Peace Challenge

I had a lovely weekend in Flagstaff. Gorgeous weather, tasty food, good hiking...could not have asked for better.

I did a mellow hike on Friday, going partway up the Oldham Trail out of Buffalo Park. This hike was all about being at peace, just strolling along with my iPod on. Here are some pics (wasn't it a lovely day?):

Saturday's hike was all about challenging myself. It's a popular hike - the Elden Lookout Trail - but it is a more strenuous hike than I've ever done all by myself. I passed up several groups who turned around without making it to the top. At a few points, I thought about turning around myself, but saw a man bounding down from the summit with a todder on his shoulders as well as a woman wearing a leg brace, so I figured I could make it to the summit. Near the summit, I even ran into a group of former students. They're all over the place! Here is an image from this hike (look at how little Flagstaff looks from up there!):

On a very much related note, I have the best massage therapist in the world. My quads are no longer screaming profane things at me.

Let the weekend begin

My day started off very early, to take my favorite writer to the airport. That was followed by running the dishwasher, doing laundry, doing some work, going to the bank, and going to the grocery store, interspersed with emails with much beloved and much harassed Philip. Later I met up with my Padawan, so that I could present him with his well-deserved lightsaber. Then he, Carl, and I went to the student union for beverages and a chocolate chip cookie so large that we split it three ways. Generous of me to share, I know.

And now I'm in Flagstaff, for a few days of cool air, hiking, and yummy food. I have chocolate awaiting me, as well as a Nine Inch Nails concert DVD, the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica, and Fight Club. Let the weekend begin.

No Quarantine!

Had a surreal start to the day. I received a phone call from the County Health Dept. It seems that one of the international students at the science fair last week had the measles. I had to provide proof of immunization or face the possibility of being quarantined. Strangely enough, in this mess I call home, I found documentation and faxed it in. No quarantine for me! Perhaps the oddest thing about this was how cheery the Health Dept. worker sounded on the phone. "Fax in documentation or come in for blood work or face quarantine....ha ha ha ha!" Really, a nice lady, but still...

Evaluations

Read through my course evaluations for the physics class at the university this past semester. Mostly positive. Got some of the typical "make the class easier" comments. A few really amused me in response to "What did you like LEAST about the class?":

Office hours held before class encourage doing homework at the last minute.

Critical thinking on the exams.

Having to justify my answers on the exams.

Awww...poor kids. ;)

Reading

I've spent the past few days reading. First, I read Greg's just-completed novel, which I enjoyed very much. Then I read a few chapters from a graduate student's thesis-in-progress; nothing like a little magnetohydrodynamics to get the blood flowing. ;) Ah, summer break...I do enjoy having time to read.

Red or Green? Yes

Mmmm...now this is a breakfast burrito - the egg and potato burrito, with red and green chile, from Perea's Authentic New Mexican Restaurant in Albuquerque:

Green Chile

Drove across the Southwest with Carl today. We're now in Albuquerque to be judges at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. What does one do after traversing the Southwest? You go here and order the Frontier Burrito: beef, beans, green chile inside, w/green chile stew on top & flour tortillas

Mmmm.....

Moving Along

Last Friday not only marked the end of the semester, but it marked the end of my time at my community college. I've accepted a similar position at a community college in San Diego, and we'll be moving at the end of July. This move will bring us closer to family and friends. Honestly, we never anticipated being in Arizona as long as we have. My love of my work is what kept us here. Leaving my current college is difficult; it's a great school with wonderful colleagues and tremendous students. I think I've built a strong program there and hope it will continue to thrive. My students have reacted to my departure with hugs and tears and generally just making me feel loved and appreciated. I hope that they understand that I love and appreciate them, too.

This summer will be crazy busy, with time for fun, too, I hope! Then on to a new job and a new city to explore. I'm looking forward to both!

Graduation

Done. Finally done. All the grading, all the paperwork...done.

My last duty for the semester was to attend graduation at the community college last night. Of course, it was the hottest day of the year so far (106 degrees!) and the ceremony was outside, but it was worth it to see all the happy faces. A couple of stories:

• I had an extremely shy student this past year in astronomy. So shy she could barely make eye contact with me and very seldom spoke to other students. Good student, though, but hard to draw out. You should have seen her at graduation last night - beautiful bright smile. She looked so happy! Congrats, Heather!
• One of the most amazing moments at graduation is when those graduates who are the first in their family to earn a post-secondary degree are asked to stand. About 50% of the students stand up, and I noticed one of my best students from this semester amongst them. During the recessional out of the ceremony, I saw his folks taking pictures of him, all so happy. Congrats, Justin!

I was too busy to get to the graduation ceremony at the university, which meant that I missed the graduation of two of my former students. A few more stories for you:

• Eight years ago, during my year as an adjunct faculty, I had a student who was afraid of science and math. She came back the next year, though, for the second semester of astronomy, and she made it through, quite well I must add. We've kept in touch over the years, through some rough times for her, but I remember how happy she looked at her community college graduation. I can only imagine how she must have been glowing yesterday, receiving her Bachelors! Congrats, Sarah!
• And now on to my Padawan. First he battled with the question, engineering or physics? The choice was obvious to all rational people, and he soon figured it out, too. ;) Yesterday, he graduated with a B.S. in Physics and will be starting at graduate school at Brown at the end of this month to do research in dark matter physics! The Dark Side lured him and won! I couldn't be more proud. I know he'll do great! Congrats, Carlos!

Grading levity

A student just referred to my "piercing, intimidating glare" in an email. Hee hee hee. I do so appreciate sarcasm.

Almost there!

Ah, spell-check

A student's paper included the term "constipations" in place of "constellations." Nothing like an immature giggle-fit to wake me up while grading.

Mush

I graded about 100 physics exams yesterday. I have graded 110 physics essays today, with more to come. If it weren't for bbq from Greg and hot chocolate, my brain would be completely mush.

I don't care that the Suns lost today...Steve Nash is the MVP. Nowitski scores EIGHT points in a game 7, whereas Nash is forced to leave a game with blood gushing from his nose after scoring over 30 pts. What a contrast!

Sigh

Are you okay? Your eyes! You look terrible!"

...

What's her name again...I can never remember...you know, the thin astronomer? Uh, I mean, the other thin astronomer?

Sigh.

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.

---

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.