it begins

All-day meeting about assessment tomorrow (hence the bingo post from the other day). Students move in on Saturday, more meetings on Monday, registration Tuesday, classes start Wednesday.

I feel like I have accomplished absolutely nothing this summer, although I did write a book review and ten pages of mush that might eventually connect with the rest of the dissertation manuscript, so I suppose that's something. I don't do particularly well with vague deadlines and large unstructured blocks of time, which was something I already knew from the year I had a dissertation fellowship. (What I need is something like the tutoring job I had in grad school, which entailed hanging out in the dorms for three hours a night waiting for students to come to me. Structure, but not much responsibility. Alas, being a grown-up faculty member feels like it's all responsibility and no structure.)

At any rate, there is something comforting about the rhythms of the academic year -- the way the tempo picks up in the middle of the heat and stillness of August, and the new students flow into campus, and the crape myrtles are bright against the summer sky. (I am so glad that I ended up in a place with crape myrtles.) It's like a small rebirth, and it reminds me of the first glorious weeks of my freshman year. I hope our freshmen get to have memories that are equally happy.