I recently reread David Sedaris’ Naked. I originally read this book when we lived in NC. It was featured as “new from a local author” at the Chapel Hill library. The descriptions of his OCD compulsions on his walk home from school—gotta lick the mailbox—made a big impression on me. On my more recent read, […]
Happiness
My thoughts turn to butterflies on the first day of summer. I love this quote. Happiness can be elusive. A corollary, from All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood, by Jennifer Senior: It is unrealistic…to assume that if all goes well in a child’s life, he or she will be happy. Not […]
Self-Absorption
Yes, I blog. About my life. It’s a little self-absorbed, I know. I don’t pretend otherwise. Did you notice that the logo for this blog is me talking to myself? In Don’t Get too Comfortable, David Rakoff writes about his moment of peak self-absorption: My fasting program warns me to stay vigilant against unhealthy ego […]
What is Your Least Favorite Fruit?
At an appointment when Ted was about five years old, I slipped the pediatrician a note asking him to speak about the importance of eating fruits and vegetables. I needed an ally. The doctor broached the topic conversationally. “Ted,” he said, “what is a fruit or vegetable that you really don’t like?” Silence. I was […]
Roles and Purposes of Higher Education
This year my school worked with the Policy Center on the First Year of College, now known as the Gardner Institute. Campus leadership used Gardner’s guidance to scrutinize our first year students’ experience. Gardner recommends organizing the work around nine committees, one committee for each of the “dimensions” they have identified. One of the dimensions […]
Student Evaluations of Teaching (SET)
One of the instructors in my department came by to see me. She was concerned about her spring semester teaching evaluations from her students (SET, which we call FCQs, for faculty course questionnaires). Now that she had seen the reports, she renewed a concern she had expressed about the chaos of the transition to online […]
Women In Math
You may have seen this flyer making the rounds on social media: According to the BYU Math Department, the flyer design was not satire, but instead, well-intentioned outreach. No hard feelings, at least from me. I visit the Math Department on our campus often. The walls have lots of interesting attractions: flyers, posters describing research, […]
Coconut Shrimp
I was at a New Year’s party. It was catered and servers were passing trays. Everything was really yummy, including the coconut shrimp. The poor guy, though, who kept approaching people with his shrimp plate. After a time, he got a lot of polite refusals. As a parent and a person who works with young […]
One Thing That I Wish Someone Would Say About Me
This post is a companion to the previous one. One thing I wish someone would say about me, from this classic scene: At 1:32: “I’ll have what she’s having.”
Three Things That No One Has Ever Said About Me
From Jenny Offill’s Department of Speculation, Three things that no one has ever said about me: You make it look so easy. You are very mysterious. You need to take yourself more seriously. In 2003, when I was at Duke, the school released a study about the experience of women at all levels of the […]