Days 217-219: Prep--School and Getting Ready for Randy

Not much to report from Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. Stayed inside, did reading and grading for my classes. Prepped a lecture on "Symbolism in The Awakening."  We're reading the Chopin novel for my Short Novels class; Alexie, Angelou, and O'Brien for the Honors class; and the grad students are reading Sui Sin Far's "Mrs. Spring Fragrance," Chopin's "Desiree's Baby," and Hurston's "How It Feels to Be Colored Me."  I did get an invite to lecture at Shanghai University, at the end of the month. They want me to do the Donald Trump/African American Lit. lecture that I did at Jilin U. We'll see if it pans out.

Tuesday I helped Kerry clean up for Randy--swept and did the living room and part of the bathroom. We're looking forward to his visit, but it will be stressful, too, especially since Kerry's not feeling too great: he's stuffy and has a cough.