1. I am happy to say that contrary to an extended dream I had, I am not playing Willy Loman in a play opening Monday and that I do not have to face the terror of not having started to learn my lines with dress rehearsal on Sunday. I also do not have to serve the meatloaf I cooked for the meal provided by the cast on opening night. In my dream, it was a good meatloaf. I woke up relieved that in my waking life I am incapable of playing Willy Loman and so hadn't been cast in the role and that I am not part of the doomed theatrical enterprise of my dreams. (Sometimes my dreams are audacious. I can't quite fathom the audacity of even my dreaming/nightmare self casting me as Willy Loman. I think I'm deeply afraid of finding myself in situations where I'm in way over my head. That was the case in this dream and maybe the cause of this dream.)
2. Even though I'm retired and teaching on a reduced schedule, this afternoon, over coffee with Michael, MB, and Jeff, I got fired up about the parts of institutional program assessment that for many, many years I've never been able to come to peace with, even as I participate in it. It has to do with abstracting student writing from the student and from the classroom, as if a piece of writing (called an artifact) can be assessed apart from the person who wrote it and the classroom context it was written in. I know I'm spitting in the wind on this one. Institutional assessment methods are established. Solidly established. I have lived and do live with it. But I was surprised, even as I am retiring from institutional education, how much I cared about this conversation. It felt good to get a little fired up with my friends.
3. Heh. I went to Jade Palace and ordered a small bowl of won ton soup and a plate of the house special lo mein. The waiter was concerned I had ordered too much food. I appreciated his concern and countered that if it was too much, I could take some of the lo mein home. Honestly, in eating the whole bowl of soup and the plate of Lo Mein, I didn't feel like I'd overdone it. The soup was deeply satisfying. I loved the sesame flavor of the won ton soup and the texture and taste of the won tons and the Lo Mein noodles were nearly perfect for me: just oiled enough, not dry, but not greasy, with tender pieces of chicken and beef and a handful of sweet shrimp. It turns out the Saturday New York Times was a perfect companion for my meal.
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