Picking Up Some Conversations…

Last week, the beloved and I went away for eight glorious days. Maybe it is the bit of michigan within each of us, but a little sunshine and sand seems to do so much to make January and February happier, to make our lives feel warmer. It is a good development that we are able to afford this luxury.

A number of great things happened while I was away and so this post is a mish-mash of links and small bits of conversation that I want to pick up and continue.

First, as I have discussed here, Sisterhood has started to get a few reviews. Most recently, Danika over at The Lesbrary, wrote these kind words about Sisterhood. I was tickled to come home and read it.

Speaking of reading, I read on vacation until my eyes bled. Two books of poetry that I have read recently and adored are Christina Davis’s An Ethic and Crystal Williams’s Detroit as Barn. Both are beautiful collections of poetry by poets making interesting poetic moves as their work develops. I recommend these books.

I have a number of books on my stack to read, including Hettie Jones’s memoir, which I ordered after Amiri Baraka died, and Ann Allen Shockley’s Say Jesus and Come to Me. So some good, fun reading ahead for these cold days.

Earlier in January! I wrote about paying for graduate school here and here. Karen Kelsky, who blogs at The Professor is In, started a Google doc survey of graduate student debt. You can see it here. The numbers are astounding and some of the stories are heartbreaking. There has been a good bit of media attention, including Slate and NPR. This is a crucial dialogue and I hope it shapes some new thinking and practice for both people in graduate school and for advisors.

Now, I am off to watch some TV. I am enjoying the new series True Detective and still need to pick up the most recent episode of Downton Abbey. And I have a number of new projects brewing. Much goodness for a cold January.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Books, debt, graduate school, poetry, Sisterhood