I said yes to too many things. The next 3.5 weeks are going to be interesting. I really tried to say no. Honestly, I did. And I did say no…to some things. However, some commitments were made far in advance, others were just too good to decline, and still others were important for transparency, community,Continue reading “October 13 Day 584: Overcommitted”
Category Archives: reflections
October 3 Day 574: Old Routines are not Necessarily Good Routines
It’s the weekend during the regular academic year and it feels like nothing has changed. What does that mean? Phone calls with family and grading. It feels so familiar. The biggest difference is there is one more call to make now, having two sons away at college. UW Tacoma’s Matrix Algebra class is writing-intensive (a.k.aContinue reading “October 3 Day 574: Old Routines are not Necessarily Good Routines”
September 27 Day 568: Drowning
My classes at UW Tacoma begin in 43.5 hours; last night was my first anxiety dream in a long while. It felt like the eye of a hurricane. Walls of water surrounded me. Waves crashed through in slow motion and I knew there would be no escape. I had enough presence of mind to callContinue reading “September 27 Day 568: Drowning”
September 18 Day 559: A Labor of Love
It has been a long time in coming, but I have a complete text for my multiyear labor of love. I have re-read for continuity and made adjustments as needed. I have inventoried the remaining tasks. There remain: 17 new essential images to draw 6 essential images to update/complete 1 important fact to check. andContinue reading “September 18 Day 559: A Labor of Love”
March 29 Day 386: The Fourth Bucket
Teaching. Scholarship. Service. The triumvirate of academic success. Why is it that collegiality remains a fourth unspoken bucket? Historically, collegiality was used to exclude women and faculty of color from academic success. And the practice seems to be alive and well today. It is disappointing. Disagreement and opposing viewpoints can be valuable. You do notContinue reading “March 29 Day 386: The Fourth Bucket”
March 19 Day 376: The End of Winter
I know it’s a few days until the equinox and the official start to the Spring, but I feel like tonight I am putting Winter (or at the very least winter quarter) to bed. Yesterday I administered the final oral interviews for Abstract Algebra. After struggling through teaching for three remote quarters (Spring 2020, AutumnContinue reading “March 19 Day 376: The End of Winter”
March 18 Day 375: Totaled
The outcome of Sunday’s adventure is the sweet, practically perfect Subaru Forester, which we affectionately named Persephone, is considered totaled. Now the dilemma: do we look to replace it with a used car or consider buying new. I understand Subaru has 0% financing through the end of the month. And they do hold their value.Continue reading “March 18 Day 375: Totaled”
March 17 Day 374: Baiting the Reader
There is something intoxicating about a social media post that a lot of people read. It confirms a belief that the time putting words on the page is well spent. In my limited year-long blog writing experience, I have learned that posts are popular for various reasons: Voyeurism. Show a car crash and people clickContinue reading “March 17 Day 374: Baiting the Reader”
March 10 Day 367: An Afternoon in the Sun
Mostly I leave the house for three reasons: To go for walks or make Math Around Town recordings; To pick up take-out food; or To shop for house and food supplies. There are some days when I barely leave the second floor, let alone actually go outside. Today was different as I attended to longContinue reading “March 10 Day 367: An Afternoon in the Sun”
March 9 Day 366: Top Ten So Far
To celebrate the completion of a full year writing for this blog, I thought it might be worth revisiting the ten most popular blog posts as measured by the number of visitors. 10) October 1 Day 207: We Gather Together. I had just started experimenting with the gather.town platform and held my first wildly successful drop-inContinue reading “March 9 Day 366: Top Ten So Far”
Math Belongs to All of Us 