mimsy and outgrabe

Well, somehow I made it to the end of the week without completely losing my mind or my dignity. I say completely, because I'm fairly sure I lost a little of both. And that's pretty standard. I'm losing brain cells and pride the way a beach loses sand . . . a little bit at a time, imperceptibly, until one day, people'll be like, "Wow, she's nuts!" the way we go to the beach and say, "Wow, the water's right up to the dunes now." Or something like that. The beach losing sand is more impressive, really. I have a gajillion papers to finish grading this weekend. And myriad errands to run with the kiddos, who need clothes, diapers, birthday presents for friends . . . so I don't have high hopes for the grading. I do have good news to share, though. Verse Wisconsin Online published two of my poems (with audio -- a first for me!) and the issue was just released today. So that's happy-making. Even if I look like a sleep-deprived h...

Let's face it. People can't write well about dogs, or use them in any sort of significant way in their writing without seeming drippy and precious. Paul Lisicky is the exception . I hereby declare him the only one allowed to use dogs in writing. **** In other news, I've been busy, but not necessarily in a good way. HR at Stuffolk royally fucked up when it came to my non-maternity-leave maternity leave (we have "maternity disability" because, of course, having a child is JUST like having a gimpy leg), and informed me a week ago that I wouldn't be receiving my salary for all of July and August. Luckily, for everyone involved, we came to some agreement that I would work all of the 7.5 days I missed in May and didn't have enough sick time to cover (for, you know, my "disability") by the end of June. So I've been in the office. Working on stuff for our annual Creative Writing Festival. With my baby and my mother, who came for a littl...