This could be me just being over dramatic - and probably is - but it feels like somehow the world has shifted over the past couple of days. First the tornado on Thursday. We drove around downtown today to see the damage, and it was unreal. And this was three days after it hit. I've never quite seen destruction like that, except for when I lived ( Read more... )

I've never felt particularly close to Iowa City, until, of course, a tornado ripped through downtown on Thursday. We live near the edge of town, so it didn't come near us, but we spent two hours in the basement of our building with some of our neighbors, listening to the radio, and J's sister kept calling, giving us updates. For awhile, it seemed ( Read more... )

I'm currently putting together my syllabus for the second half of the semester, when I'll be teaching Ariel Levy's Female Chauvinist Pigs to my freshman composition class. I'm looking for a film to show that goes along with it, and I honestly can't think of anything. I've been thinking about this for two months already, and am no closer to ( Read more... )

Was in Minneapolis for the weekend, visiting with J's friends who I don't particularly care for. But we got to go shopping and see tall buildings and eat at actual restaurants that don't make me want to cry from missing the east coast. All in all, not a bad weekend. And now I'm heading into a weekend where I have too much schoolwork to do and ( Read more... )

Busy since the semester started. My sister left yesterday for a semester in Israel, and I haven't heard from her since she got there, so I'm assuming all is well. Her boyfriend lives there, and we have cousins close by, but she's never lived away from home before and she's been upset for days. Of course, our parents did buy her a new laptop, so ( Read more... )

From an article about Emma Thompson's new movie, Nanny McPhee:

Nanny McPhee, a dark yet delicious children's movie, deals boldly with an age-old question in parenting: What do you do with naughty children ( Read more... )

I just bought a 4 GB iPod Nano! I want it right now.

I love loan refund time at the beginning of the semester. This is when I feel like I could actually live on the money I have (and try not to think about the astronomical amount of debt I'm in for this fabulous Ph.D.). Makes me want to buy a new mp3 player or go to Paris. But I'll probably end up buying new car seats instead, as the car seat ( Read more... )

This has been a relatively uneventful winter break so far, and now it's quickly coming to an end. I didn't do very much - I didn't do any schoolwork at all, which I'm sure I'll regret in a couple of days. Some things that I did do:

1. Read two books: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters and The Master by Colm Toibin, both of which I enjoyed, though it ( Read more... )

Considering that I've spent the past couple of days writing multiple emails to my students, trying to convince them not to worry about their own bad grades, it seems silly that I should be upset about getting an A- in my 18th-century class. I am upset, though. Because I thought my final paper, while not exceptionally brilliant, wasn't too bad, ( Read more... )