Hodgepodge

I had a productive week at school. My classes are good. All three of the English 150s are full (or nearly), as is the night class, Advanced Comp, so I'll have much to do this semester. My landlady Betty and I had a nice long talk one night while I was there. She's a fascinating person, with a number of great stories to tell. I look forward to hearing more of them. The other boarder (a man in our department) tends to keep to himself.

I had to get one of the classrooms changed. Initially, all three of my English 150s were in the same classroom. Then a senior faculty member threw a temper tantrum and demanded to get that room for his 1:30 class. That meant I had to rush from one class to another that was quite a distance away in the 15-minute break. I didn't mind the activity, but the new classroom had no way for me to use FerrisConnect. There were four computers along a side wall, but none of them were connected to a projector. That meant that my class plans for the third class had to be changed so I could use handouts and write on the blackboard. So I requested a class change and it was approved. On Tuesday I'll simply have to move down the hall from where my other classes are held. Reinhold (my former classmate at Mizzou and my current Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences) stopped by my office to tell me that he had "had a word" with the department chair for "rewarding bad behavior."

My night class is an odd crew. First, I was already so exhausted from teaching the three other classes that day (nearly 4 hours on my feet) that I had to screw my courage to the sticking place in order to face the heavy rain. We needed the rain (remnants of Hurricane Gustav, if you can believe it), but I didn't enjoy driving in it. When I arrived in my classroom in Grand Rapids, I found that the computer was "Temporarily Out of Order" (according to the sign on the monitor). The guy in charge of the computers came by, and he was somewhat angry to find the computer down. He promised me that next week, all will run smoothly. Meanwhile, I conducted a low-tech class and chatted with the students. I knew the product-design students were mostly male, but it surprised me that their ages tended to be 30+. The fashion mode of the day was a plaid shirt stretched across a beer belly that hung over faded jeans. That's okay. I know these people. As a child of a blue-collar worker myself, I'm pretty comfortable with their mindset. I have other majors in the classroom, too: nurses, police officers, even one history major.

When I finally made it home Thursday night, the old cliche "dead on my feet" was my living truth. My feet and legs hurt so badly that my feet were having muscle spasms. My dear sweet husband rubbed them for me and it was heavenly.

I know there's much more I could mention and discuss (for instance, I had Writers' Group this morning), but that's enough catching up for one session.