Monday Update, exam week edition

The strangeness of exam week never fails to impress.

Glad to say that The Runner finished another half marathon this past weekend.  She was not pleased with her performance in the race, but I think that running any half marathon at all is pretty impressive.

Meanwhile, I was at the in-laws' house with the children . . . and I had intended to grade a whole mess of papers.  I would have done that, but I had managed to leave 60 or so of those essays sitting at home in my bedroom.  Not very well done.

So here I sit at my desk, after a good ten hours at work, waiting for the end of this little "exam period" so the remainder of my first year students can turn in their final assignments.  Number One Son is having a baseball game at the moment, and The Runner is limping through the rest of what has been a stressful day.

We got The Mutt back from the kennel yesterday . . . and she was absolutely WILD.  Glad she had a good time, but it was also a stern reminder that we will have to be working with her for months to come. 

Another colleague note from a meeting late last week:  if in a meeting one feels the need to preface comments with a phrase like, "This isn't a big deal, but . . . " or "This is probably not important, but . . . ":  one should not continue speaking.  One should take one's own words seriously . . . and shut the pie hole.  Lest someone like Piers speak up with a snarky growl.

Self-importance drives me absolutely insane.

Colleagues, episode 2

Had a retirement reception for one of my department colleagues this afternoon.  Sparsely attended, of course.  It caused me to wonder about the trajectory of my career:  at the end of it all, is that what it'll amount to?  Some coffee and other beverages, a fruit plate, and mixed nuts? I don't expect to be worshiped or anything, but one likes to think that one's efforts are counting for something significant. Maybe little retirement receptions aren't a good measure of a career well-spent.  On the other hand, she's more than ready to be out of here, so it probably made no difference to her one way or the other.

Colleagues, episode 1

From an email advertising a political discussion forum to be held today:

Colleagues:

From Ted Nugent’s comment that he’ll be in jail or dead or in jail if President Obama is reelected, to the alleged comments SGA members made recently stating that Chancellor Rakes could “suck it,” where has all of the civility gone in public discourse? It seems, instead, that public discourse has turned into a morass of vitriol where competing sides of a debate degenerate into a pool of ad hominem attacks and shouting matches where no meaningful and constructive discussions can occur. Where is all of this hate hubris come from? Are we doing enough in the academy to teach our students to be good citizens? What can we do to promote civil discourse?

Join us today at noon in UC 125 as Dr. _____________ tackles this troubling issue. The article under discussion is below. 

I would like to add one question:  Where has all the art of not overwriting gone?  Are we all just now at the mercy of whichever colleague wants to write melodramatic emails?  It seems, instead, that emails are now an opportunity for one to take one's wits for a walk and to throw in an inkhorn term or two if one can.

Also:  even a cursory understanding of rhetoric, or of political history (or just plain history), would allow one to recognize that "civility" has never been a particularly strong point in American politics.  It is also my observation (anecdotal only) that "civility" is only of concern to most academics when their favored politicians and policies are the ones being pilloried.

In which Piers gets five stitches in his lip

"sutura" is Spanish for "suture"

The word is "mucocele," and today I had my second one removed.  It's an interesting experience to watch as the surgeon snips and slices a bloody mass out of your own lip.  Here's hoping two in the same spot is plenty.

In an unrelated development, I had my students correcting my Spanish today!  What the heck!

The situation as of now

1.  Little league is a "hit," no pun intended. Number One Son is having a great time with his team and at the games.  His coaches are encouraging, his attitude is bright and cheerful, and the facilities in our town are pretty nice.  If only they weren't having games at 7:30 pm on school nights.

2.  Casey is now living at our house--we picked her up yesterday.  She is a three month old lab/husky mix with an incredibly sweet temperament.  She loves the children, and apparently loves the dogs next door.  Our first night in the crate was accident-free.  She has been going leash-free in the back yard all afternoon.  Little Red AND Number One Son are both absolutely in love. 

3.  The main trainer of this sweet puppy will be The Runner, since she is the one who is at home all day most days.

4.  I spent part of this week effectively blind--something got a hold on me on Saturday evening, and by Sunday evening, I was so bad off that I was sitting in my darkened bedroom with a cold compress over my eyes.  My eyes were completely red.  We thought pink eye for sure.  I suffered my way through teaching on Monday and went to the doctor on Tuesday.  Diagnosis:  super-ultra allergic reaction.  Thank goodness for steroid eye drops.

5.  This is the penultimate Friday for the semester.  It doesn't seem possible that we are done so soon, but isn't that the way time works?  Always shortened in retrospect.

In which Piers gets implicated

Here is a "letter" copied from another publication that is currently making the rounds by email at my institution.  My name is attached, though obviously it's not me.  I've already had to correct one colleague who apparently took umbrage.

Though I have to admit, if I were going to write something sarcastic, I could do worse than this performance.

Zero-sum

Reading and teaching portions of Paradise Lost for something like the 14th straight semester, I am struck that one of Satan's most contemptible qualities is his unwillingness to see happiness as anything other than a zero-sum game.  If the Son is exalted, it must also be a denigration of Satan.  If Adam and Eve have Paradise, it must have been taken from stuff that was rightly Satan's.

I always ask my students if they know people whose reaction to another person's good news is to be either cynical or envious . . . as if others cannot be happy on their own terms without taking happiness or goods from someone else. 

I wonder how many times I have a similarly contemptible attitude, even though I try to remember to be unselfish.  Actually, I hope it's fewer times than I'm tallying in my head.

Keep Pedaling!

via

In which Piers hears an odd story

Yesterday, just before I was due to leave work, one of my former students came in to talk for a bit.  He has a habit of doing this, and sometimes he overstays his welcome, but oh well.  He came in for a serious reason, though--he had experienced something extraordinary.

In his Ethics class, taught by a colleague I know fairly well, the discussion had recently turned to the effects of immortality on moral behavior.  This student had voiced the opinion more than once that if humans were to extend life indefinitely, they might very well end up monstrous--because life would cease to have meaning.  As he put it, "personally, I don't know if I wouldn't end up being murderous, simply because I had gone nuts."

Perhaps not the wisest words to speak in a class, but in a case of hypothetical reasoning, certainly even an unpleasant or weird response isn't totally out of bounds? 

This instructor reported this student to the campus police for uttering "threats;" they tracked him down in the University Center, escorted him out, and subjected him to a search of his belongings and to questioning.  Fortunately, he cooperated and didn't give them any reason to get nervous. I am not at all comfortable with this treatment of a student who did nothing more than respond perhaps too honestly to a classroom hypothetical.