Saturday March almost over

Wow, it has been a fast semester. One month to go, and so much to do. Panic time, I suppose. My main teaching process will be over next week, with some grading to do next weekend. From there on in, I will be back to the assistantship exercise. I have received my schedule for the fall. I will be teaching a class around noon Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. I have the exact time, but that is upstairs.

Yesterday was Arboretum day, and it was a gorgeous day. The high came close to 80 for the first time this year. Today is scheduled to be much colder, but there is hope that the warm temps are coming back. The cherry trees are blooming, the tulips are blooming (some mighty big tulip flowers), half of all the plants in Raleigh are blooming, and the other half are getting ready to go green. There has been an incredibly fast change from the gray of a few weeks ago.

Having reached the final third of this semester I can evaluate my courses effectively. I am deeply disappointed in the Southern Literature course. Half the texts chosen are poorly written fluff, the others are acceptable. The depth of discussion is incredibly shallow, I could do as well, or better, at a local book club I suspect. My Workshop is ok, but the leader has made it his hobby horse, writing anything outside the boundaries of the simple narrative is resisted. Actually the instructors for both these courses are happy with discussions only if it agrees with their opinion. My African American Lit course is the best of the lot. I am learning a great deal, the text chosen are interesting and are all on the theme the instructor established in the syllabus. I am looking forward to having a semester free from literature courses. After this year, I have absolutely decided I will not be going for a PhD in English literature. I enjoy the theory, but the kind of courses I would have to slog through would drive me totally insane. Notice, I do acknowledge a certain amount of insanity already.

Today I am going to go for a walk, then settle down with a few novels that I have to have finished reading by Tuesday. Morrison's Sula first.