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Over the past couple of months, any professors or academic staff who wanted access to campus had to submit a formal request for approval. That request had to include specifics about location, day and time. I’ve been logging (and responding) to all of them with the academic area so if we need to help with contact tracing later, we’ll know who was where.
A few days ago, on a whim, I looked over the list since early July. More people chose an arrival time of 10:00 in the morning than all of the other times combined.
I have no explanation or theory for this. It’s just striking. Without prompting, one time proved overwhelmingly more popular than all others.
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This week we had our fall convocation and the first full faculty meeting of the year, all on Zoom. I emceed the faculty meeting. This was the first time that I’ve had someone working tech support while I ran a meeting, instead of flying solo.
Reader, it made all the difference.
One of the more disorienting aspects of Zoom is that it’s much harder to read the room when you crack a joke. I admit taking some solace when I saw other people struggle with the same thing. My hat is off to comedians these days; their job just got a whole lot harder in a way that’s hard to appreciate from the outside.
It’s early days, and I don’t want to jinx anything, but I’m hopeful. I saw a lot of “lemons into lemonade” spirit that was markedly (and understandably) different from the frantic shock of the spring.
The students are going to get a much better experience this time around.
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The story in Slate about teens putting IRA-themed content on TikTok rang true; last week, The Boy texted me from out of the blue to ask what I thought about the IRA. I had to ask, “Irish Republican Army or individual retirement account?”
This isn’t the venue for my thoughts on settler colonialism, but I’ll admit being caught off guard by the question. When TB left for Virginia, I anticipated questions on many matters, but not that one. If anything, I was flattered that he asked. I didn’t offer much, not having much to offer; his instinctive response came pretty close to mine. But part of me still asks the question “Where the hell did that come from?”
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The Girl has made it known that the 2005 movie version of Pride and Prejudice, with Keira Knightley, is officially the best movie ever made. So, that’s settled.
Apparently, her entire friend group watches it religiously. We watched it with her last weekend; her reactions were as much fun to watch as the movie itself. When Keira’s Elizabeth said to Matthew Macfadyen’s Darcy, “Your hands are cold,” TG nearly exploded with glee.
Afterward, she explained the movie’s appeal. As she put it, “Jane Austen writes the best male characters.” I don’t usually hear that particular line of argument, so I pressed for explanation. “They don’t like you at first, but then they see what’s great in you. It’s validating!”
That worried me a bit at first. It reminded me of a line from Aunt B, over at Tiny Cat Pants, many years ago, when she wrote that she had an epiphany: she had dated awful men who were mean to her because she felt like if she could change their minds about her, she could change her mind about herself. I didn’t want TG to feel like that. But then I remembered that Darcy is revealed, eventually, to be a good man, and I felt much better.
I kept noticing throughout the movie just how closely Darcy resembled John Cusack’s best roles. He’s too old for it now, but other than the accent, he would have been a killer Darcy somewhere around 1997. Alas.
TG had no idea who John Cusack is. I’m not gonna lie; as a Gen Xer, that one stung a little.
