Well, it happened again this year. Each year in mid-October I teach the Introduction to American Culture and Literature class about Calvin and Hobbes, finishing with the moving story about the baby raccoon that Calvin finds and hopes to save, only to be shocked by its death, and each year when I do this class, the day our beloved cat died seven years ago comes back to me (because he died in mid-October, and I had to go to school the morning after the night he died and teach this same class about Calvin and Hobbes), so that when I explain the part of the story where Calvin says, "I'm crying because out there he's gone, but he's not gone inside me," and then explain the part where Calvin says to Hobbes, "But don't YOU go anywhere," and Hobbes hugs him and says, "Don't worry," I end up crying in class! How embarrassing... My voice breaks, I get choked, my nose starts running, and I cry before 100+ students, who must be wondering what the heck is wrong with me. Sigh...
Apart from that, it was a good week. One highlight was attending a seminar by a visiting professor from Leeds University in England, Dr. Lou Harvey, who told us about motivation in language learning and had us talk about our own motivations in small groups, and then gave us a PR pitch about her school (which does sound super). Thanks to my stellar colleague Catherine Matsuo for inviting Dr. Harvey! Another memorable activity was getting my annual health examination yesterday morning. And we had THREE back to back meetings from 4:30 till 8:30 last Wednesday. Yikes--we're almost half way done with the semester... See you next Saturday!
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Jefferson Peters (JP)
Can you find me in the picture above? Archives
May 2024
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