It's Friday!

So Friday still feels like a special day--an important day on the verge of something really great. So many good things usually happen on Fridays. Lately, those good things have encompassed eating out with G., buying random junk at Target (after spending a couple of hours debating which set of dishes we would buy if we were in the market for dishes), then settling in to a night of What Not to Wear, Talk Soup, and Best Week Ever (quality TV, no?) and of course Filo-pup. I remember when Fridays included marathon sessions at my favorite bar right after class. I cringe whenever I think of how much money I spent on beverages and bar food. Hmm, more on this later.

Classes resume on Monday. Last night I went to the mandatory faculty rally (it's not really a rally per se, but there is a lot of applause and punch and cookies, chocolate chip cookies, bastards). The usual announcements: enrollment is way up, counseling is available (for the students, not faculty--although that could be quite valuable....), turn in your syllabus to the dean, yada yada yada but wait! I got a whooping raise of $85. Ah, so little, yet what should I expect? As a part timer (and a relatively new one at that), I've got no authority. Can't even vote someone into the faculty senate, a governing body who is supposed to be representing all faculty, regardless of tenure or position. They don't even make any distinction between part timers like me and other part timers who've been there for years, I'm talking like decades. Oh, the injustice. I could go on...after all...I'm just a girl, with a master's degree, asking to be paid more (movie???).

I'm ready, though, I'm taking my $85 and marching into class on Monday, all ready to inspire and illuminate or at least make them pause, if only for a moment*. New semesters give off the same vibe as Friday's: something great just might happen. It might not (which describes the past couple of semesters) but it just might. Makes it worth it in a way.

Back to the thousands spent on bar beverages and cigarettes: I was listening to Miseducation of Lauren Hill on the way home from the rally. Man, I played the hell out of that CD once upon a time. It doesn't really fit anymore, but there are some inspiring bits here and there. That CD fits in with past Fridays in the same way as new dishes and TV nights fit my Fridays right now. Neither night is better, don't mistake this for nostalgia. "Everything is everything."

**Here is a recent moment where a student was illuminated after class lecture on Reconstruction, 1870's: "Miss, I was listening to Nelly and he has this lyric where he says, "Forget a pool, give me 40 acres and a mule" and I got it miss!" It's not perfect, but I'll take it.