The Fall 2009 Mix

I am very lucky to have figured out what I need in my life. I can't always get it when I need it, but I know what it is. When I need a boost or to break out of a funk, I need to get back into the classroom. I'm teaching one class this semester and a small group of students in an independent study that we're treating as a class. So I'm basically saying I'm teaching two classes, and all I did today was go over the syllabus and all that. Sometimes, I do something a bit spiffy to shake things up. But this year, I kept it simple, and it felt good. I was in (and still am in) an infinitely better mood than this past Saturday.



As some may know, the start of the semester for me is often about music. Over at my old blog, I remember writing about having a theme song for the semester and about music in general at that time of year. One of the things I try to do at the start of each semester is to create a CD, something that will get me the right mood as I make my 20-30 minutes drive to campus. This has been a rough few weeks lately, and I almost didn't make the CD this time around. But because of how rough things have been, I really wanted to have something. So, last night, I made a quick CD of the songs above. I needed energy. I wanted up-tempo songs to which I could sing at the top of my lungs. I wanted something to which I could bounce around and tap along. That's why this year's version is about pop and dance. It's about thirty minutes, and it was great to have today. Just what I needed to feel up as I drove to campus and enough to maintain the mood as I was leaving.

And, yes, I'm aware of the use of "bitch" in two titles, which some will know is a word I've had problems with and have written about (in regard to its place in rape narratives). If anything, I've been thinking back to that project lately.