Yesterday I blogged about how my teaching schedule was going to prevent me from noticing it was Halloween, but wouldn’t you know that I could count on JPU’s fine students not to deprive me of such a spectacle? On the quad, Bruce Lee sparred with Luke Skywalker, the Burger King borrowed a book from a [...]
Archive for October, 2007
30 Oct
Sing it, sister.
I’ve never been a big fan of Halloween, and not necessarily because I think it glorifies the devil. The last time I made even a feeble attempt at dressing up, I brought candy to class and taught wearing a witch’s hat, which so distressed one of the students that I took it off. The rest [...]
29 Oct
In which the stars are apparently aligned
Today began perhaps the most stressful week I will have experienced in awhile. Not to go into too much detail, but this week I perform about 10% of my one-woman three-ring circus of research-teaching-service for the year. Part of me can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings—not so much because I’m looking forward to my [...]
28 Oct
Sunday drink menu
a glass of blueberry juice
a glass of water
a mug of coffee. Of course.
a mug of Thera-Flu, Flu and Sore Throat Formula
This assortment is almost crowding the usual pile of books off my nightstand. The last shall be first, since my bones feel cold, my head fuzzy, and my throat like someone ran over it with [...]
26 Oct
Sick for toys
You know you’re at a loss for words when you have to quote Bjork back when she was still in the Sugarcubes. Yet one recent development in my undergrad class has me dumbstruck.
One of the worst students I have ever taught, a student who I’ve since discovered is circling the drain in general, refuses to [...]
25 Oct
Careful what you wish for
Another teaching week, another stack of grading: before long, I’ll be gray and wizened, accepting whatever is academia’s equivalent of the proverbial gold watch. Like fun, crazy overwork helps the time to fly.
I was walking back to my office yesterday evening with one of my grad students, and we discovered we had both taken three [...]
24 Oct
The cheese of burden
I had moved into my apartment unaware that it was subscribed to the Disaster-of-the-Month Club. To say the least, it is surreal to be living in an enormous, charming space that routinely busts out in pests, pestilences, and spectacular floods just because. In my copious free time, I’m looking for another place, but it must [...]
22 Oct
An open request
To students everywhere who are contemplating skipping class:
Could you please let your teachers know of your plans, via an e-mail, a voice message, or even a really earnest attempt at telepathy? You see, when we bust our asses fingers and fritter away our weekends grading papers you turned in Friday, we might get a little [...]
21 Oct
The accidental yenta
First: a yenta is just a busybody, so schadchen is the correct term for what I’ve accidentally become. Sorry. My inner pedant insists on fighting the hegemony of Broadway.
Oh who am I kidding? I’ve never been one to keep my pedantry hidden, as my undergrads this term know well. They are a boisterous, raucous bunch. [...]
19 Oct
The dangers of cloning
Last week the Chronicle published a condemnation of graduate students and graduate teaching by “Lagretta Gradgrind,” whose already infamous column I still believe to be a spoof. I mean, she names herself after Dickens’s oppressive schoolmaster, and though I’m aware there are real people named Lagretta, I can’t help thinking of Simon Legree, the oppressive [...]
