Sending Positive Thoughts...

...to my sister-in-law Suz, who's oh-so-close to finishing her college thesis (due this upcoming Friday), the only thing standing between her and B.A. in English. In between being a single mother of three, Suz has been poring over the material for over a year, and perfectionist that she is, she'd like to pore over it for another year (and, once she's turned it in, she just might do that).

Suz sent a draft to Kathy and me for feedback -- it's on Fury by Salman Rushdie. I'm truly impressed with the depth of her knowledge of the book, as well as various other Rushdie works and criticisms (admittedly, I say this not having been an English major, or having read any Rushdie much less Fury). She's been able to catalogue a breathtaking landscape of meanings on a multitude of levels. Truly dazzling.

That being said, she hasn't locked in on a thesis. She agreed with my metaphor as to where all her analysis has taken her -- she's got all the pieces of the engine but doesn't know exactly how to assemble it. It'll come together, I have no doubt -- Kathy was able to provide some good ideas on how to organize some of the material in a way that better lends itself to a thesis (Suz said that was how it was organized before a revision a couple of weeks ago). In the meantime, Suz has a lot of people in her corner. I'm pulling for her not just to pass (which all of us know is a given), but to be happy with the finished product. To me that'll be true success.