Sleep deprived and under the burden of allergies (or is it a sinus infection? we'll see...), I'm struggling to keep it all together and keep up with these posts. But it's nothing some Carole King and red wine can't cure, or home-made squash soup (oh the wonders of being home for the weekend!). In class on Thursday Gustavo told us he is editing a book, teaching two classes, directing six independent studies, practicing his own music, and then I lost track. How do these professors manage it all? I know sleep deprivation must be involved, but have they also find a hole in the space-time continuum that allows them to get all their work done. I don't feel lazy per se, but I wonder whether they ever feel like their drowning in work the way I do, as if they're never caught up.
The last work I read this week came by chance; returning Gary Snyder's Turtle Island to the library this morning, I decided to open it up (after a week of staring at it on my desk) while waiting for a paper to print. "What Happened Here Before" is magnificent and epic (not in scale, but in subject). Snyder tackles the long history of earth and condenses without missing or omitting. It left me renewed after Oroonoko, a tedious novella by Aphra Behn.
We're reading Yekl for Multicultural Literature and Film. It comes at an interesting time as Palestine seeks recognition from the UN. How ironic that they must have peace to be a full member, though the UN was created to help create peace, now they say Palestinians must do it themselves.
Last night I dined with some friends at a local restaurant, The Homestead, and we ended up sitting next to visiting writer Nikky Finney's table as she ate with some faculty and students. If you're a literature geek, you can appreciate sitting near a literary celebrity. I've yet to read too much of her work (if there is such a thing as too much), but the experience of being near greatness is always invigorating.
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