Talking sports with boys...

4 February 2026: Long-ass day--like, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. with essentially only an hour of alone time to get some work done. But? A pretty good day overall.

I just want to focus on/write about 90 minutes of it here: the time I spent in conferences with three ENGL 102 students. I had a blast talking with these three young men about their essays--one on Nikola Jokic, one on Mark Cuban and the Mavericks, and one on VJ Edgecomb. 

I didn't know much about the first and third topics, but I learned a lot (and am now obsessed with Jokic). It's just fun to listen to students talk about their passions and help them write about them.

Some quick math shows me that I spent 270 minutes today teaching and conferences--out of 720 minutes on campus. Those 270 minutes remind me of why it's all worth it. 

Sparring Partners

22 January 2026: One of my former students reached out to me and a bunch of her professors to say kind things about her time in our program and to invite us to her book launch, this time a genuine Harlequin publication. Super fun! (No genre shaming here; I know better that to judge people's reading!)

I should have known nothing would stop her from getting what she wants. When she was in her last class with me, she had a baby right before the final exam. She wouldn't take an incomplete, but instead came to class with a pillow to sit on and nailed that exam. 

Hope, joy, and protest...

18 October 2025: I couldn't take part in the No Kings Protest here in town (where over 2000 people showed up!) because I was accompanying a group of my students to the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival today. They got to listen to Maureen Corrigan deliver a heck of a talk on Gatsby and got to meet Percival Everett. Everett told us, "These are hard times," but reminded us that "the most subversive thing you can do is read." 

Spending time with these students--who love reading, literature, thinking, and the world so much--gives me hope and reminds me that opposition movements need hope and joy.

2101

25 September 2025: 

"Dr. Hanrahan!" 

That's how Roy, a student I don't think I've seen in at least a year, greeted me as I started my walk today. 

"On a walk? Mind if I join you?"

So he did. We mostly talked about his big passion: Civil War reenacting. He's a good kid--a baby face and an old soul. I just very fond of him and am rooting for him so hard. 

Not a bad way to get myself towards Day 2101. 

Running Out of Air

1 April 2025: Got to hear a former student read from her debut novel on campus this evening. Another chance to just marvel at how lucky I am to get to do what I do. 

Convention Time!

20 March 2025: Writing this from my hotel room in Pittsburgh after a great first day at the Sigma Tau Delta Convention. Our students are so terrific and spending time with them is such a joy.

When they get it...

10 March 2025: "I learned that writing is a way of connecting with others." --one of my ENGL 102 students in the cover letter for her essay. 

Grading essays isn't the best way to spend a day of Spring Break, but stuff like this makes it much better.

Week of conferences: day one...

3 February 2025: "I went from social distancing to infantacide..." --a statement from one of my ENGL 301 students that sounds absolutely unhinged out of context. (She was talking about two sources for her annotatad bibliography about Wuthering Heights.)

Anyway, one day down. Four to go. 

Wednesday night grading fuel...

29 January 2025: I am telling you: when everything else is absolute trash, my students keep me going. They are so funny and smart and beautifully human. Here's a bit from an essay proposal for ENGL 102.

My kind of metaphor...

20 December 2024: Definitely on my top five list of favorite student evaluation comments, from a student in ENGL 101: "dr. hanrahan shot from half court and made it...." I burst out laughing. 

Other memorable posts about evaluations here and here.

We make good writers...

18 December 2024: Spent entirely too much time today working on the program newsletter, something that mostly falls on me since zero students completed the practicum this semester. And there so much more to do. Tedious stuff. Grumble, grumble. (While also asking why I feel the responsibility to do this darn thing...I am my own worst enemy.) 

But! Here's a great thing: I worked through four pieces written by students who basically volunteered to write (or accepted my eager invitation). And they are great. Our program is making good writers. It's so much fun to see that in action. 

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. 

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. 

Those 101 conferences...

12 September 2024: Just like yesterday, every one of them today was the good kind of surprising. What a gift to get to teach these students. 

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. 

So long, #23!

2 March 22024: It was bittersweet watching my student/advisee, Cara, play her last game as a Shepherd Ram today. It was quite a privilege to see her grow and endure in her time here. And it makes me smile to think of her out there, teaching English. 

Checking in with SGA...

27 February 2024: Sat in on part of an Student Government Association meeting today and I am so pleased to report that the kids remain alright. They so often bring a unblinking moral clarity to what they do and give me so much hope. 

Office hours visit...

7 February 2024: Had the best conversation today with a student in my Dickinson seminar. We talked about his paper, the class, his life, where he might be heading career-wise...just everything. And he asked me really interesting and engaging questions about my work and my book. There's such a kindness in that. 

One of the things I keep thinking about since we talked: he says he might be a K12 teacher and I just went on and on about how wonderful he would be. He said he was touched and flattered--and I think he really was. But then he talked about how, as a black gay man, there are so many reasons that he is worried about going into the profession given the ring-wing's current tactics. 

I paused on it and thanked him for telling me that. Easy for me to say, "You'd be so great! We need teachers like you!" without stopping to think about the risk and burden. 

But he is exactly the kind of teacher we need. 

More quotations from conferences...

1 February 2024: "Wait--there are perverts in universe?" --me, someone who knows nothing about anime except that it sometimes attracts perverts (along with lots of sweet and wonderful people), talking to an ENGL 102 student who is writing about the more problematic aspects of the genre.  

Unexpected poetry...

31 January 2024: Met with fifteen students today for conferences, all between 20 and 30 minutes. Like Monday, it wore me out, but was also exhilirating. And I had to stop and write down a line from one of them, an English 102 student talking about a video game he loves to play: "I looked up," he said, "and saw a galaxy."