merry almost christmas

I had forgotten how bad a hangover I get from too much pisco. Let's just say that it totally sucks. And I now recall why I only drink pisco in small amounts. Ouch.

Apart from that, good times are had by all in this neck of the woods. It's crazy hot, people wait until the last minute to shop, and we're doing (we being my mother in law and I) a cross-cultural Christmas Eve dinner - I think they are a little freaked out about the sound of the Green Bean Casserole, but they'll come around once they taste it. Or I'll be eating a lot of green beans.

I also just read a quick book that an aunt lent me (yay totally exciting) called Bonsai (Alejandro Zambra 2006), I'm still not sure what my reaction to it is. But it was a random book to read, and everyone knows I love that.

Merry Almost Christmas!

Obfuscation usually requires a lot more words

Liberals read more books than conservatives.

Responding to the poll, White House spokesman Tony Fratto attacked liberals for being too “loquacious”:

Obfuscation usually requires a lot more words than if you simply focus on fundamental principles, so I’m not at all surprised by the loquaciousness of liberals.

Wow. So I must be uber-liberal. I've lost count of how many books I've read so far this year.

And who doesn't read ANYTHING? Who are these people? I am pretty sure I must not know any of them, or if I do they are too ashamed to admit that they haven't read anything lately. And that those who have read something, don't even read one book a month? Again, who are these people?

not unpacked yet

We are so not yet unpacked. But it's OK. They changed the lock on the door, and we're getting a new refrigerator later today. That means its OK to not know where things are yet because they are still in boxes, right?

I hate moving. But I love organizing. So why am I not enjoying this organizing part more?

Also, S has banned bookshelves from our bedroom. I was going to put my fun books there! But it's OK - I have enough bookshelves in the living room. :-) And it is still mostly my stuff all over the place, so I can't complain too much.

fun times with S

I love having S here.

If only I weren't, um, working, this would feel like a honeymoon. But I'm working, which makes my days feel quite odd - the mornings are work, but the afternoon and evenings are totally not work at all and hang out and be silly with my husband. I admit, I'm enjoying the afternoons and evenings quite a bit.

S still hasn't finished Deathly Hallows so I can't talk about it at home. Puf! But we did get him his own copy earlier in the week, so I can reread mine with more attention to detail. I still like it. I just wish S would finish it, so I wouldn't have to watch what I say about it!

I heart HP7

OMG So I'm totally one of the people who loved the seventh book. I'll just put that out there.

That, and that I was up until about 8 AM finishing it up, and when I came to bed I whispered to S that I had finished it (by the time we got the book I didn't think I'd stay up all the way through it...) and that is was excellent and whatnot, so he started reading it about half an hour ago. Which is awesome - but I wish we had gotten 2 copies instead of 1 so I could be re-reading certain key chapters that I don't feel that I read with enough depth last night.

And the only other thing I'll say about it for now, besides GO READ THE BOOK PEOPLE is that I wasn't too bad at figuring out what was going to happen, on a macro scale. But since I didn't talk to a lot of people about that at all, that won't ruin it for anyone who might read this. So again, go read the book. Pretty please.

556

I am happy that S is here. Very very happy.

So awhile ago I reserved a copy of Deathly Hallows (only 1, S said at the time he didn't want his own copy) at my local bookstore, and we happened to be walking by there around 5:45 this afternoon. Turns out, they're handing out wristbands with numbers to those who pre-ordered books for the order of buying them. So the book doesn't come out until midnight, right? Well, I'm #556. And there was definitely less than half the list highlighted. So yeah. Let's see how long it takes them to get to #556. Especially taking into account that I got my wristband, oh, over 6 hours before I can actually purchase the book.

But I am ALL KINDS OF EXCITED!!!!!

UPDATE, about 2 AM: We got into the store at about 12:40, and had gotten the book and left the store by 12:50. SO COOL! It was fun. Though I suppose somewhat odd, given that they had us all out in the street... and it was policepeople directing who got into the store and whatnot... but so cool! I'm about to start reading it... let's see if I get through it or not.

UPDATE, a bit before 8 AM: And I'm done. SO GOOD. Now more people need to read it so I have someone to talk to about it. Because, just yeah. Wow. But I won't say anything yet. Promise.

proof again that i'm a worry wart, part gazillion

I think I've lost my favorite necklace... please, please, please appear. Because I love you, and you aren't any of the places that I thought I had left you.

I'm kind of a nervous wreck right now. Mostly, because S is en route and I'm a worry wart. Duh.

HP progresses well. And to all of the poo-poo-ers of HP out there... well, I won't say anything vulgar, but it's kinda ridiculous. Because HP is great fun. And people who don't like great fun are poo-poo-ers, in my book. Especially if you rip on it and have NEVER READ it, or have only read Sorcerer's Stone or Chamber of Secrets.

read this

read this.

I've written about women authors (who AUTHORS just as much as male authors are) before... and c'mon, it's Gloria Steinem!!!

next week is super awesome

Ah, the week is over.

I am yet again looking forward to enjoying the weekend. Which means, of course, curling up with good ole Harry.

Harry Potter, duh.

No sean malpensados!

I'm so happy because S's birthday is on Monday, and then he will be HERE in the STATES in our HOUSE on THURSDAY! I'll stop capitalizing entire words now. But I am pretty psyched about all that. :-)

Saturday might be my favorite day of the week

Saturdays are just wonderful days. I understand why 9-5 people enjoy them and look forward to them so much.

To be honest, this summer I'm really an 8:15 to anytime between 1 and 4, depending on the day. Wednesday totally felt like a Saturday to me.

S is coming! So I'm super excited about that. I'm also super excited that some relatives are driving through and I'll get to see them tonight (hence the cleaning frenzy).

I've also been going through my reading lists... though as I have been sifting through the library books that have taken over my dining table, in the hopes of reducing them to a manageable order or meaning, I've found a few that I think I can return. And a few that, bar a few chapters, I can also return. Though I keep thinking - what if I need them again? Well, um, that is what the library is for, right? Taking books out again?

I'm also slowly coming to grips with the fact that I don't need to keep all the clothes I have. I have some clothes that I don't think I've worn in the last 4 years, but I don't want to get rid of them because, well, I might want to wear them again. This is of course totally ignoring that I really don't have any intention to wear them, and I would much rather just buy new clothing, but I am restraining myself because I don't have anywhere to store new clothing. So, I think when I move in August, it will also be a, I never wear this, so it's going out to Goodwill binge. Unless it's not.

A side product of my going through the books (are on the table, table, table... sorry, I couldn't resist), I've remembered how many truly awesome books are on my PhD reading lists and how I am really looking forward to reading them. Like, dorkily so. But then I have all of the other books that I'm also reading at the same time - I've lapsed back into my keeping several books going at the same time - though I suppose it was more odd that I was only reading 1 book at a time for a few months. I just can't decide what to pick up next, so I start a few at once. However, by mid next week I need to be starting Potter mania or I won't get through all 6 before 7 comes out. (yes, perhaps I'm being ridiculous in leaving myself only about 10 days to get through them all, but really, they go quickly. I probably could start the week of. But S is getting here that week, so I'm giving myself a cushion).

Well... the seductive call of the clothes piled on my bed waiting for storage is quite effective...

Fun with 19th century British Literature

Because everyone knows that I love it. I ADORE Jane Austen - which is probably part of why I thought this article by Rebecca Traister was pretty nifty. I'm also pretty fond of the Bronte sisters, and I like me some George Eliot (hmm the women novelists, they're pretty cool). Thomas Hardy, anyone?

From reading random things online, I feel like my taste in Austen is somewhat amusing in that my favorite of her novels are Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. I suppose my ranking order, even though I enjoy all of them, would be:

1. Northanger Abbey
1. Persuasion
3. Mansfield Park
4. Emma
5. Sense and Sensibility
6. Pride and Prejudice

Which ones have been made into (usually missing the social aspects and humor of the novels) movies? Not my favorites. And Northanger Abbey would be hilarious. Just imagine Catherine's misconceptions about the Abbey and the Tilneys. And Bath, oh Bath.

This is making me want to read The Madwoman in the Attic. Or to re-read Middlemarch. Though I admit, all of these novels are somehow associated with autumn for me. Autumn is my favorite season, after all, but there is something that makes me think of the moor and autumn. I think it was my multiple readings of The Secret Garden as a child and not really knowing what a moor was (and no, I'm not talking about the Muslim conquest of Spain).

Anyways, if anyone has read this far - what is your favorite Austen novel? Favorite 19th century British novel? Middlemarch? Jane Eyre? Wuthering Heights? Tess of the D'Urbervilles? I want to know!!

pink and pretty

I sometimes forget how quickly I read in English, particularly my beloved fantasy novels. This is not to say that I don't read relatively quickly in Spanish, but it's not the same. I've torn through 5 books in the last 2.5 days. That said, I haven't done much of anything else. But still.

We have some possibly good news from immigration people meaning that I would get to see S in July. Everyone else says it is good news, while I just think of the ways the government might have fudged the truth to get my hopes up. I'm trying not to be too negative, or positive either for that matter.

My new cell phone is here! It is pretty. And pink. And most importantly, in one piece.

My current approach to literary criticism, that is, what I do

Every text I read, I read as an individual with a history, aesthetic likes and dislikes, and generic preferences. When I finish the text, I analyze my reactions. If I liked it, I note a few details that might explain why (for example, strong feminist themes and decent mechanics in writing), and usually don’t pursue it beyond that, unless larger themes develop, usually in tandem with another text that I liked. However, the texts I don’t like are almost more academically challenging or interesting, because I force myself to think WHY I don’t like them – it is a lot easier to enumerate the things I don’t like about a text that I have a tepid reaction to as opposed to a text that I adore. By this logic, I should study modern poetry. I have more to say about it. But I care about the things I like to read. And there is where I can connect themes. Random novels that share historical figures; views of a specific urban space in the last 15 years in fiction; the mechanics of narrative, between novel and short story; film adaptations, or stories that mirror films that the author has seen/acted in/directed/studied.

My father, while musing upon his own experience in graduate school in (a different foreign language), said something to the effect that success in literature in academia is more learning the crazy theory than actually ruminating on the texts at hand. I certainly felt that way in my lit classes when I studied abroad as an undergraduate. These students, who studied literature and nothing else (there is no equivalent for “area requirements” or a general liberal arts education there) had such a specialized jargon, and in my second language, that I felt intimidated at first. I read Theodor Adorno in translation – in my second language. But when it came time to leave the theory, after the first few weeks, and talk about the actual texts, my native speaker classmates were lost, and only parroted back theory that had no application to the text at hand. Now, I admit that I use Scarry’s Body in Pain, Foucault, etc. when it actually has an application to the theme that I am exploring. It is hard to talk about urban spaces in narrative as space and aesthetic without reading about urban planning theory. I can’t talk about Colonial or Viceregal anything without a historical background, both from contemporary texts to particular events and current scholarship. But to treat a text as if its only importance is the way we can apply Foucault or Butler or Derrida destroys the text as an entity in and of itself, in my opinion. A text is valuable for itself, just as as individuals we are worth a great deal. To limit the interpretation of a text, or contacts it might have with other texts or fields, to one narrow theoretical outlook does not only the text a disservice but also the theory upon which the criticism is based.

It’s like the New Yorker Cartoon with the punchline: “And just how do you expect to become a made man, son, without a solid liberal-arts education?” While specialization is important in my field, you have to keep the bigger picture in mind. And in my own studies, the texts themselves are infinitely more important that the theoretical approach I employ.

Canon issues

While eeeh I don't study American (i.e. US) literature, I really appreciated this article that proposes that *gasp* women writers shouldn't be in the canon for diversity's sake (and I would extend that argument to other minority group writers as well) but rather, because, well, they're good. Given that I've spent the better part of the past two years reading a bunch of (mostly) dead, (debatably) white men's work, and that one of my exam questions had to do with women in the canon in MY AREA(!!), this really touched close to home. Don't read women because they're women. Read women , or men for that matter, because what they write is worth reading.

identity musings

Given how much I love reading, it’s interesting that I don’t really like writing fiction very much, or lyric anything. I’ve been thinking of this because in a class today we were talking about artistic literary creation and the professor has really encouraged us to think of ourselves as writers as opposed to just students who write essays. When I was younger (meaning before college), I wrote stories, poems, and even though about writing several novels. Since I started college, I’ve left that behind. I like writing essays. Maybe one day I’ll write stories again. And I think I have a feeling as to why I prefer essays. It’s not that essays aren’t personal – even relatively dry academic ones say things about their authors – but I like them because they give me an illusion of anonymity. Yes, I write, and in writing I expose myself. But I feel as if non-fiction essays are much less exposing than novels, stories, poems, even though I love reading fiction as well. I’m terrified of the idea that someone might read something I wrote and think it is horrible. Even though I’m pretty straight-forward, I hate the idea of letting strangers read very personal things, because I feel like my imagination says more about me than the essay topics I choose to pursue. The one essay that I’ve written in the past few years that is incredibly personal is one that I wrote that deals with saying goodbye, and I wouldn’t be comfortable knowing that anyone but those closest to me had read it. Part of me wants to be known as a writer as well as an academic, but a larger part wants anonymity. I’m not a diva, nor am I a hero.

In unrelated musings, I find myself worrying about what happened at Tech. It’s kind of silly, because it’s very unlikely that I would have to deal with a similar situation. But every time I heard a door while I was teaching this morning, I worried. I teach on the third floor of a building. The classroom has one table that can move, which isn’t very sturdy. The desks are bolted to the ground and can’t be moved. I don’t know if you can survive a jump from the windows, because you would land in the concrete outside the basement windows, or maybe in the courtyard with grass and trees but you are still exposed to windows in the hallways. I heard about one professor (Liviu Librescu?) who stood in the door to protect his students. I suppose I am selfish, but I don’t think I would be able to do something similar. I care for my students, but I don’t want to die. Does that make me a bad teacher?

Palm Sunday

I finished the Harry Potter series again... I can't wait for the seventh one in July. I actually arranged for a reserve copy today. Until then, I'm sure I'll be reading lots of other fun things. I have a lot of interesting and disparate bits and pieces lying around that I want to get to... I just have to figure out how, when, etc.

I'm feeling very good on the schoolwork front, it's exciting to dive back into the topics I am most interested in again.

Next Sunday is Easter! I am very, very excited. I love Easter. It is my most favorite holiday of the year, even better than Christmas. And Easter gets even better because I always get to see my family.

Perhaps overcoming my fear of drastically short hair

I have read in the past few days a book that I swear is the oddest novel I have ever read. Seriously. I can't make heads or tails of it.

In more light news... I am considering cutting my hair. Seriously. For those of you not familiar with my hair saga... I had beautiful normal hair as a child and begged my mother to let me cut it in 2nd grade, which was a disaster. I have a lot of hair, so the volume made my hair go mushroom head. Not at all attractive. In fact, it scarred me in terms of haircuts and I did not cut my hair again until right before high school graduation - and then it went from waist length to shoulder length, and in the past 5 or 6 years has varied between shoulder length and mid back. However, I'm feeling like the longer hair makes me look younger than I am, and am considering cutting it to look like this:


Now, keep in mind that my hair isn't nearly that blonde, though the sun is out more so it'll get lighter again - though never that light. I also haven't had bangs since that desastrosa 2nd grade mushroom cap. I mean, that's short hair! But I think it could look good on me, if the person cuts it the right way. So, I ask the world: what do you all think?

I even heard the Passacaglia in c minor

The organ recital this afternoon was short but pleasant. I quite enjoyed it and am looking forward to the one next week.

Jorge Diaz died this week. He's a Chilean playwright that I really enjoyed reading - though I have never seen any of his plays on stage. Plays like Topografia de un desnudo and El cepillo de dientes were eye-opening to me - when I first read them a few years ago, I had no idea that theater could express that sort of social commentary. So, thank you, Mr. Diaz, and may you rest in peace.

the sky spitting ice sucks

Wow I'm studytastic. It's kind of crazy.

Part of me really just wants to sit down and read all the Harry Potter books again, and when I finish book 6 magically have the new one appear. But I, like the rest of humankind, have to wait. Alas.

My husband went back to the beach this morning. I'm jealous of course, because I'd like to go to the beach. Especially because it is spitting ice outside - too cold for rain, too warm for snow. It sucks. But I enjoyed my class today and teaching (though it was kinda sorta really hectic but no one broke a chair today) and I'm looking forward to my study meeting tomorrow, because I own the material Yay me.

I just need to keep this positive attitude :-) and share it with the world!