Student teaching has just taken over my life. I'm halfway through. 5 weeks left.

I also have a teaching job interview next Thursday morning. So much stress, so little time. Is it summer yet?

I compiled this list of poems two years ago for a favorite college English professor after the death of her husband. I just thought it might help someone else out there, so here it is, internet.

( For those of us who trudge through grief by overflowing ourselves with it.... )

I celebrate Christmas. After Thanksgiving, we decorate the house with an artificial Christmas tree and multi-colored lights, along with the plethora of decorations that seem to multiply ever year. When we pull them out of boxes from the attic, always someone asks, "Where did this come from?" while the rest of us shrug and find some new place for it ( Read more... )

• I finished my first term as a masters student (Masters in the Art of Teaching). It was stressful and crazy, but in retrospect, kind of fun to be back in school.
• I worked a full-time job and ate lots of cake and other various office pastries and now all my pants are tight. Also while at work (and driving to and from work), I listened to the audiobook ( Read more... )

I feel like this entire year of my life has been categorized by constant immersion into literature. Since I last updated, I've finished Stardust by Neil Gaiman, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I'm near the end of Great House by Nicole Krauss and halfway through East of Eden by John Steinbeck. In terms of writing ( Read more... )

In case you're interested, I'm checking in with a few recent reads/listens:

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer (my review here)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer & The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens
The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel by Amy Hempel (My review here)
American ( Read more... )

Mid-July, I started working as an office temp again. As I spend most of my day doing menial computer tasks, I am allowed to listen to my ipod at work (read: listen to audiobooks). It is likely to be a very productive summer/beginning to fall unless I run out of free audiobooks to download.

Here's what I've listened to so far these past 3 weeks and 2 ( Read more... )

I am aware this series is of the young adult genre. However, just because it is intended for teens, I do not think that is an excuse for its failings. There are plenty of young adult fiction out there that is able to call itself literature and not resort to lazy storytelling/plot summary and inconsistent characterization (especially of its narrator ( Read more... )

Saw Deathly Hallows Part 2 at midnight last night with my boyfriend and my mom (who got really into HP the past few months). We had a great time. I have given up a long time ago on the movies sticking with the books, so I wasn't too upset with the things that were different. Something strange though -- I thought when the credits rolled that I would ( Read more... )

Last Friday, my boyfriend and I went on Chicago Food Planet's Near North Walking Tour.  Strangely enough, most of the people on our tour (including us) were "locals" looking to explore some new neighborhoods and sample some typically Chicago cuisine. In addition to walking for three hours and hearing about some architectural history, we sampled ( Read more... )