*Exhale*

It’s never a glamorous moment. There is usually a watery highball glass that needs refreshing awash in a pool of its own sweat sitting next to an ashtray full of butts. Your desk is strewn with a smattering of papers; like a dried up mound of pallid, brittle leaves that have to be swept into a dust bin at the end of autumn. When you finally finish your writing, it is 3:04 am, your right eye is twitching, the lumbar region of your back is tied in a knot of tension, and the cat is splayed across the desk chair you have since forsaken for the general placation of your bed. You are alone; without triumph or fanfare.

At this very moment you’re curious what the next step is. The words oozed out of your fingertips seconds earlier, but now there is no friendly tapping. Everything has finally culminated in a lexis of claims, still fresh. If only there was more of a glowing essence housed within this second of completion; maybe an epic illumination that would at least show in your cat’s droopy eyes or a miniscule rainbow that suddenly shoots out of the dripping glass. No such luck. This is the flash of time that you have been waiting for the past three years, yet this very moment in which you’ve closed down shop on the printing press to your soul can almost certainly be described as a dud.

All is Right with the World. Sort of.

Oh. Look here. It's been almost a year since my last blog post.


Whoa.


Surprising.


In that case, it's probably time for a bit of updating and "housekeeping" (as nerdy profs everywhere call it.) The first major accomplishment is that I have successfully defended my dissertation (June 1, 2011) and will be graduating August 6th, 2011. The published manuscript, titled:

Sugar, Salt, and Fat: Michelle Obama's Rhetoric Concerning the Let's Move! Initiative, Binary Opposition, Weight Obsession, and the Obesity Paradox

can be found here (OhioLINK.)

The goal of this project was to conduct a textual analysis on the social and political implications of First Lady Michelle Obama’s rhetorical artifacts from 2009 to 2011 regarding her childhood obesity campaign and widely-supported initiative entitled Let's Move! The analysis examined the remarks made by Michelle Obama regarding childhood obesity at five separate speaking engagements. The research focused on the rhetorical and social construction of weight, while emphasizing the immediate need for policy-change and a human rights focus in relation to weight discourses. The major objective of this work was to investigate discursive and symbolic themes of empowerment, peace-building, violence, dehumanization, globalization, sustainability, consumption, consumerism, and performativity while drawing on critical rhetorical studies and health communication scholarship to challenge the status quo of binary opposition, weight obsession, and the obesity paradox in lieu of contemporary US weight discourses.

Almost simultaneously, Roz Chast published this cartoon in the New Yorker June 27, 2011:

Irony! Major Irony!

Perhaps a future book cover illustration, hmmmmmmmm? So anyway, it's been a rough three years, but I'm feeling very happy about the outcome. I still didn't learn how to play really anything on the guitar, but at least I tried. My fingers hurt just thinking about it... I guess I prefer the keyboard.

Regardless, with this degree comes a lot of perspective about where I came from, who I am, and where I'm going. As I accept offers for jobs, I try to keep my chin up knowing that there is still so much to do and so many goals to achieve. With this next phase comes a lot of uncertainty, but I'm just beginning to realize that my push to finish the PhD in 3 years was well worth it.

And I hope Uncle Rondy was right. With confidence, I think the Armentrouts and the Lietzkes are proud... even though this was only the first step =)