Time Flies

When you're hella bisy!  Several things to report:

1)  I ran in a 10 mile race last weekend.  1:17:27, official time.  That breaks down into 7:45/mi, which is faster than anticipated by a good 15 seconds/mile.  The course, in Wilmington, Delaware was fast -- slight uphill out for miles 3/4/ 5, then a flat 6/7, and bang back downhill for 8/9.  In mile 10 there was a brutal uphill which very nearly broke me.  Here were my times:

1) 7:36 (starting jitters, I didn't mean to run that fast)

2) 7:52

3) 7:56

4) 8:00

5) 8:00

6) 7:56

7) 7:32

8) 7:26

9) 7:00

10) 9:15

Ow.  I floated through mile 9, but wow, I really lost it in the last mile.  Note to self:  Must train on hills more.

Second thing of note: I have been taking a winter term class.  I know, crazy!  But the class is on writing a publishable article, and the teacher is the editor of a major journal in the field, and I haven't had anything published yet.  Lots of conference papers, but in the branch of academia I am aiming for, published articles will go a long way towards a job offer.  So, the diss has been on hold for the last two weeks.  I have found some useful stuff for it, however, including a new trail to sniff out.  I have enjoyed  the classroom experience, even if it has been a major time stressor.

No news on the Job front, sadly - well, I heard from the college in the sand that they have recieved my application, and will contact personell as needed.  Otherwise, no movement, so I am, at present, anticpating GAing another year.  There are upsides to that; the job applicant with the PhD in hand is more attractive, and I should have a chance to get stuff published before the next cycle of job calls.  Not giving up hope for some interviews, but it just seems healthy to plan for the continuance of the status quo.

In health news, M has been on an "exclusion" diet this week, and for another 10 days or so -- no spices, no cheese, no nuts, no bread, only meats are lamb, chicken, and turkey.  Lots of veggies and fruits, which I keep trying to pitch to her as an upside, but she is disconsolate.  Life without garlic, chocolate, and almonds seems to be not the kind of choice she would make on her own . . . heh.  She's tough, though, and I know she's going to do great.

Lets see.  Oh, yeah.  I started a post about death a week ago -- Brother Mine gave me a neat book in which the subject is dealt with in an erudite and pleasant manner.  I had some thoughts on that - mortality being much on my mind of late, due to circs beyond my control - but after looking again, nothing really worth committing to print.  Which is not to say that such ruminations might not appear at a later date, just that they aren't ripe yet.

What is it that makes Americans "american"?  That is a question that strikes deeply to the core of the article I am working on revising, and the manner in which an understanding of the contested nature of American Identity in the young republic might be informed by an examination of the critical reaction to ballet in Jacksonian America.  I have a good product allready, I think, but it really lacks the proper frame, which would be the exact nature of the contests surrounding ideas of "american-ness" in the 1820-1845 were.  Not that there hasn't been a lot written about that -- quite the opposite.  Whether you think it was Locke-ean philosophy that was the dominant thread, or whether you thnk it was a matter of "othering" those against whom factions wanted to define themselves, or whether you subscribe to a Habermas-ian notion of "public sphere" as an organizing theme for the struggles to define american identity, there is a lot written about the subject.  What I need, really, is a good three-to-four page redaction of that information.  

If you've done any academic writing, you know that this isn't an insurmountable process.  Just take six-to-eight weeks to re-familiarize yourself with the various seminal texts as well as recent scholarship in the area, then distill it to a usefully concise format that supports your argument.  Problem being, I want to do it in 4 days.  It can't be DONE in four days.  I know that.  I KNOW that.  That doesn't make it any less frustrating.  

The Washington Post opines that facebook has now become as ubiquitous as cellphones, having reached critical mass -- now, its more of an affectation to NOT be on facebook than it is a measure of geekiness to use the site.  What about you?  Do you FB?  Why or why not?