Fast forward a year or so since my last post. Things have changed dramatically, to the point that I had to remove some of my earlier posts about adjuncting and having a full-time nonacademic job because they simply no longer feel true, and while I'm okay with leaving artifacts on a level, I'm not really okay with having words bopping around that I wrote, but which I recognize as potentially misleading or false. Harsh? Maybe. But I have always been so conscious of the relative permanence of the written word that even as a young adolescent, I couldn't write in blank books. When I did, a few months later I ripped out the pages because the sentiments expressed did not seem true or worthy or whatever. This probably makes me odd--one of many things.
I am currently at the end of my second semester as a full-time lecturer. Not permanent, but not adjunct. My workload is higher, my salary is lower, and I am happier. I am in a research university environment, which means, among other things, that people take themselves and their research seriously--and in general, too seriously. I teach many sections of composition (3), but they are relatively low enrollment for a state school (25). I have, so far, been given one course other than comp each semester--courses that are specialized and upper-level: the first, a writing/rhetoric class; the second, a large-section (147-student section) children's literature course. In addition, I have, up to this point, been maintaining the one online-only adjunct class. Much as I would like the additional money, that one seems unsustainable for me.
So what is this blog going to become? The truth of the matter is that it might become nothing, because even as I sit typing up this little reboot blurb, I am neglecting the remaining 18 essays of the semester. But as I sit here taking notes on what I want to maintain from this semester, update, or stress differently, it occurs to me that rather than writing an actual composition textbook (though that could happen), I might use this space in a similar way to my Booknotes blog: to record thoughts-in-progress about teaching writing (as that one does about reading literature) that seem worthy of future consideration or development--or occasional mini-rants that I give to my students, like when I told the poor dears that the words "relatable" and "impactful" need to die. That's just a coming attraction. Hoping to have a bit of fun with this as I plan for the summer and fall and look to the future of teaching English again!
À bientôt!
