Monday, October 27, 2008

Beyond the Midpoint

We're just past the midpoint of the semester, and here's how things stand.

1) Everyone's sick. Okay, not everyone, but there's a hollow cough going around, and a stomach bug. I'm counting myself lucky to only have the cough (so far?).

2) We don't get a fall break of any sort here until Thanksgiving. Reading about everyone else's break, trips to Paris, grading in bed, whatever, makes me feel whiny and tired. And I'm behind on grading.

3) My writing students, mostly, are writing better papers. Yay students!

4) I tried to teach the Wife of Bath's Prologue today. I'm miserably bad at that piece; I just can't bring it together for my students, though I try. This year I made a handout to lay out the structure a bit and try to make it visible, but what I really need to do is figure out how to bring out a couple really important passages and work them. On the other hand, the Tale itself promises to be a joy to teach.

*If anyone has suggestions for the Prologue, I'd be very grateful to hear them!

5) The sky is falling! Well, white stuff fell out of the sky yesterday. Or, to be more precise, white stuff was pushed around horizontally, yesterday, and only coincidentally hit the ground. Snow in October to snow in April. That's unacceptably long. Tell Ceres to stop being such a helicopter parent!!

Does anyone in a warm area want to adopt a Shakespeare person? I'm housebroken, and don't bark too much at the neighbors. I'm good with dogs, but not so good with children.

7 comments:

  1. Bardiac, I want a Shakespeare colleague. Very very much. Hot here -- 82 today they say. But we too get no fall break until Thanksgiving (I don't count Veterans Day, since I don't usually teach on Tuesday anyway.)

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  2. Can you really call the white stuff an official snow if it doesn't stick on the ground?

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  3. @inside...--yes, you can. Whether it sticks or not, that snow sets such a TONE!

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  4. Laughing at the Ceres comment. You're more than welcome here - we get two days of fall break, and it's still in the 70s here this week!

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  5. If it makes you feel any better, our fall break trip to Paris made us come back with an addiction-like constant desire for espresso and now we're thinking of spending ridiculous amounts of money on our own machine. We should have never left home.

    As for the Wife of Bath...I have a great handout from one of the lit survey profs at grad school I can share. It lays out structure and some major thematic binaries (beyond authority and experience), all of which are good talking points. But I have to scan it to send it to you and since our department is moving, that file is packed up at the moment. Remind me after Thanksgiving and I'll send it on to you.

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  6. Bardiac, we should do a professor exchange or something like that for a month! I've been telling people that this insanely hot and sunny weather for October (plus fires) keeps making me feel like it's the first sign of the global warming apocalypse and that the end is nigh! (it just may be.)

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  7. Susan, 82 sounds pretty darned good to me! I'm jealous!

    ItPF, Yes, I call it snow if it's white when it comes out of the sky. And I'm glad it didn't stick... yet.

    Mrs. C. Yes, what you said!

    Pilgrim/Heretic, Oh, I'd be on my way in a minute if I could... and if I knew where I'd need to be going.

    Dr. Virago, Thanks for the offer; I'll email you. It looks like I'll get to teach Chaucer again next year!!!!! And seriously, an espresso machine is a small investment in one of life's great pleasures. It's not like you're putting your hard earned money up your nose (as cocaine, for example).

    Sisyphus, I LOVE your area, you know. I would come in a minute. People here joke about wanting a bit of global warming.

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