Summer Plans

This afternoon I'll collect 25 portfolios from my creative writing students, this evening seven term papers from the master's students, and over the weekend 21 final drafts will trickle in from the first-year comp students. Tomorrow: three lengthy on-campus meetings, followed by setting up in the evening for Pax Christi Conference. Saturday at the conference: introduce a couple speakers, be a greeter, help serve lunch, take down/clean up afterward.

So, let me be the first to admit that talking about summer plans is probably premature, at least for the next five or six days. But I'm going to partake in such talk anyway...

1. Four weeks (mid-June to mid-July) teaching down in beautiful Oxford, Ohio, with the Ohio Writing Project--my third summer working with OWP. Leading the Writing Project workshop has been one of the best teaching experiences ever, so I'm flattered and thrilled they're having me back despite my leaving the buckeye state. And I'm staying in a Miami U. dorm, so I'm thinking late nights, cheap beer...the whole package!

2. Doing research on the Wayne State-Freshmen College initiative of 1934-1940. This will be the big scholarly project of the summer--and hopefully beyond. Wayne sponsored a "junior college" program in hopes of increasing educational access to the working poor during the worst years of the Depression. Little has been written about the initiative. Can't wait to dig in.

3. On the less-scholarly side of things (though there may be a paper in this, too), I'm going to try out the weekly Punk Rock Aerobics classes at the Belmont. Get your exercise, then hang out in a smoky bar and have a few beers. Makes sense, right?