Why, hello. Are you looking for me?

I’m on vacation, but you wouldn’t know it from how busy I’ve been.

In fact, you wouldn’t know it from how much work I did yesterday. OK, not a lot, but some, and some is too much when I’m technically not working.

I think I may just have to avoid my work email from here on out. The vacation message is on; I’ll be back in a few short days, Major U. You’ll survive. You survived 160 years without me. You can hang on til Tuesday.

In other news, I start teaching tomorrow. Not at Major U, but at Alma Mater. My former program director asked again, and this time the class was outside of my work hours and by arrangement, so I can flex around special events at work, too. The course is for undergraduates and it is a creative writing workshop.

Can we just talk for a moment about how lucky I am?

The course I’ll be teaching is not an English composition course. It is an actual, live class of students who have chosen to spend at least some of their time writing by choice. By choice!

I don’t want to say anything bad about the noble art of teaching composition. Of teaching students who don’t want to write to write. But that’s not really what I signed up for. I also didn’t sign up for teaching five or six composition courses without making any money to speak of, receiving no benefits, and spending all my time grading essays written by people who couldn’t care less about what an essay is or does. This is the reality of an English department adjunct; I’ve met people who do just this. They kill themselves and get no writing done, ever.

So I’m lucky as hell to get the chance to skip over the parts of writing instruction that, frankly, I’m not qualified for and jump into the parts I am. These students have chosen to study writing. They are signed up for a class they hope to enjoy.

I can do that.

It’s going to be a busy fall. I plan to enjoy it all, too.