"Things Just Got Real"

It's September 30th and I have officially begun to bug out but in a calm way.

Before my Fall Break (which begins next weekend) I have to begin and finish my 8-10 page midterm paper for my intro class. I'm really excited about it actually because it will be on Junot Diaz's Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. For those you haven't read it yet, read it. My paper will discuss how the book that is about a Dominican/American family becomes part of a national narrative of the United States. Face it, when we think of the typical American person, we do not think of Oscar, his mother, or his sisters however, the book has won a Pulitzer prize and still deemed a great book that everyone "must read." This confused me because I see myself, history, family in the book and couldn't initially understand how people who were not part of the same history or culture could so closely read and love the book. Anyway, I haven't seen anything scholarly on it yet so I figured I'd take a stab at it. It's only 8 - 10 pages now but I intend to expand it for my final paper (20 -25pgs) due at the end of the semester.

For my independent study I just finished reading Farming of the Bones which I hadn't read even though it has been assigned in two of my undergradute courses. I'm so upset for not having read this book prior to this week. It's about the Haitian Massacre in the Dominican Republic led my own of the craziest dictators/presidents of the 20th century - Trujillo. I have to write a review of the book. The next book I will read is called Avengers about the Haitian Revolution, the first successful slave rebellion in the Americas to officially remove the colonial power, France, and maintain control of what used to be San Domingue and Santo Domingo (modern day Hispaniola - DR and Haiti). So the book reviews need to be done within the next week and a half.

I have to create my students Take Home Exam that I will give them after October break and prepare for my own take home midterm that I will be receiving from my feminist theory class the day we get back from October Break. (It is only the weekend plus Monday and Tuesday). What makes things have to be done before the break as opposed to during the break is that the boyfriend is coming to Indiana. I'm so excited but I also know that I wont really want to focus as much as I know I should on my schoolwork. *sigh* we're going to have to spend some quality time reading and writing papers together I suppose.

I just went to this workshop of the Ford Fellowship which I plan to apply to a year from now when I begin the process of applying to PhD programs all over again (of course Purdue will be applied to as well, I just want to make sure that I see what other options I have).

Ok just wanted to explain the impending disappearing acts within the next two weeks.