Tuesday

November 25, 2003


I wrote a short blog entry last night, but it appears that the packet-loss demons ate it. They have been lurking in our wires for the last week or so, appearing for their occasional meal, then going back like trolls under a bridge.

Today I collect papers from the students, and for the next week I get to go into a grading frenzy. I am bringing chapter four with me to office hours, knowing that I am not going to see it again for a while. Chapter four does indeed have problems much like the previous draft of chapter three - I am still having trouble laying out a clear argument and I am still having trouble making it clear to my reader why each paragraph and each sub-section matter.

Based on the improved homework these last few weeks, and the pretty decent rough drafts I have been seeing, the kids will have done fairly well on the paper. I had them read Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin and then tell me, according to HBS, what was wrong with American society? UTC contains language that today is offensive - fighting words - and parts of the plot and character depictions are painfully racist. (Compare the black characters, who are all stupid, inarticulate, passive, and essentially female with the mulatto characters, who are all intelligent, good looking, active, and more male - even the women). Still, the book was a scathing critique of slavery, of the market economy, and of "male" gender roles. I hope we will have a good discussion today.

There are only four more classes left, it is hard to see where the semester has gone too. On the bright side, I got a job interview. I will be doing a phone interview in a couple of weeks for a teaching job on the West Coast. I really really want this - of all the things I applied for it was the best match for me.

But, first I get to collect papers and then settle down for a long weekend of grading, of family, of cooking, and of playing with the baby.

And so to work

Posted by Red Ted at November 25, 2003 08:49 AM | TrackBack