Body Combat

I almost died this morning.

First, I got out of bed at 515 am, which is always a problem and seriously, if God isn't up yet, I don't see why humans should be.

Second, I drove to the gym in big ploppy snow, which made the roads treacherous in Utah.

Third, I attended body combat where an instructor who hasn't taught this time in 2 months decided to put us through our paces. We shuffled in circles, we ran while punching, we jumped, spun, and generally didn't stop moving for a breath for about 50 minutes. I almost fell twice. I almost threw up the entire time. My good friend, who was attending for the first time in a while, shot me dagger looks and I think I need to be worried about running into her later with a weapon of some sort.

Fourth, I drove home to two giant labradors who thought it would be fun to see how many times they could step on my feet as I tried to walk down the stairs.

Happy Monday.

R.I.P. Omar

Well, tonight was not a fun night for the Wire and its loyal fan, the Duchess.

I'm not happy about it.

My Life

I once heard it said that a woman had happy moments, not a happy life. I imagine in many ways this is true. Women bear quite a bit of the burdens of this world without any of the managing, this impotence is hard on the psyche, and women have been in this position for millennia. For a long time I had a relatively sad life, due to some of my own rather spectacularly bad choices and also due to others' bad decisions. Now I am sitting here doing some work from home while waiting for Lily to fall asleep and she is cooing away and discussing the world with the many stuffed animals in her room. She is a very happy baby mostly due to rather good choices I have made lately - including marrying her father and moving to Utah and choosing to have a good job that allows me to be home a lot. I envision her heading down the path to a happy life with sad moments, rather than the other way around and while I get to travel this path with her - not for her, but alongside - I get to live a happy life too.

She's seriously the most perfect and wonderful thing that has ever happened.

Skiing

Yesterday I had the BEST time skiing. I went up with my husband's family and then quickly diverted to spend the day with my good friend Michelle. I skied trails I never would have gone on alone because she was so supportive. We chatted on the chair lifts and in the gondola and a couple of times we skied with her husband who is actually a fabulous snowboarder. It was such a GOOD time.

Today I am very sore. That's the only bad thing.

Battle of the Planets

I'm sitting here watching my favorite childhood cartoon that aired from 1978 to 1985. My whole life (even recently I must admit) I have wanted to be the Princess superhero from Battle of the Planets. I love this cartoon. And while it has lost some of its appeal as I am now an adult, I still love it!

It makes great grading white noise.

Sean Hannity

Today I listened to Sean Hannity. I have a number of students who are tracking him for a media and politics course so I thought I would give it a try. He was interviewing some black author who claims that academics (that's me!) are teaching blacks to believe they are "behind" because of slavery. I didn't know I was teaching students that. It was interesting to hear that apparently I am responsible for blacks across the country feeling badly about themselves because of slavery. If I weren't doing this, blacks would perceive themselves as in a bad place because of their own individual problems...I guess is the point. His argument was that Democrats (aided and abetted by the academics (me again!)) need blacks to feel white racism (I like that term, I'm not sure what it means, should we refer to male sexism?) so we make them listen to Jesse Jackson and then they feel badly about themselves...so they miss out on the fabulous policies the Republicans have for black America - his one example was vouchers (how that's connected to black America escaped me but perhaps he explained it earlier in the show).

I would like to note that my black friends (of whom I have quite a few and all of whom are doing very well) feel racism. They explain to me how pervasive it is. I would also like to note that none of them think there is racism because of slavery, but because of a lack of tolerance in certain pockets of the U.S. population. It also could be that Republican legislators in Utah say things like:

Well, I think Brown v. Board of Education is wrong to begin with. That’s a whole other subject. Call me again and take a half-hour to talk about that.- Sen. Buttars

It could also be that Clinton was the first president in history to actually get above 10% in black appointments while the Republicans around him were noted for destroying the Civil Rights Commission.

I imagine Sean Hannity - white anglo saxon male that he is - is very tolerant and very understanding of race in this country. Do people seriously listen to him???

Conference

For the longest time I had thought a particular brand of pedagogy was bullshit. I did not like discussions about service-learning. I was not persuaded it had any value. I thought it was a way for people to not do good teaching in the classroom. This weekend I was invited to a S-L conference, and as I have an open mind I went. As it turned out, I was completely wrong. The deal is most people of my acquaintance have been doing S-L wrong (or at least not well) and so what I thought was crap actually was crap but was not what the pedagogy entailed. I am persuaded. I am excited to move forward in trying this out. Students were there telling stories about their experience, and while most of the students were idiots, these were very compelling for why this pedagogy is good.

Thanks to my colleagues for having such a naysayer along.

Conference

I am sitting in a dorm room in St. George getting ready to attend a conference tomorrow. Can you imagine that? I am in a DORM ROOM! I am lying in a bed that is very narrow. We are staying in a hostel in an effort to cut costs, and it's adorable! Luckily, I turn on my lappy and the internet worked. I have no idea whose wireless I am on, but I don't really care, I am just happy I can play on the internet if I want to, especially since there is no tv or radio.

I had a great ride down with two women I barely know and one woman who I'd like to know better. What's interesting is one of the women thought I was a student. She said to me, haven't you graduated. I said no. She said when do you graduate? I said, I'm a professor here. She said didn't you used to be a student? I said, no, I got a degree from Albany and Syracuse quite some time ago. She said oh my god, I thought you were a student and were Scott Rogers's protege. I said, no, I am not Scott Rogers's protege......lots of fun for all involved. I laughed and laughed.

Super Tuesday

Today is Super Tuesday and I am voting for Hillary Clinton, my office assistant says if she wins she's moving to Canada. I highly doubt this is true, but let her be ridiculous if it makes her feel good. Here are my reasons:

1. She's a woman. For the first time in 220 years we have a viable female candidate. I would like my daughter to grow up in a world that doesn't require you to have a penis to be a leader. And I do not, unlike Michael Savage, think this is an affirmative action election.
2. She's actually a policy wonk. When you read Hillary Clinton's policy initiatives she actually knows what she's talking about. Her health care policy is light years beyond her Democratic opponents, and seriously she's way ahead of the Republican idiots. She's been thinking about health care for 14 years, she's already had a policy go down in flames, she knows how to negotiate on this particular issue. Never mind that it's better.
3. She actually shows up for voting. Obama missed 1/3 of his votes and all of the other votes he voted exactly the same as Clinton. I'm not sure how this relates to change if he's exactly the same as Clinton, but I'm not voting for him so I don't have to reconcile that inconsistency.
4. She is very very very intelligent. She will be very very very good for this country.

Oh yeah, she wants to revoke Don't Ask Don't Tell (it's one of her policy agenda items) which means she's actually a bit further on gay rights than any of her opponents.

17-14

Do not ever underestimate the power of the cuteness!

Go G-Men!!

Snow Day

Thank God! I have been burning the candle at both ends. I have been exhausted for weeks. Then today snow came and school was canceled. I was able to move some furniture around, feed my baby her first food, and relax. I've gotten so much done and now I can watch some of my soaps and read a book and just relax.

Thank you God!