The strong verb for requite in Old English is "agieldan".  It means to repay, recompensate, or offer oneself up as a sacrifice.

So, graduate programs, you didn't repay me for all of the hard work I put into you.  You didn't give me anything back.

I am still waiting on words of requitement from Iowa, Indiana, and Western Michigan but I feel fairly ( Read more... )

Why does being in the same location you were in years before always make you think about how you changed?

On saturday I took the big comprehensive exam.  It was actually administered to us in the same lab room I teach in but the last time I was in there as a student was a year and a half ago during our orientation week.  And I remember it so well; ( Read more... )

already consumed; I am left with nothing


( Read more... )

I finally acquired some of my motivation back this weekend; I read with few breaks and actually caught up on homework and grading (don't even ask why I was already behind in the 4th week of classes).

Writing things down, seeing them in print actualizes my thoughts.  When I refrain from journaling and spend hours in bed with thoughts twirling around ( Read more... )

so take them in your own before they burst.

This week things have been swirling by me, sifting through my fingers like flour, that leaves a dusty residue, a faint trace.

I miss psychology textbooks very much.  In that, everytime I tell someone which Ph.D programs I apply to I mentally go across a red map of the United States.  I start with North ( Read more... )

In yoga today, as we were doing shivasana (the final resting pose), our instructor was directing our meditation (as usual) and telling us to concentrate on our breathing and feel the release.  She said this pose, also called corpse pose, was about giving up control.  She noted that it's called corpse pose because we are imitating corpses, the dead ( Read more... )

"Each day
we go about our business,
walking past each other,
catching each other's eyes,
or not.
About to speak, or speaking.
All about us is noise.
All about us is noise and bramble,
thorn and din, each one of our ancestors
on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem,
darning a hole in a uniform.
patching a tire.
Repairing the things in need of repair.
( Read more... )

This semester seems to be a milion times better than last semester already.

I like my freshman comp class already; you can tell a group's personality right away and I think my students will be fairly good participators.  Anything beats the one section I had last spring; they just refused to participate.

My own classes are going well.  I've started on ( Read more... )

"The month of flowering's finished. The fruit's in,
Eaten or rotten. I am all mouth.
October's the month for storage.

Thie shed's fusty as a mummy's stomach:
Old tools, handles and rusty tusks.
I am at home here among the dead heads.

Let me sit in a flowerpot,
The spiders won't notice.
My heart is a stopped geranium.

If only the wind would leave my ( Read more... )

"...a continent"

(Spoken by Jason Alexander in that 1997 tv Cinderella)

How quickly doth the crocodile improve his shining tail?

Slowly, I might add.

I'm done with this semester, finally.  I have a few weeks before I have to start some pre-semester studying for my M.A. Comprehensive exam but, oh well.  I actually managed to surprise myself in the ( Read more... )