Friday, March 10, 2006

Spring fling

High winds all night and this morning, sirens outside my office. In the halls students in shorts and flip-flops head straight from Midterms to Spring Break, leaving me piles of warm, steaming scribbles. That test was too long, too hard, too much writing, they say. "Please be nice," begs one. "I'll be your friend forever."

Right now what I need is not another eternal friend but another box of Kleenex, the kind with lotion in it to prevent my nose from becoming redder. Yes, friends, I know what I look like! I realize that my nose glows like a harbor beacon! There's no need to point that out more than twelve times a day! I'd make it stop if I would but there's not much I can do against the allergens that are taking advantage of an early spring to attack my nasal cavities. So get over it, okay? Thank you.

I wonder: would it be better to grade exams on antihistamines or wait a day or two and hope for some mental clarity? The easiest path would be to issue blanket A's. That would be wrong, but who would complain?

Whatever this wind migh be blowing in, I hope it starts blowing the cobwebs out of my brain pretty darn soon, because I'm tired of hearing myself complain. Besides, I'm just about down to my last Kleenex.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Bev, the red-nosed professor
Had a very red raw nose
and if you ever saw it
you would say it's red as a rose

If I brought you some Kleenex with the lotion inside would you forget about the barely coherent answer to the 30 point question at the end of that US Lit Exam? I'll be your friend forever :)

Feel better soon (and do take a stab at grading under the influence of heavy drugs.) As for the blanket A's, grade mine first and then we'll talk...