This is another photo from San Francisco, and a good reason it was so difficult to come home. 
I did conferencing with my students this week about their research papers. They handed in rough drafts and I looked at them and suggested revisions, edits, and overall improvements. The week was long, and dragged on into the late afternoon of Friday. I have learned much this semester as I feel my way blindly along this college teaching tunnel. I know now that next semester I am going to conference during the second week of classes, somewhere in the middle of the semester, and again toward the end. The fifteen minutes spent alone with each student made more difference in the way I perceive them, and they way I was able to interact with them than anything else we have done all semester. I can honestly say, even though it was a stressful and draining week, it was one of the best I have had this semester. Now I move on to writing my own research papers!
My goal has been to write a poem a day, but it has turned into more of a poem every two days, or so. I am trying to read a variety of works from beginning to end, and write a poem as I feel inspired from the text I am reading. For example, I am reading All That’s Left by Jack Hrischman. I read a poem, and select language that speaks to me and then I try to write a poem based on my thoughts about his work. Because I just started this, I have only done his stuff, but I plan to move through several different works as I do this. The problem is: I spend more time writing things I want to write right now than I do on my school work. I think I do it because, like my friend Elizabeth, I am tired of being graded. I don’t mind critique, but I am finished with being graded. I am ready to be working on my dissertation and writing and reading for my own sense of intellectual accomplishment.
It isn’t like I am not learning, because I am. How can a student not learn from her teacher? I just feel like I am ready to spread my little wings and kamikaze my way to my own path. Soon enough, soon enough. So, I continue to trudge through the classes for one more year.
Reason Breeds Insanity 