On Thursday morning I drove Luke to the airport where he was headed west to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the 26th annual meeting of the society for literature, science, and the arts (SLSA). The 2012 SLSA conference lasts for four days and draws academics from across the country to talk about “nonhuman actants like tools, bodies, networks, animals, climate, media, or biomes”. Duke seems to be represented well too because at least 6 of Luke’s colleagues affiliated with Duke are there with him presenting on various topics. Its also a bit of a reunion for him because a few of our academic acquaintances and mentors from UW are scheduled to speak. I wish I were there!
Today Luke will be giving his presentation “Reality is Expensive: Making a Better Military-Entertainment Complex”. He’s been working on this presentation and accompanying paper for a while now and I imagine its going to be a great talk exploring the overlap of private contractors, military practices, and the commercial entertainment industry and how they “are shaping the world in which we live, fight, and play”.
Meanwhile, life goes on in Durham. Mostly I’ve just been working and cleaning and exercising. The house has been so dirty lately I’m hoping to reign it in and let Luke come home to a nice, clean, welcoming home ’cause that always feels real good. It’s weird not having him around though. I don’t know how people survive long distance relationships. Kuddos to them but truthfully I would go insane.
There are some perks though. I get to sleep in the middle of the bed with the thermostat bumped up to 80. (Just kidding, I never go past 78.) And I can play my epic indie-pop and hip-hop really loud, singing along at the top of my lungs without shame. And if I do a load of laundry I can toss it into the dyer on top of the other load of clothes I never took out of the dryer and there’s no one around to tell me otherwise. Umm… Yeah. Those are pretty much the only perks. Needless to say, it’ll be pretty awesome to have my husband back tomorrow night.
Boom Goes the Dynamite 