Adventures in parenting, vol. 4

 

Greg Eckler

Subtitle:  "Doing Kindergarten Stuff."

The letter of the week is "M."  We're supposed to find all sorts of things that start with M.  He's supposed to practice writing the letter M (and his name, and the numeral "8.").  He actually has homework, how about that:

Note the chaos, indicating room renovation.

It looks like it's going to happen

Bemerton

I will indeed get to stand underneath Herbert's Church Windows and walk on his Church Floor.

I submit the bulk of the preparatory paperwork tomorrow; already have the dean's and the chair's signature.

Chalkboard Paint

The process of changing the front room from a showplace to a kids craft/homework/play room continues.  We repainted a more neutral color, and then painted a section of the wall with magnetic primer and chalkboard paint.  We'll see if it works.  The room is a wreck right now, but The Spouse has ambitions of getting it straightened up pretty soon.  So the boys can get to the work of dismantling it again.

Honey came to town over the weekend.  I'm always amazed at how patient she is with the children.  Little Red gave her a lot of attention this time.

The hardest part of teaching sunday school, for me, is striking that balance where I can give voice to the somewhat pessimistic and skeptical mindset I carry without letting that overwhelm the lesson.

You know what else is hard to learn?  The art of meeting people where and as they are right now--not where they were back then, or as we wish they were.  We owe each other that kind of respect, but it's hard to do. 

One of the most fun things about today, as I met my first three classes (most of whom had never seen me before):  telling them outrageous bald-faced lies about my bruised & bandaged right eye.  It's fun to watch the uncertainty in some students' eyes. 


I have a filipina in one of my classes!  
She's from Chicago.

Number 1749

The steps of grace startle us like the steps of a passerby in the fog.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 290

*slice slice sew sew*

Dang.  Looks like my modeling career is really going to be hard to get off the ground now.  You know, if I could grow a proper beard, at least I could go the "full academic" route.  But nooooooo.

On the upside, they apparently got all of the cancer.  Yay, I guess?  As that dermatologist said at the Ambulatory Care Center in Chapel Hill:  "you'll get more of these."  And so I have.  And so I will. 

Trying to come up with a good story to tell my classes on Monday.

One more to go before we can actually get to the good stuff.

Degree of the day:  "Masters of Meat Science"

"Opportunities":  a leader's way of saying, "stuff you're not going to like."

Amazing how little of the business of higher education has to do with what goes on in the classroom.

Whose idea was it to use Comic Sans for an official chancellor's Power Point presentation?

When people come and do an empirical particulate study of the air quality in the building, and find that there is no significant particulate count in the air of the building, chances are there's nothing actually wrong.  English professors may continue to bitch and moan, but empirical numbers are hard to argue with.  Well, I mean:  they're easy to argue with, but it makes one harder to take seriously.

All of a sudden, the number of extra projects I've taken on is beginning to look a little daunting.

In which Piers makes sure he counts correctly.

I mean, the pen looks cool enough...but I'm not sure the numbers above add up.

Big Day for the Little Baby

First, and most importantly:  he figured out the crawling bit.

     

Also some more hilarious footage here, if you're so inclined.

Brutus

ANTONY:  This was the noblest Roman of them all.
All the conspirators save only he
Did that they did in envy of great Caesar.
He only in a general honest thought
And common good to all made one of them.
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him that nature might stand up
And say to all the world, "This was a man."

Retreat Retreat Retreat

Upon attending the second of four, here are some observations:

• I don't care how often we tell our students that we're "taking x seriously" . . . if all we do is say it louder and more often, that's not improving our pedagogy.
• Do they have to be so LOUD???
• Nothing wearies me more quickly than lots of people in a small space.
• Except maybe a group document review that degenerates into a discussion about comma placement.
• Places like this depend on the good will of the people working here.  So much gets done on an ad hoc or informal agreement basis. . . but then, I guess that's everywhere.

"I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit."

Why, all delights are vain; but that most vain,
Which with pain purchased doth inherit pain:
As, painfully to pore upon a book
To seek the light of truth; while truth the while
Doth falsely blind the eyesight of his look:
Light seeking light doth light of light beguile:
So, ere you find where light in darkness lies,
Your light grows dark by losing of your eyes.
Study me how to please the eye indeed
By fixing it upon a fairer eye,
Who dazzling so, that eye shall be his heed
And give him light that it was blinded by.
Study is like the heaven's glorious sun
That will not be deep-search'd with saucy looks:
Small have continual plodders ever won
Save base authority from others' books
These earthly godfathers of heaven's lights
That give a name to every fixed star
Have no more profit of their shining nights
Than those that walk and wot not what they are.
Too much to know is to know nought but fame;
And every godfather can give a name.

(Love's Labour's Lost 1.1.72-93)

Six months old

and those are some seriously chubby legs.

and Big Brother may be his favorite person on earth

...when he's not hungry, that is.

slip sliiiidin' awwaaayyyeeee

 

hot day, cool water.  

first time ever to do a slip-n-slide.

glad to avoid injury.

click here for a more complete video.

K

He looked awfully little when he got out of the car this morning.

I'm happy to say that he loved his first day.

"Tenure Mistake"?????

see the lower left kitteh?  Yeah, that's me.

Here's an email that one does not wish to read just a few months before one applies for tenure (emphases are mine):

I have been pondering K___ H____’s strongly worded suggestion to discuss the tenure mistake as a Senate, so please let me bounce some thoughts off of you.  
 
I was thinking that since the PPC must review the tenure process each year anyway (as required by the handbook), since Dr. ____ is on the PPC, and since I chaired the tenure committee in question; that the PPC is the ideal Senate committee.  I propose that Dr. ____ (or I) would just summarize the history of the mistake (avoiding the young person’s name) and what will be changed to avoid type of tenure mistake happening again; then we could field any questions.  This would be done just for information purposes, not so that the senate could mount a protest or seek a different remedy.  It must be done soon—a student told me about it today after hearing about it from a maintenance worker.  It may soon be spreading like wild fire, so I’d suggest the PPC discuss the topic at its first meeting to limit the number of crazy rumors.  Secrecy can breed distrust, so let’s be open about it and get it over with.  
 
A couple of you are asking yourselves “tenure mistake?”  Just get a hold of me, or Janet, or the appropriate maintenance worker , and we can give you a brief summary.     
 
The problem with my plan is (1) that the PPC meets before the executive committee, so if you as a committee want something other than just a presentation of the facts and proposed process changes, then I should either wait or at least mention that the executive committee has yet to discuss this.  And (2), it is my plan.  This is a problem because I’d rather be following another’s plan at this time (and I am not sure what I may be overlooking).  I just ask that whatever the plan is, it must respect faculty voice, recognize the Senate’s role in guarding the tenure process, and realize that this would make too big of a lump to sweep under a rug.
 
We got time, but when you’ve thought about it, let me know what you think…

 I am the only non-tenured member of the Senate Executive Committee, and though I know that this doesn't have any direct bearing on me, it does feel a little like looking across the park and seeing that big black dog in the bushes.  *gut check*

Today's moment of WTF

Let me simplify your policy: 
If you're not hauling more than your own ass, DON'T USE GOLF CARTS.

...brought to you by various  numbskulls at my institution. 

A few minutes ago, I walked down to the university center, and saw two regular golf carts, one gator, and one deluxe 6-8 seater "golf cart" parked outside the doors.  I can guarantee you that they were there because people drove them to lunch.  Were they on "University Business"?  no.  Were they carrying heavy items?  other than their own swollen bellies, no.  Were they feeling awfully good about themselves as they drove across campus?  You bet. 

We're going to get preached at & preached at about sacrifice and budgets and what not this academic year, because like it or not, Higher Ed may soon have to see its Bubble burst. (expect to see more about this in this space.  Well, not this one, but this blog).  And yet, we'll keep fueling up those damn golf carts. 

I'll believe it's a crisis when the people telling me it's a crisis start acting like it's a crisis. 

Adventures in parenting, vol. 3

Big Brother on his first birthday.

Our visit to the primary school yesterday:  interesting and encouraging, I think.  The Big Brother was somewhat nervous, as one might expect, couldn't sit still in his chair, etc. . . but he did get a sunglasses silly band for his trouble.

It was strangely reassuring to walk past the school office on our way out and see a grumpy looking man in a tie standing at the counter.  Every school I was in had a grumpy man in a tie somewhere in the main office.

Anyway.

Below, a partial list of words we're supposed to be working on for this year in Kindergarten (one of the handouts Ms. T gave us had a long list of them):

me

you

he

she

it

up

down

the

blue

red

green

yellow

one

two

three

four

(etc.)

okay.  So now that we're done with that, what next?

We're apparently going to be doing D'nealian Handwriting.  I guess he'll have to learn to do his J's pointing the proper direction. 

Things that are awesome, Vol. 16

The New Balance M574.

The pair I have has been serving me well for six years.  My feet & legs are picky about shoes, but I've never had a complaint about these, not once.  Simple looking, comfortable, and incredibly durable.  The only reason I need to get another pair of shoes is that the sole on my left shoe came completely off while moving a sofa on Saturday.

*angel chorus*

Adding to my scar collection

aafp.org

So it looks like I'm going under the knife again in a couple of weeks, for another skin cancer removal.  This time, it's my right eyebrow.  As soon as I saw it a few months ago, I knew what the diagnosis would be. 

Adventures in parenting, vol. 2

The MPS website.  Not useful, friends.

MPS.

So here begins the overarching phase that will control our lives for the next twenty years or so:


Public School.  

Whereas up until this point, the boy's associates have been of a pretty selective group, now they are from all over the socioeconomic map. Just a change--neither good nor bad.

The morning schedule changes quite dramatically now.  I have a brief window to drop him off -- 7:10 to 7:25 am -- and an even briefer window for pickup:  2:25 to 2:35.  Not sure what that does for my morning routine, but at the very least it means that no more getting to the office at 6:30.  And as for the cycling:  hmmmmm.


The teacher:  rookie.  one of my former students.  I think she'll be fine, though comparing her room to the other K rooms, she did get the short straw when it came to the choice of classroom space. 


The student handbook (and then the county student handbook) makes for some hilarious reading especially with the bureaucrat-ese.  To wit:

A.    Students must:
1.  Wear clothing, accessories, and hairstyles that are neither hazardous to health or safety nor disruptive to the teaching-learning process.

i.e., no tying razor blades to one's jacket cuffs, nor wearing of the katana. 

2. Wear pants, shorts, or skirts at the waist level. If necessary to maintain
clothing at the waist level, a belt will be worn and must be buckled.

because wearing an unbuckled belt is disruptive to the teaching-learning process.

3.    Wear shirts and tops that completely cover the abdomen, back and
shoulders and must not have low-cut necklines or underarm areas.

please, little boy, do not wear that shirt where you cut out the underarms.



4.    Wear shoes at all times.

5.    Remove head coverings inside the school building.

6.    Cover any tattoos, including temporary tattoos. 

7. Meet minimum standards of cleanliness.

according to whom??  I mean, Little Red's "clean" and Big Brother's "clean" are two very different things. 

B.    Students must not:
1.    Wear haircuts, hairstyles, or hair colors that are non-traditional to the point
of causing distractions.

despite the fact that this is utterly unenforceable, other than by some official's opinion.

2.    Wear sagging pants.

Big Brother's in trouble, then:  every pair he has sags in the posterior area, since he has no bottom to speak of.

3.    Wear clothing that advertises or promotes tobacco, drugs, drug paraphernalia, alcoholic beverages, violence, or displays profane or suggestive language.

this means your dinosaur (carnivores) and LEGO Star Wars (blaster pistols) and superhero shirts (fisticuffs) are verboten.

  . . . etc.  . . .

No turning back now!

A Sunday.

Geo. Herbert (1633)

Our visit to First Baptist Church, Nashville over the weekend.


Papa guest-directed the singing, and Pastor Frank was kind enough to perform the dedication of the other two kids--meaning that all three have been dedicated at that altar.


I didn't expect to weep most of the way through the service, but I did . . . and that was okay.