I just finished my "Graduation afterglow hiking" on Indiana’s Knobstone Trail—a carefully designed trail that figures to offer the maximum amount of knee pain for the maximum amount of effort.
We started at Deam lake (South end) Monday afternoon and walked about 5 miles in blazing sun (the oak trees were just coming out so the sun came thru strongly giving us both a pink tint now). We did slow walking @ 1MPH, but that looked good to others since we forgot the walking sticks and had stopped at a CVS and bought Sharon a cane--thus other hikers would see this old couple—“One even was walking with a cane!” making 1mph look pretty good. (Alas, we only we only saw two other sets of hikers--and one of them passed us while seated so the effect was lost on 50% of the hikers ...and it turned out we already knew the other set). My foot muscle (I call it a heal spur but I don't think it really is) and Sharon’s catching up for the last 10 years of administration are the causes of the reduced pace). We camped about five miles into the trail in a never-before-used stealth campsite
On Tuesday we walked again all day in the sun. On this evening we passed Southbound Hikers Adam & Becky Thada, just graduated from IWU who were headed south. We had hidden a key to our car behind one of our tires and they agreed to take our car back to the north end of the trail and drop it off where they had left their car --meaning neither of us had to hitch-hike back to our cars. Nice break, though we will miss riding with the toothless chewin' locals now. We made about ten miles in nine hours this day—nothing to brag about to fastpackers, but "hey, we're out here!."
On Wednesday the sun disappeared and we trudged all day under cloudy skies--up and down and up and down the irritating and terribly-built Knobstone trail (Indiana does not deserve to have a hiking trail!) Sharon loved her cane and decided to never use walking sticks again. We negotiated the infamous Knobstone "steps" built by trail-design-challenged Indiana DNR people. At 4:30 the huge front came through with banging thunder and huge raindrops and we pitched our Henry Shires Tarptent just as the thunder bursts broke loose. Alas, in the rush we pitched the TarpTent on a major runoff drainage and the water flowed right under our tent--about an inch deep. You could pat the floor of the tent and there was a nice cushion of water there. You could also pat the INSIDE of the tarp tent and get wet too—having failed to maintain the “interior bathtub” carefully in the rush. We got a bit wet but not seriously so, bailing out the water like a cnoe, and re-establishing the “bathtub” correctly so the water stayed OUTSIDE the tub, the rest of the night was sorta dry. We lay in the tent the rest of the evening and watched "24" in our imaginations (we just started on “24” and are up to 4AM on day one of the California primary now) but the mental reruns got boring soon. The tremendous rainstorm continued all night. After a restless night with 2" puddles surrounding the tent, and a 1” runoff running underneath us all night, we awoke to a fine drizzle the next morning and packed up our damp everythings and walked in the drizzle.
Thursday we walked in muck--the several-inch rain had turned the trail into a mudpie. The creeks were 6-10' wide or mroe and we gave up jumping them all and simply splashed through them We made our self-assigned 10 miles in the dripping rain by suppertime to "the Favorite IWU campsite" at mile 36--the one by the creek. As I was about to get the tarptent out, Sharon suggested 'Let's keep walking--after all, all we can do is sit here in the tent bored" (I'm not very interesting, actually, and we had re-watched all the 24 episodes) so we walked on and did another 3-4 miles, camping in a pine tree forest at mile 40--the one where Woodbury-Kind & Schmerse-to-be camped last.
Awaking at first light this morning Sharon led us in drizzle to the end on that final easy leg of the Knobber arriving at the car (nicely placed there by Adam and Becky) by 11AM this morning. We tossed our wet stuff into he trunk, cranked up the heater full speed and drove home with all our windows open. Arriving in Marion by 2PM, we unloaded the car into the washer and/or drier and are now headed for a delightful evening watching the next few hours of "24".
I almost always need to get away right after graduation—to not think about school for a while and this worked. This time I was able to do the runaway trip with Sharon which was a real treat. This hike was also a test hike of sorts--to see how we'll fare on the Colo. Trail with the faculty hiking club this coming August. The Knobber maxim "ten will get you 15" (10 miles on the Knobber will get you 15 out West) means we will be able to survive the Colo Trail—at least in the “stay-back group” on that hike. We’ll let the Marathon runners and youngsters go ahead and we'll bring up the rear an go for 75 instead of 100 miles. That will work since Jeanie Argot plans to take that hike on her worn out knees--she needs knee replacements but plans to wear out her birth-knees on that hike. She can do 15 on broken knees she thinks. We also decided to "do more cooking" on that hike, nudging the hike more toward "camping along the Colorado Trail" than just "long distance fast packing."
Also, this hike once again reminded of Sharon's indomitable spirit—she is not a natural hiker and never hiked oververnight when she married me. But when you toss at her a thousand stairs and several days of rain and she just sticks with it and gets stronger every day. I remembered this week why we stuck it out and finished that thousand mile AT hike back in ‘72--you "just do it." (then you take a shower and watch a few more hours of "24.")
Mark & Jess & Paul—we knocked over a tree each for you and remembered the “Platypus prank” and the Maundy Thursday and Easter services at the appropriate places. Remembered places where Burt, & Kerry & Phil and others did this or that--many memories tied to places on that trail.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
WELCOME TO NEXT FALL'S COURSES!
I doubt anyone is really interested much in this--but I just sent an email to all the students in NEXT FALL's classes welcoming them to the course... The trhee main courses I wrote to so far have
...Local Church Education-- 27 students
...Church Leadership-- 27 students
...Teaching the Bible to Adults--8 students
More will sign up later but here is what I said to those already registered:
WELCOME to next Fall's Teaching the Bible to Adults class!!! You'll love this class...
It is a comfy group who DOES Bible study each week as well as learns HOW to do Bible studies for all adults--from college age through older adults.
I have a major passion for this class so you'’ll get "Drury at his best" I hope. The class includes both ministry majors and others--people who want to learn how to teach people for life change. The course is not really named right--we don't actually teach the Bible -- we teach PEOPLE... using the Bible in a way that inspires people to become Christ-like. It will be a wonderful Thursday evening and you'll look forward to it every week I bet.
We will first explore the stages of adult life and the characteristics of college students through older folk, then most of our time will focus on teaching methods...the ways people interact with the Bible that produces spiritual growth. We'll "learn by doing" often--actually having a Bible study as a way of learning how to lead one. If the course works well we will all come away having grown ourselves by our own study. The course assumes the Bible is not just a book that should be studied like one sticks a corpse on the table to do a post-mortem, but is a powerful living word of God that (if approached right) changes people. We'll learn how this process works and "how people change."
Usually we'll meet around one table (in the religion division conference room) but sometimes we'll move to a "home setting" to experience Bible study like small groups do in homes or residence halls. I have not finalized the syllabus yet but I'm thinking it would be cool if we could all lead several Bible studies ourselves--some in class and some in the residence halls or at church to practice our skills.
The group itself will become a Bible study group--of loving, caring people committed to our own growth--sort of a mentoring group under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. While we will care about the content of the Bible our primary focus is on how the Holy Spirit uses the Bible in a group to change people--to help us (and others) grow and develop. It will be exciting!
TO DO OVER SUMMER: Nothing particularly you need to do to prepare other than think of where you might hold several Bible studies yourself next year…in a church or on campus. Otherwise just get the texts before the first night of class.
SEE YOU ALL THURSDAY EVENINGS NEXT FALL! cool!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WELCOME to the Fall semester’s Church Leadership class! This is a “senior course” (though occasionally a junior takes it) You must be accepted into the major to take it—so if you aren’t accepted by Sept 1 you’ll be kicked out of the course by Bonita the first week of school—so apply before you leave for summer if you’re not accepted yet!
Be prepared for:
1. Small group work—you pick two others to make a group of three and this group will be vital to your success in the course—in many ways your grade will depend on who you get with—you get to arrange your own group. Many assignments are group-created—you work together and can borrow each other’s work. If you see names above of people you want to be with—go ahead and arrange it before hand if you want to.
2. Problem based learning. Some of the work in the course is just like “real life” -- you only get a problem that you have to go and dig out the solution for. For instance sometimes we simply assign the group to make a plan for planting a church in Marion—and you have to figure out what kind of church, where to meet, how to budget for it, and even go check what renting places to meet cost. One of the groups this semester planned a church and it looks like one of our seniors will actually stay in Marion next year and plant the church they dreamed up. Another PBL assignment just gives you a bunch of terms written down in a church finances meeting for you to figure out what they mean. This PBL approach is “Like life” in that you have to find out where the answers are and how to check them to see if they are reliable.
3. Practicum learning. You’ll need a local church where you can interview a pastor, meet with the Treasurer, sit in on a board meeting, and other exposure to the administration of a church. Most churches won’t let you “lead” the church so this experience is more about the administration of a church than leading it.
4. Uncle Keith stuff. This is the course where I “tell it like it really is” the most. Most students like the stories as much as the hard content of this course. Here is where you get “the real truth” about what happens in the very-human organism of the church.
5. Units of study Here is what we usually deal with: (may change based on this semester’s final input—I’ve not opened that yet)
-People—how to recruit, motivate, inspire, remove people.
-Leadership theory—a unit on formal leadership theory and the “Strategetics” wisdom of leading and working with people.
-Conflict—managing it and resolving it—between others and yourself and the church or other ministers.
-Church finances—budgeting and church finances terms
-Leading meetings—the course is sometimes nicknamed CLPL—meaning Church Leadership and “Parliamentary Law” --we have a short unit on deliberative meetings.
(The following is the closing personal leadership unit)
-Personal finances—personal budgeting and ministers’ income taxes and housing.
-Integrity matters—avoiding sexual sin, financial ethics, honesty and ethics in the ministry.
See you next Fall!!!!
coach d
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WELCOME to the Fall semester’s Local Church Education class! This is an awesome course—probably the best course I teach—so we’ll have a great time!
Be prepared for:
1. Lots of writing—a chapter a week for your “book.”
2. Small group work—you pick two others to make a group of three and this group will be vital to your success in the course—the better the group the better your paper and grade. If you see some names above you want t like up with now go ahead and set it up—you get to arrange your own group.
3. Student teaching. The practicum requires you to do “student teaching” in Sunday school—any age group, so be planning to attend Sunday school next semester and working with a “master teacher” who will let you teach twice and meet with you after to help you improve your teaching.
I think you’ll love this course. It is a major milestone for CM-YM students (along with Rec Management majors who have an alternative option). The group you establish often becomes so bonded that you will forget the rest of those in class—so pick your group carefully.
See you next Fall!!!!
coach d
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll also be teaching the related practicums for these courses plus one breakout section of UNV180--we're trying a new thing this semester--a breakout section of all the Religion division students togeter with a REL prof as their breakout leader--I'm doing one of those sections on Friday afternoons... total load for the semester for me will be about 15 hours, better than this year!
...Local Church Education-- 27 students
...Church Leadership-- 27 students
...Teaching the Bible to Adults--8 students
More will sign up later but here is what I said to those already registered:
WELCOME to next Fall's Teaching the Bible to Adults class!!! You'll love this class...
It is a comfy group who DOES Bible study each week as well as learns HOW to do Bible studies for all adults--from college age through older adults.
I have a major passion for this class so you'’ll get "Drury at his best" I hope. The class includes both ministry majors and others--people who want to learn how to teach people for life change. The course is not really named right--we don't actually teach the Bible -- we teach PEOPLE... using the Bible in a way that inspires people to become Christ-like. It will be a wonderful Thursday evening and you'll look forward to it every week I bet.
We will first explore the stages of adult life and the characteristics of college students through older folk, then most of our time will focus on teaching methods...the ways people interact with the Bible that produces spiritual growth. We'll "learn by doing" often--actually having a Bible study as a way of learning how to lead one. If the course works well we will all come away having grown ourselves by our own study. The course assumes the Bible is not just a book that should be studied like one sticks a corpse on the table to do a post-mortem, but is a powerful living word of God that (if approached right) changes people. We'll learn how this process works and "how people change."
Usually we'll meet around one table (in the religion division conference room) but sometimes we'll move to a "home setting" to experience Bible study like small groups do in homes or residence halls. I have not finalized the syllabus yet but I'm thinking it would be cool if we could all lead several Bible studies ourselves--some in class and some in the residence halls or at church to practice our skills.
The group itself will become a Bible study group--of loving, caring people committed to our own growth--sort of a mentoring group under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. While we will care about the content of the Bible our primary focus is on how the Holy Spirit uses the Bible in a group to change people--to help us (and others) grow and develop. It will be exciting!
TO DO OVER SUMMER: Nothing particularly you need to do to prepare other than think of where you might hold several Bible studies yourself next year…in a church or on campus. Otherwise just get the texts before the first night of class.
SEE YOU ALL THURSDAY EVENINGS NEXT FALL! cool!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WELCOME to the Fall semester’s Church Leadership class! This is a “senior course” (though occasionally a junior takes it) You must be accepted into the major to take it—so if you aren’t accepted by Sept 1 you’ll be kicked out of the course by Bonita the first week of school—so apply before you leave for summer if you’re not accepted yet!
Be prepared for:
1. Small group work—you pick two others to make a group of three and this group will be vital to your success in the course—in many ways your grade will depend on who you get with—you get to arrange your own group. Many assignments are group-created—you work together and can borrow each other’s work. If you see names above of people you want to be with—go ahead and arrange it before hand if you want to.
2. Problem based learning. Some of the work in the course is just like “real life” -- you only get a problem that you have to go and dig out the solution for. For instance sometimes we simply assign the group to make a plan for planting a church in Marion—and you have to figure out what kind of church, where to meet, how to budget for it, and even go check what renting places to meet cost. One of the groups this semester planned a church and it looks like one of our seniors will actually stay in Marion next year and plant the church they dreamed up. Another PBL assignment just gives you a bunch of terms written down in a church finances meeting for you to figure out what they mean. This PBL approach is “Like life” in that you have to find out where the answers are and how to check them to see if they are reliable.
3. Practicum learning. You’ll need a local church where you can interview a pastor, meet with the Treasurer, sit in on a board meeting, and other exposure to the administration of a church. Most churches won’t let you “lead” the church so this experience is more about the administration of a church than leading it.
4. Uncle Keith stuff. This is the course where I “tell it like it really is” the most. Most students like the stories as much as the hard content of this course. Here is where you get “the real truth” about what happens in the very-human organism of the church.
5. Units of study Here is what we usually deal with: (may change based on this semester’s final input—I’ve not opened that yet)
-People—how to recruit, motivate, inspire, remove people.
-Leadership theory—a unit on formal leadership theory and the “Strategetics” wisdom of leading and working with people.
-Conflict—managing it and resolving it—between others and yourself and the church or other ministers.
-Church finances—budgeting and church finances terms
-Leading meetings—the course is sometimes nicknamed CLPL—meaning Church Leadership and “Parliamentary Law” --we have a short unit on deliberative meetings.
(The following is the closing personal leadership unit)
-Personal finances—personal budgeting and ministers’ income taxes and housing.
-Integrity matters—avoiding sexual sin, financial ethics, honesty and ethics in the ministry.
See you next Fall!!!!
coach d
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WELCOME to the Fall semester’s Local Church Education class! This is an awesome course—probably the best course I teach—so we’ll have a great time!
Be prepared for:
1. Lots of writing—a chapter a week for your “book.”
2. Small group work—you pick two others to make a group of three and this group will be vital to your success in the course—the better the group the better your paper and grade. If you see some names above you want t like up with now go ahead and set it up—you get to arrange your own group.
3. Student teaching. The practicum requires you to do “student teaching” in Sunday school—any age group, so be planning to attend Sunday school next semester and working with a “master teacher” who will let you teach twice and meet with you after to help you improve your teaching.
I think you’ll love this course. It is a major milestone for CM-YM students (along with Rec Management majors who have an alternative option). The group you establish often becomes so bonded that you will forget the rest of those in class—so pick your group carefully.
See you next Fall!!!!
coach d
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll also be teaching the related practicums for these courses plus one breakout section of UNV180--we're trying a new thing this semester--a breakout section of all the Religion division students togeter with a REL prof as their breakout leader--I'm doing one of those sections on Friday afternoons... total load for the semester for me will be about 15 hours, better than this year!
Sunday, April 15, 2007
I'm getting a raise!
Our President held a meeting Friday and announced all the faculty at IWU were getting raises. Not cost-of-living raises (we already got that) but an actual bump in salary on top of that. In fact we're getting a bump for each of the next three years in a row beyond COLAs. We are all quite happy here of course. The biggest raises will go to full professors with earned Doctorates of course, and the rest will get smaller raises but that is consistent with the current effort to push all faculty to finish their "terminal degrees."
IWU is already a great place to teach but this will make it even nicer--especially for the younger profs with kids-who-need-sneakers. It is not just nice for those already teaching but it will make us vastly more attractive to professors from other schools to come here. Not that they'd come for the money--but a bigger salary will make it easier to move for sure.
Oh yeah--Jim Lo is returning too--he'll be the professor of Spiritual Formation--not because of the salary, he just loves us all!
When all this is finished a full professor might still be able to earn more money at a few CCCU schools--like schools in California where housing costs a tad more than Marion. In this town a family of four can still buy a four bedroom house for $80,000... merely a down payment in some of the towns where CCU Universities have higher salaries.
And to boot the new Pres has figured out how to do this without adding it on to tuition. So, the faculty is in a big KUDOs mood right now, and might remain there for the next three years. Best of all I bet more will jump in and finish their PhDs.
It comes at a nice time for us all. Faculty get crabby at the end of the year. We get tired of the grind, tired of other faculty, tired of meetings and even tired of [some] students. This is a nice boost--like a Christmas present in summer!
As for me I think I will wait until I retire to do my PhD. I've always admired George Failing who started a PhD in his late 60's..or was it 70s? When people were astonished and asked why, he replied "I want to learn." Interesting notion!
IWU is already a great place to teach but this will make it even nicer--especially for the younger profs with kids-who-need-sneakers. It is not just nice for those already teaching but it will make us vastly more attractive to professors from other schools to come here. Not that they'd come for the money--but a bigger salary will make it easier to move for sure.
Oh yeah--Jim Lo is returning too--he'll be the professor of Spiritual Formation--not because of the salary, he just loves us all!
When all this is finished a full professor might still be able to earn more money at a few CCCU schools--like schools in California where housing costs a tad more than Marion. In this town a family of four can still buy a four bedroom house for $80,000... merely a down payment in some of the towns where CCU Universities have higher salaries.
And to boot the new Pres has figured out how to do this without adding it on to tuition. So, the faculty is in a big KUDOs mood right now, and might remain there for the next three years. Best of all I bet more will jump in and finish their PhDs.
It comes at a nice time for us all. Faculty get crabby at the end of the year. We get tired of the grind, tired of other faculty, tired of meetings and even tired of [some] students. This is a nice boost--like a Christmas present in summer!
As for me I think I will wait until I retire to do my PhD. I've always admired George Failing who started a PhD in his late 60's..or was it 70s? When people were astonished and asked why, he replied "I want to learn." Interesting notion!
Friday, April 13, 2007
I like Rick Warren but this bugs me
I like Rick Warren a lot--he is one of my favorites. But one thing bugs me about Rick. He keeps sending me emails as if he is writing just to me when I know he has sent the email to the whole list.
Here is what I got this morning:
Just wanted you to know that the Holy Spirit led me to pray for you and your Easter services several times this past weekend. I also gathered a group of local pastors on Good Friday morning to pray for all the pastors we know and their services. I’d love you hear how your Easter went if you have time to write.
We’re in this together friend.
Rick Warren
This sort of mailing is too fake-ish for me. I'd rather Rick send something to his entire list saying something like "I have been thinking of the 10,000 pastors on my mailing list this morning and I picked several to pray for by name." Or some other way of admitting he was not writing a personal letter to me but this was a mass mailing to his whole list masking as a burden for me.
Oh well, I still like Rick Warren. I just wish he'd be more authentic in his mailings. Maybe I've hung around with young people too much.
Here is what I got this morning:
Just wanted you to know that the Holy Spirit led me to pray for you and your Easter services several times this past weekend. I also gathered a group of local pastors on Good Friday morning to pray for all the pastors we know and their services. I’d love you hear how your Easter went if you have time to write.
We’re in this together friend.
Rick Warren
This sort of mailing is too fake-ish for me. I'd rather Rick send something to his entire list saying something like "I have been thinking of the 10,000 pastors on my mailing list this morning and I picked several to pray for by name." Or some other way of admitting he was not writing a personal letter to me but this was a mass mailing to his whole list masking as a burden for me.
Oh well, I still like Rick Warren. I just wish he'd be more authentic in his mailings. Maybe I've hung around with young people too much.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Grading papers
OK my first papers (AKA "books") are turned in and I'm in grading mode now.
This is one of the most happy times of a professor's career. I hate grading yet at the same time I love seeing the work students do. I have the "Church Leadership" books now and am grading them. It was a course that I was not satisfied with this semester. It never seemed to take off. Last semester it was my best course. This semester it just didn't seem to get traction. BUT now that I am looking at "papers" I'm feeling much better. It is something like preaching--you leave the pulpit whipped thinking you blew it, then somebody tells you God really spoke through the sermon you thought you flubbed. That's how these books are--when I see them (well, most of them) I feel like I did in fact earn my keep this semester. Even when I know that some (many?) think it was "just an assignment" I know that they have gathered stuff that is vital to their future ministry and I'm delighted. The remainder of the semester in CLPL we're doing "the personal life of the minister" and that comes in a separate paper--a smaller one: finances, taxes, advice from grads about the first year in the church, and ethics and morals for ministers. It is an easy section for me and provides a "soft landing" in the course. Today I taught 5 students--all the rest were Wesleyen students off touring the Headquarters today. They missed the "Minister's taxes" lecture... poor students--I always put some tough questions on that on the final exam ;-)
The rest of my courses... maybe I will say asomething about them later. My fav this semester is LCE--it is an incredible collection of 38 people! Whew! Tell you later more.
This is one of the most happy times of a professor's career. I hate grading yet at the same time I love seeing the work students do. I have the "Church Leadership" books now and am grading them. It was a course that I was not satisfied with this semester. It never seemed to take off. Last semester it was my best course. This semester it just didn't seem to get traction. BUT now that I am looking at "papers" I'm feeling much better. It is something like preaching--you leave the pulpit whipped thinking you blew it, then somebody tells you God really spoke through the sermon you thought you flubbed. That's how these books are--when I see them (well, most of them) I feel like I did in fact earn my keep this semester. Even when I know that some (many?) think it was "just an assignment" I know that they have gathered stuff that is vital to their future ministry and I'm delighted. The remainder of the semester in CLPL we're doing "the personal life of the minister" and that comes in a separate paper--a smaller one: finances, taxes, advice from grads about the first year in the church, and ethics and morals for ministers. It is an easy section for me and provides a "soft landing" in the course. Today I taught 5 students--all the rest were Wesleyen students off touring the Headquarters today. They missed the "Minister's taxes" lecture... poor students--I always put some tough questions on that on the final exam ;-)
The rest of my courses... maybe I will say asomething about them later. My fav this semester is LCE--it is an incredible collection of 38 people! Whew! Tell you later more.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Summer's Here!
All this week it has been near 80 degrees here in Marion and that triggered something inside my students--"SNAP" they now believe Summer's here. They are all over campus sprawled out on blankets "studying" and the art students are painting and drawing this and that. Students (when the professor is talking) have this vacant gaze on their faces and professors tell each other, "Man I'm getting nowhere."
It isn't just students. I've been riding my bike to classes, and I take detours on the way home. I've been cutting flowers and bringing them in to my wife, and I've started my "To the Finish Line" countdown sheets in every course... It isn't long now.
1. The rest of this week.
2. Partial week next week (no Friday classes)
3. Partial week the following week (no Monday classes)
4. Then the final full week of classes.
Whew--summer IS almost here. My first set of "Books" comes in Tuesday in CLPL. So I'm in final grading mode already. Which is right timing... by now most faculty are tired and crabby. We're tired of school, tired of students, tired of being tired. So it comes none too soon.
As for my life. I am heading out for Michigan Thursday for a multi-district "Leadership day." I'm starting off with "Strategetics" (The last time I did this live was 19 years agi--so no minister under 30 has ever heard it direct) Then I'm doing an address on "Membership Matters" and after lunch finishing up with "Changes in the church and the ministry over the last 50 years which ends with 25 characteristics I see in my students which could indicate future changes coming (or not).
As for the Creed book, it is on hold in March--the yellow flag came out in march and I will re-start my engines in April.
As for Sharon she begins teaching full time in the doctoral program (he dream job) April 2.
As for summer plans... so far I'm going to Turkey with my two sons in June and to the Colorado Trail with faculty (including Sharon) in August... I'm meditating on taking a nibble at the CDT a bit again in July...but not sure yet.
As for the Potawatomi Trail of Death book...it should come off the presses in a week or so--I'll update you and post the picture on by ww.tuesdaycolumn.com site.
As for right now...I think I'll go get a blanket and sprawl on the grass....
It isn't just students. I've been riding my bike to classes, and I take detours on the way home. I've been cutting flowers and bringing them in to my wife, and I've started my "To the Finish Line" countdown sheets in every course... It isn't long now.
1. The rest of this week.
2. Partial week next week (no Friday classes)
3. Partial week the following week (no Monday classes)
4. Then the final full week of classes.
Whew--summer IS almost here. My first set of "Books" comes in Tuesday in CLPL. So I'm in final grading mode already. Which is right timing... by now most faculty are tired and crabby. We're tired of school, tired of students, tired of being tired. So it comes none too soon.
As for my life. I am heading out for Michigan Thursday for a multi-district "Leadership day." I'm starting off with "Strategetics" (The last time I did this live was 19 years agi--so no minister under 30 has ever heard it direct) Then I'm doing an address on "Membership Matters" and after lunch finishing up with "Changes in the church and the ministry over the last 50 years which ends with 25 characteristics I see in my students which could indicate future changes coming (or not).
As for the Creed book, it is on hold in March--the yellow flag came out in march and I will re-start my engines in April.
As for Sharon she begins teaching full time in the doctoral program (he dream job) April 2.
As for summer plans... so far I'm going to Turkey with my two sons in June and to the Colorado Trail with faculty (including Sharon) in August... I'm meditating on taking a nibble at the CDT a bit again in July...but not sure yet.
As for the Potawatomi Trail of Death book...it should come off the presses in a week or so--I'll update you and post the picture on by ww.tuesdaycolumn.com site.
As for right now...I think I'll go get a blanket and sprawl on the grass....
Friday, March 23, 2007
I'm hiding in the grass
Sorry if some of you have written me and not gotten a response...or perhaps got a two word response to a long email. I'm buried right now... this semester is catching up to me... 18 hour teach load. trying to write this creed book, 10-15 hours of committees last week...and now advising arrives. A few days ago I was busy for a few days and got 300 emails behind... Ugh!
What I've learned to do in those situations is to take a few hours early in the morning to catch up what I can...then I drag all the rest into a folder titled "See me someday" and start fresh. So if you asked me something really important and I missed it doing my morning cruise before dragging... send another... after having done the drag-out I now feel I am "up to date" again. ;-)
coach d
What I've learned to do in those situations is to take a few hours early in the morning to catch up what I can...then I drag all the rest into a folder titled "See me someday" and start fresh. So if you asked me something really important and I missed it doing my morning cruise before dragging... send another... after having done the drag-out I now feel I am "up to date" again. ;-)
coach d
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Spring Break Wheeeeeeeeeeee!
I'm on spring break. Well, actually it doesn't start for another day--but I've been mentally on break for about two days--no, make that all week. Spring break is one of those wonderful gifts of being a college professor. Right when things start getting really wild BOOM you get a week off. According to a recent survey of IWU faculty the average work week is 60-70 hours per week during the school year. Spring break helps balance that out.
As for us, we are going to a sweet Amish-built log cabin off in the woods in Northern Indiana for a quiet week. When we tell people that they often ask, "What is there to "do" around there?" I just laugh. I already have enough to "do" around here. That's the idea--go somewhere where there ISN'T anything to "do!"
So don't come and visit me--I'll be busy doing nothing.
Back in a week or so.... not until after I'm done doing nothing ;-)
As for us, we are going to a sweet Amish-built log cabin off in the woods in Northern Indiana for a quiet week. When we tell people that they often ask, "What is there to "do" around there?" I just laugh. I already have enough to "do" around here. That's the idea--go somewhere where there ISN'T anything to "do!"
So don't come and visit me--I'll be busy doing nothing.
Back in a week or so.... not until after I'm done doing nothing ;-)
***********************************************************************
***********************************************************************
Ahhhhhh just returned home ... I did pretty good doing nothing... only failed to do it some of the time when I slipped and did some grading and wrote a column.. but I did achieve these "goals:"
-Slept about 10 hours every night
-Watched the today show every day on a little TV with rabbit ears.
-Baked bread twice a day and ate it all (Sharon helped)
-Went to a video store that was selling out their old Video Cassettes and bought 20 at 80 cents each and watched half of them.
-Played video games until I got stuck at the second level (or fourth).
-Read a few books that were not serious.
-Took a few walks in the snow.
-Sat in the sunshine in the afternoons on the cabin's porch.
-Thought up wonderful ideas and never wrote any of them down.
-Took several naps in the afternoons
-Had a dozen or so of those "chats" women like their husbands to have with them.
-Drove to the nearby Mennonite-Amish town's library and browsed unseriously.
-Cooked every meal alongside Sharon then ate it all, leaving no leftovers.
-Came home wound down almost as much as I come home from backpacking.
-Got a serious case of "Spring Fever" that I plan to retain until summer.
ahhhhhhh... the joy of accomplishing one's goals!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Snow day #2
OK, now we have about 14" of snow, which essentially shuts Marion Indiana down... though it is a normal day in Minneapolis or the UP of Michigan. School is called off again today. I kinda feel bad for Steve Moore, speaker at the "Missions week" all week--he came and did his get-ready-get-set talk Monday and now we all just stay in the starting block for two days. Sorta like getting dressed up for a date then staying home and watching the news.
We do have snow drifting though. The picture is of my street this morning... the footprints are Dave Ward's (who came down to help me shovel out my driveway).
I'll be headed over to the prisoners-in-Baldwin at noon to eat lunch with Steve Moore, then I'm coming home to start entering my taxes into the computer--these two days are like a free gift of grace--now I don't have to use Saturdays to do taxes... I can spend them on finishing up my "Walking the Trail of Death" book--which is 95% done now (the final 5% is half the work though).
Tomorrow we return to school (unless the Indiana snowwimps prevail again).
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Snow Day today
IWU called off all classes today. That is news... I think the last time all classes were cancelled was in the late 1970's. We have even less "commuters" now... most of our students must only walk a hundred yards to classes..and they already have to walk that far today anyway to eat. But classes are cancelled today anyway. Why? What has changed?Here are my guesses.
First, more faculty are long commuters. Our faculty used to live in Marion--they were almost 'required" to do so. Now many live in Indianapolis--more than 100 yards from classrooms. You can have class without a few students, but not as easily without a faculty member.
Second, the workaholic ethos is changing. IWU has always been famous for producing graduates who "just do it." they don't make excuses: "I was sick," "I slept in," or "it snowed." IWU does not even have such a thing as a "nurse's office excuse" any more for missing classes (except for dangerous communicable diseases). The school expected faculty and students to simply "show up and do their job" ignoring everything but the job. This has made graduates very popular with employers, but it might be also establish workaholic habits that are not mentally healthy--so there is an attempt to soften this now--and a snow day is an example of how to soften this hard-work-cafe ethos.
Finally, the rest of Indiana are ALL snow-wimps. We have not had a big (big=10" ;-) snow storm in years--so this was news before it happened. Some faculty members cancelled classes personally yesterday--before a single flake of snow! It is as if we need an emergency and dog-gone it we will have one even if it is only for a foot of snow. Of course people in Minneapolis and Buffalo laugh at us--but Indiana is something like north Carolina when it comes to snow. They freak out. In fact, in Indiana the snowplows go home at ten o'clock at night and go to bed like everybody else--really!!!!
OK, I think I'll do my taxes today...
First, more faculty are long commuters. Our faculty used to live in Marion--they were almost 'required" to do so. Now many live in Indianapolis--more than 100 yards from classrooms. You can have class without a few students, but not as easily without a faculty member.
Second, the workaholic ethos is changing. IWU has always been famous for producing graduates who "just do it." they don't make excuses: "I was sick," "I slept in," or "it snowed." IWU does not even have such a thing as a "nurse's office excuse" any more for missing classes (except for dangerous communicable diseases). The school expected faculty and students to simply "show up and do their job" ignoring everything but the job. This has made graduates very popular with employers, but it might be also establish workaholic habits that are not mentally healthy--so there is an attempt to soften this now--and a snow day is an example of how to soften this hard-work-cafe ethos.
Finally, the rest of Indiana are ALL snow-wimps. We have not had a big (big=10" ;-) snow storm in years--so this was news before it happened. Some faculty members cancelled classes personally yesterday--before a single flake of snow! It is as if we need an emergency and dog-gone it we will have one even if it is only for a foot of snow. Of course people in Minneapolis and Buffalo laugh at us--but Indiana is something like north Carolina when it comes to snow. They freak out. In fact, in Indiana the snowplows go home at ten o'clock at night and go to bed like everybody else--really!!!!
OK, I think I'll do my taxes today...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
