Paper break

I'm spending the afternoon up at one of Rick's properties--good internet, clean and empty house, peace and quiet--and attempting to work on my paper. Not to sound like a broken record, but this is what my life consists of: work. paper. sleep. church. phone.

This paper is super overwhelming, as if I didn't get that across in earlier entries. I think I have all the resources I need, finally (Isaac sent me some books from the Seattle library--he is so amazing!), now I am just working on reading through them all. It's also tedious trying to refine my thesis statement and outline. I can't decide whether to organize the paper by graphic novel, theme, or literary vs. artistic technique. My thesis right now is "Using various artistic and literary techniques within the unique graphic novel form, Persepolis and American Born Chinese express the search for and understanding of a bicultural identity." Points that are surfacing are stereotypes, pride vs. shame, audience, and then artistic stuff like color, framing, titles and names.... Obviously still pretty scattered. I'm sure this is WAY more than anyone wanted to know. Maybe I put it out there in the hopes that someone will latch on, write the paper, and then give me the rights to it for free. Sigh.

One thing the paper, plus all the other grad school application stuff (I keep forgetting this paper is entirely superfluous. I still have two entire applications to complete in addition to this essay, which is a massive undertaking anyway) does for me is make December 23 (my departure date) seem uncomfortably close. Which is nice when I am tempted to feel like it's unbearably far away.

I'm sorry to sound like I'm complaining all the time. I really want to be free to enjoy the next couple months, and at times I am nostalgic and sad to leave, excited to go to all my favorite places on the island while I still have the chance.