F^@#$*($!%ing drunk drivers!

Albion link about David Green, his daughter Brenda Green O'Connell, and her husband Patrick O'Connell

I am just sick over this. Absolutely sick.

I know that it doesn't say here anywhere that they were involved in an accident with a drunk driver, but Ryan works with a guy who knows them and he had the inside scoop. Ryan and I both attended Albion with Brenda and her husband, Pat. I didn't know Pat, but I knew Brenda fairly well because of our involvement with choir and Briton Singers. I'm horrified at the thought of this. It's just awful.

Who, in their right mind, drives after drinking? That is a level of stupidity I really don't comprehend.

Brenda and her husband are currently in Bronson Hospital here in Kalamazoo. Please keep them in your prayers, as well as the rest of their family, who has to cope with the loss of Dr. Green.

Frustration

Sometimes I wonder about people.

I hate the feeling that I get sometimes about my students....much as I imagine a parent finds herself horrified at the thoughts she might have about her child on a particularly exasperating day. I hate that I think about "when I was in school," as if it mattered. "When I was in school, I never talked back to a teacher!" "When I was in school, I always showed up to class prepared!" --which is mostly true. I may have skipped out on or only skimmed a required reading, but if something was due, by golly, I had it ready to turn in.

But that's how I feel today. I don't understand how, after I've repeated myself time after time, after I've distributed and discussed the class syllabus, which has all the dates for things that are due in bold, that I can still receive the blank stares and the remarkably guiltless deadpan faces.

It makes me wonder about the world, it really does. I mean, I often wonder about the world, but stuff like this really gets under my skin. I look at some of the younger people I know, and it just really seems as though it's a different world to them than it was for me. And I suppose in many ways, it is.

And maybe it has to do with the nature of the school that I attended, versus the nature of the school I now teach at. I attended a private, traditional, 4-year liberal arts college. Davenport is kind of a hodge-podge of certification programs, 2-year Associates degrees, 4-year bachelors degrees, and some graduate level studies as well. At Albion, everyone was a full time student; here, not so many. In fact, I would argue most people are just taking a class or two here and there, picking away at the degree of their choice over time. Maybe that equates to a different atmosphere, a different attitude, about what we're doing here. I just don't know.

I do know that I'm frustrated, and want very much to escape to my car and go home.

All Good Things

THEATER

Well, the curtain closed on Macbeth this Saturday. I'm going to miss hanging out with those folks...we had a rocking cast party at my house after strike. A good time was had by all, I think. I played my new role in the show as well as I could have hoped, although I thought the first night (Friday) went better than the second. It was a privilege to play it, though, and even more so considering that our dear Mychelle finally got to come and see the show on Saturday! She looks about ready to burst, and I can't wait to hear that little Molly has finally arrived.

And, as usual, now that a show is over, I have developed selective amnesia and have completely forgotten what a colossal time commitment it was--time away from friends, family, and life in general--and I'm looking ahead to what other shows I might want to be in. Whole Art is doing Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and are apparently auditioning for it in December. I wasn't sure anyone would want to cast me, with my two-nights-a-week class commitment, but my buddy Trevor said I might be surprised. So who knows, I might have a go. I may also try out for Little Women (the musical) at the Civic in the spring. This might be a more feasible way to go, since my classes end not too long into the rehearsal process and then I'm off for the entire summer.

POETRY

I've been keeping up with my submissions life lately, sending off to Compass Rose and their Pat Parnell Poetry Prize, and MARGIE's "Strong Rx Medicine" poetry prize as well. I'm still waiting to hear back from several others. I'm hoping that the long waits to hear back indicates some sort of promise, especially for the chapbook competitions....if I'd been weeded out early on in the reviewing process, maybe I would have heard already. Perhaps I'm still in the running!

In the meantime, I'm really working on full-length book ideas and construction. What that really is going to entail is a whole lot of new material. I have ideas floating around in my head, but I'm just not able to staple them down yet. Now that the play's over (assuming I don't dive headlong into another one), I'll be able to devote more time and energy to it.

See, this is the problem when you have too many hobbies that you love, and which both entail great amounts of time and effort.