(Image from https://themighty.com/2017/05/what-panic-attacks-feel-like/) When I was a young (warthog) writer – roughly around high school age, when I first started taking this writing thing seriously – my teacher/mentor figure told me that writers don’t really call themselves “writers”; other people bestow that title on them, like a queen bestowing titles on their subjects. To claim that… Read More On Imposter Syndrome
It’s been awhile, I know. Trust me when I say that I would have loved to update this space in a more regular manner, but this semester just kicked my butt in a most violent and exhausting manner. Hopefully, by keeping track of what happens every semester (if I remember to do this kind of… Read More Semester in Review: Sem 2, AY 2017-2018
OH BOY. It seems that I haven’t updated this space in months. That’s insane. We’re in the middle of the semester, which means that the insanity is coming in April (staying true to its “cruelest month” nickname; thanks TS Eliot) what with final requirements for students, thesis defense panels, and final submissions for everything. The term… Read More Life + Writing Updates, March 2018
Dear Me from 2017, You’ve had a pretty steady year, not gonna lie. Maybe the biggest thing that happened was that YOU GOT MARRIED! Remember back in 2012, when you said to yourself that it’s okay to be single, that you didn’t want to wade back into the dating scene because it just felt toxic… Read More Leaving 2017/Entering 2018
I’m taking a break from checking student essays (and other personal and professional activities, including [but not limited to] – washing the dishes from yesterday’s dinner, formatting response sheets, and preparing for student presentations and workshops tomorrow) because I was really bothered by a tweet that came across my timeline earlier today. And no, it’s… Read More Writing For Your Life
One of the things I never saw for myself was marriage. Sure, falling in love was easy – I could do it in a heartbeat. But staying in love, working through a relationship? That was something that I only read about in self-help articles and Thought Catalog think pieces. I knew how to spot the… Read More Tying the Knot
Good lord, the semester is over and I don’t have to teach mid-year classes. (Gambatte, teachers teaching during the mid-year!) So I have a bunch of things I want to write about, in no particular order: – Getting married (to the best person, no less!) – Attending Jamilton and being fully immersed in fandom –… Read More Teaser Sequence
I’m in the middle of checking 56 exams by tonight, but I was just struck with the thought that, despite everything I do, I’ll still have something strange said about me and my work. (I won’t say they’re negative, because my first reaction when I read them was to laugh out loud.) So just to… Read More Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously
Preparing for a new semester has always been simultaneously the best and the worst part of teaching. There’s nothing more exciting than imagining what kind of thing you can teach in class – especially if it’s a new prep – and what kind of readings you can give to students. You wish and hope and… Read More Teacher training
Sometimes Sunlight 