What we've been up to

I'm sure you've missed me- right? right? Is this mic on?
We've been busy, but very, very productive. I have finished my Phd qualifying exams- with a pass!- and can now start on my proposal and dissertation. After the hell of exam prep, those seem like they'll be easy!
My oral exam was this afternoon, but I spent three 24 hour periods writing essays in response to questions emailed to me. I had organized my work schedule to only teach two days a week for the first eight weeks of the semester, so before that schedule ended I squeezed the three exams in, beginning 10 am on a Thursday, then doing the second one on Monday and the final one the next Thursday. I put off the orals till this week- two weeks later because we had to move.
Yes, move. Last week we were supposed to close on our new house on Thursday. However, the mortgage company wasn't on the ball, and a mistake the appraiser had made wasn't caught in time. Luckily, and barely, we managed to close and fund on Friday, which meant our planned in move date of that Sunday was possible. Well, theoretically. Friday was Eid, so not a lot of packing got done. Saturday we did pack, and then Sunday started the movie. It was H's turn to pull the all nighters packing, moving, and cleaning, but by Tuesday morning the old place was inhabitable. The new place is twice the size but seems smaller as all of our junk has expanded. I'll get everything put away eventually!
Sami turned one on Tuesday. we celebrated by returning the moving truck and going out for bbq- how Texan! He managed to gag/throw up at the restaurant, but then scarfed down most of a bowl of ice cream.
Wednesday was talen up with Halloween. I used trick-or-treating as a chance to meet our new neighbors and they seem quite nice, and a mix of ages. We also stopped by our old hood for old times' sake.
Meanwhile I'm back to teaching every day and one online, so the house may take awhile.

"You're smarter than you think."

Just when I'm about to give up on my daily fortunes, they come out with a doozy. I've been hearing this from various people lately, or at least variations of it which include "you know more than you think you do." It's all encouragement to get me through my PhD exams. I scheduled them yesterday. In the next two weeks, starting next Thursday, I'll have three 24 hour periods in which to write papers on each of my fields. I get the questions at 10:00 a.m. and return the paper the next morning by 10:00 a.m. Thank goodness for email, so I don't have to waste time driving around.
The doctor just diagnosed me with allergies- they are horrible!- and set me up with sudafed and some natural nasal spray so that Sami doesn't get a body full of drugs. I'm also going to start taking a Vitamin B complex to give me energy and help my brain work! Pray for clarity of mind for me as I prepare and then dive in.
Thanks.

"Insecurity is your biggest hurdle."

Anyone who knows me knows that this isn't true. Except it is a little true when it comes to feeling prepared for my PhD exams. After a nice talk I had today, though, I'm feeling more secure about them.
Today was my first day back at work after a long, hot summer which ended with a road trip to California and back again. We pulled into town just in time for the kids to go to Tae Kwon Do class yesterday after a rather eventful trip.
I dragged my sorry butt out of bed this morning for convocation. It was lonely with my best friend on sabbatical in Mozambique, but I had a good time chatting to people, and ended up in a long discussion with a friend who is also a PhD student in my program, but a few semesters behind me.
Then I lunched with a friend who is ahead of me in the program, and she's the one who really encouraged me to go ahead and take me exams, trusting that I am more prepared than I think I am. I know she's right, as I'll never really feel ready, and the best thing is just to get done with them.
After a division meeting and a bit more catching up, I returned to a messy house- no showings this week, I hope, as I don't have the energy to unpack yet!

Mothering Narratives

Susan at Pages Turned posted a response to a comment I had made on one of her posts about Mothering Narratives. I thought I should post the list I compiled with my professor's help for one of my PhD reading fields on what I was calling Mothering Narratives but has become more Maternal Feminism.

Aido, Ama Ata, No Sweetness Here


Alvarez, Julia, In the Name of Salome


Armstrong, Heather, It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita

Atwood, Margaret, The Handmaid’s Tale

Bryant, Dorothy, Ella Price’s Journal

Chopin, Kate, The Awakening

Chua, Amy, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Cixous, Helene, The Day I Wasn't There

Clausen, Jan, Sinking, Stealing

Drabble, Margaret, The Millstone

Emecheta, Buchi, The Joys of Motherhood

Fern, Fanny, Ruth Hall: a Domestic Tale of the Present Time

Foster, Hannah, Coquette

Freeman, Mary E. Wilkins, The Revolt of “Mother” and other stories


Gaskell, Elizabeth, Ruth

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, “The Yellow Wallpaper”

Jacobs, Harriet, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Jocelin, Elizabeth, “The Mothers Legacie to her Unborne Childe”

Kincaid, Jamaica, Autobiography of my Mother

Kingsolver, Barbara, The Bean Trees

Kristeva, Julia “Stabat Mater,” “Women’s Time,” “A New Type of Intellectual: The Dissident”

Lamott, Anne, Operating Instructions


Larsen, Nella, Quicksand

Miller, Sue, The Good Mother

Morrison, Toni, Beloved

Olsen, Tillie, Silences

Ozick, Cynthia, The Shawl

Pennington, Sarah, Lady, “An Unfortunate Mother’s Advice to her Absent Daughters”

Petry, Anne, The Street

Rich, Adrienne, Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience & Institution

Rowson, Susanna, Charlotte Temple

Silko, Leslie Marmo, Ceremony (I've decided to read Louise Erdrich's Tracker, instead.)

Smith, Lee Fair and Tender Ladies

St Vincent Millay, Edna, "The Ballad of the Harp Weaver"

Steingraber, Sandra, Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Tyler, Anne, Ladder of Years

Wolf, Naomi, Misconceptions

Yamanaka, Lois-Ann, Father of the Four Passages

Theory: (I was hoping for mostly novels, but had to get some of this in here, too.)

Chodoraw, Nancy, Reproduction of Mothering

Collins, Patricia Hill, Black Feminist Thought

Crittenden, Ann, The Price of Motherhood

Folbre, Nancy, Invisible Heart

Freedman, Estelle, No Turning Back

Gilligan, Carol, In a Different Voice

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, Women and Ecomomics

Hayden, Dolores, Grand Domestic Revolution

Ketrak, Ketu, Politics of the Female Body

Ruddick, Sara, Maternal Thinking

Walker, Alice, In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens

Williams, Joan, Unbending Gender: Why Work and Family Conflict and What to Do About It.