Jacquelyn's Space

I helped out with the Sigma Tau Delta Creative Writing Conference on Friday. I didn’t get a chance to enter any of my papers (too busy, stressed, and tired at the deadline in February) but I offered to help out because I enjoyed the other writing conference I attended  a couple of years ago and thought it would be fun and a great experience. The conference was a modest success yesterday – not as many papers presented as we would have liked but we had a nice turnout and some great discussions; I enjoyed myself and helping out. Most of all I will treasure the email that my professor sent me:

Jackie

I wanted to say that I thought you did such a magnificent job moderating panels today.  I was most impressed by your gentleness and the seriousness with which you took your job.  It’s not always easy to think of appropriate comments and questions.  However, I believe that it is very important to encourage conversation to give the presenter the feeling that they’ve been heard and that what they offered was interesting.  You handled these situations masterfully and showed a generosity that is really inspiring.

Thank you for your work.  Are you free to go out to breakfast this coming Friday.  I want to reward the conference committee and the secretaries.  We thought we’d all meet at the crepe place.  I wanted to see if this seemed possible before I settled on that day.

 I hope you have a good weekend.

 All the best,

Mary Jo

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I am so thankful she noticed and acknowledged my contribution. The conference experience and my professor’s comments really make me want to pursue becoming a professor and making my life’s work center on higher education.

Yes, my days keep getting busier, ugh! I like days where I can chill, go with the flow, relax. I am not really going to be able to relax until May, if then. I am penciling in a breakdown for the first week of May actually. I’ll have to see if I have time.

Today I was up early after barely sleeping. I was at school before 9am to work on some stuff for Psi Chi, which I had to hurry so I could meet my scene partners in the theater for Shakespeare class. Only one other person from the scene showed but we ran through our scene – Act 3 iv of Hamlet. I played Queen Gertrude. It is a pretty interesting scene – Hamlet confronts his mother with his feelings over her marrying his uncle, showing his ‘madness’ or at least his anger; his father’s ghost appears, which shows his ‘madness’ even more. Fun!

I had to run up to Classic Greek and Roman Lit.  – I was late. After that was Shakespeare and the scene performance, which went well, though I was unable to produce real tears… I thought I could, given my emotional state lately, but my nerves got the better of me; I used ’em though. People seemed to like our performance and we were told it made them uncomfortable (which it was supposed to) and someone said even though I didn’t cry I was convincing.

Before and after Shakespeare class I had to discuss yet another project with a classmate. I think we have a good idea for a project (our final project) involving The Taming of the Shrew.

I had to run off to wind symphony, which rehearsal went pretty well today but I still have lots work on – we have a concert coming soon, a little over a week away! Once wind symphony was over, I ran back up to the Psychology Office to do some more work for Psi Chi – it is induction time and I had to enter the applications of the new inductees online so the main office would have the info in time for our induction next month. I also had to record and ready the payment information for deposit. I took all that to the Cashier’s Office in the Pavilion (far from the Psychology Department -I was all around school today but it could have been worse) and chatted on the phone with my dad on my way back to the office to pick up my stuff (backpack, computer, and trombone – too much to carry). I ran into my friend Jeannette on the way back too so I got to touch base with her. She, like me, is having a rough semester. 😦

Left school around 5:30pm after being there for more than a full day without stopping. I had to stop by the credit union on my way home, then the grocery store, and finally I was on my way home. It was after 6 by the time I made it home and got  anything like a meal to eat. I had only had a cup of yogurt all day. Didn’t have time to rest though. Touched base with my husband and then my dad stopped by to pick me up for an appointment. Finally I made it home half past nine to catch up on emails and facebook, and write this very busy day in my blog … though it is not over yet. I still have much homework to do and stuff I could do for Psi Chi and Sigma Tau Delta (there is the Writing Conference this Friday). I am freaking exhausted.

Today is one of those days. I am so tired…my husband kept me up too late last night. I couldn’t get moving in the morning or stay awake in my first class which starts at the decent hour of 11am. I struggled through. We are reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses and for some reason I have never warmed up to mythology. I have to struggle to stay focused on it. I love my professor though, and I have her for both Greek and Roman Lit. and Shakespeare class right after. The prof really gives depth to everything we read and promotes such great discussions – that is why I hate to be falling asleep in class.

I woke up for Shakespeare class though, absolutely love that. Much of his work is based on myths but of course he added lots of complexity to the stories in writing his plays. Right now we are reading Hamlet. I have read it before but it is great to go over it again and pick up on all that I missed. I can really identify with Hamlet now after all the family drama I have been going through the past year.

After Shakespeare I went to Wind Symphony and actually had a good practice today. We have a concert in 2 short weeks, yikes! I have much more practicing to do but I hope to be able to conquer these pieces (or most of them) – we are playing 7 or 8 pieces. I can’t remember there are so many. Double yikes!! I told Dr. H, the director, that I am graduating and he actually asked me if I would still like to play at graduation. Of course I said yes. I really do too so it looks like I will. Yay! And it is a paying gig too ($75 – not too shabby), plus I would rather sit with the band that way my husband and parents can find me among all the graduates easily.

After band I stopped in to a Grad School Prep Seminar Psi Chi was hosting, then  ran off to see my counselor where of course I got much validation. Enough to write this ‘I Love Me’ blog post, ha ha. So today turned out to be a good day. I hope things go my way tomorrow too; I hope it is a good day.

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Oh yeah, yesterday was pretty good too. I did a little retail therapy yesterday and bought some really cute airy summer tops (kinda hippie, India-ish) that were on clearance. I also bought some groceries and my husband and I grilled up one big Fred Flintstone steak and it was yummy. We even have another steak even bigger for another meal – I should cook that today…I don’t know. Since it was so hot today, I wore one of my new tops today along with a jean skort I had from last year. I may have to retire the skort because it is way too loose.

Today was Honors Convocation and I got some Honors, ha. Well, my name was in the program and me and my fellow UM- Flint Honors students had to stand and be recognized.

Honors Convocation is an annual celebration where undergraduate students are recognized for their distinguished academic achievements. It is one of the University’s most important academic traditions.

I didn’t really want to go because I have tons of stuff to do at home and for school but I thought how could I miss ‘one of the University’s most important academic traditions’. Me and my husband went down to Ann Arbor for few hours…Hill Auditorium was cool (I have been there before – a long time ago – just can’t remember for what), there was a little reception after the Convocation, and then we walked around AA for a bit. It was nice. I hadn’t been to Ann Arbor in a while and I would like to go and spend a day there – it is pretty and there is so much to see and do. After I graduate maybe I’ll drive down and spend the day checking stuff out. I need to figure out where I want to go to Grad school so I might as well start there. 😉

http://www.honors.umich.edu/index.html

http://www.honors.umich.edu/HonorsProgram12.pdf