I am on sabbatical this semester and have been keeping a list in my journal of the academic activities I engage in. This practice is partly for myself, so that I make sure I am using the time productively, and partly for my institution, which requires me to write a report about the sabbatical once it finishes. Here is a list of what I accomplished in May, generally in chronological order. I did less than in some previous months (you can read about what I accomplished in April here) because it’s been difficult to be productive due to the pandemic. I feel like I am slowly getting back on track, though.
1. Finished and submitted a book review of Nikki Reimer’s My Heart is a Rose Manhattan.
2. Updated the Mennonite/s Writing Bibliographies and blog throughout the month.
3. Wrote a draft of an essay about Mennonite speculative fiction for a special journal issue on Mennonite political theology.
4. Agreed to peer review a book in one of my fields for a university press and received the manuscript.
5. Had a special session panel proposal for MLA 2021 on Dungeons & Dragons that I co-authored accepted.
6. Agreed to serve on the MLA’s Committee on the Literatures of People of Color in the United States and Canada for a three-year term.
7. Began writing my portion of a Call for Papers for an essay anthology that a colleague and I are working on.
8. Emailed presenters from the Mennonite/s Writing IX conference that was scheduled for October 2020 to let them know that it has been postponed to October 2021 due to the pandemic.
Daniel Shank Cruz 