Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Excitement

From the mouths of babes

The sporadic blogging around these parts lately is something I do regret. But, at some point, you've got to buckle down and work. What have I been doing, you ask? Well, there was that little dissertation prospectus that had to be written and defended before I could feel comfortable leaving for the Big City to teach. What a trying process! I spent the entire Memorial Day weekend at my desk at home, sweating, cursing, and staring at the blank screen. It was a painful process, but not the obstacle I thought it could be. I learned a little about myself though. Over time, I've developed a one-shot approach to writing. I don't want to blame this tendency on coursework, but for the last two years or so, the overwhelming majority of my writing has been of the deadline-induced. I mean, I wrote seminar papers knowing that I had one-shot to do it. My exams were a one-shot writing process, and most of my conference papers are written under the same constraints. Because the revision process has become something that I don't engage in enough, the invention process has become painful (I can't think of another word). I feel like I have to write right every time.

My colleague Dr. J and I were talking the other night about my revision of the Smitherman article. I told how I've been stalling because I feel, I hope, I fear that people (maybe Dr. G) might be waiting to see it in print. It's the same feeling I had at C's. It's not stage fright. Print fright? I don't know. Any who, he said, "T, you have to let the reviewers do their jobs. They will tell you what they want to see. They will tell you what to make your piece. You can't anticipate all of their comments. You just have to write."

So I will. Soon, I hope.

I use the word soon because right now I'm totally caught up in prepping for this class I'm teaching in the "big city." Despite some of the challenges of teaching in the "Big City" last year (non-talkative students, navigating the city, working to pull off a pilot program), I decided to come back under the belief that it's bound to be better the second time around. It already is. My partner in crime, T is here with me and we're teaching an exciting course: "I Love New York: Mapping and Writing 'The City." When the kids walked in yesterday piping with questions, perspectives, and comments about the course topic, I smiled because it was already sensing a drastic improvement from last year. When they interviewed each other and got so caught up in getting to know each other that they didn't hear me call for their attention, I wasn't even mad. They were talking! And I was happy. When Victor raised his hand though, and asked me if our work to discover how language, images, attitudes, and ideas about the city have been used to construct the city's image meant that we were going to be talking about rhetoric, I almost wept with joy.

Damn, I'm excited.

_________________________________
~I have spoken~

posted by Tamika @ 7/01/2008 11:16:00 PM 1 comments

Friday, April 25, 2008

A meme

If academon can get back into blogging, so can I!

Five things in each of the following categories:

10 years ago, I was:

1. A sophomore in college
2. Majoring in English
3. Living in room 917
4. Wondering how hard the writing minor I just declared would be
5. Preparing to see Mary J. Blige for the first time.

Today’s to do list:

1. Cancel my eye doctor's appointment
2. Pull a rather long shift in the Writing Center
3. Pay my electric bill (I hate you National Grid!)
4. Attend a meeting for an up-coming symposium
5. Hang out with Atabey Templaza and Madame Zenobia

Snacks I enjoy:

1. Cookies
2. Nachos
3. Dried fruit
4. Did I mention cookies?
5. Cereal I guess...

If I was a billionaire, I would:

1. Tithe
2. Pay off my student loan, and all my friends' student loans.
3. Buy my parents a house.
4. Hook up my grandma's house
5. Establish a few scholarships

My bad habits:

1. I procrastinate
2. I worry.
3. I fret.
4. I mumble.
5. I can't always control my facial expressions.

Pet peeves:

1. Manipulation.
2. Inconsistency.
3. Inconsideration.
4. Hypocrisy.
5. Insensitivity.

Places I’ve lived:

1. Birth town.
2. Family neighborhood.
3. Cap City.
4. New City.
5. The Big Apple

Jobs I’ve had:

1. Walmart Cashier
2. Bank Teller
3. Musician
4. Proposal Writer
5. English Teacher

posted by Tamika @ 4/25/2008 08:41:00 PM 1 comments

Monday, April 14, 2008

Running to catch up

I really must do a better job at posting, especially since it seems that I have more readers than I'm aware of. To meet folks and have them name-drop your blog is um... interesting. More on that experience one day.

March ended nicely. The chapter of my life that is called comprehensive exams are over and I couldn't be more pleased with the result. A funny thing happened though, that weekend before my Monday morning (9:30 am) defense, my temporary crown fell out in a cookie I was eating. The result was a series of painful headaches that lasted throughout the defense. Coupled with the lack of sleep I'd gotten the night before, I'm surprised I sounded coherent at all.

April is off to a good start. This year's 4C's in New Orleans was interesting. My Smitherman paper received positive feedback and hanging out with D, G, and other colleagues is always a treat.

The only cloud in the whole experience was my 23 minute layover in Dulles. Yes, it was 23 minutes because we couldn't exit our plane until 2:37 pm to catch our 3 pm flight. Usually, a 23-minute layover wouldn't shake me, but since Philadelphia international airport lost my luggage a few years ago, I've become really obsessive about things like clean underwear and tooth brushes. I don't check bags unless I absolutely have to.

D and I exited the plane at gate 42 in route to gate 25. We were making good time. She was walking gingerly - having checked her bags - and I was running with luggage and a laptop bag. At what must have been 2:49, I ran up on a TGI Fridays and the hall that led to gate 25. It was there, in the distance, but I couldn't figure out how to get there. Frantically, I asked the girl at the desk in front of the metal detectors how I could get to gate 25 and she said, "You have to go through security."

"What? I just got of a plane and I have to catch one in 5 minutes!" If there is a sound that's a combination between gasping and screaming, I was making it.

"You have to go through security," the droll said again.

"Why the hell do I have to go through security if I'm going from gate 42 to 25?"

"Uh, because that's the airlines policy and you can talk to them about it" and then she clicked her gum.

That heffa better be glad I'm saved.

At that point, D caught up with me and breezed through security with ease.

Meanwhile, I had to remove my loafers, earrings, plastic bag of toiletries - by the way, I think the airport in this city has the bottle of curve cologne they confiscated from me a while back on display as you go through security-, laptop, cell, jacket, and belt all before I could go through security.

It was 2:56 when I failed the metal detector test.

Apparently, that day I'd decided to carry a roll of quarters in my pocket and so I had to go back through the detector and get one of those church basket-type things to put my quarters and watch in.

I passed the second time and took off running barefoot with my coat, toiletries, laptop, belt, shoes, and two pieces of luggage in my hands. Because D was waiting at the gate for me, I don't have to type what I was going to do to said droll had I missed that plane. Not yet knowing that she'd convinced them to hold the plane, I went to hand the attendant my boarding pass and couldn't find it. It was then that I finally started to hyperventilate. What felt like an eternity later, I found the pass in my laptop bag beside my bubble bath and belt.

I couldn't wait to get to our seats, partially out of fatigue, but also because D and I believe that there is a conspiracy aimed at keeping us (ie., brown women) from sitting at the front of the plane. This time we were seated in seats 3A and 3B. Just as we were about to sit down though, the flight attendant tapped us and said, "you ladies can go to the back of the plane."

"What?" I said, channeling my inner-Rosa Parks.

"Yes. We're trying to spread out our passengers since this flight won't be at capacity."

"Oh."

I was asleep ten minutes later...

Now I'm running to catch up on this prospectus.

More to come.

__________________________
~I have spoken~

posted by Tamika @ 4/14/2008 09:18:00 PM 2 comments

Monday, March 17, 2008

A quick five

A little St. Patrick's/Monday quick five...

1. Last week was Spring Break and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Much of my time was spent in front of my parents' computer where I sat for hours entranced by their Monopoly Tycoon computer game they brought. I've never considered myself a gamer. Before my parent's bought this game, I hadn't played many games since Tetris and I'm still not quite sure why I like this game so much, but it's the first game where I lose hours of time at the computer. Saturday night, for example, I looked at the clock and it was 1:30 am. I'd been at the computer for two and a half hours trying to figure out how to expand the chain of night-clubs and delicatessens to more expensive parts of the city like North Carolina Avenue and Park Place. It's ridiculous. I know. But it's kind of addictive. As much as I like the game, I'm glad it's not available for Macs because I fear I'd get little work done.

2. When I returned yesterday, the advanced copy of this year's CCCC's program was awaiting me. Now I don't profess to know what's involved with reviewing submissions, but, compared to last year, something is up. Many of the presenters that I've come to look forward to hearing are absent this year, and - I don't think I'm crazy - but the program-booklet seems smaller this year. Has the conference been scaled back? Also, have there been some organizational changes? It seems like there are fewer categories in the concurrent sessions section. This seems odd to me...

3. I'm nervous about my C's paper...

4. The exam defense is scheduled for next Monday...

5. Tourney time is here and none of my male teams made it to the big dance. VCU. Out. Virginia. Out. Syracuse. Out. To add insult to injury. Jeff Capel, who left us high and dry two years ago, is taking his Oklahoma team to the tournament. It hurts a little because I'll always heart Jeff Capel. On the brighter side though, the women's bracket is chock-ful of Tamika-approved teams. The Syracuse women are in the running, as are a few of my state schools (Virginia, Old Dominion, and Liberty). Knowing that the ladies will represent in the tourney makes me smile. But not as much as knowing that everyone else, according to Virginia Tech's Men's Basketball coach Seth Greenberg, is as certifiably insane as I am. Assumed I was a Virginia Tech fan? Well, I'm not.

__________________
~I have spoken~

Labels: Humph

posted by Tamika @ 3/17/2008 11:47:00 PM 1 comments

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Turning it off

So... those comps are done. Well, the written part at least. I emailed the take-home exam off Friday evening, and then screamed twice, cried, and took a bubble bath.

Thanks to E, D, and T, I've had a mini-celebration each night since Friday. It's so great to have caring friends.

For the life of me though, I can't relax. Honestly, within hours of turning in the exam, I already had a mental list of what I needed to be doing (Visiting Days, oral defense, C's paper, prospectus). It's like I can't turn it off. This concerns me.

To make matters worse, I woke up this morning realizing that I'd had a really strange dream. In it, I had been called in to substitute a class. The class was in one of those science rooms that you might remember from high school. The kids seemed to take to me and we were getting along nicely. Somehow we got on the topic of what I do, so I began to tell them about my dissertation project. I remember explaining it to them and feeling like I wasn't making any sense in the dream. But before I could clarify, the kids started asking these rapid-fire questions. "What do you mean by this...?" "Can you explain yourself?" "Where are you going with this?" "But isn't that an invalid point?" I tried to answer them as best I could, but then the bell rang and I realized that my alarm clock was going of.

What does it mean?

___________________________
~I have spoken~

posted by Tamika @ 2/24/2008 10:54:00 PM 2 comments

Sunday, February 10, 2008

A letter

Dr. Mr. West,

I watched your performance on tonight's 50th annual Grammy Awards. Overall, it was a good performance - one among many good performances of the evening. The Daft Punk collaboration was hot and the tribute to your mother felt sincere enough to make me cry.

But...

Your acceptance speech. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Every time I begin to move beyond my reservations about you, you say something that irritates me. I understand a little trash talk - heck I'm a spades player -, but I'm starting to believe that you really are the ummm... character that you portray yourself to be on these shows.

Three words: less is more.

Tamika

_____________________
~I have spoken~

posted by Tamika @ 2/10/2008 09:42:00 PM 4 comments

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Compulsion

I may have blogged about this before but lately my symptoms have been really bad.

It seems that the handy little "goggle" search box at the top right corner of my Safari browser has prompted me to develop some kind of weird "googling" compulsion. Wikipedia, being so handy, has only exacerbated the problem. Together, the two lead me on "research" expeditions for every inane question or topic I can think of. It's really bad.

Late Friday night, I settled into bed to watch a little tv and type up some exam notes. Somewhere in the middle of typing up my notes on Afrocentricity it occurred to me that I couldn't remember how The Wonder Years ended. What happened to Winnie? Kevin? Mr. Arnold? A half hour later, I had read summaries for The Wonder Years, Growing Pains, Perfect Strangers, Head of the Class, and Family Matters all before I realized what had just happened. Thirty minutes! Gone...

Last night I snuggled up with said laptop to update the notes blog while watching my new favorite show, Frasier. (Although the show won't replace The Golden Girls, the antics of Dr. Crane and crew have become a family favorite since Dad's home recovery over the holiday.) Someone on the show must have mentioned the name Maxwell because before I knew it I was downloading all of the music I used to listen to in undergrad. Forty-five minutes later I had songs from Maxwell, Dru Hill, K-Ci & JoJo, D'Angelo, Ruff Ryders, and a bunch of others. At least this time I had music to show for it.

An hour ago while searching for Foucault's "What is an Author?" I realized that I didn't know El DeBarge's ethnicity. Is he Puerto Rican? Dominicano? I mean, he has such good hair. Wikipedia didn't offer any leads this time, but while reading it I realized that I should probably blog today.

Here you have it...

I need help, ya'll.

____________________
~I have spoken~

posted by Tamika @ 1/30/2008 10:38:00 PM 5 comments

I HAVE SPOKEN

: Name: Tamika; Location: Northeast, United States

I am a young, black woman of faith in the third year of a doctoral program in Composition and Cultural Rhetoric. My primary research interests include, African-American rhetorical traditions and literacies, Black Feminist Theory and Pedagogy, and lately, subcultures and social movements. Outside of my studies, I enjoy and thrive off of music, travel, laughter, stimulating conversation, and the company of friends and family.

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