traumas

I know exactly where I was when I heard about Challenger blowing up - I can tell you exactly which desk in which room, the color of the walls, what I was supposed to be doing but wasn't... (I learned how to french braid my hair in study hall that year.)

I remember watching the replays on television over and over and over before lunch and then we were supposed to go on with our academic day.

Listening to the NPR coverage of it being 25 years (how did I get to be so old?!) there was a reference to the shuttle explosion later on. That's vivid, but for different reasons- I was trapped in a traffic jam, desperate to get home, and turned on the radio for a distraction. Certainly a distraction...

My heart breaks for the families of these brave men and women, and I do not say that lightly. RIP.

hot cocoa

There's a very nice woman in my neighborhood, about my age, who also works from home. She does something with scrap-booking as a profession and as I do not have the arts & crafts gene, I'm not entirely sure that I understand it.

We've been casual friends for a few years now - always a wave and a smile when we pass by, she noticed that Sam wasn't in the yard and sent her condolences, I watched her kids once - but it took us until this summer to actually sit down and have lunch together.

There's plenty that we don't have in common, but quite a lot that we do. Yesterday we spent some time just having cocoa together and having girl talk. I need to remember to do that again.

woof woof woof

A neighbor (whom I do not know well at all) took her dog for a walk and forgot her keys. To cut a long story short, no one had a spare key to her house, her husband was away and wouldn't be back until after midnight and it's cold in Indiana at this time of year.

I apologized for the condition of lemming headquarters (it was laundry day) but said I'd be more than happy to put her and the dog up until husband got home. I'd already planned on pizza for supper - pizza crusts were one of Sam's favorite treats - and it was great to have a dog in the kitchen, sitting, patiently, who quickly figured out that in this house, as in his own, pizza crusts definitely belonged to dogs, not humans.

Dakota (the dog) quickly mellowed out and had a few "really, I'm vigilant, you just think I'm napping" moments. I had to work, but tried to pop out every half hour or so to socialize... the petting and scratching of a dog's ears were, of course, purely circumstantial. Dakota even spent time barking at the squirrels in the backyard (Sam's nemesis) so we're safe for a day or so.

I miss being owned by a dog.

almost done - sort of

One fifteen page essay stands between me and being officially on break for a few days.

It's a good essay. It's from a good student. I gave him a two week extension because his wife went into premature labor. He sent me pictures from the NICU and everything... OK, I am a softie for new daddies.

Is it wrong that I plan to read six pages and then have some cocoa, take a nap, sing a lot of descants and then read the other six pages? I hope not....

'tis the season

Well, it's crunch time. The exams start in less than thirty-six hours. So far I've not received any foolish questions (good) and had more than a few ask what I would be teaching next semester (also good) so I am feeling fairly hopeful. Well, OK, there is one student who has earned As on all of her assignments, but since she missed the mid-term and the make-up, it's going to hurt to assign that final grade.

I think fall semester is infinitely harder than spring. The break is shorter, it comes later, and somehow I have to cram in that last dash of grading while Christmas shopping, rehearsing with the choir, lighting candles, enjoying the change of seasons and generally feeling the Christmas spirit. Every year I fully intend to find some of the Advent reflection that sounds so glorious, but seem to have so little time in which to do it outside of church.

It's so strange to look at people for whom the year is not divided by semesters. It's normal, right? It's how most of this world goes about their lives. Odd concept, that.

courage

I confess that I really admire the courage of the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons. They always seem to show up when I am having a crazy morning and often when I have the 'flu. The gentlemen who turned up today were very kind, understood that this was not a good day, handed me some literature and left.

I know that the men and women who come door to door do it out of deep belief, and I know that they get countless doors slammed in their faces, plenty of invective and more than a few people who play mind games with them. They do it anyway.

Anthony Lane, Part II

Number two on the list of best-sellers read by Anthony Lane was Forever Amber by Katharine Windsor. This may be the guiltiest pleasure novel I have read in years, possibly decades. It's only the second book I've ever read (a biography of Emma Goldman was the first) in which I needed to keep a running guide of the names of the lovers in order tp keep track of the plot.

Is it great literature? No. Is it deliciously of its time? Oh my yes.

funniest prose all year

Anthony Lane, reviewing Earth and High Heaven by Gwethalyn Graham, a best-seller from 1945

And so to no. 9. I have a problem with No. 9. I cannot read it. God knows, I have tried. I have downed three straight whiskeys and then tried to read it. I have leapt clean and sober from a cold shower, grabbed the book, and, standing upright, started to read it out loud. But the same thing always happened: I buckled like a puppet and fell asleep.

from Nobody's Perfect pages 394-395

words have no meaning

I've just read a student's paper and I am struggling to find words with which to comment. She doesn't realize that she has just voiced a very unpleasant stereotype. I'm not sure which is harder, pointing out the stereotype, or pointing out her ignorance.

She's not young and this isn't intentional. She will be mortified when she reads my comments. Still breaks my heart.

squirrels on steroids

When the alarmingly tall contractor and his crew put on a new roof this summer, they tore off not one but three old roofs. I don't entirely understand why this is supposed to make it cheaper to heat lemming headquarters, but I accept it as one of the mysteries of life. Doubtless I would understand if I had taken Physics in high school instead of Women's History.

One unforeseen after-effect of now only having one layer of roof is that I can hear the prancing and pawing of each tiny hoof, er, paw of each squirrel who scampers across. I'm not yet so used to the noise that I tune it out, but I at least know what it is.

So, having consumed quite a bit of caffeine, I sat down at the computer, prepared to draw intelligent comparisons between Sarah Palin and Eliza Pickney. (Really. You have no idea how thrilled I am that John McCain chose Palin. Teaching Women's History has just become infinitely more entertaining.)

Hypothetically and in theory, several squirrels could make the noises which began overhead. These would need to be squirrels even more coordinated than the vast liberal socialist conspiracy, which seems unlikely in suburban Indianapolis. The organized squirrels then began throwing large branches off of the new roof... and turned on leaf blowers.

I'm grateful to my neighbors for cleaning off my new roof, but they did give me quite a shock.

over-heard at church

Coincidence is God's way of working anonymously."

update!

Today's reference librarian at least looked up some answers to my question, though failed to understand the context for it. I can't decide if a 90% answer counts as complete satisfaction or not. Then again, the answer was free!

simple pleasures

I stumped a reference librarian today.

I plan to try again later.

Sometimes it's the little moments in life that power us (well, me) through Tuesdays.

book meme

Harriet tagged me for this meme about books about two weeks ago. I've been busy with that usual middle-of-October chaos, so this is rather late. I envy Harriet her eighty words a minute sometimes.

Anyway, the drill is to answer the questions, then tag some people – I haven't, as everyone I would tag has already responded, in one fashion or another – and when you’ve done it you email beanphoto at mail@beanphoto.co.uk and tell him you did it so he can go and collect it. And ask the bloggers you tag to do the same.

1. Most memorable place/experience reading a book?

So many possibilities for this answer - certainly the golden and glorious afternoon in which I devoured Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for the first time, the incredible frustration of trying to plow through Alison Weir's Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley while on a gorgeous location, any of a number of Jane Austen novels reread while while crossing the Atlantic, the pure joy when I finally laid hands on a copy of A Candle in Her Room after thirty years and found that not only did I still love it, but that I appreciated the author's brilliance a lot more than I once did - and I note that the first titles which came to mind were all penned by women, which may or may not be significant.

If pinned down, perhaps because of the season, I'd have to give the nod to House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I took a senior seminar on Hawthorne - I don't know if we read all of the man's work, but we came awfully close. Gables is fairly creepy on its own, but after reading so many of NH's short stories, my mind already dashed off to dark corners and spooky setting before I read the first page.

I finally found sanctuary in the common room of my dormitory. With the low murmur of the television and chatter from other students to ground a corner of my subconcious in reality, I curled up in a corner and read the book in one sitting. I still found the book creepy, but I no longer feared that I'd make too much noise by turning the page.

2. Most unusual place/experience reading a book?

Studying for qualifying exams - I went a week without glasses or contacts but had to go on reading. I still feel great affection for Born For Liberty by Sara Evans because it had unusually large print.

3. Most dangerous place/experience reading a book?



I've snuck in coffee to a few libraries where beverages were banned, does that count?

Occasionally I've felt unsafe in the stacks at large university libraries - the sight lines are, obviously, dreadful, and it wouldn't be hard to hide a crime (or other naughty activity, such as coffee drinking) behind a pillar.

4. Most luxurious place/experience reading a book?

The weekend before the US AP exam I stayed at the home of a friend who lived on the Atlantic Ocean. I reread all of my notes and both textbooks sitting on a bay window's window seat, watching the waves roll in.

5. Funniest place/experience reading a book? Or, add a reading-place/experience description of your own.

Hmmm... lots of times when I have agonized over trying to remember a title, only to discover the book right next to me... Sharyn McCrumb's Killing Susan made me laugh so long and so often that I reread it three times in as many days.

Weir's Mary, Queen of Scots reduced me to frequently grumbling aloud to friends and family, "just kill the man, already!" - does that count?

The old saw about "not judging a book by its cover" proved, just once, to be entirely accurate; at a small local library branch, I spotted a John Bellairs book propped on top of a bookcase. I'd never heard of Bellairs, but the cover picture screamed out, "I was drawn by Edward Gorey." What further recommendation could I ask; Gorey and a librarian? All true: Bellairs' books (and the follow-ups by Brad Strickland) are wonderful.

one sided conversation

Mistress!
What is it, dog?
Mistress!
Yes, dog?
Mistress!!!
What do you want, Sam?
Mistress!!!

So it has gone, for three hours. He doesn't need to go outside,it's not the traditional hour for the walking of the dog, he's been fed and his sofa is free of clutter. It's hard enough to focus upon the most boring assignment of teh entire class, but this is not helping.

Mistress!!!

I miss the days when I could simply walk him by the front door of the lady dog of mature years and he would then sleep with a happy grin for an hour or so.

Obama puts a ring on it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SEZEyAuSP8

Just watch it - you know you need a good solid belly laugh on a Friday Morning.

I still believe.

the rain is full of ghosts

Nearly everyone in the mid-west seemed dazed by this week of rain. It's gray and dreary enough to be late fall, yet it's warm and the leaves, at least in Indianapolis, have yet to turn. There's something wonderfully comforting about waking up in the early morning to the sound of the rain and even better to know that I don't have to get up early to teach or mark papers, and so can go back to sleep.

The weather has been hard on Sam - the extra humidity brings out his arthritis, and without his daily walks, he has cabin fever... though not enough cabin fever to consent to walk in the rain. It looks like matters may be dry for a few minutes so perhaps I can get him twice around the block this afternoon.

I had a frustrating conversation with a student, made all the more frustrating because of the rain. I could barely hear her words, and the rain had better diction. I truly and deeply admire the students who take a class not in their native language to study history not their own, for which they have no cultural context to hand. People like her bring out my most altruistic & enthusiastic "please, I want so much to help you!" teaching impulse in my soul - but truth be told, I'm really not sure what she wanted to know. The words that came out of my mouth seemed to reassure her, though, so I'll chalk that up as a small victory.

monday, Monday

The neighbors threw a big party on Saturday - it started at about 10:00 AM and lasted until midnight. Sam and I counted about twenty cars at one point parked outside. It sounded and looked like rather a lot of fun, though I wish that they had knocked off the singing before 11:00 PM.

They had the right weather for it - yesterday and today have been gray and wet, though mercifully still warm enough to have the windows open and some amount of fresh air circulating. The party included several dogs, who barked madly at am every time he went outside. He found this behavior quite baffling; I honestly think he's pining for his lady love.

Status: grading like mad.

status update

If I had a facebook account, which I do not, my current status would be, "lemming is unable to correctly type the word "conquer" tonight, and is reluctant to ponder the potential significance of this fact."

I got it wrong again in the typing of this post.

in company

Due to circumstances beyond my control, lemming headquarters has moved again. This week I have been grading essays not only away from Sam's watchful eye, but in a very full office. Oh, I've had office-mates before this, but never before have I enjoyed their company so much. While teaching is a social activity, grading is usually a solitary activity, of necessity, really.

By the way, today is the birthday of Colin Firth.