Friday again

Once again, I was too whipped yesterday to post. Not that I had much to say (though that never seems to stop me from nattering on at great length). Just a quick update: as of 8:30 p.m. last night, the student who showed up on Wednesday to his first session of 229 had yet to pick up the materials he'll need (such as syllabus, reading handouts, reading-journal forms, etc.). Doesn't bode well for Monday's class--unless he downloaded the syllabus and is going to prepare for Monday's class and let former assignments wait. (OK, well, unlikely, but it's part of the delusional thinking that goes with starting every semester thinking this year will be different.) And the student who wanted to transfer into my 101 has not contacted me. I am assuming (or more accurately, hoping) that means she's seen the light and will wait until next semester. I hope she doesn't show up on Monday...

I also am annoyed with myself; I gave a bunch of students a pass on the rule of no homework = absence. I did tell them it was a one time mercy deal--and I did tell the students in one section that I'd only accept their homework late if I didn't have the rest ready to hand back on Tuesday. I find I now have great incentive to be sure everything is ready. I know that the one good student will be frustrated but accepting if he does the work and I end up not accepting it; the slackers will be frustrated and argue. I should have just stuck to my fucking guns, but I really am a softie--up to a point (at which point my claws and fangs grow to enormous lengths). In my later class, a student was texting (I told him very sternly that he was now absent and that next time he'd have to leave the room), and the same student didn't have his homework--but he tried really hard (and actually did fairly well) in the class discussion, and at the end of class, he begged me not to penalize him with the absence. I told him I would have mercy this one time.... but of course the problem is that the precedent is set, so students will be able to argue "you let X get away with it, why not me?" Argh. Well, I'll just have to be nice but firm: the Anna approach (one of our colleagues who seems able to be sweetly loving and kind while she buries an axe in their foreheads).

Speaking of Anna, I continue to be reminded how incredibly blessed I am in my colleagues. In the wake of my father's death, I have gotten such outpourings of concern and support--even, from many, love--that I am humbled. Not only are some of my dearest and closest friends among my colleagues but even some with whom I am simply friendly are terrific people, fun to hang out with, fun to talk to, smart and unpretentious and genuine. Among academics, that's rare as hell. I know I've talked about this in previous posts, but it does bear repeating. I'm very much looking forward to 9/30, when we will have the first meeting of the "Conviviality Committee" (the status as a committee is, of course, a joke, but it's come to be something of an accepted "real" entity). We'll meet for drinks--this session is the unofficial welcome for new faculty (a tradition that started when my "class" of new hires was a year old; we'd gone out drinking on our own a few times our first year and decided it was a nice way to help new faculty relax and begin to understand the friendly nature of this gi-normous department). It's a great little gathering (sometimes not so little) and we generally have a terrific time.

But now, early as it is, I feel my eyelids beginning to droop.... Still adjusting to the schedule, I reckon, but I'm trying to learn to pay attention to when I'm tired and actually do something about it. Like stop blogging and lie down.