Public: Retiring!

Told the dean last week that this  is my last term at RNU. Felt great. Zie was surprised - majorly - and hir jaw dropped. And then, I got to watch as the dinosaurs scramble, trying to figure out what it meant for them.

Dino1 proved the most astonishing. I have to quit giving him this power to prompt a response. He wants so badly to emerge as the hero of the piece. And he might well, despite his unfitness for the role. This is the man who (proudly) told me he hadn't done anything in the profession - research, service, writing - for 40 years. His version of scholarship is to read the NYT Review of Books, and to invent new classes based on non-scholarly works. He jumped right in, offering to teach 7 classes. Because he couldn't count. Two of these, that one, or just go ahead and add that one too, then this one here and of course we need to do that and that. "Err, are you sure? That's seven classes." "What? What? No, that's only five! I don't mind doing an extra prep!" Dean: "I've got a, b, c, d, e, f and g. That's seven." "Oh? No, two a, two b, c, d and e. That's not 7 is it? It is?" "It is." "oh." Oh indeed. Then I really pissed him off, as he was primping and puffing about his 'best student in 30 years' being available for adjunct. I choked, added that I was going to advise "above all, don't hire K as adjunct!" Dino was very indignant. Very. I was more articulate, and provided evidence of K unsuitability. Dino will prevail, as K is an acolyte. D is so out of touch with the reality of the field, that he doesn't see K as anything other than a replicate of himself. Which, IMHO, is precisely why K shouldn't come in as adjunct!

Oh. Well. Not my problem.

Knee doing well. Get the stitches out Tuesday, and hopefully cleared to drive. Which will promptly not happen, as the info sheet says PT, which starts Wednesday, will require pain killers. O. Joy. However, it'll be a process and one I need to get on, get moving, get completely mobile!

Some gratifying elements of the past week: good classes, some students returning from my best class ever, and the comments I got from my campus-friend-wide email announcing my retirement. Very nice, very affirming, very needed.