Summer, Where Have You Gone?

Back from Taiwan. Wish I would have brought my computer, and not a leather bound journal, as it would have been easier to upload my writing about the trip. So I will have to transcribe slowly over the next few days.

Possible titles:
1) Taipeidestrian
2) Fucking Hostel (Ode to Pantera)
3) Going to National Doctor Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall for a Toilet Break

Orientation at CUHK today was slightly puerile. First semester will definitely set the tone for the rest of the course. However, I have to drop the one class I was looking forward to (Major Contemporary Novels--Less Than Zero and Imperial Bedrooms in the syllabus) because I cannot reschedule a writing class that I have to teach around that time.

I'm sitting here with my mother-in-law in utter silence because I cannot speak to her, and what words I do know in Mandarin can not find the gumption to ascend my throat and announce their presence. Unfortunately, the Chinese grammar book I am currently reading does not inspire confidence when time to speak it. Abysmal.

Bound (For)Mosa

Leaving for Taiwan tomorrow. Need a spark, a slight kick in the pants. A week to myself before I succumb to the rigors of academics. Semesters of the same.

My plan is Taipei for a few days and maybe climb a mountain, ride a bike through tea fields, visit a gorge. Eat lots of Taiwanese cuisine. Find a hot spring that cures muscle pain.  Watch people go about their daily routines. Refresh and recharge.

Any Taiwan travelers? Leave me suggestions.

Senselessness That Hits Home

I woke up this morning and turned on the computer, which in and of itself is just like any other day. However, after checking fantasy baseball scores (and being once again disappointed) I logged on to Facebook and found some rather shocking news as posted by a college friend of mine. An English professor from our university shot and killed his wife and then turned the gun on himself.

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=242044

What is particularly horrifying about this is not the fact that I was close with this professor. In fact, I had never taken one of Dr. Okafor's classes while at Kutztown. The extent of my association with the man was to give him a cursory glance as he stood outside Lytle Hall smoking a cigarette in the middle of the afternoon. Maybe I would nod or say hello and most likely he would say hello back. I had the chance to watch him talk to some of his students, and at the time I felt that he was a little aloof, a bit distant. Back then I attributed this feeling to a perceived "superiority complex" that I felt a lot of professors had. After having worked the groves of academe for the past three years I realize that he is like the majority of lecturers or professors that roam these hallowed halls. While busy plying his craft, researching, writing poetry, articles, essays and dissertations, he left his social skills (if there were any in the first place) behind. But there was obviously more going on than anyone could have known.

The horrifying aspect is that his wife had to deal with domestic violence in the past.

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=242091&obref=obinsite

Cheryl Okafor's first husband "battered her for years" according to court records. After they separated her estranged husband shot and killed her boyfriend at the time. From being beaten with a baseball bat, to watching her boyfriend shot and killed, to marrying again and falling victim to the ultimate case of domestic violence, the story is truly tragic beyond words. To know one of the participants in this grisly and cowardly act, even though not well, lends greater credence to the event. Hopefully more will come to light than what has already been written about, but it seems unlikely.

A New Era

Starting today this blog will undergo a glorious transformation. A new era will begin. Months of aimless wandering and nonsensical ideating will be abolished. Let us begin.