It's that time

Just writing my to-do list here. Move along, move along.

• write 1 physics final
• write 3 astronomy lecture finals
• write 5 astronomy lab finals
• write 2 astronomy lab quizzes
  
• grade astronomy papers
• grade physics papers

That should keep me busy for the next few hours. Whee!

Busy

This weekend has gone by in a blur. How did it get to be Sunday night already? Oh yeah, this is where the time went:

Work

• Corresponded with many students.
• Corresponded with TAs.
• Checked physics essays for cheating - found one. Not a good move on his part.
• Graded many astronomy essays.
• Wrote two letters of rec.
• Wrote two astronomy quizzes.
• Corresponded with part-time faculty.

Home

• Did grocery shopping.
• Did some much needed recycling.
• Went to the bank.

Fun

• Spent a leisurely breakfast tormenting much beloved Philip.
• Spent an hour dancing around the apartment with my iPod.
• Dinner outside at the brewpub with my dear Greg.
• Suns beat the Lakers!
• Sat outside in the stunningly lovely weather with Greg while he grilled tri-tip and chicken, making the best dinner ever. Mmm...I shall call him the Grillmaster now. Mmm...

Hope y'all had a good weekend!

Sad Questions (long)

This week was sad, busy, and stressful. For the first few days of the week, the students were subdued. I don't know that any single action could have prevented the tragedy at Virginia Tech. I do know that letting the students bear arms in the classroom is not a solution. My arguments?

• I have students show up to class drunk.
• I have students who use calculators to multiply by 1.

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One of the biggest problems facing higher education today is dealing with students with mental health issues. Do we expect instructors, who are untrained in this matter, to pinpoint problems? Differentiate between the blues and clinical depression? I have no answers, but anecdotes:

• I wrote an essay in high school that my English instructor praised highly, but also let me know that I should feel free to talk to her about anything and everything. It was a much appreciated offer, but I didn't take her up on it. I am eternally grateful she did not contact my parents, nor do I think the content warranted such attention. Nowadays? At least parental contact, I'm sure, and that would have made matters much worse for me. The catharsis of writing was what I needed.
• Two very important men in my life, Greg and Aaron, would have been detained. Kirsten and I would have been single. Splatterpunk, anyone?
• I had a student once who, quite frankly, gave me the creeps upon our first meeting. My gut told me he had issues, but my Ph.D. in physics doesn't make me qualified to make such diagnoses. I had to treat him just like any other student. I started to notice strange behavior in class on his part, particularly towards young women. Then he even appeared to follow a girl when she finished her lab. I made eye contact with another student, who said to me, "Did you see what I just did?" I went into the hallway and called him back in. For a few classes after, I would distract him with discussion while the last girls left the classroom, because his, um, interest in them was overt. I went to the chair of my department, who is amazing, and he said that he'd have a word with this student with security present. The student didn't show up that day, though, and never showed up to my class again. The chair still contacted his family, who said that the young man had been hospitalized and had problems that were controllable with medication. The next year, he showed up in somebody else's astronomy class at our satellite campus. He made one girl so uncomfortable that she told the instructor, who contacted me. Once again, the chair and I started the mandated steps - first warning, then removal if behavior continues. However, this did not go smoothly. The dean who showed up to monitor this class and make the warning told the instructor after class, "You just don't understand this student's culture." Um, does his cultural background explain why he followed the instructor out to his car yelling threats immediately following the warning? We eventually succeeded in having him removed, but not fast enough. He actually touched the leg of that female student in class, and she withdrew before we finished all of the steps to get him removed. I still have regrets that the system didn't work fast enough, and my chair and I fought to at least have the young woman's registration fees refunded for that class.
• Many students have voluntarily revealed to me that they are on medications - depression, social anxiety, bipolar disorder. I would hazard a guess that as many as 50% of my students in some semesters have been under mental health treatment. Is it my duty to ask them if they are taking their meds? Is it the college's responsibility to monitor this? Force them to take the meds?

So many questions, so few answers...so much sadness.

---

Jamie Bishop was dear to friends of mine. The Jamie Bishop and Jocelyne Couture-Nowak Scholarships will be awarded annually to German and French majors at Virginia Tech. Donations may be made payable to the Virginia Tech Foundation for the Jamie Bishop Scholarship (for German Majors) or the Jocelyne Couture-Nowak Scholarship (for French majors):

Virginia Tech Foundation
University Development
902 Prices Fork Road
Blacksburg, VA 24061

Working things out

Today would have been my father's seventy-fourth birthday. He died in August 1999. It seemed to be a quick death from our perspective, but for the amount of pain he was in, it was agonizingly slow. I regret that I cut short our last conversation - he was in quite a bit of pain, so I told him I'd catch him the following week, but there was no following week.

A colleague has been diagnosed with Pick's Disease. He's only in his fifties. Many of us have been quite affected by this news, putting together all the little symptoms we just didn't recognize, much the same way he suddenly doesn't recognize us. I wonder if he understands that many of us appreciated him?

I have two dear friends making big life decisions, and they both asked me for advice, which I did my best to give them. I think I gave good advice. However, in doing so, I realize how I don't follow that advice. Things that seem so clear in hindsight or from the outside are so blurry in the moment. I guess I'm just dwelling on all of this because there are changes ahead, and I'm faced with uncertainty and situations out of my control. I'm feeling on edge and I'm hoping the choices I've made are the right ones. I can certainly think of things I should have done and things I should have said, but never did.

Sometimes it just feels better to write things down.

It rained tonight, unexpectedly. What a gift.

And there's always Saturn, from Cassini

Good thing I was drinking cocoa...

...while grading a paper from a student. First of all, he referred to "astronomy" as "astrology". Secondly, his summary of a newspaper article derided the idea of being able to infer a previous collision between Kuiper Belt objects as being "too great for a reasonable person to believe" and that humans in the current era couldn't possibly have the ability to make such a statement. In fact, he extols his own skepticism and that he doesn't believe everything he reads. It distresses me, because putting this opinion together with his body language in lecture, I think he's been approaching the whole course this way. Don't get me wrong: I encourage my students to call me out when they think the ideas are too wacky to be possible. It's especially crucial in astronomy. I'm always careful to point out where the error bars are large or what assumptions underlie an idea. The goal of this course is to get enough of a fundamental basis so that you can be a "reasonable" person. To read this with only one month left in the course leaves me feeling a little pointless. Sigh.

It's all clear now

This explains that 98/60 at my last doctor's visit.

Cocoa calms blood pressure.

Hack, Wheeze

Well, the sore throat and the earache are gone, but the plague of snot continues. I can't even taste my cocoa! I did not finish anything approaching the amount of work I should have done this weekend. It's going to be a busy week, but then again, I am at the "one month to go" mark of the semester, so busy is the norm til the end.

But for all that, the weekend was pleasant and mellow. Who can complain about a weekend that involved eating donuts at the park at night? Hope y'all had a good weekend.

Year Zero

Nine Inch Nails has posted their new album Year Zero in its entirety in a streaming format on the website. Very different from previous work, political commentary wrapped in a story arc throughout the album. Noisy in the beginning, beautiful in the end. (Would somebody please convince Trent to do a piano tour? Please?) And if you haven't explored the associated ARG yet, here are a few sites to look at:

http://anotherversionofthetruth.com

http://www.hollywoodinmemoriam.org/

End of Public Service Announcment.

One of those days

Today I'm very tired. I think I got through last week on sheer adrenaline, but my supply gave out last night. I was already feeling poorly when I graded exams that made me feel even worse. I mean, I'm not having an awful day, but a tired and cranky day? Oh, definitely. So I will attempt to dwell on beauty and otters and It's-Its and weekending.

Simple Life

One of my goal's for yesterday was accomplished - I had an It's It. You know how most things from your youth aren't as good when you're an adult? These are still as good as I remember. Mmm...

Goal for today: see an otter.

So pretty

Saturn makes my job easy - Rhea and Saturn, from Cassini

Moments

Monday was the first day back from Spring Break. My first class had just started when one of the students walked in. Before Spring Break, and for at least the year I've known him, he had a long blond ponytail. But this day, his hair was much shorter, and it looked great. The class watched his progress as he walked to his usual seat in the front of the class. One girl's jaw dropped. (And if you're reading this, no, I will not tell you who it was.) From my point of view, it looked like one of those slo-mo scenes out of a high school movie. Just awesome.

On Tuesday I handed back the physics exam I was fretting about last week. It had the lowest average of any exam I've ever given, but also had a lot of high scores. An inverse Bell curve. I was still debating what to say to the class when one of my students came to my office asking if he could make an announcement about a new honors society. I handed his exam to him, telling him that he had the only perfect paper. "Really?" he asked. "Yeah." "But this exam was so easy. Maybe I shouldn't announce the honors society to this class." Between his comments and a helpful talk I'd had with Greg, I felt so relieved. Then I went into the classroom and told them they had three more exams to get their acts together.

On Wednesday, a former student (in fact, the one I ran into at a NIN mosh pit) dropped by my office. We had a nice long chat. He's at one of the state universities now and he's a physics & astronomy major! Yay!

Thursday was a 15-hour day. Started at 8:30 am, ended around 11:30 pm. I had to substitute for one of my AST TAs, so I spent the evening at the university. I must say, I enjoyed eating dinner in the student union, watching the NCAA tournament with all the other folks on campus. And I had a chance to talk to my Padawan about his grad school decision - Brown or UCLA. I think UCLA is the better choice, but this Bruin might be a little biased.

My week ended with an email from a former student, because the following reminded him of me. It does suspiciously sound like one of my lectures. :)

I can't draw

I just had to give in to the meme floating around. First of all, I can't draw by hand, and on the computer, it's just that much worse. But I was curious to see what it would say if I did the drawing I remember always doing as a kid. Here goes:



What does your drawing say about YOU?

Your friends and associates should generally find you a dependable and trustworthy person.
You are a thoughtful and cautious person. You like to think about your method, seeking to pursue your goal in the most effective way.
You like following the rules and being objective. You are precise and meticulous, and like to evaluate decisions before making them.
You have a sunny, cheerful disposition.

One Question, One Meme

After grading physics exams, a question came to me: do I kill them or myself? Sigh.

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A meme, from EssentialSaltes - Spell Your User Name in Songs. I choose Nine Inch Nails songs, of course:

Dead Souls
Underneath It All
Sin
Terrible Lie
Closer
Help Me, I am in Hell
I Do Not Want This
Complication
Kinda I Want To

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Despite the tone of the above, I've had mexican food, cocoa and chocolate cake today, so I'm quite chipper.

King and Queen

I've seen two movies this week - two! There are some years when I don't see that many. (I know. I suck. I am out of touch with mainstream culture.) I enjoyed both movies, but in very different ways.

The first movie I saw was 300. The good: the movie looked absolutely gorgeous. I was also impressed with the pacing, considering the movie was all action. The not-so-good: the depiction of the Persians...um...there could have been much better judgment employed there. Also not a very good representation of women in Spartan culture. Am I the only one who wanted to scream "Just say Thermopylae!"? And am I the only person who thinks chocolate instead of king when hearing the name Leonidas?

The second movie I saw was The Queen. Better late than never, that's what I say. This was a great movie, with amazing performances not only by Helen Mirren, but also by Michael Sheen, who played Tony Blair. I am not much interested in celebrity and seldom have sympathy for celebrities, who know the life they choose. But to be born into a life of scrutiny, all duty and no time for self? It is not a life I would choose for myself. I found this movie to be an insightful love-letter to the Queen, while also showing the royal family at its weakest.

Hmm...maybe I should try to make it three movies this week. Hmm...

Today

Work:

• Went to the gym.
• Graded at the coffee house.
• Did laundry.

Play:

• Went to the Phoenix Art Museum to see the Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art and the After Dark: 100 Years of the Evening Dress exhibits. I also love the Philip C. Curtis permanent collection. Such whimsical work.
• Went to Pane Bianco for lunch. Limited menu, but it really doesn't get any better than this: Italian imports plus local produce plus housemade mozzarella...mmm...
• Sat on the couch and watched the Phoenix Suns beat the Dallas Mavericks in double-overtime with Steve Nash making his claim for a third MVP award. Shazam!

Good day!

Fare

We had a good weekend in Los Angeles. We spent some time down at the beach with the folks. We attended a friend's 40th birthday bash. We managed to grab some time with Kirsten and Aaron and ran into a bunch of friends experiencing the Pinkberry phenomenon. (Hi, Riz!)

I also indulged in a lot of pub food this weekend.

• Friday - Irish pub - potato chowder
• Saturday - British pub - Cornish pasty and chips
• Sunday - German Tavern - sausage and spaetzle

Tasty fare, all, but if I hadn't eaten chorizo and eggs on Sunday morning, I'd be insane. I mean, really, how many days can I go without spicy food and tortillas? None of you want me to find out.

Now I'm back home, where there is plenty of work to be done over the rest of Spring Break, but I'm aiming for plenty of play, too.

Spring Break!

I was taking a poll of the other faculty to see how many of my 45 students would show up to my Friday 1pm AST class on the Friday before Spring Break. The popular consensus was 15 students. I had guessed 22. The result: 28 students showed up! Love my students!

Now I'm in a coffee house in Santa Monica, about to read a friend's script...hoping to hang out with friends later...enjoying the first day of Spring Break! Woo!

Good Test

I'm giving a physics exam to the pre-meds at the university right now. I allow students to listen to headphones, if they let me hear what they are listening to. I cannot tell you how much Christian crap I've had to listen to as a result. One person has walked out, writing only that their time could be better spent elsewhere. If I took a picture of the class right now, you'd see one chick totally ready to burst into tears. Do I write a good exam or what?

Lemons, Lemonade

Today sucked. Sucked on many levels. Sucked in many ways. Sucked, sucked, sucked. My mood is not pleasant, so I shall endeavor to overcome that by noting the following:

• New NIN songs are available at http://www.myspace.com/nin.
• One of my university students came over to the community college for two hours of additional help for the exam this week.
• Even though I was sorry that Greg didn't feel well enough to go to his martial arts class, it was nice to spend the evening on the couch together.
• Many good folks have good things happening to them, much deserved!

Alright, I feel a little better.