Getting my weekends back

I recently received a fellowship that will allow me to spend the fall working on a Digital Humanities project at the Obermann center at the University of Iowa. Many things excite me about the fellowship. I’ll get to learn a lot more about Digital Humanities. I’ll get to interact with a new set of faculty and staff. I’ll have additional incentive to chat with faculty at Grinnell about their DLA [1] projects. I’ll have the opportunity to attend a variety of talks. I’ll be down the street from Prairie Lights books [2]. I may even be able to sneak away once in a while to hear a talk in computer science. And, of course, I get to work on a cool project [3].

But you know what excites me most? I won’t feel like I have to spend my weekends catching up on grading or getting ahead on class prep [4]. I’ll feel comfortable working on the house. Or reading a book. Or working on a project (scholarly or otherwise). Or organizing things. Or musing. Or just spending time with family. And I won’t feel guilty that doing so puts me even further behind.

Only nine months to go [5]!

For those who are wondering: Yes, I will keep my advisees. I expect to have a few more than forty advisees after students graduate this year. I’ll also show up on campus for the occasional meeting, such as for the Innovation Fund, the Vivero Board, and maybe even the Wilson program.

[1] Digital liberal arts.

[2] Sorry Micki.

[3] More details on that in the future.

[4] Or both.

[5] No metaphors intended.

Version 1.0 of 2017-10-19.