just when i need a little burst of confidence...

...i read this gem in my introduction:

In these works, we see female authors closely scrutinizing, and unintentionally replicating, the tension inherent in the term "domestic" as they explore the power of both physical and imaginative travel.  As they do, they begin to narrate their own journey as female authors--a perilous, powerful, and often liberating tale of social aspiration and limitation, of negotiation and alienation, of imagination and emancipation. 

if i can come up with some junk like this for my ten-minute introduction, i might not have to rely on the muffins.

onward!

(but i have to say...i've read this diss so many times, it's sort of boring reading it straight through. shhh...don't tell.  let them think it's brilliant.)