Sunday, January 27, 2013

Two weeks are already over with

It always amazes me how quickly second semester goes.  We have just finished our second week of classes and mine are excellent.  Here are a couple of shots from my Men & Masculinities class which meets Mondays from 5 - 8 - all seniors, I have 13 men and 13 women.  This class and essays that my students have written over the years in response to my challenge to them to write "How My Father Influenced My View Of What A Man Is" are the subject of a new book which is at my publishers right now.  It will hopefully be out by Father's Day and is titled:  "I Wish He's Taught Me How To Shave."

I was in Grapevine, Texas most of our first week of classes, attending the NCAA National Convention.  As the College's Faculty Athletics Representative, I serve as the liaison between the academic side of SMC and the athletic side.  This is a very rewarding job and it is fun to see how well OUR students do both academically and athletically.  I always, along with Geri Knortz, our Athletic Director, get to represent SMC at this Convention and I always learn so much.

On Friday I was part of a panel of SMC faculty who spoke with a17 high school guidance counselors.  Each year this group travels to Vermont and visits Champlain College, The University of Vermont and Saint Michael's College.  After the panel I was on where four of us spoke of our interactions with our students and how our research/teaching works so well BECAUSE of our students, I joined others at a dinner with this group and it was very rewarding to hear folks from New York, Michigan, So. Carolina and even as far away as Colorado express how impressed they are with SMC.

Take care, be well, and as always, PLEASE keep all of the members of our military and their families and all of our veterans in your thoughts and prayers.  My M&M class is looking at how WAR influences our views of masculinity and we are reading both WAR by Sebastian Junger and The Lonely Soldier by Helen Benedict - we cannot forget that there is still a war going on in Afghanistan.