Movers were meant to show up at our offices late this afternoon to take away our old furniture. Instead, they showed up at 12.30 pm. There goes plans for the rest of today's work, then.
Hurriedly flung the contents of my desk drawers into boxes, before the desk itself was spirited away. So I'm sitting on my office floor right now, typing with the keyboard in my lap. Argh.
Lovely new desk arrives first thing tomorrow morning. At least, it's meant to. *fingers crossed*
20 March 2007
17 March 2007
14 March 2007
Jeez, Was It Something I Said?
Had a skeleton crew in my class last night. Normally, I have between 20-25 people each week (out of a total class of what now numbers 29). Last night, though, only 12 showed up - and I lost five of those during the break halfway through.
I think it's probably because of this time of year - most essays for arts courses will be due this week and next (mine are due next week) and a lot of students are skipping class to work on their essays instead. Which, I suppose, is understandable - but I'm a bit worried about it all the same, since last night's lecture was possibly the most important of the entire second half of this course. The topic was nineteenth-century politics and reform - one hundred years in two hours. *whooooosh*
[Note to self: may need to change the order of my lectures next time I teach this course, to schedule the most important ones well before essay deadlines.]
I think it's probably because of this time of year - most essays for arts courses will be due this week and next (mine are due next week) and a lot of students are skipping class to work on their essays instead. Which, I suppose, is understandable - but I'm a bit worried about it all the same, since last night's lecture was possibly the most important of the entire second half of this course. The topic was nineteenth-century politics and reform - one hundred years in two hours. *whooooosh*
[Note to self: may need to change the order of my lectures next time I teach this course, to schedule the most important ones well before essay deadlines.]
08 March 2007
Top 5: Historians
Top 5/10/whatever lists seem awfully popular these days, don't they? Normally I abstain from such things, but today I crumbled. Invited to put together a Top 5 list of my own choosing, naturally I chose...historians. Why? Because I'm a total nerd girl, of course - and insufficiently versed in any of the usual hipster topics (music, fashion, sport, etc.). So here ya go.
Top Five: Historians
In no particular order...
1. Edward Said – RIP. Love him or hate him, the brilliance that is Orientalism has ensured a place in the historical canon for Said. He’s one mean, paradigm-shifting mofo. *sound of Said spinning in grave* [edit: can't believe I just used the term "paradigm-shifting mofo"...bwahahaha!]
2. Elaine Showalter – OK, so technically she’s an English professor. But her literary histories are empirically-grounded, fascinating and highly readable. What’s yer fancy? Madwomen in attics? Hysteria? Sexual anarchy at the fin de siècle? I’m always interested in anything she has to say.
3. Margaret MacMillan – The granddaughter of David Lloyd George! And Canadian! A truly terrifying intellect, for sure. Paris 1919 is as dense as treacle, but one feels smarter just for having read it. It was one of her earlier works, Women of the Raj, which switched me on to women’s history many years ago.
4. Francis Fukuyama – Ah, I just love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning, don’t you? He makes my list simply because of the breathtaking audacity it takes to write a book called The End of History. And then, a decade on, to see it all proved so utterly, ridiculously wrong. But hey, thanks for coming out, Francis.
5. SJ Brooke – not a telly don or a media star...but the fella who made me want to become a historian. And a damn smart guy too.
Top Five: Historians
In no particular order...
1. Edward Said – RIP. Love him or hate him, the brilliance that is Orientalism has ensured a place in the historical canon for Said. He’s one mean, paradigm-shifting mofo. *sound of Said spinning in grave* [edit: can't believe I just used the term "paradigm-shifting mofo"...bwahahaha!]
2. Elaine Showalter – OK, so technically she’s an English professor. But her literary histories are empirically-grounded, fascinating and highly readable. What’s yer fancy? Madwomen in attics? Hysteria? Sexual anarchy at the fin de siècle? I’m always interested in anything she has to say.
3. Margaret MacMillan – The granddaughter of David Lloyd George! And Canadian! A truly terrifying intellect, for sure. Paris 1919 is as dense as treacle, but one feels smarter just for having read it. It was one of her earlier works, Women of the Raj, which switched me on to women’s history many years ago.
4. Francis Fukuyama – Ah, I just love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning, don’t you? He makes my list simply because of the breathtaking audacity it takes to write a book called The End of History. And then, a decade on, to see it all proved so utterly, ridiculously wrong. But hey, thanks for coming out, Francis.
5. SJ Brooke – not a telly don or a media star...but the fella who made me want to become a historian. And a damn smart guy too.
07 March 2007
I set up an account over at Facebook, over a year ago, but until the last few weeks, I never really did much with it. Since I started teaching, however, I thought I should update my details. I've also been hearing more and more about how university recruiters are using Facebook to target potential students. Since my MySpace page is totally personal, and allows for no networking in uncool fields like education, I thought I'd better get a work-based, professional page going over at Facebook.
After doing some browsing, I've actually found some people I know over there - far more than is the case on MySpace. Given that until recently, Facebook was restricted to people in education, I guess this isn't surprising. This morning, I even got a friend request from one of my own students. Heh. Not quite sure why a hipper-than-thou undergrad would want a stodgy lecturer on her friends list - but there you are.
Not sure I want to find my students' pages, actually. Naturally, they're chocka with glitter graphics, protestations of lurve, drunken photos, etc. Hee.
After doing some browsing, I've actually found some people I know over there - far more than is the case on MySpace. Given that until recently, Facebook was restricted to people in education, I guess this isn't surprising. This morning, I even got a friend request from one of my own students. Heh. Not quite sure why a hipper-than-thou undergrad would want a stodgy lecturer on her friends list - but there you are.
Not sure I want to find my students' pages, actually. Naturally, they're chocka with glitter graphics, protestations of lurve, drunken photos, etc. Hee.
06 March 2007
Office Hell
Argh. My office at work looks like a bomb hit it.
We're in the process of moving offices at the moment, so we're all having to stockpile various items until the move is complete. As for me, I've got 7 desktop PCs (5 of which are being donated to charity), 2 old laser printers, and 8 bookcases.
Being surrounded by towering piles of junk all day, with only a narrow corridor cleared between the door and the desk, is a tad depressing, to say the least. But help is on the way. The computers should be gone by tomorrow, and we're all getting lovely new office furniture delivered next week.
I hope by the end of the month I'll have a lovely new office space.
We're in the process of moving offices at the moment, so we're all having to stockpile various items until the move is complete. As for me, I've got 7 desktop PCs (5 of which are being donated to charity), 2 old laser printers, and 8 bookcases.
Being surrounded by towering piles of junk all day, with only a narrow corridor cleared between the door and the desk, is a tad depressing, to say the least. But help is on the way. The computers should be gone by tomorrow, and we're all getting lovely new office furniture delivered next week.
I hope by the end of the month I'll have a lovely new office space.
05 March 2007
Spring is Coming
It must be. All the snow we got Friday night has already melted, and the doves have returned from wherever they were hiding for the winter. Just now, I heard them cooing outside my office window - such a lovely sound. :-)
04 March 2007
Dinner and a Show
Super tired today...not sure why. Endless grind of work, perhaps?
Went to Neptune last night - the play was Mourning Dove, in the studio theatre. Very well-written and acted, but in typical Neptune fashion it was heavy stuff. The theme was mercy killing, with the storyline heavily based on the Robert Latimer case. Argh.
Beforehand, we went over to the Hydrostone Market, to try a new bistro that's opened there called Rogi Orazio. But it was all booked up, and I hadn't made a reservation - so we ended up going next door to Epicurious Morsels instead. It was very good indeed, so that wasn't too much of a hardship. Plus, we had a table right by the window and so had a great view of the lunar eclipse, as it was unfolding.
Went to Neptune last night - the play was Mourning Dove, in the studio theatre. Very well-written and acted, but in typical Neptune fashion it was heavy stuff. The theme was mercy killing, with the storyline heavily based on the Robert Latimer case. Argh.
Beforehand, we went over to the Hydrostone Market, to try a new bistro that's opened there called Rogi Orazio. But it was all booked up, and I hadn't made a reservation - so we ended up going next door to Epicurious Morsels instead. It was very good indeed, so that wasn't too much of a hardship. Plus, we had a table right by the window and so had a great view of the lunar eclipse, as it was unfolding.
01 March 2007
Amazing Grace
This week, I've been reviewing outlines submitted to me by my students, for their research essays (which are due in three weeks' time). It's interesting, seeing what some of them have decided on in terms of topics.
The abolition of slavery in the Empire seems to be popular so far - I've already seen three outlines for that. And coincidentally, there's a movie about to be released on that very subject. It's called Amazing Grace and focuses on William Wilberforce, an evangelical reformer and MP in the early nineteenth century who was the leader of the antislavery movement in England. The film has a good cast and crew behind it, but I don't know how historically accurate it is - or if it's as moralistic as it appears. I see from the official website that it's being heavily marketed to Christian groups, a la The Passion of the Christ...and one of the sub-plots revolves around the man who wrote "Amazing Grace".
Regardless, I'm happy (though presumably the students in question are not) that it's not being released in Canada until after the essays are due. Otherwise, I'd be concerned that some of them would just go watch the movie and use that as a springboard for their essays, instead of conducting proper research in the library. It's a common 'shortcut' for some students to take.
The abolition of slavery in the Empire seems to be popular so far - I've already seen three outlines for that. And coincidentally, there's a movie about to be released on that very subject. It's called Amazing Grace and focuses on William Wilberforce, an evangelical reformer and MP in the early nineteenth century who was the leader of the antislavery movement in England. The film has a good cast and crew behind it, but I don't know how historically accurate it is - or if it's as moralistic as it appears. I see from the official website that it's being heavily marketed to Christian groups, a la The Passion of the Christ...and one of the sub-plots revolves around the man who wrote "Amazing Grace".
Regardless, I'm happy (though presumably the students in question are not) that it's not being released in Canada until after the essays are due. Otherwise, I'd be concerned that some of them would just go watch the movie and use that as a springboard for their essays, instead of conducting proper research in the library. It's a common 'shortcut' for some students to take.
Battening Down the Hatches
March has certainly come in like a lamb, as the old adage says - the last couple of days, we've been enjoying sunshine and relatively balmy temperatures approaching the freezing mark. It's a nice relief from the deep freeze we've been dealing with since early January.
Apparently it won't last, though. There's a winter storm warning issued for Halifax tomorrow evening - we're meant to get ice pellets, freezing rain and upwards of 20 cm of snow. If that happens, it will be the first significant snowfall here since our only other storm of the season - back in early December.
A. will be delighted, at least - it'll give him an excuse to fire up his new snowblower, for only the second time this winter.
Apparently it won't last, though. There's a winter storm warning issued for Halifax tomorrow evening - we're meant to get ice pellets, freezing rain and upwards of 20 cm of snow. If that happens, it will be the first significant snowfall here since our only other storm of the season - back in early December.
A. will be delighted, at least - it'll give him an excuse to fire up his new snowblower, for only the second time this winter.
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