Dan and I adopted a kitten on Monday, to round out our cohort again. She’s two months old and a blur of fun. She loves people, which makes her an excellent lap cat. We’re pretty sure that she’s the smallest cat we’ve ever adopted, although she’s all leg. She looks like she’ll be a very [...]

Dan and I had to put our girlie down last Wednesday. She had developed a blocked bile duct — most likely from a tumor — and the only other option was an expensive and risky surgery that we didn’t want (and couldn’t afford) to put her through. It was devastating, because it moved so quickly; [...]

We do, finally! Dan got one as a graduation gift (from his loving wife), and I have to share our experience, because it was pretty awesome (in the end): We discovered that all the major retailers were going to have availability again this weekend, because it was the first weekend of the month. Saturday night [...]

Since almost none of you will ever read “The Formation of British Identity: Navigating the Culture of Merit in the Eighteenth-Century Literary Public Sphere,” I thought I might at least share the acknowledgements page, because you all have my gratitude for your encouragement and friendship during this project: This project began in the first semester [...]

I had my defense this afternoon, and I passed (yay!). In a little over 36 hours, I’ll be done with my second year of grad school and my whole MA degree. Just a pesky little 30-page history paper to dispatch first…