Brrrrrlesque!

So, I've been a bit incognito whilst frantically getting shit done for my dissertation chapter and for this awful editing work-thing I'm doing for one of my professors.

Good money? Yes. Good experience/CV builder? Yes. Happy dealing with ego-driven ridiculous academics? Nooooo.

I mean, seriously. The volume I'm editing is a collection of articles from authors at disparate universities and they are fucking ri-dic-u-lous. At the 11th hour (aka, getting ready to submit the friggin' manuscript to the publisher), one of the contributors (a prof at Oberlin) decides to throw a hissy-fit over authors' rights to their own work.

Let me digress a moment and explain: whenever you, as an academic, publish, you relinquish your rights to your own work to whomever is publishing that work--even your dissertation. Everyone knows this. It's kinda weird, I grant that, but EVERYONE knows this going into a publication. That said, you have to sign an agreement form with a publisher that waives said rights. I mean, the article is in your name, but it is the sole property of the publisher. Any seasoned academic, i.e., a prof at Oberlin, knows this....

So, she decides in the 11th hour to email us and all the contributors this grand statement about author's rights and how fucked up it is that we have to sign them away, and how she doesn't want to sign the agreement until she's had a chance to "negotiate" with the publisher. NO ONE does this. No one. She is clearly attention-seeking, but at our expense. I've heard through the grapevine that this is how she's handled other publications--attention-seeking for its own sake, no matter what the issue or how much it holds up a publication.

What a douche bag. Seriously. I don't generally use that term, but I find it appropriate here. So, now we have to delay the submission of the manuscript until she gets over her lame ass shit. I hate academics.

***

On a more personal note:

I'm taking these burlesque classes from Kitten de Ville. It is SO MUCH FUN. I can't tell you what it's like to shimmy and shake atop 4-inch heels (well, actually, I can! It's *easier* than on flat-foot) but you can come see me do it at the show we're putting on in March.... So far, we've learned how to "present" our breasts, arms, hips, legs, etc. We've also learned how to do a million variations on the bump-and-grind and hip swivels. Fun, fun. Next week, costuming and make-up. Following class: learning to take it all off (well, not all of it, but down to bra and panties). My friend Carissa and I are taking the class and are going to head into dowtown L.A., where we can find everything from feather shops to drag stores, to shop for our costumes.

I'm thinking of a peacock motif for the costume and performing to Muddy Waters' "Tom Kat." Though you're supposed to dance to "traditional" burlesque music, Kitten has said that I could do funk if it pleases me. And it does.

There's a guest list and it's a private performance, so no creepy old dudes can come in and give us a hard time (pun totally intended). So, that means I just have to deal with my creepy, pervy friends. Yeah!

Save the date: March 11th!

I'm off to get a new 'do for the New Year.