Frankie!

My parents recently got a new dog and named him Frankie. Every time I hear his name I think of this old cartoon. This one is for Frankie, welcome to the family.

Alpine Loop

During another trip this summer I spent a few weeks in Utah and drove up Provo Canyon, through the Alpine Loop and walked around Cascade Springs with my sister and nieces. The pictures do not really do it justice, but I will share them anyway...

Texas

Way back in June I took a short trip to Fort Worth/Dallas Texas for another conference, where I presented another chapter of my dissertation. I didn't take many pictures on the trip as I wasn't really there for sight-seeing. The first two are from our motel (my dad and Rusty came with me). I thought the towel elephant was a nice touch considering it wasn't a very nice place and the chair in the lobby cracked me up.

I only took one picture as I was walking around campus and snapped the other two as I was driving away (which explains the quality of the pictures).

The last three pictures are of Rusty in his new bag, I have had the bag forever but have been reluctant to start using it as Rusty seemed quite comfortable in his old bag, but a Delta rep in the Las Vegas airport told me I really needed to change bags as Rusty had made a hole in the side of his old one- just big enough to stick his nose through.

Johnny Cash

I figured since I got the name of my blog from a Johnny Cash song I should post one of his songs every once in a while, so, here it is-

Albuquerque

I recently (ok, it was waaay back in February) I took a trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico for a conference, where I presented a chapter of my dissertation. It was a quick trip so I really did not get to see much of the town- but what I did see was beautiful.

Here are some pictures of Old Town-





















And here is cute Rusty waiting with me for the airport (or Sunport as they call it in Albuquerque) shuttle to come back for us after our flight home was cancelled. The ground was freezing and the shuttle left us waiting there for over an hour so I tried to get him to sit on my suitcase...

For Bernie

Language

I was reading a book earlier about violence and thinking about Elaine Scarry's discussion of the difficulty we have expressing or describing pain. I was having all kinds of deep thoughts about language and feeling all philosophical and then I saw this-

Changing my name

I have been debating changing my name for a while now. I go by my middle name and always feel a little strange when people refer to me by my first name or when I am forced to use my first name like when I am traveling or whenever I use my debit card (banks insist that my first name appear on the cards, same with my driver's license, etc). However, it was never a big enough deal that I felt I had to change my name- until I started teaching.

At both schools I have taught for I appear in the class schedule by my first name. On the first day of class I re-introduce myself by my preferred name but there are always some students who continue to address me by my first name or to list my first name on their papers. And it drives me crazy. On the other hand I feel petty when I correct them- especially on papers. So I have been thinking far more seriously about going through the process of changing my name legally.

Then the other day at the airport the gate keeper (as I like to refer to the people that work at the gates) paged me to come to the desk using my first and middle name, which he mispronounced- he called me Michelle. And I realized that at least no one (well only one person so far) ever mispronounces my first name- Mary, so by changing my name I'd have to deal with that far more often. It's completely understandable that someone would look at Michaele and think Michelle, especially when they know that they are referring to a female. I used to let it go when people called me Michelle if I thought that I'd never see that person again, but I learned that you just never know. For example, a bank teller once called me Michelle and I didn't bother correcting her because it was not a bank I went to all that often. Bu then i got a job near the bank and started going there all the time. The teller called me Michelle for 3 years and because I didn't correct her the first time I met her I never felt like i could and I honestly didn't care all that much. Then one day I made a deposit for my sister and she paused because the account was not mine and asked, "it is Michelle, right?" and I responded "Actually it's Michaele." She was mortified, "Why did you let me call you Michelle all this time!" Then I was embarrassed.

So what's worse, being called a name that feels a little foreign or being called the wrong name and having to correct people all the time? Blurg, this was more complicated than I thought It'd be.

The biggest thing holding me back was the fact that I am named after someone. Would that be disrespectful? I decided that the best way to deal with this was to take her (Baba's- my grandmother) middle name. When I mentioned this to my mom she told me that Baba had chosen her middle name (I assume she chose it when she was confirmed), so it seemed right somehow to chose the same name she had picked for herself.

Then, this morning a friend sent me a link to this article about a woman who changed her name and reinvented herself. So who knows, maybe after I change my name I'll become a rockstar! Or maybe I'll just approach the coming year (which I have been terrified about because my funding ends this year) with more excitement over the possibilities instead of with terror over the possibility that I will end up on a street corner with a cardboard sign reading "Will lecture you in history for food" (I don't think I'd have many takers).

So here's to a new name, a new year, and endless possibilities (that sounds a little corny, but it's the holidays so corny is more acceptable).

Follow up post

I have no words.

Have yourself a gendered little christmas...

Sometimes I wish my critical feminist eye had an off switch and I could just sit back and enjoy popular culture and take it at face value. Sadly it does not.

I remember working at Desert Star during the Christmas season and singing along with Eartha Kit's Santa Baby (the best version of the song btw). I still like the song but at the same time it niggles at me (I don't think I have ever actually used the word niggles before). Then today I heard a more recent version of the song- sung by Michael Buble and at first I liked that a man had chosen this particular Christmas song that seemed to exclude male singers but as I listened the song started to annoy me. The changes to the song are telling. As a christmas gift to you I will end here and simply share the songs with you instead of yammering on about them.

Christmas Music

This is not a christmas song.


Neither is this.




Nuff said.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for Mr. Rusty and that my mom was willing and able to come celebrate thanksgiving with me. It's been a lovely day with tasty food and good company!

I think Rusty had a good day too-

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Normally I would post an adorable picture of Rusty in costume, but I have decided to forego that particular tradition as Rusty does not really seem to enjoy it and I felt a little mean, but perhaps next year I'll ignore his pained expression.

I also just had my first tricker-treaters- who goes tricker treating in an apartment complex? I was not prepared. Luckily I have fruit snacks so I didn't have to turn them away- but fruit snacks are a rather lame 'treat' to hand out. If Rusty had only been in a costume- his cuteness may have made up for it.

Rusty is a nester

Before-



After-

I'm an amazing photographer

Not really.

On a recent trip home I went to Swiss Days in Midway, Utah with my beautiful sister Robin. On the very lovely drive home I attempted to take a picture of Bridal Veil Falls. I say attempted because it turned out like this-


(Take note of the rearview mirror- if that was the whole picture it'd be much better).

Luckily Robin already had a picture of the waterfall and was nice enough to share it.



As you can see- she is a much better photographer than me. I wasn't a complete failure though- I did snap this amazingly cute picture of Rusty enjoying the ride (of course he makes that very easy by being so cute all the time).

Seeing Red

Contrary to evidence (the evidence being that I haven't posted anything in almost 2 months) I am still around. I have been busy with NIAHD and then busy recovering from NIAHD and teaching another online class and traveling and, you know, living. Lately I have been working on my dissertation and trying to regain my focus after a very busy summer.

I do have pictures from NIAHD to share but I'll save them for another day. In the meantime I thought I share a cartoon I have been watching today (for research of course- I'm not slaking I swear). One of the chapters I am currently working on focuses on wolves - a theme you have seen before here- so here is yet another rendition of my favorite (not really) story- Little Red Riding Hood- in this case Little Red Walking Hood.

Poe

It's been a crazy busy summer so I have been rather neglectful of the blog- I had planned to post something on my visit to the Edgar Allan Poe museum in Richmond a long time ago and now am finally getting around to it. It's been well over a month (two months maybe?) since I actually took these pictures during a lovely visit to Richmond with my friend Laura.

Here are the aforementioned pictures.

What do you think?

Is this feminist? I can't decide. Some of my students felt very strongly that it was but I was leaning the other way- what do you think?

RIP Peter Falk

The South

Recently one of my friends blogged about place-ness I've had some similar moments myself- most recently yesterday afternoon as I was walking Rusty. It had just rained and it was misty out and humid of course- but not unpleasantly so. It also didn't hurt that I was walking by Bassett Hall which is where the Rockefellers stayed when they began restoring Colonial Williamsburg.





The mistiness shows up a little bit better in this picture at the golf course-



And here is the obligatory picture of Rusty- here he is trying to sneak over to greener pastures- I'm not sure what he saw over there but it must have been very intriguing.



I've been dreading summer here. I've never been a fan of summer- the weather part not the vacation from school part (at least not since I can remember) and it's been even worse since I've lived here- summers here can be quite miserable. I had hoped to spend much of this summer at home but alas- one must work- and work I will. This summer is going to be an exceptionally busy one. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough money to pay the bills let alone cover luxury items- you know, like food. So in order to avoid standing on a street corner with a cardboard sign reading- "will lecture you in history for food" I signed on to 4 different teaching gigs- assuming that one or more of them wouldn't work out. Well right now it looks like they all are going to- I'll find out tomorrow for sure. I am really excited about the opportunities but I am also a little worried about managing it all!

Sorry- I got side-tracked there. I was going to say that it was nice to have such a pleasant walk and to enjoy living in the south. I will try to remind myself of that during the miserable summer months ahead.