Oops. I am late. Update 3.

 Sabbatical. I love it. I wasn't sure how I would feel. And I am surprised I love it. BUT. I. DO. If you read my first post where I laid out my goals, you saw that my to-do was ambitious (or, some may say, crazy) with around 9 projects. I am so glad I made that list to keep me accountable but also to track my progress. I, being so visually-oriented, also put the list up on our living room chalkboard wall. Tah-dah!

By the end of February, I had FOUR DRAFTS SUBMITTED! Two are book chapters of edited volumes and two are peer reviewed articles. When I checked off those boxes, I had an epiphany. I AM GOOD. If all I get accomplished on my sabbatical is these 4 publications, I am still well ahead of what is expected of me. And, I hit that "requirement" at the end of February! Now, that doesn't mean these 4 are finished. I will likely receive revisions, as I explain below. Since then, I have worked on 2 other projects in tandem and supported my husband through a new movie premiere and release (how did I EVER do that with a full time job?!). 

Accomplishing all of this research has made me reexamine how much service I am doing for my institution. I will not return to a situation where I am carrying more than my weight. And I will not love my institution more than my institution loves me. Institutions can't love. MY STUDENTS? Yes, I will love them all day. But, there is a difference between dedicating yourself to your students through teaching and taking on more than your fair share of secretarial duties and volunteering for other tasks. Invisible labor is an issue for many professional women and I am proud that IUEast is attempting to address it. I look forward to helping them do so and mentoring other untenured and non-tenure track minority and female faculty to better prioritize their time.

Here is my research roundup! Yes, that is a picture of a cow-woman.

1. Cannibalism. This is a book chapter coming out of England. I examine depictions of cannibals in the writing of Alfonso X, 13th century King of Castile. He associates cannibals with "distant" "uncivilized" regions of the earth AND writes a law for Spain that allows fathers to eat their children while under siege. Hypocrisy, anyone? This was written in dreaded Chicago style that I had to learn for this chapter. There may be minor revisions to this chapter. I am waiting to hear.

2. Anxiety in Online Language Learning. This is a co publication with the amazing Dr. Rosalie Aldrich. We found some very interesting data. A: Foreign language anxiety correlates with lower overall oral proficiency; B: Female students in face to face classrooms report more anxiety than males. BUT THIS DIFFERENCE DISAPPEARS IN ONLINE COURSES-or at least in our study. Huge implications there! We have revised this article several times. So, I am hoping it is good to go!

3. My biggest project of this sabbatical has been on women and Mediterranean cooking culture. This is a LONG chapter of en edited volume. ALL the remaining medieval cookbooks have male authors (or are anonymous with male authorship presumed) and they never credit a woman for any recipes. But, we know women did most of the cooking in these cultures. So, I researched legal documents, cookbooks, women's library inventories, wills, dowries, letters, literature, images in books, and more to uncover women's contributions to Mediterranean food.  It was a lot to dig through, but I found some really wonderful testaments to women and the cookbook. I expect revisions on this one! My last blog post was all about this project.

4. The Cantigas de Santa María project is for Open Iberia. Dr. Alison Carberry and I have edited this more than once, so I hope any revisions are minimal.

I will talk about my other two projects next time! Thanks for reading.