Isms and meetings and drafts, oh my!

I took a heavy bag full of isms to class yesterday--Modernism! Imagism! Literary impressionism!--and distributed them freely to students, whose backpacks are stuffed so full I don't know how they'll fit another ism in there.

In another class we talked about the trend toward artificially gray hair among the young, and students noted the irony of spending a pile of money to turn their hair gray while their own mothers pay to cover gray up. Meanwhile, I'm hanging on to gray hair that cost me nothing.

First-year drafts and required conferences made my brain feel crowded this week, so I took a little time today to walk before coming to campus. I admired goldenrod blossoms shining in the sunlight, scared up a kingfisher, and visited the neighbor's donkeys, but mostly I spent the time mentally running through a talk I'll be giving next month. The kingfisher had no comment on the subject.

In two spots along the road I saw skid marks, one of them very close to the creek, and I wondered what creature dashed into the road to inspire such screeching stops. This week my Honors students have been writing about how they'll overcome obstacles arising in their paths toward success, drawing inspiration from Homer's Odyssey, and while I admire their confidence in their ability to maneuver around whatever impedes them, I know that the obstacles that lead to a screeching stop are the ones we least expect and therefore can't prepare for in advance. 

I've faced no major obstacles this week, wrestled no monsters and angered no Greek gods (to my knowledge), but even so, it felt good to bring all my work--all the isms, discussions, meetings, and drafts--to a gentle stop so I could wander aimlessly in the cool morning air.

I love to see the milkweed pods release their seeds.

Hard stop--right next to the creek.

Sometimes this whole place looks like a Grant Wood painting.