First Day Off

[jbperson]

So, today was my first full day off. On Tuesday, I went to campus posted grades and cleaned my office. I tossed all my old papers and exams from a year ago and I filed a whole nother set. Felt good to clean house

Comments

NERD ALERT!!!!!

[tree_woman]

Ceremony is awesome, but it's really not pleasure reading. I would recommend Bharati Mukherjee's Jasmine and/or Ana Castillo's So Far From God if you haven't read either of those. Ruth Ozeki's My Year of Meats is another one of my favorites. And on the plane to and from Houston, I just read my first Octavia Butler novel: Kindred, which is awesome. That one has some connections to early American too, since it's science fiction about a contemporary black woman who is transported to a Maryland slave plantation in the early 19th century.

If you want Native American, I'd recommend Sherman Alexie. Any of his works, but especially The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven or The Toughest Indian in the World.

Right now I'm reading Edwidge Danticat's Breath, Eyes, Memory and Firoozeh Dumas's Funny in Farsi, b/c I've never read them and I'm teaching them next term. Gulp.

Baby Stores

[tree_woman]

I've been into Babies R Us exactly twice, both times to pick up baby shower gifts. Both times I was completely overwhelmed! It's like its own little mall.

In Houston we went to this mall that had so many baby- and kid-themed stores: Limited Too, Pottery Barn Kids, Gap Kids, Justice, a Children's Museum...it was redonkulous!

Multiple choice question: will Sophie be a...

1) Blue's Clues kid
2) Dora the Explorer girl
3) Hello Kitty gal?

Re: Baby Stores

[jbperson]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am actually reading Hawthorne's short stories right now. Nerd Alert. I feel like I need to read more male contemporary writers. Gulp!

Blue's Clues and Dora both look pretty fun. I think I would have liked both as a kid. Dora has all the Spanish and she is an explorer! I mean what kid doesn't want to be an explorer?! And, Blues Clues. . .I would have loved a detective show.

The Baby Stores are frightening. When we walked in last week, I had no idea what to get. I read my Baby Bargains Book and I felt on top of the world this time around. An Informed JB. Every time I bought a registry gift from Babies R Us, I would look at the list, and I would be like, "What the hell. . what is this. . .Baby Cover for Changing Pad. . . What?!?!" Now, JB know. She has joined the madness.

I couldn't sleep last night so I thought about what JB Jr. is going to look like. :)

Re: Baby Stores

[tree_woman]

JB Jr. is going to be THE MOST BEAUTIFUL baby ever born! Cute overload!

LOTS of black hair. Little pink fists. Tiny feet.

I love tiny baby toenails.

Thumbs up for Dora and Blues!

Male contemporary writers: Philip Roth, Don Delillo, John Edgar Wideman. Rick Moody.

Chloe won't stay off my lap. Poor baby, she missed us.

Re: Baby Stores

[tree_woman]

And Sherman Alexie, mentioned above.