The other evening, my department threw a welcome party for the students majoring in our, um, major. There was a slip n' slide that Guinness and his book of records should know about. There was also a photobooth. My colleagues and I wanted to model good behavior, so we did our own photobooth demo. May I just say that I am so so glad to have landed in a place where pedagogy is our prime occupation and taking ourselves very seriously is all we have time to do every day?
Dear Diary, This past week, the dream I held for myself when I was a little girl? Did not come true.
And thank God for that.
Especially since I think being the first U.S. Olympic Team woman figure skater to be featured on a Trapper Keeper wearing hot pink and orchid-colored leg warmers now seems a little ill-advised. I mean, the Trapper Keeper industry seems like it has sort of taken a slump in the Western market (but who knows for Asia, you know?). And I think the cold, cloistered life on an ice rink would have bummed me out after awhile, anyway.
So, I'm glad this past week to have just embraced this new dream. I taught three classes that I'd never taught before, to students that listened and engaged and asked questions and said things like, "Those are my faves." I was glad when they laughed when I dove across a table pretending to be a Serious Journalist on a Deadline, but I was less than glad when they tried to add me as a Facebook friend because, urrm? Where else am I allowed to talk about students?
I was also proud of my Loverpants who also taught a college class and he not only wore a bowtie and cufflinks and red Converse chucks but also launched his course with a cultural anthropology exercise that very much rocked.
Toward the end of the week, I walked in a parade of people wearing robes and funny hats with tassels, and a little part of me wondered if this was sort of the same thrill as landing a triple salchow.
::OOOOWWWWOOOOWWWWW goes the crowd::
I am a very fortunate liver of this proffy dream.
To academic integrity, and beyond!
Yours, K
***
Loverpants ironing my regalia. I like most domesticity but the ironing is not one of my faves.
***
P.S. I am $285 away from reaching my goal for ASH. Could you throw a fin toward sustaining medicine for women and children outside of Nairobi, Kenya?
Hey and woah, was that some whiplash from this past week? British royals trothing, Bin Laden exiting, the end of my adjunctship. Seriously. Whirlwind. Surely I missed the release of a new Toaster Strudel flavor in there? Please inform.
My sister and her beaufriend visited for a long weekend, so I'm just getting back to life without their jocundity. They are lovely folks and very open to adventure-making. So much so that I have no not so many pictures of their time here. We were very busy mounting carousels and giving one another fictitious names and singing the throwback Care Bears theme song ad infintum. And talking about walking, parking, driving, and garages. And making fun of Shad for his iPhone dependency. ♥ ya, Shad.
There's a lot happening; even the trees are busy doing their pollination dance and hitting my sinuses with a meat cleaver. I've got a hundred squillion and one papers to grade and childcare is nil but it'll all get done. I know this tried and true business of Getting Things Done. What I also know is that my strength comes from above. I was on my knees last week begging God as to why He was expecting so much of me all at once. His response was perfect. "I've given you enough for one day, Kendra. So just unwrap what you need for today. And tomorrow, well, that's tomorrow's business."
Amen.
*** Sights from a princess party at our wonderful and inventive friend LMac's:
Daisies + Pimms
Bubbles on the porch
Principesa Ita
AC and her divine twins Cal-Bow and Mooese
Viewing party
Charley, king of his castle
Tatum, non-plused
