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I have been grading two sets of papers for each class, while I sneezed, coughed, and swallowed. Some of my students need to take this class again. Should I let a student pass who has definitely failed 91 (the first remedial) because 92 will be a repeat of the material?

I blame my incompetence. I do not have the experience to know how to motivate my students, to push them to learn, or to bitch slap them enough for the information to sink in. I do not have the little easy to understand practices that tie together with all we do and they can build on until they are competent. My book is a garbled collection of bullshit which hold no firm grip on coherence. Jumping from spelling to parts of speech to word choice to sentence structure. It is maddening.

I am trying to learn and adapt. I wish my students were also.

Wilbur

WHOO HOO Im normal again. Working evenings and sleeping during the night. I love it.

We, united as Americans, went to the polls this weekend and peacefully decided who will lead this nation. Given the furor and emotion behind such a transition, I am amazed when the process works as well as it does. The election is plagued with problems and inaccuracies, but at least we know the American people have spoken. Record numbers of youth voters were registered, and record numbers of voters came out on rainy, snowy days and waited in long lines to force antique machines into obeying our selections. Overwhelmingly Americans voiced their opinions. So why do I feel so depressed and angry?

I am depressed, because I now have proof that Americans are stupid.
I will refer you to David’s Blog.
I now direct my attention to everyone in the red states who voted for Bush and especially the ones who voted also for the ban on gay marriage.
steps on soapbox
Abortion and Gay Marriage outrank WAR. What the fucking hell is wrong with you people? When did you forget what your leader, Jesus Christ, told you? LOVE THY NEIGHBOR. When did you become so obsessed with other people’s lives that you feel it is necessary to pass laws to control them. Are you scared that a group of hedonistic sinners may become less hedonistic and actually might prefer monogamy? Are you scared that poor, single women, black and white, might need to make decisions for themselves without old, white men telling them what is moral? Damn your god. Are you really that fucking scared of change? Are you the same ones who believed Amendment 14 went too far?

I have seen and talked to real christians who show compassion and concern for fellow man’s sufferings, not their sins. You are nothing like them. They give of themselves to help their neighbors, no matter their religious affiliation, and do not judge them. You feel its your duty to restrict their rights.

I realize I will offend a large population of people. I dont care. You make this atheist wish for a god to laugh at you when you are begging for entrance into your heaven. Your arrogance and disregard for others angers me. /soapbox

“one step closer to the end of the world. the one-two combo
of corporate greed and organized religion apparently proved to be
too much for reason, sanity and compassion.

it’s a sad and shameful day to be an american.” trent reznor

“I’m afraid of Americans.” David Bowie

“The US is a very free country, perhaps uniquely so. It is also, to an unusual extent, dominated by a highly class conscious business sector, so much so that America’s leading social philosopher, John Dewey, described politics as “the shadow cast by business over society.” That is not much of an exaggeration. On the eve of the year 2000 presidential elections, a large majority of the population dismissed it as unrelated to their interests and concerns, regarding it as a game played by wealthy contributors and the Public Relations industry, which trains candidates to focus on “values” and “personal qualities,” and to keep away from issues.” Noam Chomsky

So the madness begins.

Voters began the dreary process of picking a leader out of the many contradicting choices with lots of supporters to help them: challengers, lawyers, and media. I would pray that everything would go smoothly, no one would be denied the right to vote, and the results would be available by the end of tonight with a clear victory of one candidate over another, but I am too cynical to believe in a god or charitable good-willed people.

This will be a nasty election that will fill many with hate and disgust. The outcome will not satisfy a majority of the population. People will feel as though they have been robbed of their vote. It will be a long, long time before we know who is actually the president as people become weary and distrustful.

I would hope that Americans would become wise enough to realize what war actually accomplishes, not a fucking thing. Though when asked who was responsible for the towers being hit with airplanes, over 60% of Americans believe Saddam Hussein was involved (and over 70% of Americans believe angels are real). War causes war. END OF THE FUCKING DISCUSSION*.

*(If you believe differently look up any war and see the reasons for the start of the war, I would bet almost anything that all wars are created by some remnant of a previous war.)
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I chased a ghost for two blocks today.
realized after the second block he was dead.
I became hollow with fear.

“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, / dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, / . . .” AG

The words come easy during the slow periods with little to do and lesser distraction
I dont care for his attitude.
I watch for lumbering shapes
of genius on every street corner
begging for forgiveness or compassion
I hope the shadow will forgive my abrasive
attitude and quick dodging glance
encounters. As I half waved-smiled and hurried toward some new
distraction which only flittered through my mind for a second gone
now his intensity breathes life into the ghosts he was untouchable above us
I dreamed. The thoughtful intensity sent him shattered all directions mirror sharp edges cut my mind’s hand cold tears linger at the fringes
he appears on the corners every dark skinned man brings the guilt I did
nothing
no nothing is forgivable, but I am not
I mocked and ridiculed grateful he accepted my weak excuses
I desire his intensity
his passion even when it was misguided

Wilbur

As I was drifting off while reading essays from my students, I was awoken by a beautiful serenade of thought and rhetoric, a geniune attempt to rise above the stunted sentences of his peers. He remained on topic for more than three sentences, his paragraphs were full of delicious details, and he brought forth facts and figures to embolden his claims . . . oh shit.

When a student starts quoting statistics to support his idea, a sinking feeling comes over me. I hold some hope that a student will one day have done serious work outside of the scope of the classroom, on his own free time, and have calculated the needed figures to quote within his 3 page essay without the need for sources. I can hope that he is driven to memorize obscure data to present at times seemingly randomn for the purposes of essays focused on convincing me why the particular subject he has chosen to write about is adequate for the course.

Unfortunately, I have yet to find one of the above mentioned students. No what I usually find is a student who is the polar opposite of my fantasies. One that ignores the simplicity of completing the project and turns to already published material either directly or 2nd hand. After I found the original article tucked away on msn’s Encarta website, I noticed that there was another website with similiar format and tone. I read through the newspaper article on the website and realized that my student was not the only one who was plagiarizing. A poor staff writer at a local newspaper had probably stump for an idea and with a pressing deadline copied or purchased and article for submission. I thought to myself that if I was about to jepardize the students grade and academic standing, than I better do the same for the unfortunate staff writer.

Two weeks have passed and the letter I sent to the Editor in Chief has garnered no response. I doubted it would, but I felt the Editor would be better off realizing at what depths his fellow writers would stoop to in an attempt to beat a deadline.

Sometimes I ask myself, “Self, why do you bother in a world this fucked up?”

I have integrated the Comments into my wonderful and barely used forums.

Have fun playing with them, as I try to finish grading papers.

Wilbur

Someone needs to have a small talk with me about my “good” intentions.

A little voice begging for attention said,”Wilbur, we are not too busy this semester. We should take classes and teach.” A hopeful voice said,”Maybe we can teach enough classes to quit our hated Night Job.” “Yeah” cried out the voices. I lied to myself stating it wouldnt be much work. I am not taking any classes this semester. I made calls which led to classes. I made promises and appearances.
So here I am teaching 3 remedial courses. Two in Lafayette and one in New Iberia. Joyful about teaching and actually having more money than I need, I began to plan out my semester. Then a wise old woman realizing that the Lafayette office forgets about important aspects of the job stopped me and explained how the adjuncts were “handled.”

I never imagined that adjuncts were in high regard or the employers were thankful for the skills that they bring and the important roles they fill. No I am not naive enough to believe that I am anything but a name to fill a slot on a piece of paper, so they can open more classes and allow more students to pay them large sums of money.
Yet, I was stupid enough to believe that I would be paid in a reasonable amount of time to help pay for the expenses incurred in staying alive and making appearances before my students.
I was wrong.

“reasonable” to them is that I work for two months without pay until they are satiesfied I am not going to run away with their large sums of money. Students are required to pay for courses before the beginning of the semester. Students pay $256 per 3 hour course per semester. Which means, they have collected for my three classes $11,008 (43 students total) before the semester started. They plan to pay me $1500 per class (total of $4500). They also plan to only pay me twice in the semester. Yes twice. Once in October about 1/2 through the semester and a second time after the end of the semester. Now I realize they are worried that an Adjunct, which is given little incentive to be loyal to a school, may if paid upfront take the money and run, but how do they expect me to survive till the end of October without pay?
So now here I am, a week into the semester, considering telling them to go fuck themselves. I shouldnt have promised to teach these classes with my thesis looming. I should have asked more questions and not allowed dodging.

I cant afford to teach for two months with delayed pay. Its that simple.

And if the fucking director gets a free moment to discuss this with me, then maybe he will have a solution, but I doubt it. He doesnt have time to answer his emails. Why do I think he would have time to create a solution to my problem, which is ultimately his.

Wilbur

I want to appologize for the interruption in the storytelling of my New York
adventure. I received a strange call Wednesday afternoon. “Hello, my name is XXXX XXXX with the XXXX XXXX College. What were we talking about in our previous conversation?”

Now many wouldnt find that strange, but I had never talked to the person in
my life and didnt know who he was or why he was calling. Yet never say that
Wilbur cannot hear oppurtunity knocking at his door. I said,”Goodday, I am
Wilbur, a graduate student at the ULL. I am currently looking into
employment with your school for the Fall semester.”

“I need you to teach a class Tues and Thursdays 8-9:15.”

“No problem”

“Meet me in Lafayette tomorrow at 3:30pm with your stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“Resume and other stuff, Im in office 214.”

“Sounds good, Ill meet you there.”

Two hours later.

“Hello, this is XXXX XXXX. Could you teach two 1020 courses?”

“What time and where?”

“Lafayette – MWF 8-9 and Franklin – M 6-9”

“How far is Franklin from Lafayette?”

“About an hour’s drive.”

“Sure.”

“Ok, see you tomorrow.”

3:30pm in his office in lafayette (I love the internet.)
(Im dress in a business suit, with jacket and tie.)
XXXX, “Ok, do to some problems we had last semester, we have established
new rules:
1.) No drinking on the job.
2.) Do not date your students.
3.) Do not discuss politics or religion in your classroom.
4.) Return any paper back to the student before the end of the semester.
5.) You must promise to complete the school semester.”

“Ok”

“Here is your books for the classes 91 and 1020. The syllabus will be posted
on Monday.”

“Ok”

“Goodluck”

“Ok, one question if I may”

“Yes how can I help you”

“What am I being paid?”

“Oh since your have a Masters degree and you are completing your Phd.”

“I am completing my Master’s degree.”

“Oh shit, you cant teach those two 1020 classes. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Phone call Friday morning.

“Hello, this is XXXX XXXX. Could you teach two 92 classes?”

“Where and what time?”

“Lafayette – MWF 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm”

“No, sorry, I wouldnt be available for that time.”

“How about Monday 6pm-9pm?”

“Sure”

“Also, how about Tuesday and Thursday 11:00am – 12:15pm?”

“Shouldnt be a problem.”

“Good to hear. Goodluck Monday.”

“Wait, am I using the same book as 91?”

“No it is not.”

“hmm, what time do you come in on Monday?”

“8:00 am”

“Ok, Ill see you then to pick up the book.”

“Ok, see you Monday.”

Monday Morning 1 hour ago.

“Good to see you. Oh by the way I need to get your resume and transcripts.”

“Certainly but I dont have them with me.”

“No problem bring them as soon as you can. You wanted the book for the 92
class correct.”

“Yes, sir.”

“hmm, I dont remember where I have one. Ill get you one later.”

. . . .

and so it continues.

I am teaching again.

Wilbur