Sabbatical Project

This site is Dr. Mary Pat McQueeney's Sabbatical Project.

Spring Semester 2008 sabbatical provided through Johnson County Community College.

Pat's Blog    Sabbatical Report    Artifacts    Bib    Resources for Teaching    Memoir    Future Research

 Original Sabbatical Statement:  Memoir writing is the focus of this project. I will study the scholarship, disseminating it via a bibliography, and develop a memoir module.  Finally, I will use my parent’s daily logs to write an article-length memoir of mutual care giving as her life moves toward its end.

Original Proposal

My idea when I proposed this project was to challenge myself to develop a more personal style of writing and, at the same time, to tap into my mother's still vibrant memory by using her logs to develop a memoir.  We had shared a home for 29 years, so there seemed to be much to write about. In the months intervening between my proposal being accepted and the sabbatical beginning, much happened:

June, 2007:  Mom collapsed at home and was hospitalized with stroke-like symptoms.  She moved into a nursing home.
December 10, 2007:  She suffered a debilitating hemorrhagic stroke.
December 20, 2007:  She died.
December 27, 2007:  Mom was buried next to Dad at Holy Cross Cemetery in Paola, Kansas.

Millie's Obituary

This was to be a collaborative project between Mom and me, but now I will set aside--for the time being, at least--some of the more emotion-laden materials, and focus instead on telling a bit of her story for her great-grandson born 12 hours before she was buried and named for my dad.

Though she never got to meet him, perhaps he will one day want to know a bit about her, and the great-grandfather for whom he is named.  Though some aspects of this project are targeted for my professional colleagues and my students, I think that a worthy ultimate goal of this project is to write about Millie and me--for Jack.

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