Yet another speedy post...

I have to run of to physical therapy in just a few minutes here, so this will be fast.

My presentation to Future Teachers? Kinda a bomb. I hadn't prepared much--hoping for A. more inspiration (which didn't happen) and 2. more student involvement (which also didn't happen). There were only five students there, one of whom didn't speak. Whatever. I did it. Patting myself on the back, moving on.

Nice talks with students in the seminar/office hours time slots, first with the young woman from the Salon--who will also be my next cat sitter--then with a student who became my mentee as a result of the one and only Meet-and-Greet experience we were able to host for mentoring. He's an engineering student--but also a musician (with his own band, which is going on a little tour in August). Pretty neat kid, and he's going to do well. Smart and multifaceted.

The new cat sitter delighted me by getting enthusiastic about Le Guin's web site. She watched the National Book Award acceptance speech, and reacted in all the right ways at all the right moments. Thank you. Gratifying.

Class met outside, and it was good. Not stellar, but ye gods, we're all running on fumes these days. They did about as well as I'd expect. I talked with two in particular after class, both of whom were worried about how to write about gender in the novel without talking about our society. The new cat sitter explained: say what you want to say, just support it with the book. (Which is, well, kinda right; in any event, it made better sense to the students than I was making, so good: I'll take it.

And one other student and I had a talk about her lack of performance in my class: missed classes, assignments (including the second essay), and so on. She's trying to graduate. I'll invoke the "Mercy D" policy.

The student I offered an incomplete to wasn't there. That worries me.

Anyway, we'll see how that class wraps up. I am taking some stuff home with me--not so much in any expectation of getting it done as in the hope that it will help me prioritize what I need to do. The first thing will be work on the Nature in Lit. I'm woefully behind on that--and I realize more and  more that I am just not cut out for online teaching. Cool idea; doesn't work for me.

And with that, my friends and faithful readers, I'm outta here.