Neglecting the blog, again

I've been writing elsewhere, though.

Here's my last column for Literary Mama.

And here's today's installment at the Mama, PhD blog at Inside Higher Ed.

Nick's last day of school is today--and I thought I'd post this picture here, since the tattoos are, yes, Dreamdark tattoos. Very cool. The whole concept was his idea; I was just his stylist. (The hair is a spray-on color that washes right out, unlike Mariah's pink hair...)

Why I Do Research

In the middle of writing a conference paper, it's helpful to stop and think about why I'm doing it.

Blog U.: Mothering at Mid-Career: Why I Do Research - Mama PhD - Inside Higher Ed

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Teaching and Research

I'm blogging about Jill Biden, my new role model, over at the Mama, PhD blog at Inside Higher Ed. And trying to get to work on my column. Remember that? I do still write it, but only every other month these days. While I'm away, though, you might check out Mama at the Movies, writing about the lovely oldie, Fly Away Home. Back later!

(cross-posted)

Ready, Set...

...things are changing around here. New semester, new courses, and --the biggest change of all-- Mariah heads off to CA for the rest of her gap year, any day now. I blog about that today at the Mama, PhD blog at Inside Higher Ed.

Go!

Not at the MLA

I'm delighted not to be at the MLA convention this year. Though I love San Francisco, and the opportunity to catch up with old friends is one I'm sorry to miss, still I prefer spending Christmas and New Year's with my family, and without a convention in between them. Still, I'm glad Caroline is at the MLA and reporting on it for Inside Higher Ed--check out her insights here. (I'll be back blogging for IHE next week.)

Talk amongst yourselves

Posting has really fallen off here this week--and, if I'm honest, all semester. I've had a hard time keeping up with any outside reading and that leaves me less to talk about here. That said, I'm blogging elsewhere, and I realize I've forgotten to link to the discussion here. So if you want to read up on the shape of academic careers, and the difficulty of balancing work and family, here's a list of links for you. Discuss.

Tedra Osell gives advice to someone considering academe.

I follow up with some ideas about career ladders and lattices (original NYT article here).

Dana Campbell chimes in.

Laura McKenna at 11D joined the conversation about now; she also noted that ProfGrrrl, Professing Mama, and GeekyMom had more to say.

[edited to add] Wendy at Outside Providence has made her own luck, and talks about it here.

Tedra and I each blogged about it again the following week, and Aeron Haynie's next post also brings up a relevant point about including the dads.

Whew! After all that, do you think we've solved the problems of the universe yet?

Yeah, me neither. And now I need to grade some more papers.

Parenting and Pedagogy

Tedra Osell's recent post on her "Career Coach" blog at Inside Higher Ed's Mama PhD got me thinking: what is the relationship between parenting and pedagogy? How has my pedagogy changed since becoming a parent? It's hard for me to answer the latter question, as I had only been teaching as a grad student for a few years before I became a parent; the two have really always been intertwined for me. But I do know that I don't answer the question the way Tedra does; here's a stab at how I do answer it.

(cross-posted at the other blog...)

Today's update

When I'm teaching, everything revolves around the books I'm immersed in, and the books start speaking to my present reality. Right now I'm moving on from Frankenstein to Wuthering Heights in one class, and from Alice in Wonderland to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in the other two. And somehow Frankenstein made it into my Mama, PhD blog entry over at Inside Higher Ed today.

In other news, I'm working at home today while I wait for the Verizon installers. The question of the day is, will I finish my grading before they arrive?

(cross-posted at the other blog)

Teaching at Hogwarts

Well, I don't teach at Hogwarts, of course--my building is neo-Gothic, not medieval--but I have some fun considering Harry and Ron as students in my latest over at Inside Higher Ed.

Girl Athletes and Women Professors

Sunday's Times Magazine piece on girl athletes has a lot of folks talking. Me, too.

Mama PhD at Inside Higher Ed!

Starting today, seven Mama PhD contributors will be blogging over at InsideHigherEd.

Caroline and Elrena started things off today with an introductory post; from now on the blog will run along this rotation:

Monday: The Career Coach Is In by Megan Kajitani
Tuesday: Mid-Career Mothering by Libby Gruner (hey, that would be me!)
Wednesday: ABCs and PhDs: Biologists at Home, by Dana Campbell, Liz Stockwell, and Susan Bassow
Thursday: Math Mom by Della Fenster
Friday: Drama Mama by Anjalee Nadkarni

Check out my inaugural post tomorrow...

(cross-posted at Midlife Mama)