I taught on Monday, and then yesterday did the best I could to re-read a book I assigned in class – In Pursuit of Equity: Women, Men, and the Quest for Economic Citizenship in 20th Century America. I think Alice Kessler-Harris’s analysis is brilliant, and she does an excellent job of explaining the role gender played in the development of economic policy in this country, but I have to admit that the legislative history is hard for me to get through – tracing the debates in this committee and that, the cast of characters, etc. As an economist, I wish Kessler-Harris would publish a paper where she outlines her theories about the policies without all the historical detail – maybe she has, and I just don’t know about it. So, while attempting to do this I hung out at the coffee shop with Lettie who was attempting to write a paper and then we both attempted to do some christmas shopping. Then the women’s studies program had it’s fall semester meeting, which I attended, returning once more to the coffee shop to not-read with a colleague and friend, Marla – I really enjoy our conversations, and it is startling to me how alike she and I are in some ways.
Today, teaching again…I just don’t have any energy. Judging by how hard *I* find it to get through the Kessler-Harris book, I don’t think my students have actually read it so I attempted to create an exercise rather than try to lead a discussion on a book none of them have read…a student is doing an independent study on Latin America, colonialism, and economic development with me, and I finished reading the rough draft of his paper – really good work, especially considering that it is a rough draft. Then…two classes of microeconomics, my last choir practice before the concert on Sunday, and I’m off to the bi-weekly Celtic Session at the local Irish pub.
I have a bunch of things I need to finish up, all as soon as possible
- the written version of my discussant remarks from the UN
- a few final touches for my dissertation prospectus
- a final report of research I’ve been doing with a program in the Bronx
- a whole bunch of emails
- grading
- and (my personal least favorite) quantitative data analysis (gah).
And this Friday is meeting day – department meeting, which is productive and only lasts an hour, and then the full faculty meeting, which may or may not be productive but is sure to last more than an hour (probably more than two)…at least I know there will good food after they release us from the meeting…
Looking at my calendar, I’m quickly realizing that the race I started to run before Thanksgiving doesn’t actually end until Christmas (assuming I’m done with my grading by Christmas, which hasn’t ever actually happened in the past, but dammit, I will do so this time).
I’m having a hard time recouperating from last week…the combination of lot’s of non-teaching work, feeling guilty about canceling my classes, a distinct lack of alone time, no music-playing time, getting my car towed in NYC, sleeping in less-than-ideal conditions, and driving more than twelve hours over the course of the week has taken its toll.
It seems strange to me that all my students, friends, and colleagues seem to feel about the same as I do – that this time of year in academia kicks us all on our asses and we have to run to keep up. Work comes in waves in academia, on the semester rhythm – and when it crests, it crests.
