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1. Our colleague's sick kid got diagnosed today. 
( cut for brief discussion of serious illness )
2. I'm reading Lewis's Turco's New Book of Forms (which was not new in 2005 or so when I acquired it), and man it is boring. LOL It is thoroughly validating my belief that the scansion of poetry is an abomination which inserts waaaaaaaay too much math into what should be an enjoyable pursuit. I love that Turco defines every single term used to analyze poetry in the Western world, and I love that he gives examples of each form, but reading it from start to finish is something else. I cannot believe I taught a junior seminar with this book. Why did they not all rise up against me in glorious revolution?
I must also praise Turco's Alice B. Toklasesque decision to illustrate many of the forms with his own poems; his entry in the index is three times as long as any other poet's. A healthy ego is a wonderful thing.
3. The president of our institution delivered his State of the University address today. I was not able to attend even though it was delivered on our campus, so I was very surprised and pleased to discover when reading the transcript that he mentioned me and my work on the camp I've talked about here before. I was the only faculty member to get a shout out! That feels pretty damn good.
4. I am getting stronger! I've been consistently lifting weights since late December, and I've been able to go up in weight and reps on most of the exercises I'm doing. Not making much progress on intensifying cardio, but I'm seeing tangible increases in strength.
( cut for brief discussion of serious illness )2. I'm reading Lewis's Turco's New Book of Forms (which was not new in 2005 or so when I acquired it), and man it is boring. LOL It is thoroughly validating my belief that the scansion of poetry is an abomination which inserts waaaaaaaay too much math into what should be an enjoyable pursuit. I love that Turco defines every single term used to analyze poetry in the Western world, and I love that he gives examples of each form, but reading it from start to finish is something else. I cannot believe I taught a junior seminar with this book. Why did they not all rise up against me in glorious revolution?
I must also praise Turco's Alice B. Toklasesque decision to illustrate many of the forms with his own poems; his entry in the index is three times as long as any other poet's. A healthy ego is a wonderful thing.
3. The president of our institution delivered his State of the University address today. I was not able to attend even though it was delivered on our campus, so I was very surprised and pleased to discover when reading the transcript that he mentioned me and my work on the camp I've talked about here before. I was the only faculty member to get a shout out! That feels pretty damn good.
4. I am getting stronger! I've been consistently lifting weights since late December, and I've been able to go up in weight and reps on most of the exercises I'm doing. Not making much progress on intensifying cardio, but I'm seeing tangible increases in strength.
