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THINGS HAVE CHANGED:

Since I am no longer a professor in the classroom, this blog is changing focus. (I may at some future date change platforms, too, but not yet). I am now (as of May 2019) playing around with the idea of using this blog as a place to talk about the struggles of writing creatively. Those of you who have been following (or dipping in periodically) know that I've already been doing a little of that, but now the change is official. I don't write every day--yet--so I won't post to the blog every day--yet. But please do check in from time to time, if you're interested in this new phase in my life.


Hi! And you are...?

I am interested to see the fluctuation in my readers--but I don't know who is reading the blog, how you found it, and why you find it interesting. I'd love to hear from you! Please feel free to use the "comment" box at the end of any particular post to let me know what brought you to this page--and what keeps you coming back for more (if you do).





Friday, November 9, 2018

"I have to, I have to... oh, well, maybe not."

I've been telling myself all day that I have to get at least eight, or five, or four, essays marked today, despite lack of sleep, despite time out for life maintenance (some of it crucial, having to do with finances and retirement). I've been in a bit of a tizzy because I know I'm going to lose time tomorrow to my jaunt in to the City to see a documentary about Le Guin, which I insist upon doing, despite the chunk it will take out of my day. And when, when, when will I get all those essays graded???

Well, not today, apparently. I tried to grade the first one--and I can't focus well enough to evaluate it with any confidence. Am I being too hard on it? Too lenient? I honest to god cannot tell at all.

So, I'm once again kicking a can down the road. Or maybe kicking a potential landmine down the road. I have been saved by the fact that three students with conference times on Monday did not submit essays--and that means, even if they submit before the window closes entirely, I am under no obligation to mark them or respond in any way. One student submitted but does not yet have a conference time--and hasn't contacted me about getting one. One student is completely AWOL: no conference time, no essay, no nothing.

Anyway, I am conceding defeat at this point. I can't get any productive grading done. Man, I hope I sleep tonight, as another day of this kind of mental (and physical) exhaustion will not only be hard to take in general, it will wreak havoc on the grading. The time will come when "I 'have' to" becomes "I have to." But it isn't there yet.

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