Johnny Paycheck

Remember that Johnny Paycheck song "Take This Job and Shove It," well, sorry Johnny, but I'm taking a job.

Today, after a rigorous interview process, the provost at The King's College offered me a job! I'm speaking of the full-time variety. I feel more than fortunate. I feel lucky. The position doesn't start until next Fall. But it's great knowing it will be there.

In other news: Next week Laura and I will have our second home study interviews for the adoption. At the beginning of February our social worker will come to our house for the final interview. So things are moving fast. But will slow down after March, when we expect to start the wait for our match.

Hope everyone is well. Would be fun to go to the alum reading. Throw back Shiner on the porch for me.

What're yer notables?

Here are the NY Times'top 100 books of 2007 and here are the top 10 and here are the National Book Critic's Circle's list(s).


In other news, G-train went simultaneous.

Number of days till Amelia reads at the KAP house: 1.

Things that today I am loving

1. "In art, as in love, as in dancing the hora, if you don’t know the moves, you really can’t fake them."

2. Painting my fingernails, finding tiny imperfections, removing the paint, painting my fingernails, finding tiny imperfections, removing the paint

3. The new Caketrain, which arrived today and looks beautiful.

4. Bologna and cheese sandwiches. I have had three today.

5. Fighting this book. Potentially to the death.

Countdown and a link

Number of days till one of our own (one lovely Ms. Gray) reads at the KAP House: 5

So that means that you've got five days to conjure up some good vibes--from NY to Cali and back down to Arkansas and Austin.

And here's a link:Some worry that the increasingly cozy relationship between Hollywood and publishing companies is changing expectations of literary success — and may even be changing the way novelists approach their work.

the ghost of b.c.

two things that made me wish the summerhill-colemans still lived here:

seeing no country for old men

arkansas beating no. 1 lsu in overtime

happy long weekend, everyone. i miss you all.

On a lighter note:

Stacy sent me this very fun video (with Ira Glass and Terry Gross) from the National Book Awards.

Some Staggering Stats

I know I just posted, but I couldn't resist:

The percentage of adults who are proficient in reading prose has fallen at the same time that the proportion of people who read regularly for pleasure has declined.

the percentage of high school graduates deemed by employers as "deficient" in writing in English (72 percent).

Literary readers are more likely than non-readers to engage in positive civic and individual activities – such as volunteering, attending sports or cultural events, and exercising.8

And now this
article from the NY Times on adjuncts.

Thanksgiving poems

I watch Home for the Holidays and also for some reason, the Big Chill around this time of year. And I was thinking about that the other day when I came across this post by the Academy of American Poets about Thanksgiving poems. But they didn't have this one by Lucille Clifton. I like it because it is sad and happy and to me that's what holidays always feel like. The good ones anyway.

The lesson of the falling leaves


The leaves believe
such letting go is love
such love is faith
such faith is grace
such grace is god

I agree with the leaves.


Okay that's the end of the poem. What are your Thanksgiving stories, movies, poems? What's in your bag of tricks? Or is it just me?

resounding applause

Wow. I wonder how B.R. Myers feels today.

I haven't read the book (I know), but the review was off the charts scathing. Like, made us wince.

Two links that made my week better

Check out this rockin pic of Cindy standing between Sherman Alexie and Robert Haas at the National Book awards. Am I the only one who didn't know Denis is in Iraq?

Also, this helped me with my cv. You can click on the "footnotes" of the sample cv and they tell you how to make it better.

Novels

I'm having my students write book reviews, and I'm giving them a list to select from. Because most of the students are entirely out of touch with current work, I'm putting only novels published in the last five years on the list. So I'm looking for suggested titles. Right now my list is fairly male dominated and white guy. I need diversity on the list for my students and for my own reading pleasure.

Camp

I need stories about camp (noun, not verb).

Abby gave me this awesome collection called "Sleepaway," and I know about "The Acorn People" and "Tongues of Angels," and "Brownies," but I'm short on more titles. I'm ready to give my camp story another go now, and would like to see what else is out there. Anybody know of anything else - novels, stories, nonfiction?

Laundromats and Fire

My story "Big and Confidential" has been accepted for the Spring '08 issue of Phoebe.

Thanks to all who workshopped the original and the revision.

Cold Comfort

I'm at a coffee shop applying for jobs that I am either overqualified for or under-qualified for and listening to music that is either too sad (Elliot Smith) or too stupid (R Kelly). TSU sent some of us letters that we'd probably go from full-time to part-time in the spring. This means: get a second job and don't have a health crisis because you won't be getting any insurance. Thus, the job search is on for spring and fall. Sad. But not surprising.

Here's a statistic that I just learned:

Long-term adjuncting means losing self-respect. Friends and family rarely know the odds, that only 40 percent of English Ph.D.'s will ever get tenure-track jobs. Nonacademics rarely know that one has to be able to move anywhere, to strange and unknown locales, to land a semi-permanent, reasonably-paying job.

Maybe this is interesting. Maybe it is depressing. I like to think that those of who want to teach will be the exception?

BookWoman

So, BookWoman might be closing. Their situation is just like the one the fictional book store Madwimmin Books finds itself in in Alison Bechdel's "Dykes To Watch Out For" series. And in the book, the store closes.


Here's what they say:

Dear friends and customers of BookWoman,

My staff and I are so grateful for the outpouring of support being shown to BookWoman. We're still in the early stages, but the many shoppers, contributions, pledges, event plans, and other volunteer activities are tremendously encouraging. This past weekend we had particularly strong sales both at the store and at the Texas Book Festival.

Please check out the new website, www.savebookwoman.com. We're still tweaking it but the key pieces are in place, including a PayPal link for making contributions online and information about volunteer opportunities. We'll be updating it often, posting our fundraising progress and upcoming events.

Also, we have ³Save and Sustain BookWoman² post cards available at the bookstore - and t-shirts are here but going fast!

With your help we can give BookWoman a new lease on life. Thanks so much for all you do.

Peace,
Susan


......................

Be a BookWoman!

.....................

BookWoman
918 West 12th Street
Austin Texas 78703

http://www.ebookwoman.com

Mempho

This weekend Jack and Abby stayed with me in Jonesboro, so they could attend SCMLA which was hosted in Memphis, TN. Here's some things we did:
1) they brought me breakfast tacos and I ate them
2) we smoked a lot of cigarettes
3) took a driving tour of Arkansas State University
4) checked out AR 's impressive display of Fall colors at the local park
5) heard Jack give an awesome paper
6) marveled at the stupidity and lack of etiquette of some panel attendees
7) drank at The Flying Saucer
8) roamed Beale Street
9) considered getting our group photo made in a ten foot chair
10) watched an elderly man fall off the curb and smack his face on the pavement
11) ate catfish
12) watched the movie Art School Confidential
13) met Jack's best friend, Adrian

It was soooooo much fun and exactly the break I needed this late in the semester.