Loving those "no-shows"

One of my colleagues here in the Center had a six-appointment day, not his first. My day had four appointments scheduled, but I ended up seeing two, which suited me just fine. Neither was taxing; both were about early development of essays.

I keep thinking about that borderline hostile, recalcitrant student of Kristin's. I checked her records; she has two more appointments set up, each with a different tutor, both tutors people she has not yet seen. I have a feeling that, eventually, she will exhaust the possibilities, having seen every tutor here and deciding that, of course, the fact that she can't get on top of her work is our fault. It was pretty fascinating to hear Kristin hold forth about her over drinks on Tuesday. I think the student's photograph is next to the urban dictionary definition of "piece of work," because she certainly is.

And I'd like to go on record with some gratitude that students of that ilk are rare here. Most of the students who come are grateful for the help--and able to focus on what we have to say. Both students I had today were in that camp: paying careful attention, taking notes, asking intelligent questions.

I don't have a lot else to report, actually. My own writing seems to be on hiatus for a bit; I wrote myself into a knot again and am trying to figure out how to unknot it--or where else to go with the story in order to keep writing. The impulse is to do more research, of course, because I can feel I'm being productive without having to actually produce anything--and also, in all honesty, because it does help me to feel I have a more precise understanding of how things would have worked in the time and place about which I'm writing.

But all that's for another day or time. Right now, I can close out this blog entry, noodle for about another 3 minutes, then put on my coat and take off. Hooray!