Academics Do Not Take the Summer Off. If Only.

Well the blog has been dead for awhile which means one of two things: I was abducted by other-worldly visitors or the school semester got incredibly crazy. I’ll leave it to the reader to decide which one it was– perhaps it was a combination of both. Honestly, this semester was a brutal experience that seemed to fly by way too fast. However, I am now done with my core PhD classes and stand on the precipice of prelims. The good news is summer break has arrived and the good ol’ Intertrash should rise like a phoenix from the digital ashes (I’m feeling awfully dramatic this morning). So just like I did before last semester, here’s a summer plan.

1. Studying for those prelims. This basically involves rereading five courses’ worth of information in three months. Somehow this doesn’t sound like the most exciting prospect . . . funny.

2. I’ll be working on two future composition textbooks as a research assistant. Not only does this involve a bit of summer cash, it is actually pretty fun work. Mainly I surf the internet for cool stuff; you know, something I would be doing anyway.

3. Saro imparare l’italiano. For my language challenged readers, that means I will be learning Italian. Yes, PhDs still come with language requirements. Thankfully, Purdue only requires one language, and I did study Italian for two years in the past. Perhaps some of that previous study will come forward.

4. I need to finish a piece for a book anthology that I’ve been accepted into. The piece is on filming machinima in Second Life and evokes all kinds of postmodernism and complexity theory to argue for embracing machinima as emergent play and process. Yep, good stuff.

5. I’m going to be the Introductory Comp Technology Mentor come the Fall semester, so I have all kinds of modules and workshops to create.

6. I’m looking to redesign my entire website and get it looking all snazzy and user-friendly before the Fall.

7. I’m piloting a new 106 syllabus approach in the Fall that we’ve decided to call "Composing With Popular Culture." Although I’ll be able to use a lot of my old materials there is a need to create a lot of new stuff. I am super excited about this though, it really shouldn’t feel too much like work.

8. Finally, I really do need to find a job. Money is always tight in the summer and this one is no exception. Something part-time. Who knows, we’ll see how this one pans out.

So there it is. Who said academics take the summer off? And did I mention blogging? Stay tuned.