Thursday, April 8, 2010

Spring

1) April is National Poetry Month. I get an innovative poem e-mailed to me every day by the Academy of American Poets. I also rip poems out of the Poem-in-a-Pocket book that my colleagues and students gave to me in Boston. I bestow said poems upon people who are nice to me. And sometimes people who are rude to me. But the rude ones get those annoying, overly-esoteric poems that allude to obscure artists by way of impossibly thick metaphor and advanced vocabulary.

I celebrate you, Rude People of Madison!

2) My little brother is having a great time in Korea.

3) I have a vague idea of what I want to write my thesis on. Hopefully, it will involve drag queens.

4) I will study Thai at SEASSI (Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute) here in Madison this summer. Come. Join me for a beer on Lake Mendota and some conversation in Thaiglish. You see, after 4.5 hours of language training every morning, I'm sure my English will rapidly depreciate in value as it pertains to witty banter and general clarity.

4) Many friends are getting married. All of these people are also pursuing the personal and professional interests that contribute to their loveliness. I couldn't be happier for them.

5) I bought "conference pants" last month. Because I went to a conference. While I didn't present and I was far to shy for "networking," hopefully the pants made an impression.

2 comments:

shannon said...

oh you have two fours, haha. because i was going to be all clever and write my response with the number that it directly pertains to, but i was foiled.

the first 4) you're right about that. after studying korean for 4 hours a day for one year, my english is now officially shit. actually, if this was two years ago, i probably would've had a much more eloquent way to say it's shit, but now it's just shit.

the falsely marked 5) don't be shy, get in there! (but no, i understand, i'd be the same way i think - all shy and intimidated). but still, GET IN THERE! you're a badass and you should get in there with your head held high.

ps. i'd like to point out that i used get in there three times, i can't decide if it's because of the aforementioned reason or it's really just the best phrase to express exactly what i want to say.

Hilary said...

Yes, you are foiled! This was my intent by employing the ol' double-4) trick.

False 5: I think the problem was that it was such a big conference, so to me everyone seemed so sure of themselves (like when you're walking around NYC and feel like the only person who has no clue where the hell they're going.). Also, my feelings towards the academic pursuit are sometimes wavering when I'm not surrounded by hundreds of scholars...The span of emotions seems to swing between extremes when I'm in the very epicenter of research and the five-minute-long question.