Week 46/66: Two Thirds Through

I've been absent from the blog for a while.  I doubt many folks are reading these days; heck, why would they?  I think the blog thing is mostly done, no?

Blogs were great for folks who were doing something new and challenging: grad school, new faculty, new jobs, new positions, new hobbies, and so on.  The day to day of most peoples' lives, once they've gotten pretty good at whatever they're doing, is less interesting to write about and read about, both.  There's less to process day to day, and often, more mundane stuff keeping one busier.

I think as I come off sabbatical, I'll be learning a lot about teaching again, so hopefully, I'll have something worth writing about.

In the meanwhile, I wrote my SAA paper and am looking forward to SAA.

I took a class at the local nature center on bird banding, and have gone to two sessions.  In order to be able to do the actual banding, you have to take the class, and then go to many sessions and gain skills.  So mostly at the sessions, I've been observing, and then acting as scribe, writing the coded notes about the birds we're banding (while someone else does measurements and the banding).  I've released a bird, and learned and practiced the two basic ways of holding small birds, the bander's grip (you put your fore and second finger on either side of the bird's neck and use the other fingers to hold and manipulate the body), and the photographer's grip (you put your fore and second finger in front of and behind both legs above the ankle at the calf.  Birds' legs are sort of like a dog's hind legs in that the long bone just up from the foot is actually part of what's foot bone for humans, and the joint is the ankle, while the actual knee is quite close to the body.)

I've really enjoyed doing the scribing and observing.

Spring has hit here in a big way; we've got major melt, and I've even taken my first bike ride of the season.  At that point, I realized that my bike's shifting was really sloppy, so I took it in to the shop for a long-overdue tuneup.  That was last week, and I haven't been out again yet, but maybe today.  I got a new cassette and chain, which makes sense, since the old one had about 5k miles on it.

I went to an Alexander Technique session, and learned some helpful stuff.  I'm thinking of signing up for a summer session that's a week long.  I took in a section I really have trouble with because I'm holding my left hand too tightly.  The first time through, I played it so horribly (I'm very nervous playing in front of people, even my teacher), I was really ashamed.  But the teacher was helpful and kind, and I played it better after that; she gave me some help that loosened my hand up by loosening my back up.

I think I've mentioned viola studio before.  Basically, at the university, the students studying a given instrument (or voice students generally) meet as a group with their lesson teacher and do something together for an hour.  Often, a student will play a piece they're working on and the group will give them feedback, telling them what they're doing well, and what needs work.  As I understand it (and it makes sense, given that they're all studying with the same teacher who has a given focus), usually the comments reinforce what the teacher's been saying.  So if the teacher really focuses on, say, bowing, the students will all have learned to focus on bowing, and that will come out in the comments.  For students preparing for a recital or auditions for grad programs, playing in front of a small group also works as a dry run and helps with nerves and such.

At the last couple of studio sessions, Strings had her students make videos of themselves practicing, and Strings also made a video of herself practicing.  HOLY COW, she's really amazingly disciplined!  She was starting to learn a really difficult piece, and started off with a few notes, like a set of triplets, and turned on a metronome and played them oh so slowly, several times, until she could play them well 5 times.  Then she clicked up the metronome 5 steps and did it again, and so on, until she was playing it fairly fast.  And then she put the metronome all the way down, and started with the second set of triplets.  When she got them at that speed and clicked up, she added the first set and played them together.  And as she clicked up, every other time, she'd add the first set again.

For the third set of triplets, she started with just them, clicked up and added the second ones, and on the third click up, she added the first ones, too.  She followed that pattern all the way up.  By the end of a few minutes, she was playing several sets of triplets at high speed.  (These were in a piece of very contemporary music, and so, as seems usual with contemporary music, very difficult, widely spaced with string crossings and shifts.)

In addition to Vivaldi's A Minor violin concerto in the Suzuki book, I'm still working through the Rieding concerto, which I blogged about back in January, when I was first starting it.  Strings checked me off on the second movement, so I've started on the third movement, and this week, I've been using Strings' practice method, since this movement is pretty hard, with some fast bits.

I haven't practiced enough (I really, really have to get my mojo back in several ways, and part of why I'm blogging again is hoping it will help with that).  But, what I've done, so far, seems to be very slow but effective.  What I mean is, it takes me FOREVER to get a bit so I can play it well 5 times in a row at each metronome setting, and there's a definite limit to my speed for some parts, but once I've worked through to that limit, I can pretty much play with pretty good accuracy consistently.  But, yeah, it takes me forever to slowly click up.

In other news, I joined a weight loss app thing on February 23rd.  I've lost about 4 pounds, but it's very slow, and I'm frustrated.  Still, I REALLY need to get to a healthier weight and be more active, so I'm trying this.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

That's about all the new stuff.  I don't know what to say about the admissions scandal that hit last week about folks with money bribing to get their kids into elite schools.  Okay, I do have a few things to say.  Really rich people have been doing this totally legally since elite schools began.  The thing is, most of the people caught up in this scam weren't really rich, but rather pretty high earners.  They may have incomes that are pretty high, but they don't have the sort of money that buys new buildings or adds wings to hospitals.  Really rich and important people don't have to bribe anyone or even make actual donations.  If Malia Obama applies to school X, the admissions folks recognize her name and she's in.  Same thing happens with George Bush's kids (either George Bush, since the elder was the ambassador to the United Nations and then head of the CIA when the younger generation was heading into college and such.  Admissions folks at elite universities know those names.  If you're important enough, you don't have to tell anyone who you are because they know.

But these folks, these folks weren't that important or rich; they were well off enough to pay some bribes.  It sucks, and it's wrong and unethical and so forth.

I don't buy for a moment that the kids weren't aware.  If you're suddenly getting a diagnosis that means you get longer to take a test or someone's coaching you about the answers, and you're a minimally smart 17 year old, you know.  If your parents are pulling that sort of BS, you know, because they've done it before.  That doesn't mean that at 17 you'd feel like you have a way to stop it even if you wanted to, of course.

And the false diagnosis thing is the part I actually hate most.  They took a system that's really important for people who actually have a disability or problem and need to take tests in a quiet room or with more time, and made people trust the system a whole lot less.  And the people who actually need accommodations are working against difficulties and disadvantages, and now these semi-rich people have made their lives more difficult.

I'm also irritated that they've claimed the bribes as donations on their taxes because it means the rest of us are helping pay for their dishonesty.  Or were.  (And I'm sure what the feds found is just the tip of the iceberg.)  But then, really rich folks do that all the time, too.

So, that's where things are.  I'm going to try posting at least twice a week for a while.  Good to be back, I hope!

Countdown!

Two more weeks of school stuff (maybe a tad more for grading) and then 66 weeks of sabbatical!  (Yes, I counted.  Twice.  Using two different methods.)

I have spring fever, but almost no grading this weekend, just sunshine, violin practice, and some reading!

And housework, lots of housework!

In violin news, Strings passed me on the first piece in Book 4, so now I'll focus on the second piece, on shifting practice, vibrato practice, double stop practice, and trying not to hold my hands so tightly!

I'm thrilled to be done with that piece, but also, I was just getting to like it again.  A couple of weeks ago, Strings started me on the second piece, and I was balancing both, and it was just what I needed to deal with my frustrations with the first piece and really work through the hard parts more effectively.  I'm so lucky to have such a good teacher!

Lull

The semester's almost over.  6 teaching days left (for me), plus three finals, and then a lot of grading.

But for this moment, there's no grading to do.  I just turned back two big assignments recently, and will have still to grade:

1.  Writing course: full set of papers, plus short paper, plus revisions.  Some extra credit journals.
2.  Intro to Lit course: final exams.  Maybe some extra credit journals.
3.  Senior Seminar: full set of papers, plus draft day grades (graded on draft plus helpfulness to others group members.)

Meanwhile, there's plenty to do, and spring fever is making me inefficient.

I need to finish rereading a book to teach it.
I need to write a final exam.  (Only one, though!)

And I need to put my house back together after all the painting, put art back up, clean it thoroughly, and get it ready for my Mom to visit.

I need to find a graduation present for my nephew (college, engineering).  Ideas??

In other news: yesterday, I saw a Redpoll at my house, and four Pine Siskins.  I've also had first of year White Throated Sparrows, Common Grackles.  The Robins and American Goldfinches are wildly abundant.

Spring has come!

Crocus Smile, Year Five

It's time for the annual Crocus Smile art installation picture!  If you recall, just last week, it looked like this.  (Scroll down for picture.)  Now the snow has melted, and you can see the smile.

It's quite a bit later than last year, but also fuller.  (The spring before, I added some bulbs, and they appear to have survived to come up this spring.)

Year Four
Year Three
Year Two
The First Post

And it's way bigger than it was for the first couple of years.

In other exciting news, yesterday, I saw my first ever Purple Finches!  The top picture shows three males (one you can only see a bit of behind the feeder).  Birders always talk about male Purple Finches looking like they've been dipped in raspberry.  They're much redder than House Finches on the back and wings.  And they don't have dark stripes on their flanks as House finches do.  They also have notched tails, which House Finches don't.  (It's not the best picture as a picture, but it shows the important identification features I was looking at.)

 The next picture is a female, which is the same size, also has a notched tail, and has a serious light colored stripe above and below the eye.  It's way more streaky on the body, but the eye stripes are the field marker people point to.

In other birding news, I went to some friends' house for breakfast this morning; they live on a wooded lot next to a lake, and it's their first spring there.  It was glorious weather, and we saw all sorts of great birds.

I saw my first Red-Breasted Nuthatch not in-hand (I'd previously seen one that had been mist netted for banding at bird school last year).

We also saw Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers, including one that was sucking sap, so to speak.  It was monitoring three holes drilled closely together, and sucking sap from each in turn, all without moving more than it's head.

We may have seen a female Redstart or maybe it was a Yellow-Rumped Warbler (it was very grey, and seemed more grey with no real yellow markings, but...)

Also Mergansers, Buffleheads, Kingfisher, Bald eagle, Downy and Red-Bellied Woodpecker, Jays, Chickadees, Robins.  A very good morning!

I still have some Redpolls feeding on my deck, and a few Juncos, but the American Goldfinches are bright yellow now.  There are also Mourning Doves.

That Time of the Term . . .

when alliteration hits.  Or not.

I met with a student this morning to talk about a paper that's due tomorrow.  The student had cancelled a meeting last week, when I was doing a second full round of conferences about the paper.  And they hadn't signed up for one the week before, despite my telling them it was required.

The draft they showed me, which they quite obviously thought I should be deeply impressed with, wasn't impressive.  It started in one direction, veered sharply to another direction, and then concluded in a pretty unrelated direction.  Any one of those directions would have been fine, but the veering made clear that the student hadn't paid attention to the assignment from the get go.

And now they've just emailed me that they won't be in class today, when we're discussing the final project, which counts for more than any previous project, because they're working on this paper.

I think they've finally figured out that they need to do more than fart around BSing in this course.

(Fortunately, there are revision opportunities.  Unfortunately, revision takes a good deal of time, and the student hasn't got a history of putting in time in this course.)

I have spring fever.  Badly.  There's no spring in sight here yet, though.

I need to grade.  And read.  And prep.  And what I really want to do is go out and play in some warm sunshine.  Unfortunately, there's no warmth outside anywhere near.

Four and a half more week.  Must end procrastination!

Rush Hour in the Great North Woods

This was my commute this morning.  I stopped for turkeys?  Why did they cross the road?  To strut their stuff!

In other news, the crocus smile has started.  It was up a bit before, but it's sort of more visible through the snow right now.  (Look for the bits of yellow.)

Reconstituting

You may remember that I was having my house painted.  Here are the colors I chose and some "before" pictures.  It's worth noting that the house didn't feel nearly as dark before I had new floors put in last spring.  But the new floors made everything feel darker.

Now here's how things turned out!

Or not quite.  This first picture shows the new yellow wall in the living room, but with the old green walls not yet white.

And here's the living room a bit later, with some furniture back in place, and late afternoon sun playing on the wall.

Here's the bedroom (with my neighbor's lovely dog who was visiting), only partly reconstituted.

 And the kitchen!

I can't decide which is my favorite, but PURPLE is surely up there.

This weekend, I'm putting art and such back on the walls, and moving things back into place.

(A bunch of my art is sitting on the office table in that last shot.)

In other good news, I was given a very nice "Feminist Faculty Service" award from our Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies group.  I'm not sure I'm the most deserving person, but I'm quite honored by the recognition.

And finally, one more piece of good news!  I get to start the second piece in Book 4 of Suzuki!  (I still need to work on the first piece, but I'm delighted to get to start the second!)

Spring Break, the Last Day

It's been a productive AND restful break!

Here's what my list looked like:

1.  Grade 12 more papers.
2.  Reread Faustus for class on the Monday after break.
3.  Reread Reservation Blues for the Wednesday after break.  (yep, conflicted!)
4.  Reread "Yellow Woman" for the Monday after break.
5.  Write the next assignment sheet for the first year writing class.
6.  Clean up the garage (mostly sweeping at this point).  Move the kayak up out of storage, if I can get some help.
7.  Read Sing for your Life, which a friend lent me.  I wasn't as impressed by the writing as my friend was.
8.  Red up my campus office.  (The clutter bothers me!)
9.  Practice violin every day!
10.  Get out and ride my bike!
11.  Put up art in the living room.
12.  Do some birding!
13.  Start drafting the paper I worked on at the British Library.
14.  Clean up the house as I can (as the painting gets done).
15.  Put fishing line on birdhouses
16.  Cut a branch from one of the pine trees.
17.  Meet with person from the campus teaching center about a project.

So, not everything got done, but lots did.  I didn't practice every day.  But I did most days.  

And I'm feeling good about getting back to classes after getting some good (local) news.

Best of all, I'm expecting a friend to come visit because she's doing a poetry reading on campus this coming week!  

Spring Break, Day 5

I still haven't heard from either of the students who didn't turn in a paper.  Argh.

But I've made other progress!


1.  Grade 12 more papers.
2.  Reread Faustus for class on the Monday after break.
3.  Reread Reservation Blues for the Wednesday after break.  (yep, conflicted!)
4.  Reread "Yellow Woman" for the Monday after break.
5.  Write the next assignment sheet for the first year writing class.
6.  Clean up the garage (mostly sweeping at this point).  Move the kayak up out of storage, if I can get some help.
7.  Read Sing for your Life, which a friend lent me.  I wasn't as impressed by the writing as my friend was.
8.  Red up my campus office.  (The clutter bothers me!)
9.  Practice violin every day!
10.  Get out and ride my bike!
11.  Put up art in the living room.
12.  Do some birding!
13.  Start drafting the paper I worked on at the British Library.
14.  Clean up the house as I can (as the painting gets done).
15.  Put fishing line on birdhouses
16.  Cut a branch from one of the pine trees.
17.  Meet with person from the campus teaching center about a project.

I've been slowly reconstituting parts of the house as the paint dries.  I'm loving the colors!

The meeting (17) went well.  

Our campus is doing a three level social justice/inclusivity thing.  The first level was that everyone had to do a PoS stupid computer module thingy.

The second level involves having a variety of workshops and such on different aspects of social justice/inclusivity.  And the third level involves completing ten of those workshops and doing a project over three years.  I've now done five of the workshops, including the first, which I blogged about.  So the meeting was to learn about project ideas.

The person who came to talk with me is a prof from a very different field, but she's good.  So, she showed me some information, and we started talking about ideas, and she wondered about content in my classes, so I explained that I already teach an Intro to Lit course that's all Writers of Color (well, one might not consider herself a person of color, but she'd be thought of that way by most USians).  And I've taught a Critical Race Theory and Early Modern Lit course, and so on.  And she said she thought I was already way ahead of the game.  I think I'm pretty in line with my department colleagues, though.  

Anyway, it turns out the project doesn't have to be massive, so I should be able to do it in a reasonable way.

In sad news, I found a dead female Common Redpoll today.  I was out cleaning up doggy land mines with my neighbors' dog, who is my guest while her family is away, and she sniffed at something in a way that caught my attention, and then decided she wasn't interested, and it was a dead bird.  It was under a tree, so it wasn't a reflective glass collision, I don't think.  But there was nothing obvious, and it wasn't the work of a predator.  So I don't know.  It did make me a bit sad, though.

I've been feeding a lot this winter, mostly because I've got 20-30 Common Redpolls in a mixed flock with some American Goldfinches, and I think, one or two Pine Siskins.  But this bird didn't seem to have that eye problem that House Finches sometimes get.  Or anything else obvious, except that it was dead.  

Speaking of House Finches.  They're back!  I've been seeing a couple visiting the feeder, but not with the mixed flock.  And they're quite a bit bigger, too.  American Robins are way more visible this week, too.

Spring Break, Day 3!

I finished grading my stack and realized that two students didn't turn in papers.  I emailed both.  (One had a family problem before, so it's probably continued.  The other, I don't know.)

I read on the internet that you can keep house sparrows from using a nest box if you put fishing line on it.  So I did that with one of my boxes.  I have two more to do, one of which I also need to empty out from last year.  But it was really chilly today, and not that fun to be outside trying to tie fishing line.

I also made an appointment with a campus teaching center person about a possible social justice project.

Here's the list, with a couple things crossed off!

1.  Grade 12 more papers.
2.  Reread Faustus for class on the Monday after break.
3.  Reread Reservation Blues for the Wednesday after break.  (yep, conflicted!)
4.  Reread "Yellow Woman" for the Monday after break.
5.  Write the next assignment sheet for the first year writing class.
6.  Clean up the garage (mostly sweeping at this point).  Move the kayak up out of storage, if I can get some help.
7.  Read Sing for your Life, which a friend lent me.
8.  Red up my campus office.  (The clutter bothers me!)
9.  Practice violin every day!
10.  Get out and ride my bike!
11.  Put up art in the living room.
12.  Do some birding!
13.  Start drafting the paper I worked on at the British Library.
14.  Clean up the house as I can (as the painting gets done).

Spring Break, Day 2

Good day, but much faffing around.  I did grade more papers, so now I have 2 left for tomorrow.  And then that part of the week will be done!

Other stuffs:

1.  Grade 12 more papers.
2.  Reread Faustus for class on the Monday after break.
3.  Reread Reservation Blues for the Wednesday after break.  (yep, conflicted!)
4.  Reread "Yellow Woman" for the Monday after break.
5.  Write the next assignment sheet for the first year writing class.
6.  Clean up the garage (mostly sweeping at this point).  Move the kayak up out of storage, if I can get some help.
7.  Read Sing for your Life, which a friend lent me.
8.  Red up my campus office.  (The clutter bothers me!)
9.  Practice violin every day!
10.  Get out and ride my bike!
11.  Put up art in the living room.
12.  Do some birding!
13.  Start drafting the paper I worked on at the British Library.
14.  Clean up the house as I can (as the painting gets done).

I did some house stuff, and ran errands, but pretty much that's it.  Among the errands I ran, I went to the farm store.  Just outside, in front of a steak house place, is this:

Welcome to my world...