Happy Mother's Day

     I am beginning to hate holidays.  It's not the reason for the holiday, but the realization that I am far from my family and getting unhappier about spending them alone.  This doesn't mean to dismiss the fact that Bill tries very hard to make the events meaningful, it's just that I am sick of spending them away from my kids.
     Today is Mother's Day.  So far, I haven't heard from anyone.  Bill gave me two delightful cards, one with a bulldog, the other with a Yorkie.  He knows me well.  Because of financial concerns, we won't go out to dinner, but may order a pizza from Bernie O's and watch a movie.  I picked some lily of the valley from our garden and brought them in--they're beautiful and smell wonderful.  I need many more in the garden.  I'll have to find out when to plant them and fill in the area in the woods.
     To those mothers who will read this, happy Mother's Day.  I pray you will spend it surrounded by your family.
 

Frustration

This was supposed to be my week off. It's now Thursday and I am STILL working on lectures for next week. I am so frustrated.

Some of the notes I received from another instructor to "help" me prepare consist of nothing but case scenarios. The students are supposed to work these scenarios before they come to class, during which they discuss them with the instructor. My concern is this--when does the instructor actually teach anything? If the students do the scenarios at home and no information is given during class, why do the students need to come to class? Am I too set in my ways? Too old-fashioned? How do the students know what information out of over 100 pages is information on which to focus?

I don't think I'd have even known about this method of "teaching" if I hadn't been forced to teach content with which I am not familiar. That is the start of my frustration. I have taught all but 3 classes in this course. Why was it so important that this content be delivered on the only day I am free to teach? I have been agreeable for too long. Get ready. This woman is going to start saying no--just like everyone else.

This semester won't be over soon enough.

40 Years Ago Today

Forty years ago today was the tragedy at Kent State University. It's hard to believe the country was so horribly divided over the Viet Nam conflict. I remember sitting in front of the television watching the draft lottery, praying that my friends' numbers would not be high in priority. I also remember watching as the POWs came off the plane, including Jeffrey Singleton, whose wife had taken a class with me at Richland College. He had been a prisoner of war for 5 years when I met her.

One of the sad things about Kent State that spring was that some of the National Guardsmen who had been sent to the university were the same age as the students who were protesting. They probably were sympathetic to the students, but our members of the military had been treated horribly by the citizens of this country. Young men coming home from military duty were spat on and jeered as they arrived back in the US. It was a confusing and frightening time.

I wonder if today's college students would be as politically active as the students in 1970. Most seem unaware of events in the world today, in spite of being electronically connected to news medias through their cell phones, laptops, and cable television. Are they just more self-absorbed than we were in 1970? Or have we bombarded them with so many horrible events in the world that they've opted to tune them out? I wonder if we'll ever see them "tune in" as we did in the 60s and 70s.