Pools and Pity Parties

So, our pool has looked like a swamp for 3 days. Finally, today, we "shocked" it enough to make it look like a cloudy aqua marine. Pools are a lot of work and a huge hassle.

We're working on putting in a new faucet in our bathroom, too. We finally got it out, but bought the wrong size hose to attach it to the water. Why don't they just tell you the size on the box and on the old hoses? What a hassle.

Grilled salmon and asparagus for dinner with rice and marinated tomatoes and cucumbers. The neighbor brought us some cookies, so dessert was provided. woot.

No work today on academic stuff except for reading the list serve about different types of comp rhet jobs, dissertation research, and time for research depending on the school and teaching requirements. I simplify, of course, but I'm not sure why this is a topic. It's like teachers complaining about pay. It's part of the system. And, of course, we should work to shift things, but complaining to the choir isn't going to help much. It's something that needs to be taken care of at the institution level and within the governing boards like NCTE and CCCC's. And, it's not going to happen any time soon with the economy the way it is. Additionally, the work we do in FYC is important and many of us were trained to teach it well and want to...why are we talking about it again? Don't take the job if you don't want to teach what they've hired you to teach. All the institutions are different...go somewhere else.

I just get SO tired of the same old conversation. Yes, 4/4 is a lot of grading and the pay is bad, so some say they have to teach 5/5 to survive. How about change the way you LIVE and REFUSE to teach more? It just sets precedent when you work extra classes for adjunct pay to make another buck. And, it's just as easy or hard to change the way you spend your money.

As far as research goes, make your choices about what you're going to do - for yourself. If you want to do classroom research, do it. If not, don't. Being happy with your choices is the most important part. And, composition classroom research is happening, it's out there. But, it has to be GOOD and add to the conversation to get published. And, alot of what I've heard about is interesting, but not publishable or really new...not with the abundance of research out there and the competition it's up against AND all the work that happened 20 years ago.

And there's plenty of phd programs out there in comp/rhet that emphasize pedagogy. BG's been doing it for years and the grads get jobs that most are really happy at - from CC's to Tier 1 schools - depending on their interests. Make good choices for yourself, I say, again.

so, please, stop the pity party. If you dig your hole, you gotta lie in it.