Dear Friends and Family,

Well, life has certainly been extremely hectic. Even right now, I am just taking a break from some very late night work. Tomorrow I have to turn in course proposals for Women's Studies. I am applying to TA "Intro. to Women's Studies" and also two courses of my own design, "Culture and the Body," and "Sexuality, Gender and Identity." In order to do all this I have had to write course descriptions, outlines and proposed readings for both courses and a letter explaining my qualifications and interest in teaching in the program. I also had to turn in a Curriculum Vitae (academic resume) -- which I did not have.

Unlike most resumes, CVs list everything you have done -- they can get rather long. Professors that I have gotten them range from 10 to 20 pages. Most graduate students are under five pages. Well, since you are suppose to list every time you speak publicly, especially speeches and guest lectures, mine is a bit long. I had to go through every one of my planners back to 1989, but I think I have found records of most of the body image and other talks I have given. Well, my CV is nine pages -- single spaced. I found records for over 100 in-person talks, and dozens of television and radio talks. We are also suppose to list our publication history. I haven't even found the box in storage with all my journalism articles. I listed the last five. I will have to add that another day. It is quite interesting to see it all laid out. To see a list like this makes me realize how much I have put into this work already. And all this doesn't even include all the talks on Wicca and the Wicca classes I taught.

Well, I hope very much to teach again next year. Remember all my work like this makes me more aware of how much I miss teaching. I taught constantly from my arrival in Santa Cruz in 1986 until I left in 1994. I also need the TA positions for the money. My current position ends in May and I will not have a salary next year unless I get a TA position. Wish me luck.

Meanwhile, life on the home front is pretty wonderful. Rowan is eight months old now and just getting his "two front teeth." They are little sharp points sticking out of his lower gums. He is also learning to walk. He can stand holding on to furniture or hands. He will walk across the room holding someone's hands. He sometimes gets so excited by this that he jumps up and down and looses his balance. He is still and outgoing, happy child who seems to perpetually wear a smile on this face -- one that lights the room and makes my heart happy no matter what kind of day I have had. He is a very loving, active and inquisitive child. And growing, growing... He is 26 inches tall and over 18 pounds. We had to spend some of our financial aid money on clothes (at the used kids supplies store) as he had outgrown practically everything.

We enrolled Rowan (as well as Tina and I) in a Parents/Tots swim class. Odd to be swimming in Iowa with snow piled deep everywhere. The local rec. center has a indoor swimming pool. Rowan loves water. Cries when we take him out of the bathtub. He likes the pool too but is shocked by how much colder it is than the tub. Once he gets use to the temperature, he happily slashes and plays with us. Since I didn't really ever learn to swim well, it is important to me that Rowan learn early. They don't really teach them to swim at this age, but they get use to the pool and to deeper water. And it is a lot of fun.

Other exciting news... Lon is back in school. He had finished everything except his Foreign Language requirements (four semesters). The problem was with his learning disability he couldn't get more than a C or D in the intro to a foreign language let alone take the advanced courses. We got him tests by a qualified psychologist and the university was able to substitute three European history classes rather than completing German. Since he had one already, he had to take the other two. (Which are not offered at night or in the summer.) Since he had to go back to school, he is also retaking two classes he did badly in. Since they will take the second grade on those, if he does well in all his courses this semester he will bring his grade point average up quite a bit and get his BA in Psychology by the end of the semester. He is also volunteering for the Crisis Center, which will give him experience he will need for getting into graduate school in social work. He is so happy to be back in school after five months in a data entry job he hated.

Troy is taking a heavy load in Geology and preparing for his first test in Aikido this March. He recently finished a stint as the co-editor for the Imbolc issue of IPAN. He remains very active physically, academically and socially. It has been a couple months since his last seizure and he seems to be taking better care of himself.

Tina finally quit the job she hated at Sears and we are hoping she will find a new job soon. She is looking but the job market in Iowa City is pretty slow. (Energy sent her way for this is greatly appreciated.) She hopes to find a stable job with reasonable pay and good benefits. Meanwhile, she is enjoying more time with Rowan.

Well, I have probably gone on long enough. Time to get back to my course proposals. Please write. Love to all.

Dawn