It’s true. I’ve been gone a little while. But I for one absolve myself of all blame. Instead I point the finger directly at Judith Butler. Oh, Judith Butler? She’s my academic advisor. Did I forget to mention that? Yeah (/leans back in the leather seat of her nonexistent convertible, take a drag on an invisible cigarette), life is pretty damn cool.

I started my comparative literature PhD program at Berkeley two weeks ago. Among other awesome facts — I’m taking an entire class on Lolita, I know longer work in my living room, I spend all day talking about books — it’s true that gender studies giant Judith Butler (my friends have taken to calling her “JuBu,” and terrifyingly enough it’s catching on) is my go-to prof for all things “What do I do now?” That’s in addition to Cal’s vast and diverse faculty of profs in fields like lit, art history, new media, and of course gender/sexuality studies who I can now bug with incessant questions and general academic glee.

Since we last spoke, boys and girls, I also spent a few weeks in Europe, boning up on my French, visiting overseas friendlies, and checking in on Gisèle Prassinos, the now 89-year-old ex-surrealist writer whose poetry I’m theoretically in the process of translating. You can see my photos here, if it tickles your fancy, though upon closer inspection they seem to involve more shots of the French countryside as seen from the perspective of a bike (ties to first-person porn, anyone?) than shots of writerly old ladies.

Anyways, it’s good to be back, slowly but surely figuring out the life of a grad student. Two weeks down, seven years to go…