One to go / end-of-the-semester math

18 April 2024: Finished my Dunbar-Nelson entry today and I am low-key thrilled. A week ago, I was so worried about meeting my goal to have the last three entries done by the end of hte month. It wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world, but I didn't like it. Now, though, I feel like I've got this.

Also helping me feel like I've got this--some end-of-the-semester math, made a lot easier by me plowing through my Dickinson seminar papers. Here's what's left:

• 33 ENGL 102 essays to great (6 pages each)
• 33 ENGL 102 multimodal projects to grade 
• 4 ENGL 426 presentation responses

Also on the list, but harder to quantify: the grades for my practicum students. 

The last day of classes is tomorrow and then I am off right after the McMurran Convocation, heading to Salem for my reunion. So, I won't get a lot done this weekend. 

Still, I've got this.

Release party...

17 April 2024: Almost, almost, almost missed the Sans Merci release party for the first time in...forever? First, I was confused and thought it was tomorrow night--and was pretty tempted to skip it. I have so much to do, especially between now and my 25th (!) college reunion this weekend--and tomorrow will already be a long day. 

But, it turns out, the release party was tonight--which also made me inclined to skip it, as I didn't realize my mistake until right before it started. And I have so much to do.

But I put my shoes back on, hopped in the car, and went on over.

And it was really quite nice (as always).

Honestly, I am realizing it might have been kind of a good thing that I went, even though it means I won't get any writing done today. Because today I really needed a reminder of how wonderful college students are and how amazing it is to see them grow and shine. (It was rough day in ways that I can be public about here [though I don't think anyone actually reads this.]) 

Celebrating student-created art and literature? Worth it every time. 

"His Heart's Desire"

16 April 2024: 

“But Andy was a boy, and boys don’t tell their hearts out, and he would have died rather than confess his weakness for the world to laugh at and jibe and jeer. For Andy wanted a doll” (Dunbar-Nelson 416).

I am glad to have come across "His Heart's Desire," an Alice Dunbar-Nelson story published in a special issue of Legacy in 2016. As the editors explains, the tale shows "her ability to transmute what could be sentimental subject matter into a masterful story without one false note,” her sensitive understanding of children (informed by her work as a teacher), and also reminds us of her work on behalf of poor families (Gebhard, et. al 405). It's also an study of the construction of masculinity in progress, as poor Andy hides his desire for the doll.

Works Cited

Dunbar-Nelson, Alice. “His Heart’s Desire.” Legacy, vol. 33, no. 2, 2016, pp. 416-421. JSTOR.

Gebhard, Caroline, Katherine Adams, and Sandra A. Zagarell. “Recovered from the Archive: Two Stories by Alice Dunbar-Nelson.” Legacy, vol. 33, no. 2, 2016, pp. 404–07. JSTOR.

Zero!

15 April 2024: The countdown has ended and I am officially no longer Faculty Senate President. 

It's a strange feeling--complicated. But I certainly do feel like a load has been lifted. 

Flying Cows!

14 April 2024: Cory's company did some free design work for the new basketball team in Frederick, so he had some free tickets and invited me to join him and Hannah. It was a blast. And they won!

New York-style...

13 April 2024: I always tell people my New York accent only really comes out when I am tired or annoyed. Just now, I realized something else: it comes out when I yell at the cat. And I think I've always done this and am only realizing it now. Now "yelling" is sort of aligned with "annoyed," but sometimes my "yelling" is playful. So I think it might be more of a "caretaking" or "pet-parenting" thing. 

I still hate the idea of equating pet-parenting to child-parenting, but I don't have a better term. And there are parallels, of course. But what in the world does it mean that I slide into my latent New York voice at these moments? Weird, weird, weird...  

Busy Friday...

12 April 2024: Busy Friday to end the week! I had conferences from 9:00-2:30. Then it was off to our first set of capstones/award ceremony/Sigma Tau Delta induction. Then it was off to Relay for Life, where I helped sell luminarias again. Saying again what I have said so many times before: even though I am bone tired, days like today, packed with time around Shepherd students, faculty and staff, make me feel so lucky and blessed. 

When you have chicken for lunch...

11 April 2024:

13 conferences...

10 April 2024: Met with thirteen students, more or less back-to-back, each for thirty minute paper conferences. It was, as blocks of conferences always are, exhausting and exhilirating. 

Liminal Jo

9 April 2024: Jo was very good at posing in liminal spaces today.

Earlier in the day, deciding whether or not to crash my Zoom conferences. (She crashed some of them...)

Enjoying the first day this season with lots of open-window time. And there's the redbud, doing its thing.

Watching the Eclipse Watchers...

8 April 2024: The eclipse was so cool today. I mean, when I first put those glasses on and looked up, I said "Wow!" out loud. Profound and moving. But something that was perhaps equally moving? Seeing all of the people on campus coming outside to experiece it together. I just took a couple of pictures, but it was lovely to watch others watch the eclipse--a terrific reminder of how much I love our campus community. 

First mow of 2024...

7 April 2024: And it's a "go" on the 2024 lawn-mowing season! As I made my way around the yard, I did some of my usual yard-work contemplating, including trying to imagine that in the not-too-distant future, I'll be pushing the machine in shorts and sweating my head off (in contrast to the jeans, sweatshirt, and relatively dry brow of today's experience). And then, eventually, the sweatshirt will reemerge and the season will end. 

Spread some fertilizer, too, and ordered a new edger. (I might have the worst luck with these things.)

Snapped this picture a few hours after I finished. The sky really was that blue. 

Still feel the satisfaction of a stereotypical suburban dad every time.

Found some more "first mow" posts from years' past here, here, and here. 

A dramatic pose...

6 April 2024: Most of her poses are dramatic. Resting her head on a Mary Wilkins Freeman book just kicks it up a notch.

I sure do love this girl. 

Late Night with the Devil

5 April 2024: Two movie nights in a row? Wild but true. Late Night with the Devil is absolutely worth seeing. It looks great. The story and set-up is unique and innovative. Terrific performances. And weird in the best way. 

Immaculate

4 April 2024: Took the evening off to go see Immaculate and then get some dinner. It was a wild and fun movie; totally gross, but also smart in places. Felt good to take a break, too.