They are so good at this...

10 September 2025: I want to remember how good my American Fiction class was today. 

We finished up Huck Finn through the lens of really spikey pieces of criticism and we start James on Monday. Before we got that part started, though, listening to their pre-class chatter, I asked them what 9-11 means to their generation. Boy, did that spark an enlightening conversation. (They weren't born then, of course.) Somehow--but it's actually not that much of a mystery if you think about it--we made that connection back to Twain and his, to quote Toni Morrison (whose piece they read!), "amazing, troubling book."

These kids are so angry about our world. Used to the specter of violence hanging over them for every day of their lives. (Returned to my office to see news of a shooting of a right-wing figure on a college campus and a shooting at a high school in Colorado. It's always appalling and soul-crushing, but less shocking every time.)

These students are jaded and cynical and...angry. 

But also not without energy and hope. 

And they are so damn smart and decent. 

They give me so much hope. 

Day Two...

26 August 2025: Co-taught the opening session of GWST 201 today, which went quite well, as it usually does. We get the greatest variety of cool students in that course. The rest of the day flew by too quickly, with administrative and other kinds of work sucking up a lot of time. Silly me thought I'd have time for writing. Oh well--at least we've got a long weekend coming. 

Here comes year 26...

 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. 

Fall syllabizing...

9 July 2025: Spent a decent amount of time today working on my ENGL 346: American Fiction syllabus. I haven't taught this one--a course on the novel up to 1900--since 2019. This time, because Percival Everett is going to be at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Festival, I am shaking things up, starting with Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the moving on to James. It's a funky way to start (I usually go chronologically--and it meant dropping a couple of other books), but maybe that will make it fun in new ways.

Long, good day

17 June 2025: 

Things I did today: slept in a tiny bit because I slept awful the night before, mowed the lawn, had lunch with Tim and two recent graduates, helped do a bit of advising for the last group of entering first-year students, did some planning for next semester with Tim (we are taking our students to the Poe House), did some research work, hosted trivia, played with BabyCat and the laser pointer (a promise I made to her yesterday), and listened to a heck of a thunderstorm roll through (with Jo hiding under my chair). 

Not the most exciting post, but I kind of like days like this. 

When it works...

16 April 2025: Long but good day, starting with an ENGL 102 conference when a frustrated and overwhelmed student came in. Just didn't know where to go next with her essay or why it wasn't working. (These are real "I got this!" moments for me, so I was ready.)

So, we got to work. By the end? 

"You unstuck me!" she said. 

Felt great. 

(And happened a few more times today!)

Another conference story...

10 April 2025: While the actual highlight of my day was talking to Vogel on her birthday, in keeping with the trend of "stuff my students say," I am going with this dialogue from a conference with an ENGL 102 student.

[Student explains that her draft is the first "complete" version. She pushed on through and got it out.] 

Me: That's great--it's good to get there and you still have lots of time. How does that feel?

[long pause]

Student: Dead. 

Linguistically, grammatically...it doesn't work as an answer. But baby, it sure worked to express what she was feeling. She's a high school senior who is doing too much. She is tired. But she has her sense of humor and we laughed about it.

And the paper will be fine. 

"like wearing shoes that don't fit..."

8 April 2025: One cool experience this semester has been working with English 102 students who are athletes and seeing them write about their sport in language that reveals their deep knowledge of it. I love seeing them slide into a discourse they know so well. 

Today I was working with a soccer play on her essay on the use of VAR. She is opposed to it, for reasons that are not exactly logical, but still quite compelling, philosophical, and just interesting. At one point, she used a "fancy" word ("elucidate") and it kind of delighted me, so I commented on it. I think she thought I was teasing her or calling her out on it. "Sometimes when I use a word like that," she said, "I feel weird about it...like I'm wearing shoes that don't fit." I insisted that I understood, but she used it right and shouldn't feel weird.

The cool analogy she used--"like wearing shoes that don't fit"--has been on my mind on and off all day. I eventually realized that for a soccer player, that similie carries some extra weight.  

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. 

Must be "A Rose for Emily" Day...

31 March 2025: Excerpts from class discussion today in ENGL 204 that made me laugh...

"I mean, this may be a controversial opinion because...she murdered that guy, but I feel bad for her..."

A student disagrees--she doesn't feel bad for Emily--but adds, "I don't know if I feel bad about the murder part..."

Either way? Very little sympathy for poor old Homer Barron. 

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.

"Spring in the mischief in me"

19 March 2025: Crazy-busy day, but not a bad one. Been working non-stop with probably about an hour's more work to go before I let myself call it. At the same time, Frost's line from "Mending Wall" (in this post's title) has been in my head on and off all day. Part of the reason is that I taught the poem in ENGL 204 today. 

Beyond that, though, the idea of mischief (fueled by the transition to my favorite season) has been kind of fueling my attitude (in good ways). 

Anyway, this isn't the most thought-out or eloquent post, I know. (See above--so much more to do, "miles to go before I sleep," to borrow even more from Frost.) But it's enough to "count" for my daily post and get my butt back to work! 

Flyer time...

16 March 2025: Spent some time today finishing up flyers for some of my fall courses. (No need to "advertise" ENGL 101.) It's a familiar and strange Spring Break tradition.

Decided to go old school for ENGL 345--that is, I just messed around in Word. I wanted to include the images of the books, so that seemed easiest. 

Decided to once again stick with the "America, heck yeah" theme for ENGL 204 because it's eye-catching enough and I just kind of refuse to cede iconic imagery of my country to the right wing. 

Anyway, glad to have them both done. I'll make copies tomorrow and post them around Knutti and then get my mind back to this semester.

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.

Burned in 102...

28 February 2025: Today I asked an English 102 student how his paper, a profile of someone whose life has been shaped by sports, was coming along. 

"Good! I kind of like it because I forgot the dude had cancer!"

I promise he didn't mean it in a bad way--he was just glad to have unlocked a rich area to talk about. But his classmates and I laughed a bit. "Does he also have Dad Issues?" I asked.

Later, I was joking to another group of students about my tiny hands and how they are the reason I never had a football career. (Literally, my hands are too small to hold one...)

This kid looks up and says, "You should try pickleball. Lots of old people like it." When his classmates gasped, he said, "No, I mean like my parents. They're like...40."

I about died laughing. 

Grading, grading, grading...

16 February 2025: Yup: that's the story of today. Not (really) complaining. Actually feeling pretty good about the progress I've made. 

Snow day!

11 February 2025: For the first time in all of my years at Shepherd, I am unqualifiedly happy about the snow day tomorrow. Due to some pre-planning and serendipity, I've been able to more or less let every class avoid any annoying online "learning" to keep us on schedule. Just telling 80 students to enjoy their snow day? Feels good!

And the bigger bonus? I get to keep working on Round Three of proofing the book. All. Day. Long. 

Heart Eyes

7 February 2025: Made it through the week of conferences. Tiring, busy, at times stressful, but also really rewarding and fun. 

Also rewarding? Taking a little break to see Heart Eyes this evening. What an absolute delight of a movie! It nails the rom-com and slasher tropes. Terrific acting and chemistry from the leads. And under two hours? So much fun. 

Of course it helped...

22 January 2025: Did being back on campus today and teaching my four classes help improve my mood today (compared to yesterday), even though all of the news coming out of DC is trash? 

Of course it did. 

Every single day in the classroom is a day with "good" in it. 

Every. Single. Day. 

One week down...

17 January 2025: Sitting in my office on campus just after 5:30 on a Friday, basically ready for when classes start up again on Wednesday (we have Monday off for MLK Day). That's a good feeling: nothing to carry into the weekend. It won't happen again, at least not very often once the grading really picks up, but I am appreciating it now for a lot of reasons. 

The biggest one? My book proofs came in yesterday. I've got a month to go through them and write the index. Exciting and terrifying! But I am grateful for the long weekend (including what might be a snow-bound Sunday (and Monday?)) to knock a lot of it out. But enough about that. Feels more appropriate to do some first-week reflecting.

I've got four classes that seem great (plus the practicum). A wide variety of students. Good discusions so far. The 102 students are still a bit quiet, but we'll see. 

Yesterday delivered some blows to my pride in my workplace, but those are problems from higher levels/positions of power. At the end of the day, I am still so glad and blessed to get to work with these students.