Bewildered, bothered, and befuddled

No phone here.

Places where I could have dropped my cell phone Saturday morning: in my car, in my birding buddy's car, in the woods, at the church bake sale, in my husband's office, in the church parking lot, at the cemetery where I stood to take some photos, at the historic covered bridge.

Places where I frantically searched for my cell phone Saturday afternoon: in my car, at the church, in my husband's office.


Place where a colleague from the biology department found my cell phone on Sunday: in the parking area near the woods where my birding buddy and I saw the white-crowned sparrow and the hairy woodpecker.

Not a short story.

Things I've said this week that (some of) my students have not understood: transcend, meritocracy, penultimate, General Education requirements.


Things students have said that I have not understood: Lincoln was assonated, abortion is a topic that is too often spewed under the rug, and Why aren't we reading any short stories? (in a class in which at least one-third of the reading assignments are short stories).

Number of times I've taught Salman Rushdie's Shame: five for the postcolonial literature survey, two or three more in independent studies.

Number of times people have protested the novel's sharp critique of Pakistan and Islam: zero.

Not a General Education requirement.

Response from an administrator when I mentioned that I'm hoping to one day teach a full-semester course on Rushdie including The Satanic Verses: "Would the title of the course have to include Rushdie's name?"

Number of students who admitted that they hadn't done the reading for this morning's class: three.

Number of students in yesterday's class who had nothing to contribute to their group discussions because they were frantically trying to read the short stories (in a class that's one-third short stories!) during class time but wouldn't admit that they hadn't done the reading: more than three.

Words I may soon need to explain to those students soon: dissemble, temporize, founder.