I knew that I had said yes to a few too many things in February, so I’m keeping lots and lots of lists to maintain my sanity and make sure that not too many balls get dropped along the way (I did miss one late-night departmental meeting, but that wasn’t too big of a problem).

February is the start of spring semester at Bethel, and it’s been a good start so far. I have 14 students in an upper-level course on women and gender in art history and most of them seem very interested and engaged. We spend one class every week on discussion, and while I’m assigning some difficult readings, I hope that they will be able to jump in and think critically about the issues.

February is also when I agreed to do two different museum talks for the Senior Wednesdays program in Wichita. This past week I spoke with a group at the Wichita Art Museum about the Occupy Art exhibition. What a good audience – they’re glad to be there, just to listen and learn. As my college roommate said, “I can’t wait to be retired and go to all of these things!” And it’s the same group that I’ll speak to at the Ulrich Museum in a couple of weeks about Adriane Herman’s lists and her work in Emily Stamey’s exhibition Stocked: Contemporary Art from the Grocery Store Shelves.

But before then, February is also when CAA falls every year. This year it’s in New York, and the whole family is coming along. (We’re hoping for good weather by then.) I have various meetings to attend, a paper to give, and the part I’m most looking forward to is a book launch reception at the Ashgate booth for Reconciling Art and Mothering. Ashgate is even blogging about the event, and many of the contributors will be there, so I think we will have a grand celebration.

There is more happening in February, but I’ll save that for another day. Here’s to making lists, checking them twice, and then crossing things off when they’ve been accomplished!