Poet Answering Questions

One of my favorite blogs, Wuthering Expectations, is reviewing and interviewing a contemporary midwestern poet right now. Alas, I have nothing to add to the discussion, but just thought it was too cool not to alert my other friends.

Winter Update

So no big news here but I wanted to say hi to everyone and share some fun pictures of the big snow. J & I decided that we needed Katie from Katie and the Big Snow. Gavin had no idea what to do with snow that was very tall on him. I had to join him in the yard just after I took the picture so he wasn't scared.

The other picture is of drifting by our garage. It was up to over 6 feet in a few spots and is still there. So I lost last week to snow and just finished my teaching for this week. It was odd to lose a week during the second week of class.

Irene came to visit over New Years and we had a great visit. I miss my knitting group. I really want a teleporter so we could all visit more often. So please let me know if you'll be in the Chicago area or if you want to come visit. Gavin gives kisses and snuggles and can be easily kept out of the guest room.

Sending happy wintery thoughts to all. :-)

Some News!

Hello Everyone! I hope the year has gone well for you thus far. It has been an interesting one for us here in TN, and we are at the point where we are spreading the word as to why. (Drum roll please) I will be joining the motherhood club in mid-August! We found out right before we started traveling to NE for Christmas and things are going well, all-in-all. So if any of you experienced mothers out there have any advice, I would be happy to hear it!

I do think I'm going through a bit of soccer withdrawal because I can't play right now. Saturday night I was having a dream that I was playing soccer, was passed the ball and I passed the ball to someone else. Well, as I passed the ball, I happened to kick a certain someone in the knee while he was sleeping - never done that before - and he felt it the rest of the day. It's a good thing I wasn't trying to score a goal!

To warm you on a cold day - and no it isn't something happy

sorry :(

but this just made my blood boil. I have already written my representative. Just an FYI - hope you are all doing well in the snow or not snow, wherever you are.


http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/02/01/hr3_abortion_rape

Happy Groundhog Eve!

Surely it's a holiday* where you are, isn't it? Everyone in Oklahoma is getting the day off this year, and lots of friends in Texas, Kansas, and Missouri seem to be home celebrating. Whether or not you are home with the wind howling or having a normal day at work, I hope you are safe and warm and starting a new a happy new month.
Happy Groundhog Day and thanks for being my friend.

Oh, Jennifer and I both have new photos on our respective blogs-- be sure to check them out.

*I was talking to my parents last night, who are in Denver where it was already below zero and blowing hard with a few inches of snow on the ground, but nobody talking about anything closing. I told them we wouldn't have school today and, knowing that we didn't yet have any snow, they had to ask why. The Mister replied, "Doesn't everybody get the day off for Groundhog Eve?"

Refreshing

Last semester, my classes and students on average pretty much sucked the life out of me, and definitely reduced my enthusiasm for teaching.

But this semester, my upper level Ecology class - they are AWESOME! All of them. Even the weakest student in there is good. They are infusing me with new enthusiasm. It's a nice change. I hope that I am up to the challenge!

Style Mentors?

Do you have any role models 0n workday style?
Who are they?
What do they look like?
What do you wear to work?
I realize that I have lots of ideas of what I don't want to look like as I develop professionally, but I'm not sure I have any ideas of who I do want to look like.
At my last job I worked with a woman who has the sense of style I always thought I would acquire when I grew up and bought new clothes-- she wears unstructured jackets and raw silk jumpers and loose clothes of purple or green patches purchased from fair trade booths. She wears no make-up, her hair is still long in her forties, and her comfortable shoes rarely coordinate with her outfits (her style somewhat like JD at KBS). It works, but it's not me at work.
In my department here, I've got two short foreign women who end up looking like they don't care, even though I think that both do, a woman who looks great at fifty but wears nylons and sensible heels every day and lots of coordinating synthetic skirt outfits, none of which I am about to do. There's a professor who dresses more like I do, but to the point that I can't tell if she has any style either.
Thinking of the women at KU, well, Maria has distinct style, but it is nothing that I am going to emulate. HA sometimes has a look that I want to avoid-- the little practical scientist lady. Actually, my size (and my smile and my penchant for large necklaces and my unwillingness to cut my hair) make me unable to pull of a "very basic clean and well groomed science lady" look.
So who do I look to?
(Barbara McClintock, pictured, seemed to always be photographed in a blue sweater with a white collar. I don't have the personality to so limit myself. Perhaps that is one reason why I will never win a Nobel Prize.)