Grading Papers. Will Return Soon.

Sign of summer
Originally uploaded by DawndiQBU

It's that time of the year when I start to realize that summer is truly gone and I'm somewhere in the middle of a fall semester juggling many deadlines. So far, so good. The trick, for me, is staying on top of 1) courses that I teach; 2) outreach curriculum & events; 3) Ava's classroom schedule; 4) Amir's classroom schedule; and 5) my personal writing deadlines. I posted a few months ago that I purchased a large calendar on which I scribble brightly colored deadlines. I have so many dates to remember, they sometimes are written sideways or bleed into the next day's box. The calendar is probably illegible to everyone but me. When I look at it (it's this big, flimsy plastic board held up by magnets on the refrigerator) I wonder how I landed this deep in middle American kitsch.

Amir is on fall intercession right now, so there are no reports or papers that he's writing for the next few weeks. It has started to rain, finally, for days in a row. The break from 100+ heat makes it easier to concentrate on everything that begs to get done.

The gray skies and rain, and the witty students I'm teaching this semester have stoked my creative juices. In other words, in the middle of all these dates and deadlines, I am finding time to write! Of course all this busy-ness and inspiration means that blogging has fallen off, but I expect to post more once I have finished grading my first round of papers.