presenting hayden leo

a photo of my new nephew. at 20 inches and 5 lbs 13 oz, he's a little bundle, but a cute one!

an aunt again!

on november 29, 2006, at approximately 11.42pm, my sister carina gave birth to her first child, hayden leo. according to annie, both carina and hayden are well. no photos yet to post, but there will definitely be plently once I get home from christmas.

congratulations to carina and justin! (and many wishes of patience, coordinated sleep schedules, and endurance for the next several months...)

thanksgiving 2006

thanksgiving. a holiday for loved ones, yummy food, and a bit of respite from the busy, busy world. (that is, if you avoid all black friday activities.) well, not this year, people. this year, I spent thanksgiving with a lot of new people (aside from ryan and amanda). a short drive from madison to chicago and there ry and I were, in the smack middle of a thanksgiving celebration of other thanksgiving orphans. all in all, it was a great time, but not the typical thanksgiving. and while I had such great spirits for the day, there were a couple of moments in which I ached for old friends. alas, such is what happens in our growing up years. I did have some yummy food and yes, the turkey was great. (tday is, after all, the only day that I eat the bird.)


a bit of respite was knocked out by the paper draft that I worked on for my transitional justice and political memory class (as mct only refers to as 'tj.' he's down with the poli sci lingo.) I don't know if it was a shift of hormones or the desire for a bit more rest, but this was not my weekend to try and pull together some original thought. I know that I put a lot of pressure on myself, but eee gads, this was not pretty. not pretty at all. lots of talk about being uncertain about the ph.d. gig, lots of tears, lots of stomach pains. what I sent my class is absolute shite and, joy of joy, I will be receiving comments during class tomorrow. how I sent something so awful to my class is beyond me; really, it was just something that I had to do to end the madness in which I had become engulfed. hopefully those bad feelings will not plague me when I finish the paper. hopefully the comments will pull me back on track. hopefully I won't want to quit for at least another four weeks (ie after the semester has ended).

bits and pieces

taking a 'break'/procrastinating some research. though there are only five weeks until everything has to be done, I'm living in a bit of denial of how tough this all going to be. will force myself to realize this weekend...that is, after a quick trip to chi to see a couple of friends.

quick update of things:

voted for the first time ever at a polling place. all previous voting had been done via absentee.

had a couple of friends visit madison. derek came in to interview at the b school, as he's super keen on getting in to their security analysis program (or something equally esoteric). dinner with him was followed by seeing kate and michael! they drove eight hours from msp (the joys of the first snow in wisconsin). kate and I drank (most) of these huge beers, a genuine feat for us both.

the next day was spent strolling down state street (the only valid thing that I know of to do with visitors. sad, eh?) and exploring the eastern tip of campus (where I spend most of my time.) while I made kate and michael sit under this sign, I still think that it's funny.

plans for the weekend are as follows: henna tattos and a show by the changes here in madison. (the first show that I'll attend here. I have been missing it (the 'scene') all too much.) up early on sat for the bus to chi, and then brunch with marci and nickie. after some of marci's domestic divaness, we'll be going to the diy craftshow to support amanda in her craftster debut! and then, at some point, seeing josh and meeting mneesha. bus back to mad and then long days of w-o-r-k. these papers aren't going to write themselves, after all.

now that I only have 3.5 hours until class, I must lock myself into the microfiche room and stare and small, small print.

oh, ethnicity, identity, memory, violence.

key words for my 'career.' in the midst of revising my research proposal for a major fellowship, I'm questioning my own understand of these concepts. critical theory on a friday night = an aching brain and a questioning of confidence.