After two marathon sessions of grading, where I stayed on campus untill 7:30 and just slogged endlessly through papers, I finished most of my obligations for Fall semester (I did three classes yesterday. Note to Meredith: HA!). Save a few stragglers, not to mention actually entering the grades into the U's system, I am done. And, not to take anything away from the generally nice group of students I had this year, it feels good. I stayed home and slept in today. Note to any BGers reading this: I am ready to drink, so call me.
The bitter part of this is that, with the impending labor situation, I am not really sure when I will actually start back up again...so each day when I leave campus, I have been taking a load of books home with me...assembling an office in exile, so to speak.
I now have a break where I have to plan two courses, one of which I've never taught and for which I still don't have a textbook. Thanks to Jen's hard work (you go, girl), I now have to write a paper for the Cultural Studies Association in DC this year. I've been reconsidering my exit from the job marked. I have a lead on a publication I need to pursue. I have a book proposal to revise, which has been sitting around too long. And Mr. Thunder and I still have an upcoming intellectual excursion into the Toledo nightlife underworld. So I need to be sure this holiday season is not a time of screwing around.
But I can now sleep. I am free from deadlines, at least for a while. I can not wear pants for days at a time. All in all, things are okay.
2 comments:
all right, someone else might go on strike!!!
My union narrowly avoided a strike by 12 hours. But, we pretty much got what we wanted. York University's grad students & contract faculty union has one of the strongest unions around - see www.cupe3903.tao.ca They are very active, very stubborn and very ready to strike if necessary.
The University of Toronto is having some trouble settling their contract too (they've been without a contract since April! We had only been without one since August, and we ratified the new deal mid. Nov.)
Anyway, my union is now among the first (perhaps the first?) to have a transsexual transitioning fund! Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of money in it but it's a start. We also just got extended health care benefits (also not much money but ....) and a 3% pay raise (we wanted 7%).
My advice? stay the course and don't let university administration pull a "divide and conquer" !!
In solidarity.... Jennifer
Yes, now I too must plan a paper for the CSA :)
Actually, I'm really excited that I just finished writing my comps. exams (still need to defend on Jan. 3rd). Now I'll have the time and energy to devote to more original research since I feel like my work has been on hold since I started studying.
Looking forward to hanging out in DC with the cool kids!@
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