the grid

the grid

Sunday 11 October 2020

Last Quarter 2020, Week 5: Drawing a Blank

I warned you when I volunteered to co-host that you would have to accept prompt-less weeks. This is one such week, because I've Got Nothing. --Unless, in some weird way, "drawing a blank" happens to inspire you somehow? That would be neat. Or you can come up with your own prompt! What question do you want to answer?

In the meantime, here are last week's goals.

Daisy:

1) Finish and record conference talk
2) Make 3 figures for Albatross
3) Outline steps needed for local paper
4) Take one day in the week for doing only research-related things
5) Address difficult professional society issue
6) My intentional thing for the week: outdoor lunch with sweet colleague I have not seen in ages

Dame Eleanor Hull:

*Health: daily cardio and stretching, weights x 3, try to eat carefully and sleep enough.
*Teaching: Grade 2 sets of discussion board posts, 1 set of papers, a batch of varied stuff from independent studies.
*Research: make plan for addressing revisions; some time on both dead and live languages; some other reading.
*Service: work on exam-related document for dept.
*Admin: do two online trainings and get them over with.
*Fun stuff: read more mid-century women's fiction, gardening, create birthday card for great-nibling.
*House/life: pay bills, deposit check.
*Track time, at least roughly.

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell:

Schedule the rest of October, planning backwards.
Write up class interviews.
Read and annotate three articles in the digital humanities bibliography.
Walk 2x7; meditate 1x7; write 2 hours x 5; something positive 1x7.

heu mihi:

1) Teaching: Record 2 lectures, edit 4 transcripts (2 per lecture; lectures are broken into segments, if you care), prep PowerPoint
2) Recommendation letter for former student
3) Personal virtue: All the exercise (run x 5, yoga x 2), language x 3, sit x 3
4) Research: 4ish chapters of NunG per day (to catch up), notes on NunG vol. 3
5) Parenting, fun, life: Something fun with kid, French x 2, finish making my book, read for pleasure (any amount)

humming42:

1 work on creative piece
2 write weekly blog post
3 read 10 essays for award judging
4 write/submit conference proposal
5 grade every day

JaneB:

1) set goals for TLQ
2) use BuJo
3) do some Preptober things
4) be kind. be kind. be kind. (but don't be a doormat).
5) organise supplies I have and try to make rational decision about what to buy.
6) referee an article
7) prepare as much of week 4 as possible
8) draft my text for grant application, comment on two manuscripts one very urgently, and other things I doubtless forgot. SIGH

Susan:

1. Famous author: 2 hours
2. Write LOR for grad student
3. Do article review for journal
4. One more week's modules for undergrad course
5. Read for fun
6. Go for a walk x4
7. Make next batch of pepper jelly
8. Stop using iPad before bed
9 Get decent sleep

22 comments:

  1. To me, drawing a blank is a good thing, as it feels as though I can draw whatever I like or even leave the canvas blank, free of meetings, classes, or administrative concerns. Thank you, heu mihi, for your "non-prompt." In your honor, I'm putting a white-board in my shed.

    Last week’s goals:
    Schedule the rest of October, planning backwards.Yes. It's a busy month, but this may give me a handle on it.
    Write up class interviews. Yes, and thankfully, this lot is the last one.
    Read and annotate three articles in the digital humanities bibliography. No. Life happened with a vengeance.
    Walk 2x7; meditate 1x7; write 2 hours x 5; put something positive in the planner 1x7. 2x4, yes, yes, and yes.

    First, the good: the archive trip was nothing less than fantastic. I had a couple of eureka moments--one resolved a problem that been irritating me for about a year, so I was ecstatic. The archive had very good protocols, ensuring social distancing, everyone wearing masks, and only four researchers in a room that can hold 20 in non-pandemic times.

    And the bad: Wednesday afternoon, a tornado hit our neighborhood back home. It didn't touch down, but brought down many large, old trees. One destroyed a house five houses down from us--luckily the whole family was in the basement, and no one was hurt. I cut my Thursday appointment short and the Philosopher (who was taking vacation days) and I drove back Thursday afternoon. We were without power until late Saturday evening.

    The lack of power meant that my plans to get my reading done went right out the window. Reading by candlelight is only romantic when one is young. I suppose it's a better excuse than I have had in the past.

    Next week's goals:
    Finish transcribing notes from archive trip.
    Compile visual aids for presentation.
    Order unofficial transcripts.
    Schedule flu and pneumonia vaccines.
    Get passport picture.
    Read and annotate three articles in the digital humanities bibliography.
    Read fun book.
    Walk 2x7; meditate 1x7; write 2 hours x 5; something positive 1x7.

    I'm still on a research high, and plan to enjoy it as long as I can. Float like mist, everyone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So sorry about the tornado: we had one when we lived in Connecticut, and it's amazing how powerful it.
      Well, and if your archive is the one I think it is, I'm jealous.

      Delete
    2. Excellent news about solving your problem! Sounds like a wonderful trip, bar the tornado.

      Delete
    3. Susan, if you're thinking the Morgan, you're right. What a jewel! A colleague did research at the NYPL, and praised those folks highly, but I've not been there.
      The tornado was incredibly strong--I went to grad school in the Midwest, so I've seen some tornadoes, but nothing like this one.

      Dame Eleanor, I think your wish that I find something interesting worked! It was one of those times where the puzzle pieces clicked together in a way I had not tried before.

      Delete
    4. I've never done research there, but LOVE the Morgan.

      Delete
    5. The museum is only open a couple of days a week so far. I used to go there at least every couple of months, and I miss it!
      The reading room is in the modern addition, but is lined with built-in wooden bookshelves and fits right into the ambiance of the museum.

      Delete
  2. My take on drawing a blank is to clear my head, so I will sit in child’s pose for five minutes (also stretching out my too-long-in-front-of-screens back) in your honor.

    Maybe it’s the change of seasons or the clink of the deadline bell, but I do seem to have more resolve and energy than I have in a while. And I really, really need it.

    Last week:
    1 work on creative piece: have a couple of new drafts
    2 write weekly blog post: no
    3 read 10 essays for award judging: yes
    4 write/submit conference proposal: almost done
    5 grade every day: uh...nope.

    This week:
    1 work on creative piece
    2 write weekly blog post
    3 finish reading essays for award judging
    4 submit conference proposal
    5 grade every day
    6 work on November conference paper
    7 revise and resubmit book review

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just diving right in.

    Last week:

    1) Teaching: Record 2 lectures, edit 4 transcripts (2 per lecture; lectures are broken into segments, if you care), prep PowerPoint - DONE, done done done done. Now for exactly the same task THIS week!
    2) Recommendation letter for former student - DONE, need to send it
    3) Personal virtue: All the exercise (run x 5, yoga x 2), language x 3, sit x 3 - Yes, x2, x2
    4) Research: 4ish chapters of NunG per day (to catch up), notes on NunG vol. 3 - YES
    5) Parenting, fun, life: Something fun with kid, French x 2, finish making my book, read for pleasure (any amount) - Yes? We went to a few playgrounds; yes; yes; yes, a little

    This week:

    1) Teaching: Record 2 lectures, edit 4 transcripts, prep next batch of PowerPoints, create and post all remaining paper prompts so that I can stop worrying about forgetting these.
    2) Recommendation letter for current student (I have never in my life had to write so many LORs!!), submit letter for two recent grads
    3) Research: Read 3 ch/day of NunG vol 4
    4) Exercise regimen, language x3, sit x3
    5) Do my best to check off all the service tasks, especially recording a cheery message about our major for the Majors Fair
    6) Do something fun? Maybe?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Look at all that DONE! You rock!

      Delete
    2. Love the "stop worrying about forgetting" goal - I find I'm constantly worried about forgetting something big for the online classes... There are many more moving parts with these sorts of delivery modes!
      Hope you get the fun thing fitted in!

      Delete
  4. Obviously, the next room in the museum is one of those ultramodern installations, blank walls, floor, and ceiling: either you're supposed to contemplate the nature of blankness, or museum-goers are provided with (washable) materials with which to draw/write on surfaces, which are then cleaned at the end of the day: every day a new art work produced by visitors.

    And that in turn reminds me of the Dilbert cartoon in which the Prince of Insufficient Light offers the choice between a low-paying job in which your work is valued or a high-paying job in which every day your work is burned in front of you, and Dilbert says they're both better than his current job.

    Moving on. How I did:

    *Health: daily cardio and stretching, weights x 3, try to eat carefully and sleep enough. YES except weights only x 1.
    *Teaching: Grade 2 sets of discussion board posts, 1 set of papers, a batch of varied stuff from independent studies. YES, NO, YES. I am now caught up with the independent studies, but have three batches of things to grade.
    *Research: make plan for addressing revisions; some time on both dead and live languages; some other reading. NO (managed about 20 minutes reviewing my argument), YES, A LITTLE (am trying to get through 60 pp/week; managed 20).
    *Service: work on exam-related document for dept. NO.
    *Admin: do two online trainings and get them over with. NO
    *Fun stuff: read more mid-century women's fiction, gardening, create birthday card for great-nibling. YES, at least in spirit (fun reading was recent fantasy). Also got unexpected party! This required almost 5 hours of driving (total) but it was lovely countryside, and I enjoyed the feeling of being on a road trip.
    *House/life: pay bills, deposit check. YES, NO.
    *Track time, at least roughly. SOME DAYS. Mostly not.

    New goals:
    *Health: daily cardio and stretching, weights x 3, try to eat carefully and sleep enough.
    *Teaching: Grade 2 sets of discussion board posts, 3 sets of papers.
    *Research: make plan for addressing revisions; some time on both dead and live languages; some other reading.
    *Service: work on exam-related document for dept., prep for Monday meeting.
    *Admin: do two online trainings and get them over with.
    *Fun stuff: read, listen to last in concert series.
    *House/life: deposit check, sort and file papers.
    *Track time, at least roughly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your comment about the museum with blank walls makes me think of a movie (I can't think which one) with a painting of cows in a snowstorm. I don't know the Dilbert cartoon, but I have had jobs like that!

      Considering the amount of grading and prep you're doing, you did made progress this week, so good for you! The road trip sounds spiritually rewarding, which is especially important.

      Delete
    2. I found a link for the cartoon:
      https://dilbert.com/strip/1996-06-02

      Before I was promoted and Sir John retired, we said he was "high pay" and I was "eternal poverty."

      Delete
    3. Thank you for the link. "Eternal poverty" sounds about right!

      Delete
    4. Road trips are unexpectedly restorative! Glad it was fun!

      Delete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The idea of blank space is so inviting! I would love to add some regular blank space to my world… That was one of the best parts of my trip last week – hours in a car alone with nothing to do but drive safely. It was great for thinking!

    Last week’s goals:
    1) Finish and record conference talk DONE
    2) Make 3 figures for Albatross NOPE
    3) Outline steps needed for local paper DONE
    4) Take one day in the week for doing only research-related things DID THAT
    5) Address difficult professional society issue ONGOING
    6) My intentional thing for the week: outdoor lunch with sweet colleague I have not seen in ages DONE

    I got a somewhat short notice invite for a special volume that would make the perfect home for the local paper I’ve been puttering around with forever, so I’m going to say “yes” to that invitation in a (possibly misguided) attempt to light a fire under that paper and get it done… It means I have to drop the Albatross for a few weeks, and frankly that sounds wonderful. Maybe I’m just exchanging my albatross for some other awful spectre, but it is worth a try!

    This week’s goals:
    1) Work on local paper every day this week
    2) Make reading list for graduate seminar
    3) Record the next three weeks of lectures
    4) My intentional thing for the week: flu shot… and ice cream!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Drawing a blank -- it seems like a metaphor for this semester/year. It's definitely been a one foot in front of the other time, low on inspiration.

    Anyway, how I did:
    1. Famous author: 2 hours -- 1 1/2
    2. Write LOR for grad student - drafted, waiting to hear (it's open, so I want to make sure it says what she needs)
    3. Do article review for journal NO
    4. One more week's modules for undergrad course YES
    5. Read for fun NO
    6. Go for a walk x4 3, I think? Also a yoga class
    7. Make next batch of pepper jelly YES
    8. Stop using iPad before bed NO
    9 Get decent sleep SOME

    We have a Friday morning writing group on campus, and I'm trying to go for a few hours at least every week. If that keeps me chugging along, that's great. Writing the LOR was hard because it's a generic one for jobs where she has to submit it, but it's done. I also got asked to write about the pandemic for my undergrad institution, so I did that. I've been doing student conferences, and trying to figure out who is doing what on the various discussion boards etc. Meanwhile the campus dropped another training on us "supervising during COVID", so I did that, and had a meeting re. the journal transition I'm engineering.

    I seem to have one really bad night every week, and I wish I didn't. But my guess is that it will last for at least three more weeks. THe level of stress between pandemic & politics is pretty high. And I have watched the last two debates. Yesterday our new chancellor gave a "state of the campus/ goals for the year" speech and it was clear the humanities & social sciences just didn't matter. So we'll continue to be underfunded and all the money will go to Shiny.New. Programs. with technology. SMDH.

    Goals for next week:
    1. Famous author: 2 hours
    2. MS review for journal
    3. Start reading material for promotion review
    4. One week ahead on each course
    5. Do financial record thing
    6. Fill out ballot (this is California. It's long.)
    7. Walk x 3, yoga or other x 2
    8. Get back into book I'm reading
    9. Get to bed by 10

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Those state-of-campus/strategic directions/goals talks are always so demoralizing... I'm in STEM and watching the concentration of resources on one or two shiny programs damage everyone else in our institution is always depressing. Wish it wasn't always such an either-or proposition...
      Hope you get the walks and reading and sleeping this week!

      Delete

  8. Hi All,
    Sorry for being MIA for several weeks. Its been tough. Between trying to get my aunt into the state medical system in a state far away (I am her POA and she is in memory care, this has taken lots and lots and lots of time) and being Dir of Graduate Studies for my department, with the University querying whether to stop grad admissions for a year, the last few weeks have been intense. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel on most fronts and I am relieved that we only have four more weeks of classes to deal with. I am sad/tired/distraught over how little of my own work I am getting done, but so be it- there is nothing much I can do about it at this point. Its more important to me to not expand my work hours and lose sleep/life balance. Some semesters are just going to be like this. But it makes me very grumpy, anxious, and stressed which I am trying to manage the best I can.


    1. Work on Ch 1 and Ch 8 at least 3 days- no longer a reasonable option, I am happy to get in 2 hours a week on my own stuff these days
    2. Erosion data to colleagues- Yes, just yesterday
    3. DGS stuff- Yes, this is taking lots and lots of time and guess what, with the decision to not stop admissions for a year all our grad students are going to have me. (sorry, no filter me is appearing more and more these days)
    4. Exercise x 3 at a minimum- No Usually I can do 2x a week at best
    5. Try to make healthy food choices- No
    6. One night of non-TV watching - No
    7. start reading student diss - NO
    Next week:
    1. Work on own stuff 2hrs
    2. Exercise 3x a week and try to go for short walks/breaks outside
    3. Finalize movement into state system for aunt
    4. DGS stuff- will be a big week for this and the question of grad admissions for next year
    5. Read student diss to prepare for her defense (second student defending!!!)
    6. Try to get eating and house (quite disorderly now) under some semblance of control

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's good to have you with us again. I hear you on the "own work"/work hours/sleep problem; I'm taking the same route you are, but it does feel uncomfortable not writing.

      Delete