Orientation

Initially, I wanted to avoid writing much about my and JG's school experiences here.  They're their own thing.

  

But, I'm realizing how impossible it would be for any Richmond resident to not mention VCU when discussing their town: nearly EVERYONE here is somehow connected to this institution.   Richmond strikes me much more as a college town than as a capitol city.    

As a serial grad student, I've had a first day of school every September since I was two. Well, just about.  It's always anxiety provoking.  Amazingly, such has not been the case here at VCU, which has to do with my mindset for sure, but also results from the warm welcome my department extended to its new and returning members.  Scholarly and writerly communities can be smarmy and snarky and competitive, but already, I can tell I'm joining a group that is uniquely, and genuinely, not that.  What luck!