DEAR ALIZARIN: Green with envy

I am so envious of everything about you right now:  surf lessons, living in paradise (minus gecko shit), hanging out as the cool instructor for future documentarians, and your very engaging and witty prose!   Meanwhile, I struggle to write this response through the cloud of my stuffy head and the rumbling of this incessant cough.

 

But, as my "Daily OM" email instructs, I will not dwell in my jealously but rejoice in your good fortune (which of course, will soon become my good fortune as I join you in lovely Samara).   Just as this morning I did not let the complete lack of organization for the instructional planning meeting invoke my anger.  It is ok that I spent a half hour last night trying to figure out where the meeting was through a volley of convoluted emails.  Then, I show up at said location promptly at 8am, only to end up chatting with the other stragglers at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at around 10am since the library where we were to have a room reserved was closed until 10am and did not have a room reserved for us.  Finally, around 10:50am we settle into the faculty lounge on campus that the organizers did not want to use because they claimed we would not get work done on campus.  Well, the rest of the afternoon, in the faculty lounge ON CAMPUS, turned out to be very productive.  Imagine that.   Yes, I am quite pleased how I took the higher road of not being annoyed, well, at least not publicly.

 

Four more days until vacation!! 

 

Meanwhile, please hold the gecko and creepy crawler stories as I don't want to build up anxiety for my trip. 

 

Love,

Lychee

 

 

DEAR ALIZARIN: To grade or not to grade LA drivers

I am winding down this school year, trying to squeeze in the last bit of inspiration I may impart to this group of students, to remain true to my expectations and ethics of education while still being fair, and to keep the energy for the final pile of grading that awaits me this week (final papers, final exam essays, and notebooks).    This week I had to think about the question that will come up with many students:  “If I will not pass regardless of my grade on the final, why do I have to take the final?” (Of course, their actual question would be much more whiny and include something like “But Misssssss, its boring. There’s no point.”)   My first instinct, following the lead of many teachers whom I respect, is to say not take it:  why fight about it and it is less grading for me in the end.   However, there is something instinctually wrong about this to me.  In a conversation with a friend, she pointed out that it is an opportunity to practice being a student in a very low pressure situation – there is no pressure of this grade leading to failing or passing.   So, I think I will require students to at least attempt an answer regardless of their current grade.  This will also be true to my own belief that the work I give in class is not about the final grade that it ‘earns,’ but about the process of practicing how to be a learner and engaged person in society.   I am sure I will get some blank exams back and some very feeble efforts, but for a few, it may be a chance to experiment without pressure, to see what she/he can really do.   This will be enough for me.   Then, on the other extreme, there is the student with 103 percent.  Should she have the option of opting out of the exam?   What do you think?   In the meantime, I rejoice in knowing I have two days of actual teaching left, followed by finals.  

 

Totally off topic, why is it that when driving I can not see one stupid driving maneuver , but they must always come in twos.   For example, if I see one person driving cluelessly with a blinker on, I will inevitably, before I get to my destination, see another later on.  Or, like today, an SUV makes a very illegal, very random U-turn in the middle of the street.  A block later, sitting at a red light, the car to my right makes another very illegal and random U-turn in front of me through the pedestrian walk.    A mysterious LA phenomenon. 

 

Costa Rica, here I come!!

 

Lychee

LYCHEE: Wise Women

Our salsa class is erratic. Last week we had too many men. Today, it was the wise women class. Our instructor is a sprightly woman, the kind I think I normally would not like, but she always makes us feel that we are salsa queens even as I know I am fumbling through various sequences. Afterwards, I became absorbed into a conversation with our instructor and another older woman in the class about the empowering aspects of exercise, diet, and meditation when done for yourself, not to meet some superficial goals of society (albeit, at times, those are hard to differentiate). Anyway, this led me to realize how many of my life teachers/mentors have been women in their 40's and 50's, fascinating since society generally regards women of this age as useless and unworthy of admiration or even just simple acknowledgement. For me, these women have often been more active, progressive, and mentally and physically healthy most people I know regardless of age or gender. I find that on my life's journey, I often use them as models that I strive to emulate. I am thankful for these women (and some younger women who are just wise women with perhaps old souls) who inspire me to challenge myself to never be content yet to always be happy: Toni, Diana, Jeanne, Diane, Erica, Christine, Cooper, Amy, Ananya, Priya -- thank you.

DEAR ALIZARIN: The demise of bedtime stories

I enjoyed our conversation today about the decline in night time television dramas, our adult bedtime stories, and the rise in reality TV. Dedicated to getting rest this weekend, I started reading an article that has been sitting on my desktop for ages: "The Age of Egocasting" by Christine Rosen. In it she writes, "By giving us the illusion of perfect control, these technologies {new, personalized technologies like TiVo and iPod}risk making us incapable of ever being surprised. They encourage not the cultivation of taste, but the numbing repetition of fetish. And they contribute to what might be called 'egocasting,' the thoroughly personalized and extremely narrow pursuit of one’s personal taste." I like to think of my addiction to certain television dramas as a willingness to be surprised by new storylines versus a fetish with human pettiness that marks most reality shows. I know, being a reality TV snob like me, that you agree. However, I definitely think that your husband would be grateful for a TiVo to capture all the surprising new episodes of your favorite TV shows while you are lounging, I mean working, in Costa Rica. We'll put this theory to the test reading in our hammocks on the beaches of Costa Rica in a few weeks!

Meanwhile, I realize that my sudden spurt of energy at Trader Joe's on my way home last night was not due to my realization that I could go home and sleep off this cold, but from the little shot of coffee I had at their samples counter -- I have not had coffee in almost two weeks! Rediscovering a true rush from coffee will be fun!

Off for more napping (maybe some egocasting depending what is on TV).

Love,

Lychee