Morning

For some reason I’m just not feeling it this week; nothing big or earth-shaking going on, just having a hard time getting into the swing of things. Just a case of the Mondays, I presume…

Saturday was a lovely fun day with the family – we all took naps, cleaned the house, played at the park, made a fire in the fireplace, watched a family movie. Gimli has rearranged all the furniture and while the process also makes me very anxious, the end result (as usual) was really nice. We have a little nook in the big bedroom now with a couch, lamp, end table, and beautiful rug he brought from Afghanistan.

So it was a nice weekend.  

Dreamcatcher Update

Well, the second half of June and all of July were pretty much dissertation-less. But I’m back in the saddle now. And I have a very firm deadline: I must successfully defend my dissertation but August 2014, a year from now. I know that the task is doable; I also know that it will require a certain degree of obsession that has been lacking in my approach to the project since… well, more or less since my original concept for the project went belly-up, and my ego took a blow from seriously effing up a few grant applications (Fall 2009, I believe).

Love, or fear?

Right this minutes that’s too deep a question for me to tackle, at the end of a long day reading and writing… I hit my word count goal, so that’s something at least.

I have to mark one huge accomplishment: recruiting my husband as my #1 ally for getting this thing done. He’s the one right now pushing me to put boundaries around my time and keep it sacred. He’s the one holding me accountable. And I so desperately need that.

I have 12 months ahead of me. I have a job and two children. I have a mountain of material collected over the past six years to finish organizing, analyzing, and spinning into a convincing narrative. I can see the shape of it in my mind. It’s like I’m sitting in front of an enormous block of stone with the sketch of a sculpture etched into the face of it, wondering exactly where and how I should angle my chisel to strike.

So, some goals:

August: Write research context and methodology
September: Theoretical frameworks
October: theoretical frameworks
November: Discourse analysis (document review)
December: Institutionalizing processes of inclusion for NLD youth
January: DREAM Activism disrupting the dominant narratives
February: Conclusions
March: Heavy rewrites
April: Heavy rewrites
May: nitpicky boring stuff like margins and citations
June: Polished draft to committee
July: Waiting for feedback
August: defense and production of final product; graduation

A year was feeling like a long time… til I parsed this all out. Gulp. Much to do.