Hello all!
I’m writing you on a cold Chicago day and wanted to update you all on multiple projects I’m working on.
I have been working extensively on an essay, potentially for publication elsewhere, on finding love from within, involving music and a certain plot on the TV show Schitt’s Creek. It was a labor of love to write, and I hope to have it online soon.
I am working three jobs this new semester: doing part-time writing tutoring at two different schools, including as a teaching assistant in an ESL class, and teaching a writing seminar on music and freedom at another.
I am also chairing a high school communications contest for the Illinois Woman’s Press Association. I also submitted several pieces of my published pieces from 2021 for the organization’s Professional Contest, including for Arts & Entertainment articles, Online Features, and book chapters in anthologies.
One of the articles I submitted, on James Baldwin and music, is something I’m hoping to revise by mid-February—I was invited to expand it for the journal James Baldwin Review.
If time permits, this year I hope to write an article on music history survey books (sometimes surveying particular eras and genres) of the last decade, maybe even ranking them for their insights into music history.
The most notable part of my winter break was attending a spiritual retreat, giving a talk there, and being asked to potentially cochair that event next year.
I’m working on self-care, with four months away from caffeine. I’ve been doing a lot of walking and taking better care of my teeth recently. I hope to keep it up.
I will be in touch.
Excellent! You're making fantastic progress towards accomplishing your goals!! And you're inspiring people like me to become more proactive and pursue what I want to do in relation to both creative endeavors and tutoring/teaching. Now that is making an impact! Limiting or better yet eliminating your caffeine intake will be immensely beneficial to you both now and as you get older. It lowers your risk of getting HBP and having a stroke, not to mention prevents you from getting acid reflux or GERD and minimizes the probability of shorting out your adrenals resulting in fatigue. If you want, I will let you know about some of the music that came out last year which caught my attention. Keep up the good work!