Last minute last call--

--for chapbook manuscripts to be entered in the Center for Book Arts' annual competition. The deadline is December 1, and this year's judges are Sharon Dolin and Tomaz Salamun. The winning manuscript will be chosen in April 2008 and will be awarded with the publication of a beautifully designed, letterpress-printed, limited-edition chapbook printed and bound by artists at the Center for Book Arts. The edition is limited to one-hundred signed and numbered copies, ten of which are reserved for the author and the remainder of which will be offered for sale through the Center. The winning poet will also receive a cash award of $500, and a $500 honorarium for a reading, to be held at the Center in the fall of 2008. Visit the Center's web page for full details.
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It's my dad's birthday. Coincidentally, tonight the tree at Rockefeller Center is illuminated. That tradition started the year he was born. Neat coincidence.
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I had student conferences all day and finally headed home a bit before 7. One meeting had me nearly banging my head on my desk. An excerpt went something like this:

Student: So I paraphrased a lot of the last two pages, do I have to cite that or can I just reference it in the bib?
Me (scanning the paragraphs in question): You say here that the Church rose in power at this time. What do you think caused that?
Student: I don't know, I couldn't really understand that sentence. Should I just cut that? Do you think I need to keep that?
Me: If you don't understand what it means, then why is it the focus of your paragraph?
Student: I don't know if I really want to write about all the Crusades. Do I have to mention all of them? Should I put that here?
Me: Maybe we should look at--
Student: Where should this question go, the one where I say "But how did all of this really get started?" Should I put that here? Or here?
Me: If you--
Student: I know that my conclusion has to repeat everything in my introduction, but does that mean I have to ask it there?
Me: You don't--
Student: Do you think I should mention the Holocaust? I can't think of any other conflicts that involve religious intolerance. Where would I put the Holocaust?

And around and around we went, to the merciless beat of an agitated artery in my left temple. . .
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I'm off to bed.