Oh right...My Blog

This has been a year of frustrating changes for me, and when the latest upheaval hit in mid-December I admit that I threw my hands up in resignation and abandoned all sorts of projects that used to help keep me grounded. Things are slowly falling back into place now so I'm trying to dust myself off and return to normal. I'm going to make a concerted effort to be an active blogging presence-- especially since bookish conversations are no longer part of my professional life (more on that later!)-- but I think the content of this blog will change a bit. I am (and will always be!) a reader, so reviewing and debating recent reads will obviously be a big part of my online project, but I also want to use this space more self-reflexively and creatively. We'll see what shape those agendas take over time...

Major changes in my life:

I FINISHED my thesis and am now a card-carrying (or diploma hanging) member of the literary academy.

Despite the aforementioned credentials, I struggled to find a teaching position and became a bit desperate, applying to any job posting that had the word "education" mentioned anywhere in it.

Eventually I interviewed and was offered an administrative position at an absolutely fabulous international school in Washington DC. It's not the geographic area I was hoping for, and there is extremely limited contact with students (fuss fuss!) but I feel passionately about the school's philosophy and mission. Now if only they'd let me start a book club or something...

Thanks to the job, I moved (again!). It was my third relocation in 3 months-- all of which were consisted of me jamming everything I owned into my tiny Beetle convertible and then desperately stalking craigslist for minor additions like, oh I don't know..a BED! I still don't have any tables or a bedroom dresser, but the apartment is slowly coming together :) I will admit that despite the fact that my car is absolutely tiny, I did manage to fit three boxes of books in the back seat, and my second purchased piece of furniture (after the bed..) was a bookcase :)

I don't know many people in this city, so I'm trying to come up with bookish ways to weasel my way into a social life. Book clubs, literary happy hours, volunteering at ESOL classes, and-- my particular favorite activity at the moment-- World Book Night!! I have a copies of Ender's Game stashed all over the place-- my office, apartment, purse, gym bag, etc.-- ready to hand out whenever somebody I meet looks like they could use a good dose of fiction. I gave away 10 to strangers waiting for the bus this morning and plan to hang out in the metro station this afternoon to distribute a couple dozen more. LOVE IT!!

That's all for now, but I hope to be back soon with some content that's less newsy and more booksy!