20151026.0624

Work continues, of course. I have a freelance piece in process at the moment; I will be reading today and will begin the write-up today or tomorrow, finishing before the end of the day on Wednesday. I am also back in the classroom today, although how things will go in the wake of the weekend is unclear. None of my students appear to have been injured by the incident, at least physically, but I do not know who is related to whom or who was where when it happened, so there may be other issues at work today than I would normally have to handle. I'm a professor, not a counselor, after all, and while I may be sympathetic, I am not the shoulder upon which my students should expect to cry; my training lies elsewhere, and I cannot afford to put myself in a position to be liable.

Later this week, I will be traveling to Nashville, Tennessee, to attend the South Central Modern Language Association conference there; I am presiding over the English I: Old and Middle English panel. I do not have a paper to present this time, though, so I should have an easy go of things--and it is an odd sensation, really, to be making the trip only to carry out service. Perhaps it is a sign that I should be focusing on matters other than conference papers at this point; perhaps I should be working to get more things under review and into press. If I do want to continue my scholarly life, it seems the thing to do--and at this point, I do want to continue my scholarly life. I have little idea of what I could do otherwise, in all honesty; seven years of schooling past the bachelor's and three years working at colleges since tend to narrow professional visions (and, if my rejection rate is any indication, professional prospects, as well).

I am glad that I do not have a conference paper on which to put final polish this week; there are enough other things for me to do without it. My students have a paper coming in at the end of the week, and a tall stack of job announcements still awaits my attention, both in addition to the freelance piece noted above. Ms. 8 gets to have a flu shot tomorrow morning, which should prove to be fun, and I have an online interview to give on Thursday, which should also prove fun; I need to prepare the materials for it (teaching demos are always interesting, particularly ones given to faculty panels rather than classes of students). My other writing has been suffering, and I need to help it, as well, and there are the daily chores to do to maintain Sherwood Cottage. It will all get done, somehow, although I am not sure how I will go about doing it. I suppose I need not worry overmuch; I just need to get back to work.