1. I've been asked by the interview committee to do a some role playing, a wee bit of acting. I play a student with some concerns about his writing class. Today was the first go around. I stayed in character! I improvised! The committee seemed happy with how it went. Four more to go.
2. My WR 115 students who finished the course early came back to pick up their folders. Only two of my students, for perfectly good reasons, still need some time to finish -- which means they will finish on time, not early. That means I have only three papers left to read and only three final Itgrades left to figure out and enter. Being almost finished this quarter is definitely one of the rewards of teaching just one section this quarter in my retirement.
3. Four and a half hours of Shakespeare Showcase rehearsal. Actors who rehearsed today heard me read the introduction to their scenes. The stage crew solidified what properties go off, what properties come on, and where things go. The lighting of each scene got figured out. So did sound effects. I had a lot of time to do nothing but sit and reflect upon things while I waited to be needed again. Hearing all this Shakespeare performed, my associative mind went nuts, remembering past experiences with these plays, wondering how I ever presumed to teach Shakespeare -- when I was younger, I even thought I knew what I was doing. For many years now, I haven't taught Shakespeare. Mostly I've listened. I've kept my mouth shut. Shakespeare's so big. The words I used to have and the expertise I once thought I had seem so puny now. I like that.
Bonus: Mutability is one idea I learned a lot about from Shakespeare's plays and sonnets. Everything is in flux, is ever changing, is never fixed or stable. I thought of the mutability of things today when my doctor's assistant called me with results of the blood work I had yesterday. In just five days, the creatinine level in my blood had dropped (a good thing), giving us yet another reading on my kidney function. These lab numbers tell the story of the body's mutability. It's why I try not to respond to them with much feeling. Nothing's fixed. Things change, up and down. I'll have more blood work done the first week of July before I see my kidney specialist. New blood work. New numbers. Maybe a pattern. Maybe the establishment of a range. We'll see. Stay calm. Drink water.
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