Virtual infidelity

Okay. I've bowed to peer pressure. I've started a page on Facebook. It takes up all the time in the world, doesn't it? I'm feeling a little bit guilty that I have been blogging so infrequently yet I find myself distracted all day with this new piece of technology. New to me, anyway. And it's not like I can link the one with the other, since my superhero secret identity would be revealed and all my Renaissance Girl snarkiness would be exposed to my professional colleagues/ tenure committees/ hiring committees, etc. So, I'm fooling around on you, Blogspot. But when I'm with you, I'll try to make it worth your while.

Things are different down here

And by "here" I mean "the south," as in the deep one, where I'm doing an extended conference gig. Here are some things to report about this neck of the woods:

1) it's awfully humid.
2) there are itch-producing bugs.
3) people here favor more traditional poetic styles.

#3 is fine by me, of course, but 1 and 2 are taxing me a bit.

This gig I'm doing is also the site of a kind of reunion with an old mentor. We fell out for a while, over personal matters, but we both seem to have grown up a bit in the past several years. I've also met a few folks, some of whom I've known electronically for some time and who've turned out to be even more delightful than I could have hoped.

This post is boring, but I've realized too late that I can't gossip on the blog, and it's not really that narratively interesting to say that I'm having a good time. So keep yourselves cool, and pray for me now in the hour of my devouring.

19th nervous breakdown

So everything is painted, put away, weeded, and/or cleaned, and I have nothing to excuse my not working on The Book. I've been reading around in the relevant scholarship, and rereading the poetry itself, and I have dim inklings of what I might be getting around to arguing...

But I swear, I cannot seem to remember how to write a scholarly essay. How does one begin? I sit down at the computer and my brain goes blank. I know that in the past I have written them, and I know that I have begun just by beginning, and that I have written my way into a clear argument. I know all that, but somehow, the mental and even the kinetic memory of how to go about this whole enterprise has gone away. Writing this chapter seems not to be anything at all like riding a bike--and I can't figure out why, since it's only been about 6 months since I was working daily on scholarly writing. What! the! hell!!!?

My darkest fears are coming true: I *will* be revealed as a fraud.

(clench. grrrr.)

Working all the angles.

So I was told recently that a complete panel is more likely to get accepted at RSA than a paper proposal.

This is relevant to my life because RSA 2010 is in Venice, Italy, and I am determined, by any means necessary, to be there (on my institution's dime). I really, really want to take Thing 1 and make an experience of it. So with these noble goals in mind, I have been casting about for some proposal, a real seller, an offer they can't refuse. And I'm not sure I have one yet, but I HAVE come up with....something. An idea with potential. And it could be your ticket to Venice, too.

Every year, RSA has 4 or 5 panels devoted to Renaissance Studies and New Technologies (or something like that). They're always eager to fill those panels, and they're organized by a really nice Canadian guy. (Somehow, that detail makes my scheme more likely, in my imaginary world.)

So how about a panel on: RENAISSANCE BLOGGING: How Blogging Influences/Facilitates My Work in Renaissance Studies (or something punchier, but you get the point).

Consider this post my
CALL FOR PAPERS.

C'mon, Renaissance peeps: you know you want to go to Venice. Let's collaborate on some glorious and possibly also intellectually illuminating panel proposal, and get our asses to Italy. What say you?

Plugged in again.

And I feel like I need to reacquaint myself with the blogosphere. Any big news I've missed in the last month?

The news here: cleaning. Painting. Cleaning. Painting. Gardening. Shopping. Spending too much money. Not doing much reading/ work/ writing/ research/ anything professionally productive in any way. But I have been playing with kids, and have managed to camp a time or two.

I'm boring. Boring and sleepless and covered with paint of various hues. But my house is freaking cute.