24 August 2025: About a week ago, I realized that I taught my first college class in August 2000, I had a milestone coming up: about to start Year 25 of teaching. Then--like just tonight--I realized I missed the milestone. Last year was the start of Year 25.
I remember the day of that first class so clearly. Got to campus early. All dressed up. Anxious as heck in the parking garage beforehand. Such a kid!
So...year 26. Not as flashy, but still something to mark.
22 August 2025: We met the class of 2025 and our transfer students today. Always a long, busy, and exciting day. One more weekend and then it's the new academic year...
16 August 2025: What an absolute blast it was to do a Zoom hang-out with Vogel and our grad school friend Deidre today. These two women are so cool and funny and it felt almost like we were in the same room at times.
11 August 2025: Spent most of the morning at the dealership, including getting new tires. Kind of hard to believe how long I've had the car. I managed to get a bunch of little tasks done (emails, emails, emails) and even a bit of writing for the Year's Work essay.
The best part, though, was getting to catch up with Emma. She just always impresses the heck out of me. We talked a bit about how she's in a kind of "women in leadership" class/group with Subaru and how it feels to move through a male-dominated space (not all bad!). We could have talked for hours, I think, but she was, of course, at work. Still delighted to have seen her.
4 August 2025: Had a bittersweet (but mostly sweet!) lunch with Frank, who graduated from our program a few years ago. He's been working at Shepherd as an admissions counselor, but is now moving onto a new place and a new position.
He's such a good guy. I told him how clearly I remember meeting him and helping him make his first schedule when he started at Shepherd. He was so quiet and seemed shy. And he was far from home, having come from Puerto Rico to live with an aunt and uncle after Hurricane Maria. I worried if he would last. Each semester, there he was--still here and thriving. And when I had him in class for the first time? What an utter delight.
It's been nice to have him around after he graduated, but I am also glad he's spreading his wings a bit and seeing what else the world offers. Low-key jealous of everyone who gets to meet him for the first time and learn what an absolute gem he is.
2 August 2025: Slowly working my way through Forever on Netflix. I still have about an episode and a half to go, but it strikes me as a really beauitful show.
The two kids at the heart of it are so sweet and swoony. They feel real. (A credit to the actors--and all the actors involved.) The parents also seem real and nuanced. They remind me of how hard it must be to love your kids so much yet have this wall that springs up when they reach adolescene.
Little moments are skillfully realized, from the way the kids text each other (or not--lots of hot and cold at times!) to the confrontations between them and their parents.
It's a slow and quiet show, the kind that sometimes get overlooked by larger audiences, but it really is a gem.
31 July 2025:
[Catch-up post...]
I had a delightful time last night seeing A Midsummer Night's Dream last night at the Olney Theater. It was a production but on by Synetic Theatre (they do wordless shows--which are always very cool). It really was terrific--beautifully interpreted with great music, dancing, and lots of great comic moments/performances.
Tim organized the whole thing for a group that also included Kevin (of course!) and our new colleague Michael and his fiance.
17 July 2025: Hard to think of a more pleasant recent day. Hannah and Theo came over--and so did Amy, who got to meet him for the first time. We had lunch and just visited for a long time (though Amy had to get back to work). The baby has changed so much since I last saw him in person. He's smiley and curious and basically just chilled and vibed. Then this evening, I had dinner with Eva (who was in town), Tim, Betty, Carrie, James, and Rachel at Rumsey Tavern. We just sat and talked forever.
So blessed. So grateful.
1 July 2025: Today's return to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery moved me more than ever before and it's hard to explain why--at least quickly.
But I found myself crying standing in front of the tiny marker that just says "Henry," Louisa May Alcott's stone and the American flag she earned working as a nurse in D.C., Hawthorne's family group, and, of course, Emerson's rock.
The pens, pencils, and little notes left by others get me every time, but even more this time. They are little offerings of gratitude and connection.
So much in our country seems broken right now, on the day that stupid "big beautiful bill" passes in the Senate.
These writers, though? They point us to a better way. And they made me who I am--the kind of person who wants to help shape that better way for everyone else.
There they all are, at eternal rest together, but their words live on. It's corny and cheesy, but it's beautiful and left me wiping my eyes on the Authors' Ridge today.
28 June 2025: Spent most of the day in the car with Jane, heading up to Massachusetts for a few days. A bit tired as I write this, but ready for a full day tomorrow.
24 June 2025: A heat wave settled in today (actually yesterday, but today was fiercer!). Should last until Thursday. Yuck. Got out early and mowed the lawn and did a bit of yard work. I've been more or less inside all day since then except for a brief trip to Walgreen's.
Reading for the Year's Work essay, taking notes, watching TV, getting the rest of my steps in doing laps around the first floor...there are a lot worse ways to get through a heat wave.
Grateful for AC that works, a job that lets me stay inside when it's hot, and two cats who aren't that upset about the shut-up windows and are glad to have me here with them.
15 June 2025: When a movie opens with Walt Whitman, it has my attention. And The Life of Chuck is a sweet and moving film that earns its evocation of the Good Gray Poet. I found myself tearing up and smiling and just really loved it.
11 June 2025: Thinking about Brian Wilson today with the news of his death. This is one of my favorite Beach Boys songs. A little story that is so cool, so romantic, with tinges of melancholy and (weirdly in a good way?) even maybe the hint of an impending tragedy.
4 June 2025: I am in a phase of drafting my SSAWW paper where the nuanced version central idea is starting to come together. (I have a thesis, but usually there’s a more specific one lurking, waiting to emerge.) A piece just clicked into place a couple of hours ago—about a lack of authorial intention—that feels promising. There’s just one more piece, I think, and I am on the verge.
It’s a cool place to be. The frustrating is slowly receding and the next step—a complete first draft—is coming up, Lord willing.
25 May 2025: Finally getting caught up on the last season of The Handmaid's Tale and though there are lots of legitimate criticisms to make of the show, darn it if it still doesn't get to me. One line in "Exodus," the episode I just finished, made me tear up (even as I was annoyed at myself for being taken in):
"We're rising up because in each and every one of us is this immaculate soul that was given to us by God that is just crying out for dignity and freedom."
Pretty good writing, especially in these hard days.
15 May 2025: Riffing on a social media account for my title here, but I realized yesterday that there's a connection between my first view of Jo (on Petfinder) and her "new" skill/habit--which she has gotten better at.
This morning, I found another example, though not as dramatic...
