4:16 PM:

[I e-mailed this to last semester's "Doing Things With Theory" professor earlier today.]

I'd like to sincerely apologize for the extreme lateness of my homework and final exam from last semester, not to mention the lateness of this explanatory e-mail. I'm very well aware of the need to have my incomplete resolved already. Not only do I need to have it done for purposes of your course, but I really need to have it out of the way before this semester's four final papers hit. Plus I can't apply for a summer research grant while this is unresolved, and so on.

I'm also aware that, theoretically, at least, the assignment at hand isn't very difficult. Write four short summaries of essays I've already read, then a few pages with two or three short essays. It should be fairly easy. This in no way alters the fact that I've found myself up all night for the express purpose of finishing this, staring at the computer screen and textbook for hours, and getting down an entire one sentence to the effect that Laura Mulvey was concerned about the patriarchy.

Anxiety, it turns out, is the crux of the matter here. I've got so much resting on this incomplete that every time I try to do anything about it, I freeze. Which only makes the problem worse.

On the plus side, I've finally gone to the office of Counseling and Psychological Services, and have started biweekly sessions with a clinical social worker there, who's helping me out with anxiety and procrastination issues. With his help, I'm trying to get this under control, both with regard to the crisis at hand, and my work in general.

One thing I'm going to be doing is breaking the project up further. Rather than looking at the four remaining homework assignments and the final exam as one giant project to be done, I'm taking them one at a time, focusing on each one individually and doing my best to block out everything else. I'll then be turning them in one by one, assuming that's okay.

My hope is to have them all-- actually, I'd rather not make any sweeping statements, as that's precisely the frame of mind I'm trying to *avoid* just now. I will, at any rate, have the first installment in shortly.

Once again, my apologies, and thanks for your forebearance.