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Pipers piping
Jan. 4th, 2007 11:59 pm
Currently at UW: 7.1. High today: 8.7.
Here's a curiosity: when I was walking home last night, at about 1:30, there was a heavy frost forming; both the Waterloo airport and the UW station both have the temperature then at around 4. Hadn't been below freezing at the airport since 11 the previous night. (Imagine this: we're through four days of January now, and we've yet to break -2. Low tonight is supposed to be 7; up to 12 tomorrow. Normal high temperature for January in Waterloo is -3.1.) And the frost wasn't just on the ground; it was on car windshields--not totally frozen, but definitely some pretty thick frost on some of them.
This has got to be the first cabinet shuffle in Canadian history where the main story--practically the only story--is the Environment Minister, and nobody is even talking about the new Justice Minister. I mean, I guess it would be nice to think that The Environment is just that important to everyone now (although certainly a large part of it is that people think The Environment is an easy stick to beat the Conservative troglodytes over the head with, because everyone knows that Conservative trogolodytes don't believe in the Science of Climate Change), but, well, it is really all about Rona Ambrose, isn't it? It's awfully sickly. Anyway, I think it's pretty interesting that an old Reformer has been replaced by an old PC at Justice, and I wonder what difference it might make, but apparently the Canadian newsmedia, by and large, does not hold the same opinions and curiosities.
So, I have returned to the ranks of the underemployed. And the library-carded. Here's a funny thing about me and teaching. All my favourite profs, all the ones that I've admired and would want to emulate in some part, have gotten strongly mixed reviews from their students; significant numbers of their students hate them, mostly because they're something like "arrogant". All of them have been, at least apparently, pretty much unconcerned with "reaching everyone"; some of them have seemed to quite willingly project the attitude that, if you don't like the way I do things, then, really, for the good of you, me, and the world in general, you should bugger off. But I can't get over wanting to reach everyone, and I can't get over wanting my students generally to find my classes worthwhile and enjoyable.
I'm not sure it's possible for the best classes to be found worthwhile and enjoyable by students generally. I'm not sure enjoyable is even a good thing to be looking for. At conferences, people often say "I enjoyed your paper"--sometimes I feel kind of bad about the fact that I don't say that, it seems almost rude not to, but the thing is, I don't want to enjoy papers; I want them to drive me up the wall. Why would I want to listen to a paper that's merely pleasant? (Well, it does beat listening to a paper that's merely unpleasant.)
The thing is, I guess, I used to say, and I guess it's still true, that what I love about teaching (before I got to hate so much about teaching--but that had so much to do with not getting to run my own show) is showing people things. I'm a tour guide: you have to look at this, this is great, look! Look what the old guy did! "There's so many good things! But you're not here--I'm here. I wish you were here. 'Cause I'm a friend. Compañero!" But, well, if you're not here, then we're not friends, eh? But we ought to be, because these things are good....
Here's a curiosity: when I was walking home last night, at about 1:30, there was a heavy frost forming; both the Waterloo airport and the UW station both have the temperature then at around 4. Hadn't been below freezing at the airport since 11 the previous night. (Imagine this: we're through four days of January now, and we've yet to break -2. Low tonight is supposed to be 7; up to 12 tomorrow. Normal high temperature for January in Waterloo is -3.1.) And the frost wasn't just on the ground; it was on car windshields--not totally frozen, but definitely some pretty thick frost on some of them.
This has got to be the first cabinet shuffle in Canadian history where the main story--practically the only story--is the Environment Minister, and nobody is even talking about the new Justice Minister. I mean, I guess it would be nice to think that The Environment is just that important to everyone now (although certainly a large part of it is that people think The Environment is an easy stick to beat the Conservative troglodytes over the head with, because everyone knows that Conservative trogolodytes don't believe in the Science of Climate Change), but, well, it is really all about Rona Ambrose, isn't it? It's awfully sickly. Anyway, I think it's pretty interesting that an old Reformer has been replaced by an old PC at Justice, and I wonder what difference it might make, but apparently the Canadian newsmedia, by and large, does not hold the same opinions and curiosities.
So, I have returned to the ranks of the underemployed. And the library-carded. Here's a funny thing about me and teaching. All my favourite profs, all the ones that I've admired and would want to emulate in some part, have gotten strongly mixed reviews from their students; significant numbers of their students hate them, mostly because they're something like "arrogant". All of them have been, at least apparently, pretty much unconcerned with "reaching everyone"; some of them have seemed to quite willingly project the attitude that, if you don't like the way I do things, then, really, for the good of you, me, and the world in general, you should bugger off. But I can't get over wanting to reach everyone, and I can't get over wanting my students generally to find my classes worthwhile and enjoyable.
I'm not sure it's possible for the best classes to be found worthwhile and enjoyable by students generally. I'm not sure enjoyable is even a good thing to be looking for. At conferences, people often say "I enjoyed your paper"--sometimes I feel kind of bad about the fact that I don't say that, it seems almost rude not to, but the thing is, I don't want to enjoy papers; I want them to drive me up the wall. Why would I want to listen to a paper that's merely pleasant? (Well, it does beat listening to a paper that's merely unpleasant.)
The thing is, I guess, I used to say, and I guess it's still true, that what I love about teaching (before I got to hate so much about teaching--but that had so much to do with not getting to run my own show) is showing people things. I'm a tour guide: you have to look at this, this is great, look! Look what the old guy did! "There's so many good things! But you're not here--I'm here. I wish you were here. 'Cause I'm a friend. Compañero!" But, well, if you're not here, then we're not friends, eh? But we ought to be, because these things are good....
