Monday, June 1, 2009

I Quit

School, not "The Academy"... I'll teach math to anybody that'll sit still and listen for the rest of my life I expect and promote literacy generally whenever I get a chance. Teaching and Learning have been much the biggest part of my social life for most of my life; you don't change such things in a heartbeat even if you want to.

Anyhow, I quit this blog; I'm not going to be studying this particular aspect of the mess we're in with anything like the same urgency or consistency (or so I conjecture) so I'll just shove everything that would've otherwise gone here into, as of now, Open A Vein. Thanks for your kind attention.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Another World Is Possible

Xero on "changing" higher ed. Clear vision and an angelic voice. Almost makes you glad to be alive.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

One Links List Deserves Another

Catching up with FACE.

nothing in his life became him


people that care about me don't like it
when i call myself a failure and so maybe
i oughta knock it off... but by golly,
there's sure good *evidence* for it
if you like that kind of thing.

i've referred to teaching
freelance as an "adjunct"
(after four years on the tenure-track)
as being "sent down to the minors"
and that's how it felt for a long time.
i still got to play the game.

and i even had a pretty good run:
thousands of students have learned
quite a bit of math with my help.
meanwhile, i got to talk to lots
of other teachers about the art.
still.

i haven't even *learned* anything
that counts as "being a pro" to me;
not anymore. i've gotten to be
a great math tutor as i see it
but am scared to even think about trying
to find paying tutees, for example.
and the point here is that *all* the
"professionalism" here (as always)
is *getting paid* and i'm worse than
a beginner at getting paid.

also a damn fine lecturer sometimes.
but a pisspoor assigner of grades.
i've gotten so bad at *this* that
i have to quit.

"i have to quit".
gee. when you put it like that
it almost feels like you're *not*
about to get a sinking feeling
that just *keeps* sinking.
as in, for about an hour just now
and no end in sight.

anyhow if you can handle *that*, try *this*:
i *want* to sell.

hint: you don't have to actually *believe* it.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Friday, May 22, 2009