Showing posts with label Teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teaching. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Friday, September 06, 2019
Tuesday, September 03, 2019
First Day
Start of term-time at Alma. I got in on time, did the usual things (the challenge about my name, helping people find odd affinities, class work, etc.)
My first day is fairly light, but I was so exhausted by the end of the day... as my colleagues remind me, this is a "reentry" after the sabbatical.
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Saturday, August 31, 2019
Saturday at Alma
Spent this Saturday in retreat/orientation with the new MacCurdy women. We got some new furnishings and tees with the last of the budget last year, elected house officers, made plans for a year of programming, and started a statement to change "women's house" to "women-presenting and women-perceived." All in all, a rather busy two days. On to classes...
Nu came along to Alma for the day, and hung out with At helping make posters and eat pizza at his DSA event...
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Tough Mother
I kept thinking back to our weekend walk today.
I had SIX meetings at school, and wouldn't get back until really, really late. The first meeting was the Title IX interview and I was hoping it wouldn't drown me in all the fear and sadness talking about the bullying brings up.
I think I did ok at the other meetings. It helped that I started and ended the day with CF's support and had JG's hugs to look forward to in the afternoon.
I get by with a lot of help from my friends.
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Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
A moment
I have sweaty socks Hucky is loving on; Big A is slumped post-run and post-shower; Scout is smiling because he heard me say his name; the human babies are still asleep upstairs; we're in the hanging chairs At assembled all by himself years ago; the plants in the tea garden are happy because they've been freshly watered; and I'm happy that I don't have to worry about them for another week...
I will come back to this moment when the madness and busyness descends.
Onwards...
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I will come back to this moment when the madness and busyness descends.
Onwards...
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Thursday, August 08, 2019
First Day of School Fears
I still have fears of being late and unprepped to my classes, being unable to manage pick up times for my babies, anxiety about wanting a great school year where all of us--teachers, students, kids, parents will grow, make friends, learn...
I'm not special in this. The incredible cruelty of ICE raids on the FIRST day of school in Mississippi--I cannot begin to fathom... According to several accounts,
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I'm not special in this. The incredible cruelty of ICE raids on the FIRST day of school in Mississippi--I cannot begin to fathom... According to several accounts,
With parents no longer able to pick their children up from school, students in towns like Jackson, where children had their first day of school, according to school board calendars, were left distraught as they learned that their moms and dads had been detained.I am so sad, and so mad, and beginning to feel a sort of hopelessness. Where do we go from here?
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Tuesday, July 02, 2019
Monday, May 27, 2019
It's a Nice Day to... Start Again
I should have grades done soon, and that will be goodbye to a satisfying four weeks of Spring Term. My first assay at a travel term, The Empire Writes Back: Cosmopolitan England threw a bunch of non-majors into cultural theory and they took to it in a most satisfying way: looking at The British Museum critically; hypothesizing about Britain's Roman connections; seeing empire in Victorian fiction, reciting poetry at all the landmarks; talking to Sunny Singh and Robert JC Young... I love all those moments and I love all those kids.
It was terrifying too--in all the ways that being responsible for 15 young people can be. But we're all safely back. My secret weapon was taking Nu with me, so that was a little piece of home always with me.
It was terrifying too--in all the ways that being responsible for 15 young people can be. But we're all safely back. My secret weapon was taking Nu with me, so that was a little piece of home always with me.
And now... it is summer and time to work on all the projects that didn't get done over the sabbatical.
_
Friday, April 12, 2019
Compulsory Heterosexuality
More than one student has told me how Adrienne Rich's Reflections on "Compulsory Heterosexuality" changed their lives. I was thinking of that today when I was looking for a card to celebrate our newlywed colleague T and her wife whom K and I were taking out to dinner. Even bunnies and birds were pretty gendered, and it took me longer than usual to find a nice card. Between that and having to read a whole Elle article on my phone before I could pick a nice champagne in our budget, I spent way too much time at the store. Ha.
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Thursday, April 04, 2019
Honors Day
I woke up this morning excited for Honors Day.
At was nominated for the Kapp Prize
as were two of my students,
and chances were that I'd be
celebrating at the end of the day.
(And not just because it was my Boss Day.)
Sure enough: At's presentation was
AHHHMAZING
and my dear student MW won the Kapp.
_
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Teen Vogue: Fashion, Beauty, Entertainment... and the Resistance
I knew she was brilliant, I had no idea she'd be just so dang nice! I told her what seeing her so Indian name on the masthead at feministing.com more than 15 years ago meant to me, what it means to see her leading Teen Vogue into the resistance... and she wove that into her keynote that evening.
Also: she hadn't had breakfast when I picked her up, and she told me she had texted her mom later to say--Indian Lady picked me up; I got food inside of twenty minutes.
Yup, I have superpowers too.
#SamhitaMukhopadhyay
_
Also: she hadn't had breakfast when I picked her up, and she told me she had texted her mom later to say--Indian Lady picked me up; I got food inside of twenty minutes.
Yup, I have superpowers too.
#SamhitaMukhopadhyay
_
Monday, March 25, 2019
Plans Are Getting Better
To think that I couldn't wait to start using my 2019 planner, and here I am almost a quarter of the way in, having barely used it. Worse: nearly all of my sabbatical term is over, and I haven't done any of the important stuff I meant to do.
I re-started the planner with all five colors of ink today--I feel so much more intentional and focused when I can confirm at a glance that the various modalities of life are in (chromatic) balance. And I reconfigured the to-do list to make it more realistic given how little time remains between now and getting stuff ready for the spring term.
It may be that it is the prep work that drags the most. And that's where I spent most of my time today--I enjoy being poetry editor--and today was about prepping the selected poems for Dropbox and publication; I love being the advisor to the feminist house--and I spent hours making sure the application materials for next year reached the relevant channels and vetting and worrying about applications; I love teaching in the classroom--and so much of today was re-reading materials and organizing the e-reader (okay this last thing was fun).
Also fun: The Spotify playlist I curated for our class.
_
I re-started the planner with all five colors of ink today--I feel so much more intentional and focused when I can confirm at a glance that the various modalities of life are in (chromatic) balance. And I reconfigured the to-do list to make it more realistic given how little time remains between now and getting stuff ready for the spring term.
It may be that it is the prep work that drags the most. And that's where I spent most of my time today--I enjoy being poetry editor--and today was about prepping the selected poems for Dropbox and publication; I love being the advisor to the feminist house--and I spent hours making sure the application materials for next year reached the relevant channels and vetting and worrying about applications; I love teaching in the classroom--and so much of today was re-reading materials and organizing the e-reader (okay this last thing was fun).
Also fun: The Spotify playlist I curated for our class.
_
Sunday, March 24, 2019
“HARRY POTTER” & THE DEATHLY STATUS QUO
At is in New York for the Model U.N. competition, but his article from last month seemed really pertinent. Some weird typos and things, but I love his take. This is the article he wrote while I was on the Greece trip, mining Nu's help for HP lore.
So far, the only bright spots in a day where both Jordan Peele's Us and and Bobby Mueller's magnum opus disappointed.
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"Consider, instead, that the wizard world of Harry Potter isn’t a status quo worth returning to. The “magical and perfect” wizard world is based on class, racism and segregation. In a society where magic can magically fix and duplicate things, somehow there are still wizard families living in poverty. "And because I posted it proud-mama style on FB, there were some sweet reminiscences about his playwriting at seven, and him asking me a question at the SALA D.C. conference in 2004, when he was five.
So far, the only bright spots in a day where both Jordan Peele's Us and and Bobby Mueller's magnum opus disappointed.
_
Friday, March 08, 2019
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Reentry
I think that was a solid vacation--it didn't feel "fake" to me at all. It had a lovely time, meeting people Big A works with w...
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Friends and old neighbors shutting it down in honor of John Crawford. _
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I have the feeling that I’m going to succumb to the season and put out a list of resolutions soon. Just wanted to establish this heads up th...
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At had us pose for this pic up at Aunt R's place on Lake Huron so he could put it up in his dorm. "Don't tur...