2/28: beginning to read and grade
...my Myth students' first altered page projects. I worked through a third of them this evening, enjoying their pages, their commentary on their choices, and their remarks on one another's pages.
2/27: not being thrown
...for any loops today. Last week had loop after loop, and even yesterday there was one. I am grateful for a break in that pattern, even if it's only temporary.
2/26: Japanese quinces
...flowering, both at home (a little one that Chris is growing in a pot) and at school (my favorite bush as I walk to my office from the parking lot).
2/24: looking at
...some crocuses with Chris. He had planted more bulbs in the eastern part of the yard.
2/22: hearing
...the students' thoughts about the choices made by different translators in translating some specific lines from the Odyssey.
2/21: having leftovers
...waiting at home after a very long day (10 meetings in the afternoon!) so I just needed to make a salad to complete the dinner.
2/20: coming up with an idea
...for extra credit in my Myth course: a student can choose a few pages from Gareth Hinds' graphic novel adaptation of the Odyssey and discuss them with me. I don't know how many folks will take me up on it, but those who do will (I think) enjoy it, and I will too.
2/19: watching
...sunlight on the lake in the late afternoon. It was a work-from-home day because of "midwinter break," and that meant I could take a walk between tasks. I turned from my usual path to head down to the water, and I enjoyed the glintings as they rolled by on little waves.
2/18: going down to little rock
...to see "Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art" at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. It was our first visit since its big renovation and re-opening, and it was an exhibit I was grateful to see.
2/16: a very good score
...on a quiz for a student with whom I worked one-on-one earlier in the week. I was so happy that I had to write them an email right away to let them know they had done so well--I didn't want to wait for them to know until after the long weekend.
2/14: remembering
...a good thing from yesterday early this morning: we made Shrove Tuesday pancakes with lemon sauce. It's not a tradition I grew up with or generally follow, but once a friend in Los Angeles made them for me on the day before Ash Wednesday, and she was on my mind, so Chris and I made them for dinner. This morning I ate leftovers for breakfast, so a good thing from one day carried into the next.
2/13: being glad
...and grateful that I was able to change my teaching schedule this semester so that I'm still teaching 3 classes but only 2 preps. It makes a lot of difference!
2/12: an analogy
...that was really good. I like using analogies in my teaching, and I'm always happy when I think of a new vivid simile for some aspect of what we're doing in a class. But today it was a student who came up with one. We were working on Latin sentence translation together in office hours so that he could see how the forms of words help you know what they're doing syntactically, and he described translating without attention to syntax as being like when someone tries to shove puzzle pieces together that don't fit.
2/11: picking up
...some trash along my walking route. It's something I meant to do at Christmastime, but I was ill and it was too cold, so I put it off. Today, though, I remembered to grab a plastic bag as I left the house, and there was plenty for me to put in it as I went. Not only does it feel good to have done it, but I also won't have to see the same bits of trash over and over again.
2/9: ideas coming together
...for a miniature & minimalist found-poetry artist-book workshop I'll be running at the end of the month. After I finished grading this afternoon, I had some time to make some format examples--to see if I like the result (and I do!). I had been tinkering throughout the week with other format possibilities, but this is the one I'll be settling on. And I also thought of a way that I can talk about Callimachus and scrolls at the outset of the workshop.
2/8: talking
...with a colleague over lunch. We went all of last semester without meeting up, so I was glad we found a way to make it work today.
Also: talking with the Myth students about Waterhouse's painting of Odysseus and the Sirens and how it compares and contrasts with some ancient vase paintings.
2/7: having a good meeting
...with a student who was well prepared. Their preparation and good nature were especially appreciated at the end of an afternoon string of meetings.
2/5: doing
...one of my own assignments as an example for the students. When I tell other professors that I sometimes do my own writing assignments, they think it's funny. I think it's so good to do: I feel what it's like to follow my directions; I have to put my ideas together in a succinct and clear way; and in a case like this (which is an assignment with a creative component) I show the students that I'm willing to put myself and my ideas "out there," so they're not alone.
2/4: smelling
...the winter honeysuckle on my walk this morning. It was the push I needed to spend some time this afternoon working on a winter-honeysuckle-related pamphlet (which was less fiddly than yesterday's pamphlet).
2/3: finishing
...some fiddly pamphlet-making. I had to do more second, third, and fourth takes with the sewing than with any other project, but at least it kept my hands and mind occupied, distracting me somewhat from some unpleasantness at work.
2/2: very nice students
...working at the library circulation desk when I went to pick up the picturebooks from last semester's course reserves.
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