Blogs. Is there anything more likely to be neglected? It has replaced the paper journal as the most-started and least-finished thing in the universe. Real life gets in the way, and mental energies must be conserved. This summer has been about work—rather unusually and unpredictably—and about selling my house. Work is wrapping up, but the house is still a work in progress. It is the most unpleasant process we have yet devised as a culture; I am convinced because it profits real estate agents and banks. Both of whom seem to be overburdened with psychopaths. And they do well. I'm wearied and worried and wonder if I will be able to find anything decent to live in at the end of this hideous process. I'm glad for having a job that is respite from this madness.
We are suddenly at the end of the summer term. Daughter has finished her final exam with a minimum of fuss. We shall see what grade she gets. Not a bad use of her time, though it wasn't my first choice. Indeed, it wasn't my choice at all, but hers. I would have had her go off to Quaker camp and be a full counselor. She did get a chance to go up and see all her friends one weekend, which was wonderful. She came back energized and excited about next summer, when she plans to go back. Comforting that she has a summer job or the foreseeable future. As for the course, it was, as we used to call it (do they still?) a gut course. She did almost no studying, though she did attend every class and do all the reading. Fair enough for a summer course, I think! Points for showing up when doing so is against everything that is holy about summer.
Work was very interesting, and I look back on this summer as the time I got to know the people I'll be working with in the following academic year. This is a great group of people, each with some really endearing and useful strengths. A great deal of life experience and grit in these folks, some of them mature beyond their years. I love them already. What an incredible gift, to be able to go into a job so gradually and find the lay of the land before the workload gets really heavy.
Ms. B—our new tenure-track Coordinator, has had the same idea that the rest of us had this week, which is to meet on the last day of the summer term and discuss the upcoming year. We are all very excited about the prospect of re-imagining the tutoring center and how we are going to work as a team. In other news, I'll be sharing this job with Mr. D, another serendipitous and highly-qualified find. He's worked in the tutoring center already in another capacity, and has the requisite MA for the job. Someone who knows much of how things run already. What a find! Mr. D was somewhat passive and needed to be encouraged a bit. I think this is going to be a huge career leap for him. He is also, as the person who is not maxed out on FTE, the person who will take on the teaching load of this job. Which I kinda sorta wanted to do myself, but which is also a lot of work and not as much pay, when all the class prep is figured in. I'm relieved not to be taking on that extra challenge. Mr D is a bit young and, I suspect, tender-hearted, and I also expect I will be taking on the role of Bad Cop more than once this year. That will be another interesting thing to watch for.
I take it as a good sign that the person who has been here the longest is also excited about working with us this year. Ms E is the classified staff backbone of the whole operation, and I am smart enough to know that people like that are always worth more than they are paid. I've bonded with her accordingly.
