Defense Scheduled...

Yes... it looks like i am growing older and I can barely feel my knees... My PhD defense is scheduled for December 16, 2008 at 10 am at the Reitoria of the University of Lisbon.

have a look: http://www.ul.pt/portal/page?_pageid=173,835673&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL


Ana...

Finally the program is out

Yes... finally, the Catholic University of Lisbon as released the program of one of this year's most important conferences about António Vieira. As it is becoming usual, I will present there another paper...

Here is the program: http://www.anovieirino.com/modules/icontent/index.php?page=10

For those of you who do not speak Portuguese, just hit where it says: "Consulte aqui o Programa (PDF)" to have access to it.

Book

I have just submitted the texts from the proceedings of the EABS this summer in Lisbon for publication. This is my first edited book and i am quite excited about it. Besides it will be out before the end of 2008, which is an achievement!

I will post here more information such as title, table of contents, etc., as it becomes available.

Antonio Vieira, Baroque Portugal and Colonial Brazil

yet another conference about António Vieira, this time at Brown University.

c o n f e r e n c e
"Antonio Vieira, Baroque Portugal and Colonial Brazil"November 7 and 8Friday and Saturday Locations: November 7 [The John Carter Brown Library]November 8 [Smith-Buonano Auditorium, RM 106]

here is the link for the complete program: http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Portuguese_Brazilian_Studies/documents/VieiraConferenceProgram.PDF

it is submitted

Dear All,


I have finally submitted the dissertation on September 4th. Now that i am back to New Haven, I am, while recovering, trying to put together 3 conferences, a postdoctoral project and researching for a dictionary.
Meanwhile, i am trying to hang in there while i do not know officially when the dissertation's defense will be set, though i know it will be around the second week of December.

all is well when it ends well, right?

:) :)

IT'S PRINTING!!!!

Finally... it is printing... this huge monster is about to be done!

yuuuuuuuupppppppiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeee

Antonio Vieira & the Futures of luzo-afro-brazilian studies - International Colloquium

Have a look at their website, the program is quite interesting: http://homepage.mac.com/gmreis/vieira/program.html

there are days...

two weeks ago i realised that someone had stolen my bike from the inside of my building... no, it was not from the front of the library or from any other open space...

today, i got a new one and when i trying it for the first time, i realised that the chain was loose... lucky me that i know how to use my hands and solved the issue...

now, tell me, what's going on between bikes and me? who cursed me?

where's my snow?

i was promised plenty of snow... and now i wonder where it is. well, i know... it is me coming from a country with no snow i have no clue of what it is. i am sure that is the reason why i cannot see it...

yes, i am frustrated because i truly enjoy the silence that comes with snow... i really enjoy the white flurries falling peacefully on my head.

please snow, hurry up.....

back...

I'm back to Yale wishing that i wouldn't have this much work to do. besides, it is raining and i hate it. it simply makes me blue, and that added to the jet lag is one of those bombastic combinations.

i was so tired that i did not answer any of my friends season greetings. i hope they will apologize me and understand, though it was not a decent thing to do.

I'm afraid i have ahead of me several months of hard work and will be most of the time impossible to post updates of what i am doing. however, i do also know by experience that i like to post when i cannot find the right words to finish a paragraph... it is quite useful to regain my inspiration, so i have no clue of how often i will be writing here. please make me do it!

happy new year to you all!

Finally, feeback from the trip to Brazil

As you all know I was a little afraid about what was going to happen in Brazil. I have to say that everything went much better that I had ever dreamed it would be possible.


My first task was to teach in a seminar on Religion and Literature. I was asked to introduce students to my doctoral research. Well… I obviously sent them some readings, which they have never read: after all it was about apocalyptics… Why should they bore to do it, right? After all, as they said: “this is not our beach!”
Well, I’ve managed to survive what could have been chaos… I asked them straight to give keywords that could define “apocalypse”. It was great because they really interacted. It was possible for me to overcome all the problems of the video system due to that interaction. I’m having this problem all the time… it seems that someone jinxed my pwp presentations (it had already happened in Vienna)… I think that by the end they had a pretty good idea about how it was possible to relate apocalyptics, literature and history. But the good thing was the fact that their professor emphasized my abilities to speak and my “pedagogical” skills!

Second task, the conference paper: I was going to speak about António Vieira and the revival of apocalyptic and millennial hope during the 17th century. It was extremely good because without my knowledge, my roundtable partner ended up also speaking about him. It resulted in more than one hour of Q&A with the audience. Just great!

The best of it, in professional terms, was the fact of getting an invitation to go back next year. Besides, I got the opportunity to truly influence someone else’s work and the results were great… I went pack and comeback for the students’ presentations just to hear to the audience comments. It was great… made me feel that I could influence someone… just great! I hope to continue doing that in the future since I just loved it.

Personally it was also great: I met great people and had the opportunity to exchange ideas and thoughts about my work and other persons’ work, and I think I’ve made some friendships…

Global balance: it was worth the 24h trip to get there and the 16h trip to get back!

Oh… and I am publishing with them an article!

sometimes even i get lucky!

Look at the AHA bulletin post:

Drawing Winners Selected
Thanks to all who participated in the survey on the 2009 annual meeting. Two survey participants have been randomly drawn to receive free registration for the 2008 annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Congratulations to the winners: Carla Lesh of State University of New York, Albany and Ana Valdez of Yale University and Lisbon University.

Snow is coming into town...

finally... it snows... we can already notice the white cover and the silence.
the snow and the peace of mind of having finally sent out all the applications are definitely going to help me relax. at least, i hope so.

enjoy the snow!!!

back

yes, i am back to the cold... i have to say that the experience in Brazil was truly surprising. quite good, in fact.
i'll update after recovering from the trip. i will even post some of the very few pictures i took in São Paulo.

snow?

is there snow in the horizon? it would be so good... i love the peace and tranquility that comes with it... can i dream about it?

Brazil or not Brazil?

I am getting ready to hit the road down to Brazil next week. The conference text and presentation, and the lecture's material are now ready.

I wish I could say the same about finding travel tips for São Paulo... I am glad I am a native speaker, otherwise it would be nerve breaking!

Has anyone visited the city in the past?

Well, let's hope that at least the weather is good, though the forecast says rain! Summer... my dear, sweet summer... so far away and, at the same time, so close!

Connecticut's Fall

Hope you will enjoy the colors as much as I did. It is simply superb...

again: long time

again i had no time to write. though, i have to say that the work has been so good that i offered myself some time off. i have just returned from the Riviera Maya. an amazing week, definitely too short, but enough to know that it is a place to return . beautiful grounds, superb ocean view, and great extreme sports! even i tried them!!!

i am leaving you with some pictures. enjoy them!

by the way, my birthay was a success.... i'm getting old in style!!! a Mayan blessing and an amazing dinner. did i mention it was a surprise?

may God bless the web

seriously... without it, not even at Yale you could find certain things!

i am amazed with this website that provides ebooks for free. www.manybooks.net
i have just found an extremely rare edition of Bandarra's Trovas.


keep on with the good work!!!!

it feels good...

Indeed... finally, I've finished Vieira's biography. I have been writing as a crazy woman since yesterday, but it paid off.
I am impressed more than ever with the Jesuit: what a brilliant man and what a EGO!
I'm not kidding... this can explain why he was always able to build the theories he did...
Great man... can we have more of this? It would be good for everyone!!!! Even if we get grey hair before time!