Things that save me

I'm soooo tired of grading. But I tell myself it's okay.
My house is a disaster by the end of finals. Always happens. I do a pile of dishes while the coffee brews, and that keeps the bigger pile from taking over the kitchen.

However, at the moment, which is a couple minutes after 5 a.m.,  I have a mug of good coffee, a fuzzy dog by my feet, a cat relishing the warm bed I just left, and a pile of papers to read. Life could be worse, right?

Actually, in spite of how down and how exhausted I've been at the end of the semester, yesterday sort of saved me. One of my students who did okay in comp but did struggle with it told me that I pushed him, and he liked that. He said he learned "so much." He actually thanked me while he did a rewrite of his research paper.

Two other guys from the same class came to my office to tell me spectacular news in their personal lives...one engaged to a girl he thought he'd lost (and a few weeks earlier, I urged him to tell his mom about it rather than protecting her from the hurt of it, which turned out to be superb advice; sometimes age has its merits), the other the father of a brand-new bouncing baby boy. 

Quite a few students thanked me after our last Comp class. Seriously? They actually said they had "a blast." Seriously? I am not as surprised when that happens in Humanities because the content is so enjoyable. But Comp? Well, that sort of saved my semester.

Somebody I flunked in that class even thanked me after we had a long talk about how I couldn't let her go on to other college classes without better college writing skills. I mean, now that thank-you is worth something.

And then...one of my students in creative writing has seriously UNDERSTOOD revision. Her new drafts are a testament to rewriting, and smooth prose, and that is enough to make me very, very happy.

In Lit class, I got a note at the end of a student's essay question answers: "...this is probably the last paper I'll write for you. You've been here since I first started college and you have taught me so much. You're an amazing teacher, one of the best I've had. You've encouraged me to want to learn and to push myself to be the best I can be. So thank you. Thank you for opening my mind up to want to learn more."  If you're reading this, I hope you don't mind that I used it.  This made me start to cry. I wept and decided, okay, yes. Teaching is really worth all this work. Thanks, Molly, for truly saving the end of my semester. 

Now back at it. It's my life, after all. Do it, drink good coffee, play with Freya, keep at it, and be happy that I have a job that gives me such moments, right?

Mourning Nelson Mandela

The world is mourning the death of Nelson Mandela. Has the life of any other international figure caused such unity of celebration and of mourning? Princess Diana's death certainly caused international unity in mourning. This, however, is even bigger in the scope of the world's attitudes.

Our friend Nicole in South Africa told us, "Even my dad went to a party with black people last night." She said that sounds bad, but it's significant in the kind of impact Mandela continues to make.

I will share more pictures again in the next few days, but for now, I want to to share this quote:

"During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and achieve. But if needs be it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
--Nelson Mandela

South African news of Nelson Mandela's memorial services

Here are my Children't Lit choices for Spring Semester.

I'm in the throes of the toughest part of fall semester, but of course we've been required to order textbooks for next semester. That forced me to decide on Children's Lit books. It's always tough because there are at least eighty books I'd like my class to read. Besides that, when I took Children's Lit the first time--back in the dark ages, I had to read 125 books  and write reviews on each in order to get an A. So I require the following books as assignments, and then students have to choose others in various genres to review, for a total of 30 (7 more picture, 5 chapter/middle-grade, 3 YA, wwith various requirements attached).

 

• Charlotte's Web--White
• Goodnight Moon--Brown
• Where the Wild Things Are--Sendak
• Cat in the Hat--Suess
Frog and Toad are Friends--Lobel
Clementine--Pennypacker
Betsy-Tacy--Lovelace
Birchbark House--Erdrich
Because of Winn-Dixie--DiCamillo
• Bud, Not Buddy--Curtis
• Out of the Dust--Hesse
A Single Shard--Park
Bridge to Terabithia--Paterson
• Geography Club--Hartinger
• The Outsiders--Hinton

What do you think?

 

Reading Chasing AllieCat, here, there, or...

ANYWHERE.

ANY place is a good place to read, if you have a good book, right? :)

I was quite thrilled to get this picture.

A little Shakespeare for this time of year...

When I look at the trees this time of year, I can't help but recite the beginning of this sonnet. This year, I memorized the rest of it, so I can say the whole thing to Freya while we walk in the woods. Lucky dog, eh? Just kidding, but I do love this sonnet.

Sonnet 73

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or few, or none do hang

Upon the boughs that shake against the cold,

Bare ruin’d choirs where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou see’st the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth in the west

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death’s second self that seals up all in rest.

In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the death-bed wheron it must expire

Consumed by that which it was nourished by.

This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong

To love that well which thou must leave ‘ere long.

I particularly like the line "Consumed by that which it was nourished by."  It reminds me of Tennyson in "Ulysses":

How dull it is to pause, to make an end.
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!
As though to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains; but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence...

Bill Durbahn

 My biking buddy Bill Durbahn was diagnosed less than two weeks ago with Acute Leukemia. He's in Rochester, has already received his week-long dose of chemo, and now awaits his bone marrow/stem cell transplant.

I went to visit him yesterday with other biking buddies Heidi, Tim, and Jeanne. We had a rollicking good visit with lots of laughs, but the awareness of the seriousness of this is always in the room. We ate pizza together in the lounge, and met another patient with a similar diagnosis. It's sobering, but if ANYBODY can lick this, it's Bill.  He's in great physical condition and has a fighter's attitude, not to mention endless humor and thoughtfulness about life in general.

His Caringbridge site is: Bill Durbahn Caringbridge site

If anyone wants to think about donating bone marrow or stem cells for such a transplant like Bill will need, go to BeTheMatch.org

 Tim, Heidi, Bill, and Jeanne

Tim, Heidi, Bill, and me

Bill sporting the new gloves and balaclava Jeanne brought: he is masked, gloved, and ready for action. The Rochester Ninja!

Autumn in the country, and reminiscing

I'm home. I'm writing.
Freya is happy to have me here, but I don't think she's as happy as I am to be home.

I also have a ton of school work to do, but since I do't actually have to go teach, I might get some of everything done. I hope.

I love fall. If it didn't mean an overload of schoolwork, it might be my favorite season. If it didn't mean the onslaught of winter, it might also be my favorite season. As it is, it's packed with beauty, but there's that sense like Skakespeare says, "To love that well which thou must leave 'ere long."

Here's why:

 Okay, so the Boxelder bugs are NOT part of what I love about fall, but they are part of autumn in the country. I imagine their desperate attempt to get in my house is a last-ditch attempt to stay alive in the impending ice and snow, so I forgive them, but it doesn't mean I welcome them.

 Morning light.

 Combines remind me of Dad. Every autumn as a kid, I spent hours riding with him in the combine cab. I would don my Halloween costume and go out to show him. He was always combining on Halloween, so the only way he could see my garb was to go show him. He also quizzed me on my confirmation lessons while I rode along. All good memories. And I can still rattle off the Ten Commandments and the Lutheran version of "What does this mean? for most of them (Isn't that useful information, though).