How about that Megyn Kelly?

Who knew she could be so open-minded? Was someone at her network asleep at the wheel when this aired?

Sad news, sad memories

Yesterday I heard that a former student took her own life. I had only had this student in one class (a general studies class a couple of years ago), but I remembered her as a bright, kind, and lovely young woman. Some of my colleagues in my department had also taught her (one in several classes) and remembered her with equal fondness. I know it sounds trite, but it's just so very sad and senseless when something like this happens. And it brings back all the awful memories of when the only son of one of my very dear friends killed himself. The people left behind never get over it.

You just want to find these kids before they make these awful choices and tell them, "Hold on! It gets better, but you'll never know if you are not here to see it!" (This is why the "It Gets Better Project" does such great work, not just for LGBT teens/young adults, but everyone who is filled with despair.)

Not a great way to start the week...

UPDATE: This helps a bit.

Ten years...

I won't even try to write anything. I'll just link to this video courtesy of StoryCorps.

A man and his duck

This brings back memories of my dear late ducks, Fred and Tad, who were very good at following me around. Pretty cute stuff. And, uh, who knew you could "train ducks for competitions?"

Ugh, school dances...

Has there ever been a better depiction of the false-hope-inducing, drama-filled, angsty, awkward, painful, and often-ultimately-disappointing world of high school dances than the "Life of Brian" episode of My So-Called Life?

I'm watching it right now as I get some work done and it's so good and so true that it almost hurts. Rickie's words to Angela--"I belong nowhere, with no one. That I don't fit."--kill me. Brian telling Delia that he'd rather go to the dance with someone else might be one of the top ten most awkward TV scenes ever. Angela's super-intense encounter ("Why are you like this?") with Jordan is hot but so frustrating (that's teenage romance, isn't it?). The awesome Delia/Rickie dance scene is also perfect--such a moment of joy and release for these two remarkable characters.

On this re-watch, Corey's words to Rickie stood out to me: "It's just weird, you know, when you have a picture of how something's gonna be, and it turns out completely different." That just about sums up my teenage years, too.

Fingers crossed...

I've been a bad blogger lately. Same old excuse...busy, busy, busy.

Anyway, I just sent off the Poe article again (after receiving a revise and resubmit last spring). Feels good to have it out of my hands, but (as always!) hitting that "send" button is just so scary!

SMG back on AMC

What terrific news! I first knew SMG on All My Children, where she was just fabulous as Kendall Hart. Yeah, the other actress has made the role completely her own now, but it's still wonderful that Sarah is coming back to say goodbye to AMC (at least AMC on ABC).

Now if only my other saw-and-loved-him-first-on-soaps-and-now-he's-a-Whedon-icon-love could come back to OLTL. Come on, Nathan!

Three down, one to go...

Holy burst of productivity, Batman! I am DONE with my ENGL 377 syllabus. This wasn't a simple "change the dates" revision, either. Our semester is one week shorter now (yay!), I had a new book to incorporate (free to students--yay!), and a bunch of other readings I wanted to include.

Sweet. I was not expecting to come even close to finishing it today, but sometimes that's how syllabizing goes: you think and agonize over choices and think some more and then, all of the sudden, it all falls into place. I even got the photocopying and website updates done.

Now just one more...ENGL 101.

Obstacle to productivity

Hard to get work done on this Saturday afternoon...

Done!

I just sent off final versions of the essays that will appear in the special issue of Studies in American Humor that I am editing. That feels great.

Other goals/projects I've accomplished this summer:

1) Wrote two conference abstracts (from scratch, thank you), both of which have already been accepted.

2) Sent off one journal article for consideration. (Fingers crossed on that one, but it's kind of a major journal...)

3) Taught summer school. That already seems like forever ago, although it ended less than 3 weeks ago.

4) Worked with Advising/Registration. The last session begins today and ends tomorrow. Unfortunately, the last session is always the most difficult (so few spaces left in classes) and my group this time is the biggest I've ever had. But let's be glass half-full on this one: it's the last session!

Still on the summer to-do list:

1) Finish revising my "Black Cat" essay and send it back out. I've actually done a lot of revision so far, but I need to devote a solid couple of days to it to get it completely done.

2) Get those fall syllabi ready. (One down, three to go.)

3) All of those home-improvement ideas I had in mind...working on the master bath, getting someone to put in crown molding downstairs. I have a feeling this goal won't be met. But that's okay.

4) Get a decent head-start on both of those above-mentioned conference papers. 

Okay--time for some celebratory chair dancing...this will do.

Two awesome things from last week...

Soooo busy this week, but I am taking a micro-break and posting (really briefly) about two of the most awesome things that happened last week:

1) Back from the dead! Saved!

2) 3000! And #3000 was a homer. And he went five-for-freakin'-five. And drove in the game-winning RBI. Awesome.

A bit of a fall TV preview...

Some news on SMG's (that's Sarah Michelle Gellar, for those who aren't Buffy-philes) new show, Ringer. Count me in for the premiere. I hope it's good!

Three messages from students

First two good ones, the kind that feel so very validating:

1) A recent graduate and English minor contacts me with some updates from his post-Shepherd life, including the news that he got a job (yay!). I really like this student--he's smart, hard-working, polite. He was also willing to ask the hard questions, like "Why are we doing this?" (albeit in a respectful way). That's not easy to pull off. I was sort of an unofficial adviser for him as he worked his way through the English minor and the job search. Anyway, here's the best part of his message: "Believe it or not, it wasn't my business degree that they [his new employers] wanted, but my writing skills (way to go English)." I've told him to tell everyone that. 

2) Student #2, also a recent graduate, recently had an interview with a local paper and brought writing samples from this past semester's Advanced Composition class. Here's the good part: the editor, looking over the pieces, told her, "I don't know who your professor is, but I'm glad he had you write a lot!" Now sexism aside (as the student pointed out to me, the patriarchy earns a point for his assumption that her professor was male), this comment made me quite happy. That class was terrific--we had a lot of fun, but man, did the students write a lot and their writing really did improve.

Now the third message...funny in a you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me kind of way: A student who I only know because I was his/her adviser in his/her brief time here (a semester and a half), emails me. I am surprised to hear from this student because A) again, I barely know him/her and B) the last I spoke to him/her it was about his/her withdrawing from school in one of those withdraw-before-you-are-expelled situations (let's just say he/she had something in his/her car that is a no-no). Anyway, he/she explains that he/she is moving back to town and would like me to send a recommendation email to a colleague of mine who is renting out a room in his/her house. 

Let's review the facts: all I know about this student is that he/she had failed just about every class during his/her brief time here and then left before he/she would have been thrown out. And he/she wants ME to be a reference? 

My response: "I could certainly email [my colleague] and tell her that I was your adviser, but beyond that, I don’t have much I could say. We’ve only met once or twice, after all, and the circumstances of those meetings were less than ideal. Let me know if you still want me to contact her."

That pretty much put an end to the conversation.

Happy 4th!

Interestingly, I just came across this article, while working in my office on campus today. Ha.

Checking in...

Well, it's been almost a month since my last post, which says something about how preoccupied I have been this summer. So here's what's new:

1) My summer school class is almost over. I give the final exam tomorrow. I'm quite lucky in that this has been a great class--terrific students helped make the weeks fly by. And I love the material, too, which makes teaching it--even at an accelerated pace--a real pleasure.

2) I am juggling at least four scholarly projects at the moment: two journal articles, the special edition of a journal I am guest-editing, and a conference paper. I'm making fairly decent progress on each one, but I can't believe it's almost July!

3) Summer Advising and Registration starts on Monday. That will cut into my research time (but not as  much as teaching). On the other hand, I get paid (yay!) and it's kind of fun.

4) I am trying to do some "vacation-y" things this summer. So far, that has included a fun weekend trip to Greensboro and another quick visit to New York for Father's Day.

All in all, a pretty good summer so far!