Get Thee to a Writing Center

Week three? I've already lost count.

We are starting week five of the quarter
and all is well (besides the sh*t load of grading
sitting beside the fire place --think it will catch?).

The writing center gig is going well. The regional
campus serves about 1700 students; all the freshmen taking
composition classes are suppose to stop in--3x.

I have 6 really great tutors--well, 4.
Two of them I'm not so sure about.
Met with them Friday from 4-6 and I'm
simply exhausted. Very chatty group.
One may be trouble.
Not sure we actually accomplished much.
Eeee. Well, it is me.
Challenges challenges.

My partner finally forced me to use
the notebook he bought; VISTA, yuck.
I dread transfering all of my files . . .

I am on my feet about 12 hours a day (27 of those
teaching, 16 tutoring), 6 days a week--

so I guess that's one way to get SQ to buckle
to the system.

MC's On to Something Again

Etcher, you may be right.

I taught the WS100 at one of the regional

yesterday and had a fine time--

the students seemed quite engaged.



Hmm.



Need to think about that more.



Meanwhile, the Writing Center position

has been finalized and I start next Friday.



Already, the WAC Director (who is also a close friend)

has given me an assignment

to bridge the gap

between main campus and regional.

In high spirits, I replied "No problem."



Aiya.



Also, should mention I was ambushed

Friday by the regional faculty

after the--



since when does SQ think you are interested

in office politics?



Shame on me.



Instead:



That metal sphere--so tight

beneath the water, compact

in its perfection. I rolled it

between my index finger and thumb--



noticed the way other tiny spheres

had gathered on the surface

of my thighs, stomach, and chest,

little air pockets perfect in their reflection.



I poked at each and watched in stillness

their rise to the surface, extinction

or transformation.

And I just might.

I just want to wear my tennis shoes so badly!

I'm almost there--waering jeans and tennies everyday
and not giving a d*mn.

Yesterdays and yesterdays

tired of the bush bashing (simply b/c after
5 years it's boring), i tried to challenge my new '07-'08
office mates w/what i considered critical thinking,
a new direction.

didn't float their boats. i had to explicitly laugh
and say, "I'm not defending bush!" No one
should need to do that where i come from.
now i'm cranky.

ws100 is sooo boring. when talking about the way people tend
to ignore differences, i often use the example
of the way we are taught as children "not to stare"
(which has quite complicated reprocussions for the
person being consistantly ignored).

Anyway. The class denied that socialization.
THEN they began to camp out in the "all-people-
are-individuals-not everyone acts the same--
people react differently--it depends on the circumstances--"

I could have snapped.

I wasn't calling out racism, sexism, or even homophobia.

I took a deep breath, gritted, smiled
and in pure sarcasim began:

"That is absolutely true.
You are all so right [and oh so smart]--
we Americans indulge in our capicity for individualism--
we love and embrace our choices--
are all individuals
everything in relative
it all depends--

but, however,

sometimes,

social scientist look for--

patterns.

Patterns in behavior.

Patterns in behavior among certain groups of people.

And we are here to look at those patterns.

I'm simply suggesting, that perhaps, in some families,
little children are taught not to stare at say, people in wheelchairs--"


Seriously. Is that such a big stretch? If it takes me
a f*cking 15 minutes to get that far,
I just don't want to go back.
Grr. cranky sob i am.

And then, at home, when I'm reduced to exasperated tears,
I see that maybe I shouldn't go back.
Those kids deserve someone with patience and love--
someone who will treat the material
as if it is new and fresh (just in the way they are encountering it).

What to do?
My ENG courses are great b/c I've started w/a new text.
Can I scrap the WS syllabus?

Today I am suppose to hear about the writing center position
at one of the branches--i'll take it.
take next quarter off from the main branch--
where everyone is white, wealthy, privileged
and unable to see any problems in the world (beyond
an empty beer can).

Grr. Weep weep.

Tip #1

If you dump the shavings from the pencil sharpener,
the machine will sharpen pencils much more efficiently.




Tip #2
The word "efficiently" is "weird,"
according to the rhyme that babbles "except after 'c'";
yet, the real tricky part is the initial "i."




I kill me. Has blogging really come to this?