11:47am: No Email; A Swig of Caffeine

Why do I clean out my car before
a long drive?
It's only going to be disgusting
by the time I get to NC anyway.


But I do find it rather distracting
from watching the email box!


The administrative assistants
assisted me with delivering my grades--
so it's a done deal.
Fs galore.
Ok, 4 Fs, 2 in each class.
I just really can't understand why everyone
doesn't get an A in my class.
Rewrites are always an option--
I negotiate grades . . .
I give bonus assignments.
I tell myself nothing is final--
I'm up for reevaluating a student
if he or she would request it--
even now.

Why do I get so tore up about it?
If you are sick of reading it--imagine me! living it!


Ok, must focus ahead.
Guilt guilt.
To vacation.
Why must I live in guilt??? I'm not Catholic!

grrr.

People are coming out of the woodwork this summer
offering me books;
only, they are not offering a choice: "You need
to read this Squirrley. I'm giving it to you.
You have to read it on vacation if you love me.
Don't worry--you will love this or, or, I don't
know, there's something wrong with you."

Great.

One of the titles? _Remember_ by Karen Kingsbury
with Gary Smalley.
"With"--WTF? Who wrote the book?
The cover looks like a romance.
A rustic, summer home.
Sunset.
American flag.

I owe this friend, or I wouldn't touch this.


One of the perks to my job is that I can order texts
from companies to review.
From Norton (the cannonized police squad--I know),
I ordered _Picturing Texts_ and got it in the mail
within 2 days. But it will cost the student $60.oo+.
So I don't know.
It looks facinating!
But how much time could I put into
developing such a class (lots of powerpoint, I suspect).


I found Lucy Grealy's _Autobigraphy of a Face_
in my mail box yesterday.
Freshman are required to read one "common novel"
by the university in order to have something
academic in common.
Looks too surfacey. I'll give it a few minutes.
What do I know?

Also, surfing for short fiction for WS. Read a fantastic
short by Alice Walker, "The Abortion," which was
nothing like I expected.
I was (still am) absorbed.
I pray I can find more fiction like that
to sooth my thirsty soul!


And last, but not least, I found it!!
Woo-woo!
When I was out with my peeps,
we all picked up Marilynne Robinson's
_Housekeeping_.
I thought I lost it--now it is found & I can't wait.

OK! It's been 19 minutes,
time to check my email--
waiting for the shoe to drop!