Aaaww folks...I'm neck-deep into it.

My free time has whittled down to zero...zip...nada. My car is accumulating miles and miles and miles of extensive travel time. I'm lost in presumptuous theoretical readings, some great stories, and a group of kids that once in a while surprise me in very unexpected ways.

You hear that? That's the bell ringing - school has begun!

I'm an English grad student with a full scholarship and a chance to teach freshman writing. Today, I'll be leaving soon for my Black Literature Theory seminar where we'll be discussing a great poem by Walcott, a seriously dense book by Paul Gilroy, and some very interesting studies here and there. Tomorrow will be back to Literature of Exile where my professor likes to point out he's a little crossed eyed and that's why he ended up marrying his wife. She thought he was looking at her when in fact he was checking out someone else. I like him. Thursday I'll mosey over to pedagogy training where hopefully I'll pick up good tips on how to give gold stars and detention slips (probably not to the same kid). Can I send college freshmen to the dean's office?

And I also got to read and grade my first set of essays - four of which were plagiarized and another that was so disturbingly violent, I actually told the Instructor this kid might be slightly damaged. And by slightly I mean get him out of this class he just might shoot us all. I did, however, get a note from a student telling me I was a wonderful TA... it's the little things:)

So there you go! The road to blissdom is paved with nerdy reading glasses, good books, and strong coffee.

I still don't have a routine nor a good grasp on how long it'll take me to read and write certain things. I'm still in awe of the overwhelming amount of technology where one doesn't just show up to class to collect a syllabus anymore but has to find the class wiki site instead. I'm still trying to figure out how to get these kids excited about writing instead of twisting their arm just to get them thinking about a literacy narrative.

And I'm happy.

I'm so incredibly happy and thankful to be here. I haven't seen my friends in a while and I've fallen incredibly behind with Criminal Minds on A&E, but nobody said it'd be easy. In fact, most people I know said it was pretty insane!

Hhhmmm.... How many of YOU have taken a giant step in the direction of your dreams lately?

It's great to be here!

Walking The Talk