Writing Writing Writing

I have hundreds of pages to read in order to grade all these students and provide them with the grade they earned. But more importantly to me this holiday break, I have hundreds of pages to write.

I am in the process of rewriting my dissertation into a book. My decision is to do a drastic rewrite, making it more accessible and better at delivering the argument I make. My second decision was to do this over holiday break so no students would be around. As a result, I am a writing fool.

One of the bitches of teaching at a 4/4 is that I have no time to do research. Students believe that professor exist to kiss their ass...oh no, I mean, students believe professors exist to read their papers, grade their papers, grade their assignments, talk about their personal lives (this one particularly shocks me as I always think, we're not friends, why on earth are you telling me this?), and generally wait with bated breath for them to knock on our door. The problem with these beliefs is that they aren't true but I am a good person so I like to be available for all my students whenever they need me. Maybe I'm supposed to be a therapist...I don't know.

I exist to do political science. I teach at a 4/4 to bring new generations into the study of politics. In order for me to do this properly, I need to do research. I need to stop being available all the time to students.