Things are winding down quickly in school; I only meet with my classes one more time as a large group and then in individual conferences. Teaching two new classes in my last semester of coursework isn’t ideal. Generally I was writing or modifying assignments each week based on how things went. Next semester should be much easier since I’ll have a better idea of how things roll out over the course of sixteen weeks and all the assignments will have been written. I also won’t be taking any classes, just doing reading towards my preliminary exam that’s scheduled for April. I’m looking forward to this.

Next fall I should be teaching another new course, one on business writing. That’ll be a nice change, and then in the spring I asked to teach a short story class focusing on fantasy, science fiction, and horror. I’m pretty sure I’ll get it, and I’m doubly sure it will fill. My plan would be to spend the first half of the semester educating students on these three oft-misunderstood genres, and the other half would be pure workshop. Sounds like fun, right?

I received my contributor’s copies for Best Horror of the Year #1 and reviews have started trickling in. None have mentioned my story “The Hodag” specifically, but the reviews have all called it a solid anthology without a clunker story among ‘em.

Some other narcissistic googling revealed a couple really negative views of my story “Eskhara” in the Federations anthology, both from Eastern European bloggers. What I find particularly interesting (and telling) is that both more or less say the story sucked because it’s a shameless and transparent parable about the current war in Iraq with a preachy, obvious conclusion. Of course readers are free to interpret it however they want and it’s not for me to say whether they’re right or wrong, but I will say that I’m relieved that other, more positive reviews seem to suggest that there’s perhaps a little more complexity than that. Also, I’d be interested in hearing what the heavy-handed conclusion would be, since I can say there was absolutely zero intent on my part to write a neat and tidy story with a clear moral at the end, and I would suggest there’s plenty to there to support other readings. But to each their own…

Glory glory Tottenham Hotspur! 9-1 over Wigan on the weekend. Having watched the replay you have to say Wigan played their part in the route with some shambolic defending, and you think they’d make an adjustment to give Aaron Lennon a little less room on the right after goals two, three, four, and five piled in…

The same weekend that Spurs claimed the second-most lopsided victory in Premier League history, I got quite a bit schadenfreude watching Ars*nal lose 1-0 to Sunderland. To be fair, this lot are a lot better than I thought they would be, but they’re still not nearly as good as the legions of sycophantic bandwagon fanboys want me to believe. They’re still injury prone and lightweight in the middle. Yes, they can hammer the minnows and the goals start flooding in after the first goal forces the game to open up a little, but I still see them as a tier below Man Ure and especially Chelski.

Granted, they’re no Liverpool! I didn’t think they’d slump quite so badly but you’d have to say that the race for fourth is well and truly on. Villa made a serious run for about 2/3rds of the season last time but ultimately the squad, not the team, failed them and they ended up well short to Ars*nal. This year, things are very different. Liverpool’s squad is thinner than Posh’s sticks and you’d have to say that Man Citeh and Spurs have equivalent, if not better, squads. Villa still seems short to me, but it’s not hard at all to envision Liverpool, Spurs, and Citeh going down to the wire. It’s also worth noting that it has far more to do with Liverpool’s decline than the improvement of the other two.

MLS Cup came and went. I would have enjoyed a Chicago vs. Los Angeles final far more, but as far as a cup final goes, it wasn’t half bad and penalties, for all the criticism they get, are pretty damn dramatic. I didn’t have strong feelings for either team but the spectacle of penalties brought me to the edge of my seat. And who would have thought Landycakes would blow over the bar? Phenomenal.

I’m also a little fed up with the constant harping on the league’s quality of play. Is it great? No. But exactly why do we expect it to be? Isn’t it just a tad unfair to say that MLS isn’t even close to La Liga or the Premier League, when they have deep traditions and a rabid soccer culture to boot? Yes, the league needs to loosen the purse strings a little and the talent pool needs to get deeper, but all things in good time. Good God, in two years the league will have 18 teams and the recent expansions in Toronto and Seattle have become two of the most exciting venues to watch soccer. Perspective, people? Can we get a little perspective?

Now on to homework. I’ll be looking forward to having this semester behind me.

Current Mood: Pretty Tired |