All that I want is a Shady Lane

Being a true Maller, I work my ass off and say "no" to nothing, which actually tends to be beneficial except for a lack of sleep.

This week is crazy hectic, and I'm only halfway through. It's interesting that professors all seem to be on the same schedule, and love to make large assignments due in the same week. So on Monday I had a free write, poetry responses, and 2 poems due just for my Poetry Workshop. I have my first African American Narratives paper due on Thursday at midnight. I just finished outlining it - an exploration of the dehumanization of Tea Cake in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Cheery. I'm pretty excited about the paper, though, and tomorrow night will be devoted to quote hunting and drafting. Then I should have all night Thursday to perfect my paper.

I'm finally getting into a rhythm with my German work, though I'm regretfully spending less time on my vocabulary than I need to. I plan on picking up the slack this weekend, in between studying for Economics, as my first midterm should be next week. Maybe the week after, if I'm lucky. It's not too hard, it's just a completely different way of thinking, and I'd like a decent amount of time to prepare.

My boss and her boss weren't at Norton today, which meant today was a reading day. I read and wrote reports for 4 manuscripts. 4. It was tiring, but it was nice to sit and read all day, rather than running all over the place mailing books or working on Excel spreadsheets. If only there were big, leather chairs in which to curl up as one reads manuscripts. When I have an office of my own, someday. (2 or 3 years, fingers crossed!) Till then, I'm paying my dues. No complaints.

In terms of my "never saying no" statement, that was in regard to a JFEW focus group at the Macaulay Building last night. I didn't mind going - it was only an hour, and I got free dinner (and Mike Lamb always orders the best food!) I just have to be careful about how many things like this I commit to, and how I'll budget my time. For example, I'm skipping a reading I really want to go to at Hunter tomorrow night (poet Robert Hass) in order to work on my paper. But going to the focus group was even more pleasurable than expected because I had a lively discussion with Mr. Lamb about Pavement (I went to their reunion concert in Central Park on Friday.) If he didn't know who I was before, he does now! It's always great to make more personal connections with Macaulay and Hunter staff.

Back to writing, now. Tschüss!

Katharine