Ongoing goings on...

I think that my apartment building is clearing out, unit by unit. My apartment building is shaped roughly like a U, and since I am on the inside of that U, I face all of the other units that face the courtyard. And very few lights on that side of the building go on at night anymore. I don't know what it is. It's not yet 10:00 PM as I write this, and I have been working at the computer for well over an hour and change, facing out a window the entire time. There is a single window lit on the entire face of the the other side of the building. That's one window out of about 20 units. What, was there some sort of carbon monoxide leak that I haven't heard about?

Anyway, work was work today. My higher ups, dang them all to gosh-darned heck, kindly informed me of a new assignment that is required for all students. A 1-minute talk to be given at the end of the summer semester in front of, well, everyone. Seriously, I should be furious about an administrative assault on my syllabus so late in the term, but the sobering reality is that I have come to expect complete failures on the part of this program. Unbelievable. Am I supposed to grade it? I don't know. Topic? Beats me.

I kind of want to give them an assignment to talk about what a great teacher I am. It's about as snarky a response to incompetence as I have at my disposal. I'm not sure that it means anything, but I have always been a fan of extravagant gestures of questionable significance.

One of my students is writing a review of gospel rap albums. Yay. That's fine and everything, and as we worked in groups and I made the rounds of the class I read her paper. She came up with a line, "So-and-so lets unbelievers know that they do not have to be alone and unhappy." I told her, "You know, most unbelievers are pretty happy, or at least no more miserable than anyone else. Really." I mentioned this not to bitchslap her faith like it needed (she was wearing T-shirt that said "God is a gangsta: 'The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force'"). I put it in the terms of the rhetorical situation, like the professional I am. "You need to consider your audience. What if a happy atheist read this?"

Who knows? Hopefully it was a learning moment for her.

Animala was supposed to return today, but her mother took a tumble right before Animala was supposed to come home. It does not seem as if there is any damage, but she got dizzy after a visit to the supermarket and fell while Animala was pulling the car around. There was a CAT scan and a more or less clean bill of health, I guess. Except for that whole passing out thing.

Oh well. We need to see how that pans out.

HJ