Oh what is time! Somehow six years have passed since my last (summer) sabbatical. I have just been promoted to full professor (with continuing appointment). This little neglected blog still lives. We’ve just wrapped up the academic year. I taught our four week spring term for the first time since 2020. The year has been busy per usual, but maybe a little harder than others. I found myself catching every single bug/virus that came by. We put down a beloved cat and are likely winding down with his brother. The fresh horrors are a little too fresh and thoroughly horrific. I usually find the transition moments between summer pace and the semester to be a difficult moments, so I thought I’d spend some time outlining my intentions for the summer.

  1. Publish the project from last sabbatical. While it feels a bit dated now, I do think there is value in the combination of Jekyll + CETEICean for small-scale digital edition projects. I’ve used this stack for a few different projects, including with a class, and I want to complete the documentation and publish for others to use. Last year I presented at ACH on this topic, especially in reply to Quinn Dombrowski’s call for more documentation for static site projects that require more technical labor than is always available. I also want to develop the platform to ensure it can meet the needs of a colleague’s digital edition project for her sabbatical in the next academic year.

  2. Reading! Honestly, I just want to catch up on some academic (and fun) reading. I was just starting to think about making this list when I realized I had already assembled it by ordering books for the collection and then putting them on my shelf. I’ve got a good stack ready to go home and I might write about it later.

  3. Course design. I am teaching a new to me course in the fall (Digital Collections and Exhibits) that will need to be prepped. I also want to do a little bit of long-term thinking and planning about new courses that will meet the needs of our minor in Digital Culture and Information. We’ve had some faculty retire and we’re not going to be able to fully replace their courses. Low key wondering about something in the digital storytelling space. After my spring term class, I’m also considering a spring term class called “Digital Detox” where we all give up our phones and just do slow activities for a month and retrain our brains.

  4. My more experimental project is writing something on this story of how our some local manuscript material (concerning slavery and mpow) ended up at Yale. It’s an intriguing story on its own, but I want to do more research and see what else it can become. This is a little out of my element and I’m not sure where it could be published, but I think it’s interesting and complements continued work by our research student.

  5. Take my art a little more seriously. I have a block printing series in mind that I need to develop. I have a venue where I could sell prints if I prepared them appropriately. I’ve got more film hanging out that needs developing or printing. I’ve applied to a natural dye workshop that I doubt I’ll get in, but the intention is there. I could schedule art retreat with friends. A friend is taking me to a printing night at a real press. The pieces are all there