Catching Up

First things first:  I would like to apologize for the amount of time that it has taken me to update this.  I have never been very good at blogging, I always seem to fall behind.  Then I get overwhelmed, and it becomes harder and harder to try to blog again. I’m sure that there is more to tell than I could ever remember.  However, I will try.

We are almost halfway through with our first semester, as far as classes go.  I’m taking two classes.  The first of which is my Core Class.  My syllabus describes it like this: “The Core Course is divided into two parts: Part 1examines some of the foundational modernist movements and manifestos of the period 1900-1945, and explores some of the ways they have been and are theorised; Part 2 examines the fallout of these movements, in practices and theories, emerging over the last half century or so” (Vassiliki Kolocotroni, University of Glasgow, 2010.  I refuse to get into trouble for Academic Misconduct). In this core class, we have talked about Time in literature, the everyday, poetics, war literature, etc.  We have been reading authors like Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Auden, Percy Wyndham Lewis, Marinetti, H.D., William Carlos Williams, etc.  It has been pretty interesting, although a lot of reading.

My second class is called “Ireland’s Modernities” which is described like this “Throughout the twentieth-century Ireland sustained a stellar and startling literary prominence disproportionate to its small land-mass and population. Arguably first among English speaking cultures to assimilate the new concepts shaping European modernism, its ongoing struggles for independence continued to give edge to drama and story-telling; Ireland remains persistently rich and distinctive for fiction and for theatre. The springboard from which this module will begin is Martin McDonagh’s recent playThe Pillowman (2003), which plays off spectacle against story-telling to interrogate both. Among the playwrights we will later explore are Brian Friel, Marina Carr and Samuel Beckett; short-story writers can include James Joyce, Frank O’Connor, and Keith Ridgway. Hopefully these Irish adventures will enable us to engage relaxedly with a wide range of current literary issues -  such as “what is stage space?” and “how to describe narrative time?” – alongside contemporary social questions – such as “what is community?” and “is the Family anti-modernist?” (Paddy Lyons, University of Glasgow, 2010).  I really like this class.  The authors that we are studying are very good.  In addition, there are only three people in this course, which I really like. 

In addition to the actual literature that we are reading for the courses, there is a lot of theory, specifically that of Alain Badiou, one of his books is called The Century, and he is some kind of genius.

So, as you may have guessed, the majority of my time here is spent reading.  Generally I read a chapter or an article for class, then I read a chapter of something that I just want to read.  When I feel like my eyeballs are going to fall out, I stop and take a break.  When I can see again, I go back and read some more.  At least that is what I try to do every day.   

I have two 4,000 word essays due in December, two more due in March.  Then I will start working on my dissertation, which is 15,000 words long, and I have not picked a topic yet.  However, I should probably choose one very soon.

So, I have been doing a lot of work.  When I’m not working on school, I go on a lot of walks and such.  The leaves have just started to fall, and everything is beautiful.

A couple of weeks ago, Ryan and I took a day trip to Edinburgh.  This is the first time I had been out of the city, and the landscape was amazing.  I have no pictures of it, because I was looking through a train window.  Here is something I wrote about it shortly after we went:

It’s impossible to imagine the rolling hills of Scotland unless you have seen them.  The hills are nothing like the flat plains of Oklahoma.  The fields of Oklahoma would be burned golden by this time of year, the trees quickly turning red and yellow, about to lose their leaves.  The hills here are still bright green, even if it is October already. 

The countryside here seems to go on forever in carefully plotted farmland.  It is dotted with herds of sheep and houses that hold more history than I can hope to understand.  The bridges and walls are made with stones that have lain there for hundreds of years, and will probably still be there long after we are gone.  There is a history to this place, a history that you can feel deep within your soul.   It is beautiful; it is enchanting; it is indescribable.

There is no wonder that this is the place where the fairy tale was created, that this is the place where stories of ghosts and presences of the past abound.  It is full of mystery, and I can easily see how it could bring out the creativity in all of us.

Edinburgh was delightful. We were able to see the castle of Edinburgh.

As you can tell, it is lovely.  We were also able to take a tour of the underground tunnels in Edinburgh.  Edinburgh used to have a wall around it, so the city could no longer build itself out.  They tried to build the city up, creating the first skyscrapers.  However, they built it with wood, which was a huge fire hazard.  So they started using stone, but they could not build stone as high, so they had to start building down below the city.  They created an underground labyrinth.  The wall is no longer around the city, but the tunnels are still there.  Some people still live down there.  It is pretty awesome.  Here are some more pictures:

In addition to my schoolwork, I have started volunteering to work on an online journal called E-sharp.  The website says: “eSharp is an international online journal for postgraduate research in the arts, humanities, social sciences and education. Based at the University of Glasgow and run entirely by graduate students, it aims to provide a critical but supportive entry into the realm of academic publishing for emerging academics, including postgraduates and recent postdoctoral students.” (http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/esharp/, October 2010). I will be one of the lead editors of the issue that will be released in May.  It will be a lot of work, but will also be a great experience.  In addition, it will look really good if I decide to go to school for a PHD.

Ryan is working on a postgraduate research festival emphasizing sound and thought.  It is called:Sound Thought.  The website says this: “Sound Thought is the annual music composition, performance and research conference run by Glasgow University music department post-graduates. Each year, Sound Thought programmes a wide range of new composition work alongside paper presentations and workshops in an event which exists to explore contemporary music via practical and theoretical research, within and beyond the discipline of Music.” (http://soundthought2011.blogspot.com/, October 2010).  Ryan is the stage manager for the festival. 

Nanowrimo starts November 1.  That means it is National Novel Writing Month.  I participated in it last year.  You are supposed to try to write 50,000 words of creative writing during the month of November.  I’m not sure I will be able to finish it this year, considering the incredible amount of work I am already doing, but I intend to try.  In other words, November will be a pretty busy month.

So, we have been/are really busy.  I miss everyone, and am excited to come home for Christmas.  I will not be home for Thanksgiving, but I already told Ryan that he was going to have to try to make Dressing like my mom does, which is going to be excessively difficult considering there is no recipe. 

There is no Mexican food here in Glasgow…okay, there is a little, but if you cook your fajita meat in barbecue sauce, I will not call it Mexican food.

I miss you all.

P.S.  I accidentally ate Haggis.