So much for posting here every week. Maybe I should set my sights lower -- say, once a month (instead of once a year).
It's been a busy term. Last night the class I TA for had its midterm and we handed back the first batch of papers. We've got a wide range of abilities in this class. I truly feel for the students who struggle with the material but don't quite get it. It's not easy material, and the professor's approach to it isn't straightforward -- he demands critical thought from the students, and some of them just don't have the tools for it, even though they're willing to make a go if it with what they do have. I'd give them all As for effort if I could.
On the other hand, the students who take every opportunity to gripe and whinge and take potshots at the class/subject matter/professor, spend the entire lecture period instant messaging their friends, or don't listen when the professor clearly says read the syllabus carefully because it contains everything you need to know to succeed in this class and then want to know why they're not doing well get no sympathy from me. It astounds me that, out of 60 or so students, about 1/4 of them didn't turn in a paper. I don't mean the ones who e-mailed to ask for an extension, but those who just couldn't be bothered. What I find even more amazing is that a few of them still had the gumption to show up for class. I would be ashamed to show my face if I hadn't done an assignment that counted for 20% of the final grade. Do they not understand that a low grade is better than a zero? Do they expect to be graced with a freebie in the 11th hour?
As for my own work, that is going along. I enjoy both classes, though I occasionally get confused when some of the lines cross (I found myself blathering about sodomy prosecutions in 15th-century Venice the other week because I'd momentarily forgotten what seminar I was in). The one disappointment I'm facing is that I don't think I'll be able to write my term paper as I'd originally envisioned it; while the topic appeals to me, the amount of work it would require is more appropriate for a thesis than a term paper. So now I need to put together another proposal within the next week so I can get it approved and move forward.
The less said about my son's schooling, the better. Well, not necessarily. He's struggling in his accelerated math class, to the point that we'd both started talking about pulling him out of it, but I went to the Open House last weekend and came away from it feeling much more confident. So now I'm trying to get him to think positively about it. We'll see how that goes. As for his other classes, I don't look forward to getting his report card. It's one thing to flunk a class for not understanding the material; to flunk it because you can't be bothered to do the work/turn in the work/put your name on the work is not my idea of a good excuse. There will be whips a'crackin' if he doesn't get his act together.
On the thesis front, not much to talk about. I ILL'd a copy of Churches in the Landscape by Richard Morris and (provided I can work up the courage) would like to e-mail him after I've read it to discuss some of the ideas I have, and see if he can suggest avenues for further research. More importantly, though, I need to go through whatever primary sources I can get my hands on and see if there's enough evidence to build my argument on. The more prepared I can be before we go to Europe next summer (Lord willing and the creeks don't rise), the more productive the trip itself will be.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
And so it goes
Only one week, and already I've failed in my resolution to post every Monday. No surprises there -- it's on a par with my every-couple-of-years News Year's diet resolution.
That said, the new school year seems to have gotten off to a good start. My son is about as happy as he can be with school, though he hates that he has to take Spanish (a child after my own heart, he'd rather study French or Latin) and some of his "extras" aren't quite what he'd hoped they be. His accelerated math program starts Thursday. He's a bit iffy about it -- he's rather be doing advanced English -- but I hope it will re-energize him and boost his psyche. He really needs the mental challenge, and, like me, he's more content when he's kept busy (not that either of us will admit it).
As for me, the two seminars I'm taking this term are shaping up nicely, even though we've only had one meeting apiece. I've already started doing basic background research into the topic I hope to do my final paper on for one of them. Last fall, when I had to do a presentation on John Baldwin's article "The Many Loves of Philip Augustus," we got into a discussion on the conjugal debt, elements of which have stuck with me, so I'm hoping to follow up along those lines.
As for the other seminar, it's still really too early to say much, although I'm glad to be doing good old-fashioned social history again (especially after being beaten over the head this spring over how the linguistic turn has made social history passé). Ultimately, I hope it'll provide enough of a foundation in legal history that I can put it to use in my thesis, a topic that has occupied my mind a lot this week. There's someone at Leeds who's been doing work on a loosely-related subject that I've been thinking about more and more lately, so I should muster up the courage to drop him an e-mail and see if he'll let me pick his brain.
I learned last week that my favorite columnist for my favorite newspaper in my former (adopted) hometown has retired, somewhat unwillingly. Fortunately, he's got a blog that he's already posted to several times, and I've been fascinated by his account of the restructuring of the newsroom. I still follow the paper online because I like to know what's going on there, but it seems that hasn't really conveyed how much the paper has changed (not for the better, according to some accounts).
After several warm, humid days, last night the temperature dropped quite a bit (a good, hard rain helped) and I'm now wearing jeans, a long-sleeved shirt and a cardigan, my uniform of choice. I love fall, with the cool, crisp air, and I can't wait for the leaves to start changing. There's a gorgeous sugar maple at the northeast corner of the house that last year turned the most brilliant shade of orange. Apples are coming into season now too, which makes my son happy, and now that I've finally realized why it's worth it to get up early on Saturdays (to go to the local farmers' market), he's been munching on locally-grown apples like there's no tomorrow. He's also been craving some sweet potato soufflé, but I told him that will have to wait a few more weeks. I love fall, have I said that lately?
That said, the new school year seems to have gotten off to a good start. My son is about as happy as he can be with school, though he hates that he has to take Spanish (a child after my own heart, he'd rather study French or Latin) and some of his "extras" aren't quite what he'd hoped they be. His accelerated math program starts Thursday. He's a bit iffy about it -- he's rather be doing advanced English -- but I hope it will re-energize him and boost his psyche. He really needs the mental challenge, and, like me, he's more content when he's kept busy (not that either of us will admit it).
As for me, the two seminars I'm taking this term are shaping up nicely, even though we've only had one meeting apiece. I've already started doing basic background research into the topic I hope to do my final paper on for one of them. Last fall, when I had to do a presentation on John Baldwin's article "The Many Loves of Philip Augustus," we got into a discussion on the conjugal debt, elements of which have stuck with me, so I'm hoping to follow up along those lines.
As for the other seminar, it's still really too early to say much, although I'm glad to be doing good old-fashioned social history again (especially after being beaten over the head this spring over how the linguistic turn has made social history passé). Ultimately, I hope it'll provide enough of a foundation in legal history that I can put it to use in my thesis, a topic that has occupied my mind a lot this week. There's someone at Leeds who's been doing work on a loosely-related subject that I've been thinking about more and more lately, so I should muster up the courage to drop him an e-mail and see if he'll let me pick his brain.
I learned last week that my favorite columnist for my favorite newspaper in my former (adopted) hometown has retired, somewhat unwillingly. Fortunately, he's got a blog that he's already posted to several times, and I've been fascinated by his account of the restructuring of the newsroom. I still follow the paper online because I like to know what's going on there, but it seems that hasn't really conveyed how much the paper has changed (not for the better, according to some accounts).
After several warm, humid days, last night the temperature dropped quite a bit (a good, hard rain helped) and I'm now wearing jeans, a long-sleeved shirt and a cardigan, my uniform of choice. I love fall, with the cool, crisp air, and I can't wait for the leaves to start changing. There's a gorgeous sugar maple at the northeast corner of the house that last year turned the most brilliant shade of orange. Apples are coming into season now too, which makes my son happy, and now that I've finally realized why it's worth it to get up early on Saturdays (to go to the local farmers' market), he's been munching on locally-grown apples like there's no tomorrow. He's also been craving some sweet potato soufflé, but I told him that will have to wait a few more weeks. I love fall, have I said that lately?
Monday, September 03, 2007
Starting over
Clearly I'm not much better at electronic journaling than I ever was with pen-and-paper journaling. I lost count of how many diaries I bought (or was given), wrote 2, maybe 3 entries in, then left to gather dust until they were permanently lost or thrown away.
Even though I haven't posted here for almost a year, I haven't completely forgotten about it. I've tweaked my profile some, and organized (and re-organized) my links, I just haven't posted any new entries. My goal for this year is to post at least once a week, hopefully on Mondays as I gather my thoughts and hopes for the upcoming week.
This being Labor Day, I'm looking forward to the start of classes for both me and my son. It's hard to believe he's entering eighth grade. We both have high hopes that this year will prove more academically challenging, especially with the accelerated math program he's enrolled in. Last year was a snoozefest for him, which made the transition from private to public schools (and all that entails) all the more difficult. Odds are likely he'll return to a private school next year, even though no matter where he enrolls it will probably only be for a year, as I expect to be done with my degree and moving on during the summer of 2009.
As for me, I'm really looking forward to the coming semester. The classes I've enrolled in (Sex and Crime, as my supervisor says) look intriguing, although one seems to be more focused on a later period than I would prefer, and I was given my first choice in TA assignments, taught by a professor I'm very eager to be working with. I doubt I'll have a paper proposal ready in time for the Congress' CFP deadline, but this winter there's a conference on Benedictine monasticism during the Carolingian period with a proposal deadline in October that I might be able to meet. If I do, and my proposal is accepted, it'll be my first conference presentation.
All in all, I'd say the outlook, for the next few weeks, at least, is promising.
Even though I haven't posted here for almost a year, I haven't completely forgotten about it. I've tweaked my profile some, and organized (and re-organized) my links, I just haven't posted any new entries. My goal for this year is to post at least once a week, hopefully on Mondays as I gather my thoughts and hopes for the upcoming week.
This being Labor Day, I'm looking forward to the start of classes for both me and my son. It's hard to believe he's entering eighth grade. We both have high hopes that this year will prove more academically challenging, especially with the accelerated math program he's enrolled in. Last year was a snoozefest for him, which made the transition from private to public schools (and all that entails) all the more difficult. Odds are likely he'll return to a private school next year, even though no matter where he enrolls it will probably only be for a year, as I expect to be done with my degree and moving on during the summer of 2009.
As for me, I'm really looking forward to the coming semester. The classes I've enrolled in (Sex and Crime, as my supervisor says) look intriguing, although one seems to be more focused on a later period than I would prefer, and I was given my first choice in TA assignments, taught by a professor I'm very eager to be working with. I doubt I'll have a paper proposal ready in time for the Congress' CFP deadline, but this winter there's a conference on Benedictine monasticism during the Carolingian period with a proposal deadline in October that I might be able to meet. If I do, and my proposal is accepted, it'll be my first conference presentation.
All in all, I'd say the outlook, for the next few weeks, at least, is promising.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Where has the time gone?
I feel as though I've been standing in water as high as my mouth, with only a few inches of breathable air, for the past month.
And it's only going to get worse.
It's all good, though. Despite being chronically fatigued from lack of sleep and constantly behind in my reading, I'm enjoying myself here. I'm still waiting for someone to come up to me and say, "We've been thinking, and we've decided we made a mistake in admitting you," but I don't think that feeling will ever go away. It's part and parcel of my psyche.
One thing I prefer about this place to UAZ is the seminar on research techniques in medieval history I'm taking this term. Although the professor spends most of the class time rambling about God-knows-what (and bears an eerie resemblance to my dad in both appearance and personality), I have come away with a much better awareness of available sources to mine for my thesis. In fact, the final project for this class is a draft proposal/prospectus for what we think we might write our thesis on. My motley collection of book titles, article citations and Web pages has expanded quite a bit as a result, and while the lack of primary source evidence may force me to revise my general topic, I do feel closer to pinpointing an actual topic as opposed to "Something about the church in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria".
Two things I dislike about this place as opposed to UAZ are both related to the library. No, scratch that. I hate the library in general. The physical layout is a nightmare to navigate, the online catalog is just as bad, and the hours? Don't get me started. Eight o'clock is ridiculously late to be opening on weekdays. All I can say is that I'm glad I had a year at UAZ to familiarize myself with how to locate journals and articles, because otherwise I wouldn't have the first clue about OCLC, WorldCat and JSTOR.
In other news, my class on medieval France has stirred my creative impulses. As if there were any doubt that I'm insane, I've even signed up for NaNoWriMo again. I've got an idea for a semi-romance set in 11th-century France that just won't leave me alone. Odds are, though, I won't get more than 5,000 words written, what with everything else I'll be doing in November. I'll just add it to my ever-growing stack of WIPs.
In other news, we get to pick up our dog from my dad this weekend. I'm very excited to have Clara back with us. I've missed her these past 2 years.
And it's only going to get worse.
It's all good, though. Despite being chronically fatigued from lack of sleep and constantly behind in my reading, I'm enjoying myself here. I'm still waiting for someone to come up to me and say, "We've been thinking, and we've decided we made a mistake in admitting you," but I don't think that feeling will ever go away. It's part and parcel of my psyche.
One thing I prefer about this place to UAZ is the seminar on research techniques in medieval history I'm taking this term. Although the professor spends most of the class time rambling about God-knows-what (and bears an eerie resemblance to my dad in both appearance and personality), I have come away with a much better awareness of available sources to mine for my thesis. In fact, the final project for this class is a draft proposal/prospectus for what we think we might write our thesis on. My motley collection of book titles, article citations and Web pages has expanded quite a bit as a result, and while the lack of primary source evidence may force me to revise my general topic, I do feel closer to pinpointing an actual topic as opposed to "Something about the church in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria".
Two things I dislike about this place as opposed to UAZ are both related to the library. No, scratch that. I hate the library in general. The physical layout is a nightmare to navigate, the online catalog is just as bad, and the hours? Don't get me started. Eight o'clock is ridiculously late to be opening on weekdays. All I can say is that I'm glad I had a year at UAZ to familiarize myself with how to locate journals and articles, because otherwise I wouldn't have the first clue about OCLC, WorldCat and JSTOR.
In other news, my class on medieval France has stirred my creative impulses. As if there were any doubt that I'm insane, I've even signed up for NaNoWriMo again. I've got an idea for a semi-romance set in 11th-century France that just won't leave me alone. Odds are, though, I won't get more than 5,000 words written, what with everything else I'll be doing in November. I'll just add it to my ever-growing stack of WIPs.
In other news, we get to pick up our dog from my dad this weekend. I'm very excited to have Clara back with us. I've missed her these past 2 years.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Where to from here?
I've survived... so far. I'm now into my second week of classes and haven't broken down yet, though I suspect that's due more to determined denial and simple stubbornness on my part than anything else. Between a full load of classes -- 2 history seminars, plus a 2nd-year Latin reading course I'm taking pass/fail (or so I hope, provided the registration was handled correctly) -- and my TA responsibilities, not to mention the challenge of raising a teenage boy on my own, I suspect by Halloween I will be in full-on Medusa mode. As I told a friend the other day, I anticipate some serious butt-kicking (my butt, that is) this fall.
Good thing I'm a masochist.
I'm really enjoying my classes so far. Latin is always a pleasure, even if my brain is not as elastic as it once was, and rote memorization is increasingly difficult to achieve. More particularly, I'm loving the reading (and reading and reading and...) for the 2 seminars. Norman Cantor's Inventing the Middle Ages has been especially delightful; his cynicism and disdain for the Annaliste school had me laughing more than once this weekend.
Today's the first time I've come in for office hours; I'll be here every Tuesday, 8:30-10:30 a.m. Since it's the start of term and I have yet to hold my first discussion section, I don't anticipate any students stopping by. It's been a good time to do one of my seminar assignments for this week, which is to find 10 monographs and review the primary sources they used. I can access the library catalog from here, so I've got a nice long list of books to look at, with titles like England Before the Norman Conquest and The Golden Age of Northumbria and Church and Society in the Medieval North of England.
*wallows in geekiness*
I think my son is enjoying his new school, but since he spent all last week going over policies and procedures until his eyes glazed over, it's hard to say. He does like taking the bus, though we were a bit worried when it never picked him up the first morning. He's signed up for the after-school program, which hopefully will provide him with opportunities for sports and other extracurricular activities.
He told me the other day that many of the other students in his classes tend to talk amongst themselves even while the teacher is talking, so I've had to reinforce the importance of paying attention and not following their lead. I hope the advanced math and English classes I signed him up for will challenge him. I've also registered him to take the Midwestern equivalent of the Johns Hopkins CTY exam he took last winter, in the hopes he will do well enough that I can get him in a program that will encourage his interest in math.
Beyond all that, we still like K'zoo, though the wet weather the past few days has been a bit of a damper. :-)
Good thing I'm a masochist.
I'm really enjoying my classes so far. Latin is always a pleasure, even if my brain is not as elastic as it once was, and rote memorization is increasingly difficult to achieve. More particularly, I'm loving the reading (and reading and reading and...) for the 2 seminars. Norman Cantor's Inventing the Middle Ages has been especially delightful; his cynicism and disdain for the Annaliste school had me laughing more than once this weekend.
Today's the first time I've come in for office hours; I'll be here every Tuesday, 8:30-10:30 a.m. Since it's the start of term and I have yet to hold my first discussion section, I don't anticipate any students stopping by. It's been a good time to do one of my seminar assignments for this week, which is to find 10 monographs and review the primary sources they used. I can access the library catalog from here, so I've got a nice long list of books to look at, with titles like England Before the Norman Conquest and The Golden Age of Northumbria and Church and Society in the Medieval North of England.
*wallows in geekiness*
I think my son is enjoying his new school, but since he spent all last week going over policies and procedures until his eyes glazed over, it's hard to say. He does like taking the bus, though we were a bit worried when it never picked him up the first morning. He's signed up for the after-school program, which hopefully will provide him with opportunities for sports and other extracurricular activities.
He told me the other day that many of the other students in his classes tend to talk amongst themselves even while the teacher is talking, so I've had to reinforce the importance of paying attention and not following their lead. I hope the advanced math and English classes I signed him up for will challenge him. I've also registered him to take the Midwestern equivalent of the Johns Hopkins CTY exam he took last winter, in the hopes he will do well enough that I can get him in a program that will encourage his interest in math.
Beyond all that, we still like K'zoo, though the wet weather the past few days has been a bit of a damper. :-)
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
As the page turns
Wow. I can't believe how quickly things are coming together. We've been in K'zoo for two weeks now and are settling in nicely in our new home. My son has made friends with a boy across the street, and they spend hours together playing D&D. It's been ages since my son had a kid his age he could hang out with, so this has made the change all the easier on both of us.
Schools starts for both of us on Tuesday. I've had to come up to campus every day this week for various orientation sessions and meetings. My feet are killing me, mostly from walking to or from the bus stop and then waiting around for the bus to come (only one of the various places I go to catch a bus have anyplace to sit while waiting). I've applied for a parking sticker, and as a TA I'm guaranteed one, but I haven't been able to get to the parking office to pick it up.
I'm very nervous about my TA assignment, which will involve leading 2 weekly discussion groups for a class not in my major field. I hope my age will give me a slight edge -- unlike most TAs, I am old enough to be a parent of most, if not all, of my students.
This weekend, while driving back to K'zoo from a weekend spent at my dad's, a story idea came to me. I'm still mulling it over, letting it ferment, but I hope to put it down on paper soon. Maybe this weekend will be a good time to set up my writing desk.
Schools starts for both of us on Tuesday. I've had to come up to campus every day this week for various orientation sessions and meetings. My feet are killing me, mostly from walking to or from the bus stop and then waiting around for the bus to come (only one of the various places I go to catch a bus have anyplace to sit while waiting). I've applied for a parking sticker, and as a TA I'm guaranteed one, but I haven't been able to get to the parking office to pick it up.
I'm very nervous about my TA assignment, which will involve leading 2 weekly discussion groups for a class not in my major field. I hope my age will give me a slight edge -- unlike most TAs, I am old enough to be a parent of most, if not all, of my students.
This weekend, while driving back to K'zoo from a weekend spent at my dad's, a story idea came to me. I'm still mulling it over, letting it ferment, but I hope to put it down on paper soon. Maybe this weekend will be a good time to set up my writing desk.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Next chapter
About 36 hours from now, the movers will be loading the last of our furniture and boxes upon boxes of books on to the truck. By this time next week we will be in K'zoo and getting acquainted with our new home; if we're lucky, our furniture will have just arrived as well. In less than a month, both of us will be heading off for our first day of classes -- him in middle school, and me in graduate school.
It's a new chapter in a story that seems to have taken a bit of a dogleg recently, as though the author decided to engage in some stream of consciousness in the middle of an otherwise straightforward narrative, and is now returning to a more conventional means of story-telling. At least, I hope that's the case. I'm not keen to put myself, or my son, through any more upheaval for a while. If all goes well, we can count on at least 2 years in K'zoo; I hope it will turn out to be more.
It's a new chapter in a story that seems to have taken a bit of a dogleg recently, as though the author decided to engage in some stream of consciousness in the middle of an otherwise straightforward narrative, and is now returning to a more conventional means of story-telling. At least, I hope that's the case. I'm not keen to put myself, or my son, through any more upheaval for a while. If all goes well, we can count on at least 2 years in K'zoo; I hope it will turn out to be more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
