It has been great to get back into the classroom with face-to-face contact with students. No one wants to talk about the pandemic anymore, except that I think we talk about it all the time beneath the surface. I'm conscious how much it means to show up, in person. I have been trying to bring a lot of energy to the classroom, and perhaps as a result, or perhaps just because I came back, one of my students suggested that the student paper write an article about me. I kind of assumed would just be a squib on the fact of my return, but they published an entire full page feature. Can you hear me blushing? Sports Editor Olivia Nunez put real care into the writing. I'm honored and touched.
In the article, she quotes me as saying that I'm passionate about conversation. I'm not sure I quite got my whole point across here, but this I'm glad this idea is in there. This has kind of become my sense of my life's throughline. I just want to read things and write things so we can talk about them.
The lovely Nunez quoted me on this in light of political disagreements. This is also true: I would so much rather a student really lock in and commit and argue with me than disengage. A good spirited debate can remind you you're alive, much more so, I think, than getting an answer right on a test. Generative AI is a challenge in the writing classroom, but if we're lucky, we'll get out alive, refigure our classes, assign a bit less reading and have more in-depth conversations. The payoff, the good stuff, is conversation, true connection.
Aside: as a journalist in olden times, I often had a hard time getting people to allow me to record them. Now, with smartphones, it's almost assumed. No microcassettes necessary. Made me feel old that I was a tiny bit hesitant. I didn't want it all locked down. And then I was also archaically glad that the paper still has a paper edition. I'm a dinosaur.
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