It is 8:55 on Dec 31, 2014, and I am wearing the fleece leggings I've had on since I went to bed last night. After travel, marathon cleaning, and a good dose of dealing with piles of our personal life, we called off all plans for New Year's Eve and decided to stay in. I've spent the evening lesson planning (and eating celebratory pizza) and reading Amy Poehler's Yes Please. This--mostly the greasy pizza hands--has all given me a long moment to reflect on 2014 and plan for my 2015 resolutions. While I've already promised myself loads of things will be different in my personal life--and while I've also already admitted that I'll forget about or break those promises by Jan. 7--it seems a good time to decide how, as a graduate student & writer, I would like to dedicate my time this year. A few things came to mind.
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More than 50 days ago, I posted about a recent severe uptake in sugar consumption & decrease in writing time. (For once, correlation does equal causation. I was so sugar-dazed that the only thing I wanted to do was watch reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and then Angel for a combined 13 seasons of 90s glory.)
I'm happy to say that--even though I've been frequenting the ice cream shop down the road--I've made progress on both counts. My log of daily writing time has legitimate notes for most of the 50 days, though the time (and the balance between writing and other writing-ish activities) could use some readjusting. This week, while my co-workers are at the AAG annual meeting, I plan to dedicate myself to the semester's remaining projects + construct a calendar of grant application deadlines, degree requirements, and the like.
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As a woman in academia, I feel like I need to push harder, write deeper, speak louder than men. Not to prove myself or to convince men I've earned it, but to remind other young women that I'm here--that this is also our space, and that our dissent, our non neutrality, and our perspective are powerful. For that reason, I am making a point of counting myself. I am a woman academician.
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