Breaking, Procrastinating, and....

First, I am sorry I missed posting last week. I was sick. My dog was sick. And if you've ever been ill and had to take a dog out every two hours because he is ill--while you are ill-- you can understand why I didn't hike down to the school and try to squeeze in the writing before he'd need to head back out. (My dog and I are eerily in synch. For instance, we are both allergic to milk.)

At any rate, I am back--at least, for this one last post before the big, needed, welcomed, and long awaited holiday break. Huzzah!


Normally, I'm the girl out shopping on Christmas Eve because I still have five or twenty people still on my list with nary a gift. I stay up 'till two a.m. wrapping presents and usually find that one or two escaped beneath the bed and must be presented, with a sheepish smile, around New Year's to the person who the runaway gift was slated for.


But not this year.


Not this year because I have no shopping to do! I can't go home until after Christmas, so I'm going to wait and take advantage of all the after Christmas sales. This is, perhaps, my worst case of procrastination to date. (Not to mention Olympian level cheapness.) I'm fairly certain I've never actually left a task until significantly after its deadline had passed--at least, not on purpose. I feel like I deserve an award. A Christmas Procrastinator's Award.


It should be a shiny badge. It should be a shiny badge because I like things that are shiny and badges always seem so official.


I may actually make gifts. The ideas are swimming in the back of my head: picture albums made out of old album covers, scarves, a blanket made out of my baby clothes for my mom, a rag rug for some as yet undecided person.....But, I have time off and so why rush? I can't afford to ship anything, so I can wait; wait until I'm comfortably "breaking" through December and early January.

Hey, I have to focus on the positive. This is my first Christmas away from home. My nephew is using full sentences and I think he called me Tabitha rather than his usual 'Bitha the last time we spoke on the phone. These are bad things all.

Now, for those of you late finishers, here are a few tips from the expert:

Wal-Mart is great at about 3:00a.m..

Usually, there is a Rite-Aid or CVS open on Christmas Eve and Day in case anything slipped past or you have an unexpected guest to buy for.

Buy extra--especially if you have any cash after Christmas. Some easy generic gifts make for great filler if you've failed in your listed endeavors. (Yes, yes I have done this. No one knows you bought it with no one in mind. Sheesh.)

And, of course, watch out for zombies! Don't slip on banana peels. And, finally, large jars of peanut butter make acceptable gifts to college students or those working for AmeriCorps.

Three Things I Found This Week: The Book Thing--where all books are free--is amazing. Yes, amazing. (Although, technically that was last week.) I don't like to collage because that means things must touch. And, my brain has finished with creativity--which is too bad since I still have a portfolio to finish, a book to make, and the MFA open mic poetry reading! (By the way, don't let the idea that I might read stop you from coming: Thursday, Dec. 17th, 5th Floor of the Student Center, 7:30p.m.)

Three Things I Still Need to Find: A little left over creativity--I still have poems to revise. The courage to order, without assistance, at Star Bucks. And, a short list of books to read over the holiday.

Books, Glorious Books...

Not much to report here... A week into July, almost a fortnight, and I am really ready for the Fall term to begin. Apparently I need more structure than I would have guessed.

Also, though, I'm excited about the books. Partly this is because I am a total unrepentant book junkie, as anyone who has been to my house can tell you. Speaking of which, I must highly recommend a couple of books -- not everything I've read this summer, because a) that would be ridiculous, and b) most of them are part of my overwhelming Civil War nerdfest, but a couple.

First, Last Night in Montreal, by Emily Mandel.

Second, City of Thieves, by David Benioff.

Just read them.

Anyway. So I can't wait for the books this fall. The second part of why...

Well.

In the happy confines of the Creative Writing & Publishing Arts program, we are fortunate enough to have instructors who for the most part eschew the tired old canon. Across all our genres, we read the Important Old Stuff, and the new stuff the profs think is important. This makes everything more vital and vibrant, in my opinion.

It's especially thrilling because this is NOT the case at every school in Baltoville.

I won't tell you which other school I visited recently, soley for the purpose of checking out their writing program's shelves in the student bookstore. But I will tell you that I was startled by how out of date the books seemed -- yes, they were classics, mostly, but they were the same old classics that writing programs have used for DECADES.

I was already glad that I'd ended up at UB for any number of reasons, many of which I have mentioned in these fine glowing pages, but standing there in the bookstore looking at the vast array of The Same Old People... It made me extra pleased to be here, among writers who believe that writing is organic and changing and fluid.

Of course I'll keep myself occupied until Fall -- I have my award project to address, for one thing, not to mention the ever thrilling LOOK FOR JOB, but... But I'm psyched for Fall. For the titles my instructors use to make their points this time.

And anyway, who isn't glad for an excuse to hit the bookstore?

The Conversation Continues

I am sitting in Langsdale right now to prepare the final post of the semester. Despite being at the end, the conversation continues as social media abounds at UB.

First, there's a collection of blogs worth noting:

• Langsdale Library News--Straight from the librarians
• University of Baltimore Law Library--Librarians and lawyers
• Take the Lead!--Leadership UB's official blog
• University of Baltimore CNCM Student Info Blog--News from the Center for Negotiations and Conflict Management
• Ron's Blog--News from the Towson/UB MBA program

And there's Twitter:

• The UB/Towson MBA Program
• The UB MFA Program

Finally, there's a YouTube Channel:

• Humanities at the University of Baltimore
  

UB and the Alumni Association have presences on Facebook and LinkedIn, too. So keep on talking, and if you start a UB-related blog, Twitter, or other social media account, post it in the comments!

Maslow & Me

Here we are, coming out of the holiday weekend... I, as it happens, don't celebrate any of those holidays, but I love watching the people who do. Dressed up, reverent, engaged in their process... It's all good.

Because I lack that ritual, I look for other places to belong. Those of you doing classes in Psych or Education (or presumably a variety of other fields) will know all about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. And you will know that there is a tier up in the middle of the hierarchy for BELONGING. For that human desire to be part of something larger. For a variety of reasons I often find this challenging. Part of it is the queer thing, of course, and a lot of it is just that I have often taken the windier branch of whatever road I happen to find myself traveling. This has worked out well, I suppose, but it has also made everything take longer (which is why I am only now treading the path of MFA grad student, I guess).

For me, it turns out that UB fills a big part of that tier. I see the bright white UB letters from the train station, or from around town, and I get the happies. I go to class and everything feels better (even if class is somewhat surreal, or somewhat harrowing, sometimes). For the first time in close to 20 years, I'm someplace I'm supposed to be, doing what I'm supposed to do. I belong here.

Part of this is that I am lucky enough to be in classes with people I like and respect. And a lot of it is that the instructors of my MFA program are so welcoming, and so warm, and so good at what they do. They know their stuff, but they are not bossy and full of themselves about it. They evolve along with us. And they teach by guiding and leading, not by arbitarily telling us what to do.

So thanks, UB, for being home. And happy holiday season, for those of you who celebrate in the spring.