A few recommendations...

This is an article by Kathy W. that I really liked on Gather.com.... well worth reading, and following some of the links, even.... Dad's Brain, which tells of her father's experience - first, in taking care of her mother/his wife, who had Alzheimer's, for years - and then HE woke up one morning unable to ...well, go read it... it's worth the few minutes it requires, I think.

And if you haven't yet signed the petition to protect rainforest where some of the world's few remaining uncontacted peoples live, please visit Survival International's Uncontacted Peoples site.

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New Toys

I have yet to figure out what I'm going to DO with them, exactly .... but they are very cool. I did, when I was looking for the picture, see that someone had used similar duckies to make ear rings.... hmmm....

I love glow in the dark stuff! I have new GITD shoelaces too - and a flashlight ... thanks to Stephanie :)

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My New Lamp

It isn't quite done.... the shade is, but it has yet to be attached to the lamp fittings... but it will get there... and it is, I think, going to be gorgeous.

Buying Ross stained glass classes last year for Christmas was a very good plan ... not only does he spend bunches of time working on it (he has 2 workshops, one for each house) ... but he makes me very pretty presents.

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An Update

Wow.... I have done a lot of work lately!

Just reading the list I posted - and realizing how over-whelming it all felt -I'm taking a moment to be amazed with myself.

It is all done - well, not quite - one conference paper yet to finish - but most of that is done too; just need to pull out some stuff about surveillance and toss in some stuff about strip searches. As I wrote the first paper, I planned the second out as well...so it won't take too long.

Unless, of course, I get caught up in fussing- who, me?! LOL

And of course, I don't have actual marks back from any of it yet! Will be nice when those come back and I can breathe a big sigh of relief and know that I made it through my first year of doctorate studies.

Doing 3 conferences this month. This weekend I will be in Edmonton at the University of Alberta's Confining the Unbound Society conference. The Human Condition (Eros) conference is not very far from home, so will commute for that one. And then at the end of the month it is off to Montreal, for the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. I am looking forward to attending sessions offered by the Association for Bibliotherapy and Applied Literature (ABAL), and then moving onto some of the Canadian Law and Society offerings.

I am presenting papers at the first two, not at Congress - was just swamped with schoolstuff at the time that the calls for papers were coming out and didn't make time to hunt down the ones I was specifically interested in. Had expected that ABAL would send a mailing - and no doubt they did, but my membership application got lost, so I wasn't on the list to receive it. Oh well... next year!

And there we go - just got word that my one free weekend this month is now also booked - our end of year meeting got post-poned so had to be rescheduled.

And once I get through all this stuff, June 4 is my convocation re: my Masters.

So ...coursework maybe done ...but still busy :)

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Just Flitting

Tanya, from http://www.idonotlikethisjob.com/ stopped by and asked why I wasn't writing (along with a compliment, even; thanks for that). Good question!

I am doing a LOT of writing these days ...but most of it is academic. Right now, for example, I am working on:

• a 10 - 12 page paper about Falling Angels (the book and film adaptation)
• a 30ish page proposal for my dissertation
• a 25ish page paper about Grey Owl (again, books --> movie adaptations)
• a short paper about 9/11 (have to read about 30 academic articles for that one)
• 2 10 page conference papers

All of these are due by the middle of April at the latest!

I also have a bunch of other projects that I need/want to get to - 20 student essays to mark, my own papers that need rewriting so that I can submit them for possible publication, a YA novel to finish, and a couple of book projects on the go... oh, and also need to get back to doing some marketing for my husband's business.

So.... in other words, I am writing... just (mostly) not here!

Loving grad school for the most part - but wow, they keep me busy right now!

Not too much longer of this level of ~stuff~ though....soon I'll be through the coursework, and then perhaps I will get back to more regular blogging.

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I am STEAMED

Heard today that an acquaintance died.

Not a close friend or anything like that - but someone that I got to know on Gather.com - and someone that did not have to experience the crap he did over the last couple of years - nor die so needlessly now.

If he were Canadian ... or English or Austrailian or... well, you get the idea ... had he been so fortunate as to have been born in a country that provides health care to its citizens... he would more than likely NOT have lost his leg, nor would he be gone now.

He was not poor enough to qualify for medical care - not until his diabetes was allowed to go unchecked for so long that he was in crisis. THEN he got treatment - until he was stable.

But hey, the crisis was over, right? Who the hell cares that further problems are pretty much 100% likely unless he gets ongoing care ...when he hits another crisis, THEN we'll help again.

Had he received support and basic care on an ongoing basis, chances are he'd still be here.... but no..... he was American, poor bastard.

I don't get it. Where is the saving?

I highly doubt that the cost of regular monitoring and insulin was less than the cost of the crisis care and rehab he received when he did hit that point - repeatedly.

How much did it save?

Not his leg. Not his life.

I have other friends in the US who are without health care - some with serious issues that won't be dealt with until they hit that crisis point where someone might give a damn. Chances are, by then, it will be too late. Again.

And in the meantime, they go about their daily lives - always with the knowledge of the ticking time bombs they carry in the back of their minds.

I do not understand why you people put up with it.

I REALLY do not understand why there are so many people that not only put up with it, but actually will go out of their way to defend it.

Sad. And infuriating.

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Essays, Essays and more Essays

That's all I'm doing this weekend - writing essays.

I have 4 to do before Monday night - 3 short ones which SHOULD be relatively easy except that they are to be based on hundreds of pages of academic reading.

And a longer one on sexuality and citizenship, which I'm almost done; should have that one finished this evening.

And then I need to write several proposals for other essays I would "like" to write - one for each of my courses, and then a few in response to calls for paper.

Fun times!

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