That's what this little in-between time is called. It's those few weeks after the Spring semester is over, but before the Summer session officially begins.
The end of this semester kind of dragged. I don't know why. It seemed like last semester, at a certain point, I sprang into action like an industrious bee and knocked out 3 papers, pretty much back to back. This time, though I still got it done, my productivity came in spurts. There were a few money time, in-the-zone moments, but it seemed like last semester, those moments were sort of concentrated whereas this time they were kind of scattered. Alas. You want to know what I wrote about? I'm glad you asked.
1. The Invention of the New World - I wrote about a slave revolt and an indigenous uprising in colonial Venezuela. Pretty serious stuff. This is the first time I used hard core theory. Foucault, Derrida, Bahktin, Bhaba. Wordy, abstruse guys that make you think you're being deep.
2. Performing
Latinidad - I wrote about the African-American/Latino alliances during the youth counterculture movement of the Zoot Suiters in the 40s and the contemporary hip hop movement focusing on a shift in the 90s. I never thought I'd ever be writing about gangsta rap in Spanish. But here we are.
3. Citizenship and the Nation - I compared the roles of two female protagonists in two contemporary Afro-Hispanic novels, one Peruvian and one Cuban, and how the authors used these women's experiences as a counter-discourse that challenges the official version of the histories of those nations.
When I sit back and think about the work that I did, I can't believe that I did it. When you're in the thick of it, you don't think about the finished product. You just think about slogging through it. But when you come out on the the other side, it is a rewarding feeling. It's just hard to grasp that feeling, to remind yourself of it.
The very few times I've run for student council or class president or whatever (and I'm talking elementary school, because I never
dared in middle or high school) I never won. But I won my first election this year as the 2012-2013 Graduate Student Representative for the Spanish program. My fellow Americans . . . lol.
This summer is going to be the last relatively chill summer I'm probably going to have for a while. The assistantship that I won covers my first summer. I'm still doing research with my major professor, but I don't have to teach or take any classes. I'm just signed up for research hours. I still have lots to work to do, but I can work at my own pace and I have the flexibility to take time off, which is really nice, so I'm very thankful.
What do I have lined up? A road trip or two. A plane ride across the country to finally see my little nephew. I might try to submit something for publication. Not that I think it's going to get published, necessarily, but I think it'll be good for me to get my feet wet in the whole publishing process.
This Friday, I have my first guitar recital. It's just funny to say that because the last time I was involved in a recital of any sort was when I was in high school taking the piano. I feel like a kid again, back in talent showcase mode.
Be proud of me, everybody! Look what I can do! Instead of mom and dad in the audience, it'll be a few friends. I guess that's what's changed. At this point in my life, I'm learning what it means to forge a family when you're a little far from your own.
Here's a random, hopeful fact: One of my birthday balloons
still has helium in it and hasn't even begun to sink.
Here's a random item on my to-do list: Plant my sunflower seeds. This time, they're petite, vine-y sunflowers, not those mammoth gargantuan ones I planted last year. We'll see how they turn out.
