Next Project Up . . .

is refurbishing the door I found at the architectural salvage warehouse. It will replace the current ugly orange steel door leading into the kitchen. It will be a labor of love for sure. One that will most likely take the rest of fall and all of winter. There are at least two thick coats of paint on one side and maybe three on the other side. But . . . I think the door is solid oak. At least that's what the warehouse helper thought, and I'm going to go with what he said since he deals with this kind of thing all the time. It is incredibly heavy and took all I had to get it out of the truck and onto the saw horses. I guess I'll find out once I get past the layers of paint. Even if it's not solid oak, it's going to be beautiful and look much better than what is currently in place.

This morning, after doing work work and making sure everything was in place for the week, I went down memory lane for a bit. I think it was because of the essay assignment I gave my Children's Lit students. The name of one of my favorite professors from grad school popped into my head, so I did some searching to see if I could find Dr. Homer Kemp. It didn't take much. The first result on the list was a tribute. He passed away in March 2020. I have so many fond memories of having him as a lit teacher, especially the way he precisely enunciated words. He always had a hint of a smile working, too, as if there was something funny about everything. I'm sad he is no longer with us. 

Already we are at week 12 of the semester. Just five weeks remaining until break. The semester has flown by but in a very nice, comfortable way. For years I was always bogged down in grading because I taught six sections of composition, with 100+ students each semester. Given the program guidelines that follow the state guidelines, I was grading All.The.Time. And it was awful. It was exhausting. It was demoralizing. The last two years, in moving away from comp to teach lit, honors, and service learning, I have had less grading to do. There's still quite a bit with lit since I have the students write every week, and I read and respond to everything they turn in each week, but honors and service learning have much less grading connected to them. I feel like a different teacher. A better teacher because my life isn't being consumed by constant grading. I interact in a very different way with the students. It's not all about what they are doing right or wrong with their writing. It's far more about them as individuals, as scholars. And I'm truly loving teaching.

My reading, too, has taken a different direction. I think I've read enough Jack Reacher novels for now and have turned my attention to the Stoics. I'm currently in the middle of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. What I find really interesting is how Buddhist he seemed to be. At least this is how I'm seeing him. Maybe I'm way off base, but I see hints of thinking that align with what the Buddha taught.

Anyways, time for me to get cooking. Literally. All the fixings for vegan chili are on the counter. This chili is so good, and on this chilly last day of October, it will be the perfect lunch.