Thursday, May 2, 2013

May 2: Old Spencer, Exam Paper, Final Grades

"You glanced through it, eh?" he said--very sarcastic.  "Your, ah, exam paper is over there on top of my chiffonier.  On top of the pile.  Bring it here, please."

Old Spencer is a little ruthless here, grilling Holden at the beginning of Catcher.  Spencer is trying to guide Holden, give him life advice.  All Spencer manages to do, however, is disgust him and piss him off.  After Holden fetches the exam, Spencer proceeds to read it aloud to him.  Holden sits and listens, mortified.

I spent all of last night grading my Intro to Film students' final exams.  I finished the job this morning.  In the space of a couple hours, I managed to read, comment on, and grade 23 of them.  And I enjoyed it.  I thought it was going to be torture, like eating mashed potatoes laced with ground-up glass.  Instead, I coasted through it.  Then, I dragged out my calculator and finished totaling final semester grades.  I had to fail no student.  There were a pack of A's, a gaggle of B's, and some C's.  It was a good class.

Now, I'm sitting in a lecture hall, watching The Wonder Boys with Michael Douglas, waiting for my students to not show up and collect their graded final exams.  Yes, I'm Old Spencer, expecting Holden Caulfield to walk through the door so I can hand him his essay questions.

After The Wonder Boys ends, I will pack up my belongings, bring them back to my office, and be done with teaching until the fall semester begins.  It's a long four months without university paychecks.  Even longer now that I had to shell out $400 for a brake job.  Yes, I'm a little melancholy right now.  I'm going to miss this part of my life.  Miss campus, students, and colleagues.  I like the academic hustle.

Until the end of August, unfortunately, Saint Marty's title is simply going to be "medical records clerk."

Farewell, academia

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