Shortly after I started as division chair in 2017, Exemplary Girlfriend checked in with me: How are you? How is life as division chair? Are you mired in bureaucracy? Or pleasantly surprised? My response: I am good. A little manic, actually. Mired doesn’t quite capture it. More like frenetic. Every day there is some new […]
What I Should Have Said
In my previous post, I told the story of an exchange I had with a churlish telemarketer. I wonder if I was an unknowing character in a scene of retribution: “Next time, I [churlish telemarketer] am going to tell the person s/he is an asshole!” That thought makes me reflect on answers not given. Monday […]
720 513 8184
I’m working at home. You are, too, right? Get any telemarketer calls? The other day, 720 513 8184 called me. It showed as a Denver number. I didn’t recognize it. But, because DH was out and about, I answered it. There was that pause with the hum of background activity on the line. The telltale […]
Pool’s Closing! Everybody Out!
When Son #1 was three years old, DH used to take him to swim at the Stanford pool. If they were there at the end of the day, they witnessed the closing drill. It involved the lifeguards blowing their whistles and hollering, “POOL’S CLOSING! EVERYBODY OUT!” Those lifeguards had spent a long shift in the […]
Silver Anniversary of Motherhood
Today is my silver anniversary of motherhood: the occasion of my older child’s twenty-fifth birthday. Here is a picture that makes me smile. There he is, as a two year old, swinging his arms. Strutting around the Stanford Quad like he owns the place. Not all that different from now, really. (Except that the Physics […]
“Today, I Made A College Student Cry”
I am not the “I” in the title of this post. Rather, the title comes from the first sentence of a Facebook post by a staff member at my school. The post moves me and makes me think, and I want to share it with you. Here is her post, and my responses to her, […]
Next Semester
Starting in January, I will be teaching a required course for our sophomore undergraduates. I have 85 students registered for my section. If any Spring ’20 students are reading this, let me know you are out there! I don’t recall having much of an interest in my professors outside of the classroom in my undergraduate […]
There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays
We are home, back in Boulder, CO. A beautiful blue Colorado sky greeted us this week. Soon the nest will be full, at least for a bit. Here’s an image that comes to mind for comforts of home. Am I the indulgent mother or the contented child? Both, now that I think about it.
Terrible Tom Hanks
I have more to say about Tom Hanks, beyond his resemblance to my husband. Hanks is prolific and has a broad range. I admire those qualities, aspire to them. “Broad range” feels natural for me, but abundant production does not. I collect ideas and quotes that inspire me to work on my research and writing […]