2 Rad for This World...Finished a Graduate Course Last Night; Now, Bring on the Undergrads! Beam Me, Up! Cosmos!

For today's class, I went with an Alien theme. I don't know why. I've always wanted to be abducted since reading Whitley Strieber's account in the 80s. I was big into aliens, and always thought I was planted here by some other life force and one day they'd come get me. That, and this lady who used to work at Estée Lauder at the same Department store as me, always shared how she was a scientist here to study our life form (this is way before 3rd Rock from the Sun). She had me convinced that there were others like her, and that I wasn't to trust anyone.

How cool is that?

Anyway...aliens have nothing to do for the course I'm teaching which is the first exploration of education where we go into the community and work with schools. I have future kindergarten through high school possibilities here. These are undergraduates who may think about a career in education. Today, I definitely will appeal to the elementary types, and I'm sure the intellectual kids will be, What the #$@# is this class? Actually, we're going to have fun. A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men. I will bring Jacqueline Woodson and Kobi Yamada with me.

Last night, I was kicked out of my first room, double booked, got it switched to another room - the technology would not work, and ended up squatting in a 3rd room that was empty (and actually is the best teaching room in our building). Go figure. I just wanted to teach, but it took a while to settle in a space. Funny how we hire people to arrange everything in technological spaces and suddenly room mishaps happen on the regular. It's frustrating, but I'm used to the nonsense and its become par for the course.

Note to self: You need to make calls about this today, however.

And as many of you know, I just finished a winter-session turbo, finished grading yesterday morning, and now am teaching classes that are at capacity. I was actually pressured to take all the kids on the waitlists, but I'm tired, cranky, and sick of the fact that I have full classes at capacity, while some teach classes of two or three students. Yes, it's the same preparation, but the grading and correspondence is not the same. 

They can wait. That's why they are on a wait list. 

But, at 3 p.m. this afternoon, I will have the first window of brain emancipation since last semester when I thought I was heading to Syracuse, but ended up on the couch for two weeks. The new year began with a turbo course and it fried me. 

Perhaps this is why I'm coming at this year with humor and joy only. I need to carve spaces for it wherever I can. And maybe this is the semester they'll come and take me home.

Nanu. Nanu. 

I'm starring in Dork & Mindy.