4/29: long but successful
My afternoon and evening, that is. I had to keep the Myth classes to a tight schedule so that we could touch on all the day's topics. It's the end of the semester, so there's no time for later follow-up if something is left hanging. I managed to do a decent job of setting up questions/activities that were clear enough, scalable enough, and thought-provoking enough. And then a student gave a presentation on their research project, and so many people came that we had to move to a bigger room. The student did a good job, and the audience seemed pleased. When I got home, I had to do some frustrating (and unexpected work) on some advising issues, and it delayed me from starting in on my own work. But once I did, I got a full draft written of the final writing prompts for the Myth class. I closed up shop much later than usual, but I think it was worth it.
4/28: having new thoughts
...about Ovid's stories of Orpheus and Pygmalion and how they fit into the program of the Metamorphoses.
4/27: because of the long post
...I wrote on Teams last night, I was able to spend this afternoon and this evening grading. I am now caught up on grading, and that's a nice place to be as we enter the last week of classes tomorrow.
4/26: writing a long Teams post
...for the students about the endgame in the Myth class. I prefer not working on Saturdays if I can help it, but in this case it will help me to have this done.
4/25: mentioning
...volleyball to a student I had advised when they were a freshman (they're now a senior). I had remembered their talking about volleyball (and how they weren't going to play it in college) in our earliest conversations, and I wanted to show that I still remembered who they were. And then they said something like, "Well, you'll never guess...." The student had studied in France and while there played on a professional team, even in international competition! That was fun to hear about, and I never would have if I hadn't pulled out that little memory.
4/24: Facebook connections
...with some of my parent's students from the time when I was really young. I don't know what to think about big tech these days, but I'm grateful for the chance to have ongoing connections to people from my early years. Today I heard from two of them.
4/23: more Redon
For the past few years I've shown my Myth class one of Redon's Phaethon paintings after we've read Ovid's Phaethon story in the Metamorphoses. I also mention to the students that Redon did multiple treatments of the myth throughout his career. Today a student came to office hours to talk through several of those other treatments, and it was a treat to spend time with Redon's work in that way.
4/22: transcribing
...the Margarita epitaph with the Latin students. I think of transcribing inscriptions and manuscripts as "listening with one's eyes."
4/20: enjoying creativity
...both mine and other people's.
This evening I commented on some of my students' altered pages.
4/19: my turn
...with a customer service queue. Last night Chris spent time with the Bosch folks; this evening I spent time with an HP representative. Neither of our problems got fixed, but we at least have a few things we can try.
4/18: all 40 seats
...filled at a workshop I ran this afternoon. Students learned to write the Greek alphabet, and then they practiced writing and pronouncing some of my favorite snippets of Greek literature. What a great way to end the at-school part of the week.
4/16: a string
...of good office-hour appointments today (9 in a row). Then, when I left the building to head home, I was struck by the floral-filled air.
4/15: an hour early
I went to work earlier than usual today so that I'd have a chance to run some errands on campus. The morning air was wonderful to be out in.
4/14: remembering
...a good thing from yesterday: I saw an iris bloom iridesce, its petals sparkling in the sun.
And a good thing from today: I learned that the word iridesce is a back-formation. Once I typed it here, I decided to look it up, and the OED identifies it as a 19th century back-formation of the 18th century iridescent. (It's hard to identify back-formations, so it's always a pleasure when I find one.)
4/13: as I sit
...and think about a good thing for the day (in a day that held some not-good things), I see sweet Emma the Cat in the cat-bed that's on the small table next to my chair. And there it is: Emma.
4/11: finishing
...the preregistration meetings with first-year students. It's been a tiring two weeks with these meetings on top of regular office hours, teaching, and prep, but there have been gratifying moments as I've gotten to talk to and work with advisees one-on-one.
4/10: hearing
...a whippoorwill. It's the first time this year! And I'm grateful that Chris signaled to me to come out to the porch to hear it.
4/6: spending time outside
...twice today.
In the morning, Chris and I went to see the dogwood blooms in our woods. There was only a single tree flowering this year. It's sad to think that "our" dogwoods may have run their course, but I'm glad we got to see one today. I also checked out the tulips whose bulbs Chris had planted. The strong storms this week came at a bad time for them: their stems got broken. But their colors were bright on a grey day, and there are maybe two buds that escaped damage and may bloom in the coming week.
In the afternoon, I squeezed in a short walk. When we finished doing our federal taxes, it wasn't raining, so I took advantage of the window of opportunity.
4/5: sending out
...a swap. I send a lot of mail, but it's been over a year since I've participated in a formal swap. When partners got assigned last weekend, I got nervous about what to send and if the recipient would like it. But this morning things felt more possible--I felt more optimistic--and I put together a (hopefully pleasing) envelope of things and got it in the mail before I could second-guess myself.
4/4: safe travel
...to and from work over the past three days, which have been filled with tornado and thunderstorm watches and warnings.
4/3: a meeting
...that turned out to be much better than anticipated. A bunch of us were so relieved and glad as we left together after it was over.
4/1: reading
...the students' comments on one another's altered pages. They were perceptive and generous.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)