Whew! The last two months have been insane. I took on a new job as instructor of "Intermediate Composition and Creative Writing" at Emerson Prepatory School, a private college preparatory high school in downtown DC. Although it is only one class of five boys, it is 90 minutes everyday, and I have no materials to work off of other than my own. I'm learning a lot from it, including the feeling that I probably don't want to teach high school as a career.

I'm wrapping up my internship at American University, where I have been co-teaching a class called "Writing in a Technological Age" with David Beach, my mentor teacher from last semester. For two months I led the class through a research project based on Mike Godwin's Cyber Rights, then through an exploration of hypertext and new modes of writing, including Geoff Ryman's experimental novel, 253. I loved the one-on-one conferences--I feel that I respond better to students on an intimate setting--and disliked having to do evaluations.

Finally, on the teaching front, I'm wrapping up my coursework with a course proposal for the Fall term. My idea is to teach a "big concept" class with lots of room for discussion and writing called "What is Humanity?" The current texts that I'm proposing include a reader from the University of California Press called The Boundaries of Humanity; our community text (the book every incoming AU freshman has to read over the summer), Abraham Verghese's My Own Country; Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (and I plan to show Bladerunner and Brazil), and Valerie Freirich's Becoming Human. I'm interested in finding a reader or non-fiction on the ethics of cloning and genetic engineering, but I'd also be interested in hearing if there's some other texts that people might think fit this topic.

I wrote two new stories in the past month, which for me has to be a record. Both of them are somewhat experimental in that I'm trying to branch out and play with my writing style and content while I'm in a place where I can get honest feedback on it. I restarted my writing diary in response to my new friend Myke Cole. If you are interested in some of the nuts and bolts of an apprentice (journeyman?) author, check it out.

Of course, life continues as well, and as I type this, a buzz saw is going on in the background as our bathroom remodelers continue to replace the 50s pink atrocity with a modern and simple black/white version. I've been without my morning shower for nearly three weeks now, and the strain is starting to get to me. I'm a man of habits, and that is one of my oldest. The job is supposed to be finished today, but I'll be happy as long as it is done this week.

I attended Balticon 33 at the first of the month, volunteering for a couple of panels: one on the small press and one on SF on the Net. I didn't care for Balticon quite as much as Philcon, but I still plan to attend next year because the Guest of Honor is Octavia Butler. If you deduce a theme in my recent reading, it is likely due to my class in African-American Women's Literature, for which my final essay will likely be on a single theme in Butler's fiction.

As always, I love to hear from you. Do let me know what you've been reading and what your response is to anything contained herein. And thanks for reading.