I’m off to AoIR on Sunday. Today I’m frantically writing my paper, which is supposed to be uploaded before the conference starts for website archival. This is definitely a Good Thing, and definitely good for getting me well started on really writing the distributed narrative stuff I’ve been planning for months.
In between writing I’ve got to do shopping, make some kind of dinner that will work for kids some of whom are doubtlessly muslim, lactose-intolerant, highly picky about food and/or allergic to peanuts, and plan an afternoon for my daughter’s “friendship group”. It’s a great idea: the teacher’s set up groups of four or five kids who don’t play together much at school, and parents host playgroups for them, the idea being that if kids know each others families they’re a lot more likely to get on with each other and respect each other, and the more you can build these kinds of ties the better. Bullying prevention, in other words. So far it seems to work admirably, and the kids are really enthusiastic. I’m especially pleased that both boys and girls are keen, because the girls and boys in my daughter’s class usually don’t interact at all outside of schoolwork, apart from the occasional chase or fight. Anyway, hosting the friendship group will be fun, and maybe really challenging, and definitely quite exhausting. The parents are coming to pick everyone up at six so it’s not endless.
OK. Write paper. Then shop and cook.
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Jason
Enjoy AoIR – it was quite a lot of fun last year.
Jill
I expect to have fun! Now if only I can get this paper finished – but I want to spend Saturday with my daughter, not stowing her away in some corner somewhere so I can write 🙁
Ah well. I’m doing some good writing and though it’s clearly just the beginning it’s a great start to what I intend to be a larger project.
The friendship group went well. One of the boys (I don’t know the boys as well as the girls) was keen on rude words and calling names, but did it in such a giggling way it was obvious he was testing me – and I got to do my stern “Not while you’re in my house” thing. I’m always a little surprised when it works – and it always does. Of course. I’m the adult, and that’s exactly what they want me to be.
One boy goes to football once a week. The other boy doesn’t. It’s just down the road. Not far. Most of the boys are on the team. “Why not?” a girl asked. “You’re the best football player int he class and you LOVE playing football! You never do anything BUT play football in breaks at school!” He mumbled something, and another girl said that it’s too expensive for him, of course.
He must hate that.