The Plan

Like the Cylons, I too have a plan.  But mine involves a lot less genocide.  And by a lot less, I mean none.  It’s currently 3:30 am, let’s move on so I can get some sleep, shall we?


Rough Draft Fixes*:


*These are fixes I came up with before our manuscript circle on November 30, 2010, when I realized my rough draft was rougher than I would have liked.  Combined with the constructive criticism I received from Zach and Blake, I think I’ll be in good shape to fix my paper for Tuesday, December 7, 2010.

• Susan Stabile relocates and categorizes the 18th century American commonplace book by women as a distinctly feminized genre.  Moore is participating in a subversive tactic of adaptation for feminine purposes – genealogical motivation (reword?) fits in with the preservation of Wrights, Griffitts, and Graeme Ferugsson’s works.  Find quote from Blecki/Wulf that she’s preserving the kinship and friendship networks of Quaker Philadelphia, and use the bonds of intimacy quote too.

• Ivy Schweitzer provides the context of the 18th century American view of classical friendship.  She claims too often critics/scholars equate homosocial with homosexuality – this is why I want to use the lesbian continuum, allows for a broad spectrum without strict binary of hetero/homosexual.

• Kevin J. Hayes provides the context of gender norms and standards of colonial woman’s reading habits, as well as exceptions to these rules.  Most notable is how many women flat out went against convention – more than I expected.

• Eve Sedgwick defines homosocial and female homosocial.  Adrienne Rich defines compulsory heterosexuality and the lesbian continuum.  I disagree that the lesbian continuum and female homosocial must be defined against heterosexuality.

• Evidence from MMMB: biographical, and textual.  The entries provide: language of intimacy (spiritual and sometimes physical closeness – the garden), language of friendship.  Female authorship dominates MMMB – Griffitts provides 50% of the entries and “An Essay on Friendship” opens the text, despite interrupting the well-ordered sections (Wright’s poems follow the first entry).

• Do I use Carroll Smith-Rosenberg’s essay or no?  Do I see female rituals – do the memorial poetry/prose entries count as a female ritual?

• Rework thesis – I don’t think it’s very clear.  Use above summaries to keep my goal front and center: bonds of intimacy = female homosocial -> lesbian continuum.  More clearly articulated: a female homosocial space is carved out by 1. genre (Stabile) and 2. language of intimacy in the entries (by women, for women).  Use of lesbian continuum leaves open the possibility of homosexuality without demanding it.

• Look up MLA rules for: poetry in-text citation and for block quotes (both prose and poetry).

• Flesh out conclusion (do after rest of paper is fixed).

• Update Works Cited to reflect only cited sources.  Erase out placeholders from rough draft (note: Smith-Rosenberg, Schweitzer, Rich were listed in the rough draft as reminders to myself to pull quotes for use in the final draft).