Is there ever enough time for reading? I’m reading about four books at once just now:
- Third Wave Agenda
– third wave feminism
- Men Speak Out
- Quartered Safe Out Here
- The Day the Earth Caved In
I didn’t find much time to read anything other than the essays I’d assigned when I was teaching, so I wonder, if after teaching a while, the grading gets easier & you get in more reading time.
The good thing about writing is that you tend to go on overdrive, and read and write and write and read and it’s like you never get tired. The problem is that you really don’t want to deal with the rest of the world, for dinners with friends or class reunions or whatever on your social calendar bids you.
Not that anyone I know should take that personally.
One of the things that’s beckoning me toward Wisconsin is that there isn’t so much to do, and for a writer approaching middle age, that sounds perfectly perfect. (Now I just need to win that lottery, so I can pull a J.D. Salinger. Except I’ll publish what I’m writing, of course.)
Wisconsin awaits your arrival on the river any time your ready. It won’t cost much, if your not in need of much.
I think once you get the class schedule down you’d have a little time to read and write I would hope.
Yes, getting those “new preps” out of the way clears up a lot of time. That’s the idea anyway. There are always committees if you get bored.
Does this mean you have an offer to go back to Wisconsin? That would be a fantastic opportunity, that’s for sure. I’ve read “Quartered Safe Out Here”; a very good book. I had no idea you were interested in the Burmese front during World War II! As I’m sure you know, the author is George Macdonald Fraser, writing about his own experiences; he’s most famous as the author of the wonderful “Flashman” books — among my very favorite books, and Lynette’s too. You should give one a try if you haven’t already — I promise, they’re not simply about military history! NTTAWWT.
Donna
I’m glad I’m not the only one. In fact, I read My Husband Betty and She’s Not the Man I Married simultaneously. It was interesting how each book informed the other; i.e. reading about your tomboy side in SNMIM helped me understand your process in MHB.
when I started teaching college, one of the first lessons I learned was
# of pages in the assigned paper * # of students =
how many hours I lose this weekend.
I started assigning shorter papers immediately.
Yeah, organizing is a real brain-drain, I gotta say. Working a “regular,” hourly-type job is much better for both writin’ and readin’. I have pretty much dumped the writin’ part, for now- but I can’t stop refreshing my mind, so even when I’m tired and only can read little bits at a time, I’ll do it. Even if it means putting really good books in their special place in the bathroom. :: shrugs :: A woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do.
What did you think of Jay Prosser’s “Second Skins: The Body Narratives of Transsexuality”? I’m conflicted and thougt this particular post would be the best to comment on. I think his emphasis on recognizing lived experiences is critical to advancing queer theory towards more understanding political and social terrain, but how do you avoid re-using queer theory “holy grail” attitude towards transgenderism as transgression?
i haven’t read it yet.
Ooh, thanks for the link on the Centralia book.
A random interest I have…
The first time teaching a course one requires far more time for course preparation. (Most tenured profs will say to estimate a “minimum” of fours hours per one hour of class time.) BTW: That is a lot of time if one is teaching two four hour classes! That a minimum of 32 hours that does not include office time for students, commuting, faculty meetings, etc.
It isn’t unusual to be stressed out without much extra reading time when teaching a course the first time. However, it gets significantly better each time one teaches the course. After teaching a course about three times, the course content and the nuances of the curriculum become so well known that course prep can be cut in half, sometimes by two thirds, (an hour of prep to an hour of class time.) Only “tweaking” the course takes longer at this point.
Some tenured profs know their course so well, after teaching the course for so many years, that they don’t really need any course prep time at all. They gain the momentum of reading new material that ultimately becomes part of the course.
There is an old saying in teaching at the university level. A tenured professor told me, “The first time teaching a course, the teacher is learning the course. The second time it is taught she tweaks the course to her own paradigm. The third time its taught, the course is taught with little or no effort.”
Hope this helps….
Catrina