The summer is almost at an end (though since I've been teaching for the past seven weeks, it ended a long time ago for me). The soon-to-come beginning of the semester is signaled by two dreams I had last night: the first in which I was back at Tunghai, trying to figure out on the first day of classes where to find a copy machine and whether my FENM (Freshman English for Non-Majors) class was supposed to meet in our regular classroom or the language lab (with a subplot involving the fact that my clothes hadn't yet arrived in Taiwan, so I was teaching without a shirt). The second dream must have been partly inspired by Henri, the tropical storm that is currently in the news: it was the first day of classes, but I slept in and didn't go to school because there was a hurricane and I assumed the university would cancel classes. When I woke up, I found that Northeastern hadn't canceled classes for the hurricane (evidently Harvard hadn't canceled classes, so NU decided they couldn't either).
Usually at this time of year, I write out my new year's resolutions for the upcoming academic year. If last year taught us anything, it's to not expect the resolutions to mean anything. I think my main resolution for this year is for all of us to stay healthy and avoid getting COVID, which will be enough of a challenge, considering my son and I both have to have on-ground classes (he's starting first grade, I'm in 47th). Other than that, I have those two writing projects to try to resurrect (remember them?) and try to finish before any squirrels run past to distract me.
I think that will be it. If I get any of these accomplished, you'll be the first to know!
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