Superman never made any money for saving the world from Solomon Grundy

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Shutter the windows


Well, since it's clear there's little activity going on here lately, we're going to close the shutters, throw some drop cloths over the furniture, turn off the utilities, stop the mail delivery.

School just seems to get busier and busier. I used to teach five classes a quarter when I was an adjunct, and while I remember having to grade all the time, I don't remember feeling like I was doing a plate spinning act all the time.


Maybe that was because as an adjunct I was focused only on the classroom, and even though I had a lot of work, it was all of a kind. Now, well into the second year of my tenure track, I find myself drawn into committee activities more and more, working on planning, budgets, course development, and similar long-term projects. The work has changed, making me feel little bit less focused and directed.

On top of that, I have several other projects going on that take up some time but don't wind up with publishable items for this blog. Not that I haven't had plenty of ideas for posts: my bookmarks folder is filled with interesting links to share, my desk holds a stack of comics I want to talk about, and I have a to-do pile of essays on the classroom experience. It just seems that the season for blogging has turned for a while.

Just as spring in the Pacific Northwest is having a hard time getting any purchase this year, I've been losing some traction here. Both situations will eventually resolve themselves, but for now, this post gives me absolution.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Your return will be eagerly awaited, but for the meantime I will content myself with my new phrase, "Bugs Mr. Rico, zillions of 'em!"

John said...

I feel you.
Blogging seems so 2007.
I actually started thinking that I need to cut and paste, or print out old posts that I'm proud of, to make sure they aren't lost forever.

Walaka of Earth 2 said...

Actually, I feel like it might be specifically the generalist, observational blog whose time has passed. That's what's so 2007. Even if it's not about what you had for lunch, musings in this form seem to have run their course.

I think there is still room for the specialized, dedicated, consistently updated blog, as long as it's done with intelligence and discrimination. I trip over a good one every week or so, not always in a subject area I am interested in, but of a quality that would make me follow it if it were in my field.