p.s.

One of my students, in response to a discussion of how to write a complete sentence, said,
"I get so focused on writing the argument that I let slip grammar. Let grammar slip?"

:) :) :) :)

Sixteen essays. One night.

Here's a collection of amazingly insightful things I've written on students' essays today:

-"Remember - 'now' is irrelevant"
-"DON'T CAPITALIZE RANDOM WORDS." (This is like the third time I've told him that... it's Driving me Crazy to read things Written like this.)
-"Are you saying empiricism was pragmatic?"
-"THESIS!" (with an arrow)
-"What country are you writing about?"
-"Needs more commas"
-"What's this mean?"
-"?" (lots of times)
-":)" (only once - when a kid wrote that Newton "is an outstanding example of the value of long vacations!" because Newton did most of his experiments at home when he was on break from Cambridge)

Mystery #1: Why they let me do this job
Mystery #2: How undergrads learn ANYTHING with feedback like this!

My life is a holiday

In the UK, "holiday" means "vacation". So when you say "happy holidays" in the American way of avoiding assuming anything about anybody's religion, the Brits just look confused. No matter - my past month has been full of holidays in both the American and British senses!

First, Christmas on the beach with my family, which I magically somehow arrived at without hitting any of Europe's huge snowstorm OR America's. Couldn't ask for a better Christmas present.
Mom in festive beach spiritBrendan and me singing carols on the beach on Christmas Eve

Christmas crackers! I can't bring them on the plane because the airlines think they are explosives... so my mom buys them online, which somehow makes it ok to ship them on a plane?

After a wonderful Christmas, vacation, and New Years Eve (celebrated on the 30th because I was on a plane on the 31st), I spent two days frantically writing a talk, unpacking, packing, and catching the train to Manchester for a "working holiday", a conference. It was really fun, good talks, swank hotel with TV (!!) in every room. I survived my talk, chaired a session, interviewed the fossil collection manager at the Manchester Museum, and met some really nice historians of science. I also bought dinosaur tattoos at the museum and on the way home my friends and I were the obnoxious rowdy people who always sit near you on the train.
And of course we weren't just giggling, we were ROARRRing (as I am in this picture). I guess we'd had intellectual overload at the conference? :)

Then my friend Jonathan took a quick holiday (read: layover) in London! It was so fun to see him, and we tramped from South Kensington to Oxford Street to Brick Lane discussing his med school classes, his amazing layovers in other places (including Egypt, Israel and the West Bank, South Africa, Botswana...), and how he's not really a vegan anymore (?!). He was very brave about the weather since he lives in Grenada and spent Christmas in Zimbabwe... I think he was wearing most of the clothes he owned. And everything he had was striped! Total fashion statement, as Jonathan always is. :)
Jonathan in Hyde Park - but not quite the Hyde Park we went to college in!
Jonathan: "Oh no, does this mean I'm going to be on the blog?" Yes, pal, yes it does.

In a flashback to a past holiday, the photos I took of our seminar's Fungus Hunt went up on the HPS website. :) That was a nature walk like no other! Don't we look like it's the 19th century?

And a final holiday celebration - my first journal article is in the HPS library!! I'm pointing to my name on the back cover... my friend the librarian took this picture for me while we were both sitting on the floor in front of the journals section. Studious AND dignified, right?


May 2011 be a year of holiday for you!!