EMDAT

… and the livin’s easy.

Right now, I’m at home in Virginia, and have been for the past week. It’s been a nice refreshing trip, and I’ve done everything on my Virginia to do list except “Don’t spend a lot of money,” which wasn’t actually on the list, though it should have been. But money woes aside, I’ve seen many of my friends (some of which I hadn’t seen since graduation last year), bought books at the Green Valley Book Fair (one of my favorite places on Earth), and was able to see my brother’s promotion ceremony for JROTC and celebrate my mother’s birthday. So yeah, it’s been good. However, I’m leaving tomorrow to return to Alabama by way of North Carolina and Georgia.

I’m stopping Tuesday night in Raleigh to stay with my friend Lisa (who will also be Emily’s maid of honor in the wedding), and Wednesday I’ll be doing some research at UNC’s Southern Historical Collection. From there, I’ll drive to Atlanta, where I’m staying with some cousins and doing research at Emory’s archives. If being a graduate student were a “real job” (I suppose it is in some ways, but the pay keeps me from classifying it as “real”), these research trips would be the equivalent of business travel. Except that instead of staying in nice hotels and eating at nice restaurants, I’m sleeping on friends’ and families’ futons and floors.

My plans for the rest of the summer include “working” (10 hours/week), continuing my research on civil rights activity in the Alabama Black Belt (particularly interviews), reading for pleasure (I’m currently working my way through Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix so I can see the movie in July), and possibly helping coach an American Legion baseball team. We’ll see about that last one–contract talks still in progress.

It’s shaping up to be an excellent summer, and though I wish I could spend a bit more time in the Old Dominion, I’m incredibly excited to have some free time for a change. For the first time in three years, I’ll be able to come home at the end of the day and drink a beer. And sleep in. And not yell at kids for brazenly making out under street lamps. (Although, I have to admit, I think I’m going to miss that last one, just a little bit.)

In other news, this may be my final post on this blog. I’ve kept it going for nearly a year (much longer than any of my previous attempts), and I don’t intend to stop the updates altogether, but I am considering moving to a new location. Stay tuned.