my nerves. I accomplish a lot more in a given day if I have to pay attention to what needs to be done. With a wide-open schedule, I waste a lot of time and then wonder where it all went.
On Tuesday morning, my normally 40-60 minute commute took me two hours. I got out of work late. The shoes I had delivered didn't fit. The anemometer Billy had delivered was broken. The mechanic who was fixing my car for the second time in as many weeks called to say that on the follow-up test drive, he hadn't secured the hood, and so it flew up and smashed the windshield. I found out that during the week in August that we had been planning to return to visit the family and the girls' new babies, I have to be at work for "professional development." My dad found out that he would have to start getting bi-weekly infusions of Avastin to stop the spread of his cancer. That day felt like a kick in the stomach.
Other things have been going better. I just returned from a relaxing lunch with Danielle, in which I didn't have to feel guilty about taking time out of my day for myself or returning ASAP to get back to work. I met with the director of the first year writing program about the class I'll be teaching in the fall, and I'm starting to get excited for that. Billy and I went into DC last night to meet up with some of his old work friends at a party our friend Will hosted on his condo building's rooftop deck, which has a great view of the city and a nice breeze. We are building a nice little community of readers and commenters at Scholar Style Guide. I have almost summoned the necessary energy to return to the paper I presented at the Narrative conference, revise it, and submit it for publication consideration. The World Cup has begun and I had a good time watching the U.S. put up a good fight against England. (Random fact that maybe only Liz knows: Jozy Altidore, who had a great shot on goal yesterday, is one of the many beneficiaries of the support of the Andy Roddick Foundation. The foundation helped pay for his education and his training until he was signed professionally.)
Are you still reading? Thanks for taking an interest in my summer break, then. I don't have any recent pictures, but I'll leave you with a few from our graduation cookout. Thanks Heather, for snapping so many photos! (Click to enlarge)
And one more- an out-take from Scholar Style Guide in which Oscar decided to pose and join me:
CONGRATULATIONS on your Garner/Beecher Stowe paper's acceptance to the conference! We can surely attribute the success of this project to God's original grading of it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as if there were any doubt, this recent success proves to certain profs that there is, in fact, a brain in your head. ;)