My simple message of the week: Keep going!

Use the next few weeks remaining in this semester to surge ahead (with self-discipline and determination) and set small (modest) goals to keep momentum along the way. Keep working on your individual goals. Some of you have really hit a stride and just need to keep up with the exploration and writing you have been doing, and some of you will recalibrate and switch the process up a bit, shifting from research to writing (or the other way around), in order to approach other aspects of the overall vision.

You should be building on some momentum now. Lean into this, and let the words and work flow. This is the time to be writing without constraint…generating significant content. 

At this stage, it also makes sense to consider your Lit Review as it stands. Identify any important gaps…and be prepared to address any gaps you think you might have. How does your research inform your process of producing new knowledge?

Also, I want you all to think about setting up end-of-semester benchmarks or goals.

Thanks to Kefah for her meaningful reading of her poems, which form the foundation of her thesis. And thank you for introducing the rest of the team to grounded theory methodology. I think this approach can be a compelling way to frame this project, opening up a new theoretical lens on the experience of being Palestine-American writer. Your method centers memoir and the poetic voice, while offering a more nuanced vision of both historical oppression and collective trauma. In tracking/mapping/coding patterns of language/tropes/themes you will start to see a specific argument, and I suspect that argument will have to do with nature of power in the act/impulse of representation itself. I am so excited about this work coming together!

I will see you all next week, and I look forward to hearing from both Chelsea and Edna. Keep going, blog your progress, and I will keep up with you reports here!