The rain is thwarting my plans for today. I had gifts and things that I wanted to send, books that need to be returned to the library, and I really wanted to go for a hike.  Since I am stuck inside, I have decided that it might be a good idea to start working on some of my final assignments. The first paper due is for the children’s literature class. I’m looking at various versions of the Three Little Pigs. I feel that spending the day reading the different versions will be a good use of my time.

The most recent class looked at YA fiction and how it has changed. I pretty much tuned out the million and one slides in the lecture, and when I did tune in, the only word I heard was “fangbang”.  Apparently this term is used to describe people in love with vampires.  Yep. My tuition dollars hard at work. The lecturer put up a cover of the book that I read a few months ago about teenage sexual relationships with your first cousin. I was the only one in the class who had read the book, so I was asked to give my thoughts on it. I didn’t really know how to respond to the questions considering the lecturer prefaced the question by saying it was one of the best books ever written for children. I don’t even know if I answered the question. I’m not even sure if I could.

I will now go back to the safe world of children’s fairytales where no one is having sex with their first cousins and there are no fangbangs to speak of. In two weeks the class will be over, thus ending my classroom career at the University of Edinburgh. I can’t believe the time is almost here. I’m starting to think about the next step. I have a vague idea of my dissertation topic, and hopefully after next week I will have a solid return date.

Of course I am thinking of joining the circus. That may prolong my return date.