fyi

First of all, since I'm pretty sure this is what everyone cares about (it's definitely what I would care about), new apartment pictures are coming soon. PROMISE.

Second, I just thought I'd share a piece of good news I received at a conference (specifically, the meeting of the BABEL Working Group) in Boston this weekend. I won a writing award! The BABEL Working Group is composed of some of my favorite scholars and people, and so it was truly amazing to be recognized by them. As part of my award my essay will be published in a real-life literary journal so, you know. That's pretty cool. Details and the announcement here.

In all seriousness, I'm really overwhelmed and gratified and humbled by the award, as well as how wonderful it was to have so many of my friends there at the conference to celebrate with me (two professors and five other GW grad students). They really went out of their way to make me feel special, and I'm super grateful for that.

I'm also really grateful for Ross, who whipped our house into amazing shape while I was gone and who just generally always works extraordinarily hard. PICTURES SOON!

oh, hey

Super quick update while I'm waiting for the library to process the book I came across town for. Yes, I know it's been a long time, but trust me, we've been busy. The summer ended, as summers do, with a huge influx of busy-ness, and much as I've wanted to, I haven't found time to blog. Anyway, without further ado, a bullet-pointed list:

• Almost all of you know this already, but we moved!!!! We found an amazing apartment in Capitol Hill (two blocks from the Capitol itself!) that we could actually afford. We officially moved in a week ago today, and so far we couldn't be happier. Pictures soon, I PROMISE. 
• I started my PhD program! I'm still at GW, of course, so some things haven't changed, but lots of other things have. I'm fully funded now, and I'm a Graduate Teaching Assistant, so I'm helping out with a class. So far I've just been answering emails and sitting in, but I teach my first section in about a week. Super exciting. 
• Next weekend I'll be in Boston delivering a paper at the 2nd Biennial Meeting of the BABEL Working Group. I'm looking forward to it and will keep you posted. 
• Ross likes his commute so far. It's longer, but he doesn't have to drive and instead takes the MARC train (which is what I've been doing for the past two years). The MARC is really comfortable, and the 45 minutes to an hour that he's on it give him time to read or sleep. MARC for the win. 
• I was accepted into a seminar at the Folger Shakespeare Library, a gorgeous research library about three blocks from our apartment! The Folger is an extremely important element in Shakespeare scholarship around the world, and I'm really thrilled to have access to the archive. The seminar I'm taking is on Paleography, or the reading of old handwriting. In theory, the skills I learn there will allow me to do some work with actual seventeenth-century manuscripts. Yay for research!

Anyway, I think that's it! Ross is happy, I'm happy, and Creature is happy (especially now that things are returning to some semblance of normalcy... she was stressed for a bit there). We really liked Laurel, but we love being back in the city and in the heart of things. Hope you're all well! I'm going to go see if my book is available...