dual personalities

This week has had a much more positive vibe, and I think the weather has to do with it. We have finally had some “highs in the 70s” days. On Monday, I was in a department-wide staff town hall where the mediator started with an icebreaker question (yes, an icebreaker among pre-existing colleagues) — “What are you excited about for fall?” I always come up with terrible responses for these, but it was notable just how excited everyone was about their answers. I ended up recycling the question for my own meetings with students, and again, there was a surprising amount of excitement to go around!
People (students and staff) are, across the board, excited for chunky sweaters. Campus will be pretty. Thanksgiving. Someone’s twin sister is going to have a baby. THE JOHN MULANEY SHOW. (There’s the only place where I wholeheartedly overlap with the students.) Students are also already quite hyped for Halloween — they’ve already picked out their costumes! This seems like significantly more foresight than is sometimes evidenced in the classroom.Anyway, my point is that it feels nice to focus on what’s ahead, what we’re looking forward to. So — please turn to the person next to you, and let them know: what are you excited for this fall?

Paintings are “Autumn Boulevard in Paris” (Childe Hassam), “Isham Park Steps New York Autumn” (Thor Wickstrom), and “Autumn Woods” (Albert Bierstadt)