Working ‘on” the Weekend

Hello on Saturday afternoon,

We are in the middle of the long holiday weekend and I am quite sure my students think they are the only people in the world required to work ‘on’ the weekend. Well, they are not quite accurate. I have been working a good part of the weekend. I have blogs to read, to comment on, and to grade; I have Credit by Exam (CBE) essays to assess; and I have memoir paper intro papers to consider, and I need to manage some assignment issues for class on Monday. That does not count that I have some of my own writing to do.

Before someone believes I am playing victim, let me assure you that is not the case. I knew that being a professor in an English Department mean working more than a few hours a week. I actually love teaching Foundations class and helping students discover the importance of writing well and helping them move forward on that continuum. Writing is nothing new to them; they actually write quite often, but that writing is to a wide variety of audiences . . . and their purpose for writing is as varied as the audience.

I have spend a lot of time this weekend also reading various articles, which I have posted into the course delivery tool, in hopes that they will find there is a lot of information out there about the world in which they live. One of the best things I have done is take the time to read the news on a daily basis. I am always amazed by people who say it is not worth reading. It is for that very reason we should read. It is so important to understand the world in which we live. It is a complex and rapidly changing society. I do not want to be left behind. It is also important to read things with which we might not agree because it forces us to think and improve our own arguments and positions. When President Obama ran for office the first time, one of the things I most appreciated was when he said (and I am paraphrasing) that he needed to listen to people who disagreed with him.

It is hard to believe that we are only a weekend into the summer session; it seems longer then that for me. I am not sure if that is a good or bad things, but it is a reality, at least at the moment. I am really quite flabbergasted at how quickly everything seems to go . . .  I know logically a minute is still a minute, an hour an hour, and a year a year, but the words of my father are once again ringing in my ears . . . things will move more quickly the older you get. Forty years ago this week I was in my first week of Marine Corps Boot Camp. I do not think I have my boot camp picture on this computer, but I will look for it. Rather frightening what 40 years as done.

As I am sitting here and working, I am listening to the soundtrack from Jersey Boys. Their initial music is from my elementary years. If I were not teaching, I had a chance to go back to an all-school reunion this weekend. That would have been interesting. I have not really been one to go to those things. I did go to a twentieth college reunion about 10 years ago. I did actually enjoy it. What I know is this: time does march on. There is always an option to slow down and let it all pass us by, but I would not be content to do that. Perhaps that is part of the reason I am struggling with some things right now. While there are differences and some things are constant, so many things change and we cannot go back. The allegory of the stream is all too true, but that is for another time.

Well, back to working ‘on’ the weekend . . . thanks for reading.

Dr. Martin (aka: Michael)