Is It Friday?

 Echoing Donis's post from yesterday, yes, it does feel as if time is moving much more quickly. The summer's gone. Our new grad students joined us (virtually) this afternoon to meet the professors. In pre-pandemic days, we would have done this in person and then had lunch together. But we will be back on campus when classes begin on Monday. I will be in and out of my office, but I'm going to do my two courses online this semester because I've always used lots of videos and that happens to work well online.

I knew it was Friday when I got up this morning. But somewhere between driving my puppy, Fergus, to doggie daycare, and answering emails before the 1 pm meeting with students, I forgot to look back to see if it was my Friday to post. I woke up early when Fergus stood up in his nighttime enclosure and banged against the gate. I took him outside in the dawn's early light, keeping an eye on him to make sure he was over his reaction to the Lyme disease vaccination he had yesterday. He was his usual perky self. I, on the other hand, had to pretend enthusiasm that he was being a "good boy" and letting me know he needed a trip outside. 

I'm rambling because it's now later in the day, and I'm tired. So I am going to use my post to invite you all to join the symposium I am hosting in September. It is free and open to the public and won't be dull in spite of the word "symposium".  My flyer refuses to upload, but here is the information: 

Crime Writers of Color Symposium

Sept. 8-9, 2021

 

Virtual Symposium hosted by

School of Criminal Justice

University at Albany

 

This symposium features diverse authors who are members of Crime Writers of Color (CWoC) and academic scholars who study crime fiction.

 

Free registration required to access live sessions and recorded webinars. You’ll need to sign in with your Zoom account.

Day 1 (3 pm-7 pm ET)

https://albany.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OMYz9yN6QUWR1jJqEIAvsA

Day 2 (11 am-7 pm ET)

https://albany.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jsJxq6XwQ_uBoSYLyrTRdw

 

Participant bios and symposium schedule will be available at:

https://www.albany.edu/justiceinstitute/

Contact:  Professor Frankie Y Bailey, PhD

fybailey@albany.edu

Upcoming Events

 I finally got my Friday right. With the beginning of spring semester and half a dozen other things happening, I've been lagging behind and trying to get on track with my life. Of course, it would have helped if my 2021 appointment book had arrived on time. Or, I had ordered with delays in mind. 

But I'm back. And I want to begin by thanking John Corrigan, my Type M blogmate, for inviting me to do a virtual visit to his class. The class had read "In Her Fashion," the Lizzie Stuart story that was published in EQMM six years ago. I did a podcast reading (intimidating) of the story while attending Malice Domestic for the mag podcast https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/eqmm/episodes/2014-06-27T06_59_34-07_00

It was fun talking to John's class about the story and about writing in general, with a few criminal justice questions mixed in. 

Now, for two upcoming events. On March 19th and 20th, Sisters in Crime, Upper Hudson chapter, will have a virtual conference. This will be our fourth Murderous March (annual conference). We were forced to cancel our expanded conference in March 2020, so this year we are picking up where we left off. With the help of our new webmaven, we are making use of the technology to bring together our own members, members of MWA-NY, and writers from Murder on Ice, the western NY chapter of SinC, and from New England and elsewhere. Here is the link with the registration information and the program: https://upperhudsonsinc.com/murderous-march-conference/

I am hosting a symposium that is an unrelated event, but will be that same week just prior to Murderous March. Another unexpected good thing with the use of technology to bring us all together is that I finally have the opportunity to host another symposium of crime writers of color. The first such symposium was years ago -- a pre-Bouchercon event in the late 1990s, sponsored by the University of Minnesota and the Givens Foundation. This time, I am hosting wearing my UAlbany, School of Criminal Justice faculty hat. I'm the project director of our Justice and Multiculturalism in the 21st Century initiative, and I want to take this opportunity to gather -- virtually -- members of the Crime Writers of Color (CWoC) organization and other guests to talk about crime fiction and social issues. Of course, we'll also be talking about writing, publishing, and their books. The symposium will be on that Wednesday afternoon and Thursday. The program and registration information (free and open to the public) will be up shortly. I will be tweeting it out, and it will be posted on our UAlbany, School of CJ website.

So, that's the news from Albany. The snow is falling, but it's much warmer here than Texas has been. I and Harry, my cat -- who had a vet appointment this morning -- and Fergus, my puppy, who is a bundle of energy and came along for the ride -- are all tucked back in for the afternoon. Thoughts and prayers to the folks in the southern and southwest US who are dealing with all the fallout from the last snowstorm. 

And back to work -- I'm still trying, even after months, to get into the pace of working at home. Still trying to figure out separating day job from my fiction writing schedule. I'm hoping to spend some time in my campus office where many of the books and articles that I need are stored. I'm running out of space in my house for all the material from the office that I need. But I'll figure it out. It's just a matter of getting organized, right?

 Take care, everyone. Keep warm and have a good weekend.