A[nother] New Year

Image from Pinterest

My first post of the year was called "A New Year," as I'm sure many of you remember 😉

January 1st does certainly mark the turnover of a new calendar year, there is always something refreshing and exciting about the turnover from August to September. But as other bloggers have said, there is just something about September 1st that feels "new yeary," especially for those who are on or somehow connected to traditional school calendars. Also, September is the month in which autumn officially begins, and that is by far my favorite season. Personally, I'd like to say that September 1st feels like a good time to declare a new year in my little family. In August 2017 my husband was called away for a two and a half week Army training and then days later for a short hurricane relief deployment. Between that time and now we've faced a lot of hurdles, some of which I have documented here, and I'm really ready for that "year" to be over.

So, here we go. September 1st(ish)! A new start of a new year in a new place! I will detail my first month as an Assistant Professor at Olivet in October, but in this blog post I'd like to go over my last month of summer fun and then the preparation (ahem, or lack of) that I did leading up to the start of the fall 2018 semester.

Personal: Durango Vacation

To round out the summer, Wade and I spent two weeks in beautiful Durango, CO. This was our fourth time there in the same number of years, and we always really enjoy ourselves in this lovely mountain town. We stay at my Grandpa's condo near Purgatory Resort, and we like to venture into town as well as by and through the gorgeous natural landscapes. One of my favorite views in all of the world is Haviland Lake. It's not far off the main road down the mountain, but the accessibility in such a serene setting is one of my very favorite things about it. The lake sits peacefully in the San Juan National Forest at the base of the San Juan Mountains. The lake is no more than two miles up the road from the condo, so we make sure to visit it every time we go.

Haviland Lake January 2016

Haviland Lake August 2018

In addition to visiting the lake we also ate out at a lot of fun places and had delicious food like a spicy tuna sushi burrito, a chocolate crepe, vegetable curry, and galub jamun. We celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary in Durango, and we ate sushi and seafood ramen and a raspberry sorbet dessert. We also did a couple hikes while we were in the area, but there were a few areas blocked off due to mudslides that occurred shortly before we arrived. A forest fire called the 416 fire burned through almost 55,000 acres of the San Juan National Forest for two months before we arrived. Due to the massive burn areas, rains that fell after caused major flooding and mudslides in the town. We saw remnants of the mudslides, and thus the fire, in the blocked off hiking areas and roads under repair. Durango is a resilient town, though, and the people seemed strong. 

A couple other special things that we did while we were in the area were spending a day at the spa, and Wade got a new tattoo on his right forearm. For our anniversary gift to one another we decided to do a spa day. We had been to The Woodhouse Day Spa in Durango when we went there for the fourth of July weekend in 2015, so we decided to go back. It is a luxurious, relaxing place, and we love spending time in the thick white robes, sauna, steam shower, and quiet room overlooking the river even before getting our spa treatments. As a special gift partly from both of our parents, Wade enjoyed a Swedish massage, and I got a warm agave nectar pedicure. Both were very relaxing.

Another special thing that we did while in Durango was Wade got his third tattoo. Again, we had been to this business before, namely when we got our matching arrow/cross tattoos to commemorate our ten years together when we went to Durango for the new years weekend in 2016. We went back to Your Flesh Tattoo & Piercing, and Wade worked with the artist Brian Hutflies to make his design come to life. Wade got this tattoo done in honor of his older brother Matt who passed away on June 1st of this year. Wade explained that he got the tattoo done in memory of how much his brother loved both to bike and the diner that he managed and planned one day to take over. Matt's passing has been difficult, especially as it was so unexpected, and I'm glad that Wade took this step to commemorate not only Matt's passing but his life.

Our time in Durango was really sweet, and I'm glad we went. We drove there and back, so it was quite a long trip, but we actually enjoyed that as well. The Harry Potter audio books got us through. We finished up Order of the Phoenix and moved on to Half-Blood Prince before we got home. On the way out to Durango we stopped in both Lincoln, NE and Denver, CO. On the way back we made one stop in a small town in Nebraska for one night.

Professional: Semester Preparation

One of the major projects that I worked on this summer was the revise and resubmit that I received from an article manuscript that I submitted to the online journal Peitho: A Journal of the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition. I originally submitted the manuscript back in 2015, and I had sent in a second draft since then, but this third revision was long overdue. I did, with the help of a mentor, Maureen, and my writing group, finally send it back in, and just today I received another revise and resubmit! The work the editors are asking me to do is more re framing and clarification. I hope to be able to do that in the next month or so and send it back once more. This publishing work is not for the faint of heart! I think once I have completed this manuscript I will turn my attention to some of the data that I collected from my students' work and draft an article manuscript discussing some of my findings.

Along with this article revision, I have spent much of my working time this summer (when I wasn't traveling, helping family, or recovering from my surgery) putting together my classes for the fall. I will be teaching two sections of College Writing 1, Advanced Writing, and Business Writing and Technical Communication. While in CO I put together syllabi for all four of the courses, and I am glad to at least have that much done, even if there is still much more to get done before classes start.

I will include links to my course syllabi here. I think it is good to have record of these documents, as well as be willing to share them. Whenever I make new syllabi for new institutions I try to include components of the institution in the document themselves. In this case, I've used the Olivet colors of purple and gold throughout the pages, as well as put the logo on the top right corners:

• Advanced Writing Syllabi
• College Writing One Syllabi
• Business Writing & Technical Communication Syllabi

In addition to syllabi writing I've been putting together project descriptions, responding to emails, and getting aquatinted with the Olivet system. Many hours of work are very little seen in these beginning stages of projects, but I am excited nonetheless to jump in! As I've prepared for this year, I've taken the aesthetic, spirit, and words of my Harry Potter house (which I sorted into on Pottermore) to heart! I'm prepared with my golden accents, my mindset of hard work and patience, and even printed a beautiful Hufflepuff poster to hang in my office. Here's to a wonderful new year!

Image from Etsy

Hufflepuff Scarf from Amazon

Poster from Etsy

Instructor Introduction Two

SLIDESHOW LINK

Midwestern Musings

The summer of change has come to an end and the fall semester of 2016 is here! It definitely feels different this year, though, as I work, teach, and write from Madison, WI instead of Chandler and Tempe, AZ. In my previous post, I listed the top five aspects that I loved most about living in Arizona, and I can say that those are the top five things that I most deeply miss and have thought about probably every day in the three months that we have been away from Arizona.

Turns out, though, that the responsibilities and expectations of a teaching assistantship and earning a Ph.D. do not decrease with a cross-country move. Instead, they must be configured and met without the accountability of a community. I do miss my ASU academic community as I work to meet my deadlines, and I can certainly say that it is different to have started teaching two online sections of ENG 301: Writing for the Professions through ASU having never seen or heard a single one of my students! I am encouraging video conferencing, and I do hope that some of them take me up on that offer. I will be teaching a face to face section of Written Communication at Madison College starting next week. I'm excited to be in the classroom and to actually see and talk to my students. Teaching is what energizes me and keeps me motivated to do the research and work that I do, and I'm sure that seeing my students in person will be a boost.

Today, I received some disappointing news regarding a manuscript about writing assessment and feminism that I was hoping to have included in an edited collection. It stings because I have been working on the manuscript drafts for well over a year, but I know this isn't the end for this work. While I was honored to have been asked to draft a chapter for this book, and I would have been excited to have had that chapter included in the final version of the collection, I also respect the editors' decision and trust their judgement that my manuscript probably was not ready for publication. In the introduction of the 1982 edited collection All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave, recommended to me by my writing partner and friend Casie Moreland, the authors write: "it is important to consider also that although much research about these issues needs to be done, much insight about them can be arrived at through studying the literary and historical documents that already exist" (Hull and Smith xxii). I think that this quote identifies my error in writing and revising my manuscript. I was just not familiar enough with what is already out there for my contribution to the conversation to be clear or distinct. It is not fun to share less than great news, but I do think it is important to share the "downs" as well as the "ups." An ASU colleague studying Creative Writing posted a Facebook status today, saying:

"I wasn't sure if I should share this, but maybe sometimes it is okay to share 

not-so-great-still-cool news. I'm very proud, even as I'm disappointed, and that's a big part, I think, of being a writer."

- Natasha Murdock

This academic life is a journey! I'm learning that now more than ever in my: third year of my Ph.D., fifth year of grad school, ninth year of higher education, and 21st year of school. Yikes! 

The rest of this fall will consist of the following:  

• Continuing to prepare, code, write, and revise dissertation work
• Presenting at the 2016 Cultural Rhetorics Conference 
• Flying to AZ to meet with my chair, committee members, and, perhaps, some students
• Teaching and assessing my three course sections 
• Revising a manuscript for another publication opportunity 

While I miss the Southwest, Midwestern summers and falls do have their advantages. Namely, being able to go outside and enjoy the weather! I will conclude this post with two images of some of the loveliness here.

I wish you peace, rest, and joy. 

Lake Mendota // Downtown Madison, WI

Wild Field // Cottage Grove, WI

And... ABD!

Tomorrow morning my husband and I will pack up our Honda Element, pick up our dogs from a sitter, and hit the open road to live and dissertate in the midwestern United States. The move is a good opportunity for my husband professionally, will offer us more travel mobility, and gives me the chance to teach online and focus on my dissertation writing. All of that, however, does not make leaving a beautiful state, wonderful friends, and an established life in AZ any easier. I've really loved living in Arizona, and I have made some really good friends and great memories during our time here. It will always hold a special place in my heart. Monica Gellar has summed up my bittersweet feelings in the GIF below: 

All of this is possible, though, because... 

I AM ABD

ABD is an acronym for All But Dissertation, signaling that I have finished all of the requirements towards my Ph.D. beside writing my dissertation. As I discussed in my last blog post, I passed my written comprehensive exams with a High Pass. I then met with my committee members Elenore Long and Patricia Boyd on April 20th, 2016 for my dissertation prospectus colloquy. We met for two hours, and after I introduced the impetus and my train of thought for my study, they helped me to further clarify my purpose, frame my study, and plan for completion. My chair then offered feedback to the plan we drafted in the colloquy from Austria. The colloquy and feedback was so helpful and invigorating as I plan to start writing my dissertation in June. 

After completing my comps and colloquy (some of the sources referenced in both pictured on the right), all I had left to do was finish courses! The BEST advice that I was given in graduate school by colleagues and professors was to make everything-- class work, completion work, conferences, publications, etc.-- work together towards my dissertation goal. I was able to follow that advice in the final projects for my two courses this semester. The comments from my professors in those courses then contributes to my dissertation planning and writing work. After struggling a bit with the myriad of responsibilities I placed on myself this semester, I am happy to have received an A and an A- in my final two classes. That brings my graduate school GPA to a final 3.97. The course work this semester was so beneficial to my individual scholarly work, but I am SO glad to be done with courses. 

Other final elements of the semester also wrapped up well. My students in both classes presented well researched and clearly articulated proposal presentations on a variety of topics. I submitted a revised book chapter to Asao Inoue and Mya Poe for their forthcoming edited collection. I am excited about the work that this book will do. I was also honored to receive an award from the ASU English department and attend a graduate reception and award ceremony to receive the award, gifted to the department from a generous donor. In the picture on the left, I am receiving the award from the English department chair, Dr. Mark Lussier. Both my mother and my mother-in-law were able to attend the ceremony with me, as they were both in Arizona to help us pack up our townhouse for the upcoming move. 

In honor of being ABD at ASU and the impending move, I want to include five of my very favorite aspects of our Arizona life. Other than the opportunities afforded by my program and teaching assistantship, the list and photos of my faves can be found below in no particular order: 

1. DELICIOUS FOOD THROUGHOUT THE VALLEY & STATE

2. MOUNTAIN VIEWS & LIVING 

3. TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WESTERN U.S.

 4. FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES, VISITORS, & FAMILY 

 5. FRIENDS FOR LIFE ANIMAL SHELTER

To conclude this blog post at the end of this momentous semester with the full knowledge of the changes and work still to come, I rest in the memory of what has been and hope for what is to come. I can say that this chapter of my life has ended much like the final sentence in Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, quoted below. Thanks, readers. Peace to you. 

"All was well." 

J.K. Rowling; 

Lots of Cs!

Here we are, finally, in the last few weeks of the semester! In some ways, it feels like the semester just started and in other ways it feels like it's been endless. While I am glad that the semester is wrapping up, I also struggle to see how I will be able to complete everything that I need to by the end. It does, somehow, always get done. I just hope that I haven't actually taken on more than I can handle this semester. But, without further ado, here are the "C" occurrences of this semester!

Comps and Colloquy 

I took and passed my comprehensive exams, and I have my prospectus colloquy scheduled!

In preparation for my exams, I studied the bibliography that had been approved by my committee, and then I annotated that bibliography. After that, I identified the main points and quotes that I thought were most pertinent or descriptive from each text, and I drafted a study guide. The study guide is composed of one slide for each source. This was very helpful to me in summarizing the sources and beginning to put them into conversation with each other. I also wrote a synthesis essay for each area of scholarship. I studied three areas of scholarship for my comps: Feminist Theory, Feminist Pedagogy, and Qualitative and Feminist Research Methods. Writing the synthesis essay for each of the three areas was very helpful to me in seeing how the sources were or were not related to each other.



I took my exam on Monday, March 14th. I met the English Department administrative assistant at 10:00am in the morning armed with my computer, snacks, water, and the comprehensive exam bibliography (not the study guide). Sheila showed me up to the sixth floor and gave me the list of questions for my exam. I was asked to write three answers (three essays) in response to three sets of questions. I was able to pick one question from the first set of three questions, one question for the second set of two questions, and one question from the third set of two questions. I had a deadline for submission at 2:00pm. Except for a couple quick trips to the bathroom, I stayed in that room and wrote for four hours. At about 1:58pm, I emailed the completed exam to Sheila!

I waited eighteen days for the results, but it was totally worth it because I received a high pass! I was floored. I was hoping to pass, but I honestly hadn't even considered a high pass. I posted the results on Facebook, and I was move by all of the support and encouragement. So many friends and family encouraged me and asked about the results, and Abby helped me study prior to the exam. She was SO helpful, and I don't think I would have gotten the high pass without her help and questions about the connections between the texts. I was totally surprised and relieved by the results, and then I immediately started planning the next step.

The next step was drafting the prospectus and scheduling the colloquy (prospectus defense). I have scheduled the colloquy with my committee for Wednesday, April 20th. I'm actually pretty excited about it! My dissertation chair, Maureen, is currently in Austria on a Fulbright, so, unfortunately, she will not be able to participate in the colloquy. She has given me feedback on my prospectus, and then I will meet with my other committee members, Ellie and Trish, at the colloquy. Other than finishing my courses, this will be the last step before I can jump into my dissertation writing!

Conference on College Composition and Communication

Another highlight from this second half of the semester was attending CCCC. I arrived in Houston on Wednesday, April 6th in the evening, and I met up with my friend from ISU, Laurenn York, at our Airbnb rental. Laurenn and I presented together at CCCC 2014 in Indianapolis, IN, so we say that we are Cs buddies for life! We picked up our poster for our poster presentation on Thursday morning, and then we attended conference events during the day. We presented our poster on Friday afternoon, and then I presented at a Special Interest Group (SIG) with Ellie Long on Friday evening. The SIG was called "Undergraduate Consortium in Rhetoric and Writing." I talked about the work that I did in my internship with Ellie, as the focus of the SIG was the creation of writing and rhetoric undergraduate majors. The women who attended the group were very kind and engaging. It was a productive hour. 



The poster presentation was also productive, although we didn't get as much traffic as we would have liked. We did talk to other poster presenters about our work, and the chair of the convention, Joyce Locke Carter, asked about our work and was very encouraging about the progress. Our poster was titled "Identifying and Demonstrating Genre Knowledge: A Preliminary Assessment Heuristic in FYC Classrooms." The poster summarized the assessment work that Laurenn and I started at ISU in the spring 2013 semester. The conference also inspired us to redraft an article and look for a publication venue based on this work. One other positive aspect that came out of the poster presentation was that it forced us to compile our assessment drafts and current research into one place. I created a new page on this blog called Initial Genre Assessment (IGA) where the assessments and more information can be found. 


I enjoyed my time in Houston. I felt energized and encouraged in my work as I left, and that is always the best outcome from conferences. I hope to channel that energy into work I am now doing. 

Classes 

I can't forget about the "regular" work that I am doing this semester as well! Taking two classes and teaching two classes hasn't always been easy with the other things that have been going on, but I am happy with the way that they have been progressing. Really, the focus for the rest of the semester is on presentations. After the presentations that I give and watch are over, I will need to focus on writing and grading to finish off the semester.

In the ENG 301 course that I teach, my students will be presenting in teams of three to propose a social media plan for a small restaurant based on primary and secondary research. This assignment is productive in that it asks students to take ownership of the work they have been doing throughout the semester and learn how to engage with that work rhetorically. My ENG 102 students are also doing proposal presentations in groups of two or three. Their assignment asks them to identify a problem and solution and then propose a call to action that their peers can act upon. I have enjoyed teaching both of these assignments in past semesters, and I look forward to the work that my students will produce this spring.

In the classes I am taking, I also have two presentations. In my qualitative methods class (COE 503), I just have a short presentation to round out the semester. My feminist methodologies (WST 603) class, however, will be more labor and time intensive. I need to facilitate a discussion on theoretical reading, as well as write a seminar paper. This is due at the same time as the revision for a book chapter for an edited collection, so I need to get a move on! The semester is coming to a close. It's been rough at points, and I don't feel that there will be some triumphant end. As long as I can get over that finish line, though, I will consider it a victory. To paraphrase T.S. Elliot:

"This is the way the [semester] ends/ Not with a bang but a whimper." 

Three, Two...

The fall 2015 semester has come to a close! That means that now is the time for editing, reflection, and getting ready for next semester. This semester was the semester of "threes," while I see next semester being the semester of "twos," which will then hopefully lead to the one thing: the dissertation!

Fall 2015

This semester, I taught three different classes. At ASU, I taught the upper division (meant for sophomores and above) courses ENG 217:

ENG 301 students working at the board.

Writing Personal Essays and ENG 301: Professional Writing. At Chandler-Gilbert Community College I taught an ENG 102: First Year Writing class that was comprised of non-traditional students. The variety in classes, schedules, and focuses was a bit challenging to balance at times, but I can really say that I had some of the best students. This is the first semester that I have not taught any 18 years olds. This happened by coincidence, but I noticed the difference in some marked ways:

1. My students were very articulate about their needs from the very beginning of the semester. Many first time college students are not sure what they will need from a professor or a class in order to be successful, but I would say the vast majority of my students this semester approached me within the first couple weeks of the semester to tell me their learning needs or ask me very specific questions. 
2. The students were also able to stake their ground in issues more readily and firmly, most likely because they had already had class discussions and interactions that enabled them to form opinions prior to entering my classroom. 
3. My students this semester were less willing or ready to adapt to new styles of learning. As my teaching is heavily informed by the genre studies model, I have noticed that 18 year olds can understand and adapt readily to that style of instruction and composition. Some of my older students struggled a bit more to grasp the reasoning behind the model or the shift in thinking. 

I really like teaching 18 year olds, but I appreciated the differences in the students populations this semester. Of course, the classes were also very different, and the teaching persona that I had to enact in each class shifted as well, due to the institution, course content, and student goals.

The cover of a children's book composed
by an ENG 217 student for their
final course project.

One last note about teaching this semester is that I can really say how thankful I am to have been initially taught how to teach in a genre studies model. I really struggled with the concepts at first, but once I got on board, I can say it has revolutionized every class that I have taught and taken. Stemming from scholars like Anis Bawarshi, Mary Jo Reiff, and Elizabeth Wardle, the genre studies model states that genres are not just static categories, they are dynamic compositions that are created for a purpose and a specific audience. In the classroom, that means that I don't teach essays (except for the first assignment in my ENG 101 class), I teach white papers, professional letters, memos, advocacy proposals, blogs, memoir chapters, podcast scripts, research reports, and the list goes on and on. This makes my time teaching and grading so much more enjoyable, and it makes the students take aways from the class so much more tangible and rewarding. Here are just three student comments on genre use in the classroom from this semester:

• ENG 102: "I'm glad that in your class you had different assignments done in different formats. I think before this class I only knew one, but now I know a few more that will help in the future." 
• ENG 217: "I never would want to be an English teacher unless it was teaching the stuff you taught us, real life writing." 
• ENG 301: "I really appreciated [learning] how to construct with memos and how to use genres. I am already using it in my job now when speaking with other companies or prospective employees."

This semester I also took three classes. Well, really, I took two classes and completed an internship. I took a class on how to teach professional writing from Dr. Mark Hannah, which obviously helped me teach ENG 301. I took a class on feminist and composition theory from Dr. Trish Boyd, and that helped me to prepare for my dissertation work. Finally, I completed an internship with Dr. Ellie Long that was eye opening in terms of institutional communication and opportunities. The logs from the internship as well as the final products of this work can be found under the "Internship" tab on this blog.

I also submitted three documents towards the completion of my doctoral degree this semester. In a simplification of the requirements, my Ph.D. will be completed in five steps:

1. Course work 
2. Two portfolio papers & a bibliography submission
3. A comprehensive exam based on the bibliography
4. A dissertation prospectus setting up my dissertation work
5. Writing and defending the dissertation work. 

I plan to have steps 1, 3, and 4 completed by May, but I was able to submit step 2 at the end of last semester! The portfolios and bibliography can be tough to get approval on, but I have a wonderful committee who gave me feedback and approved my work for submission. The above elements, as well as three cross country trips, a trip to Europe, my participation at Fem/Rhet, and planning for SWES has made this semester a busy one. Glad it's done, but I had a lot of fun.

Spring 2016

In a preview for spring 2016, I see things slowing down at least a little bit and coming in set of twos instead of threes:

Abby and awesome SWES committee
members sending proposal responses and
mapping sessions. 

• I am taking two research methods courses, both outside of the English department, but I hope that both will very helpful to me in coding and using data collected from my ENG 217 class in my dissertation. 
• I will be teaching two hybrid courses. I have never taught hybrid courses before, so I am looking forward to that change. I will again be teaching ENG 301 at ASU and ENG 102 at CGCC. 
• I will be attending two conferences. The first is obviously the Southwest English Symposium, which my co-chair, Abby Oakley, and I have been making good progress towards, and the second is the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) in Houston, TX in April. I am presenting work with my ISU colleague, Laurenn York, which I am really looking forward to. 
• I also plan to complete at least two, and hopefully three, of the steps towards degree completion listed above. Fingers crossed! 

Starting a week from today, I plan to take a two week break. Breaks are important, even if there is still a lingering guilty conscious saying "you should be working!" But I will break. And eat. And breathe. And laugh. My parents will be spending Christmas with us in the desert, and then I will be going to the mountains with friends for New Years. I don't think it gets much better than that.

I will conclude with a quote and a photo of, what I think, is one of the most beautiful places on earth: a small portion of the San Juan Mountains in Durango, CO, that I can't wait to visit again soon.

I opened each of my classes with this quote this semester, and then in a round table reading that concluded my ENG 217 class, a student read it again. I believe that it beautifully and honestly encapsulates the work and struggle of a Ph.D. student, as well as the hope and purpose of the work we do:

“And then you just do it. You just dig in and write it. You use your body. You lean over the computer and stretch and pace. You write and then cook something and write some more. You put your hand on your heart and feel it beating and decide if what you wrote feels true. You do it because the doing of it is the thing. The doing is the thing. The talking and worrying and thinking is not the thing. That is what I know.” ~ Amy Poehler

Wishing all a truly happy and restful Christmas season and start to the new year. Cheers.