back to life back to reality

since margi announced via email to michigan's urban planning community and since i blurted it out to my undergrad planning lecture, i have received all manner of notes, mostly ribbing with the obvious references to jane seymour and the dusty western frontier. two students seemed to have really gotten me. one, natalie a grad student in social work and planning, remarked that she didn't know how i finished my degree, ran so many public programs this term, and looked so good. exactly what i strive for. and then kate, one of my gifted ambitious undergrads, wrote a note about scheduling a coffee date for a radio series she wants to develop around planning issues. she began...

"Dr. Quinn (social justice woman, like doctor Quinn medicine woman but not really)"

it's been funny to see how people reply to the new title. some claim me to be urban planning woman, others american studies woman, and on. i like kate's the best.

dissertation news: mary fell ill with a food-borne illness and she has not read any of my revisions. so, i cannot upload my dissertation today -- the deadline for a may 2007 graduation deadline. looks like august for me. there's a small chance that she will mend while at a museum consultation in miami this weekend, rebound quickly and read the materials when she returns + the bibliography and list of figures. then, if she and valerie, the graduate secretary, pull the strings, i may squeak through for this may. if not august.

it's always something.

i called peggy, my chairperson at my new institution, and she is so smart. she can read between all kinds of lines and thinks that if mary will write a letter, this will not jeopardize my position, my title or my salary. then she and i had a long talk about the learning goals of the intro class that i will teach in the fall. (i have been contemplating how to structure that and i peppered her with questions about expectations, reading load, writing assignments, etc.). i am so looking forward to working with her. every single time we chat, i learn something and leave with good ideas about my work and teaching.



finally, it's public radio fundraising time on WDET. i am not pledging for them on principle even though i do listen. they canceled my girl liz copeland's radio program, alternate take.at any rate, yesterday, i heard quique aviles sharing a little bit of his story in a promo with jay allison. not only does quique have not one but two Qs in his name, but he and i worked together a couple of times with dc humanities council. i really liked working with him and that whole group. we really did some good stuff. quique and some others maintain this group, sol y soul.
i didn't know, as he shared yesterday on the radio, that he struggled with addictions. i admire his courage for talking it over with jay allison while being recorded for broadcast on national public radio. i wonder if quique knew it would be used for dunning?