Trying to Find a Rhythm

Summer is here, but I am having trouble getting into a good work rhythm. I have a number of things to do this summer, in particular some essays to write about Jeremias Gotthelf that are supposed to appear in a new Gotthelf Handbook that is under preparation. But so far I am not making much progress.

I blame it on the college, though. Not only am I teaching a pair of online courses, but all faculty have been required (in part) and encouraged (the other part) to "attend" a number of Zoom workshops this week, devoted to planning for the fall semester, when we must be prepared to teach both face-to-face on campus and also online. These have been taking up quite a bit of time.

Plus, I still can't get into my office except once a week to return some books and pick up others to replace them.

And then there are the interferences that I can't blame on the college. Yesterday I had to write a book review, which was my own fault, since I'd offered to do it. (And the book turned out to be really hard--lots of obscure literary theory, all in German.) And we have finally gotten a bit of nice weather, so yesterday and today I was able to get out in the yard to do some lawn-mowing. Whacked a few weeds, too, while I was at it.

But I will still have to find more time for Gotthelf soon.

Comments

New History Professor!

I am very excited to announce that the college has hired a new history professor! Dr. Francesca Silano will be joining our department next fall. Dr. Silano , who has her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, specializes in Imperial and Soviet Russia. She is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Miami of Ohio. She will strengthen our ability to offer coursework in European and non-Western history. Next fall, in addition to teaching in the general education Humanities sequence, she will offer courses on Russian history and on modern Europe. We are looking forward to welcoming her to the department.

Rabbits and Wrens

I didn't have 15 of them, to be sure. But when I looked out the front window after getting dressed this morning, I saw not one, but two rabbits out on the front lawn. They weren't very large, so I assume they were still young. But I saw them do something I don't think I've ever seen before: play with each other. They would run toward each other, and then one would hop over the other, bouncing off its back as it sailed over and while they made a kind of squeaking noise. It was really quite funny. After a minute of that, they stopped and went back to eating dandelions, not fresh yellow ones, but old ones that had gone to seed, the kind you used to blow the heads off when you were a kid. They bit them off at the base, so that the stems were sticking straight out of their mouths like a straw, with the heads at the end. And then, phwoosh, in they went, nibbled right up--like a person sucking in a spaghetti noodle. (Not that any of us would...

Summer Vacation

Let the summer begin! I finally finished off my grading yesterday. Now the summer opens up before me. Well, not exactly. I do have a few random independent study papers hiding in my inbox, which has been overflowing for the past week. But I can get them taken care of. And a handful of students still owe me late work, which will come in over the next few days. I'm also teaching a couple of online courses; the first exams from one of those come in next Monday. At noon today I have a committee meeting, a group pulled together to work on curricular planning for next fall in the face of continuing uncertainty. And this afternoon all faculty have to attend the first of several Zoom sessions devoted to online teaching, to help us prepare for all eventualities moving forward. Hmmm.... And oh, yes, I just remembered -- rats! -- that today is the deadline for reviewing the department's catalog copy for next year. There is also that long o...

Plague Time

Search This Blog