I have been telling people that I am in a dissertation-induced fugue state. I describe it as that feeling you sometimes get when you go see a movie in the middle of the day, become engrossed in a really intense film, then emerge two-plus hours later from the theater into the bright sunshine of your here and now , somewhat confused about your who and how. That's me: Downstairs in my basement office. Darkness except for the circle of overhead light illuminating my work space and the glow from my laptop. White noise courtesy of the dryer in my ajoining laundry room. I have had to set an alarm on my cell phone to remind myself that I must stop working in order to go pick up my girls from camp. (This, after one time being more than 10 minutes late, arriving to the wide eyes of two just-about-to-panic kids and one just-about-to-be-annoyed camp teacher.)
I am sure this state is temporary. At any rate, it is much needed since my defense date is rushing towards me. In the meantime, I am grateful to everyone who checks in on me here. So, now that the update is over I offer these few humble gifts:
I know you know about Inside Higher Education. But have you discovered IHE's "Around the Web" feature? Some of the best darn blogging by academics this side of the virtual world. (SITBB has even gotten a mention twice!)Posted by perry032 at June 26, 2006 05:57 PMI am very happy and relieved that King's papers are going home. While we're all celebrating, it might be nice to donate to the National MLK Memorial. (Especially all you Alphas out there!)
Go see Ben's amazing photographs. Never has it been truer that a picture is worth a thousand words. These are worth a few dozen smiles and even a few tears, too.
As long as you're looking at pics, go view Ms. World's photo album (Flickr album on the right). The blog name has changed, and she's back Stateside. But the awesome Diva-ness remains the same.
I continue to be on official Obama Watch. At some point I must have signed up for email alerts from his staff. I really must be more careful who I give my information to--But in this case I am happy to have been so promiscuous with my e-addy because the Obama folks recently sent out an email about the Senator's speech at the "Take Back America" conference. (Take a look at the video.) "The time for our identity crisis as progressives is over!" Also, you can get a sneak peek at "The Audacity of Hope" here.
Finally, I am proud to announce that there are several new PhD's in the 'sphere. I hope to get around to personally congratulating you all soon. But in the meantime, please know that you have been incredible inspirations to me (and, I am sure, many, many others) as I have been on my own dissertation journey. When I first discovered blogs in general and academic blogs specifically I thought that I might gain a sense of motivation and community from reading about the journeys of others. I was absolutely right. All of you know who I am talking about; Everyone else, just cruise around my blogroll and you'll happen upon the blogs of these newly degreed of which I speak. Congratulate them. And be sure to call them "Dr."!