1) Teaching in the morning is much different than teaching around lunchtime or in the afternoon. My 9 o’clock students still seem sleepy. My 10 o’clock students have woken up. Maybe their energy will fade as the semester continues. I am not a morning person.

2) Freshmen are idealistic and delusional. I don’t want to kill their idealism or delusions, but I do worry about them. For example, yesterday I found out that there is a program where guys drive around in golf carts and pick up girls who are walking by themselves on campus. Don’t these poor cute Southern sorority girls realize that they can’t trust the guys in golf carts either?

3) I have to memorize two poems this semester. I’m going to try to complete one by mid-October and one by the end of the semester. The last class I memorized a poem for was a completely horrible fever-inducing mess. I worked SO hard on memorizing this awful little eight line poem as requested by my instructor. I showed up on the day assigned, ready to recite, and I was the only person in class who completed the assignment. I recited it okay, with a few messups, and the instructor said we’d come back to it next week when everyone else could recite it. We never came back to it.

4) I still think that pedagogy is tiresome and boring. I want to read an essay where I say “that’s my class, and, by golly, now I know how to fix it!” instead of lofty discussions of long dead philosophers. I’m not worried about completing my 20 page research paper on composition, but who knows what I want to write about? I’ll have to decide some sort of focus by late-September

5) I’m excited about working on a literary journal (Arts & Letters!) where people seem genuinely concerned about what kind of poetry goes into the magazine. No more popularity contests or domineering editors! I have been introduced as an equal reader.

6) I’ve decided to devote Friday afternoons 12-5 to finishing my long-neglected campus novel. I’ve got the whole plot. I’ve got the characters. I’ve got the writing. No more fumbling around! I have no excuses and need some sort of regimented schedule to keep me going.

7) Some have ignored the fact that I’ve taught before. NAU gave me the opportunity to teach classes and work in the writing center during the four semesters I was there. I deserve to be here, and I earned my right to teach my first semester. While I’m definitely NOT an expert yet, I can handle my way around the classroom just fine. I know what I’m doing, and I’m excited about doing it. I don’t like being treated 100% like a newbie. I already have a Master’s degree people!

8) HTML code does not like #8. So this point just has to look super stylish all glammed out in sunglasses. Sorry!…If I have one goal during my MFA work, it is to get published. I am waiting anxiously to hear back from this contest: http://www.mississippireview.com/mrpoetryseries.html Once September results come around, I will be sending out poems like a crazy person! (Or not, if my whole book gets published!)

9) I’ve already begun working on my thesis. Marty wants to read my MA thesis to get a feel for my last book and we’ll be meeting about it after Labor Day. I have a lot of ideas about what I want to do while I’m here.

10) My poetry workshop is small, with six students. But only two of the six (me and Stephan) are poets, so this should lead to an interesting dynamic. I don’t think I like being outnumbered!