back to school days...

Today was the first day of the Autumn quarter here at the University of Chicago, and tomorrow is my first day of classes. I am actually the kind of person who looks forward to going back to school. And I know how nerdy that sounds since most of my family and closest friends cannot understand what it is that I'm still doing in school. Nevertheless, there is a kind of somber, end of summer, beginning of fall, contemplative feeling to this time of year, which is part of what has always made it one of my favorite seasons in life's great cycle.
In separate but related business, to date, I have been reluctant to write too much about myself or my professors in this blog; however, much of my time and energy over the next ten weeks will be consumed by the classes I'm taking with those three or four women and men- so I have decided to use this web-journal for productive, creative, brainstorming activities - on the content of those classes only. (I will not mention my professors' names, although anyone who knows them will clearly see their influence on the thoughts and reflections which I have been and will continue to post in this web-log. The best ideas are theirs and any misconceptions/fallacious interpretations are entirely my own.)
That being said, I am taking four arabic language and literature classes:

* advanced arabic grammar and syntax
* pre-islamic(jahiliyya) poetry: mu'allaqat, su'luk, ritha'
* islamic love poetry (thru the div. school/history of literature)
* modern arabic literature: the novels of naguib mahfouz (awlad haritna, al-zuqaq al-midaq, layali alf layla)

I am extremely excited and a little bit nervous to go back. I have spent the last month as a full-time father with my one year old daughter. That was work! And it was so rewarding. But it's time to change gears again and settle back into the other routine that I know so well. I will have more to say as the quarter progresses re: those four arabic language and literature classes. I look forward to using this journal as an informal, though serious forum for free and unfettered, intellectual ramblings on what I'm reading, translating and writing over the next ten weeks. i love fall and all its somber, contemplative dimensions. ma'shallah....