Dissertation Haiku

I have been struggling lately.

My two month old seems to have stopped believing in naps. He is awake from the time big sister leaves for daycare (8-9am) until I put him in the Baby Bjorn to walk down and pick her up (3pm-4pm). One of the biggest reasons for keeping her in daycare was so I could write, but writing is very difficult when you get little to no time to conjure up your academic mind. If only my vocabulary, theoretical knowledge, and data flowed as easily as my breastmilk...

And honestly, how can you get aggravated with a 2 month old who just wants to be cuddled? I feel like such an a-hole for getting frustrated with him, b/c he's just a baby and babies just want the milky-milk, the snuggle, and the interaction. And he'll be small for such a short time--a fact exaggerated for me because he's our second and this time I know that before I can blink he'll be wiggling out of my arms when I try to hug him.

Needless to say, my dissertation is moving at below a snail's pace. I am not sure it can register a heartbeat. I started crying in frustration last Friday, when, for the fourth day that week Nico hadn't napped and I hadn't gotten any work done. I am not sure I can finish this to graduate in May, but I certainly don't want this to continue on into another summer of dissertation hell. I am barely holding back from a full-blown anxiety attack.

But my lamentations aside, today I found this great link that a friend, Lynn, sent me last spring: DISSERTATION HAIKU. The premise is simple. The site explains:

Dissertations are long and boring. By contrast, everybody likes haiku. So why not write your dissertation as a haiku? Please email yours (along with your name, institution, a 1-2 sentence text description of your work, and any URL you'd like your name linked to) to dissertationhaiku@gmail.com.

Brilliant! Here's mine for today:

Immigration is
Changing our schools but not books
Students are left out.

Dissertation title: Curriculum & Complication: A Multiethnic High School in Brooklyn

Can this count as my writing for today?