march 6, 2002.

I finally finished that albatross of a paper. What's really funny is that I ended up having too many thoughts and too much material to analyze. My first draft was 2880 words. I cut it to 2740. Anything less than that and the paper would've sacrificed a certain élan that is the hallmark of an Amoret essay. Fortunately, there is something called the "10 over rule" in essay writing as well as driving; to whit, just as most of us feel that we would not get reprimanded for driving 10 kilometres over the posted limit, I don't think I need to worry about an essay that is 10% over - or under - the posted word limit.

Another fascinating peek into my mind. Dazzle.

Anyway, I asked the Boy to give it a read before I committed it to tree pulp, warning him that he was under no obligation to enjoy the topic, the research or the conclusions. Hell, I wouldn't be writing about this subject if I had the choice. I was therefore stunned goofy when he started raving about it. Well, not exactly raving, but he seemed to enjoy it for some reason. With this endorsement behind me, I fully expect to take the pedagogical publishing world by storm. Look out Phi Delta Kappan! I'm coming to your house.

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Visited the classroom again today and lost my faith in myself for a moment. I couldn't make a kid stop misbehaving right away, and of course I have to obsess over it as if it was the crucial mistake that cost the French the Plains of Abraham. (I'm getting ready to teach history this month.) I need to relax. I have 8 weeks to go in this program and I need to relax if I want to emerge from this degree ulcer-free.

To make this next tilt at the windmills more of a guaranteed success, I'm running my lesson plans through the fabulous mind of a methods professor who is firmly on my side. Unfortunately, we have a meeting tomorrow, so I need to extricate myself from the tentacles of Web publishing and start thinking of interesting ways to teach the concept of lyric poetry.

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2 years ago today: she was a low-down campaigner