Another surreal day on campus. There were protesters in the center of campus with a megaphone. What they were protesting, I�m not sure, as between the megaphone distortion and the acoustics of the sound bouncing off a bunch of Gothic stone buildings, the only words I could catch sounded like �We protest� and �Defense against the dark arts.� Perhaps they are opposed to Harry Potter. Actually, our campus could probably pass for Hogwarts in a pinch.

I taught my last class this morning. I had way too much material I wanted to cover (as usual) and I mostly got to it, although I had to sacrifice a discussion at the end of class. We had a really good one at the beginning, though, which is why I ran out of time. I can�t remember if I mentioned that I sent out warning notes to three students who are failing. All of them unexpectedly resurfaced today, one of them with a pile of back work. The other two, though, have a lot to turn in if they wish to pass. It kind of boggles my mind that a student might think he or she could pass a class by attending a third of the class meetings and turning in a roughly equivalent amount of written work.

I�ve been feeling a little frustrated all quarter with the overall quality of student work as compared to last time I taught this course, but in looking back over work from last year, I think the last class was unusually on top of things. The grade breakdown of this class falls pretty naturally into something that looks like a bell curve. I think the difference is also partly due to the fact that I have many more first and second years this time and I had mostly fourth and fifth years last time. They hadn�t learned how to construct an argument yet and they hadn�t learned how to write. I am happy to report that most are doing much better on both counts now, so hopefully they feel like they�ve accomplished something. And hopefully I do to.

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AJ and The Girl Next Door are running up and down and around the decks of the house, which have several levels and are perfect for playing pirates. They are screaming and shrieking with what I take to be happiness, as they have not come asking for help. The sun is almost down and the lights of the barn are glowing through the bare branches of the trees. One by one, the neighbors� Christmas lights are turning on. We appear to be the only house in the neighborhood that did not put up any decorations this past weekend. It�s still a little early for me. But AJ and I will set up his advent calendar on Thursday and we�ll probably make a gingerbread house this week and then it will start to feel like a holiday is coming.

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