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| Climbing Cotopaxi Volcano |
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| Sea lions and iguanas on Santa Cruz |
Just after Christmas and over the new year, I went to Ecuador. It was my first time in South America, and it was a wonderful trip. My husband Wade and I toured Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, for one week with our friend Ben and then went to Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Islands for the second week.
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| Women's March in Madison, WI |
On January 21st, 2017 Wade and I attended the offshoot of the Women's March on Washington in Madison, WI. Over one million people marched around the world to protest Trump's blatant sexism and disregard for women's rights and issues. We didn't actually march, but it was electrifying to join a group of people speaking out for equality and human rights. The quote above really exemplifies my motivation behind attending the march. As a feminist scholar and as a woman, it was an exciting day.
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| Sushi Birthday Dinner with Family |
The day after the march, I celebrated my 28th birthday with my family and my in-laws. We ate sushi and cupcakes together to celebrate. Another year older and, hopefully, another year wiser ;)
During and after all that fun, I have been writing away on my dissertation. I actually wrote the majority of my sixth chapter of my diss on the plane back from Ecuador. I have been meeting regularly with my writing group, and I shared this image with them the other day. We all know how true it is! Hoping I'm in that last uphill climb now!
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| Background Image on my Course Shell |
Apologies if this is hard to read, and I believe I have shared this quote on the blog before. This is the background image on my ENG 301: Writing for the Professions course shell in Blackboard. It is a quote from Amy Poehler that says, "and then you just do it." She is talking about writing, and it is the motto I try to communicate to my students and adopt myself. I am teaching just one course section this semester, and I have a group of really great students. They are making it easy to be a teacher, and I've enjoyed working with them in these first six weeks.
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| Invitation to Present at CCCC 2017 |
And now for the stuff that is coming up-- I am planning to travel to Portland, Oregon in March to present at the Research Network Forum at the Conference on College Composition and Communication 2017. I am looking forward to going because I hope to gain some insight and input on my own work at the forum, plus the energy and ideas shared at Cs is always so valuable. This is the third time I have been able to attend this conference, and I've enjoyed it every time. I am able to go this time thanks to a Professional Equity Project grant as well as generous funding from the ASU Graduate and Professional Student Association. I'm also so excited to go to Oregon because the second half of the week will be spent doing a writing retreat with my writing group (actually in person!) at a beach house. I'm hoping it will get me to the end of drafting and formatting my dissertation because...
My dissertation defense is schedule for April 4th, 2017. I'll be flying out to Tempe, AZ and presenting and then defending my dissertation to my chair and committee members. This is a big day, and I'm happy it's scheduled but also very nervous about what it means! I'll need to have my dissertation close to completion weeks before, and then I'll have to be ready to defend all the decisions and arguments I've made. If all goes well, I'll be walking in graduation on May 8th!
That's what's been going on thus far this semester! I'll share one quote in parting from the movie La La Land that we saw on Valentine's Day (and loved!) that pretty much sums up where I'm at.
"Here's to the ones who dream/ Foolish as they may seem/ Here's to the hearts that ache/ Here's to the mess we make."
- Benji Pasek & Justin Paul
