September 5
“YOU probably think nutrition is BORING! Well, YOU’RE WRONG!!!!”
1979
Today was not a real productive day. I woke up tired and stayed tired. Basically all I accomplished was coursework. I forgot how long it took to get slides done and all the other stuff. So I ironed, read the paper, took a shower and prepared a handout for my students. (Which may or may not be a good idea, but I think it’s a nice touch.)
The lecture today was so-so. I still am not articulate, much less eloquent. They found my lecture too general, I think, and hard to take notes from. Certainly it wasn’t all I hoped it would be. So I had a dull day. (It’s wet, too. Yuck.)
Of greater concern is the fact that I have only managed to cover 8+7+1=16 years of cartoons out of 93 in the last week. At that rate it will take me 6 more weeks to finish, and I am going even slower this week.
Plan! Plan! Plan!
Today:
8-10:15 Campus library
10:30 meet with advisor
After that meeting, meet with computer consultant and data analysis
Friday: 5-6 hours in campus library
Saturday and Sunday: work on my lectures
My class days may well end up being less than useful. I would like to spend two hours in the library those days. Class prep takes an hour. If I get to campus at 10:30, go right to the library and work until 12:30 or 12:45?
Comment 2023
I don’t know where I got the idea that I had to be a great lecturer in order to be a good teacher. The best teacher I ever had, the immortal Sarah (Sally) Short of Syracuse University was no lecturer at all, but her basic nutrition class was a work of art. An article in the student paper on the occasion of her 50th (!!!) year in the classroom describes what went on in the first (and only) lecture in that class the year I took it. “She would ride motorcycles down the stairs of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications into her lecture. .. She would put strobe lights around her classroom to put on a display during class”. She climbed off the motorcycle and shouted to the 200 or so astonished students, “YOU PROBABLY THINK NUTRITION IS BORING! BUT IT’S NOT!!!!!” The rest of the class was in labs, on audio tapes and super 8 films available on demand in a special classroom, and a programmed learning lesson on the university main frame that was my introduction to computers - in 1969!
1982
Labor Day weekend. About a year ago, Kiddo was conceived. What a marvelous year this has been!
It's a glorious weekend, sunny and warm and dry. I made pea soup this morning; it smells so good. Kiddo is sleeping, Jim is washing the car. God’s in his heaven, all is right with the world. I'm easing into my new work routine with less trouble than I expected. Being a mother has given me a new perspective on my work. Clearly my priorities have changed! And what's more, I like it. I don't diddle around at work so much, and my home time is more focused, less of a blur. I could hug Jim to pieces, I love him to pieces. Kiddo is a nice person. I enjoy her immensely.
1983
What a strange and marvelous weekend. Despite Jim being sick and my being downish, I actually got quite a bit accomplished. The bathroom ceiling has a second coat of paint, the laundry is done, the floor is mopped. I read two (2!) books - a mystery and Russell Baker’s autobiography. I did 1 hour of work on campus. I pulled the zinnias (the first of the garden’s decline). Kiddo was an angel. I fear for that girl…she’s too good! For no known reason I put her in her crib Friday night, THEN gave her the bottle of water and read to her, instead of the other way around. She fell asleep on her own. Three nights in a row, and two naps. Amazing. Was all the fuss at night because I was holding her? Very interesting. She’s also been more independent in her play during the day. For all my complaints, not a bad weekend!
1984
A good day. I got a lot done despite Kiddo’s pediatrician appointment. It’s taken two years, but I am actually getting plenty of work accomplished.
I had an article returned (from Sex Roles journal) that I’ve been working on for a year. Feh. Maybe I am mediocre, or just a little above average. I want to be excellent, and I am in some areas. But … not research. (sigh)
Can I improve? Maybe teaching the historiography course will be a personal excursion. Time to concentrate on boys’ clothing, get those book chapters done, get published. Forget other writing projects for now.
2002
The third “first day” of my classes; I’ve had the first meeting of some class every day since Tuesday, with one more to go next Monday. On the plus side: it has given me time to focus on one class at a time. The downside is the attentuation of the first day feelings of stress, confusion and anxiety.
“The pitcher cries for water and a person for work that is real.” - Marge Piercy
Lovely and true.
2003
The end of the first week of classes. I finally had my course as organized as it is going to get, and just needed the missing ingredient: students. So having classes actually start and being able to meet my students has slid the final puzzle piece into place. We started slowly. The syllabus on day one, learning styles on day two. Next we begin to grapple with Dead Man Walking. The best part of my day is the workout before class. I have just enough time to drop Kiddo2 and Jannik at school, head to the rec center for a 20 minute workout, shower, and travel to class. The workout and shower gives me thinking time. The first day I was exhausted, but Thursday I felt energized and refreshed when it all ended. Love my schedule so far!
2007
I need to feel confident in creating and publishing podcasts. Right now it is very time-consuming and rough. I can NOT get there by just playing around.
Comment 2023
Yeah, I did a Sally Short and created podcasts for hybrid classes.
2017
I got up around 7, had breakfast, did the usual, changed my Invisalign. And took a walk to the school and back through the woods while listening to half of a 48-minute Tara Brach talk.
When I was in sixth grade, I grew. I was growing before then, of course, but this time it was noticeable. Every week we lined up for physical education, from shortest to tallest. In September, I was at the short end of the line, among the smallest kids in the class. But every few weeks, I got nudged up, until by my birthday in May, I was at the other end of the line. Aging is like that, sometimes.
2023
Lots of reading going on this week. On Saturday I took five books out of the campus library, most have to do with the gender puzzle I am working on over at Gender Mystique. I also borrowed a book on “slow living” for the “simple living” short course I am teaching later this fall. Read a chapter in each book, taking notes, and my mind is buzzing!