I am looking at the largest English conference (MLA) in the US. It takes place next January; however, proposals are due in March.

I cannot find anywhere in the CFPs that says you can only submit two proposals. However, you can only participate in two sessions.

So, is it legitimate to apply for four or five different sessions in the hopes of getting two? What if you get accepted to all of them? Obviously some would have to be turned down.

If I applied to more than two, and I was accepted to two, I would immediately withdraw from the other sections. Obviously that would need to be done.

But I would like to present at MLA and applying to more than two sessions makes it more likely that I will be able to present.

Gotta think about the ethical implications and what I would need to do. Strategy is important too. Which sections would be the best for me to present in?

I am working on regaining my Spanish. It is very lost and I am having to search long and hard for it. This evening I read two short stories for intermediate Spanish students and it took me somewhere between half an hour and an hour to get through twelve pages. However, I did learn some new words and I was overall able to follow the story without looking up everything.

So I am keeping myself busy with Spanish, not even counting all the work I need to do with my grading. However, I have made priorities. Spanish is the priority. Getting grades back in two days is sufficient.

I also am writing proposals for the big national convention next January. I wrote one and it turned out, when I read the long call, that what I thought they were asking for was actually totally off topic. Of course, that may be true of other things since the big conf keeps the CFPs short.

I sent one off already (on teaching Old English texts) and I am working on another two (one on postapocalyptic literature and one on adjuncts as professionals).

I figured three attempts I ought to get one yes out of the bunch. But actually maybe I should do more. Unfortunately you can only get two yeses, and I wouldn’t want to turn a bunch of people down, which is why I was thinking three.

I will be sad though if none of them is accepted.

I went to a conference this last week and enjoyed it immensely. My talk was at 8 am on Friday and there was a full room. I’d say at least 60 people.

We had four people on the panel and everyone showed up. The papers were very disparate, though they did sort of orbit around literature (loosely).

We had good questions for everyone except the speaker who was from China and had a very strong accent. I actually think one of the questions could have gone to her, but no one asked because of the language barriers.

My panel got the most questions, which I enjoyed, of course. In fact, someone came and asked about my readings. I sent them off with my paper. I hope they enjoy it.

I’d really be interested in writing an article on that paper, but it would require more reading than I have time to do write now. Perhaps in June? (Yeah, right.)

Abstinence education makes a difference.

In Dr. Jemmott’s research, only about a third of the students who participated in a weekend abstinence-only class started having sex within the next 24 months, compared with about half who were randomly assigned instead to general health information classes, or classes teaching only safer sex. Among those assigned to comprehensive sex-education classes, covering both abstinence and safer sex, about 42 percent began having sex.

Dr. Jemmott’s research followed 662 African-American students at urban middle schools, who were paid $20 a session to attend the classes, plus follow-up and evaluation sessions. The abstinence-only classes covered HIV, abstinence and ways to resist the pressure to have sex.