Sorry bout the hiatus
Hi. Amidst all the little scufflings in my life lately--Why don't my students know what "by gosh" means? Why are all my papers due at the same time? Why do people invite themselves to my home and then walk around with coffe mugs full of pureed broccoli? (long story)--emerges a big thing. The Consortium of Podunk Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC), of which Nowhere College is a member, has appointed me to direct their London Program in Spring 2007. This means I get to go live in London, teach a course on drama and the city to students from all over COPLAC, see lots of plays, sweep up after the students, do research at the British Library, see my friends, and generally have a difficult but very rewarding and fun time.
The COPLAC president pointed out that they've never before considered the application of a first-year faculty member, so this is something of a big deal. Either it's because I'm impressive, or because I'm one of the lowest paid professors in COPLAC. Probably a combination of both. I'm celebrating anyway.
Last weekend M. and I went swing dancing at a Knights of Columbus in Milwaukee. Why, you ask, would we do such a wacky thing? Well, because the Doctor Teeth Jive Band was playing their first Chicago-area tour. They're a swing band from the West Midlands (yeah, I know, the middle of England isn't traditionally a hotbed of jump jive) fronted by the towering white mountain of lyric-spouting former linebacker that is my good friend S.S. It was torrentially fun, though since they were playing for an actual club of swing dancers, the crowd was much more into the music than the mastery of S's performance. The boys have really come a long way since I saw them last, and have apparently become one of the premier U.K. swing acts. Two CDs, lots of demand. And S's voice has improved immeasurably since he stopped singing for a Death Metal band.
Got up at 4:30 today to grade freshman papers. Good golly. But I'm nearly recovered enough now to start grading the twenty-two Arthurian Legend papers that I have to finish before 6:30.
I'll be fine. I can sleep tomorrow. April is the cruellest month, that's all. I wonder if Eliot was grading papers when he wrote that? I swear if I see a poem described as "unique" one more time I will insert a large garden gnome in the offender.
The COPLAC president pointed out that they've never before considered the application of a first-year faculty member, so this is something of a big deal. Either it's because I'm impressive, or because I'm one of the lowest paid professors in COPLAC. Probably a combination of both. I'm celebrating anyway.
Last weekend M. and I went swing dancing at a Knights of Columbus in Milwaukee. Why, you ask, would we do such a wacky thing? Well, because the Doctor Teeth Jive Band was playing their first Chicago-area tour. They're a swing band from the West Midlands (yeah, I know, the middle of England isn't traditionally a hotbed of jump jive) fronted by the towering white mountain of lyric-spouting former linebacker that is my good friend S.S. It was torrentially fun, though since they were playing for an actual club of swing dancers, the crowd was much more into the music than the mastery of S's performance. The boys have really come a long way since I saw them last, and have apparently become one of the premier U.K. swing acts. Two CDs, lots of demand. And S's voice has improved immeasurably since he stopped singing for a Death Metal band.
Got up at 4:30 today to grade freshman papers. Good golly. But I'm nearly recovered enough now to start grading the twenty-two Arthurian Legend papers that I have to finish before 6:30.
I'll be fine. I can sleep tomorrow. April is the cruellest month, that's all. I wonder if Eliot was grading papers when he wrote that? I swear if I see a poem described as "unique" one more time I will insert a large garden gnome in the offender.
posted by James at 12:19 PM
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