Done. Mostly.

Okay, I am now semi-officially done. I've done my last class meetings, finished the presentations that I do instead of finals. All that's left is grading of (useless) exams and crunching/posting final grades. Then I am finished with Unnamed University in Unnamed City in Unnamed State.

I've gone public with this blog, hoping that some previous readers/commenters will find me again. I've missed that community so much.

Retirement from UU feels weird. Anti-climatic. After giving so much to them for 16 years - and getting very little except from the students - walking away feels both lovely and odd. UU is going through a hellish process now, which has effectively killed my department; down to 2 aging faculty members who've not changed the way they teach or what they teach in 30+ years, there is no way that they can offer a major or a real minor. Imaging a liberal arts university without the foundational fields, and that's what UU is doing. Closing language programs (can you imagine a SLAC without a French program???), core LA fields (sociology, history, etc.) and slashing both faculty AND staff. Half of the existing staff positions have to be gone by June 30. Nine faculty lines, plus the non-fill, non renewal of the visiting positions, non replacement of retirees - slash and burn the liberal arts. I am so damned lucky to be getting out.

My new house in PNW closed on time (wonder of wonders) and I'm moving up there at the end of June. It's gorgeous and civil and so different from life in the reddest of the red states. See?

Yes, those are snow-capped mountains AND a sunny non-cold marina. The snow and rain stay on the south side of those mountains, and I'm on the north side. Less rain than we get here in Unnamed State, no tornados, no 105 degree summer days, no -5 winter days. I'm super excited to get up there and into my new life.

I'm still doing lots of glass - nearly all fused these days. Here're some of my recent projects:

Making lots of earrings, pendants and sets. Anybody want some? I have a good sized inventory, good prices, and I can do special orders for colors, settings etc.!

I'm hoping to sell this stuff for some extra cash once I get moved. I love doing it and it's an incredibly fun medium to work in. I'm also thinking about doing some lamp work for special beads. I've done a couple of switch plates, trying to work out methods and limits. I'll be setting up something like Etsy, and will post that link here in case anybody wants to explore possibilities!

It's an interesting project, this move. Very different from what I've done before (and I've moved about 50 times, I think, since I was 18). For one, it's on my schedule instead of somebody else's, and that's a very strange thing indeed. Purging the personal library is another weird thing - I've always taken all my books, because I never knew what I'd need in the new place. I've spent 16 years here building a teaching resource library - won't need that anymore! So far, I've shredded nearly 100 lbs of documents; did you know that you can take things to places like FedEX and Office Depot for shredding? Yup. Very handy indeed, and it saved my poor little personal shredder from a death by over-use. I'm also purging personal items - furniture, clothing, dishes, unmatched glasses and cups, all kinds of things. Moving more animals than ever before as well; the dogs and bird will go up in the car with me, but the cat is going to have her own personal escort and go up by plane. I got a good price on a professional move - complete with packing - so most of the ugly stuff will be done by the pros. Packing the kitchen and studio are going to be somebody else's problem! But that also completely simplifies my life, because they'll do all that the day before they load the truck, so I can live fairly normally until then. 

So I'm ready to move on. Getting up the interest and energy to grade those last bits is a bit beyond me right now; I'd much rather do other things (like glass, read, nap, play with the pups...). 

Will I miss academia? Probably. I will certainly miss teaching, and am going to try to find some adjunct spots up in my new area. I won't miss the petty politics, the power plays. I will miss my friends terribly. My house and garden, the latter of which has been just spectacular this year. But part of the enjoyment I'm having with the garden is that it's my last spring here; what I've done has come into its own, it's what I wanted it to look like when I started - and that feels lovely. Time to move on.

Happy end of term everybody!