As I whined about a few days, I am in the midst of grading. I have 18 papers left, and, dear reader, my eyes literally hurt. My fingers are numb. My brain has rebelled. The essays are mostly fine, so at least I don’t have constant ogida. The stress is mostly all of the other stuff I need to do (finish writing several projects; lecture/class prep; search committee business; working on my college’s blog–I’m an editor–etc etc etc).
I did manage to do other things this weekend (a department gathering at a local pub; running both mornings; chores; lunch with the hubby at yet another local pub).
So, this is a placeholder posting, identifying more for myself than for anyone else what postings are potentially forthcoming next month:
- Mary McCarthy’s 1963 best selling novel, The Group, has been reprinted by Virago Press: I’ve been reading the latest re-views and recently reread the novel, and I have oodles of reflection: who would have thunk it?
- I finally started using the little Nike/Ipod thingy that tracks my distance and speed when running. It’s no GPS device, so it’s undoubtedly not entirely accurate, but I’ve got to say that I’m even more motivated to run each morning than even when I was only mildly obsessed pre-Nike/Ipod thingy (note: I actually do not wear Nike running shoes–so this posting will also be a review of the many pouches available to the anti-establishment running shoe wearers).
- Amazon has made Kindle software available to PC users: I’ve downloaded a slew of “free” e-books (Alcott, Austen, etc) to test out on my Netbook.
- The trials, tribulations, and joys of teaching Chopin’s The Awakening in a general ed. survey class where male students outnumber women students (a novel that is on a dream high school reading list that Dr. Crazy has started, but not on very many actual high school reading lists, like Quills, mostly because it’s a beautiful novel about SEX).
From the Mixed Up Bloggings of Annie Em 
So feeling for you re: the grading! Hugs!
And I just taught Chopin last week too (just some short fiction but still: amazing). I definitely want to hear more about this class if you feel like you can elaborate!
I so wish I had time to write about the Chopin discussions we’ve been having. I usually do the short stories, too, skipping the beautiful novel for lack of time, but since this is my last time teaching the survey for a while, I wanted to try it once more.
So yes, I’ll write about it soon! Are you up to the moderns yet then? We move on to the poets of note next week…..
I just taught “Story of an Hour,” “Desiree’s Baby,” and the Modernist poets in my high school survey class. (Not all together.) I am always amazed by how thoughtful 16-year-olds can be when given the opportunity. Had my high school teachers actually allowed us to discuss the readings, I might have done them and not been so behind by the time I got to college! All of that to say I, too, eagerly await your elaboration about Chopin!
We have another class discussion on Chopin tomorrow night, so maybe this weekend? Some students are changing their perspectives as we continue to discuss the novel, others are sticking to their original perspectives but arguing them better. Edna is a wonderful conversation piece, if anything!