I'm writing this on my brother's computer back in Far Rockaway, and sundown isn't too far off, so this is going to be really short, and I'm going to have to finish all the usual link modifications tomorrow night.

But briefly... I stayed up 'round the clock on Tuesday night, in order to write my term paper for Theories of Feminism. As of about 3 AM, I had virtually nothing on paper. As of about 8 AM, I was still trying to get a firm handle on my thesis, although I had a few completed pages of rambling.

By 2:30 PM, I was done, for better or for worse, and I zoomed over to college so I could print the thing and hand it in, just as the final class ended.

Not unexpectedly, I've found some really doozies of typographical errors since, not to mention that the ending may be the lamest I've ever written... and there are so many areas I couldn't even touch on... which is the problem really; I had to confine myself to this small little sliver of a fraction of what I'd have liked to deal with, in order for it to work.

Anyway, should you be interested (if only because you haven't had anything else of mine to read lately), the final draft will be available -- typoes and all -- right here for the next week or so, in Rich Text Format.

Karen suggested that I could send New Year's cards if I felt left out, which isn't a bad idea, except that if I were doing anything of the sort, it would be for Rosh HaShana, and it's a few months late for that.

But it has occurred to me that, in this time of solistice, there is a joyous event for which I can work up a great degree of enthusiasm. An occurrence which brings comfort and elation to millions. Something that I can quite easily get behind celebrating with vigor, even sending out custom bits of verse to one and all, in order to properly mark the occasion.

I refer, of course, to Winter Break.

So, if you want your very own Thank Goodness The Semester Is OVER! poem, drop me a line with your name and snail-mail address, and I'll start working on the things after my last final.

You may, if you wish, request a particular kind of poem, excepting forms which require more than 14 lines. In other words: sonnets, haiku, limericks, and short Emily Dickinson parodies are in, among others; sestinas and villanelles are out. You may also request any subject and/or words you want worked in somehow.

One request: You don't have to do this, but -- especially in the case of new readers -- I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know how you stumbled across the Soapbox in the first place. I wonder about such things, and as long as you're gonna be sending me a message anyway, I figured I might as well ask.

Monday:

• Turn in final portfolio for Poetry Workshop.
• Turn in take-home final (three essays) for Indian History.

• Turn in take-home final (four essays) for 20th-Century Literature.

• Turn in remainder of late "zap" papers for Theories of Feminism.