Friday, May 30, 2008

I can be googled!

One of the sad side effects of my marriage was that it made me ungoogleable. Try it. You don't really get much that is linked to me. But now, because I have an article published in an online journal (which is published by a real and reputable publisher, so it's a real thing) you can find me! I exist on the web!

(Of course, you have to google me in quotation marks with all my middle initials, but it's still progress. Of a sort).

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Pointless Reviews

I have, I admit, a somewhat snobby take on productions of Shakespeare, but the current Richard III running nearby has one serious problem; I put to you a hypothetical situation:

Say you need to portray a character whose arm is withered and needs to be tethered to his side. Do you simply have him put it in his pocket, or do you have him grabbing his crotch? The Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis seems to have opted for the crotch-grab. They have also given him a glove on that hand and not the other. It means that he looks a little like Michael Jackson . . . but mostly he just looks pervy.


Particularly when he gives Anne a ring that he takes off his finger (at least, I assume it was his finger . . . )

Friday, May 16, 2008

not QUITE right

My summation of grading possibilities was not quite right, but was close-ish. I had 4 students whose papers were less than half the length they were meant to be, 1 plagiarist, and 1 who turned papers in after the deadline for grades.

Oh, and one person (the one who wanted me not to enforce my attendance policy) that gave me a paper on something we read earlier in the semester that he'd already written a paper on, instead of something that we'd read recently.

I have decided that I am happy to be done. And I graded 60 papers in one day, which left me with a throbbing headache and a sense of righteous accomplishment.

Monday, May 12, 2008

It begins . . .

In a few minutes (after I finish blogging to waste time and put off the evil day) I am going to start grading my stack of final papers. I'm projecting (and, if anyone wants to make it interesting with a little friendly wager, let me know) 2 cases of plagiarism, 4 people whose papers don't make the required length requirements, and at least one person who gives me a response paper along the lines of "I like The Importance of Being Earnest, because of the pretty costumes," which will also tell me that he/she didn't actually read the play, and is relying entirely on the film.

But the rest will probably be fine.

On the bright side, this is the last grading/teaching/thinking about students that I will have to do for at least 15 months.

Monday, May 5, 2008

mmm . . . carrots

Check out this rather disturbing quiz --

http://Bush-McCainChallenge.com/?rc=challenge-friends&r_id=12570-4022553-.QFv6z

It tells us exactly why Hilary needs to get the hell out of the race so that we can focus on the actual presidential campaign and keep McCain from getting a free ride.

Friday, May 2, 2008

whining, moaning and students

(You notice how I'm leaving ambiguous whether it's me or the students who's whining and moaning? That's cleverness!)

So a student came in yesterday to see me. He admitted right up front that he'd missed a third of the classes this semester, and he said that he hoped that it was all right. Or rather, he hoped that I wasn't "going to be super-mean on your attendance policy." By "super-mean" I think he meant enforce it at all. When I said that it depended a bit on why he'd missed the classes he said "I'm not going to lie to you -- some of the time it was laziness, but some of the time it was because I had a really hard class right after yours, so I had to skip yours to study for the other one."

This is, by the way, not an answer that will endear you to a teacher.

When I said that I wouldn't automatically fail him, as my policy says I would, and rather would grade his work as it was, he asked what grade he was likely to get. I said that he might get a C. He said he was really hoping for a B or even an A. I ask you -- what sort of person thinks they deserve an A for showing up 66% of the time? In a class with an attendance policy?

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Well, this is new

So I decided to blog. I'm not sure why, but it seemed like something everyone else was doing.

I think it was part of beginning to feel old. Because nothing keeps you young like sitting huddled over the keyboard typing words that no one will read.

I'll come up with something clever to say later.