November 25

If I write and publish a scholarly article, Robert Fuller won’t be any closer.

November 25, 1964

Pep rally and Faculty-Student football Game today. The J.V. cheerleaders are good but not very good. Of course they are better than I am. I have a feeling we lost a great team last year. Richie Peagler, Jim Carter, and Lenny Knaggs were pretty good.

I went to see “How the West Was Won” with Bob tonight. Boy, was it good! And only two (Count ‘em) two swears in the whole 3 1/2 hours - what a miracle! Well, tomorrow I help out at the hospital.

Comment 2022

Sometimes the most interesting thing about my diary is what I didn’t write. In 1963, one year earlier, the Faculty-Student football game was on Friday, Nov. 22. The entire school was out on the athletic field, half-heartedly watching the game (we were NOT a football school, as my paean to the previous year’s  hoops team proves.). My friend Claudia was listening to her (forbidden) transistor radio and started crying and loudly announcing that President Kennedy had been shot. Before long, no one was paying attention the game, which went on until suddenly it didn’t. 

Students who rode buses left; those of us who walked or drove went into the school to follow the news. I was in Mr. Wilbur’s classroom when we heard that the President had died. My brother Bob and I walked home, in silence. When my mother came home from work, she described the scene at the local hospital. Some of the patients had their televisions on, and the nursing staff had their hands full keeping people calm while half-watching the news themselves. Mom was in a patient’s room when the President’s death was announced. Screams and crying could be heard all down the halls. Seconds later, another nurse bolted into the room, blurting, “He’s still alive on channel 2!” 

That evening, my brother drove me to our church on the village green so I could play music on the carillon. “Nearer, my God, to Thee”, “Abide with Me”, and, of course “Eternal Father, Strong to Save” — the Navy Hymn, forever linked to John F. Kennedy and that day.

Comment 2023

A tiny extraneous comment: What a delicate flower I was, counting the swear words in movies!

1977

I’ve been writing a personal statement for the Danforth Fellowship for weeks, it seems. That kind of essay is extremely tough. How do I explain myself and my interest in teaching? It’s something I haven’t ever put into words. I like it because I do it well and feel comfortable doing it. But that isn’t enough to say in the essay.

Last night I experienced shortness of breath and painful coughing. I think I am coming down with something, Ick.

1978

How much do I want to be a famous, established authority in my field? How much can I do? I can’t even sound intellectual when I write! For all the philosophy I try to absorb, I still scribble down my bare-boned, midwestern thoughts and they still sound shallow and unimportant.

Want, desire, crave, need, hunger for. There must be more intelligent-sounding words for what I feel. Maybe short words will be better in this case. I want: respect, wisdom, knowledge, fame (good fame only) and to ball Robert Fuller. Soon, before he’s too old.

If I write and publish a scholarly article, Robert Fuller won’t be any closer. I’ll still be an inhibited Lutheran girl from North Platte at heart. I’ll still be a faithful wife (except in my mind) and I’ll still write vapid prose.

Maybe if I used more big words in conversation, or simply selected my words more carefully. How is that different from saying “picked my words more carefully?”

Perhaps it’s all snobbery, after all.

Comment 2023

Robert Fuller. Another celebrity crush, though I was 29, no longer a “school girl”, unless grad school counts. I just looked up him up; he’s 90 and living on a ranch in Texas. Happily married. That makes me happy.

1990

This Thanksgiving was really great. Lovely weather, good company, a minimum of TV and tantrums…and the house is still moderately clean. What would it take to get it clean/organized and then keep it that way?

1) having a place for everything
2) training kids to put things away
3) training Jim to put things away
4) vacuum 2x a week
5) 1 bathroom floor/week
6) sweep 1 x a week
7) kitchen floor every other week
8) dust 2x week
9) clear newspapers daily
10) sort/toss mail daily

My next big push is cleaning the office (will take all day) and a search/delete effort on books and toys.

1997

The semester is really winding down down, and so far it has not caved in on me. I haven’t achieved everything I set out to do, but I have managed to stay sane, cook from scratch, make things, exercise and meditate nearly every day and not yell at the kids too much. Things are better. Things are even good!

2002

Had an excellent meeting with dept chair about returning to American Studies from my administrative post with College Park Scholars. This feels like the right move. I need to focus on the Big Picture of my writing and get started as soon as possible. It’s important to finish up my grading, nominating committee stuff, and to keep up with the PTSA work. There is still too much do. But next year I will be doing it in one office instead of all over. This feels so right.

Comment 2024

And it was right, even though I missed CPS for years after. The best job I ever had.

2003

Wednesday, feeling like Saturday.

Jim took the day off to prepare for Thanksgiving. I’ve been doing a mix of grading and lounging around. I’m ready to head into winter “retreat” mode, but not yet!! I have grading to finish, and piles of it. Two big holidays to get through. And then I can relax…

2017

Today is Saturday.

Good Thanksgiving, with several days of family and friends. 

I am listening to “A History of the World in Six Glasses”. It has revived my interest in ancient history. It was my favorite history course in high school, and an early fascination in elementary school. I remember doing a project on Ancient Egypt in fifth or sixth grade. And watching “Civilization” when I was in grad school. I wonder what America will be called when we are ancient history?

2023

Excellent Thanksgiving yesterday, hosted by Kiddo 2 and his girlfriend. Tasty food, good company; what more does anyone need?