The View From Kalamazoo

On Dread: I haven’t heard anything from any schools. I realize that it’s somewhat early, but 2 of the schools had Dec. 1 deadlines, so you’d think something would have happened in the last 2.5 months! I’m not panicking, but I’m jumpy every time I get the mail.

On MFA: so far the last few weeks I’m standing pat on weight and only making it to the gym twice a week. Bleah. I’m doing all the usual machines – have gotten bored with some so am switching around, using Keiser equipment where I wasn’t and switching from Keiser where I was. I’m debating going back to the one-legged squats that targeted my glutes (I have a fantasy of eventually actually having an ass!) since they were hard on my long-cranky and weather-predicting knees (thanks to vainly subjecting myself to high-impact aerobics 4 days a week in my early 20s). Bleah. I should be doing crunches at home, but after I actually get the living room floor cleared of toys and other kid debris who has the energy?!

On stuff: Bubonic Plague fans note: Black Death vaccine developed

Interesting software: Scholar’s Aid. Appears to be rather like EndNote, from their site:

• Manages all your bibliographical data and all your notes associated with the sources.
• Generates footnotes, endnotes, parenthetical references, bibliographies, and reference lists automatically.
• Cites in the style of your choice directly into your word-processor.
• Manages all your notes associated with their sources.
• Automatically cites the text with page numbers for you when you transfer all or part of a note to your document
• Lots of convenient features such as AutoText, InputAid
• Customize your copy with the included Style Editor, Toolbar Editor, Caption Editor, and other handful of editors.
• Make your data available to your friends using the export function. You can format the output with the included Template Editor.

You can download a free (“lite”) version, which is largely why I’m posting about it, since free is a lovely thing for students and junior faculty (and people like me – in no-man’s-land), alike.

And France is endearing itself to scholars and educators: Greek and Latin appears likely to disappear from secondary schools.

(Hope these will be more convenient to read for those who don’t read French) From l’Humanite’ and Le Monde.