Everything

I have a 20 page paper to write. I have a thousand poems to write. I dream in technicolor. I dream in black and white. I sing and I am silent. And really, it's moments like these that I just need a little Four Quartets.

T.S. Eliot said that:

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.

From Burnt Norton--how brilliant is that?

John Galt goes to college

I have almost finished my first paper, and I've already have my presentation for it, and it apparently conference ready--HOORAY!! Plus, my prof tells me that I could probably turn it into a book or use it to start my dissertation!! I'm very very excited about this. =)

In other news, my OTHER paper is just getting started, because I randomly switched topics a few days ago. I like my new topic better. And in my academic paranoia, it is entirely likely that I will not tell you what that paper is about either.

Ha ha.

So, the semester is almost over--today is my last full day of class, and on Monday I take up my students portfolios, and on Wednesday all my papers are due. After which I will celebrate by going to see They Might be Giants, and then flying to Richmond on Saturday for my dad's birthday.

Incidentally, has anyone else heard about the Atlas Shrugged movie being back in the works (again)? And possibly starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt? (As someone else put it: who better to star in the Atlas Shrugged movie than a couple whose names have been melded together?)

I've Got Rhythm, I've Got Music

So, I have been typing frantically for the last few days, and it seems as if my 10-12 page paper is going to be more like 17-19 pages. I think I can get away with it though, because I think I'm onto something with this one. So I'm not going to tell you about my paper. I'll just say I had a hell of a time finding CDs.

I have one more paper to write, my twenty page paper. I'm a little more worried about this one, because I'm not sure if I can get twenty pages out of "why doesn't Judith Butler ever talk about Cixous?" I have some ideas, but I'm not going to be happy until I start writing.

And I have one presentation left, and about 300 pages of grading. Then I take up my students final portfolios, and grade those, and turn in final grades. I hope to be done with everything by May 3rd, when I will celebrate by going to see They Might Be Giants!!

So while I realize that this isn't the most exciting blog entry in the world, I can't sleep and I can't think and I can't stop typing.

Oh, here's news--my teaching philosophy is going to be used as a model next year! I'm excited about that--I've never had a paper used as a model before.

And that's about all I've got. Rhythm, music, and grad school--life doesn't really get better than that. Well, unless it's rhythm, music, and tenure, I suppose.

Discoursing in discourse

After two presentations on Judith Butler, I am now back on the blogging. I am again reconstructing a narrative self, an "I" outside of my I, which I ("I") present as a re-interative and re-constitutive process, and which you ("you") read with pleasure. See how I construct you? You are a friendly reader (and oh how you've been interpellated).

Okay, enough of that. I saw Mates of State last weekend and they were extremely fabulous! They were so good that I bought a t-shirt, and I have not danced so much at a show since I saw TMBG at Mayo Island in 1996. That might be an exaggeration, but it's pretty damn close to the truth.

And, They Might Be Giants are playing here!! Yes, friendly readers, the Twin Quasars of Rock will be performing at the Variety on May 3rd, and my little heart is pounding wildly with antici


pation at the idea of seeing them live again. It has been far too long, and my soul needs to be replenished at the musical fountain for which Ponce de Leon was born far too early to find.

Ah, linguistic games. I dub "I" Helene Cixous!

Clearly, reading large amounts of theory very quickly has a tendency to underscore/undermine one's ability to participate in language as a "normal" individual, and creates/enhances subversive tendencies.

And if you think this is a little ridiculous, just wait until the blogs I post while writing this semester's papers--in the meantime, I will be attempted to coerce several of you into joining a CD exchange program. Check your in-boxes for details in the near future.