20150727.0654

The summer bridge program continues today. I will be playing a bit of catch-up with my students, as Friday's discussion was somewhat hijacked. The plan had been to discuss an assigned reading, a summary of and response to which the students were to have completed before coming to class that day. What happened instead was a lengthy discussion of academic integrity and academic honesty (with the basic dictum,* "If you looked it up, cite it," offered as an initial guideline), which I was happy to entertain. It is a legitimate academic topic in any class, really, and one with which I am concerned. (Or I have been, at least.) It seems that every regular term has one or more of the students in my classes make the mistake of submitting work that transgresses in such a way; if I can help prevent such errors from happening, I am happy to do so. Even so, the reading that was to be discussed on Friday needs to be discussed; I hope to do so today, as well as covering the readings that actually belong to today (which I ought to glance over once again). As I noted, I am playing catch-up.

Other work seems not to be progressing as quickly. I still have not received another freelance order, which begins to worry me. There have been gaps in order-placing before, and I have long understood that the freelance work is not enough to sustain me on its own, but I have grown fond of that particular source of revenue. Its absence annoys, and I hope for a resumption of it soon. Too, I ought to have been at work on other projects, perhaps only syllabus-construction for the forthcoming term, perhaps work on The Work which I have too-long neglected, or perhaps on some more "creative" or commercial project that I can use to supplement my other income and elevate my profile a bit more. Or I ought to have been applying for more jobs, since I seem to keep getting letters--few against the number I send out, maybe handfuls against the scores and hundreds I submit--telling me I am not wanted, that my work will not suffice. It is a common message, indeed, and since I am the only constant among the applications, I do have to wonder what it is that I am doing or failing to do that marks me out as not worth the time.

I will be making a go of it again, today. As I note, I have work to do; not only must I be in the classroom, but I must grade what has come in from my students. I can hope that Ms. 8 will sleep such as will allow me to do so; working while keeping an eye on her increasingly expert and ambitious climbing is far from optimal for several reasons. Failing that, I know the Mrs., herself having been at the front of the classroom for no small amount of time, will cover things while I take care of that particular task. And there are the many other things that need my attention, bespoken above. If I am to have any hope of things working out, it will only be because of the work I do--and I have not done enough, obviously.

*I am aware that not all that needs looking up needs citation. Looking up "callipygian" to know that it means something like "having shapely and attractive buttocks" (per the OED and others) only needs citation if the definition itself is reported; looking it up to use it in a sentence, as in "I find that person to be callipygian," does not.