The photos above are from an orchard/sculpture garden that I visited a few weeks ago. It's about half an hour from home, and it was quite a bit more impressive than I had anticipated! I love a good sculpture garden. The integration of art with the landscape, the flashes of the unexpected--like those amazing driftwood elephants, planted in a New England field--is so gratifying and exciting.
So for this week, I ask: Is there a sculpture garden in your museum? What's your favorite piece? What would you like to find there? And for what in your real life (because I haven't figured this part out) is it a metaphor?
Of course, I feel that I would be remiss if I didn't mention the election. So...yay! Something not-terrible in a mess of a year. In true 2020 fashion, however, it had to drag out the torment for as long as possible. Whatever; I can forgive the year that bit of anxiety (and that one really terrible night and morning), now that it's over.
Last week's goals are below. I know that there are more people, whose goals I haven't carried over; I'm so behind on the comments etc. for this blog that I don't think I'm going to try to retrace them. Just chime in in the comments and know that I only haven't tracked them down because I'm overwhelmed with all the Everything! You are not forgotten.
Daisy:
1) Paper again… Of course…
2) Giant pile of grading, and set-up of new assessment aka future pile of grading…
3) My intentional thing for the week: Repeat research-themed Road Trip! Yay!
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, hold conferences with one class, set up modules for next week (will I ever get ahead on this?).
*Research: work on revisions; some time on both dead and live languages; some other reading.
*Service: work on exam-related document for dept., prep for Monday meeting, grad admissions review.
*Admin: order books for spring.
*Fun stuff: read, bake something.
*House/life: pull credit report.
*Track time, at least roughly.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell:
One article and annotations 1x5.
Paperwork for planning next semester.
Pick up new glasses and contacts.
Write 300 words on Illustrated 1x4.
Walk 2x7; meditate 1x7; something positive 1x7.
heu mihi:
1) Do all the necessary teaching things, including writing two LORs and processing payment for a guest speaker.
2) Catch up on journal-related work.
3) Take notes on NunG 4 (a nod towards research, which has been sadly neglected).
4) Run (x5), walk (x as much as I want), yoga (x2), meditate (x3).
humming42:
1 work on creative piece
2 write weekly blog post
3 grade every day
4 write and submit music review
5 do some serious reading for soon to be due book reviews
Susan:
1. Teaching: One more week ahead in each class
2. Teaching: Chart progress
3. Teaching: book orders for spring (make decisions)
4. Research: 3 hours on Famous Author
5. Admin: begin reviewing journal proposals
6. Admin: paperwork for opening church
7. Self-care: Exercise x 5
8. Self-care: read another book
9. Self-care: get adequate sleep.
10: Self-care: breathe for the next 24 hours
What a lovely garden! The elephants are wonderful! I think in my sculpture garden I would like to have a whole herd of those… The only metaphor-like thing I can think of this is to take the sculpture garden as a reminder to look out for the unexpected surprises that bring joy, and that those can be found by taking some time to go walk in nature… That sort of works I think!
ReplyDeleteLast week’s very modest goals (so I can concentrate on paper!):
1) Paper again… Of course… LOTS DONE
2) Giant pile of grading, and set-up of new assessment aka future pile of grading. TEST DONE, NO GRADING
3) My intentional thing for the week: Repeat research-focused Road Trip! Yay! YES!
The road trip was wonderful, and restorative even though we did a ton of work, both with grad students and colleagues. Once we had a good morning of discussion among co-authors for the local paper I’ve been working on like crazy, we realized that I should not in fact be writing the paper I thought I was, but should be writing a very different one… Fortunately most of the work I did for the original paper will transfer to the “new” one, and the new one is actually an easier one to write. Unfortunately it means that the time in which to complete the new paper for the original deadline is now even shorter… But it is worth a shot so I cleared out most things for this coming week, resolved to drop the grading ball until the first draft is being worked on by other people, and as they say here, “just git’rdun”…
This week’s goals (so I can concentrate on paper!):
1) Paper again…
2) Giant pile of grading, now twice as high as last week
3) My intentional thing for the week: Have walking coffee with at least two colleagues
Good luck with the week everyone!
Yay road trip! I also dropped the grading ball last week so I could do a teeny bit of research . . . and I feel like now all the grading balls are falling on my head. And yet research is what we're here at TLQ for, so I hope you can get the new paper cranked out this week and off to sit on other people's desks and glare at them for a change.
DeleteOh, my museum has to have a sculpture garden. I'm not sure I have a favorite piece, because the great thing about sculpture gardens is that you respond to them differently in weather, times of life, etc. The magic is that I almost always sit down outside with art, so there's a much more alive relationship between art and environment. What the metaphor is? I don't know -- maybe like Daisy to be ready for the unexpected? There's also something about just sitting in the world and seeing beauty that is important.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
1. Teaching: One more week ahead in each class YES
2. Teaching: Chart progress YES, still need to email students
3. Teaching: book orders for spring (make decisions) NO
4. Research: 3 hours on Famous Author 1 1/2? Concentrating was hard. But I did have an idea of something to integrate.
5. Admin: begin reviewing journal proposals First go done
6. Admin: paperwork for opening church YES
7. Self-care: Exercise x 5 Yes
8. Self-care: read another book Started, but slow
9. Self-care: get adequate sleep. Not last week
10: Self-care: breathe for the next 24 hours Well, I'm breathing now, but it's going to be a rough 70 days.
How I did was that I lived through last week, and I could work for maybe an hour before doomscrolling. Very grateful that the speaker in Tuesday's class was really engaging, and then I had to prepare for Wednesday morning. But really, that anything got done last week is a miracle. It was also a week of many meetings, which was also a problem!
Anyway, I'm going to try to catch up a bit with a holiday on Wednesday, but also relax.
Goals for the week ahead. I'm a little worried that for 3 weekends in a row, I have significant work commitments on Saturday. I'm tired.
Teaching:
1. 1 More week on each class
2. Figure out submission problem for final projects
3. Send emails
4. Book orders
Service:
5. Pull together comments on big proposal for next Monday's meeting
6. Get people together for discussion of journal proposals
Research:
7: Three hours on Famous Author
Relaxation:
8. One fun zoom
9. Finish the book I'm reading
10. Keep on working out.
Last week was A Week, wasn't it? Even determinedly ignoring the news took its toll; I baked two batches of cookies, did a lot of crocheting and walks, and apart from that I feel rather fuzzy on where the time went. I had some extra meetings, I think, and wound up making ancillary handouts because of not being able to concentrate on grading. I hope your holiday today is going well!
DeleteHi All,
ReplyDeleteI would love to be in an outdoor sculpture garden with many moving modern-type sculptures that sway in a fall breeze as colored leaves fall to the ground.
My goal for this week is to calm down and relax a bit from the stress of the semester. Its my last week of teaching and a bit of a calm before the storm of getting to grading and finishing the writing of my book. So I can going to do some tedious but mindless Bibliography searches for my book and try to get some other things organized in terms of Dr appts. etc. It is such a relief that the semester teaching is almost over and that I can turn to my own work, but I need a bit of down time before my brain is going to feel reenergized.
This week:
1. Bib searches/copy edits on Ch 1-4 of book
2. Work 4 hr on co-authored paper
3. Make Dr appts- knee, mammogram etc.
4. Exercise x 4
5. Bath/stretch x 2
6. Enjoy cooking some healthy meals
It's useful to spend brain-dead time on bibliography searches and similar tasks: they set you up for things you can do later when your brain is back online.
DeleteSince it's already Wednesday, I'm just going to dive in without answering my own prompt. As usual.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1) Do all the necessary teaching things, including writing two LORs and processing payment for a guest speaker.
-DONE (Well, I processed the payment this week, but whatever.)
2) Catch up on journal-related work.
-PARTLY. There's an ongoing flow of this work, so I have more to do now. Luckily I mostly find it interesting.
3) Take notes on NunG 4 (a nod towards research, which has been sadly neglected).
-AT LONG LAST.
4) Run (x5), walk (x as much as I want), yoga (x2), meditate (x3).
-DONE
I got through my list largely because it was so short.
This week:
1) Read something for research. Anything.
2) Grade a batch.
3) Review 2 tenure cases.
4) Preliminary revision of journal materials (letters, website).
"I got through my list largely because it was so short" brings me a big grin and the sweet memory of my beloved grad school office mate who one day complained that she can't get through her to do list because, you know, grocery shopping, afternoon run, feed the dog, write dissertation.
DeleteShort lists are one thing, manageable goals are another. I honor you deeply for checking off "do all the necessary teaching things," which is about the equivalent of "write the dissertation" for me right now. But the semester is winding down, so finishing is inevitable.
This post is certainly thought-provoking, heu mihi! I realized that I don't like sculpture gardens, and I'm not sure why not. They detract from the "garden" part, for me; and I seem to have a firm conviction that sculpture belongs in museums or churches, which seems rather silly when I think about it. I'm now questioning how I feel about sculpture more generally, and wondering if I'm more a "craft" rather than "art" sort of person: architecture and beautiful things I might use in daily life (like a porcelain cup) do more for me than a thing that's just to look at and think about. I had not noticed this before.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
*Health: daily cardio and stretching, weights x 3, try to eat carefully and sleep enough. YES.
*Teaching: Grade 2 sets of discussion board posts, 1 set of papers, hold conferences with one class, set up modules for next week (will I ever get ahead on this?). NO, NO, YES, YES (and apparently no, I will not ever get ahead with the weekly modules, heavy sigh). As noted above, the grading balls are now all falling on my head, ow.
*Research: work on revisions; some time on both dead and live languages; some other reading. YES, YES, NO.
*Service: work on exam-related document for dept., prep for Monday meeting, grad admissions review. NO, YES, NO (but I did it this morning so it's off my plate now; also the Monday meetings are probably over for the semester, so yay).
*Admin: order books for spring. NO. Now TRQ.
*Fun stuff: read, bake something. YES, YES.
*House/life: pull credit report. NO.
*Track time, at least roughly. YES.
New goals:
*Health: daily cardio and stretching, weights x 3, try to eat carefully and sleep enough.
*Teaching: Grade 3 sets of discussion board posts, 2 sets of papers, one other set of things, set up modules for next week, write two assignments.
*Research: work on revisions; some time on both dead and live languages; some other reading.
*Service: no service goals this week [blows raspberry].
*Admin: order books for spring.
*Fun stuff: read, bake something, finish 2nd ear-warming headband.
*House/life: pull credit report.
*Track time, at least roughly.
I would absolutely have a sculpture garden! If I could just slide into these pictures, that would be phenomenal too.
ReplyDeleteIt’s Wednesday, I have two hours of Zoom with students ahead of me then a book review due, so I’m going to post with brevity.
Last week:
1 work on creative piece: yes. I’m taking an online class so it’s easy to get work done, since I have assignments. I admit I am probably spending far more time there than I should, considering all the other things I should be tending to.
2 write weekly blog post: no. There was a moment where I thought about writing something that was particularly timely, but there were other deadlines.
3 grade every day: no. Time for this to change.
4 write and submit music review: yes.
5 do some serious reading for soon to be due book reviews: yes but not enough.
This week:
1 work on creative piece
2 write weekly blog post
3 grade every day
4 write and submit current book review
5 write and submit abstract for history piece
6 finish review of journal essay submission