sleepless in the heartland

I can't sleep. In a mad desire to do something useful with the time, I ended up grading papers in the middle of the night, and answering all sorts of student e-mails that perhaps were best answered when I was a bit sleepy, and less inclined to be blunt.

For example: last week, a student e-mailed to ask if he could do a review on a book not on the approved list. "Perhaps," said I, "which one?" "X," replies the student. Since X is the required textbook for the class, I politely told him no, "because it's the textbook." Guess what book he wrote a review of and submitted? This is a paper best commented upon at 2:00 AM.

Words Written: zero
Lessons Graded: twenty