Bicycles May Use Full Lane

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I taught Herbert today

he never gets old.

¶    The Pilgrimage.

I Travell’d on, seeing the hill, where lay
                                         My expectation.
                 A long it was and weary way.
                 The gloomy cave of Desperation
I left on th’ one, and on the other side
                                         The rock of Pride.

And so I came to phancies medow strow’d
                                         With many a flower:
                 Fain would I here have made abode,
                 But I was quicken’d by my houre.
So to cares cops1 I came, and there got through
                                         With much ado.

That led me to the wilde of Passion, which
                                         Some call the wold;
                 A wasted place, but sometimes rich.
                 Here I was robb’d of all my gold,
Save one good Angell,2 which a friend had ti’d
                                         Close to my side.

At length I got unto the gladsome hill,
                                         Where lay my hope,
                 Where lay my heart; and climbing still,
                 When I had gain’d the brow and top,
A lake of brackish waters on the ground
                                         Was all I found.

With that abash’d and struck with many a sting
                                         Of swarming fears,
                 I fell, and cry’d, Alas my King!
                 Can both the way and end be tears?
Yet taking heart I rose, and then perceiv’d
                                         I was deceiv’d:

My hill was further: so I flung away,
                                         Yet heard a crie
                 Just as I went, None goes that way
                 And lives: If that be all, said I,
After so foul a journey death is fair,
                                         And but a chair.

The Spirit Level

A new visual motto.

"I've got my own spirit level for balance
To tell if my choice is leading up or down." (Peart)

Put another way, see Ben Jonson's "Epistle Answering to One That Asked to be Sealed of the Tribe of Ben":

I'm sorry, but no...no...no. Just no.

Overly pious friends from the old days at Samford University . . . one of the many reasons I now consider that place as a really mixed blessing.  I don't even know where to start here, other than to say I wasn't really aware that there was a pecking order in how people serve "The Church" (by which I'm sure this guy means the SBC . . . obviously not the Catholics or the Methodists) -- I mean, more than hundreds and thousands of others?  hmmmm?

Bah.  I don't have time for this shit.  De-friend.  I'm not his type of Baptist anyway.

Adventures with Students, vol. 22

These have all happened this week:

1.  Student comes in and wants to know my solution to his "anger problem."
ummmm...medication??

2.  Student asks me for the fourth time about her paper topic, and for the fourth time she seems unable to actually do the topic clearly laid out in the assignment.  Her mother chimes in and helps explain what she's asking about.
this is called cutting off your nose to spite your face...you know that, right?

3.  Student shouts out so many responses in class that I begin having to talk right over her.
a little less enthusiasm kthx.

Party party party

Birthday Cake, 1, 2, 3

October 2005

March 2009

February 2011

Stacks and stacks

I'm fond of pictures of bookcases and bookshelves because my books take up so much of my personal space, both at home and in the office.  The Runner and I were talking the other day about the fact that we just don't seem to have a lot of space or tidiness in our abode.  I pointed out that one of the reasons for that is that every room (save one, and the bathrooms) is full of books.  They line shelves and fill up the space in the end table.  They are scattered all over the floor, crammed in every usable space in the bedroom. 


To make it look nice, I'd need:  enough money to buy a bigger house and get proper shelves built in; the carpentry skills to build my own shelving; or some combination of the two.  Having neither, I spend a lot of time fantasizing. 

Maybe one day.

When he learns the price is pegged to his valuation--

To value oneself properly -- how much depends on seeing oneself with an undistorted view.

--Complains bitterly he is being ruined which, of course, he is.
So kings find it odd they should have a million subjects 
Yet share in the thoughts of none, and seducers 
Are sincerely puzzled at being unable to love 
What they are able to possess--

(Auden, 1944)

Adventures in parenting, vol. 19

The Kindergartner lost his first tooth today.  Not sure why it seemed like such a big moment to me, but there it is.  He was most proud--and glad that it didn't hurt.  He was just horsing around and--whoops!--it dropped right out of his mouth.

Perhaps the tooth fairy visited tonight.

Official notice

I received a copy of the paperwork today; the department committee has unanimously recommended me for both tenure and promotion.  The portfolio now makes its way to the Department Chair, and then the Dean, and then the VCAA, and so on . . . I'm feeling confident that there will be no surprises at those levels.

This is how you know it's me, though:  I read through the documents and thought, "well, good . . . now I need to shore up my scholarship situation and make sure I don't let anyone down.  CONSTANT VIGILANCE"

Yellow Belt

The Hedgehog's Dilemma

Hedgehog's dilemma

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The hedgehog's dilemma, or sometimes the porcupine dilemma, is an analogy about the challenges of human intimacy. It describes a situation in which a group of hedgehogs all seek to become close to one another in order to share their heat during cold weather. However, once accomplished, they cannot avoid hurting one another with their sharp quills. They must step away from one another. Though they all share the intention of a close reciprocal relationship, this may not occur for reasons which they cannot avoid.

Both Arthur Schopenhauer and Sigmund Freud have used this situation to describe what they feel is the state an individual will find themselves in relation to others. The hedgehog's dilemma suggests that despite goodwill, human intimacy cannot occur without substantial mutual harm, and what results is cautious behavior and weak relationships. With the hedgehog's dilemma one is recommended to use moderation in affairs with others both because of self-interest, as well as out of consideration for others. The hedgehog's dilemma is used to justify or explain introversion and isolationism.

In which Piers spends a day at home

Being struck down with some sort of grippe, perhaps a form of influenza, I took the opportunity to stay at home today while it rained & poured & generally blustered outside.  The Runner and all the children were planning to be out of the house all day, so it would be a great chance to actually rest rather than "be home."  There's an important distinction there.

I only napped for 30 minutes, between 3:10 and 3:40 or so.  The rest of the time I spent reading and writing, catching up on one television program, and responding to a few emails.  I kept my rear in the blue recliner for most of that time.  It was extremely restful--even more than one might think, given that I did do some work.  The thing is, the house was quiet.

I find that I crave quiet, and treasure it when I can get it.

In which Piers is told, "you're a good boy."

I got the phone call last night from my esteemed colleague and chair of my department tenure & promotion committee DP:  he said that the decision to forward my name for tenure and promotion was unanimous.  This is the first of about five steps the application has to go through, but a crucial one.

Today during the day I noticed that some of my colleagues kinda did a stutter step or double-take when they got near me...I wasn't surprised.  MEC, whose office is right next to mine, said some very kind things about me and about how the meeting went--how almost everyone in the room had something positive to say.  She is glad for me, I'm pretty sure.  At any rate, she ended our conversation by saying, "you're a good boy."  I thought it was sweet.

One step closer.

Weekend Update

1.  I spoke to a depressingly large number of students this week who were facing real trouble, either emotional, medical, or legal.  I tried to encourage, to be positive, to tell them that they can manage.  And now:  the outcome no one sees.  I'm hollowed-out inside. 

2.  The Runner says that I'm "different" from most people.  What I've found interesting in the conversations that have gone on this week is that what other people see is so far distant from what I see.

3.  Two snow days in two weeks makes for a happy Kindergartner, and a frustrated college professor.  I trust that we have seen the last of the frozen precipitation in our little corner of NWTN.

4.  It's a miracle!  The Kindergartner and Piers himself have managed to avoid all the infections and viruses and what-not that have been mowing down other members of the family. 

5.  The Vulcan Baby is now both snaggletoothed (three have emerged; two more on the way very shortly...four of them on top) and walking pretty much wherever he wishes.

6.  I was told yesterday by an older (voting) colleague that my tenure application looked very impressive . . . I hope it's both tenure-procuring and promotion-worthy.

In which Piers thinks about making a change.

I've been on Zoloft for a good long while.  The drug has been good to me--it helped me finish my doctorate, helped me make the transition from NC to NWTN, and has helped me up to my tenure decision.  That said, I'm not satisfied with the way it's working these days.  I'm increasingly prone to wonder if I've been working with a muddy, sluggish mind all these years.  I don't want to feel sluggish all the time any more.  Maybe I would feel sharper, clearer-eyed, if I went to something else, or went off the drugs entirely. 

Not too keen on antidepressant roulette either, though.  Who knows what side-effects lurk behind other pills?  And then there are those studies that attribute most of the efficacy of antidepressants to the placebo effect . . . maybe I should take those gag gift pills that they sell at the Hallmark?

Maybe a few days of warm sunshine would do the trick.  I don't know.

Today, by the numbers

Number of prescriptions I picked up at the CVS:  6.

Cost of said prescriptions:  $130.

Diagnoses:  1 case of Influenza, 1 double ear infection, and 1 strep infection.

Number of classes in which I changed rooms:  2.

Number of students:  85.

Hours of work I skipped to help with sick family:  3.

Number of birds completely eaten by Sock the Garage Kitty as he sat right outside the door: 1.

This the Wandering Wood

David Jay Spyker

In the forest you may find yourself lost, without companions.  You may come to a river which is not on a map.  You may lose sight of your quarry, and forget why you are there.  You may meet a dwarf, or the living Christ, or an old enemy of yours; or a new enemy, one you do not know until you see his face appear between the rustling leaves, and see the glint of his dagger.  You may find a woman asleep in a bower of leaves.  For a moment, before you don't recognize her, you will think she is someone you know.

--Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

Adventures with Students, vol. 21

Today in my 1:00 class, I had a crazy mixture of things to deal with:

• One student is blind.
• One student is so severely asthmatic that she cannot sit near anyone wearing a scent.
• One student has a neurological disorder that they can't figure out, so she'll be spending the first week of February at the Mayo Clinic.  

eeek!  Kinda took the shine off it a little bit, actually (to quote my estimable father in law)

The Size

    Content thee, greedy heart.
Modest and moderate joys to those, that have
Title to more hereafter when they part,
            Are passing brave.
    Let th' upper springs into the low
    Descend and fall, and thou dost flow.

    What though some have a fraught
Of cloves and nutmegs, and in cinnamon sail;
If thou hast wherewithal to spice a draught,
            When griefs prevail;
    And for the future time art heir
    To th' Isle of spices, is't not fair?


(George Herbert)

It's the first day of class.

Here we goooo

It's all about Mario in this house these days. 

The Kindergartner says that I'm good at Mario 64 for the DS, that his mom is good at New Super Mario Brothers Wii, and that he is the best at both, and at New Super Mario Brothers for the DS.  When he and The Runner play on the Wii, it's hilarious to observe how competitive he gets.

see below.

Wit's an unruly engine, wildly striking
Sometimes a friend, sometimes the engineer.
Hast thou the knack?  pamper it not with liking:
But if thou want it, buy it not too dear.
Many, affecting wit beyond their power,
Have got to be a dear fool for an hour.
--Geo. Herbert

A final bit of introspection

Great masters who have shown mankind
An order it has yet to find,
What if all pedants say of you
As personalities be true?
All the more honour to you then
If, weaker than some other men,
You had the courage that survives
Soiled, shabby, egotistic lives,
If poverty or ugliness,
Ill health or social unsuccess
Hunted you out of life to play
At living in another way;
Yet the live quarry all the same
Were changed to huntsmen in the game,
And the wild furies of the past,
Tracked to their origins at last,
Trapped in a medium's artifice,
To charity, delight, increase,
Now large, magnificent, and calm,
Your changeless presences disarm
The sullen generations, still
The fright and fidget of the will,
And to the growing and the weak
Your final transformations speak . . .
 . . .
They challenge, warn and witness.  Who
That ever has the rashness to
Believe that he is one of those
The greatest of vocations chose,
Is not perpetually afraid
That he's unworthy of his trade,
As round his tiny homestead spread
The grand constructions of the dead,
Nor conscious, as he works, of their
Complete uncompromising stare,
And the surveillance of a board
Whose warrant cannot be ignored?

--W. H. Auden, "New Year Letter" (1940)

Since I can't just say that I've got a chili pepper on Ratemyprofessor.

I hate this kind of writing...actions should speak for themselves, right?  Anyway, here's a sample of what's going in the memo:

My teaching record shows that I am a popular instructor at UTM.  My enrollments are consistently high, even in upper-level courses.  Students almost to a person remark that I am an "enthusiastic" teacher who excels at presenting complicated material in helpful, engaging ways. . . this is not to say that they find my courses particularly easy; I require heavy amounts of reading and writing, which many students also note in their evaluations. 

The guide asks for a "concise" memo; I've got five handwritten pages.  Plus diagrams of battery-swallowing, of course.  (look here if you don't understand that reference)

Where does the time go?

How is it possible that I have 11 semesters to account for in this portfolio?

It can't have been that long ago that I moved to West Tennessee, can it?

Adventures in parenting, vol. 18

Don't even ask about Simon and Sock the Garage Kitty

The Kindergartner and Little Red have very seldom been at odds.  Most of the time, unless one or the other of them is especially grouchy, they play very well together. 

However:  Little Red and the Vulcan Baby . . . oh my goodness.  If Little Red goes near The Runner, Vulcan Baby screeches and gets to her as fast as he can.  If Vulcan Baby touches any of Little Red's toys, there is shouting and scolding of the baby.  By the two year old.  I have taken to telling him that I'm the daddy, not him.  More than once, there has been a moment where the two of them have been in close proximity, and then there's crying, and the baby is on the floor (crying) while Little Red is serenely doing whatever it was he was doing before.  Pushing is involved in those episodes, we think. 

Little Red better keep his eye out for when his little brother grows up a little...and gets more of those teeth.

Adventures in parenting, vol. 17

So, with the Christmas break behind us, how has The Kindergartner responded to his return to school?  He cried on Sunday because he wasn't going to get to go to school Monday; this morning he was so excited about getting back to school he couldn't eat his oatmeal.  I'd say he was ready to get back.

We also made our return to Tae Kwon Do last night; he and his little buddies worked awfully hard!  Lots of running, jumping, grappling.  It's fun to watch The Kindergartner get increasingly comfortable and confident with what they're doing in there...I think this will continue to pay dividends in terms of his general confidence and strength. 

Meanwhile, Little Red stumbled out of his room this morning just about ten minutes before I left to drop the older brother off; he immediately climbed up in my lap and snuggled close.  I love those moments. 

I'm supposed to write a memo explaining why I deserve tenure.

long climb.  Wonder what's on the other side?

It's proving surprisingly hard. 

Um, because I'm popular with students?  Because I like to be helpful?  I've been on a lot of committees? I'm fairly dependable?  I'm still here? 

This is the first post of the new year.

Brief report:

1.  Tenure application due in five days.
2.  I start back at work tomorrow, and I know that there's going to be a ton waiting on me. 
3.  I have been enjoying a few days in which to take afternoon naps under my cozy blanket.
4.  Vulcan Baby now has two teeth and is this close to walking.

Three Days

Simeon
Before the Infinite could manifest Itself in the finite, it was necessary that man should first have reached that point along his road to Knowledge where, just as it rises from the swamps of Confusion onto the sunny slopes of Objectivity, it forks in opposite directions towards the One and the Many; where, therefore, in order to proceed at all, he must decide which is Real and which only Appearance, yet at the same time cannot escape the knowledge that his choice is arbitrary and subjective.

Chorus
Promising to meet, we parted forever.

W. H. Auden, "The Meditation of Simeon"

Four Days

The Meditation of Simeon

Simeon
As long as the apple had not been entirely digested, as long as there remained the least understanding between Adam and the stars, rivers and horses with whom he had once known complete intimacy, as long as Eve could share in any way with the moods of the rose or the ambitions of the swallow, there was still a hope that the effects of the poison would wear off, that the exile from Paradise was only a bad dream, that the Fall had not occurred in fact.



Chorus
When we awoke, it was day; we went on weeping.

Simeon
As long as there were any roads to amnesia and anaesthesia still to be explored, any rare wine or curiosity of cuisine as yet untested, any erotic variation as yet unimagined or unrealized, any method of torture as yet undevised, any style of conspicuous wasted as yet unindulged, any eccentricity of mania or disease as yet unrepresented, there was still a hope that man has not been poisoned but transformed, that Paradise was not an eternal state from which he had been forever expelled, but a childish state which he had permanently outgrown, that the Fall had occurred by necessity.

Chorus
We danced in the dark, but were not deceived.

-- W. H. Auden, from For The Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio

Five Days

Wise Men
Not In but With our time Love's energy
Exhibits Love's immediate operation;
The choice to love is open till we die.

Shepherds
O Living Love, by your birth we are able
Not only, like the ox and ass of the stable,
  To love with our live wills, but love,
  Knowing we love.

Tutti
O Living Love replacing phantasy,
O Joy of life revealed in Love's creation;
Our mood of longing turns to indication:
Space is the Whom our loves are needed by,
Time is our choice of How to love and Why.

--W. H. Auden

Six Days

The Star of the Nativity
Descend into the fosse of Tribulation,
Take the cold hand of Terror for a guide;
Below you in its swirling desolation
Hear tortured Horror roaring for a bride:
O do not falter at the last request
But, as the huge deformed head rears to kill,
Answer its craving with a clear I Will;
Then wake, a child in the rose-garden, pressed
Happy and sobbing to your lover's breast.

--W. H. Auden

Seven Days

The Second Wise Man
My faith that in Time's constant
   Flow lay real assurance
Broke down on this analysis--
  At any given instant
All solids dissolve, no wheels revolve,
  And facts have no endurance--
And who knows if it is by design or pure inadvertence
That the Present destroys its inherited self-importance?
  With envy, terror, rage, regret,
We anticipate or remember but never are.
  To discover how to be living now
  Is the reason I follow this star.

--W. H. Auden, from "The Summons"

Week-before-Christmas update

Scenes from our house:

1.  Little Red drank a sip of Pine-Sol last night.  Said it tasted bad, and he needed some water.  The Runner called poison control; The Kindergartner cried because he was scared for his little brother.  Little Red just sipped water and looked nonplussed at all the excitement.

2.  We're in a Super Mario Brothers phase right now; The Kindergartner was admonishing me the other night for my poor performance on the game (I really am bad at it).

3.  The Vulcan Baby has a tooth on the bottom poking through--it's a little rough spot, right on the lower front.  Alas, he also has an upper canine making a huge bump . . . he may be snaggletoothed in an even funnier way than Little Red was.

4.  I have finished all the work from this term--at least formally speaking.  Now I just have to deal with all the other stuff that I've let slide.

5.  The Christmas Tree looks pitiful this year, y'all.  It's going to look reeeaaaallly rough come Christmas day, I have a feeling.

6.  We had the place reeaaallly clean . . . on Tuesday.

7.  We're leaning toward letting Sock the Garage Kitty fend more or less for himself for the few days we're visiting grandparentals.  I mean, what's the point of an outdoor cat if he can't be trusted to look after himself for a few days?

8.  No presents under the tree.  Do not trust cats.  Do not trust Vulcan Baby.  Do not trust Little Red.

Eight Days

Semi-Chorus:
Joseph, Mary, pray for those
Misled by moonlight and the rose,
For all in our perplexity.
Lovers who hear a distant bell
That tolls from somewhere in their head
Across the valley of their dream--
'All those who love excessively
Foot or thigh or arm or face
Pursue a louche and fatuous fire
And stumble into Hell'--
Yet what can such foreboding seem
But intellectual talk
So long as bodies walk
An earth where Time and Space
Turn Heaven to a finite bed
and Love into desire?
Pray for us, enchanted with
The green Bohemia of that myth
Where knowledge of the flesh can take
The guilt of being born away,
Simultaneous passions make
One eternal chastity:
Pray for us romantics, pray.

--W. H. Auden, from "The Temptation of St. Joseph"

Nine Days

Joseph
Where are you, Father, where?
Caught in the jealous trap
Of an empty house I hear
As I sit alone in the dark
Everything, everything,
The drip of the bathroom tap,
The creak of the sofa spring,
The wind in the air-shaft, all
Making the same remark
Stupidly, stupidly,
Over and over again.
Father, what have I done?
Answer me, Father, how
can I answer the tactless wall
Or the pompous furniture now?
Answer them . . .

Gabriel
No, you must.

Joseph
How then am I to know,
Father, that you are just?
Give me one reason.

Gabriel
No.

Joseph
All I ask is one
Important and elegant proof
That what my Love had done
Was really at your will
And that your will is Love.


Gabriel
No, you must believe;
Be silent, and sit still.

--W. H. Auden, from "The Temptation of St. Joseph"

Ten Days

Alone, alone, about a dreadful wood
Of conscious evil runs a lost mankind,
Dreading to find its Father lest it find
The Goodness it has dreaded is not good:
Alone, alone, about our dreadful wood.

Where is that Law for which we broke our own,
Where now that Justice for which Flesh resigned
Her hereditary right to passion, Mind
His will to absolute power?  Gone.  Gone.
Where is that Law for which we broke our own?

The Pilgrim Way has led to the Abyss.
Was it to meet such grinning evidence
We left our richly odoured ignorance?
Was the triumphant answer to be this?
The Pilgrim Way has led to the Abyss.

We who must die demand a miracle.
How could the Eternal do a temporal act,
The Infinite become a finite fact?
Nothing can save us that is possible:
We who must die demand a miracle.

--W. H. Auden, Part III of For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio

Adventures with Students, vol. 20

Or not, as the case may be...

I'm presently sitting in my office; I'm about to go upstairs and meet my combined composition classes for a mass "exam," which accomplishes two important things:  first, they're turning in their portfolios, second, I'm complying with the law that says we have to "meet" for an "exam."

You'd think that the students would be grateful that there's no test.  Most are.  But there's that one guy, the one who always seems to say the strangest thing possible:

Yeah, I heard your exam is totally lame.
Um, what?
It's like, you don't really do anything.
That's right.  As I've explained, there is no exam in this class.  We're just meeting to turn in portfolios.
Well, I know.  I was just saying that it was a lame excuse for an exam...

(by this point the other students are looking at him like he's radioactive.  I talk over him and move on).

I should have written a test especially for him.

In which Piers hears a challenging word

In a conversation with The Runner yesterday (while sitting with the creeps in the church nursery), as we were exploring the reason why applying for tenure seems so bittersweet to me:


You don't get to study much any more.  You aren't really intellectually challenged in the same way you used to be.  

That's worth thinking about.  Not sure what to do about it, though.

Adventures in parenting, vol. 16

Tree-trimming.  The boys were thrilled to get to decorate the tree this year.  You'll note from the picture at left just how well they did their job. 

The Runner did a bit of rearranging, as you might imagine.

I understand why people like pre-lit trees, though I understand that if one of the pre-lit strands goes out, you're really out of luck.

We went ahead and decided beforehand that perhaps we wouldn't really try to do any full-bore decorating this year.  A wise move, I think.

In which Piers hears a manifesto

let him not be accused of having low self-esteem

During the faculty senate meeting yesterday (less interesting than it sounds, alas), a colleague who had been nominated for VP and withdrawn his name from consideration took the occasion of the opening for nominations "from the floor" to stand up and give a speech, yea, even a manifesto outlining the reasons he should be elected VP (which is the step previous to becoming faculty senate president).  It was quite a performance, delivered passionately--but without flair, outlining convincing policy positions--for a college freshman, showing a keen eye for the pertinent issues surrounding state-supported higher education--for a person who might know what they read in teh blogs and the Jackson Sun.  Seriously, it was well-meant but showed him to be somewhat of a dullard.  At least in my estimation.  But then, I'm not interested in an activist faculty senate president who speaks in all seriousness about we faculty members "using our collective authority and power to make positive changes to our society."  Seriously, dude, after complaining about the length of the previous senate meeting, and then dropping out of the race just to use this opportunity to publicly climb back in it?

weaksauce.

plus, "society??"  really??

"In the whole wild world there's no magic place..."

Yesterday I learned about one of my former students who had left school.  I had thought it was a financial issue.  Turns out he dropped out because he'd been caught with a significant stash of marijuana.  With intent to sell, apparently.  I hope his readmission hearing went well.  

And then, there was a conversation about some unsavory details regarding the conduct of our current Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.  I've heard a lot of things hinted at, but this goes well beyond the ineptitude that I've heard hinted at and seen glimpses of. 

And here I am worried that my course evaluations won't be up to snuff!  Just the other night I had a dream in which I was "transferred" to UTC because I wasn't going to get tenure here.

"...so you might as well rise, put on your bravest face."  (Peart)

Memphis (half) Marathon Weekend

1.  The Runner is pleased with her time for the half marathon:  just over two hours!  She came away from the run feeling as happy as could be (as the picture above indicates).

2.  We learned that next year we'll opt for accommodations closer to the race site.

3.  And what is the deal with hotels that make you pay $10.00 per day for internet access, and offer a $13.00 breakfast buffet?  They didn't even have complimentary coffee in the lobby, for pete's sake.  I know it's a lot to ask, but when your garden-variety Hampton Inn offers free wifi, free breakfast, indoor pool, etc., it makes the hotel look awfully lame.  Attention, Hilton:  this is the 21st century.

4.  The boys did like the floor-to-ceiling window looking out over the "moat" surrounding the hotel.  The Kindergartner's reaction was:  OH. MY. GOOD. NESS.  THE HOTEL IS ON A SWIMMING POOL.

5.  Handling three little boys in a hotel room is a job not for the faint of heart.

6.  I'm sure there's a lot more to see in Memphis than traffic . . . maybe next time.

Adventures with Students, vol. 19

"Tis a bawdy planet; 'twill strike where 'tis predominant."

This one isn't funny.

Student comes in today for a routine conference, and in short order I learn that she is pregnant due to a sexual assault she experienced over the summer; that she has been harassed by fellow students and even by instructors; that she has considered leaving this institution and transferring somewhere else to get yet another fresh start.

I'll admit that these days it's not hard to get me to hate the world, but this one really pierced my heart. Life isn't fair even to the best of us, but give me (more properly, her) a break.

To her credit, and my wonder, she is handling it quite well.

xkcd