lecture notes

My tongue in
English chains, I
return, after a generation, to you. I am at the end of my Dravidian tether, hunger for you
unassuaged, I falter, stumble.
(Parthasarathy, “rough passage”, l. 61-70)}.

intelligent design

Last night I "engineered" the perfect morning for today, down to the last detail of a plush towel on the floor to absorb shower moisture. I hate unexplained moisture.

Johnathan of Troy

Hilary: do you live here in the city?
Johnathan: I live and work in Troy.
Hilary: Sounds great: Living the dream...
Johnathan: Actually I have been kind of depressed lately.
Hilary (empathetically): Yeah. You live in the center of nowhere. Plus, you have the spiritual malaise because you know you are a tool of the man.
Johnathan: Acutally I'm pretty much in a good place with that. The problem is that I just got diagnosed with hypoglycemia.

borderline

Have started addressing myself as "Hilary"

and making encouraging follow-up remarks such as

"let's get it together here".

amnesty

My mom finally put her foot down about the clothes, and not a moment too soon.

nothing to see here

just an average girl brushing her teeth and hair, praying, sleeping, breathing and trying to stay out of oncoming traffic.

my family

Sean. Said my mom. That sounds like a nice irish name. Is he irish?
pause. Um mom? I said. I think he's Black.
There are black irish, welsh, scottish. she matter of factly said.
Mostly Catholic, too, she added with a note of approval.
pause. Seriously though, said my mom. He is irish, right?

for example

Last night when I dreamed, I dreamed about cauliflower. It was part of a stir fry. No one died.

inner peace

is kind of disturbing

out of practice

Stop! You're unhooking my back muscles from my spine.

Dave blogging

....

..

..............................?

.

bad form

I crossed my arms, slank down in the fuzzy chair and scowled.

"You're not going to make me sign one of those humiliating behavioral contracts", I said.

No, she said. I'll tell you what I want to do, though. I want to make you sign a behavioral contract not to cross your arms, slink down in your chair and scowl. It is not conducive to productive dialogue.

getting dressed for school

This morning I caught a glance of my naked reflection prancing by the hallway mirror.

The shimmering eyes in the reflection glanced back.

Yes, I said patiently, yes, I see you. I haven't forgotten about you. I know that you are there.

You are young, I said flatly, lacing up my shoes. My eyes squinted into half-moons, and for a second the inside of me appeared in the mirror, old, grey, gentle and tired.

My palm touched the palm of the reflection. I wish I could send you off without me, I sighed and screwed my mouth into a scold: If I were young and had your figure.

The slender reflection laughed and tugged at its camisole. Frowning carefully, I matched the laces of my boots to the eyelets.

reasons to teach comp. at a catholic college

Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2001 05:57:36 +0000 (GMT)
From: "Hilary W." Add to Address Book
Subject: reasons to teach comp. at a Catholic college.
To: jrhall@tir.com


Jim,
You could say this about the danger of "sleepwalking" through spelling and grammar-check:

What if John Paul II accidentally declared the bl. Virgin Mary the "dominatrix" of the Catholic Church because autocorrect does not recognize "mediatrix"?

Realize--it is doctrinally infallible once he clicks 'ok'".
-Hilary

the process of aging

Have grown out of:

going out two nights in a row

dating more than 2 people at 1 time

teaching the MWF 8:30-10:30 section

showering with dish soap when my paycheck runs out

wiping my runny nose on my sleeve

alternately paying my electric, heat and water bills

elevator poem

Press no more buttons until we get to floor 1.

former tenants

I walked gingerly up to the washing machine

looked inside

but did not scream.

Okay, I said. Not a problem. Not a problem. Not a problem. Not a problem.

Then I threw up.

sponge

If I were to form a band this moment, the band would be named individual plate of greens.

best of science (and) writing award

two words: internal tomagochi.

grass stain

Sharon, I asked, pulling up a clump of grass and dirt and worms from the CCS lawn, um, do you, you know,like being human?

It's ok, she said. I mean, I don't wish I were a dandelion or anything. My PowerPoint presentation was hard enough as it is.