Friday, August 24, 2012

I went away for a while, but now I'm back. ;-)

If I have been missing in action for the last several months, never fear! I wasn't too far away at least.
 I'll get to the point and instead of a rambling essay, I'll just make a bullet list of this summer's events, because I'm in business-mode right now and my creativity is basically taking a nap. :-P I'll include pictures as well. So here goes:

  • I spent most of the summer prepping for my teaching position at the Abbey. Thankfully, all the work paid off and I'm settling in to my role just fine. In the meantime, I'm also still tutoring English and History and just recently took on another project at BAC which shall remain a surprise until later in the year. ;-)



  •  In June, Dave and I had the privilege of meeting Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna when he came to Belmont Abbey to celebrate Mass and receive an honorary degree. I must say, it was the highlight of the summer and an experience I won't soon forget. Receiving a blessing from His Eminence was very special, even for a Baptist girl like me. ;-)



  • The Abbey also hosted its first Literary Conference (I spend a lot of time there, don't I? haha) in June. I didn't present a paper myself, since I was busy spending most of the earlier part of the spring and summer getting my Grad work done, but I thoroughly enjoyed being in the audience for a change! The theme was Transformation in Literature, which included everything from Shakespeare to James Joyce. Stanely Fish, a well-known figure in the realm of English Comp and Lit, gave the keynote address. I'm hoping we can continue the tradition every year! Who knows, maybe Harold Bloom will show up next...


  • Also in June, our good friends Heather Byrd and Andrew Achter were married! It was a beautiful ceremony (how could it have not been?), with the right touch of Hacther wit (yes, that's their new celebrity name, apparently! :-) ).


  • Then there was the family reunion in upstate New York with Dave! What a relaxing few days it was: there was coffee, tea, family, children, cookies, a $1 book sale at the local library, some nice dinners out and marvelous weather! It was a nice respite from all the prepping I was doing on the computer and in my own head. :-P

Niece Jade

In-Laws :)

Cousin Shot

Coco the Cat!

So there, I'm caught up for the entire summer. 8) Here's to the fall semester; I'll spend the first week of September hiding from the DNC, but that's ok!

Cheers,
Em