Dissertation: SUBMITTED

I’m back!

I’ve been blogging twice a month at Inside Higher Ed’s GradHacker, but I haven’t blogged here in a while because I’ve been busy revising my dissertation. It was exhausting work, and I’m surprised that I enjoyed it so much. Really.

The guidelines at my institution stipulate that the dissertation needs to be given to committee members one month in advance of the defense. I’m pleased to say that, as of earlier today, I submitted the dissertation–all 236 pages with notes! Yeah!

CC-licensed photo by flickr user ex_magician

I don’t know if I’d call the dissertation process a race to the finish; it has felt more like a marathon. (And, no, that’s not me running!) Either way, I’m glad I reached this mile-marker, and I  hope to write some sort of reflection piece about it for GradHacker in the near future.

Speaking of the near future: As I prepare for the defense at the end of May, I’m looking forward to getting back to pleasure reading, hiking, and backpacking, and I plan to blog about those pursuits, too. (So, yes, The Ambulant Scholar lives!) I’m also teaching (for the sixth time) an introductory fiction course for non-majors that also satisfies an intensive writing requirement. It’s a fun class and will be a fitting end to my 8-year teaching career at my home institution.

The course will be organized around the theme of “communities on the margin.” I’ll be teaching my favorite novel, John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row. I also will teach three novels for the first time: Nella Larsen’s Passing (1929), Eduardo Santiago’s Tomorrow They Will Kiss, and the first volume of the graphic novel series, The Walking Dead. A big thank you, by the way, to my colleagues in the English department who recommended Tomorrow They Will Kiss and The Walking Dead.