Until next year...

31 October 2024: “[Baseball] breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall all alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.”― A. Bartlett Giamatti, Take Time for Paradise: Americans and Their Games

"I'm late to the doom conversation..."

30 October 2024: I've got a really great group of ENGL 301 students this semester. They are smart, hard-working, and just really engaged. Every class is lively and fun. Highlights from today's class (discussing "Desiree's Baby" through the lens of deconstruction) went really well. This post's title comes from a student talking about how a sense of doom hangs over the piece, but I laughed out loud when she said it, adding, "I've been here for weeks!" (Seriously--the "doom conversation" in my head is overwhelming at times--mitigated by the magic respite that a classroom brings.)

One week to go...

29 October 2024: Woke up with such anxiety this morning and it's been weighing me down all day. Grateful for the moments of light and distraction, but my goodness...it's all so much.

As usual, Chen Chen says it so well.

trying to have hope but not false hope is such work

— 兔兒神 (@chenchenwrites) October 29, 2024

Little fella...

28 October 2024: Just got to see video clips from a dear friend's sonogram (shared via text). What a miraculous wonder to behold! This little guy is already bringing so much joy to the world.  Holding onto that hope and wonder and joy and love in the midst of all this angst and uncertainty. What a gift!

"The Third and Final Continent" (Once more...)

27 October 2024: Today as I mowed the lawn, perhaps for the last time until the spring, I listened to a The New Yorker Fiction Podcast episode where the guest (Rebecca Makkai) read "The Third and Final Continent," a story I've known and loved for years. (The post-reading discussion between Makkai and Deborah Treisman is really good, by the way.) 

I've blogged about this story in particular and Jhumpa Lahiri a lot--with good reason, of course. There's just no one who writes like she does and I am always so moved and floored by her work.

Anyway, as I pushed that mower in the waning afternoon light, thinking a movie I'd seen earlier (We Live in Time--great performances, not-so-great film), a kind of warm melancholy settled in--somehow perfect for listening to this beautiful story. 

Another Jane Day...

26 October 2024: Woke up feeling down and anxious, but then felt immediately grateful that Jane and I had--during our last hang-out--already scheduled our next hang-out for today. I drove her way this time. Wandered around The Painted Tree (first time I have been to one), had lunch, then went over to Target for Halloween candy. A bit more visiting and then I headed home. A lovely day that left me feeling better. 

Fall Break Vibes...

25 October 2024: I've been grading, writing, and working, but I'm still digging the vibes from my walk and from my glances across the living room. 

Quiz-n-Dish

24 October 2024: A couple of weeks ago, Amy asked if I would write a trivia game for a potluck she was hosting in her office for the folks on campus who don't get "off" for Fall Break. I was happy to do it, but a bit nervous about my game-writing skills. Anyway, today was the day and I think it went well. Of course, it was a friendly crowd. Shepherd has the best staff in so many ways. 

Anyway, after that, it was back to grading and a bunch of other work for me, but that's okay. Even a mostly work-filled day has a different vibe over Fall Break. 

Deconstruction again...

23 October 2024: Kind of weird that today, teaching the same material exactly seven years later (!), a student came up with another very funny response to deconstruction (again, about people being fields of competing identies and ideologies): 

Student: Like how my cat wants a pet but also bites me?

Me: Yes, although you are ascribing human concepts to your cat...

Student: Oh, believe me: it works.

Busy Tuesday...

22 October 2024: Finding myself sitting here thinking about what has been a long day with lots of different stuff packed in it. On the list: an annual medical check-up, lunch with a former student, a couple of meetings (one of them really important), some grading, and trivia. 

Trying to decide what to post about tonight, I've been thinking, "what was the best part? the most interesting? the most unique?" 

But mostly I just feel glad to have a life with all these parts in it. I mean, to start the day with good health care (and gratitude for insurance) and end it with lovely people who come out week after week for trivia--and to have most of what was in between be interesting and stimulating? Not bad!

Topic sentences...

21 October 2024: "I realize I just threw a bunch of stuff together and called it a paragraph..." --terrific insight from one of my ENGL 101 students as she looked at her draft.

Can you tell we are working on topic sentences? Seriously, though, her realization is so important. And then we talked about why this makes sense when she's drafting--and it's why rewriting and revision is so important. 

"Whitman, Melville, and Baseball"

20 October 2024: 

“Did you see the baseball boys are home from their tour around the world? How I’d like to meet them — talk with them: maybe ask them some questions...That’s beautiful: the hurrah game! well — it’s our game: that’s the chief fact in connection with it: America’s game: has the snap, go, fling, of the American atmosphere — belongs as much to our institutions, fits into them as significantly, as our constitutions, laws: is just as important in the sum total of our historic life." --Whitman on baseball in 1889.

The Yankees won the ALCS yesterday and are off to their first World Series since 2009. I am, of course, delighted. But if they hadn't clinched it last night--if the series had gone on and maybe even if they lost it--I would still be delighted by the games. That's one way you know you love baseball, I think: even when your team loses, you can have a blast. Anyway, for a trivia game I am writing for some colleagues, I came across this piece about Whitman, Melville, and baseball. Well worth a read!

Just watchin'...

19 October 2024: Second post in just a few days that's basically, "Look at how cute Jo is when she's just watching me!" But I sure did get a kick out of turning around and seeing her looking at me like this from the bed while I was cleaning the bathroom. Sweet little girl.

Founders Day 2024

18 October 2024:

I am really fond of this photo from an improtu decision by some Sigma Tau Delta students to march in the Founders Day parade. 

Game 3...

17 October 2024: 

[Catch-up post...]

Got to work this morning (Friday) and realized that I hadn't posted on Thursday even though I crossed it off of my list. Oh well!

I think if I had posted, it might have been about Thursday's Yankees/Guardians game. The Yankees lost, but my goodness, it was a great game. You know you love a sport when a game doesn't end the way you want it it to, but you still had a blast watching it. 

Lil' lurker...

16 October 2024: After a lot of tearing around the place (something she does a lot when I come home after being gone a long time), this lil' lurker got awfully quiet, doing an impression of Veronica, the queen of shady lurking. But she's not fooling me--still lots of energy left to burn. 

Roof guy...

15 October 2024: Took a bit longer than I thought it would to actually happen, but a guy (from a company) came by today to look at my roof. I've been worried for months about some shingles popping up and (long, boring story) am currently waiting to hear what my warranty covers. In the meantime, I wanted to make sure things were okay. Much to my relief, the roof guy said some minor repairs might be needed, but it is not a crisis. Music to this professional worrier's ears!

Quiet Monday evening...

14 October 2024: Yes, I am repeating yesterday's post a bit, but it's worth highlighting a couple of quiet and relatively stress-free nights in a row. It's been a long and busy day, but a good one and I got so much done. There are still some items on my to-do list, but I am yawning my head off and they can maybe wait until tomorrow. My tired butt just wants to watch the Yankees (ahead of Cleveland 4-0 in the fifth inning of Game One of the ALCS as of right now) and then head to bed.

Quiet Sunday evening moment...

13 October 2024: Just realized I usually do a "Midterm Grading: DONE!" post--complete with a chair-dancing song on days like this when I, in fact, finish submitting my midterm grades. But I guess the moment (nearly six hours ago) was anti-climactic in what has been a different kind of a semester in some ways. So, I'll break the tradition this semester and post about something different on the day I submit the grades...

What I wanted to post about when I opened Blogger was this quiet moment unfolding here. Grades are done. Most of my weekend "to do" list is done. The windows and back door are open on a weirdly warm autumn day. Veronica and Jo are loving it. But this has to be one of the last days like this before real autumn sets in. 

Part of me finds it melancholy; I don't like thinking about months of closed up windows and early darkness approaching. 

But--in the midst of what has been a hard couple of weeks--another part of me is just so grateful for this moment: the gift of the breeze and its sweet smell. Seeing neighbors walk by. The peace of watching my girls look out the windows, wash their paws, stretch out, and relax. The quiet. 

I want to remember it all--breathing it in literally, but also trying to breathe it into my soul to sustain me in the days ahead.  

Best mini-essay ever?

12 October 2024: I have started giving ENGL 204 students "mini-essays" on their midterm exams: short prompts where they argue a thesis about a text in 200-250 words. I have also been trying to make the prompts more open to their interests. This particular one--which invites them to talk about how something they read connected to their lives outside the classroom--stopped me in my tracks and legit made me cry. It's an absolute gift. I am so grateful to this student and, as always, to Emily Dickinson, who inspired her. 

Night Rider's Lament

11 October 2024: This song has been in my head since last night when I saw those Northern Lights. "They've never seen those Northern Lights..." he sings. It's also a lovely and surprisingly complicated meditation on the life choices folks make that others just don't understand.

 

Northern Lights

10 October 2024: I used to wonder if I'd ever get a chance to see the Northern Lights. Tonight, I did, at least for a bit. Feels like a gift and I am grateful.

He'd be 50...

9 October 2024: Today is Ryan's birthday, so of course he's been on my mind all day. I mentioned him in my ENGL 204 class when we talked about Mary Wilkins Freeman's "A New England Nun" and was describing Joe Dagget: a man's man, uncomfortable in tight or fancy settings, but kind and decent through and through. 

Field trip...

8 October 2024: If I weren't so very tired, I would write something eloquent about the trip our GWST class took to DC today, visiting the White House, meeting with two young women who work there, and then getting a tour of the Museum of Women in the Arts. But I am very tired at the end of what has been a heck of an eleven-day endurance trial. 

The short version: it was a great day. 

Morning walk...

7 October 2024: Snapped this picture at around 7:30 a.m. this morning on my walk. Stopped and breathed in the beauty of that moment. Felt how much lighter this morning felt compared to last Monday morning. Said to myself, "Oh, this can be your daily post. And since today won't be as busy, you can post it in any five free minutes you find--early, even!" (My goodness: I wish I had gotten a picture of the sunrise just 45 minutes or so earlier, but I was driving...)

Well, it's almost 5:30 and I haven't had five free minutes until right now and even right now I am stressed about using these five minutes for anything other than work. Because, as I've known, the real dash that began last Monday doesn't end until tomorrow night. 

But that's okay. Because today was also very good. And this image set the tone.

She's home...

6 October 2024: The best news of the day/week/month is that after being in the hospital since Thursday, Tara was released today. 

She's absolutely the strongest person I know. Life keeps throwing her challenge after challenge and she just keeps meeting them. It's awe-inspiring, but once again--my good, I have to ask, why does she keep having to prove her strength?

Praying for her to keep recovering, to get some rest, and to know how wonderful she is. (Doing my best to help with that last part.)

That's the good stuff...

5 October 2024: "I was always excited to do this, but I never fully expected such an astounding number of examples to work with. It opened my eyes to the presence of rhetorical tactics outside of just the classroom, and recently when I watched the JD Vance and Tim Walz debate, I felt that I had a better idea of the underlying tactics both candidates tried to use. I never expected this project to have any effect on me outside of the classroom, but I was proven wrong within a week." --a student reflecting on his rhetorical analysis essay (about an press conference before an MMA match!) in his cover letter. 

I mean, that's the good stuff. Made me really happy. 

Sighs of different size...

4 October 2024: Finished third of three Provost candidate visits today. So, big sigh of relief there. 

Much more importantly, after about twenty-four hours of being very worried about Tara, who is sick, I got to talk to her. Still a way to go for her to get home, but hearing her voice and some updates made me sigh a sigh of relief that dwarfs the one above. 

Should sleep very well tonight, I hope. Do have to be up at like 6:00 for the garage repair guy, but that's okay. 

Still standing, indeed...

3 October 2024: Working my tail off today, but my mood is so much better and lighter than it has been. There's a three-part prescription at work: sunshine (it's been so rainy for so many days--and I finally got to mow the lawn), time to just get stuff done, and lunch with Hannah at Sheetz. 

Still a lot to get done today and still feeling a bit under the weather (why we ate at Sheetz--and outside!), but I sure feel like I can do this.

And what a perfect song playing on Pandora as I type this!

Two down...

2 October 2024: Made it through hosting our second candidate today. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel if I squint, which is nice. But I am dragging and there is so much more to do. (Haven't mentioned yet that my garage door broke on Saturday night and that I have yet another stack of papers to grade...)

And I think I might be getting a cold, which seems especially rude. 

But we can do this...

"Right Here"

1 October 2024: I had so much work to get done today and just needed some "focus" music. Something made me listen to two Girlyman albums: Remember Who I Am and Joyful Sign. Worked so well, including this track.