Snow Day...

15 November 2018: Nothing like a way-too-early snow day to make you remember that you aren't always comfortable spending a day exclusively in your own head/on your own and that you are entering the season where that threatens to happen semi-regularly. Still...I got a lot done today, so there's that.

Streetcar

14 November 2018: Here's a bit of fun dialogue from one of my classes today:

Student in my 204 Honors section (about Blanche DuBois): I love her.

Me: Great! Can you talk about why?

Student: I love a dramatic woman like that. I love a crazy woman.

Me: Me, too.

Student: I mean, I am one.

"Only You"

13 November 2018:

"All I needed was the love you gave
All I needed for another day
And all I ever knew
Only you..."

This song's been playing in my head today. Not a complaint.

Adventures in Peer Reviewing...

12 November 2018:

Workshop/Peer Review session in ENGL 204 today. The Honors section was particularly boisterous, illustrated by the exchange below…

Student #1 to his partner in a peer review session: You use the word “crepe,” a delicious treat of course, when you meant “crape”…

Student #2: I know! Sorry about that!

Student #3, who is in a separate group, pointing towards her partner: That’s okay. She wrote “asses” instead of “assesses.”

They needed a lot of support to get back on task after that...

SSAWW: Day 4, heading home...

[Catch-up post...]

11 November 2018: After my last presentation (which also went pretty well, I think!), Amy and I headed back to the airport and then back home. Snow in Denver complicated things just a bit, but I pulled into the driveway in Shepherdstown just before 11:00 p.m. Whew!

One last (snowy!) Denver photo.

SSAWW: Day 3

[Catch-up post...]

10 November 2018: The fact that I don't have any photos for today's post perhaps indicates that it was (mostly) all business--not that that's ever a bad thing at SSAWW. Vogel's panel (in the morning) was great, as were all the sessions I attended. Amy and I had our presentation in the afternoon and it went really well, too.

We ended the day with dinner at a little Vietnamese restaurant (very good!) and a drink in hotel bar. Not bad!

SSAWW: Day 2

[Catch-up post...]

9 November 2018: Day 2 of SSAWW 2018 started off with the Mentoring Breakfast, where I chaired a table on the Academic Job Search and attended a session. Then I headed out for some Denver adventures with three of my favorite people on the planet...

At the state capital with Tim and Amy.

At dinner with Vogel. 

SSAWW: Day 1

[Catch-up post...]

8 November 2018: Hands down, SSAWW is my favorite conference. It was even nicer this time, not having an administrative job! Day one of SSAWW 2018 ended wonderfully, with a screening of Wild Nights with Emily with a post-film discussion featuring the director.

Wearing them out...

7 November 2018:

During office hours today, a student dropped in for a quick conversation about her Honors Capstone project. She's also a student in my British literature seminar. And she's graduating this semester. And everyone is exhausted.

Here's how it played out.

[We address the actual issue quickly.]

Student: Okay. Well, thanks! I'll let you get back to work.

Me: [Feeling bad about possibly making her feel rushed.] Oh, you don't have to rush out. It's office hours.

Student: [Literally backing away.] No, it's okay. I need to go home. I'm really tired. 

Me: [Laughing.] Okay!

Student: [Like she needs to escape but also doesn't want to get in trouble.] I've been doing a lot of work for you lately. 

Me: [Feeling both guilty and proud of myself.] I get it. 

A little bit less than two weeks to Thanksgiving Break, people. We can do this.

Got the sticker...

6 November 2018: "I've been waiting two years to get this sticker." --the guy in line at the polls ahead of me when the poll worker asked him if he wanted one. Heck, yeah.

No idea what will happen tonight (saying lots of prayers), but I got my sticker.

"Unwedded"

5 November 2018: I re-read my dissertation chapter on Lucy Larcom this morning. (It has been a long time!) What a pleasure it was to read some of her poems again. This one, "Unwedded," about a woman who never marries, stuck out to me, especially its closing line: "You waste your pity on such as she."

As You Like It

4 November 2018:
"Love is merely a madness;
and, I tell you, deserves as well a dark house and a
whip as madmen do; and the reason why they are
not so punish'd and cured is that the lunacy is so
ordinary that the whippers are in love too." --Rosalind in As You Like It

Really enjoyed the Rude Mechanicals' production of As You Like It today.

Open House

3 November 2018: Worked a Fall Open House session for Shepherd today with my friend/colleague, James. We had a small turnout (just two students interested in English), but they were two terrific and engaged students. Fingers crossed that we helped seal the deal.

Mystery Duck

2 November 2018:

[Catch-up post]

The very fact that this is a catch-up post should indicate that things have been busy. But this little story about Central Park's beautiful mystery duck just delighted me when I heard about it yesterday. That's the kind of news we need.

Autumn warm-up...

1 November 2018: A busy and productive day today, capped off by a lovely walk through campus as temperatures topped 70 degrees. Even now, the window in the living room is still open. (As I type this, BabyCat is sitting in it and meowing in happiness...)