I'm dividing the final projects up. So I have three classes—one podcast project (indigenous hunting of bowhead whales), one lit analysis project (global capitalism, environmental "bads" in West Africa), and one legal analysis of Land Back in California that students could present in a range of formats. So as to not get board, I'm going to do ⅓ of each class each day for the next three days, and then I'll be done on Thursday night. If it goes quickly, I may plow through more than that to be done. Next week I have a backlog of admin tasks (tenure letters for junior colleagues, curriculum changes that (for no rational reason) have to go through a university approval process, and changing the requirements of our AMS minor (I want to file before I start summer, even though it won't go through till fall).
#ProfessorRealness #GradingRagnarök #TheEndIsNigh

Four. More. Essays. To. Read. Kill. Me. Now. #ProfessorLife #GradingRagnarök is reaching its harrowing climax.

My transnational #AmericanStudies class was cancelled; I’ve been excited for the semester looking at #LandBack / #decolonization, global refugees, and rise of the global right. I’ve been re-assigned a class about cultures of the North American #colonial period (≈1491-1775, incl. Canada, Caribbean, & Mexico). Prep begins in earnest after #GradingRagnarök. I hate cram-prepping a new course. Focus will be on #indigenous resistance, #AfricanAmerican cultures, #gender, & theories of #Freedom

The rest period in #GradingRagnarök ends tomorrow morning. I’m kinda dreading three classes worth of final papers to feedback. But my #ungrading method (which includes student self-evaluations) + the earlier scaffolding mean that I may even be able to get through them quickly (I don’t give detailed comments on capstone assignments). My biggest worry will be the students who didn’t take the assignments seriously and so won’t have met minimum requirements (a danger of ungrading). #ProfessorLife

I’m feeling strange this morning. I’m caught up on #GradingRagnarök, with all the final essays coming on Monday. So kind of a lull in the Professorial Battle Against Evil™, to resume next week. So today I feel antsy not having any work. I mean, I could actually write my Thoreau! Or work on some background reading for my next project (Levinas v Deweyan ethics)! Or write teaching observation reports! (Ewww, not that one.) Or review job applications! The mind seizes with choice. #ProfessorLife

Today's stack o' grading is completed. I looked at five weeks of Nature Observation Journals for the "Animals & Society" class. Omigod, I was in stitches at some of the hilarious sketches. The koala bear at the San Diego zoo was a highlight of my day, bringing a little levity to the End Times. The gods will now cease the battle against evil for the evening. #GradingRagnarök

I’m trying to decide if i should go to the gym now (to avoid today’s grading stack) or just dive into the grading and get it over with … These are the decisions that vex a professorial soul. #GayFitness #ProfessorLive #GradingRagnarök

Only 1 week left of instruction (then 9 days of FinalExams then #GradingRagnarök). I was on sabbatical last year (which I spent mostly recuperating from the difficult slog to get promoted to full (i.e., I napped and took a lot of long walks and read genre fiction)(i.e., *not* #productive in the #academic sense)), and the adjustment back to full time teaching and all my service responsibilities on campus has been exhausting. I’m not sure I’m going to make it another 12-15 years #ProfessorLife