School's Out for Summer!

Yesterday was my official last day of teaching for spring. Usually I spend most of the class period on that day talking about what we covered over the semester and how much fun I had teaching it, etc. But quite frankly, yesterday I just went in there, got final papers, gave a very breif talk about the importance of class evaluations, and wished them luck in the future--then I bolted. Looking back, perhaps my departure was a tad hasty. But I was soooo ready to be done with this semester. I had a great time but I just didn't have anything left to give yesterday. Plus, my students looked totally zonked. No doubt they'd been up until the wee hours putting the final touches on their papers. So I'm sure they didn't mind.

Then I came home and took a nap. I was totally knackered from my trip still and all the stress that's been weighing on me lately. The nap definitely refreshed me, so I got up and did some productive work on a chapter, made yummy comfort soup, then went out to a coffee shop with Violet to do some more work. I didn't get quite as much done there, because we inevitably ended up chatting, but it was fun. We talked a lot about research and why we love what we do. Although there are times that being in academia is rather trying (especially as a poor grad student) I am always buoyed by those moments of intellectual excitement that come from stimulating dialogue and engaging reading. I was revisiting Judith Halberstam's In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives and taking some notes, and all of a sudden I had this great flash of insight into some of my own work. I know it's hella nerdy, but I was so excited! Of course, all the coffee I'd ingested probably added to the overall effect, but you know.... :)

Then I got home and realized that even though school is officially out for summer, when one is an academic school is never really over. It was rather ironic that on the last day of classes I ended up doing research and being super excited about it. I guess there are moments when you just can't argue with your destiny, yo.