Show Me the Money

The winter term has begun and the grant writing is in full force. I'm applying for a couple grants to support my summer dissertation research and presenting my research in Liverpool (and possibly another conference which I am sending an abstract to in London). I also found a week-long intensive seminar at the Clinton Institute for American Studies at University College, Dublin that occurs around the time I'll be in the UK, so I think I will go ahead and apply for that as well and aim to keep myself ridiculously busy this summer. The seminar I'm really interested in is "Memory, Trauma, and Mediation" which has a lot of wiggle room for potential topics. Needless to say, I'm tiring of explaining the scope of my project and why I am the best candidate for the cash. But I do think the more frequently I force myself to simplify my aims to be understood by the non-specialist and keep questioning "Why should this organization fund my research?," I am getting better at doing this. It's still bothersome and takes time away from what I should be doing (coursework, teaching, etc.) but I am confident that this year's proposals will rock and my trip will be funded. Gotta keep it positive, right?

In the meantime, I am glad I have no conference obligations until April. I have a really varied bunch of courses to keep me occupied until then and I am teaching nineteenth-century music this quarter. My course load is weird, but I think because all the classes are so different, it's causing me to think and connect completely unrelated things in new (and probably unnecessary) ways. I have a seminar in lesbian and queer theory, a seminar in historiography, and an upper level topics course on "the art of silence" in music. Should be a thought-provoking quarter!