Happy Wednesday, Good People!

I am back and reactivated my social media accounts. Hopefully, my accounts won’t be hijacked and photoshopped again 😔

Let me share some recent updates!

In addition to other medical complications, my seasonal allergies have gotten out of hand this time and I continue to suffer breathing problems in this city. This is been going on for three weeks now. Doc (the allergist) puts me back on meds. (I may have to take allergy injection for 16 weeks/four months. Yes, it is that severe on me) Frankly, no one likes to be dependent on meds to function normally. I’m allergic to everything in the world, including carpet, dust, pollen, trees, leaves, grass, even myself 😊

I was invited as a guest speaker and author to the Symposium to commemorate Haiti’s literary GIANT Frankétienne. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my flight. I actually wrote a good paper on “ Dézafi” for the event.😊

Some pleasant news/updates:

1. Last week, I received the “Teacher of the Year”Award from San Jacinto College. Thank you, San Jac community, especially our students!!!
2. I received a travel research grant to conduct research for a book project from the University of Florida (UF) Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. I wll be in Gainesville, Florida this summer. Go #Gators 🐊 ☀️
3. My paper proposal for the joint annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) was accepted. If the good Lord allows it, I will be in Boston in November.
4. Finally, I was able to do the edits and substantially trimmed down my manuscript on Jean Price-Mars, my biography on Price-Mars with Vanderbilt University Press. The original manuscript was 589 pages and I reduced it to 398 pages with endnotes excluding the 22-page biography. You should be proud of me 😊

I resubmitted the revised manuscript to the amazing VUP editorial team. I’ll wait for their feedback to move forward to the next step. Let me tell you, I have a big sense of relief now 😅

By the way, I will be teaching an 8-week Humanities course this summer with a focus on the concept of “The Good Life.” We will be interacting with sources from five disciplines, including classical philosophy, psychology, anthropology, religion, and music to explore what they say about “The Good Life” and its relationship to the “Happy Life.”

This is an undergraduate course.

**I have already written the first draft of the syllabus, but I welcome reading recommendations on the concept.

That’s all I had to share for today. Hope you have a pleasant Wednesday!