tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83560079145222517442024-02-06T20:29:50.683-06:00This Academic LifeBits and pieces of my life as a newly tenured academic. Also, frequent tangents about kids, writing, books, etc.Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-561123675723995282011-10-26T07:13:00.001-05:002011-10-26T07:15:03.941-05:00Teach Us to Care, and Not to CareLife is funny. [Skies are sunny. Bees make honey. Tell me, where is Paradise? I'd love to change the world, but I don't know what to do. So I leave it all to you...]<br />
<br />
Ten Years After, for those of you too young to recognize the lyrics.<br />
<br />
It's just after 7 am here in Wisconsin, and I am pondering life, the Universe, and everything [with apologies to Douglas Adams].<br />
<br />
My classes are going well--my students seem much more engaged than the batch last year, and that makes my job much easier and more enjoyable.<br />
<br />
But other things are, shall we say, a bit of a mess. After news back in August that not only were our healthcare premiums going up, but that we're also going to responsible for $1,000 out-of-pocket, we got word yesterday that the governor has proposed (and will likely get) a <a href="http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20111026/GPG0101/110260656/Wisconsin-Walker-government-politics-unions">wage freeze</a> for all state employees for the next two years. This is on the heels of a wage freeze in 2009, which was followed by furloughs. I guess the silver lining in this plan is that our wages aren't being frozen at the furlough level.<br />
<br />
A dear friend is going through a very rough patch, and I can't even hug her because she lives too far away. As I was thinking about her this morning, lines from TS Eliot's poem "Ash Wednesday" popped into my head:<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Lady of silences<br />
Calm and distressed<br />
Torn and most whole<br />
Rose of memory<br />
Rose of forgetfulness<br />
Exhausted and life-giving<br />
Worried reposeful<br />
The single Rose<br />
Is now the Garden<br />
Where all loves end<br />
Terminate torment<br />
Of love unsatisfied<br />
The greater torment<br />
Of love satisfied<br />
End of the endless<br />
Journey to no end<br />
Conclusion of all that<br />
Is inconclusible<br />
Speech without word and<br />
Word of no speech<br />
Grace to the Mother<br />
For the Garden<br />
Where all love ends.</span></span><br />
<br />
I feel so badly for her, and I want to help her. All I can do is sit still, though, and just be here.<br />
<br />
I also thought of this portion of the poem, relative to my own situation:<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Because these wings are no longer wings to fly<br />
But merely vans to beat the air<br />
The air which is now thoroughly small and dry<br />
Smaller and dryer than the will<br />
Teach us to care and not to care<br />
Teach us to sit still.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
I do hope to turn again--but because the hope rests on squarely in the category "IF," I am confronted with the notion that I must both care (about my students) (about my friend) and not care (about all of the things I cannot control). This has been the most difficult lesson of my adult life, and I am still learning it.<br />
<br />
Read the full poem <a href="http://www.msgr.ca/msgr-7/ash_wednesday_t_s_eliot.htm">here</a>.Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-36372631694406091762011-08-07T10:31:00.000-05:002011-08-07T10:31:21.811-05:00It's August Already?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">August. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It's a <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0594503/">Miyazaki</a> morning here on this misty Wisconsin morning. So far, it's been <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097814/">Kiki's Delivery Service</a></i> followed by <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0876563/">Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea</a></i>. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The countdown for back-to-school has begun. My contract year (for which I still do not have a contract outlining my salary) begins August 26th.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">As a newly-tenured professor, I will get a pay bump. One that will be completely wiped out by the new insurance co-pays and premium increases. Really happy about that.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">OK I am not going to complain in this post. I am going to write about what I am looking forward to in this upcoming academic year, namely my SF lit/film course.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">ENG 28(4): Science Fiction Literature and Film.<i> </i>Here's the course description from my 2009 syllabus:</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjff6VDvOe44AVxRp4Xz2WAQ6qAKCKMS38w-O-uleBVLCZLu0r7PUJAesVbjWk31ToYsYETdl4CEb2ARjsoh6mJDRDa9nvoQBDDdXU6enetMJXHx0nYg9smqgRl90hkzKg26Xr8qOTZwnY/s1600/eldon+tyrell+blade+runner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjff6VDvOe44AVxRp4Xz2WAQ6qAKCKMS38w-O-uleBVLCZLu0r7PUJAesVbjWk31ToYsYETdl4CEb2ARjsoh6mJDRDa9nvoQBDDdXU6enetMJXHx0nYg9smqgRl90hkzKg26Xr8qOTZwnY/s200/eldon+tyrell+blade+runner.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span></span></span></span><b><br />
“Commerce is our goal here at Tyrell. ‘More human than human’ is our motto.” –Dr. Eldon Tyrell Blade Runner (1982)<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i>For almost two centuries, science fiction (or speculative fiction) has existed as a genre that explores, more than any other, the question “What if?” </i><i>This course will examine what it means to be human in an engineered age—what responsibilities do we have, if any? How far will we go to push the limits of science? Is there such a thing as ‘too far’?<br />
<br />
The consensus among SF writers and filmmakers seems to be…yes. We will spend considerable time in and out of class pondering the impact of technology on our lives—the moral, political, and social ramifications of our dependence on machines—a dependence as old as civilization itself. Some of our themes will deal with the idea of progress; industrialization (and its ancillaries: capitalism and globalization); the corporatization of society; feminism; and we will wrestle with the question of postmodernism.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I absolutely <i>adore</i> this course. The whole thing is centered around what it means to be human in a technological age, and it's long been my opinion is that this is the central motif in all SF lit and film. All other questions are ancillary to question "What does it mean to be human?" (I'd argue that this is the prime question for all creative human endeavors--that those who create are seeking answers to this question.)</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The course starts with <i>Frankenstein</i> (the novel, then James Whale's 1931 adaptation), progresses to <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017136/">Metropolis</a></i> (1927, Fritz Lang), Asimov's <i>I, Robot</i> stories ("Robbie" "Escape!" and "Evidence"), watch <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343818/">I, Robot</a></i> (2004, Alex Proyas) and round out the first half of the semester with Vonnegut's <i>Player Piano. </i>I <i>love </i>that I get to mess around with critiquing capitalism. It's one of the things that makes this class so much fun.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The second half of the semester is devoted to the development of <a href="http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/what-is-cyberpunk/">cyberpunk</a>, starting with Philip K. Dick's <i>Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?</i> and Ridley Scott's <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/">Blade Runner</a> </i>(1982) which is one of my favorite films of all time. We read C.L. Moore's 1944 novella <i>No Woman Born</i>, which slots in really well with <i>Frankenstein</i> and the Prometheus idea. We do James Tiptree, Jr.'s "The Girl Who Was Plugged In" and I wish to heaven I had time to show and discuss <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/">Avatar</a> </i>(2009). I have them read three stories out of William Gibson's only short story collection <i>Burning Chrome</i> ("Johnny Mnemonic" "The New Rose Hotel" and "Burning Chrome") because I found in 2007 that we didn't have time to properly examine <i>Neuromancer </i>(1984). We finish out the semester with <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113568/">Ghost in the Shell</a></i> (1995) and <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/">The Matrix</a> </i>(1999).</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">I could do an entire course devoted to cyberpunk, and I think that the next time I teach SF lit (Fall 2013) that's what the course is going to have as its prime focus. There are so many stories (Bruce Sterling, Lester del Rey, Neal Stephenson, etc.) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">and films (<i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094625/">Akira</a></i>, <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/">Terminator </a>/ <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103064/">Terminator 2</a></i>, etc) that I simply don't have time but would love to teach that I think it's time to re-jigger the course again. As I'm teaching it this semester, I'm going to plan for the next time instead of leaving it go.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">And don't get me started on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk">steampunk</a>...I know, I know, I'm way behind on my book reviews. Stay tuned...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoBodyText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div></span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-62771393428018967752011-07-29T11:30:00.001-05:002011-07-29T11:35:39.143-05:00More Fool MeI haven't posted in a while, partly because I've begun working on myown <a href="http://www.happiness-project.com/">Happiness Project</a>, and partly because I haven't wanted to think much about the coming school year and what it's going to mean for me in terms of my morale.<br />
<br />
Well, I checked a post today put up by a UW-Madison grad student on one of the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/155733797817484/?ap=1">Facebook message boards</a> I belong to. I'm going to post the announcement from 10 days ago (which I hadn't read until today because I thought I knew what was in it--such a trusting fool) in its entirety. The parts that directly affect my family are highlighted.<br />
<br />
<i>Changes Coming to State Group Health Insurance<br />
<br />
And Union-Related Deductions<br />
<br />
July 19, 2011<br />
<br />
A number of changes to the Wisconsin Retirement System, the state health insurance program and unionrelated deductions are taking effect due to the implementation of Wisconsin Act 10 (2011 Budget Repair <br />
<br />
Bill) and Wisconsin Act 32 (Biennial Budget for 2011-2013). In addition to this summary of changes to the <br />
<br />
State of Wisconsin Group Health Insurance program, please see the Impact of Act 10 on UW System <br />
<br />
Employee Benefits Frequently Asked Questions.<br />
<br />
Changes to Health Insurance Program<br />
<br />
Employee Premium Contributions <br />
<br />
Effective with the biweekly payroll ending August 13 (pay date of August 25) and monthly payroll ending <br />
<br />
August 31 (pay date of September 1):<br />
<br />
Health insurance premiums will increase as specified in WI Act 10 as amended by WI Act 32 (see below for new premium contributions).<br />
<br />
Employees working less than 50% of full-time will continue to pay the less-than-half-time rates.<br />
<br />
LTEs must have at least two concurrent appointments to be eligible for the full employer premium <br />
<br />
contributions.<br />
<br />
New Employee Health Insurance <br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: lime;">Monthly Premium Contributions for WRS-Participants<br />
<br />
Single Family<br />
<br />
Tier 1 (all plans, except the Standard Plan) $84 $208</span><br />
<br />
Tier 2 (Standard Plan – required to work outside WI) $122 $307<br />
<br />
Tier 3 (Standard Plan – work in WI) $226 $567<br />
<br />
Less-than-half –time rates 50% of premium<br />
<br />
New Employee Health Insurance <br />
<br />
Monthly Premium Contributions for <br />
<br />
Graduate Assistants, Post Docs and Short-Term Academic<br />
<br />
Single Family<br />
<br />
Tier 1 (all plans, except the Standard Plan) $42 $104<br />
<br />
Tier 2 (Standard Plan – required to work outside WI) $61 $153.50<br />
<br />
Tier 3 (Standard Plan – work in WI) $113 $283.50<br />
<br />
Special Opportunity to Cancel or Change Level of Coverage<br />
<br />
Treasury regulations governing IRS Code Section 125 restricts mid-year changes to health insurance coverage for employees who pay their premium contribution on a pre-tax basis. However, a significant cost change is a circumstance that allows for mid-year changes. Due to the increase in the employee’s premium cost, you may cancel your coverage entirely or change from family to single coverage provided a Health Application/Change Form is submitted to your payroll and benefits office within 30 days of the date of the first paycheck from which the increased premium is deducted. <br />
<br />
Coverage changes will be effective on the later of the end of the month on or following your employer’s receipt of the application to cancel coverage or the end of the month after the date of the premium increase.<br />
<br />
For more specific details, please see the Detailed FAQ on Impact of Act 10 and Act 32, questions 8 – 14.<br />
<br />
Uniform Benefits<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: lime;">Section 9115 of WI Act 10 requires that the Group Insurance Board (GIB) design health care coverage plans for the 2012 calendar year that, after adjusting for inflation, reduces the average premium cost of tier 1 plans by at least 5% from the cost of the plan during the 2011 calendar year.<br />
<br />
The GIB considered various options of achieving the cost reduction, such as the implementation of office visit and inpatient copayments, deductibles, coinsurance, adjusting the prescription drug benefit and eliminating the optional dental benefits offered by most plans. <br />
<br />
After due deliberation, the GIB approved the following changes to Uniform Benefits, effective January 1,2012, resulting from WI Act 10 implementation:<br />
<br />
Apply coinsurance to medical services. Benefits will be payable at 90% up to an annual outof-pocket maximum of $500 for an individual/$1,000 for a family. <br />
<br />
Coinsurance is based on a set percentage of the cost. For example, if the discounted medical charges are $200, the member will be responsible for $20, which is 10% of the charge. <br />
<br />
Once a member has paid $500 in coinsurance for an individual, or $1000 for family coverage, in a calendar year, the 10% coinsurance will not be applied for the remainder of the year. The $1000 out-of-pocket maximum for families is cumulative, so once any combination of family members has paid $1000 in coinsurance, the coinsurance ends for the rest of that calendar year. It is not required that two family members each incur $500 in coinsurance in order to satisfy the $1000 coinsurance requirement.<br />
<br />
Preventive care, such as physicals and well-baby care, is not subject to coinsurance.<br />
Examples of preventive care will be provided by the Department of Employee Trust Funds this fall.<br />
<br />
Coinsurance will be applied to the discounted fee negotiated by the plan and the <br />
provider (as opposed the actual amount charged). <br />
<br />
Members will be billed for the coinsurance. Payment will not be due at the time of service.<br />
<br />
Increase the emergency room copayment from $60 per occurrence to $75 (waived if admitted). This does not get applied to the out-of-pocket maximum.<br />
<br />
If eligible to participate in the Employee Reimbursement Account (ERA) program, out-of-pocket costs for coinsurance and copays are eligible for reimbursement under the ERA <br />
Medical Expense Reimbursement Account.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Standard Plan<br />
<br />
Act 10 does not apply to the Standard Plan; however, the GIB also chose to modify the Standard Health Plan for the 2012 calendar year. The GIB’s intent was to enact a similar benefit cut and modernize the Standard Plan to facilitate the long-term sustainability of the program. The GIB approved the following changes to the Standard Plan, effective January 1, 2012:<br />
<br />
In network: <br />
<br />
Deductible will increase from $100 for an individual/$200 for a family to $200 for <br />
an individual/$400 for a family.<br />
<br />
Apply coinsurance to medical services. Benefits will be payable at 90% up to an <br />
annual out-of-pocket maximum of $800 for an individual/$1,600 for a family. <br />
<br />
Coinsurance is based on a set percentage of the cost. For example, if the <br />
discounted medical charges are $200, the member will be responsible for $20, <br />
which is 10% of the charge. <br />
<br />
Once a member has paid $800 in coinsurance for an individual, or $1,600 for a<br />
family, in a calendar year, the 10% coinsurance will not be applied for the remainder of the year. The $1,600 out-of-pocket maximum for families is cumulative, so once any combination of family members has paid $1,600 in coinsurance, the coinsurance ends for the rest of that calendar year. It is not required that two family members each incur $800 in coinsurance in order to satisfy the $1,6000 coinsurance requirement.<br />
<br />
This does not apply to preventive care, such as physicals and well-baby care. <br />
<br />
Coinsurance will be applied to the discounted fee negotiated by the plan and the <br />
provider (as opposed the actual amount charged). <br />
<br />
Members will be billed for the coinsurance. It will not be due at the time of service.<br />
<br />
Out of network:<br />
<br />
Deductible will remain $500 per individual and $1,000 per family.<br />
<br />
The annual out-of-pocket maximum will remain $2,000 per individual and $4,000 <br />
per family.<br />
<br />
Coinsurance will change from 80/20 to 70/30. Coinsurance is based on a set <br />
percentage of the cost. For example, if the discounted medical charges are $200, <br />
the member will be responsible for $60 for coinsurance, which is 30% of the <br />
charge. Currently with the 20% coinsurance, the member is responsible for $40 of <br />
a $200 charge.<br />
<br />
Emergency Room Copayment<br />
<br />
Add an emergency room copayment of $75 per occurrence (waived if admitted). <br />
<br />
This does not get applied to the out-of-pocket maximum. It applies to emergency <br />
room services received in network or out of network.<br />
<br />
If eligible to participate in the Employee Reimbursement Account (ERA) program, out-of-pocket costs for coinsurance and copays are eligible for reimbursement under the ERA <br />
<br />
Medical Expense Reimbursement Account.4<br />
<br />
Prescription Drug Benefits<br />
<br />
There will be no changes to the prescription drug program for 2012. The annual out-of-pocket maximum of $410 for an individual or $820 for a family will remain and is separate from the out-of-pocket maximum for medical services.<br />
<br />
Employee Eligibility<br />
<br />
Most employees hired on or after July 1, 2011 will need to work 2/3 of full-time to be eligible for health insurance. Any service with a WRS-employer prior to July 1, 2011 will be sufficient for the employee to be eligible under the old eligibility rules, which required that the employee work 1/3 of full-time. This applies even if the prior position was not eligible for participation in the WRS. <br />
<br />
WRS-eligible classified employees will need to work 2/3 of full-time to be eligible to enroll. This is equivalent to working 1200 hours per year, which is 58% of full-time. <br />
<br />
Faculty, academic staff and limited employees who work 9 months per year, will need to work at least 880 hours in a year, which is 56% of full-time.<br />
<br />
Faculty, academic staff and limited employees who work 12 months per year, will need to work at least 880 hours in a year, which is 42% of full-time.<br />
<br />
Eligibility for graduate assistants, post-docs and limited employees is not changing.<br />
<br />
Adult Dependent Child Eligibility<br />
<br />
Beginning January 1, 2012, adult children will be eligible to be covered under a parent’s health plan only until the end of the month in which they turn age 26. In 2011, unmarried children remain eligible until the end of the month in which they turn age 27. The change to age 26 as the limiting age is consistent with federal law.<br />
<br />
Termination of Coverage<br />
<br />
For termination of employment that occurs on or after January 1, 2012, the employer contribution towards health insurance coverage will end on the last day of the month in which the employee terminates. <br />
<br />
COBRA Continuation<br />
<br />
For terminations of employment that occurs on or after January 1, 2012, former employees will be <br />
<br />
permitted to continue their health insurance coverage for 18 months instead of the current 36-months. <br />
<br />
Family members who lose eligibility for coverage will still be allowed to continue coverage for 36 months. <br />
<br />
COBRA periods will be administered in accordance with federal law, which only requires 18 months of COBRA continuation for former employees.<br />
<br />
This does not affect employees who are retiring with an immediate or lump sum annuity or have escrowed sick leave credits as they may still maintain coverage for life. 5<br />
<br />
Union-Related Deductions<br />
<br />
Effective with the biweekly payroll ending July 16 (pay date of July 28) and monthly payroll ending July 31 <br />
<br />
(pay date of August 1):<br />
<br />
Deductions for union-sponsored dental plans will cease. The unions are responsible for informing their members of their options to maintain the union-sponsored dental plans going forward.<br />
<br />
Employees will need to pay premium directly to the union (post-tax).<br />
<br />
If an employee chooses to cancel coverage under a union-sponsored dental plan, it does not constitute a qualifying event for enrolling in Dental Wisconsin or Anthem DentalBlue.<br />
<br />
There will be an open enrollment for Dental Wisconsin this fall for coverage effective on January 1, 2012. If the person has other dental coverage in force immediately prior to the effective date of the Dental Wisconsin coverage, the waiting periods will be waived. Proof of other coverage, such as an ID card, must accompany the application.<br />
<br />
It is not yet known if an open enrollment period will be offered this fall for employees <br />
eligible to enroll in Anthem DentalBlue.</span><br />
<br />
Questions?<br />
<br />
Much more information will be provided as we get closer to the fall It’s Your Choice enrollment period. If you have questions that need response prior to that time, please contact your payroll/benefits office. In addition, ETF has posted an FAQ on their website (http://etf.wi.gov/). </i><br />
<div><i><br />
</i></div><div>So basically, in addition to my monthly premium going to $208 from $84, I can deduct another $1000 out of my already abysmally low salary to pay for my family's medical care. I can't even console myself with the knowledge that at least I'm in Tier 1 and I'm not getting fucked as hard as other people, because we're all pretty much fucked. Thank you, Republican assholes, douchebags, and fucktards. You have effectively fucked me and my fellow public employees out of huge chunk of our shitty salaries, and we will now be looking even harder for a job outside of this benighted goddamned state.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I had better benefits and pay when I worked in the private sector 10 years ago, but I chose the life of a public servant because I wanted to be a teacher. Always. Since I was a kid playing "School" in my bedroom with my younger sister.<br />
<br />
I knew I would never be rich working as a teacher, even as a college professor. I just wanted to have a decent middle-class life. It's not happening. I ran up $70K in student loan debt to get the education that would enable me to get a TT position. I live in a rented house, my newest car is a 2007 with over 70K miles on it, my husband's car (2002) is starting to fall apart and we can't afford to fix it until I get paid again in October, and on and on and on. I can't take it anymore. My salary is lower than a car mechanic's. My plumber makes more than I do, and I have 17 years of experience and two Master's degrees.</div><div><br />
</div><div>So I'm back to being heartsick and angry. I feel like a fool. So much for happiness.</div>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-58141841727525459522011-07-12T07:52:00.000-05:002011-07-12T07:52:26.843-05:00Give Away the Stone<div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 16px;" /></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQQlyJjBvcE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Grudge</span></a></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Lateralus</span></i></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Tool</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Lyrics by Maynard James Keenan</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 16px;" /></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"Clutch it like a cornerstone/ Otherwise it all comes down/ Justify denials and/ Grip 'em to the lonesome end/ <b><i>Terrified of being wrong</i></b>/ Ultimatum prison cell...Wear the grudge like a crown/ of negativity/ Calculate what we will/ or will not tolerate/ <b><i>Desperate to control</i></b>/ All and everything/ Unable to forgive these scarlet lettermen...Defining/ Confining/ <b><i>And sinking deeper</i></b>...Give away the stone/ Let the ocean take and/ Transmutate/ This cold and fated anchor...Let go/Let go/Let go..." </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 16px;" /></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This song is part of my therapy. MJK is my "Guardo Camino," to quote Henry Rollins.</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">For most of my life, I have had tremendous difficulty being "light"--as the oldest child in a dysfunctional household, I was the peacemaker, the helper, the fixer, the responsible one. I know that I played as a child (fond memories of my sandbox, and my plastic pool, and of course, my pony) but I also know that my games involved being on my own--parentless and fending for myself. Alone against a hostile world, only seeking to make a small comfortable spot to rest.</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Fast-forward. I'm 40. Political upheaval following years (20) of hard work towards the goal of attaining a tenured position has resulted in a scenario I find untenable, yet see no way out of. I spend much of the spring plugged in to various news outlets, growing steadily more disgusted, despairing, and impotently enraged as the weeks wear on. I have difficulty sleeping (again). Nothing is going according to my gorram plan. I am cross with my children and my husband--the three people who make up my small comfortable spot to rest. I am no fun to be around, because most conversations with me turn into rants about the stupidity and ignorance of the people who populate the county, the state, and the nation. I barely have the energy to finish the semester--I give what little energy I have left to my students, so there is none left for my family. I am not sure I have any friends left.</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">After a blow-out with Hubby, I come to realize that I am perilously close to losing what security and comfort I have managed to build with him over the past 10 years of our marriage. I am faced with a decision:</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Give away the stone, or let it drag me into the dark.</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Two weeks ago, I decided to give away the stone. I have unplugged from the news of the state and the country (except for <i>The New Yorker</i> and <i>Scientific American). </i>I read for pleasure, and I have started to write poetry again. I am on vacation. I smile more, and I look for things to laugh about (Tina Fey's oeuvre is a good place for that, FYI).</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I spend a lot of time outside, listening to the birds. I watch the house wrens and bluebirds fledge the same day, and I try to live in the moment. The poetry arising out of this moment makes me feel good, and I look forward to sharing it soon.</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A year ago, a friend of mine from college experienced something that visits me in my darkest nightmares: her husband fell asleep on the couch, and did not wake up. He was not in ill-health. He just...died. Leaving her with four girls, one of whom has severe health issues. My friend goes on because she has to--someone has to take care of the girls--but she misses her husband every day.</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Her tragedy is my reminder, and not in the cliche sense of "Live each day like it's your last." I feel more like I should try to live better, and part of living better means letting go of my anger about all the things I can't control. </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Getting bent out of shape means that I don't fit anywhere. </span></div>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-75755330942557819792011-07-07T08:30:00.001-05:002011-07-07T08:31:23.858-05:00We Got Some Wild Wild Life[All apologies to the Talking Heads...]<br />
<br />
Took a trip to the cottage for the Fourth of July weekend (which for us ended on Wednesday night, when we rolled into our driveway at 9pm). Sadly, no pics are available because the digital camera had a dead battery and I forgot the charger. Since it's a Sony Cybershot, and Sony's design is completely ass-backwards, the camera cannot be charged via the USB that connects it to the computer. Our 35mm Canon came along, but as Hubby was appalled at the cost to develop a single roll of film (over $10), he refused to get a CD (a $2 upcharge) and we had 4 rolls...taken on one day.<br />
<br />
The cottage is in far northern Wisconsin, a little over an hour from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (which frankly should just be part of Wisconsin, but what do I know). Hubby planned a surprise trip to the<a href="http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/Details.aspx?type=SPRK&id=426"> Porcupine Mountains </a>Wilderness Area, and we spent all day Sunday hiking the various trails. My shins are still recovering.<br />
<br />
What made it so special was that it was like a mini-honeymoon for us.<br />
<br />
On June 23, we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Our original honeymoon was a two-week drive through Minnesota, the Dakotas, the northeast corner of Wyoming (Devil's Tower), and Montana, and it was awesome. We wanted to do something similar for our 10th, but with two kids under 10, it didn't seem like it would work very well (though they are OK for the 225 mile trip to the cottage, I doubt either of them would endure the 14-hour drives we took to get to the various destinations on the original trip). The other issue is one of money--we don't have any to spare this year, and gas and hotels cost money.<br />
<br />
So Hubby came up with idea that we'd go to the nearest mountains, which happened to be in the UP. Added bonus were the <a href="http://www.lakegogebicarea.com/lakegogebicabout.htm">Union copper mines</a> (we'd spent 3 days in the Black Hills, where there are abandoned exploratory gold mines all over the place). We hiked up to <a href="http://www.fishweb.com/maps/ontonagon/porcupine_mtn/lakeoftheclouds/index.html">Lake of the Clouds</a>, and drove to various sites along the south Boundary Road of the wilderness area. We climbed the tower at <a href="http://www.superiortrails.com/porcupine.html">Summit Peak</a>, which overlooks Lake Superior. It was a really great day--14 hours of just the two of us. And no bears. A few weeks from now, when the blackberries are ripe, that area is bear-tastic.<br />
<br />
Wildlife on our lake this year has become more diverse. In addition to the pair of eagles (and their year-old progeny), the great blue herons (who keep pooping on our raft), the pair of loons (and their loonlets--so cute), the mallard family, belted kingfishers, veeries, and thrushes, we have two new species. A pair of common mergansers and a pair of broad-winged hawks have taken up residence:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDIe_j7J5xpZzv-fg5NEMe82wx_gJ8gtGjaevzznbj6a_p1BHWEQL738dUDaJ4S3FAK7y8vhzNpYML384mbxcXJUjjKKn64O_ndvcNAo-C8HjbnO-OsupkRPFHv7fsUW2h3pFcg9eYTDs/s1600/Broad-winged_Hawk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDIe_j7J5xpZzv-fg5NEMe82wx_gJ8gtGjaevzznbj6a_p1BHWEQL738dUDaJ4S3FAK7y8vhzNpYML384mbxcXJUjjKKn64O_ndvcNAo-C8HjbnO-OsupkRPFHv7fsUW2h3pFcg9eYTDs/s320/Broad-winged_Hawk.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_s05c8lVq8QuWBjtGJzYlk255m_wh5qLO7b8o1rjYUwquECR5ip9MPdU8ci064h5m3d5jYeXPueB7iiJMsTDLaXQxo6mech9We_PdNFHvnVcXqbNGWfLEaJXLr7TdL0KN6qpE-kHAu58/s1600/Common-Merganser-056.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_s05c8lVq8QuWBjtGJzYlk255m_wh5qLO7b8o1rjYUwquECR5ip9MPdU8ci064h5m3d5jYeXPueB7iiJMsTDLaXQxo6mech9We_PdNFHvnVcXqbNGWfLEaJXLr7TdL0KN6qpE-kHAu58/s320/Common-Merganser-056.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
A muskrat has also made a burrow nearby. Our dock seems to be its favorite place to dismember crappie and bluegill, to judge by the number of fish heads and bones I had to keep cleaning off the beach and dock. We watched it climb up onto the ladder on the raft daily to eat plants (no pics, sadly). Both Things got a big kick out of watching it swim around.<br />
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I am so grateful that we have a place like this to retreat from the world. No internet access, no TV, spotty cell service. It's wonderful. Tony's parents bought the land in the summer of 1977, and built the cottage the following year. It's been added on to (now 2 bedrooms!) and his parents have been updating things over the last few years, and all I can say is that we are a very lucky family to have such a marvelous place.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifAh0owmCrJ7NhbA-JvJ8J19Zs_bFx8i9Uu257J5SCs6bRkML6wy-TWY9W8Ui879slBoCfSzPixEhz46ux8D4CJoHh2iGvoY5fN7-v_BxpO6FqJ7VKBYICV36H7QmTPYOPvevt7RWTYQ0/s1600/cottage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifAh0owmCrJ7NhbA-JvJ8J19Zs_bFx8i9Uu257J5SCs6bRkML6wy-TWY9W8Ui879slBoCfSzPixEhz46ux8D4CJoHh2iGvoY5fN7-v_BxpO6FqJ7VKBYICV36H7QmTPYOPvevt7RWTYQ0/s1600/cottage.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from the deck</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Poems are coming out of this trip. My soul feels restored, and I'm going to do my best to try to keep it that way.Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-56750972312113169042011-07-01T07:36:00.000-05:002011-07-01T07:36:17.905-05:00This Made Me Cry (In a Good Way)<div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One of my former students posted this as a comment to one of my posts about the impact of budget "repair" bill on my salary. And he's right; if we think of success in terms of money only, it's a very minor measure:</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 16px;" /></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i>"I think Logan is right, the value of you as a professor=priceless. Teachers making more than professors? Yes, my mother is a teacher and she makes more than that. I made more than that as a mechanic with only a high school diploma. It is a disgrace in my opinion. Who's going to even want to seek tenure? But, in spite of all this BS, I go back to my first statement. You were the best professor I ever had, hands down. Not even a close second. What you do and can do for people in your position shouldn't be taken for granted. What you did for me by just being who you are I don't think I will ever be able to repay you for. Ever. There is no way I can understate what you did for me just by being who you are, I hope you know that. I know peanuts don't pay the bills, but if we measure our success in $$ only, I think our units of measure are all wrong. As I said what they pay you is truly a disgrace to me, but I prefer to measure success in the happiness we create and the good we can do in this world. Measured in these terms, you are one of the most successful people in the world. I'm very sure I'm not alone in saying that I'm proud to know you. You are amongst the most decent people I've ever met. The epitome of success. Walker? His time in office may be very short indeed. He's upset a lot of people..."</i></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 16px;" /></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I am grateful for the reminder--that I didn't get into this profession to make money (not hardly)--I became a teacher because I want to help others become who they are going to be. <strong style="line-height: 16px;">"I teach: I touch the future." </strong>My friends in undergrad who were education majors had shirts with this saying on it, and it's part of the reason I too am in education.<strong style="line-height: 16px;"><br style="line-height: 16px;" /></strong></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 16px;" /></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong style="line-height: 16px;">"I am not a teacher; I am an awakener." </strong>-Robert Frost </span></strong></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 16px;" /></span></strong></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I have this quote on my office door, and today it is I who am awakened from the fog of anger and depression by one of my students. I am grateful. </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br style="line-height: 16px;" /></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The wheel keeps turning.</span></div>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-64126428418960396522011-06-28T10:02:00.000-05:002011-06-28T10:02:53.724-05:00On Steampunk: Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Today's post will be a review of the first book in Scott Westerfeld's YA steampunk <i>Leviathan</i> <a href="http://scottwesterfeld.com/books/leviathan/">series</a>.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiay1pS6RvUcYVon43Dv52LzMm0yKQjqNxc0p945l8weJyDs0yDurFdlQQm-f-kID52F1DTbkQyOKrKpifvvlfNG8ZfZYGx46NZcKqrXHKtfV1Z64jv1-WUd5ONc4SP2uUfQvTRdUCTC2Q/s1600/Leviathan_westerfeld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiay1pS6RvUcYVon43Dv52LzMm0yKQjqNxc0p945l8weJyDs0yDurFdlQQm-f-kID52F1DTbkQyOKrKpifvvlfNG8ZfZYGx46NZcKqrXHKtfV1Z64jv1-WUd5ONc4SP2uUfQvTRdUCTC2Q/s1600/Leviathan_westerfeld.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Book One: <i>Leviathan </i>(released October 2009)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This isn't so much a review as it is a mash note. I <i>loved</i> this book. The world Westerfeld has created is an alternative-early 20th century as the European powers are moving toward WWI. The alternative part? The world is divided into proponents of evolutionary tinkering (Darwinists) and proponents of steam-powered mechanization (Clankers). The Brits and their allies are Darwinists, and the Austro-Hungarian/Germans are Clankers.<br />
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Deryn is a fifteen year old girl who disguises herself as a boy so that she can join the British Air Service, which uses great Beasties resembling squid filled with hydrogen. She loves to fly, and she has to protect her secret at all costs, or she risks being stuck forever on the ground.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alek is the son of the murdered Archduke, on the run from his own people and the Germans with only a few loyal men to help him run his mechanical Stormwalker (which looks a bit like ED-209 from Robocop) to the safety of the Swiss border.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The characters are believable and the story is engaging--Alek and Deryn are thrown together and have to learn to trust each other despite being on opposing sides of the coming War. Keith Thompson's illustrations are fantastic (in all senses of the word) and a welcome addition to the text.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ibfEZKXCkxhwXTnBuGc8iM25QP2Cuueo8XtIZAe2sgm20FzfKBAwvPNjaGKmSZ27S-9ynZhZPPGSzSaL7lYNdN0xNXm7Rp0qUgWbW1zLKSd5YyzursqOHcd-VYnv28a1oXXpNQ_JNoI/s1600/leviathan_4_westerfeld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ibfEZKXCkxhwXTnBuGc8iM25QP2Cuueo8XtIZAe2sgm20FzfKBAwvPNjaGKmSZ27S-9ynZhZPPGSzSaL7lYNdN0xNXm7Rp0qUgWbW1zLKSd5YyzursqOHcd-VYnv28a1oXXpNQ_JNoI/s320/leviathan_4_westerfeld.jpg" width="221" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjATg-gK0XzXzRyOb-2V0IYNv7zLB5c9sJLEDL7ukwkeJpNa6kWq8ndNcApgmQIv8RI7s4R7YUTDxsFU7aUG1uziki2cjgrYdFbfRJJHb2vXuURL4LnVBO5LtYhCMAYJyFd9lJVCpJuw1g/s1600/ch02_full_450wide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjATg-gK0XzXzRyOb-2V0IYNv7zLB5c9sJLEDL7ukwkeJpNa6kWq8ndNcApgmQIv8RI7s4R7YUTDxsFU7aUG1uziki2cjgrYdFbfRJJHb2vXuURL4LnVBO5LtYhCMAYJyFd9lJVCpJuw1g/s320/ch02_full_450wide.jpg" width="186" /></a></div><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I loved the book, and I devoured it in two sittings. Highly recommended, especially if you are a history or science buff. Westerfeld has done his homework, and his creations (both Clanker and Beastie) are believable. I found myself wishing I could get a ride on the Leviathan myself.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Next review: Book Two: <i>Behemoth </i>(released October 2010) </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVcQ3eyziwKD8mFeogIMbU_AGqR-WmbAELZGcbcz3b5jRcl1HtWxAYqtPeXt-qNVgVjgnGCGpEwvCdNBXJ0J8IJNvXU4yLdAy7ygGr2AUMUof6kPKF1erV-kkwwB8xXeygwPoADsKcQfM/s1600/Behemoth_Westerfeld_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVcQ3eyziwKD8mFeogIMbU_AGqR-WmbAELZGcbcz3b5jRcl1HtWxAYqtPeXt-qNVgVjgnGCGpEwvCdNBXJ0J8IJNvXU4yLdAy7ygGr2AUMUof6kPKF1erV-kkwwB8xXeygwPoADsKcQfM/s1600/Behemoth_Westerfeld_Cover.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-37641588698090374732011-06-16T10:27:00.001-05:002011-06-16T10:32:42.900-05:00Disgust and Despair<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">I can't bear it.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Wisconsin State Supreme Court<a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/wis-supreme-court-reinstates-union-busting-bill.php?ref=tn"> overturned</a> (4-3) Judge Sumi's restraining order preventing the publication of the collective bargaining law. It will go into effect June 29th. I will make less money next year as a tenured professor than I did when I started on the tenure track. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Republicans are fielding<a href="http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20110615/APC0101/106150595/-1/NLETTER0101/16-candidates-file-for-Wisconsin-Senate-recall-elections?source=nletter-news"> fake Democratic candidates</a> to confuse things for people voting in the July 12th recall elections. If you thought Chicago politics were dirty, you ain't seen nothin' yet.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">I can't stand it. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">The state legislature is handing broadband control over to <a href="http://www.winningprogressive.org/the-smart-alecs-who-are-writing-the-gops-laws">AT&T</a>, which will cost schools millions of dollars they don't have--on top of the millions being cut from their budgets.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">What I can't get over is that I have worked my entire adult life towards being a tenured college professor...and I feel as though I have failed somehow.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">I thought becoming a professor would allow me to give my family a reasonably good middle-class life. Not so. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">We rent a 2 bedroom house for $550 a month (which is a steal, I know--we're lucky). The great thing is that it's out in the countryside--we have a garden, a deck, a huge yard--the not-so-great thing is that it was comfortable for three of us, but it's getting cramped now that Thing Two is a toddler (and a boy).</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">I am $70,000 in debt from my BA, MA, and MFA (most of it's from the MFA at <a href="http://www.saic.edu/">The School of the Art Institute of Chicago</a>--probably not the smartest decision I ever made). </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thing One had a playdate with her best friend L. earlier this week. When we got to L.'s house, I cringed. The house is new (probably less than 8 years old), colonial, 3-car garage. We walked in and L and Thing One took each others' hands and ran up the staircase. I went into the kitchen (cherry cabinets, granite countertops), and gazed into the great room--two stories of windows looking into the wooded back yard. The sitter seemed nice, and I left.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">I know that I have a better life than 90% of people in this world, but that doesn't seem to matter to my inner self.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">I am jealous. I have house envy. Not that I want a new house, and certainly not one as big as L's house--I'd just spend half of my life cleaning it. I just want a house that's mine--where I can have a dog. Where each of the Things can have a bedroom. And I can have a room of my own for my books and papers and typewriters. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is what was supposed to happen: I was going to get tenure, get my piddly raise, and we would go get a construction loan to begin building our house--the 1800 sf farmhouse of my dreams--on the land we bought in the fall of 2004, six acres of former dairy farm with a huge shagbark hickory tree. We even have the plans already drawn up. Three bedrooms, a library, living room, eat-in kitchen, wrap-around front porch, 1.5 bathrooms, fireplace. We had done the math--we could afford to do it if we did a lot of the work ourselves (Hubby for most of it, but I can swing a hammer too). My dream house, a copy of which is pinned to the wall in my office, where I saw it every day for the last two semesters as I worked frantically for tenure.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">And now the gorram plan is shot to hell, for a variety of reasons. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">One reason is that Hubby is in talks to take the job of his dreams in Chicago, about which I cannot write, other than to say that should it come to pass, it will mean that we will have to live separately for over a year, or I will have to leave my job. Since I cannot live without him--I do not want to live without him--I will need to go back to Chicago. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">I am not opposed to going back, not the way I was when we left in 2002. I do not know if I will teach again (certainly not at Columbia, special thanks to Garnett Kilberg-Cohen). I don't know what I would do. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">What I am doing is struggling with the idea of leaving my dream house...and all that it represents. My desire to give my children a better childhood than my own (which was on a hobby farm too, though with an alcoholic, rageaholic father). My longing for a place of my own, for chickens and dogs and horses to live on my farm. Maybe a lop-eared bunny or two. It means giving up the security of guaranteed employment (though since comparatively speaking my pay is so abysmal it's starting to seem like not much of a sacrifice). It means leaving the beauty and peace of country life for the noise and dirt of the city--though the city has many good things to offer too, the best being a cosmopolitan atmosphere for my children, as opposed to the redneck, red-state area we live in now.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hubby says we can live in the 'burbs, but I don't think I want that, either. It will mean a commute for one, probably both of us. The only 'burb I even like is Evanston, and I highly doubt we could afford to live there, though perhaps I could get adjunct work at Northwestern or Loyola...crap. I'm doing it again.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">The other reason it's shot to hell is the political asshattery in this state means that I will make even less money this coming contract year than I did when I started. This is probably the most pathetic thing about it--and the thing that makes me the angriest. That I've worked so hard for so long, and will have even less to show for it (though still more than I did as an adjunct). I don't think we could build the house even if we were to stay in Wisconsin.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">I am so tired. I can't do anything about my current situation except worry, and be angry and disgusted. It's exhausting.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">So I think I am just going to try to be Zen. Accept the uncertainty I have never been able to tolerate (thanks, <a href="http://www.adultchildren.org/">Adult Children of Alcoholics</a>!). Trust (cf ACoA) that it will all work out. Conserve my energy and work on my novel over the summer. Go to <a href="http://everleighsocialclub.com/nola/">New Orleans</a> with Hubby in August and celebrate our 11+ years together.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you have any advice, feel free to share it. I'm open. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">Now for a nap, as Thing Two got me up at 4:45 am again. </span></span></span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-65786826930011655332011-06-08T20:05:00.000-05:002011-06-08T20:05:13.545-05:00Reviews to Come<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I haven't had much time online this week (a good thing) but I am getting my remaining brain cells together to review a few books for the Steampunk Challenge:</span></span></span><br />
<ul><li><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Leviathan</i> and <i>Behemoth</i> by Scott Westerfeld</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Boneshaker</i> and <i>Dreadnought</i> by Cherie Priest</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>The Windup Girl</i> and <i>Shipbreaker</i> by Paolo Baciagalupi</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Soulless, Changeless, </i>and <i>Blameless</i> [The Parasol Protectorate] by Gail Carriger (and by the time I get to it, probably <i>Heartless</i> as well, as it's due out July 1)</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Steampunk</i> ed. Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>The Anubis Gates</i> by Tim Powers </span></span></span></li>
</ul><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">These have all been reviewed elsewhere, and the <a href="http://steampunkscholar.blogspot.com/">Steampunk Scholar</a> is a far more in-depth resource (and should be since it's his PhD thesis)--but I'd like to take a crack at them too.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span></span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-46165830228488571152011-06-03T10:11:00.000-05:002011-06-03T10:11:38.732-05:00Summertime, and the Livin's Easy...<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">...well, sort of. It's easy in the sense that I don't have to prep or teach or grade for 4 classes. It's not so easy in the sense that since my contract is paid on a 9-month basis, summer means no money coming in on my end of things until October. Hubby works 50+ hours/week, so we are able to pay rent, utilities, car payments*, and food, but everything else is a tight squeeze which depends completely on how much I've been able to save during the spring months (this year, not much--daycare at $850/month ate a quarter of my monthly take-home pay). I put my student loans (currently hovering around $70,000) in deferment from May-October because the $450 I'm paying per month just isn't doable on Hubby's salary.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*Car payments: Right now, we don't have one, because I killed my Honda Element the morning of graduation (5/20). </span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO0cwKqm_32wrXC-QA6QAv6sHUqrLJDdouHX7FJ0Aef-9iJ7N2Dt7fhUgEGAYrCzWJeQqCzVxtBVrtox7AkM-wHLJVuTI4ZP8X5LfAnHp0Aj7qcCWOd9dwPzF2LaIe5WUvqFcO9l8gK_U/s1600/5+20+11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO0cwKqm_32wrXC-QA6QAv6sHUqrLJDdouHX7FJ0Aef-9iJ7N2Dt7fhUgEGAYrCzWJeQqCzVxtBVrtox7AkM-wHLJVuTI4ZP8X5LfAnHp0Aj7qcCWOd9dwPzF2LaIe5WUvqFcO9l8gK_U/s320/5+20+11.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Luckily I wasn't seriously hurt. A mild case of whiplash, a concussion, and a bad bruise on my left knee. The light pole I hit in the campus parking lot was impervious to any damage, as I was only going 15 mph (our lot gets lots of HS students who zoom through it, and I had been eyeing one such carload while making the curve through the lot--the officer who took my report told me that he's almost hit the pole too, because it's hard to see).</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So I'm driving my mother-in-law's 1996 Toyota Camry (no a/c, and a cassette deck but it gets great gas mileage) and I'm lucky to have it. We have to go minivan shopping this weekend, and I'm not really looking forward to it. I loved my Element, and I'm sorry I killed it. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i></i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Due to the accident, I barely got my grades done in time to meet the system deadline. Grading creative writing portfolios while on muscle relaxants and Percocet made for interesting (and extremely slow) reading. I only hope that my comments make sense when the few students who requested feedback come to pick up their portfolios in the fall. The writing was really good--a bit of a surprise, given how little most of them participated in class discussions.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I only had one case of blatant plagiarism in my lit course, and it was a head-shaker because the students <i>knew</i> I would be checking because <i>I told them I would be checking</i>. The instructions on the assignment explicitly forbade using the internet for the paper (which was on Leslie Marmon Silko's novel <i>Ceremony</i>--and there are about a bajillion websites--Academon, Free Student Papers, etc.--that have papers on the novel). This is the same assignment as the previous time I taught the course (Spring 2008) with the same warning (I had one case of plagiarism then, too--the student showed absolutely no remorse). I ran string searches on every single paper, and wouldn't you know it? One student pulled the first paragraph of her paper off a review of the novel. I stopped reading, printed off the website, paper-clipped it to the back of her paper, and wrote NG (no grade) on the first page. I simply do not understand the behavior in light of the explicit warning. Do they think I'm bluffing? That I'll be too busy to check? "No Grade" is a 0 on a 150 point assignment, a virtual guarantee of a failing grade for the course. The student came to see me afterwards, and simply said "I don't know why I did it--it's not like you didn't give us enough material in class to use for the paper. I guess I shouldn't have done it." I nodded and sent her on her way. *Sigh.* I hope she learned from this...but I can't guarantee it.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Summer hasn't quite started yet--although the weather is finally warming up--because Thing One is still in first grade until next Thursday. Thing Two and I are having some one-on-one time. He enjoys "'nuggles" (snuggling with me and his blankie) and taking his shoes off right after I've put them on. And now that <a href="http://pbskids.org/dinosaurtrain/">Dinosaur Train</a> ("Choo Choo ROAR!") is over, it's time for me to end this post. Up next: my summer reading list.</span></span></span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-10080046804276679502011-05-08T19:05:00.000-05:002011-05-08T19:05:37.782-05:00Mother's Day<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Sunday. Mother's Day. Went to breakfast in town, then took the kids over to the park. Things One and Two ran around, played on the teeter-totter, scooted up and down the slides, and were just generally adorable. Went for a walk along the Mullet River. Took a bunch of pictures with my camera phone:</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd9HBG54JP1q2QfUEbd7MKlCLWFmOUpjQP8YuGL7q3pxsS9NxQkmmx-0ry8zRZmupm8OmBM2jIvQMnXNtdQ-BBXGPXoNdk1AcfXMLWxwD65k6e47CA8EYKODIo3lLEMVoLzy5_F_oSnJU/s1600/5+8+11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd9HBG54JP1q2QfUEbd7MKlCLWFmOUpjQP8YuGL7q3pxsS9NxQkmmx-0ry8zRZmupm8OmBM2jIvQMnXNtdQ-BBXGPXoNdk1AcfXMLWxwD65k6e47CA8EYKODIo3lLEMVoLzy5_F_oSnJU/s1600/5+8+11.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnXX_ltWUGcCgKRJiG02iy7Kc_MDq24QOz3TPxfFtD3-boFYuluCaXd77GYJuBcdLZqZQ65OseuYu_DRymi5ZZEdYTjrMl5CpczJbwRCaFcWKA96kpRkBRxhHMAtG_KGqSlLqDBBoYcMs/s1600/mothers+day+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnXX_ltWUGcCgKRJiG02iy7Kc_MDq24QOz3TPxfFtD3-boFYuluCaXd77GYJuBcdLZqZQ65OseuYu_DRymi5ZZEdYTjrMl5CpczJbwRCaFcWKA96kpRkBRxhHMAtG_KGqSlLqDBBoYcMs/s1600/mothers+day+2.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYNSuJPtwG1tDA1Ax7Bsl61pC-VPuH22GuphYArPfgj8XYVxX_KPqxQwFpoCuoOdwMAuupEIN8ovcGU1f7yeeXSLcdEnmS6j912FbrWZ9oablm2NJaOuibMPjlufGBkGyuzFTJESiHUWM/s1600/mothers+day+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYNSuJPtwG1tDA1Ax7Bsl61pC-VPuH22GuphYArPfgj8XYVxX_KPqxQwFpoCuoOdwMAuupEIN8ovcGU1f7yeeXSLcdEnmS6j912FbrWZ9oablm2NJaOuibMPjlufGBkGyuzFTJESiHUWM/s1600/mothers+day+1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Handmade cards and flowers...</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Now I'm sitting in the sun on our deck in the back yard. Hubby is putting together the travel trailer for our trip to New Orleans in August. Frogs and thrushes and robins and chickadees and goldfinches are performing a woodland serenade to the accompaniment of (I kid you not) the wind through the willows (and birches and larches and spruces).</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The weather has finally improved to the point where we were actually able to get some work done in the garden yesterday. Peppers and roma tomatoes are now in. I potted my peony yesterday too. Today was mostly spent puttering around and soaking up the sunshine.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Dinner (at my request): Papa Murphy's and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097814/"><i>Kiki's Delivery Service</i></a> with the Things. Being a mama's a pretty good deal.</span></span></span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-65104233667396739352011-05-02T09:39:00.001-05:002011-05-02T09:39:57.394-05:00Hooray for May!<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Very happy today, after a restful weekend spent working around the house. I say "restful" because I didn't spend the weekend grading.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Spent much of yesterday bringing up tub after tub of baby clothes for the yard sale in June. Garden is looking great--we should have quite a crop of strawberries since the Ft. Laramies we planted last year wintered over really well (including the "daughter" plants we planted in the fall) and now that I've gotten the creeping groundcover weed thingies off them, they should do well. Hubby built a small cold frame so that we could get some seeds started and keep the plants (peppers and roma tomatoes) warm until we're past the danger of frost. Since we had snow the second week of May last year, we're going to wait a bit to plant them. Hubby put the potatoes in--Yukon Golds and baby reds.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The Things are getting along, and I'm really happy about that. I'm actually looking forward to spending the summer at home for the first time since Thing One was a baby. She's more willing to cooperate, and she's really been helpful lately.</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3GXzczW6tcThFfapoaUfrj3vXedybVI7zj2vKOdbQ94s2SptsYRKgZ0-EgotjMxQhaKAv5Utyy7zpJfI12o5lJ-eJSmAJRcZYqZPDiE3aIKpYtmaXL0a7XJDKYQA9IIGy6CSsHVB6XfI/s1600/Thing+One+and+Thing+Two+Reading.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3GXzczW6tcThFfapoaUfrj3vXedybVI7zj2vKOdbQ94s2SptsYRKgZ0-EgotjMxQhaKAv5Utyy7zpJfI12o5lJ-eJSmAJRcZYqZPDiE3aIKpYtmaXL0a7XJDKYQA9IIGy6CSsHVB6XfI/s1600/Thing+One+and+Thing+Two+Reading.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thing One reading <em>Cars and Trucks</em> to her brother, who LOVES things that go.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-15861496142922558242011-04-27T12:25:00.000-05:002011-04-27T12:25:37.483-05:00Three Weeks to Go<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As I sat in my office yesterday frantically trying to get caught up with my grading (again), I thought about what life would be like without stacks of papers teetering on my desk, and it was like the heavens parted and God rained down gifts of love and forgiveness, healing every fiber of my being...</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And then I realized that I had no idea what I would do if I didn't teach. I love being in front of a classroom, guiding discussion.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The last time I tried to do something else, it paid really well and sucked my soul bone-dry. I was miserably well-paid. And all I could think about was getting back to teaching. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I suppose that it's just the grading part that I can't stand. And I know why I can't stand it--because every time I open a paper and start to read, I am likely to read something that makes me think I have been speaking Greek all semester. [I have some really bright students whose papers are always what I ask for, but there aren't enough of those to take the sting out of the ones that aren't.]</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I then have to take a few minutes to ruminate on my career choice: I know that for some of these students, I am having a positive impact--they leave my class with more (or better-honed) skills than they came in with. But I am starting to wonder about the rest of them. Every time I open a paper with </span></span><br />
<ul><li><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A 4-sentence (i.e too short) intro</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">An unidentifiable thesis or one that does not address the assignment</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A bunch of short, unconnected paragraphs</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A bunch of citation mistakes (or no citations at all, after I've spent several classes going over MLA and how to do it)</span></span></li>
</ul><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">or any one of a number of other errors these students should not be making at this point in the semester, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hffhc0g4j0o">this is what happens inside my brain</a>: screaming monkeys.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Some snark has crept into my comments. One one rubric, I wrote "Maybe it would be a good idea if you stopped texting while I am talking about how to do better on your papers." It's not quite the "Are you fucking kidding me?" comment from <em><a href="http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/bad-teacher/red-band-trailer">Bad Teacher</a></em> (which I can't wait to see, BTW), but I am a hair's breadth from ordering a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Office-Stock-Self-Inking-Rubber-Stamp/dp/B001VZ6G3S">WTF stamp</a> for marginal commenting.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I think it's probably all the crap going on politically that's making it harder to deal with this stuff, because after all, it's the same stuff I've been dealing with since I started teaching--the point in the semester where I want to throw my hands up and scream "Is anyone even listening to the words that are coming out of my mouth?!" I think there's a very delusional part of me that keeps thinking that my students are people who are old enough to follow directions, and to ask questions when they don't understand something. I can understand having to repeat myself daily to Thing Two because he's only two and a half. I cannot understand having to repeat myself daily to a group of near-adults. I keep wondering what is going to happen to these people when they leave school and get "real" jobs--who is going to hire them and then put up with the constant screwing up because they either didn't read the directions, didn't bother to follow the directions, or just made some shit up?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I am torn between wanting to help them all--knowing that they really need it, whether <em>they</em> know it or not--and wanting to just teach the ones who are paying attention and want what I have to give. For Christ's sake, I was our campus coordinator for Engaging Students in the First Year--a program designed to try to help students help themselves--for 3 years!! I know that I have to teach the students I have, not the ones I wish I had. But seriously, how long can I keep banging my head against a brick wall before what's left of my brain just calls it a day? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">/end rant.</span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-25394654353474682402011-04-22T09:52:00.000-05:002011-04-22T09:52:41.626-05:00I Have Been Remiss...<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I haven't felt like writing for a while. The tumult at the Capitol has died down somewhat, though a new tumult (in the shape of a <a href="http://kloppenburgforjustice.com/documents/Kloppenburg%20Recount%20Announcement.pdf?name=Kloppenburg&page=1">suspicious bunch of votes in Waukesha county </a>for the Supreme Court race) has arisen.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">And I'm just sick of it all.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I want to retreat. I want to go make art. Write. Take pictures. Love my husband. Love my children. Love my life.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">And I have had a really hard time doing all of that this past month or so. It has been an almost daily struggle just to teach my classes, not to mention tackle the stack of grading sitting next to the couch right now. We are down to the final three weeks of classes, and instead of feeling a bit wistful, as I usually do, I am feeling anticipatory relief.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's not because I don't like my students, or the material I'm teaching; quite the opposite. I have had some of the most stimulating one-on-one discussions with students during the past week or so--and it's been these that have given me the wherewithal to keep going...for now. [I think the Universe senses my distress, and has been sending me bright lights to keep me from spiralling into despair.] What I'm teaching has value--my students keep telling me that they're glad they took my class because they'd never really thought about Native Americans/the future/the impact of their food choices before.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's just that in the larger context of what's going on in this country--<a href="http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=7xbcxkcab&v=001mw_CX3BXxzlTZfhVPTlxE7YHETQblDzMGqqZhJ036VdMrA2BFUQ2k4oq5BHJIGnUIjGNMht1CBtS7zfsHYY5fhAgdAsatvhotUbAOxh5jH4OOo7G0nuhSqvCDrPXM3zQy4hZQ0kVrDQ%3D">cuts to arts and humanities funding</a>... oh hell, I'll just call it what it is: the continued Republican assault on everything I care about, along with their<a href="http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2011/04/21/the_great_republican_tax_cut_fantasy/index.html"> continued bullshit tax cuts</a> for the rich, which we've known don't work since REAGAN started "trickle-down" economics--I just want to go somewhere quiet, away from all of this, and not wake up angry every single day after nightmares about not being able to provide for my family because of other peoples' fucked up priorities (like more tax cuts for the rich instead of money for education).</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The constant stress (and my impaired ability to deal with it) is starting to wear me down. It's wearing my marriage down. I have started swearing at NPR reports again, so I've had to stop listening to it in the morning because Thing Two has started asking "What's wrong, Mama?" when I start to curse while driving.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">What's wrong? So very many things. </span></span></span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-57961322540682786182011-03-19T08:14:00.000-05:002011-03-19T08:14:02.112-05:00Weekend Edition<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">No snark in this one.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Hubby is in Vegas with his best friend, so I'm doing the single-parent thing for a few days. Since today's Saturday, I made cinnamon rolls for the Things, and I'm enjoying a nice cup of coffee while I catch up with the news.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The news sucks. OK, that's kind of snarky.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Crazy Qaddafi is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/world/africa/20libya.html">bombing and threatening</a> and just generally acting the way everyone expected him to yesterday when he agreed to a ceasefire. Jackwagon.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The nuclear situation in Japan is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/world/asia/20japan.html">getting worse</a>, and since the focus is on avoiding the China syndrome, 400,000+ people are living in refugee camps.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The House <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/npr-vote-one-of-many-distractions-to-come/?scp=1&sq=NPR&st=cse">voted to gut funding</a> for NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which brings you such left-wing programs as "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" and "Sesame Street". I will go on the record right now: I had to stop listening to NPR for a while during the Bush years <i>precisely because they were so fair and balanced</i> toward a godawful President and his cadre of lying liars. I would get really furious and start yelling at the radio in the car, which invariably startled and upset Thing One.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Locally, the good news is that Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi issued a <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/118242814.html">temporary restraining order</a> preventing the publications of the (likely illegally) passed legislation that effectively guts unions until at least March 29th, when she's scheduled a hearing. The jackwagon AG, JB Van Hollen (Republican, natch) issued a challenge, instead of pursuing a case AGAINST the illegal moves made by his Republican cronies.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Anyway, I am having to swim really hard against a tide of bad juju in this world right now, and it's made a bit easier by a consciousness that I am supremely lucky: I have healthy, intelligent, beautiful children (and I'm not bragging--other people tell me this); I am happily married to Hubby (and I miss him terribly when he's not here, so that's a good sign too); we have a decent roof and good food to eat; we have great friends and wonderful family. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The blessings are many in this chaotic world. I just wanted to take a minute to remind myself.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One more: the sandhill cranes are back, and the pair that nests in the marsh 300 yards from my kitchen is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKNA82bcdWU">honking up a storm</a> right now. I'm looking forward to hearing the first of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhBsNqF7Hkk">spring peepers</a> soon, too...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4CzLh-pLAE">The world keeps turning</a>. </span></span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-65570974914892104852011-03-11T09:19:00.000-06:002011-03-11T09:19:43.276-06:00Time for a New Normal<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">A friend of mine posted this as his Facebook status:</span></span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;">"</span><span style="font-size: small;">A teacher somewhere in your neighborhood tonight is grading and preparing lessons to teach your children while you are watching television. In the minute it takes you to read this, teachers all over the world are using their "free time", and often investing their own money, for your child's literacy, prosperity, and future.</span></div><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody">They are n<span class="text_exposed_hide"></span><span class="text_exposed_show">ot 'bottom-feeders' or 'leeches.'"</span></span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Therein lies the problem: teachers using "free time" and money to help students succeed.</span></span></span></span></span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It has become normal for most teachers to work 50-55 hours a week. Beyond time spent in the classroom, there is preparation; there is grading--piles and piles and piles of grading, because the only way students learn is by practice and feedback on that practice.</span></span></span></span></span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We are paid on a 40-hour per week basis. Therefore, any work done beyond that is unpaid.</span></span></span></span></span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">And I'm not doing it anymore.</span></span></span></span></span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This is not a strike. I will continue to prepare and teach my classes as always. I do this job because I love it. I love it and I do not want to give it up without a fight. The state of Wisconsin's Republicans have kicked teachers once too often. My only hope is that all teachers at all levels will come together and MAKE THE CUTS VISIBLE.</span></span></span></span></span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I pledge:</span></span></span></span></span></span></h6><ul><li><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">To give my utmost to my students 40 hours per week: in class, and during office hours</span></span></span></span></span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">To grade papers as always--carefully, thoughtfully, and with attention to finding ways to help students see what is good in their writing, and to learn from their mistakes--but I will no longer grade in the evenings or on the weekends.</span></span></span></span></span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">To be the best teacher I can possibly be--within the limits of a 40-hour week, because that is what I'm being paid for--no more, no less.</span></span></span></span></span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Some of my colleagues have sarcastically wished me luck with this--and that just makes me even more determined. Now that this bill is about to be signed into law, and the budget will include cuts to my pay (again), <i>I will make less than I did when I started on the tenure track <b>after attaining tenure. </b></i> </span></span></span></span></span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It is ridiculous to me that it is an expectation of the job that I WILL WORK UNPAID.</span></span></span></span></span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">No more. It's time for a new normal.</span></span></span></span></span></span></h6></li>
</ul><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-33652286404083058052011-03-09T15:37:00.000-06:002011-03-09T15:37:54.598-06:00The Joys of Working Parenthood: Or, The Gorram Plan<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The past few weeks have been rather hectic. My campus is conducting two searches in two disciplines, and I'm on the search committee. This means reading through CVs and letters of recommendation to find at least 6 candidates per discipline. After we get approval, we bring 3 to campus. Each of those candidates comes on a different day to give a public presentation (a sample lecture), have a 1-hour interview with the committee (plus other interviews with the dean and the department chair), a campus tour, a community tour, and dinner with members of the committee.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Monday was the last of 5 interviews for the second discipline. The decision was to be made today at a meeting for which candidate we would offer the position. I was supposed to be there, but guess what? Nothing ever goes according to the <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/+gorram_plan_note_cards_pk_of_20,274055997">gorram plan</a>!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">As I was enjoying my coffee, Thing Two (who was supposed to be watching Sesame Street with Thing One) went into the bathroom and got hold of a razor that had been sitting on the sink. I heard "Ow!" and he came in holding his thumb. Yep, sliced it open.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Not too deep, but he bled like a stuck pig. I had to wrestle him for control of his hand, leaving a trail of bloody kleenex down the hallway. Finally got a band-aid on him, and cleaned the blood off us both.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">By that point, we were running late. Did I mention that 4" of wet snow fell overnight and the roads were frakking awful? No? How about the fact that I was so fried, I left my purse on the breezeway floor?</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Barely got Thing One to her school before the bell rang. Got Thing Two to daycare, where he clung to me with the ferocity of a baby spider monkey. Pried him loose (feeling like crap for doing so--all I wanted to do was take him home) and left.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Campus. Office hour with a cup of tea and the last of my fruit + cereal bars, since I didn't have money to stop at the grocery store to replenish my office pantry.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">10:29 am: Heading out the door to class, where we are finishing the second half of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049730/"><i>The Searchers</i></a>. Cellphone rings. It's daycare. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Hi. I'm calling because we can't get [Thing Two] to keep a band-aid on, and state law prohibits kids with open wounds at daycare."</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"OK. I'll be right there to pick him up." [In case you're wondering about Hubby: At this point in the morning, he's already on his way to Illinois for the yearly sales meeting. Won't be back until Thursday evening.]</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> So much for the gorram plan for the day, which included discussion and prep for the midterm in one class, and peer review and discussion of Michael Pollan's<a href="http://michaelpollan.com/books/in-defense-of-food/"> <i>In Defense of Food</i></a> in the other. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Get the movie started, collect papers, apologize to my class for bagging out again (this makes 3 times this semester--weather for the first two). Run copies for the afternoon section of my composition class, send out an email begging someone to hand them out for me. Stuff the handouts in a folder and prop it up on my doorsill. Bolt for daycare.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">He's crying and saying "Owie! Owie" when I get there, and resumes his baby spider monkey clinging. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We go to the elementary school to pick up Thing One, who is a bit annoyed that we've interrupted her day.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Come home, eat PB+J, take nap. Answer student emails. Which brings us to now.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Things are watching <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0876563/"><i>Ponyo</i></a> and I am about to get into our course management software to try to figure a few things out.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It hasn't been a completely terrible day, but once again I'm left wondering why these things happen when Hubby is out of town.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Joys of Working Parenthood.</span></span></span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-11217685641091981372011-03-05T19:59:00.000-06:002011-03-05T19:59:18.609-06:00Mental Health Break<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I came home on Wednesday night from a long day of classes and a presentation/interview/dinner with a candidate for an open position on our campus. Hubby was waiting for me with a glass of wine and an announcement:</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"We are going to Chicago on Friday. You need a break from <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-best-protest-signs-at-the-wisconsin-capitol">all this mess</a> and we have a place to stay and there is fun to be had. So we're going, and don't argue."</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We left early Friday afternoon to drop the Things off with Hubby's parents, because we needed to be in the city by 7:00 for <a href="http://nakedgirlsreading.com/2011/02/05/were-turning-two-years-old/">the show</a>.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">On the way down, I flipped off the "Wisconsin is Open for Business" billboard. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It was raining like crazy, and traffic (as usual) was awful as soon as we hit Touhy Avenue on 1-94E. Stop and go...so we were late, but hadn't missed the start of the show. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It was interesting--the "Stella!" yelling contest was entertaining too--and I got to define "eructation" for the entire audience. The best part came afterward.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">While chatting on the settee with Mimi, I was approached by a nice gentleman who complimented me on my helpful definition--and asked if I was a professor. I said yes, and he exclaimed "That's awesome!" and expressed concern when he found out that I teach in Wisconsin.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> Mimi and I continued our conversation, and she remarked how wonderful it is that I'm a teacher--especially given what's going on in Wisconsin (and nationally). Later in the evening, as we shouted over drinks and food at the<a href="http://www.haymarketbrewing.com/"> Haymarket</a> brewpub both Mimi and Greta had lots of kind things to say, and Dominique asked lots of questions about what I teach (Hubby had told them earlier that I teach science fiction--the next NGR is a <a href="http://nakedgirlsreading.com/chicago/">science fiction show</a> for which I will be unable to attend, as I'll be at a conference giving a paper on SF author William Gibson).</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">As I sat there bathed in the warm glow of my martini and their admiration for the work that I do, I thought, "I wish I could share this with my friends, my colleagues who are feeling beleaguered and demoralized by the events in Wisconsin and <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hIqv8pypftYo46qDOoBFa2EQLu0A?docId=6d6417bc4a00428f80df603c1b2aff93">Ohio</a>--my home state--and who need to know that people care."</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So this is me, telling all of you:<i> <b>PEOPLE CARE.</b></i> They care a lot--the talk was impassioned and very anti-Walker, and they expressed admiration for the protests and the people who continued to peaceably assemble and assert their right to petition for redress of grievances.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I wobbled out of the bar feeling better than I have in weeks. And not due to the alcohol (though maybe it helped a little). People care. Maybe there's hope for the future.</span></span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV2RfESkgCgT_gy-7TwDnqf0cfki-07AG6JK1ySRMj2x3ICsGBhfLoLUc3SE1e4fArcaeqtaDoSXeRXR7GBcZ9WaaggNFI8DcKG6g5kEfawhL3VNsh1lZdt1s9NeaSEDgKFLkhS59GYg4/s1600/solidarity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV2RfESkgCgT_gy-7TwDnqf0cfki-07AG6JK1ySRMj2x3ICsGBhfLoLUc3SE1e4fArcaeqtaDoSXeRXR7GBcZ9WaaggNFI8DcKG6g5kEfawhL3VNsh1lZdt1s9NeaSEDgKFLkhS59GYg4/s320/solidarity.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-84557590156551003092011-03-03T20:06:00.000-06:002011-03-03T20:06:50.593-06:00Still Doing My Job<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's getting harder every day. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I have been working really hard to keep my students and their needs uppermost in my mind--none of what is going on at the capital is their fault, and I owe it to them to do my job to the best of my ability.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The problem is, the best of my ability is sliding back--I'm not sleeping well, and today I had a terrible parietal headache that came on during our campus meeting over the noon hour, which meant that I had to cancel my afternoon class and come home to sleep with my head on a heating pad. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Wisconsin_protests">The mess in Madison</a> has only gotten worse--we are locked out of the Capitol, the Governor's budget for the biennium is so fucked up I can't even bring myself to write about it right now, and my thoughts are swirling around at a pace that makes it difficult to sleep through the night. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I'm behind in my grading. I have to get caught up because my composition students need their papers back before they hand in another big assignment so that they can see where they need to make changes to improve the paper they're about to hand in. I'm behind in my grading (and I haven't been blogging as much as I've wanted to) because I have "tennis elbow" from an injury incurred the week before Christmas (not from playing tennis, sadly), and it's not healing because I write and type and use a mouse every day for my job. I can only do so much before the pain is unbearable and I have to stop. Just typing this little bit is causing a flare-up. FML.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am also having a crisis. I don't know if it's a mid-life crisis, but since I'm going to be 40 soon, maybe it is.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I have spent my entire adult life working to become a professor. I took a detour into corporate America, lured by the big salary and the easy work, but it was soul-killing to think I'd incurred $70K in student loan debt and wasn't doing the work I'd borrowed all that money to do--the work I'd felt called to do: teach. Never mind the fact that said corporate job was the only time in my life I wasn't carrying credit card debt and was actually able to make substantial payments on my student loans. Hubby and I paid for our own wedding (and kept it under $5K) because of my job.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">After 9 years of work as an adjunct (low-paid but man, I loved teaching) I finally got a TT position at a campus I was happy to call my new home--great colleagues in the department and on campus (except for the dean, who was a douche of the first order) and I settled in and worked my ass off to get tenure. And not just to get tenure--to make the campus better, to help the students more, to encourage engagement with ideas beyond the classroom. I. loved. my. job. Every day was a new opportunity to talk about things I was interested in with people who were also interested in those things. I'd never felt so good (and truthfully, so stressed--but the stress came from loving the job to the point that I didn't know what I would do if I didn't get tenure).</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I still love my job. But I don't know if I can love it much longer at the expense of my family, and my hopes for the future. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I have been teaching for 15 years, and my salary is $44,500/year (so take-home is approx. $32,000). Like most of my colleagues, I work unpaid over the summer on course prep and professional development (writing). Every spring comes the cutting back--to save for the summer months I won't receive a paycheck. June 1 is the last time I see any money until October 1. September is the worst month because I have to start paying for daycare (in mid-August) before I have any money coming in to pay for it. Hubby's salary is less than mine, but since he works a lot of overtime in the summer, we're almost able to make it without resorting to credit cards to buy food. I think this summer I might have to get a third-shift job, because if my pension and health care contributions are taken out (as they always are) in June, this year the cost will be staggering (4 months' worth out of the June check to continue coverage over the summer) if the governor's budget repair bill is passed.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't being vilified by the Republicans in this state as one of the "haves" simply because I have decent benefits. Benefits which make up some of the gap in pay (but not all of it) between what I earn as a public servant and what I might earn in the private sector. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So many people do not understand what it takes to be a teacher (at any level)--what kind of dedication to the betterment of others is required of a person who wants to teach. Teachers do not go into their profession to get rich. We don't go into it for "summers off"--I don't know anyone who truly has the summer off--and we certainly don't go into it expecting people to kick us in the stomach. The <i>New York Times</i> today has <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/education/03teacher.html">an article</a> whose focus is mainly secondary ed, but the same applies to post-secondary educators as well--we are scorned. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I have already taken a 5% pay cut and an increase in my class sizes, and continued to do my job to the best of my ability, but my smile is slipping.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Why am I doing this? I need to teach, but I need to provide for my family. I never expected to be rich being a teacher, but I thought I would be able to have a good, middle-class life. Not so much. Don't own the house we live in (which only has 2 bedrooms so the Things are currently sharing). Don't go on vacations (not even to celebrate milestones this year like being married for 10 years or finally getting tenure after 20 years' worth of striving). At the rate I'm going, I cannot save for my own retirement, much less the Things' college educations. I feel like a failure on so many levels.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I love teaching. I love feeling like I make a difference every day. But knowing that the people of this state don't value the job I work so hard to do well makes it really fucking hard to get up and keep doing it.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">OK. My elbow is sending shooting pain down my arm to my hand. Time to call it a night, because I have to get up and grade papers, journals, and posts tomorrow.</span></span></span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-66540436327808877342011-02-26T08:32:00.000-06:002011-02-26T08:32:40.741-06:00Protest Poem (revised)<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>I am (not)</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am not a union member</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am a taxpayer</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am not a public enemy</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am a professional educator</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am not a free-loader</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am a hard-working employee of the State</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am not a moron</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am a person who teaches kids how to think critically as they emerge into adulthood</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am not a slacker</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am a person who works nights + weekends beyond the 40 hours a week I spend on campus for the low low bargain price of $44,500</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am not a “have”</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am a person who took on debt to the tune of $70,000 for <i>the chance</i> to become a professor</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am not a home-owner</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am a renter because I cannot afford a mortgage (see salary and debt above)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am not a leech</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am a consumer in the Wisconsin economy who will have less money to spend because of this bill</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am not a supporter of this grotesque abrogation of workers’ rights</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am someone marching in Madison and raising a voice in the Rotunda</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am not a thug</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am an unarmed citizen of a democracy exercising my right to free speech and redress of grievances</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am not the problem</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am part of the solution if only You would listen </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></div><a name='more'></a><i>The original version (first draft) of this poem is on the <a href="http://versewisconsin.org/">Verse Wisconsin </a>protest poem page. After I sent it in, I realized that it needed a bit of tweaking. </i><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>I am so proud to be one of the protesters trying to make a difference...and when my mood shifts and hope wanes, all I have to do is read these poems on the Verse Wisconsin site to feel better. </i></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>All across Wisconsin there are people working to make this state a better place for all who live here--and our voices raised up together can change the tone of the dialogue. I have to believe that.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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</div>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-33243427156710418332011-02-21T08:15:00.000-06:002011-02-21T08:15:54.539-06:00On, Wisconsin!<div style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Another foot of snow fell yesterday and overnight, but that's not what this post is about.</span></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Instead,it's about my response to the grotesque abrogation of workers' rights that Governor Scott Walker has proposed as a "fix" for Wisconsin's budget deficit. I don't want to expound on the bill itself (it's been done in other places: try <a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/theyre-not-fighting-special-interests.html">Digby over at Hullabaloo</a> for a really succinct version of what's led up to this point). See also Paul Krugman's opinion piece <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/opinion/21krugman.html">"Wisconsin Power Play"</a> in today's <i>New York Times</i>.</span></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Last Wednesday, I traveled to Madison to join in the protest, along with 30,000 of my close personal friends. It was amazing--so much positive, peaceful energy and a sense of common purpose drew people from all walks of life: teachers and pipefitters, nurses and firefighters (yes, even though the firefighters are exempt).</span><span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </span></span></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><br />
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</span><span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"></span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The American Federation of Teachers rep had arranged for a group of us to meet with our State Senator, He-Who-Shall-Remain-Nameless. After several minutes of conflicting information updates, one of his Minions appeared. (It turned out that the Senators were caucusing off-site--out of fear of confrontation?) Four people were selected to speak (I was one of them). First went the Prof from the school just up the highway. Then I went.</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQrEJVwUURtS3IBV5MjLlBkPeoc5Uzunhk-H1JILUPkLoFAz3BCqpjG7MKB0VrbNWU-n8r8WX3cu4rG27QeM0eInuWb8zidqRxD3vkGlM4WJMFm7uMCujFLoCw19bR8JKZ0C1GSl0qZVQ/s1600/DSC01564.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQrEJVwUURtS3IBV5MjLlBkPeoc5Uzunhk-H1JILUPkLoFAz3BCqpjG7MKB0VrbNWU-n8r8WX3cu4rG27QeM0eInuWb8zidqRxD3vkGlM4WJMFm7uMCujFLoCw19bR8JKZ0C1GSl0qZVQ/s320/DSC01564.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><br />
The Minion looked like he'd rather be drinking bleach than listening to what I had to say:</span></span></span></div><ul style="color: #444444; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">The attack on collective bargaining does not solve the budget problem or create jobs.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">This bill will make us even less competitive for quality professors than we are now (after 4 failed searches for a World Languages position, we finally found someone; now we've got the third Comm/Arts search in as many years). California may have some of the same problems, but at least it's got better weather.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Students have already told me that they are going to leave WI and take their brains and their earning power with them. Why would anyone want to be a teacher or nurse or corrections officer in this state if this is how we are going to be treated?</span></li>
</ul><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: trebuchet ms;">I finally had to tell the guy, "Write this down" because he was just sitting there. He kept reiterating that we have a $137 milllion shortfall, and this will fix it. Dumbass. Thanks for listening. We left the meeting angrier than we were when we got there.<br />
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I wish I had known what was reported in the <i>Cap Times</i> later that day--that the missing $137 million mysteriously happened right after Walker took office ( as of 1/31 the state was projected to have a balance of $121 million)--coinciding with $140 million in special interest spending he has approved <span style="font-style: italic;">in his first 6 weeks in office</span>. This is not about balancing the budget--it's union busting, pure and simple. And both sides know it.</span></span><br />
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I do not mind paying a fair share. Neither does anyone I work with. However, we have been paying more than our fair share for a lot longer than is being reported by the mainstream media (on top of below-average salaries, our 2% raise that went POOF in the last biennial budget, along with a 3% reduction in pay that was categorized as "furlough" even though it was basically a giveback since most of my colleagues work 6 or 7 days a week anyway). And we do mind being professors on food stamps (at least 3 of my colleagues are the sole income for their families, and because our salaries are so low in the first place, they will qualify). </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: trebuchet ms;">I am OK for now--Hubby makes less than I do but we don't own a home, so our expenses can be managed (and we're mobile. Going back to Chicago looks pretty good right about now). Thing Two is now two, so his daycare isn't quite as expensive as it was before--but between his daycare expenses and my student loan payments, 1/3 of my take-home pay is gone every single month ($3600/mo for 9 mos = $32,400 in take-home. I owe $75,000 on my student loan debt, debt that I incurred for the express purpose of becoming a professor). I am seriously rethinking living in this state if this is how it wants to treat its public sector workers...and I'm not the only one.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: trebuchet ms;">At this point, despite the heartening daily increase in the number of protesters, I am not hopeful for a positive outcome. The Governor stubbornly refuses to even sit down with the representatives of public sector unions to discuss the issues, and he's confident that his bill will pass in spite of the 70,000 people protesting in Madison on an daily basis (70K on Saturday, anyway). </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: trebuchet ms;">My colleagues and I love our jobs--we love our students and we love helping them learn--but there has to be a limit to what we're expected to give. And after spending my entire adult life working towards tenure, I am forced to consider leaving a state I have come to love--because it's turning into a state I cannot love. It will not be a no-fault divorce--the blame will lie squarely with those voters whose values don't include a willingness to pay for quality education, or quality services period. They will get the state they're asking for, and I sure as hell don't want to live in it.</span></span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-4381076050474085482011-02-02T18:07:00.000-06:002011-02-02T18:07:55.072-06:00Snowpocalypse Snow Day<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Yes, it snowed here. I am still not quite sure how much, since the blizzard blew huge drifts everywhere. We were on the northern edge of the storm that dumped two feet on Chicago, so I'm thinking we got off easy.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frankie and Clodagh on Tuesday morning</td></tr>
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<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Driveway w/ 3 ft. drifts</td></tr>
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<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drift-a-riffic</td></tr>
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<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Post at the end of the driveway</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm8JiHKjzVcafNJRCLtTzhELD4SQ2jJqA6BR121Zz3ZK8RgmEEHXUVXyHOpUH86ntdbSLMb-ZE52_K3PXxzEIB00COGxEbquP_b0uzeaoNDRBJOVYjl0ir5IXps2_zkv6xhqbipvdMN-o/s1600/021a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm8JiHKjzVcafNJRCLtTzhELD4SQ2jJqA6BR121Zz3ZK8RgmEEHXUVXyHOpUH86ntdbSLMb-ZE52_K3PXxzEIB00COGxEbquP_b0uzeaoNDRBJOVYjl0ir5IXps2_zkv6xhqbipvdMN-o/s320/021a.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deck: This drift is up to my waist</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSLiiqQCloGgRqrgZSV3WQQRQt7oZM-djMij1vQ1urtYIHVGccMm8lth7gugKkW4W4-jnVFRNGTYpyId7a3TGjnZrOtgVSMahPeTgJts5kv2tTvNR2AGFfDXUGegAVWes3K5ywEC4JaIU/s1600/024a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSLiiqQCloGgRqrgZSV3WQQRQt7oZM-djMij1vQ1urtYIHVGccMm8lth7gugKkW4W4-jnVFRNGTYpyId7a3TGjnZrOtgVSMahPeTgJts5kv2tTvNR2AGFfDXUGegAVWes3K5ywEC4JaIU/s320/024a.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Man and The Machine, a 1972 Toro.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsUufwmGnupXtT2L19tVniDJVUaSFz2RxS6dYvc2AInDh7c3PFuBCNzKEFL8P2UPopjP0gKenMEeLcyx5DmhCXY-wmZLocTFaP3Yfe2IZB7WN8YjzKsKxROFGveXljhRj8BTomW7zR-ho/s1600/028a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsUufwmGnupXtT2L19tVniDJVUaSFz2RxS6dYvc2AInDh7c3PFuBCNzKEFL8P2UPopjP0gKenMEeLcyx5DmhCXY-wmZLocTFaP3Yfe2IZB7WN8YjzKsKxROFGveXljhRj8BTomW7zR-ho/s320/028a.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Toro snowblower is older than Hubby.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGZjG6jXhdEfc9jXd7IeGF_aDmjwPWr4Y3NLVLD0jKeOQjIrRzj45e0_5lBNaJT7cRstBWZ4X773zlwac9WovBC8_lBhqiRMaf5JNkB-7Q5EUyd-6kQJdbjV0UTZAadKbXFom-W1mGgE/s1600/030a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGZjG6jXhdEfc9jXd7IeGF_aDmjwPWr4Y3NLVLD0jKeOQjIrRzj45e0_5lBNaJT7cRstBWZ4X773zlwac9WovBC8_lBhqiRMaf5JNkB-7Q5EUyd-6kQJdbjV0UTZAadKbXFom-W1mGgE/s320/030a.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Air conditioner</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgyUjJ3lE4EgmQWV2idAypTsum-_lg0LCBQlNiK77zTb_AZt28NWKeWLDmHUVTsTh0AmdtBWTquGDfIj8XwZNtIcDx1Rq_-6yoM1EKw4X5zmVMCM_UakCHvrHUhToR2sbAdCRKrbnQfaw/s1600/031a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgyUjJ3lE4EgmQWV2idAypTsum-_lg0LCBQlNiK77zTb_AZt28NWKeWLDmHUVTsTh0AmdtBWTquGDfIj8XwZNtIcDx1Rq_-6yoM1EKw4X5zmVMCM_UakCHvrHUhToR2sbAdCRKrbnQfaw/s320/031a.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Through the kitchen window</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKFQ8OWdQjHnKKG0iSYcmYQRWwnqJ5BBuibjKWRVaUbN9fCQXwf1W0Rh-CYbjJxXQsVXMDbjibtoeUpqGgf9UUwdHkH6KatW9osV8qz2ehkZ67ohhabaJFXa0CaNC8ICja0j9ond49aNk/s1600/032a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKFQ8OWdQjHnKKG0iSYcmYQRWwnqJ5BBuibjKWRVaUbN9fCQXwf1W0Rh-CYbjJxXQsVXMDbjibtoeUpqGgf9UUwdHkH6KatW9osV8qz2ehkZ67ohhabaJFXa0CaNC8ICja0j9ond49aNk/s320/032a.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front stoop with four-foot drift</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Very happy to not have to go in to campus today, as I'm sure the students were too. Things should be back to normal (whatever that means) tomorrow.</span></span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-76183856049751240642011-01-28T21:08:00.001-06:002011-01-28T21:17:59.671-06:00A Good First Week<span xmlns="">Today marks the end of the first week of the spring semester. I spent the morning in a meeting with colleagues, hammering out a slate of candidates to interview for a position in Communication/Theater Arts. After we adjourned, a couple of us stayed to chat, and all three of us remarked at how collegial the atmosphere was. We got a lot accomplished in two hours, and we left the meeting feeling hopeful for the future. All three of us commented on how great it was to work on our particular campus—and how many people we know in academia have it so much worse. <br />
<br />
The meeting basically reinforced my feeling of gratitude for my positive departmental tenure vote. I don't think I could find a better place to work, and I am in no way blowing sunshine out of my nethers. I really feel fortunate to have landed where I have.<br />
<br />
I am getting to know a new "batch" of students, and my classes are all full (except for my literature course, and that's to be expected—but I still have 25 students). I feel pretty good about the way things have started, but we'll see what happens when I sit down with the first batch of papers.<br />
<br />
I have a lot to look forward to—Hubby and I are going to Chicago in two weeks to stay at the <a href="http://web.rubyroom.com/inn.aspx">Ruby Room</a>, a teeny boutique hotel in our old neighborhood—within easy walking distance of our favorite restaurant, <a href="http://www.pennysnoodleshop.com/">Penny's Noodle Shop</a>. The Penny's on Damen is under the Blue Line El stop, and Hubby and I used to meet there on Friday nights after work for dinner, then walk home together to our place above Village Laundry, a 24-hour laundromat with booming TELEMUNDO! broadcasts and hordes of badly-behaved children. We decided last year that a good way to celebrate being together would be to go to Chicago on the anniversary of our first "date" weekend. Last year marked 10 years—the first time we met up to go out was for a <a href="http://www.handsomefamily.com/">Handsome Family</a> show at <a href="http://www.schubas.com/">Schuba's</a>—I was out with Danny and Gina Black (of the once-again defunct alt-country band <a href="http://www.bloodshotrecords.com/artist/blacks">The Blacks</a>) and told Hubby that he could meet me there. He did. The rest is history. Most of it good.<br />
<br />
I turn 40 at the end of March. Not so much looking forward to that, as I am to getting together with my best friend when I'm in Florida for the <a href="http://www.cea-web.org/">College English Association</a> conference. I honestly cannot believe that it's been 12 years since this photo was taken:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7hakyn_AK1rODJd4g8erVmotn2ZoNmmFMPCEfTFaxgg2StPiFam470wkbiSHDWSv1x_-5sYblfXUtIzSLMS1EWf74vBZzrnRhU7oLoTSjGJwq0I9MkPkptUjCFPDEBO5FK37nJ8UxJ6c/s1600/A+and+E+98.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7hakyn_AK1rODJd4g8erVmotn2ZoNmmFMPCEfTFaxgg2StPiFam470wkbiSHDWSv1x_-5sYblfXUtIzSLMS1EWf74vBZzrnRhU7oLoTSjGJwq0I9MkPkptUjCFPDEBO5FK37nJ8UxJ6c/s320/A+and+E+98.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">@Bite, Chicago October 1998</td></tr>
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I talked to her today—and it was like we just talked last week, even though it's been considerably longer than that. It's been more three years since I've seen her—August 2007. She lives in NJ, works in Manhattan—we both have kids now, and both of us have jobs that are stressful and leave little time and energy left over. I'm very much looking forward to hang time with her. <br />
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Yes, life is good. Now I'm going to see if I can access the new season of <a href="http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/archer/">Archer</a>.<br />
</span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-20087787634019834872011-01-19T20:03:00.001-06:002011-01-19T20:07:47.268-06:00Well, That's a Relief<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">My department executive committee has voted. I have been awarded tenure and a promotion to associate professor.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Now comes the vote by my campus. Then the dean, the provost, the chancellor, and the Board of Regents have to approve it. But the hardest part is done--I made it through the department EC. My campus colleagues have been behind me the whole time--they will be happy to hear this news.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">To say that I am relieved is an understatement.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Celebration will come later. Tonight I plan to sleep well for the first time in a very long time. </span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJkNiokzWkNUmyt-wxKCZcykiDLESRihCFHwZVAWyJfI1zxOLURtH0cFrwrYQ2eS1nBg_BvT41C56jHqjw00qePXGXNkNEL2Sp9s9KFVQMpJ5GeWjmPn0vAfYL52wrvpH3G-c1tjJggXs/s1600/sleep.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJkNiokzWkNUmyt-wxKCZcykiDLESRihCFHwZVAWyJfI1zxOLURtH0cFrwrYQ2eS1nBg_BvT41C56jHqjw00qePXGXNkNEL2Sp9s9KFVQMpJ5GeWjmPn0vAfYL52wrvpH3G-c1tjJggXs/s1600/sleep.gif" /></a></div>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356007914522251744.post-50740426914927283052011-01-18T19:51:00.000-06:002011-01-18T19:51:53.718-06:00Less Than 24 Hours...<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">Tomorrow, my department's Executive Committee meets to consider applications for tenure. There are three of us going up. I am reasonably certain the other two will make it, as they were asked to go up a year early. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">I, on the other hand, am suffering through the worst anxiety dreams I've ever had in my life. Night after night, terrible things keep happening, and the only positive take-away is that I'm surviving them (both the dreams and the things in them). </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">For instance, last night I dreamt of my childhood home in Ohio (built in 1845). My mom and I stood on the steps to the patio. So far, so good. Except when a loop of a dream I'd had some months ago intruded: a jumbo jet trying to stay aloft, obviously about to crash. Except that this time, it's headed right for my house. It somehow misses my mom and me, but blows up my house. All around are injured, screaming people, and I can't help them. I'm frozen. Then, mercifully, I wake up.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">Except that it's not really merciful, because I can't get back to sleep. This cycle of weird/uncomfortable dreaming and waking continued all night long.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">I functioned well enough for a chunk of the day--got the Things off to school, did a bit of work in my office prior to the day's Campus Opening Meeting.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">Cue the parietal headache. I clench my jaw in my sleep (but don't grind my teeth like I did when I was a kid), and I'm apparently doing it harder than ever, because I've never had headaches like this. Migraines, yes--always on the right, always starting in my right eye. This one, on the left, feels like someone punched me hard in the head, just above my ear. With brass knuckles. My surgeon, whom I saw back in December when this type of headache started interfering with my ability to work and eat, acknowledged that this is likely stress-based (ya think?) and that we could try amitriptyline. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">So far, fewer headaches. But obviously not today. I had to leave the meeting two hours early to come home and curl up in bed with my head on a heating pad. I want very much to relax, and I'm very tired but not tired enough to sleep. Ugh.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">In happier news, two colleagues in other departments have gotten positive votes from their respective departments, and it was good to be relieved on their behalf. We also got our student survey data today, and once again I had a healthy score on "overall instructor" so that should help me.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">All three of my cats are staring at me from various vantage points in my living room, so I think it's time for dinner. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow... </span></span>Mamalaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239511661947502942noreply@blogger.com0