Where's Dr. Fallon?

Right here.

Those of you kind enough to ask about my whereabouts know that this is the busiest time of the semester. The last few weeks of school can be pretty harrowing, and this week -- finals week -- is usually the occasion of much hand-wringing and anxiety. I am in the middle of dozens of graduate and undergrad papers, and evaluating the semester's work of a handful of neophyte bloggers, and grades are due at the end of the week.

I won't lie to you: the news of the last month or so has my head spinning, and the longer I stay away from IN THE DARK (it seems), the harder it gets to know where to pick up.

I'd like to be able to say that as soon as grades are in, and Roosevelt University's annual commencement is over, I'll be back in the saddle, running at full steam (how's that for mixed metaphors?), but that is probably not the case. I'll be leaving at the end of the month for two weeks in Ireland, and before I go, I have some serious academic writing to do.

I've been invited to present a paper based on my book, Printing, Literacy, and Education in Eighteenth Century Ireland : Why the Irish Speak English, at the first annual Conference on Irish Studies at the National University or Ireland, Galway. My problem is coming up with a text, based on a book of more than 200 pages, that I can present in about a half-hour. So I will be little more than a ghost on this blog for the next month or so.

I am inviting my fellow IN THE DARK team bloggers, SkeetsV, Matt, Publisher, Docintheory, and Commandante Agi to pick up my slack while I'm gone. I am most appreciative for all they have done in the past, and I look forward to reading their thoughts in my absence.

See ya soon.