Three Beautiful Things 07/03/07: Incompletes, Oops, Babel

1. I have been dragging my feet getting a couple of papers read by students who had to take Incompletes in the research writing course. I read them today and emailed in their grade changes. In many ways, this was a small thing, but it had been weighing on me and I'm glad I buckled down and finished my work. The papers were both very enjoyable, by the way.

2. When I emailed in one student's grade change, I accidentally emailed the information to jbelle. I figured out how it happened, but I can't tell. I can only say it was a misclick, and provided jbelle and me with some good virtual laughs.

3. I watched the movie "Babel". I thought each of the plots was thin and that taken together they didn't really add up to that much. It was a beautiful movie to watch: gorgeous pictures of the Moroccan expanse, a raucous Mexican wedding, Tokyo club scenes, pulsating with strobe lights and disco music and mirror balls. I understood the movie, but as it ended, I found myself asking, "Is that it?" Visually, it was time well spent. Emotionally, certain scenes were intense, especially those involving the children and teen agers. Intellectually, I wanted more.