Dipping my toe into the virtual lake...

12 May 2018: Over this past week, I have been completing Shepherd's online teaching certification course, basically the class you have to take to be allowed to teach online. I have about zero interest in teaching online during the regular semester, almost entirely because so much of my teaching is discussion-based and I just can't think of how I could make the adjustment. (This is actually more a criticism of myself than of teaching online.) But for summer classes, which I have struggled a bit to fill recently, it might make sense to at least try it. Like the little kid refusing to eat broccoli, I need to try it before I dismiss it. So I am taking the class which more or less concludes today.

I can see lots of potential (and work!) if someone wanted to do this right. And it's been kind of fun (sort of?) playing around with some of the tools out there.

Here's one example. I know it's boring and the sound is terrible (long story), but I think it's kind of cool.

"The Secret Auden"

11 May 2018: "W.H. Auden had a secret life that his closest friends knew little or nothing about. Everything about it was generous and honorable. He kept it secret because he would have been ashamed to have been praised for it." --Edward Mendelson, at the beginning of this lovely piece.

"The Hallway Ask"

10 May 2018: "Yet we can also see how Elizabeth could become a sort of “porter” for the department, carrying a greater weight of the work others don’t want to do, and how Dan, Amanda, those behind closed doors and the department chair are fine with that. Reward systems in most colleges and universities allow for significant autonomy and tend to recognize individualistic rather than collective behavior. Without awareness of the possibility of bias, policies and practices that ensure equity, and department leaders and faculty members committed to and willing to act to ensure fairness, Elizabeth’s door seems the obvious first choice." --KerryAnn O'Meara, in this great article from insidehighered.com.

Such an important article. I have been thinking about these issues a lot lately and how I can help break the patterns described. It even connects to a larger project/conference presentation I am working on about Lucy Larcom. Over 100 years ago, she was a teacher whose door seemed like the obvious choice for people needing help--and it put her in a difficult position.

Caught on the stairs...

9 May 2018: Cue epic stair-stare down.

Flowers and donuts...

8 May 2018: You know a day is going to good when the morning starts with a long walk, then moves on to getting flowers to plant in the yard from a very cool nursery, and then culminates with a visit to the Mennonite bakery I have heard about for years but never visited.

So yeah: getting lots of steps, some flowers, and freaking delicious donuts? That's a good morning!

A lovely pause

7 May 2018: "I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live." --Ecclesiastes 3:12

I have spent some time this morning editing a couple of essays for Sparks, essays that grew out of my Bible as Literature class. I marvel over how this class continues to effect me. The line quoted above--quoted in a student's fantastic essay on the strange book that is Ecclesiastes--made me pause in the middle of my editing and smile.

"Horses"

6 May 2018:

Just a simple poem for today...

"Words are hoops
Through which to leap upon meanings,
Which are horses’ backs,
Bare, moving." --Witter Bynner, "Horses"

Graduation 2018

[Catch-up post]

5 May 2018: Graduation 2018 is in the books. As always, a bittersweet day.

Some photo highlights...

"Better Days"

4 May 2018:
"These are better days baby
These are better days it true
These are better days
There's better days shining through" -- Bruce Springsteen, "Better Days"

Hidden bloom

3 May 2018: I have had this Christmas cactus for years. I don't think it's ever had more than a tiny bloom. For most of those years, it was on the dresser in the guest room. A couple of months ago I moved it closer to the window. It wasn't to make it bloom--I just needed some room and figured it was the plant Veronica was least likely to mess with. But I suppose that did the trick. Today, I lifted it up to water it and found this huge bloom. It was just waiting there, in all its beauty, and no one could see it, but it didn't care. It just did its thing and waited for someone to find it and be delighted. Yes, yes...there's a metaphor there.

Bittersweet celebration...

2 May 2018: Celebrated the retirement of my friend and colleague, Jim, today. He is one of the most decent and kind people I know. And smart and funny and just all around wonderful. I will miss him very much.

Thinking about Dickinson...

1 May 2018: "A love so big it scares her, rushing among her small heart — pushing aside her blood — and leaving her all faint and white..." --Emily Dickinson, Second "Master" Letter

I suppose that as National Poetry Month ends and we turn to May it makes sense that my Dickinson thoughts also turn away from her poetry and towards her poetic prose... You don't need a PhD to understand how stunning these pieces are. Look at those lines and what she is up to there. Amazing.

Awards are nice...

30 April 2018: ...but good friends are better. Specifically these two friends, who nominated me for the award I received today. I am very blessed.

Howards End

29 April 2018: "Can't it strike you even for a moment that your life has been heroic?" --Helen to Margaret, at the close of Howards End.

I will confess to not having read Forster's novel (and now I really want to), but I finished watching the new mini-series this morning and loved it. The line quoted above brought tears to my eyes, reminding me a bit of Eliot's thoughts about quiet heroism in Middlemarch. 

That semester-break life...

28 April 2018: Got a lot done today: got my hair cut, took a trip the grocery store, ran some other errands, mowed the lawn, washed the car (inside and out), hung a new window shade in the bathroom, started working on a grant, and took a walk with Amy and Vosco. And it's not yet 5:30. Whew! Off to dinner with friends soon and then checking out new episodes of The Handmaid's Tale tonight. Starting this break off right!

Soundtrack for the day: this tune I hadn't heard in years before it jumped back on my radar a few days ago.