I Hate Jackson Pollock: October 2007

Gettin' There

That phrase is Shewara and I's mantra for when we are getting work done. How is work going? We're getting there. Slowly but surely. GRE is next week (I'm getting a little better at the practice tests), and between now and then I have to navigate three different conferences: Islam and Visual Culture (Madison), Visual Studies (Evanston), and Afro-Mexico (Chicago). On top of that, I still have all my reading (preliminary calculations reveal that by semester's end I will have read around the neighborhood of 5000 pages this semester. And no, that is not an exaggeration), as well as three papers to write.

But I am getting it all done. I used to be far worse at the time management thing, but I think I am finally getting into a good grad school rhythm, learning what to do and when to do it, and finally giving myself the personal motivation to get work done so I can have some semblance of free time on the weekends to see Shewara, or just relax for a bit while football plays on the 'tube. I think this new persepective (and by new a mean a week old) comes from a good conversation I had with Shewara last week as I was nearing my first ever real mental meltdown. I had had a bad four weeks (stolen camera, ear infection, etc.), and was at a low-point academia-wise as I felt totally unconfident in my place here, and unsure of what work I should actually be doing. I ran the idea of just applying to Chicago jobs and quitting altogehter. Shewara, awesome as she is, reminded me of my childhood professor dream, and that I should be here - and I deserve it. That same day, my history professor wrote a review of one of my papers, praising both my writing and my analytical insights, and my advisor gave me some really helpful words in a one-on-one meeting that made me feel much better.

Basically I got through it, thanks to my awesome support system. So small crisis averted. Still lots of work to do, but I'm getting there.

GREdux

Since Wisconsin has a terminal M.A. program, I am keeping my Ph.D. options open by reapplying to Madison as well as applying to Northwestern. Like the perfectionist I am, I wasn't particularly happy with my GRE performance the first time, so I've decided to try to tame the beast again. But this time I have help: Shewara made an awesome set of digital flashcards when she took the test, so I've been using them at night before I go to bed (and plan on working on them a lot more over the weekends). Hopefully that can give me the boost I need to walk out of the testing center happier than I was last time.

Today's words:
ENNUI: extreme boredom
ENJOIN: a judicial command
ABROGATE: to abolish by authoritative action

Day of reckoning is November 9th.

Coin Acquisitions This Weekend

From a new coin store we found in Champaign. I am building a collection of coins from every country in Africa (current nations as well as former colonial polities), so the bolded ones on the list are helping me toward that goal:

1853 France - 10 Centimes
1854 France - 5 Centimes
1861 Italy - 5 Centisimi
1888 Colombia - 5 Centavos
1918 German Empire - 5 Pfennig
1920 Canada - 1 Cent
1941 Tunisia - 1 France
1944 Ethiopia - 1 Cent
1945 United Kingdom - Farthing
1957 Peru - 1/2 Sol de Oro
1964 Sierra Leone - 1/2 Cent
1974 Kenya - 5 Cents
1975 Lebanon - 1 Livre (I thought it was Libyan when I bought it. Still interesting.)
1981 Papua New Guinea - 1 Toea
1982 Seychelles - 1 Rupee

100 Films of 2007: #78

Zazie dans le Métro (Zazie in the Metro)

France, 1960

Getting Over My Ear Infection

Which is good, since the doctors were flabbergasted as to how a seemingly healthy 23-year-old that hadn't been swimming recently managed to get an ear infection, in both ears no less. At Shewara's insistence (she takes care of me so well) I went to see the doctor as the burning pain in both ears got worse, and they put me on a bunch of fun meds - painkillers, antibiotics, prescription eardrops, and nasal spray to combat the sinus infection that had developed on top of it. It's a good thing I'm getting better now, since I will need all my strength for the Michigan/Illinois football game tomorrow.

Lazy Sunday

I spent most of the day recovering from my ear infection and reading the latest work for my book-a-week history seminar; "Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles." I feel like my painfully ringing eardrums were limiting my ability to really digest what the authors were saying, but they were basically arguing that because of European contact, something called the "Atlantic Creole Culture" emerged in west Central Africa around 1600. In the end, it seemed like just a fancy way of saying "there was lots of European contact there." This was surprising since one of the co-authors, John K. Thornton, has done a lot of work that I've really enjoyed and respected, but this seemed quite beneath his level of scholarship. Maybe he's complacent in his relative fame so far.

I spent the other half of the day watching the upper-left half of the TV screen (where the score ticker is), watching in pain as the Bears fell to the Vikings, 34-31. This completed my depressing sports weekend (the Illini lost to hated Iowa yesterday, 10-6). Hopefully this can be rectified this weekend when Shewara and I head to Chambana for the big Illinois-Michigan match, which is still one of the biggest football games in recent Illini memory. Plus, Shewara is 2-0 all-time at Illini matches, so we gotta win.

Off to bed for more ear resting.

I Found God Today . . . And She Rhymes.

Just one of the many great lines from the performances at UW's 3rd Annual Spoken Word Festival, which I attended last night for the first time. The theme this year was "Passing the Mic," a symbolic exchange of the power of spoken word/slam poetry from the older generations to a younger, politically charged and highly motivated group. Fittingly, the night started with a performance by a famous griot from the Gambia, who at one point played his harp (?) while a girl from Chicago gave a poem about African origins and identity. Super cool. Later, five different groups from various midwestern cities (Indianapolis, Chicago, Minneapolis, Cleveland, and Milwaukee) crossed the stage, each ones giving some of the most lyrically creative and emotionally powerful things I've heard in a while. Some of the better lines:

"I do kinda wish all white rappers would move to Pluto, since they're out of the system..."
"There is a difference between hip-hop and pop, because pop goes flat."

The title line from this post was taken from a story of a young boy who read the Bible over and over, and got nothing from it - he only found his God in poetry. Great stuff, and made all the better by the live raw emotion that goes along with it.

The night was concluded with a long, jam-tastic performance by Bobi Cespedes, a santeria priestess and Afro-Cuban singer now living in San Francisco. She isn't particularly well known, but after seeing her live, she sure should be.

The host for the evening was Roger Bonair-Agard, a Trinidadian-born 2-time US National Slam Poetry champion, now residing in Brooklyn. His talent was really something to be witnessed, so I managed to find a YouTube video of one of the poems he gave last night (this particular one was given in New York). It's called:

Part 2: Song for Trent Lott (again)

Since I've Been Gone

Lots of things happened. I..

-Lived in rural Mexico for five weeks, and lived to tell the tale;
-Moved in to a new apartment in Madison;
-Took a week-long vacation in Paris with Shewara;
-Started my second year of graduate school;
-Helped out while Shewara started her first year of graduate school (I'm so proud!); and
-Had my digital camera stolen while walking back from lunch. I miss it :(

So, I will try hard over the next few weeks to post photos and stories from these grand adventures. But in keeping with tradition, check out how big Prickly is getting: