Tolkien 365?

I feel like I need to give it some kind of closure: what started off this past year as a New Year's Resolution/personal reading and writing project began with zeal and vigor, but ground to a halt with the onset of flu season at home: everyone went down.  When?  Why, fourteen days into 2013, of course, and thus ended the first noble attempt at a Tolkien 365 project, 14 days in.  Still, two weeks?  Not bad, I think.

We're a little over a month away from another New Year... maybe this time a slightly more tempered goal.  "Tolkien 52"?  Not quite the same ring, but I can work out another name for version 2.0.

NCTE

Went to the annual National Council of Teachers of English conference in Boston on Friday for the first time.  Great experience!  Highlights included a reading by poet Tino Villanueva from his book So Spoke Penelope, (followed by getting my book signed and having a short, friendly conversation with him about the joy of discovering Homer), an invigorating and incisive talk from Bruce Novak (Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana) on "The True Common Core," which, his thesis goes, the Common Core State Standards skirt, and finally, roaming the exposition hall, visiting vendor booths, and getting free stuff (books, movie tickets, even a cafe latte!).  It was like a small bubble of an alternate universe where there were perks to being an English teacher.  Surreal, fun, informative, and energizing.