I know some of you have been worried about me. I have responded to my private mail. Things have been just so painful and chaotic that I couldn’t write about my life. I am still pretty stressed out but I thought I should check in with ya’ll. And, as I have promised, I will try not to hide my feelings. An old friend called me on that a while back, complaining that my letters told him what I was doing but not how I was feeling. Clever to catch that wasn’t he? Am I ever so active because it is my nature? Or is it to hide myself in? Probably both. There are so many things I want to do that there never seems time enough. Anyway, make sure you call me on it again if I try to disappear into my text.
Where did I leave off. Sigh. Tina moved out Oct. 1. As I said, Lon decided not to move with her. She has been pretty mad at all of us about that and seemed intent on seeing just how painful she could make the whole process. We were so miserable we did not get much accomplished for a while there. It was hard to even sleep and eat. But we are getting through it. We still get to see Rowan. At the moment we have him two weekday evenings and every other weekend. On the material side of things, we are looking for a housemate to help us pay the bills. Still no luck on that note. I am not sure where we are emotionally now accept in survival mode.
Troy and I are trying to catch up academically. I did finally get my first of the three grants written and in overnight mail just in time. I have another due by the end of this month and another Jan. 1. I meet with my Ph.D. committee for the first time this Friday where we begin the process of deciding what areas my comprehensive evaluations (in the spring) will cover. I am a teaching assistant in "Human Origins." The in-class teaching part is fun but grading sucks. How some of these students passed high school baffles me. I had to put 5 (out of 50) on probation for plagiarism. They quoted entire paragraphs from written sources without even crediting them. Yet, the material is fun and there are some students who do make it worth while.
I am also behind in the writing/editing side of things too but am working hard to get caught up. If the contributors cooperate, I will be writing the introduction and doing the final editing on the special edition of the Journal of Lesbian Studies this weekend. I have also chosen paper proposals for the Journal of Homosexuality collection and those papers will be due to me in Jan. The collections are really controversial and have been fun to put together. If I pull this off, I will have something nice to add to my credit and have learned a lot in the process.
Today I received the preliminary draft of the cover for Looking Queer. Looked nice – even if I did have some changes to suggest. They will be sending me the copyedited version of the book to look over in the next couple weeks. Meanwhile, the advertising department has been gearing up – they are already advertising us in trade catalogs. The book is due out in June. Can’t believe it actually, but seeing the cover seemed to make it more real. All those years of work – and soon other people will finally read it. Quite exciting.
I leave for Washington, DC this Tuesday to attend the American Anthropological Association’s annual conference. I will be presenting a paper there. Problem is that I still have not found a place to stay while there. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Meanwhile, I also have to finish writing my presentation this week.
On the spiritual side, things are going well. I was a guest speaker at an event called "Magical Weekend" last weekend in St. Louis. It was really nice to attend an event put on by someone else – and to connect with some really special people. For Samhain we had both a holiday feast and then helped lead a public ritual for the River City Pagan Community. Meanwhile, our coven is in the process of renaming itself and intensifying our inner work. We are now called "Cauldron of Dreams" – which beautifully reflects the double meaning of dreams as visions and as life goals. Together we support each other in both. This weekend we have a special naming ritual planned for full moon. We are also planning on hosting our annual all night community celebration for Yule.
The days have grown shorter, the nights longer and both of them colder. The leaves have turned – and we need to rake them up. We had a first snow a couple weeks ago. It melted a few days later, but it will be back. Rowan ran from window to window to make sure it was snowing out Every window. The wheel turns and we change with it. Please keep in touch and let me know about your changes too.
Dawn