January 2004

Oh To Be A Lame-O Zine Editor When the Weather Is Cold

I've been dawdling on getting the zine's Winter issue published mostly because I am "newly committed" to trying to get my dissertation done once and for all. This has been my overriding excuse for not working hard on other projects for so long that it really seems like a lame one. But this time I really mean it. I have taken off from teaching until I'm done with it, and since the first of January (ish) I've been actually working pretty hard on the dissertation. I don't have anything remotely resembling a draft yet-- I am working on what a wonderful book calls "the zero draft" which frees you up from having to organize, and allows you to just get the ideas down. Everyone always says "the dissertation is just a collection of long papers; you've written those before, why are you having trouble?" The biggest thing, as with any kind of significant project, is just making yourself do it. 99% of it is mental, and I am truly mental sometimes about it.

I am also trying to focus my writing by writing more personal, pointless stuff in my blog. It's actually pretty fun-- if you have nothing to do and want to get a peek into a frustrated, sometimes inspired graduate student's personal life, go here.

But. More to the point. In my updating of this issue, I've come to two conclusions.

1. I no longer can afford the time it takes to update the "links" pages that have been part of the site forever. In the past, I've "hired" other folks to do the web canvassing for me and for me to go in and do the HTML on those links. It just seems that it's such a big job that it can't be something anyone does "halfway"-- and most people aren't willing (simply can't) to devote the time it takes. So I am not updating author links anymore. I'm leaving the ones that we have up, but won't add any more regularly.

2. There are a bunch of new sites out there that do cool wonderful things like what we do since the last time I peered around the net and looked. I found several in the "referring links" to this page section of my site stats (which I hardly ever look at; it takes a special kind of geek to keep up with this.) :) So I've decided to devote this rant to listing a few sites that are noteworthy, worth checking out, sisters under the code. I hope they stick around!! The ones I link to have either a particularly "third wave" focus or just looked cool to me. Be sure to check out their links pages to find a network of new and amazing stuff. I promise to TRY to update this page now and then when I find a new something. But don't hold your breath.

In no particular order..... (descriptions taken from websites' mission statements where possible)