This afternoon I got an email from a student, asking if I could give her feedback by tomorrow (Sunday) on a small task completed today (Saturday). This thing is due on Monday, hours after our class meets, meaning that (a) as they already know, there is a block of class time set aside to discuss this task and then (b) she will have the entire rest of the day in which to fine-tune anything that needs fine-tuning in this brief assignment. I am scraping and straining in an effort to view that email compassionately, but it just reads as presumptuous. Bleh.
Related: talking to students about professionalism is always an uncertain undertaking. Sometimes they really appreciate it. Mostly they do not. And I get that; it's never fun to be corrected, even gently. Earlier this semester one of my grad students narrowly escaped a formal write-up for something that struck me as astonishingly tone-deaf and entitled. But when I said something along the lines of "I invite you to consider how a situation like this might play out in the workplace," I got a WHATEVER reaction that further surprised me.
OKAY, that is enough work-related grumpiness. The admissions committee is NOT GREAT for my equilibrium, you guys; my judger is PLUMB BURNED OUT. Here is a little piece of good news: the restaurant/bar I mentioned in last night's post is reopening, hurray! We are not the only people who are excited to go back -- they're opening at limited capacity and I couldn't get a dinner reservation until the end of March. But on the last day of March I am going to enjoy a fancy meal preceded by a fancy cocktail, and even though it is going to be Lent I will order dessert. Huzzah, something to look forward to.
We are still digging out from under the snow dumped upon us by the Groundhog Day storm, and it is messing with my plans to be a person who embraces friluftsliv. It's good to spend time outside every day, I fully agree. But man, it is a little treacherous to spend time outside right now. With a normal amount of snow I can just step off the sidewalk when the sidewalks are too icy. The snow is too deep right now for that plan to be practical, though, and the sidewalks are frequently sketchy, what with thawing and refreezing and temps too cold for ice-melting compounds to do their jobs well. Yesterday I was walking home from work (in the dark, because I was determined to empty my inbox before I left), and trying to remind myself to be grateful: for a walkable commute, for legs that can carry me safely, for the seasons.
The effort was not enough of a success for me to be eager to get back out there today.
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