There are particular times of the year that drag. For whatever reason that no one, not even you, can figure out... you just get down. Call it cabin fever?
I've had a taste of this lately, but I the more I think about it, the more I slowly put together all the little things that just add up and bring me down. Not depressed, mind you, just... listless. Again, cabin fever.
That is when I remind myself that they are all little things and in the end the spring is coming, things will slow down, the sun will come out, flowers will blossom, birds will sing.
Tonight as I was cleaning up after dinner, I listened to Mumford and Sons' "Timshel." If you have not heard this song, I highly recommend. Here is a vid:
The refrain (of course) stood out to me, "You are not alone in this. You are not alone in this. As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand. Hold your hand." What really hit me while I listened was that no matter what little things get me down, I am lucky. I have my husband and my family. I have a job. I have a lot more than other people.
I also have my stubborn optimism as well. That, in the end, is stronger than any sense of dreary gloom that may try to impede on me.
Spring is coming.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
It all comes down to Corn Whiskey
It was one of those days. You know the kind. You get to work and you are like,
"la la la! I'm skipping to work! I didn't sleep well (in fact I slept like a turd), but here I am!!! HAPPY MONDAY!"
and you open your email and get to work. It's 7:00am. Then 8:00 hits and you wish you had just stayed in bed. You went through your email and every email requires 50 steps to follow up. In addition, a piece of paperwork that students fill out that filters into my database (so I can ACTUALLY DO my work) wasn't working.
Well. There you go. One thing after another. Until lunch hit. Hooray! A BREAK!
I skip up to lunch, convinced that after lunch, I will for sure have a particularly excellent afternoon.
I open my lunchbag to discover what wonders I packed myself. Mixed veggies to reheat.. okay, good. Salad, Yum! Celery and peanut butter, sounds good. And saltines. Wait. What? I packed all veggies and 5 saltine crackers??? What the hell?
Healthy? Yes.
Able to carry me through 5:00? HECK NO.
UUUUUGH. I ate my veggies and kept my crackers for the inevitable tummy-growling that would occur at 3:00.
What followed this afternoon was more of the same. Tons of email, nothing going smoothly. Finally, 5:00 hits. WOOHOO! I go home. In fact, I caught an earlier bus that goes nearly straight to my doorstep. SCORE!
We had porkchops for dinner and now here I am, sitting in front of the TV drinking RC with a shot of corn whiskey (a gift from our friends in Tennessee). Life is good.
"la la la! I'm skipping to work! I didn't sleep well (in fact I slept like a turd), but here I am!!! HAPPY MONDAY!"
and you open your email and get to work. It's 7:00am. Then 8:00 hits and you wish you had just stayed in bed. You went through your email and every email requires 50 steps to follow up. In addition, a piece of paperwork that students fill out that filters into my database (so I can ACTUALLY DO my work) wasn't working.
Well. There you go. One thing after another. Until lunch hit. Hooray! A BREAK!
I skip up to lunch, convinced that after lunch, I will for sure have a particularly excellent afternoon.
I open my lunchbag to discover what wonders I packed myself. Mixed veggies to reheat.. okay, good. Salad, Yum! Celery and peanut butter, sounds good. And saltines. Wait. What? I packed all veggies and 5 saltine crackers??? What the hell?
Healthy? Yes.
Able to carry me through 5:00? HECK NO.
UUUUUGH. I ate my veggies and kept my crackers for the inevitable tummy-growling that would occur at 3:00.
What followed this afternoon was more of the same. Tons of email, nothing going smoothly. Finally, 5:00 hits. WOOHOO! I go home. In fact, I caught an earlier bus that goes nearly straight to my doorstep. SCORE!
We had porkchops for dinner and now here I am, sitting in front of the TV drinking RC with a shot of corn whiskey (a gift from our friends in Tennessee). Life is good.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
College, Entitlement, and Careers
I read a piece on NPR this morning that reminded me of a blog article that I read a while back. The NPR article, titled "A Lack of Rigor Leaves Students 'Adrift' in College," discusses how students coming out of college today have not developed their critical thinking skills or writing skills beyond what they had in high school.
We could play all sorts of blame games. In the end, I think that we run into a chicken-egg dilemma. Have we created a system in colleges where faculty/adjunct positions depend on student evals, thereby forcing teachers to be soft on the students? Or is it something else?
I think it is a combo of things. One thing they mentioned in the article was that 90% of high school students expected to go to college. Expected. Really? College is no longer a privilege to most people. They see it as a right. But is it?
When students get to college, they are paying money to be there. Based on my experience, some students (and their parents, for that matter) tend to see themselves as customers. As customers, it does not matter how little or how much they put into something, they expect to get what they want, which in academia, is an "A."
I'm sorry if I am callus or whatever, but in my mind, you are PAYING for a PRIVILEGE. You are paying to sit and learn from people who have proven themselves to be experts in their field. You should work your BUTT off to do well.
I hate to sound old, but "when I was in college," I had a professor once ask us, "Since when is a B bad? B is 'above average!' A is 'exceptional!'"
AMEN to that.
Now. All of this smacks of entitlement. One article that I read (that I cannot remember right nowl... uuugh) wrote that some students coming out of college feel that since they paid for an education, "did their time," and graduated, that they deserve a job. Not true of most students and certainly not true of the students I have worked with. However, I think that it speaks towards an undercurrent of the current culture.
I don't want to overgeneralize. I was an odd undergraduate student and just didn't mingle well with the other students.
In the end, I wonder. What, if anything, can we do to stop or reverse what is going on? CAN we stop it? Do we want to? And finally, do we NEED the rigor?
I think we do need rigor. Now more than ever, with so much information at our fingertips, we need to teach our students how to think critically, write, and properly ask questions.
We could play all sorts of blame games. In the end, I think that we run into a chicken-egg dilemma. Have we created a system in colleges where faculty/adjunct positions depend on student evals, thereby forcing teachers to be soft on the students? Or is it something else?
I think it is a combo of things. One thing they mentioned in the article was that 90% of high school students expected to go to college. Expected. Really? College is no longer a privilege to most people. They see it as a right. But is it?
When students get to college, they are paying money to be there. Based on my experience, some students (and their parents, for that matter) tend to see themselves as customers. As customers, it does not matter how little or how much they put into something, they expect to get what they want, which in academia, is an "A."
I'm sorry if I am callus or whatever, but in my mind, you are PAYING for a PRIVILEGE. You are paying to sit and learn from people who have proven themselves to be experts in their field. You should work your BUTT off to do well.
I hate to sound old, but "when I was in college," I had a professor once ask us, "Since when is a B bad? B is 'above average!' A is 'exceptional!'"
AMEN to that.
Now. All of this smacks of entitlement. One article that I read (that I cannot remember right nowl... uuugh) wrote that some students coming out of college feel that since they paid for an education, "did their time," and graduated, that they deserve a job. Not true of most students and certainly not true of the students I have worked with. However, I think that it speaks towards an undercurrent of the current culture.
I don't want to overgeneralize. I was an odd undergraduate student and just didn't mingle well with the other students.
In the end, I wonder. What, if anything, can we do to stop or reverse what is going on? CAN we stop it? Do we want to? And finally, do we NEED the rigor?
I think we do need rigor. Now more than ever, with so much information at our fingertips, we need to teach our students how to think critically, write, and properly ask questions.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
The Scary World
Life right now is strange. I am in a holding pattern at home while at work, everything is moving so quickly that I cannot keep up. Every night I dream of falling behind. I enjoy my job overall and am happy (and feel very fortunate) to work where I do. However, I find it ridiculously sad that I dream about work.
One day, I had a student come in to see me. She is thinking about getting her masters in our school, so I was meeting with her to discuss career options. She surprised me by saying, "I don't care what I do. I have always had food on the table, so I am fairly confident that no matter what, I will be okay."
WHOA.
How refreshing is that? Because of her, I have decided that when my husband finds a job (if it is NOT in Bloomington... in which case, I will keep my job), I will continue my work towards my non-profit idea. This would mean working from home and pinching pennies to make ends meet. But in the end, I also know that as long as husband makes as much as I do right now, we will be FINE. I love the sense of adventure and the tiny thrill I get in my spine every time I think about it.
My mom is adventurous and started her own businesses. She is a strong woman. The older I get, the more I realize that I am like her. The scary part is, I am okay with that.
One day, I had a student come in to see me. She is thinking about getting her masters in our school, so I was meeting with her to discuss career options. She surprised me by saying, "I don't care what I do. I have always had food on the table, so I am fairly confident that no matter what, I will be okay."
WHOA.
How refreshing is that? Because of her, I have decided that when my husband finds a job (if it is NOT in Bloomington... in which case, I will keep my job), I will continue my work towards my non-profit idea. This would mean working from home and pinching pennies to make ends meet. But in the end, I also know that as long as husband makes as much as I do right now, we will be FINE. I love the sense of adventure and the tiny thrill I get in my spine every time I think about it.
My mom is adventurous and started her own businesses. She is a strong woman. The older I get, the more I realize that I am like her. The scary part is, I am okay with that.
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